Shrug, that’s fine tbh. I personally disagree with you. This feels like it’s trying to reach teens and young adults with a lot of the more popular and trendy topics but you are free to have your own opinion. Agree to disagree.
Yours Truly, Miru.
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I think it is to be honest. These types of games are mostly targetted for a younger demographic, I am a minor myself and theres a lot of other minors here in the comments if you look, just from the way they behave and speak generally as well as past things they've said. I'm well aware that not everyone is a kid in her fanbase I do agree that some are adults, but children are more suspectible to this type of manipulation and exploitation from said creator. I don't quite agree with that point anymore myself, I know she can't control all of her audience, I think its more to point out that children will care more and attach themselves to fictional characters and will be more likely to review bomb or encourage their friends to rate the game. Also you can't deny that the jokes (rizz, getting bitches, etc.) are jokes speifically used by Gen Z and are new trends, this game feels like its trying to be hip with the kids and Vtubers as a concept are very popular among teenagers as well. And the reason I said to age restrict is not really for the suggestive material or jokes, those are usually fine, but for the very graphic content from before the game was released. Mostly because a lot of people were triggered or mentally hurt by this game and the way it handled suicide. Alot of other games with the same themes covered are usually also age restricted.
rereading it now I can see what you mean but the insulting comments and such, personally I was very put off by the very original post because they said they’d rather have way more negative games surrounding us rather then games that would help us as an already stigmatized group of individuals and that’s probably where the initial reaction came from. The “shame on you” was more so not directed at their mental illness but because their opinion was just not the best and I understand the stance of “no pro censorship” but I didn’t think or will never think putting media out there that will further push us into a regressive corner is going to help us as it is and that mindset is very harmful and I’m not sure how else it’s supposed to be interpreted. I’m just a very big advocate for accurate representation in media that doesn’t further hurt groups of people and maybe that’s why I’m so passionate about it. I don’t think I did it on purpose or was trying to come off that way, but I feel like even if you do have a mental illness you can still have a bad take on how it should be handled and I don’t think it should excuse you from criticism, cuz what OP said can very very easily be taken the wrong way. I think most of the issue stems kinda more so that you can’t read tone as well through text as you can irl and it can make someone seem more aggressive then their trying to be. I’m very open to discussion as you’ve seen and I’m sorry to OP or anyone I offended because genuinely it was not my intent, even if I very much so disagree with them I don’t wish harm on them/don’t think they’re not entitled to their feelings and I think I did come off pretty mean in my first or second comment rereading it, I’m not sure if I was upset because usually the only time I am is like when Apocalypsebeast insulted me which I think is a more justified reason. Thank you for trying to talk it out with me and explain it, I think a lot of people here jump to conclusions about actual intent and it can lead to infighting, which was not purposeful on my part (not sure about everyone else). Hopefully you understand what I’m trying to say, I appreciate it because with autism you aren’t really sure what your doing wrong until someone explains it to you thoroughly.
this.^^^ I think she stated it was supposed to be impossible or almost impossible, which is weird because that’s just blatant misinformation and dangling a piece of cheese over a mouse, but she could’ve benefitted from there being more time to develop this project and just being straight up with the “there is no happy endings thing” because it feels like false advertising with the whole impossible reviews thing and secret third ending which just blatantly untrue because there is only two, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This project is honestly just a mess, the games you suggested are so much better. Sorry for not originally stating that, I do actually wholeheartedly agree this game was scammy from the beginning and just think it’s a very interesting idea horribly executed.
I’m not sure if you want comments but I’m not going to pity you, but agree with what you’re saying. I also looked up to Jenny and have followed her for about 2 years and I thought this was going to be one of those things I would like, knowing I like both dating and horror games, and even with the warnings (though hidden) I still played because I loved her projects or stuff she helped with. Actually, I had a lot of negative feelings about this game before anyone commented because I played pretty early on and I thought it was just me who felt like it was sloppily and clumsily done and didn’t say anything due to fear and just feeling terrible for even thinking about criticizing my favorite creator and thinking I had my rose tinted glasses on as well, a lot like you. I just feel very disappointed? A lot of my criticism comes from a place of passion as a person with depression and maybe that’s why I felt so awful after playing and how it was portrayed. I didn’t feel like Jenny listened to me or her audience by deleting our criticism when a lot of us actually came from places of good faith because we all hope she makes good projects and look forward to her releases, which is maybe why I feel pretty bitter about this whole thing. Thanks for sharing how you felt and I relate a lot to what you experienced as someone who also looked up to her. But with game devs and idols you never really know who they are or what they are like outside of their projects.
