Link to the playlist with both videos here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlN8vAkzsnt18J6FhmSiHf2QWhHqpX4hq
Life Cycles was such an interesting game! First and foremost, I am a huge fan of anthropomorphic insects (obviously) and I really enjoyed that the actual lives and habits of these insects were incorporated into a more human-like society.
[Spoilers]
Obviously, the best part of the game was Oggie and Harmonia and their friendship. Although, I loved how both routes explored the friendship in different ways.
The Kidnapped Route, while a bit more intense in the way that Oggie and Harmonia actually get to know each other (at first), seemed more laid-back over all. Save for the bad ending, the interactions between them were just really sweet and it was delightful to see how Harmonia matured emotionally as he tried to care for Oggie.
Although, the neutral endings had such a... hollow feeling to them. It hurt to see the two of them start to become friends, and then abruptly drop everything to go back to their old lives (whether out of lingering mistrust imnthe first neutral ending, or in the 2nd neutral ending where Harmonia thinks that he failed to protect Oggie at all and decides to send him back home.)
Needless to say, I was most fond of the True Ending because they got to stay together and explore their relationship from there.
The Secret Friends Route, on the other hand, had so much more of a "forbidden" feeling to it. Which, in turn, really brought out Oggie and Harmonia's chemistry (and to show how Oggie had to accept Harmonia for his nature.) It also brought the stakes a lot higher for when they get caught.
The bad ending was... traumatizing. While in the other route, there was a chance for Oggie to still end up living a better life in the bad end, in this route there was no such chance. It also made me wonder just what Harmonia got up to in that ending.
The neutral endings, however, were a lot sweeter and left me with much less of a hollow feeling than the ones in the other route. It was nice to see that Oggie and Harmonia actively stayed friends. Although it was probably a little hard on Oggie to leave everyone else behind, at least he could explore a life of adventure with someone he truly cared about.
And, of course, the True End was a lot of fun! I liked the implications of an aphid uprising, and it would be really cool to see the aftermath of that. For now, I suppose, I'll just have to imagine what happened.
Beyond the fascinating story, I was absolutely enthralled by the character designs. They are so cute! Oggie, Bean, and Harmonia just have wonderful designs and it was cool to see how they were anthropomorphized from their respective insect types. (I love the ants too. They vaguely made me think of Agent Smith from the Matrix or something.)
Overall, this was a great game!
I'm surprised it was your first game because it's so well put together. The story is cohesive, the character designs are fantastic, and the mapping was well done.
Keep up the good work! I'm truly excited to see what other ideas you have for games, and I'll have to try out your visual novels at some point.