I'm blown away by the attention to detail! The art and desktop options? The changing world chat conversations (poor Archibald)? The changeable wallpapers?! The IMs that you can actually close?! All of which is saying nothing about the actual main dialogue and the number of interesting branches to go down?
I found it so easy to step into these shoes and relate to these two characters, and I was devastated every time a conversation branch ended poorly, even knowing there were lighter directions for it to go. A particular whisper/emote from Marissa also really pulled at my heartstrings. The item-comparing branch especially put a big smile on my face and then punched me in the gut, so thanks for that.
I was going to say I wished there had been a little more control over guiding the conversation, but I feel like it has a liminal quality as-is that really contributes to bringing back that mid-2000s vibe (and, separately, the end-of-an-MMO vibe). I also appreciate that it's less railroady than something like Emily Is Away (although that game has its own reasons for doing things that way).
The fact that the game runs on real time is maybe a bit cruel for anyone who can't read the dialogue fast enough, but that's mitigated as well by the way the game tells you what options you've already seen, so players with that problem can speed through to the new branches. Requires more repetition, so not ideal, but I do appreciate that that's there.
I do wish that there was a different symbol for options you've picked before but that have unseen branches behind them, as I got lost a couple times retreading my steps and not remembering when a particular branch ended. Minor issue, though, I got through them all in the end.
I know this is a huge comment, but I was really impressed by this game and I had a lot of thoughts. Thank you so much for it. It reminded me a ton of Save the Date, another short VN game that I really love. I was able to find a happy ending here that I couldn't there, but even that was tinged with some uncertainty, and I love/hate wrestling with that feeling.
Any chance of a hint as to what's meant to be happening in the endings where Annalise's dad hears something? I have two thoughts and they both make me sad...but if it's just meant to be up in the air, I can respect that, too.