I think what most of us are trying to say is that we aren’t so much so upset at Jenny for attempting something like this, it’s pretty unique and a good concept on paper, we just wish if suicide was done it shouldn’t be for shock value and I think she should’ve used this for a full project and not a game jam so she could translate her ideas better and have better pacing. I don’t think you should need a demo to feature suicide just to boast ratings and moral for your game, that sounds like a lame excuse to get people to support you and kinda manipulative as others have pointed out.I understand the grander scheme of the story she was trying to put out and what op was trying to say is that this is a good idea but it had very awful execution + it needed more time in the oven and a lot of this stuff should’ve stayed in development or very well been done better and in a longer format so you can really understand what’s really going on. I think Jenny limited herself to a game jam and that was kinda the root of the issue, not saying it’s a justification for the misuse of suicide but I think that’s where a lot of these issues could’ve been avoided and a lot more research as to not stigmatize her audiences trauma and experiences for likes and reviews. Especially since I don’t even think said creator struggles with these ideations themselves, or has never outright confirmed as such. Not that it would make it any better.
Thank you for the comment and caring about me, sometimes emotional regulation is harder for me and I struggle to convey stuff in a way that doesn’t sound rude mostly because of my autism and how I come off to people (just being honest and blunt and that can equal being mean) but I meant no ill will in my original commentary really and I don’t like the implication that I may have meant something else when I’m usually so blunt there’s nothing more to look into, I wasn’t trying to imply that nobody actually suffered from mental issues but I don’t think that’s a valid reason to attack someone for their opinion and hope their life gets worse and call them names for something pretty service level and non problematic. I’m also of the opinion we shouldn’t censor art and I agree with them, but I did not call anyone names in my original comment and I do not think it’s justified to try and say “well you shouldn’t have said your opinion or commented at all if you didn’t want to get attacked” which I’m not sure is what your saying but that’s what I got from it. I appreciate the concern but honestly it’s none of your business what my history is and trying to tell me the original commenter was justified in being so rude to me to make harsh comments about my character is kinda eh. Your probably trying to help but I did not ask for your unsolicited advice when I already acknowledged I could be wrong, I was only ever triggered by the fact I got called names and dragged for disagreeing with someone, I do agree more when the OP re explained their point but I can still disagree with them for how insensitive it came off. This should not just apply to me, this should apply to the other people as well. I was never really triggered to be completely honest, I think I was probably just too blunt for people to handle and I guess they thought I was being rude and they probably don’t like my honesty. Same rule applies to op, if they didn’t want to be criticized they also shouldn’t have swung their sword, not sure why I’m being targeted in specific.
Actually, it was claimed multiple times it wasn’t in the first build.I can attest to it not being added until about a week or so later because enough people complained about it originally if you scroll far enough because it should’ve been a no brainer for it to be there upon release, I was here from about day 1 and I have a log of it being updated in my following notifications. Even with the warning, it still shocked and confused a lot of people, though I understand your point. Here is some people pointing it out:
I understand this a lot better and get your point completely, this cleared some stuff up and helped me get more clarity on what you meant. I wasn’t trying to invalidate your feelings about you not liking DDLC, it’s a reasonable reaction to not like something you don’t feel like represents you properly and I think people will have a different reaction to all sorts of things, depression or suicidal ideations or anything besides that everyone is going to have a difference of opinion and not share the exact same sentiments 24/7 and that much I completely understand. I’m going to have disagree with the harm thing however, I don’t think it’s all black and white and good and bad, I see both the bad and the good in both games and I’m not saying either are the most accurate portrayals and even if they were, to some, like you said, they couldn’t be to them. I’m not saying DDLC hasn’t hurt anyone but it’s just kinda rare that I see anyone say it did, which is why I had my initial reaction to what you had said. I’m just behind the standpoint that I don’t think you should be preaching how people should release bad games about suicidal ideation and bad representations of mental health to profit off of when we’re already a very stigmatized and misunderstood group of people, and I think that viewpoint is harmful. There is pros and cons to a lot of games that deal with this, but I don’t think you should have this mentality when we do not need more of this out in the world when we’ve been treated like monsters and freaks because of it historically for hundreds of years and I think reinforcing the stereotype that people should continue to make bad games about us and not doing any research to approach a sensitive topic is not a very good take.
