I would call this game lovely except that it's not actually lovely at all—in fact, most of the time I was on the verge of tears and/or horrified by what was going on!!! What an absolute experience this was. My heart still feels heavy now just continuing to listen to the main menu music as I'm typing this (I didn't want to turn it off lol dkafjsldkfa)
There's just so much great stuff going on here. First, my absolute favorite—the music! GOD! It really creeps its way into your heart. Like, just creating this deep heavy weight that settles down around your whole psyche while you're playing and gets you immersed in the horrors that are happening. Each track was absolutely beautiful and brought SO much emotion into all the scenes and the growing sadness of the tale. The VA was also a delight! Every character felt very on point, and the lines were delivered with a lot of emotion, particularly during some of the grim scenes.
The BGs were gorgeous! Really lush and warm, transporting you instantly into each scene. And the sprites looked superb on top of them! I really loved all the directing and animation you used with the sprites. It really brought everything to life and added a lot of impact to the scenes, making everything feel very cinematic!!
The story and writing were wonderful. There was this lovely creeping dread that just kept growing and growing throughout the whole thing. But I really enjoyed the characters and their interactions in spite of the horrors. For instance, when Magda and Nonie were pretending everything was on a ship while trying to take care of their mother—that was so heartbreaking!! It made it feel very real and visceral, watching them try to stay positive and push through things even while they knew what was happening. Magda and Nonie's relationship in general was quite cute and well done. GUHH THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DISEASE THOUGH. I admittedly had to pause a few times as it did get quite detailed, which made it feel all the more tense and tangible. I don't want to leave anything too spoilery here, but I will say that I was glad things did finally start to get better for them at the end.
All in all, I really enjoyed this!! It hits your gut in all the right spots and is a grim, somber tale that will really stick with you even after you're done playing. You all did a fantastic job putting this together! 💕