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Face to Face fares well enough but too many things still hold it back.

The biggest problem here is the presentation. While the character sprites pop with the limited visuals, the lack of backgrounds does the exact opposite. There are points in the story with a lot of moving around, and just having the title of the location instead of an actual image is very disorientating.​ On a sound level, there’s the ever-present sound of rain​ which not only breaks the immersion of many scenes but also cannot have its volume adjusted.

Another pervasive issue comes in the pacing. The lead up to “the twist” works well enough but everything after that quickly​ falls apart. Readers are not afforded proper time to engage with the mystery or make their own conclusions before the truth (which itself is a little messy) is revealed, curbing much of the project’s potential.

Face to Face is interesting for the turns its story takes, but too many issues bring it down to an experience that’s just average at best.

Help Me Date Your Dad! is simply excellent. It has a solid emotional core, good prose, quality art and an unique presentation style that manages to be visually engaging without being too complicated. However, this project is sadly marred by a single, but all encompassing problem.

Starting the game, readers may feel deceived by the title. We follow a protagonist in a complicated moment. Something out of her control but that she completely expected threatens a very important relationship in her life. With descriptions, narration, visuals and sound that solidify these emotions, players are put right into her shoes. But wait, there is a silver lining. She finds in someone a way not only to mend this relationship, but save everyone involved from regret. MC approaches that person and asks their help and then… silly music starts playing.

Help Me Date Your Dad! suffers from severe tonal issues. For most of the time, it offers this grounded drama that’s explored really well, but there are a couple of scenes that shift this mood completely with goofier dialogue, upbeat music and exaggerated reactions. The shift is harsh enough on the reader, but it also comes close to cheapening a particular relationship that’s pivotal to the whole story.

My belief is that the story could be approached either way (though I won’t deny my preference for the grounded drama), however the abruptness and frequency of this change really harms the project.

This is one of my favourite Novembears and it is high on that list, but the tonal issue is just too much to ignore.

Blackout: Zero absolutely nails its presentation but a handful of weakness hold it back.

Firstly, this project cannot stand on its own. Being a prequel to another project, it is surprising how much it hinges on your knowledge of characters and events hinted there. Not to mention, this VN lacks a gripping element of its own, an aspect further intensified by its incomplete nature (at the time of this review).

The second notable issue comes in its brief gameplay session, where the reader is put in a dark area and needs to find and highlight certain objects. Thing is, the area is way too dark and with the filters used, it becomes nearly impossible to tell objects from each other. While that does enhance the sense of danger and mystery, it’s a little disorientating in regards of what the player is even interacting with until the MC makes some comment about it.

All that said, the presentation is amazing, with moving parts, use of colour and unique menus that match the story’s vibe completely. Writing is another highlight with little to no issues and good pacing.

What little holds Blackout: Zero back unfortunately hold it a little too much to be its own thing. For someone who hasn’t played One More Light, I’d recommend playing that first to get the most out of this one. Probably the Novembear with the best technical aspects, but not my favourite story.

Art Building offers an unfortunately barebones experience on all fronts. Aside from the sprites, which are simple yet pleasant, this VN falls short in too many aspect to be worth a recommendation. The plot is very thin, the prose floats between basic and wonky and presentation is nothing special. There was time from its initial submission to the end of the Jam for some much needed polishing, but alas it did not come to pass. If you do want to experience it for yourself, take heed in the fact that it goes by too quickly to cause any strong negative feelings.

Fate Itself does a good job of setting up, but has a hard time delivering. The biggest example of this project has an interest in animal motifs (having 3 of them), but none of those end up with real pay off. Other issues include a minor plothole (as I see it), a somewhat rushed relationship and some flawed attempts at poeticism within the prose. Fate Itself does nail a couple of things: the pacing is excellent with no time wasted, which is what you want of a short story, and some pretty interesting UI (some of which, do fall on the aforementioned animal motifs issue). If you can dive into this project’s world and characters, you may not see its flaws so clearly and have a good time.

Daring Choices shows attempts at tackling its topics, but whether it hits or not may depend on the reader alone. This project goes into more interesting directions, but it does so with a bluntness that may make it hard to get on its level. It doesn’t really dive into potentially unique perspectives or crib from deeper works, instead, it ends up lingering in “alright-ness.” It may be worth reading it to guage your own opnion of these themes and presentations, but don’t be surprised if they don’t fully connect.

