anyone glancing down at the comments wondering if they should hit download or not, i highly recommend doing so. especially doing so without reading any further than this just to have your own experience first.
big spoilers below............
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i dont know if its my own reaction or if it was exactly the intended point, but the presentation of the game really put a pause on me. its not uncommon for people to upload projects with bizarre presentations and it is natural to want to put your time where you assume it will be well spent. theres an overwhelming amount of things to do in life and only so much time. thats not really the fault of anyone i think.
still starting from teh first menu choice i had no intent to understand waht the protagonist was truly saying. maybe its the autism but i am not the kind of person to understand metaphors so my first instinct is to just immediately give up. i prefer stories that are literal just the same way i want my friends to say what they mean directly to me
it was the blocked out choices, and the menu options that were actually the honest sincere truth yet were misinterpreted by the shrink as more metaphors that forced me to slow down. around the time of the therapist scene this really clicked with me, instead of seeing her as the odd one, and as an extension the whole game and its unusual presentation, as i continued reading more it further established my understanding of the protagonist and my read on the story.
she is struggling to fit into this world and facing unreasonable expectations. the bold collage art decisions and flashing animated backgrounds are recontextualized to be her point of view. the world is a scary jumbled mess of mismatched parts and she stands out and does not fit in.
especially as someone who is often the one the world feels judgemental towards, especially as someone who considers herself an understanding person, and especially as someone who goes out of her way to seek out wanting to see the good in indie visual novels made by new faces,i dont want to be judgemental. if that was the point, well done. it really was effective on me.
even without me starting this story with this hostile view, the dialogue is sincere and real, and the metaphors painfully appropriate. it is a story that feels impactful and relatable.
we would all be better off if we were more like the carpenter. thanks for sharing this