Thank you so much for your kind comment and backing me up. 🤍 I’m trying not to be too bothered by what they said and be as civil as possible, I genuinely appreciate the concern. I reported their comment and blocked them after my response for my own well being. It’s really really messed up that they said that when I had good intentions with what I had said and had meant it at face value wholeheartedly, and it was that mental health should be taken seriously and with care, and I guess that made me a horrible person to them. I don’t understand what set them off, but I hope they feel better 🤍
You’re allowed to disagree with my point but WOW. It hurt you, someone who was not even involved in this exchange, THAT much, to where you have to harass and want someone’s life to be worse because they disagree with you, how am I pro censorship?? I’d argue that’s more pro censorship than my points could ever be and resulting to insulting someone and calling them names instead of having a discussion does not make you look like the superior one in the argument and instead makes you seem a lot worse, you sound extremely childish, immature and you sound like a sad, lonely, miserable person and I can’t imagine anyone wanting to be around you because of the way you act. If your only argument is to verbally beat someone cuz they dare to not have the same opinion as you and get THIS heated about a conversation YOU aren’t even in, I think it shows just how cruel and hateful you are, how am I the reactionary one when your first thought is to harass someone and jump the gun because of a disagreement? This is literally against TOS. I comment on posts to give my perspective and communicate points I’m trying to make and I am actually willing to hear people out, if you look at the conversation I had with someone else in this thread. I am not for censorship, I legitimately just said we shouldn’t condone or support shitty representation of mental health issues because we are a minority as is and putting bad representation of us out there is not going to help us, that is literally the most basic, non-problematic, obvious opinion ever. If that’s pro censorship and I don’t want myself to be negatively represented in the media I consume and how people view my mental illness, then yeah I guess I am pro censorship in your eyes. I am also neurodivergent and I do actually fucking mean the stuff I say at the most face value, logical way possible and you implying that I can’t interpret stuff differently from you is actually incredibly ableist and hurtful. But yes let’s resort to calling a mentally ill autistic 16 year old on the internet scum and making false claims about me. You don’t know my situation and that is such a fucked up, HORRIBLE thing to say, outside of the primary argument. And claiming I’m dishonest when I’m very open about my opinion and what I mean.. and wanting my life ruined because I’m not allowed to disagree with you and have a good faith argument?? Yet I’m the pro censorship advocate in this conversation? You literally hope my life is awful and you don’t even KNOW me, literally all because YOU dislike MY opinion and determine that should be all it takes to completely hope to fuck up my life. And if I don’t agree with you then you berate me and call me a dishonest, horrible, disgusting person who’s pro censorship because I don’t want stuff that stigmatizes my mental illnesses more then it already is out into the world and instead want it to be understood. Think that actually speaks volumes on what type of person you are instead of me. I have not once insulted others for their opinion and I never once said I wanted their life ruined or hope their situation got worse merely from a difference of opinion. There is genuinely something wrong with you, this genuinely makes me sick. I honestly hope you let some kindness and empathy into your heart, and I wish you well, clearly life is not treating you well and I hope you get out of this dark time.