Yet Another First Day offers a pretty good package. From its unique presentation and natural dialogue, this project engages readers in a straightforward story that still bears (heh) interesting idiosyncrasies. The biggest sore spot here is how much fat there is in the story (and I don’t mean the large men). Yet Another First Day has an excellent and resonating emotional core that is buried in a lot of meandering and scenes that don’t advance the plot. That said, its strong points are more than worth pushing through the slog. A fun, cute little story that will resonate well with its queer audience.

With a strong emotional core and straightforward but engaging writing, Losing Importance shows a vignette about aging and enjoying life. This lean short story hits all its beats really well, displaying empathetic characters and a narrative that feels true to its themes. In its briefness, however, it ends up missing some much needed falling action that establishes better where these characters will go from the end of the story, rather than ending as soon as the climax does, leaving too little to the imagination. Still, it was a joy to read a story that knows not to get too bogged down on its admittedly depressing themes. It takes the melancholy of aging as it is: a natural part of life.

Chained in Silence, like some of the developer’s other works, is severely reliant on its idiosyncratic humour. And if you don’t connect with that, the whole experience may fall flat. This time, that unique brand of humour is not front-and-center, instead working as a bit of a twist that happens around the end of the first act. In a sense, this project lulls you into one experience and then rug-pulls you into its true identity. And that too may be part of the joke but, as aforementioned, if you’re not wont to its brand of wackiness, it can be pretty obnoxious. The recommendation stands for those unknowing of this dev’s style and for those who enjoy it.

One Thousand Yards braves an emotional journey through some dark topics with a steady gaze. Every moment in this project puts readers in the MC’s shoes with incredible ease which allows for its emotional punches to land that much harder. The dev has also employed audiovisual elements that, though simple, elevate the reading experience. Its few appear as somewhat intrusive expositions at the very beginning and a very heavy-handed tearjerker epilogue, but those are small stains on a beautiful carpet. One Thousand Yards is a raw experience about a tough subject, but executed in a very touching way that makes it worth experiencing for yourself.

A project full of fun character designs, an interesting world and engaging dialogue that passes by at breakneck speed. Spin City’s pacing is its greatest flaw, creating a series of rapid-fire scenarios that never have the time to linger. With all the aforementioned qualities, it’s a shame that readers can’t really simmer down and enjoy these charming characters and story. Even if this were to be expanded, the pacing would make for a tiring experience, so hopefully things will be shifted around a little more if there’s a continuation or “full release.”

What He Carried toys with some interesting ideas about grief, self-perception and how we let ourselves be treated by others, but with a very sloppy execution. The presentation of the story being a “”“Love interest””” trauma-dumping on a very passive MC makes for a pretty uncomfortable experience that makes the reader wonder why is he sitting there and taking it. At the same time, the characters appear cognizant of the strangeness of the situation and make attempts to lampshade it, which gives off vibes of a lack of commitment to its “bit;” what we do see of the bear’s life is often curbed by this unsure nature. The artwork, though excellent, also seems a little off, defining characters much different than what we do get to see in the story proper. WHC is uneven and strange but short enough to be worth the couple of minutes it asks of you.

Perhaps the most depressing of the Novembears, Since November follows a borderline superficial brand of nihilism that is more annoying and embarrassing than moving. While seeing these portrayals of different reactions to the situation is interesting and engaging, this cast of 20-somethings act too much like parody of that demographic, weakening a lot of the impact. That said the build up to the reveal is fantastic and the art (even much of the unfinished parts) works excellently with a solid script. This project misery lit lacking in its melancholic beauty or insightful misery, but it is still well-made enough to move and enrapture readers for its duration.

Memories Frozen in Time shows attempts at emotional matters, but its lacking execution weakens the whole project. With an inconsistent prose, the narrative spends too much time in descriptions and less important details, leaving no time for a proper conclusion. Characters are simple and the emotions are straightforward, but none of that clarity is really used the project advantage. The presentation often suffers with unchanging sprites that make it hard to tell the different points in time apart, and poorly edited BGs that are often distracting in their distortion. MFiT could have used more polishing and a couple of words to become a more memorable experience, but as it is, there’s barely anything of note here.

