Strength build is the best and I don't have enough brain to say otherwise.

amazing art and vibe.

Here's the thing about Märchen Line: the rules are made up and the points don't matter.

Which isn't to say that the gamification of the visual novel isn't there-the stats are roadblocks to passing relationship checks with your chosen date character, and you will pass/fail certain events based off of how much of each stat you have. It's a satisfying, straight forward mechanic that I am happy to say will reward you for engaging with.

But for me, the whole game is an interesting dialogue about the nature of war. The horror is in the game's DNA, the central conceit from the beginning. It's hard to be critical about war in a game where war is the center focus-in fact, looking at any games that supposed do so (Spec Ops: The  Line is an leading example for me) a lot of the compliant turns into the denial of agency, the surrealism of the narrative.

That's the point.

Märchen Line isn't about a messianic savior. It isn't about the Great Men of History Theory or a deconstruction of "we should all be nicer to each other". It's a psychological thriller where the horror is walking towards the door at the end of the hallway and having to open the door. 

Definitely try it, it's worth the playthrough.

Hi. It's me again. I'm also adding a comment here. uwu

I guess the only critique I have, at least with how I played through the game, was that it was hard to get a grasp on ALL of the 4 love interests. Especially when you're say, focused on only one of them. I think the interactions you have with them are fun, like the day-to-day small talk. But it seemed to be more for building the story/world instead of about the characters themselves. (They do have their moments though!!)

And even though I have the ability to go through the game's slice of life sections again and get to know everyone, it feels a little awkward with the overarching story being the same?  It feels like our 4 friends, even though they're with us at the end and helping us through everything... they don't have as much of a story impact as the MC, Adrien, or Major.

But I get that large casts of characters are super hard to handle, especially when you've got a big overarching plot and only a month to make it all happen. I still had a lot of fun talking with them!! And Nissa was really sweet :>

And I like how the MC, Konrad, and Adrien's struggles kinda fit in with the themes at the end too! It really ties them into the story and grounds them as characters.

Anyway! As always, great game!! AND STRENGTH BEST STAT!! WOOOO

I love your GUI and tbe stylization of your world! This reminds me of 80s/90s anime. And oddly sailer moon.

This game is really cool! The level of polish in the music and visuals is honestly jaw-dropping, it's difficult to even consider it a game jam project... The worldbuilding is compelling, too, with its own unique flavour of Norse Starship Troopers-esque Forever War fascism. The Solar Edda chapters between scenes were a particular highlight.

I think where this game kinda fell through for me was mostly the character writing. While the prose was of a high quality, consistent with the other Nth Circle titles I've played, none of the cast really left much of an impression on me, which is a bit of a misstep for a narrative adventure game like this. In particular, the main character is strangely absent from the fabric of the game in a lot of ways—the decisions you make for them don't really seem to affect their personality or the trajectory of the game's narrative very much, and while there's setup for interesting drama from the backstory, it doesn't really manifest itself outside of a couple of quirks and lines of internal narration. It's a bit of a shame, because the protagonist in Model Employee felt like a really good player-insert character who you could naturally relate to and feel empathy for, in how their agency had been taken from them. And Morgan from Of the Devil is one of the better protagonists in any narrative adventure game I've ever played.

Man, though. That doctor's cool as hell. He gets a lot of screen time for a non-romanceable character, and has probably the greatest amount of importance in the story—which is good news because he's easily the most compelling character in the game. The layers of sardonic bitterness hidden beneath his good-natured persona, the drips and drops of thematically resonant trauma from his backstory... Awesome stuff. 

Anyway, I saw one bad end and one good end, which I think must be the true ending? I feel pretty satisfied with my one playthrough but I might go back and try and date the really tall strong girl if the mood takes me. Congrats on making such an interesting game, devs!

actual jaw drop at the game's length and quality. watched my friend abi play it all in one go and it was so impressive!! absolutely loved it ! cannot believe you wrote a bible for a game jam

Oh my GOD the 3D environments and art
Oh my GOD the writing
Oh my GOD the sound design. The SOUND DESIGN!! (except for the tinnitus one, which was genuinely painful for my own tinnitus :( ) I aspire to be as good as that.
Cute UI, groovy music... I don't really know what to say, this is incredibly impressive and complete. In 30 days??? Super super super impressed!!