Not a bad game! I have my critiques of the systems (sometimes it felt really hard to figure out when to actually use the prompts during the debates, and the agree button only being used twice (and both in the same debate) feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity), but I think it was overall functional enough! The second debate was probably the most egregious of them: I knew where I needed to go, but it was hard to figure out where or when exactly to press things when it came to successfully navigating that debate. I also think that we could just do away with previously presented evidence, and maybe remove a thing or two from the evidence screen entirely: the mana chamber evidence doesn't need to be there at all, Misty's wake-up call is wholly irrelevant, and the ones about the fake light and there being nothingness outside are total fluff, for instance. I get the idea that you want evidence there that might throw you off, but I think there's a distinct difference between "misdirection" and "clutter". The Anne defense trial stumped me for a while purely because what I needed to continue was literally at the very bottom of the list, which had something like 30 items I had to scroll past first.
In terms of writing: I think your writing is pretty good! I always prefer more character-driven writing and character agency when it comes to mind control themes, and it's something you delivered with this.
There's also a few bugs or details that I figured I should mention, since they're present in the updated version:
- The secret room behind the throne is now just completely white for me. All of the buttons and prompts show up and work fine, but that room specifically is just a white void for some reason. The background does show up properly in dialogue, just not when you're exploring.
- I feel like when Miranda submits at the end of her trial, the portrait should've changed to her glassy-eyed one like everyone else's. She remains in her previous portrait for both the Anne and Miranda playthroughs.
- I couldn't access Miranda Mode for the longest time: I would switch modes in the menu, but when I hit "play" on an empty save file it would switch the portraits and then start playing Anne's story. I figured out that if I instead hit the "new" button on an existing save file, that would actually let me access Miranda Mode properly. I'm sure that's unintended behavior, right?
And that's about it! Not a bad game, and I'm interested in seeing some of your other projects in the future!