On a String is simple and straightforward but it does well what it sets out to do. Aside from a strange inconsistency with punctuation marks, writing works really well; from pacing to dialogue, this project nails it. Visual elements also does a good job of characterising people and narrative, a real complete package. I wish it tackled bigger questions regarding its mechanics and could have done with a more active protagonist, but other than that, On a String is easily worth the time readers put into it.

End of the Line is wonderfully depressing experience that delivers on all fronts. From excellent sprites, to polished writing and an engaging narrative and dialogue, it’s worthwhile from end to end. There are some characteristics that don’t exactly click from the jump, but eventually all pieces fall into place. Definitely the strongest submission in Novembear 2024.

Symbearotica is a very amateurish project. There are some interesting concepts like playing as the alien, but a definitive lack of skill permeates the whole experience. There’s a lack of elegance and artistry when it comes to the topics being explored here, everything is laid out in blunt, messy chunks of story. Presentation suffers too, the lacking transitions and audio are sorely missed, making it hard to tell what’s happening visually. This is unfortunately too undercooked on too many fronts, hopefully it serves as a learning experience for the dev.

Polar Opposites is fun but bears more than its fair share of issues; biggest among them being the scope.

To borrow from another reviewer, this project tries “to do too many things that don’t quite fit together at once,” with a story that goes on for quite a bit after you expect it to end. Perhaps this amount of twists and turns would work best in a longer project, but as an “one-off,” the barrage of information is borderline tiring. Improving this aspect would require a complete scope overhaul in order to focus on telling one compelling tale.

Another issue comes in the form of long and unnatural dialogue. Most of the lines in this project go on for too many lines and a good chunk of them just doesn’t appear relevant, are repetitions of information the reader already has or serve only to balloon the scope further.

Another problem is the way audiovisual elements that don’t match what is happening in the story. This goes especially for the character expressions and the music tracks. A character sprite displaying one emotion while the text describes another is an unfortunately common sight in this VN. The same goes for the music, with upbeat scores underlying moments of emotional vulnerability.

Polar Opposites really suffers from its problems. Its package is too small for what it’s attempting to be and having to handle all of that within the timeframe of a Game Jam led to the decline of many of its aspects.

A project that’s cute and sweet and, much like candy, is full empty calories. While it doesn’t really fall into saccharine territory, The Fox in Sleepy Creek skirts that line enough that it ends up harming it. The lack of drama makes a possibly interesting premise into 30~45min of fluff. Art mostly works (especially for its “special interest”), but some of the sprite expressions are hard read and others are stuck in an awkward level of exaggeration. Still, it hits what it aims for: a feel-good, cute story with nice art. Recommended if you’re looking for something sweeter that won’t occupy much of your time or brainpower.

Gainfully Employed is a fun time that ends a bit too soon for its own good. There are many qualities to this FVN, but it unfortunately drops the ball in its scope. This is a story with a lot of potential for exploration of pertinent topics, but the story ends far too soon to make any statement on those, rendering it more suggestion than anything else. Still, it engages in some interesting social commentary with just the right amount of bluntness and the 3D artwork is is a fun addition. Worth checking out for its qualities, but don’t be surprised if it fails to be a cathartic experience.

The Creature in My House plays around with some interesting themes but doesn’t really make good on their potential. Even for a short story, the pacing is too fast and its more interesting aspects and questions are glossed over. In place of such exploration, there are silly moments that, though good at building character, do little for the essentials of a short story. Still, the artwork and transitons are pretty neat, and the prose itself is breezy and doesn’t dwell on the unimportant. Worth checking out for its silliness and visuals, but don’t expect the story to stick or stir up too much.

Stars In Your Eyes presents a cute story with a pertinent message that gets harmed in the execution.

Being a story focused on two disabled characters, the developer has chosen to add and take away certain features between two POVs. While the idea and the overall audiovisual execution of these aspects own their own, the fact that the POV shifts so often makes for a tiring, jarring experience. At the start, there are substantial developments between these shifts, but as the game progresses, these changes happen very close of each other giving the reader the disorientation of being jerked between two experiences while muddling them. That last point is especially true towards the end when these experiences are more intentionally melded.

Writing also leaves something to be desired. Most statements are composed of too many lines making it a wordy, though not necessarily meandering experience. That applies to dialogue as well, making for a very unnatural mode of speech and truncated flow of conversation. Also, the emotional payoff of a pivotal scene is curbed by how one of the characters cannot stop joking about it and gets no pushback for it.

