Ok so I'm going to mirror a lot of what people have previously said and give my most honest review of this game, **OBVIOUS SPOILERS AHEAD FOR ANYONE WHO HASNT PLAYED.**
I usually never EVER leave negative reviews on indie developer projects, only criticism + advice for how to improve but this game genuinely upset me with how competent of a writer Jenny is and why she decided this was a good idea. This is mostly for her.
I geniunely do not like how this game is handled, to the writing, to the lack of content warnings and age restrictions, to the way suicide and depression is handled. Everything. It felt as if it were trying to do to much in a very short amount of time and did it poorly.
!. The lack of warnings and age restriction
Lets start with the content warnings. Why were they NOT added in the first build?? Why did people even have to tell you to add them to the game to begin with when it touches on VERY VERY sensitive topics such as depression, suicide and murder? that should've been an honest no brainer to add to a game, much less a horror game that touches on real issues.
It felt more like you wanted to shock and scare your playerbase as if everyone reads the hidden content warnings? do you know how dangerous that is with how triggering the content is? not to mention this game NEEDS a age restriction on it, with the very suggestive nature of some of the stuff said + as well as the gruesome nature of the entire story. It was very mishandled and you, Jenny, as a writer should KNOW this.
2.The plot/endings
Going back to the point I made previously, this game feels like it wants to do too much in too little time. The suicide ending was disgusting and unneeded. It felt like you were trying to make people shocked instead of adding any meaningful impact to it and instead opted out to disgust, shock and disturb instead of educate.
I have depression, Major depressive disorder to be exact and suicide is not something that comes out of nowhere or is a split second decision. There are signs, foreshadowing, and symptoms that Zilas never showed or even mentioned subtly. I feel like we, the player AND his romantic partner, should've gotten that side of him through more deep and meaningful dialogue and helped him through it because Zilas seemed VERY happy with his life, and online drama getting to the point where it results in someones suicide is usually rare and takes months of bullying, not one or two days.
It also makes no sense from a writing stand point if Zilas didn't have much time to begin with, why on earth would he commit suicide when all he wanted to do was spend his last week with us? I thought the cat literally said he didnt care for money or fame but himself and you? It was also extremely out of character. Zilas had insecurities like anyone else had but they did not read like signs of someone struggling with a worsening mental state.It makes no sense and I feel like this is a very disrespectful and distasteful way to go about addressing suicide and by extension, depression as if its for shock value and discomfort of your audience rather then try and help them understand the dangers of it. Shame on you, Jenny.
And oh boy don't even get me started on the cat and the homicide ending. This was foreshadowed slightly better, but it also falls flat. Yes, there is some dialogue already pointing to the fact Zilas is dead; "Can the vacation be sooner?" "I want to hit 1 million followers in a week" "I want to introduce you SO BADLY" etc. but it was very poorly handled as well because we did not get a very good explanation for how the cat works, how we as the player actually affect the story and his fate, and what the cat even is. It has a huge problem with TELLING you whats going on through sloppy exposition rather then SHOWING you with hints and through indirect storytelling.The cat was BARELY in the story and the plot twist didn’t feel satisfying, it came out of NOWHERE. Instead, you get a botched ending where the cat half hazardly explains why he did it and how you can save him with 5k ratings which brings me to my next point of contention.
3. The rating problem and how Jenny is handling this.
I am honestly disgusted with how the ending was handled.It feels like a deliberate marketing tactic rather then a meaningful ending to a game, it feels like dangling a piece of meat over a dog on a treadmill. I understand its a free product but encouraging your *mostly* underage fanbase to make alts to review your game so they can save their favorite fictional character honestly feels like a sick joke, espically since this can result in their account being perma banned. Mind you, this goal is also very hard to reach and you know that Jenny. I don't know why on EARTH you'd decide this was a good idea from both a professional and writing perspective to do this to your audience, it feels innately cruel and like you want attention rather then telling a story about important and real life issues about social media and giving actual good commentary.Its like your exploiting your audience for positive reviews instead of actually wanting to put out a well thought out and coherent story about how streamers have emotions and aren’t just for our entertainment as well as cancel culture, but that’s not what I got at ALL.
Also, you making fun of and mocking people crying and being disturbed over Zilas dying is not doing you any favors. It kinda shows you were never really in it for your fans but rather for yourself and for the attention which is why I'm being so harsh in this review. I have followed you for quite awhile through your different projects and I know you are a competent writer and person, which is why I'm so confused about why you decided to approach this in such a distasteful and undermining way to both your audience and your team. I'm just highly disappointed.
4. Epilogue, what I would change.
The TLDR is basically: I am highly disappointed in how Jenny handled this story and I did not like how it was done, from both a writing and professional perspective. I hope she does better in future projects.
Now, if you want my personal opinion on what i would change as a writer myself? here are my thoughts.
I would honestly prefer we could get the third ending through a variety of puzzles and get hints through both endings, much like an ARG. It keeps the 4th wall breaking element there and gives us a more reasonable goal for how to save Zilas. Whether it be something in the chat or dialogue,they would be good options for doing a password. Or you could even make a website that could redirect you to even more hints and give you more information about how the world works and a lot of puzzles to solve to both understand more about Zilas and how the cat works, even actual websites in the game like Twitsh or OnlyPhams. Imagine how cool that'd be.
I'd honestly opt for scrapping both the 1st and 2nd endings, or making the branches earlier in the story so you could have a better and more thorough explanation if Zilas decides to go through with his suicide, to where you actual get more dialogue and subtle hints pointing to the face he may be struggling with his depression and what people think of him, and for the murder ending, making MC have more obvious urges where they get worse and worse up until we kill him. (Basically like creepy intrusive thoughts before they cut off and the game continues as needed) and a save system for each day or skipping dialogue would actually be a needed and nice touch.
I'm well aware this will not happen, I just honestly wish this had more time in the oven and was longer so we could actually gather more information. It doesnt feel like anything is meaningful, or impactful if no matter what we do he is going to die, and the only way we can save him is review bombing the game. It just feels so cheap, and the art and design direction is so nice and thats why I'm just so confused on how this even passed the development phase of ideas. It just feels unreal.
If you read this review to the end, thank you for your time and I honestly hope you understand what I'm trying to say and have a good day of resting and eating well. Everyone deserves it.