Play game
HEART PARADOX's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Use of LGBTQ+ Themes | #14 | 3.300 | 3.889 |
| Story / Writing | #15 | 3.347 | 3.944 |
| Visuals | #18 | 3.630 | 4.278 |
| Overall | #19 | 2.923 | 3.444 |
| Audio / Music | #19 | 2.923 | 3.444 |
| Concept | #27 | 2.970 | 3.500 |
| Gameplay | #30 | 1.933 | 2.278 |
| Balance (Challenge and Fairness) | #32 | 1.556 | 1.833 |
Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Team Members
vFlan, LaloTheTaco, ikee_ts, ClocksCoolArt, Kwaaah
Streaming Permission
Yes
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
Omagaahh what a cute couple, very cute vn with touhou characters. I just finished today anime "Hifuu Katsudou Kiroku ~ The Sealed Esoteric History" with them, and you guys made this cutie game with Merry and Renko <3
i wish to play more touhou pairings in future
The setting and worldbuilding is great. I agree with other commenters and I think the game is missing some gameplay segments/elements to bring it all together (what you mention after the ending), but at its current state even just the writing is strong enough to carry the game forward.
This is a really interesting story and setting, but... I dunno, most of it didn't quite click for me. The art is really neat, of course, and the whole game's composed in a way that gives it a good atmosphere. It just feels kinda incomplete in a lot of ways. I'd definitely like to see an update to this.
It keeps introducing a bunch of crazy concepts and then not really following up on them. A very interesting AU (?) setting gets talked about in super vague terms, the nature of that note Renko got doesn't seem to be elaborated on at all, and the protagonists' motivations feel kinda muddy-- as in, they start out following a weird timey-wimey note because why not, but in the second half they seem more concerned about Merry taking a trip to the future so she can date Renko than whatever the creator of that note had in mind for them to do.
By that same token, I generally didn't think the very chill writing fit the plot. The story seems insanely high-stakes (the way Renko talks about how screwing with time has affected the world makes it sound like she and Merry could cause the end of the whole world/universe as we know it with just one mistake) but it never really feels that way-- they spend most of the game talking really casually, and glibly handwave away the super scary consequences of their actions as "wow we're really playing with fire, huh?". Also, there's a few writing quirks that I found more funny/charming than anything, but really detract from the tone the game seems to be going for-- the biggest example to me being when Renko makes a joke and "(joking)" is added after the end of the sentence.
Few more nitpicks-- most of the choices seemed really similar, to the point of a lot of them feeling unnecessary. Also Renko being depicted with a standard VN sprite was slightly confusing at first, since she's on a screen the whole game, but it wasn't an issue for me-- I just think it'd be a nice touch if, say, the background was split between time periods on left and right sides of the screen, similarly to the Day 10 CG but for most of the game. And I do kinda wish the text moved quicker-- I almost went through the game a second time to get other endings and clarify some things, but the text speed being so slow kinda killed it for me, and pressing Z to skip didn't work because I played on browser and the game didn't save my data after reloading the page.
In short, it's like watching a really cool sci-fi show with a busted TV-- it feels like I'm missing a lot of really interesting high-concept storystuff under the static, and that's a shame.
Also, apologies if I sounded harsh in this comment. The game's neat, and to be honest I feel like I didn't quite "get" large parts of it. If there's some important stuff I missed and my big criticisms here are only because I can't read properly, let me know. And either way, I'd definitely like to see an update to this-- it's cool.
thank you! most of the story and pacing bits are unfortunately missing because i had no time to write upon them, but now that they're setup we'll be working on redoing most part of the middle of the script, making the choices way different + adding 5 extra days to the story as a huge update to complete it and tie every knot together. i also had to calm myself down on the writing since the original draft i had written was as grim as the stakes, but i went back on them for jam rule purposes which resulted in the rushed one we have now. still, thanks for the feedback on the story! i appreciate it!
This one really sucks you in. It is a Touhou story without a single youkai to be found. What it lacks in horrible monsters turned to cute girls, it dives deep in the unknown and peeling back layers that maybe should have been left alone. While the union of Maribel and Renko is a constant and no surprise, the world building here is a giant mystery. Even after progressing down both the available endings, I want to know more and see the conspiracy unraveled. The game is gorgeous, and you quickly forget this is a jam game and not a commercial release. That every part of the UI has clearly been developed from scratch gives unity to the presentation. Playing in full screen is indeed preferable, so you can get properly immersed. What I had trouble with is determining which decisions mattered and how. I got the true ending my first run, and then reversed all my choices to get the bad ending. Yet only two or three choices seemed to have any "bad" result. If there are to be more ending in the future, a skip text option is going to be necessary as there was a lot of clicking and slow scrolling text to even get a second ending. If you like Maribel, Renko, or Steins; Gate you should be playing this VN.
I just got finished playing 1000xRESIST so maybe I’m in bit of a sci-fi mood but this hit the spot so good. Loved the vibes, the story, the progression of their relationship. I was going to say it would’ve been cool to see more of the building of the time machine but you’ve already said you’re going to try to do that post-jam!
I especially like the sections of Merry in the field. Again, maybe just bias, but that sort of melancholic greenery coloured by uncertainty really ticks all my boxes.
Also, the music was perfect. I wasn’t quite sure from the credits whether the team made it or not but I’d love to download it if possible!!
thank you!! i chose the music from the unity asset store (lol). they were all free to use and all i did was pick them except for the day 20 good end track arranged by vFlan himself. i can send you the links to all the songs used via discord or twitter if you'd like!
That’d be awesome thank you, my discord is @relick
It's cool that Hifuu alt universe is becoming its own sort of sub-genre in the Western Space now. No matter the time or place, Merry and Renko always belong together. I was also very impressed by the worldbuilding behind this story. It's clear that the team spent a lot of time designing this world.