Still, as aforementioned, the audiovisual depictions of these disabilities were well-thought out and make for an interesting idiosyncrasy on their own. The message too is straightforward and characters are understandable and relatable so it is rarely a dull project.

This project has a good message, but fumbles its delivery just a bit too much. Gets a sure recommendation for its qualities, but not a higher rating for the uneven execution.

Deep into sand, even for a prototype, is a very uneven experience. The background art is amazing and the one character sprite matches the vibes pretty well. However, these qualities are dragged down severely by the writing. Spelling and grammar mistakes happen often and the prose goes from passable to incomprehensible, especially during the action scene near the start. Other problems here include the barrage of unexplained terms, a lack of visual description and a confusing timeframe in regards to when the story takes place. There’s much polish needed to make this into something interesting, but in its current state, it is hard to recommend.

Made with Honey is an alright VN with not much of a point. Most elements of this project are of perfectly average quality and they coalesce to make a perfectly average VN. While that does mean there are points to improve everywhere, it also means it’s not a particularly poor experience. Some notable issues include little pay off and characters overreacting to some very mild twists the story takes, but even those aren’t much hindrance. Just very middle of the road in all aspects.

This project’s greatest achievement is making a complex story that’s structurally sound within the realms of a Game Jam. Going into its 20k word count, one might expect meandering scenes and confusing plot points, but the story itself is really lean and easy to follow. The writing does suffer somewhat for bouts of strange phrasing, wonky prose and unnatural dialogue, but pivotal moments tend to be unencumbered by those. There are also moments where the presentation is harmed by ill suited music, odd blocking and unclear transitions. Overall, I’m in awe of the execution of its main “gimmick” and that makes me willing to overlook some of its flaws. You Are Not Callum is a certified good time.

WALLS offers excellent drama masterfully and swiftly established with believable and relatable characters and well crafted dialogue. While that core is really strong a handful of aspects prevent it from reaching its true potential.

Most important in this are the audiovisual elements. Though everything is of pretty good quality, their implementation leaves something to be desired. Sound effects are often too low in comparison with a sparse and loud musical tracks, making the whole audio part awkward and uneven. The blocking is another very inconsistent element here, with characters sprites that appear on-screen without following an internal logic and some transitions failing to properly complement the time-space progression of the story.

Another problem, though minor, is the pacing. Most of the build up is paced perfectly but the climax and the falling action go by a little too fast. Readers don’t get proper time to linger in these pretty strong emotions which curbs their impact. There’s almost a rushed feel once we enter “act three.”

Still, I can safely recommend this one for that great core idea. Dialogue in particular works masterfully to build these characters and deliver most of the emotional impact. Even if it doesn’t get all 5 stars, it is honestly one of my favourite Novembears.

Politics is inextricable from EDHIPAC’s core and it brings much of its failings.

While not necessarily “confused,” there’s a noticeable unevenness to how the situation is presented and how compromises may be achieved. Characters are presented both as being too deep into their ideologies and easily influenced by very minor retorts. The “Prog” is particularly shown to have to bend over backwards for nearly every point the “Con” makes often and with little of the opposite happening. This muddles the intended message “learning and changing with each other” and instead leaning more in the favour of Con’s opinions.

The character interactions also suffer here. For too much of the story, the dialogue devolves into political debate, that doesn’t really get at the core of either ideology, only to end with “let’s not talk about this,” defanging its commentary. The whole experience comes off as shallow in the ways of understanding these ideas and how interpersonal compromise may be achieved. This culminates in the developing relationship between the characters feeling unearned, especially given how Prog was so resistant at the start.

As for technical aspects, this project is perfectly competent. Blocking, transitions, audiovisual effects and even the writing itself display a level of control and knowledge of the medium.

EDHIPAC is mostly alright, but goes more than it can chew. With the “can’t we all just get along” vibes coming off as out of touch and the developing relationship feeling cheap, this project fumbles the delivery of a possibly interesting premise.

Hervé is a cute story that balances well its melancholic elements with its subtler romance. When it comes to conveying character relationships, this project does really well at showing rather than telling. Characters are grounded, if a little too edgeless, and dialogue flows well. Hervé suffers with a couple of minor ESL-isms (where expressions and phrasing from the writer’s mother tongue manifest awkwardly in English), but nothing that renders the experience unintelligible. While the age difference between the characters plays a major role in their relationship, it is not very well established (neither visually or in writing) and can surprise the player once it starts to play its part in the story. Most of this VN’s issues are easily overlooked, however. If you’re looking for something easier to consume but not saccharine, Hervé will satisfy you plenty for its short duration.

Blast Damage Days was not made for me, but I enjoyed it well enough.

This project is yet another one with a good emotional core that suffers with its execution. Its most noticeable issue in that regard comes in the form of it coming off as the “poor adaptation” into an interactive medium. Speech tags make an appearance and they look very awkward in textboxes; not to mention, the info contained in many of them is made redundant by the fact this game has voice acting. Something similar happens with visual descriptions of characters readers can already see thanks to the sprites. And finally, long blocks of text that would perhaps come off inconspicuous in regular story, just looking awkward and bulky here, an effect strengthened by the use of NVL.

Other minor issues plague this VN. The writing includes some repetition that makes the prose a little tiring. How the project uses NVL and ADV formats makes for a disorienting experience. And an overuse of namedrops that serve to take the reader away from the story.

Now, there’s another matter here that curbed my enjoyment of BDD. This project was clearly made by and for a specific parcel of the internet, for someone who isn’t there, the experience really soured. This VN uses an abundance of “terminally online” lingo that probably sounds normal to the aforementioned in-group, but made me cringe and uncomfortable. As for those aforementioned namedrops, again, they probably make for this in-group, they alienated me more than anything. I tried not let these reactions colour too much of my review, however, it is a pretty big part of BDD’s identity and must be mentioned.

Even so, this project has a lot to enjoy. The emotional core and the journey the characters go through are grounded, relatable and feel natural. The VAs, especially Kritine’s and Ada’s, did and excellent job on matching these characters’ vibes and everyone aced their deliveries.

Blast Damage Days gave me more to think about then I thought it would. I stand by my opinions while assuring you this project is worth your time. But, do I think it would be better if it “cast a larger net?” I cannot say. I speak of my experience and when it comes to this project, I had a good time.

Hello, everybody. I’m Cardigan and I’m a writer and dev of FVNs.

My main skill is writing which I have honed working on countless short stories and my own project Four Seasons Apart. Aside from this, I have decent grasp on Ren’py and could work on programming smaller, technical aspects of the project. I’m also mildly skilled in image editing and audio mixing.

One of my strong suits when it comes to writing is romantic stories so this Jam is just my cup of tea. I also excel in interpersonal drama which jives pretty well with the theme.

I’ve worked on two game jams before this. During MAY WOLF 2024, I was the sole writer for The Wayward Tower, one of the most popular entries in that jam. I’ve also participated in Devtalk’s Spooktober jam (one of the largest VN jams here on itch.io) with the entry Phantom Echoes, where I was one of the writers and an assistant programmer.

And I guess that’s it! You can find me here or send me a private message on Discord, bluesky or FurAffinity.

Hello. I’ve tried to download the demo twice now and keep getting notifications about a Trojan in the game’s files. Can you guys find a remedy for this?

Congratulations! I’ve been looking forward to this!

A lyre is just a very early guitar, if you think about it.

What do you mean by that? Like, how long since it first came out? The answer to that one is 4 years, almost 5.

Much like the devs, there are many fans who are not from English-speaking countries! I myself am from Brazil.

An issue regarding 0.5.0’s Android release has been fixed. I apologize for the inconvenience.

Enjoyed my time with this one. The game is deceptively simple and that makes for a great story, but honestly it’s pretty hard to follow. My suggestion is making a graphic or a custom scene explaining the rules and situations more clearly and allow the player to open it whenever after the first explanation. Outside of that, story and presentation do a pretty good job of establishing and selling the stakes and characters in a really lean way. Even if I couldn’t fully follow the game, I shared in the MCs emotions.

This one was real good. Some of the best in presentation and story, delivering a good balance of action and drama that is sure to impress. I’m not big on some of its topics, but I think the “wizards in modern day” trope is handled well here. One of the best in the jam for sure.

This is another victim of ambition. There’s way too much the developer wanted to do and it all just doesn’t fit a month-long Game Jam. Multiple choices, apparently many paths, this was never going to be finished properly at the end of a single month. As to what is there, the prose is just very basic with a couple of semantic and grammatical errors. The way one of the characters reacted to the possibility of the MC being a trans person kinda rubbed me the wrong way (the whole situation did, actually, but I think, in part, it’s the intended reaction).