First, don’t call me broski. Second, Sayori was different because she actually displayed clear symptoms throughout the story, even after her death, directly or otherwise you had a lot more time to get to know her and even if she didn’t decide to tell you it was actually adequately explained why. (Monika’s doing and Sayori’s own trauma combined to why she did what she did.) Zilas was a bad portrayal because it made it seem like a split second decision and it was very unrealistic, especially since he literally set goals for himself and for the future and he literally sold his SOUL to Ryuk just so how he could have extra time with the protagonist, why on earth would he want to die? I understand what Jenny was trying to do, influencers are real life people too and they have feelings, but suicide in situations where depression aren’t involved are highly rare and highly unlikely. But I don’t think Jenny was given adequate time to actually explore this topic to the extent she wanted to and that caused ALOT of writing contrivances. I actually don’t think comparing DDLC to GL is a good comparison since one took years of actual development and one took a month. People should not do topics like suicide of depression if they do not have the time or motivation to do it in a proper and professional way. This is not me trying to say Sayori’s issues are 100 percent realistic and this is how every suicidal person should feel, I am merely saying the developers had different time frames and one was too ambitious and wanted to do a lot in a short amount of time which left a lot of plot holes and the other had years and years to think about how he could do it properly. Jenny should’ve saved this project for something else or released it in small doses instead of trying to dip her toes in everything at once and biting off more then she could chew. DDLC has its own issues, of course, but comparing it to GL and acting like everyone is comparing it to it is not a good take or comparison because one person said so.
Never said you weren’t. Just said this was a shitty thing to say and if you cared about what people are saying you’d acknowledge that people have different perspectives and points then you do and claiming people don’t understand art because of messy and shitty writing and plot points and treating it like it’s high art is actually just weird. Do not mince my words, I disagree with your point but I never once claimed you weren’t actually mentally ill and trying to throw in the “I like pancakes” “so you must hate waffles” point is petty and unneeded,I never once said anything like that and you saying that shows me you have not entered the conversation with an open mind and civil intentions. If your going to result to undermining my entire point by taking things extremely out of context, I'd rather just not even bother arguing with someone like you.
edit: grammar
Good for you that you dislike it, I’m just saying that the difference is one is well written and the other isn’t and that is apart of the reason why people like one and detest the other. That’s also apart of media literacy. I never said you couldn’t like it or that it was an accurate representation of your issues or all our issues as being mentally ill, all I said is that because it had nuance and made the characters likable and throughly explained a lot of plot threads and did a new and interesting story it is way more meaningful and memorable in that way. I’m tired of you guys trying to write this off as art when art has meaning and research and love put into this while this did not. That is the primary difference. Your main points were still bad and this doesn’t prove or deny anything, congratulations for disliking a universally loved game, you are so original and unique.
hmmmmmm idk no clue maybe because DDLC did it a lot better and accurately wrote Sayoris issues and struggles to be realistic instead of just shoehorning the suicide in? That’s just me tho 😂😂 you do your own thing bro! Have you ever considered that maybe execution is important and doing research on these issues before you write them is a good thing? Learn some critical thinking and understand media literacy and come back to me.
What a horrible thing to say. Mental health as is, especially depression, is already very demonized and misunderstood. People making a million bad games about negative streotypes about depression will only harm, not help and make it significally harder for them to get any sort of help. People who have these ideations and make these games about their own experiences usually do it in a respectful and carthodic way that does not harm anyone and these games barely get enough attention as is, so you pushing this mentality on other people and displaying it proudly on a creators page is actually very gross. You are pushing a very harmful viewpoint and if you cared about other peoples experiences and other fellow "mental healthers" you would not be saying this as it benefits no one but rather pushes them back into regressive and stigmatized corner. Shame on you.
Okay so, I had to literally physically go away and think before I came up with an answer because the leap in logic here is insane.
Yes, actually. There is right and wrong ways to potray mental illness. Shocking, I know. This comment comes off as very tone deaf for someone who seemed to struggle with ideations for a long time. I'm not saying you don't feel that way, I just find it weird that your implying we should let people demonize and streotype stuff we've been trying to get away from for a long time and its actually especially harmful and damaging for you to say that and excuse shitty writing for a game. This is like saying Split is an accurate representation of DID and yes guys! we should let a person with no experience with DID and doesn't have it demonize said illness and actually misconstrude it and use it for shock value, this isn't harmful at ALL to people with DID and letting them get help! you see the issue? Use this with any mental illness and this is actually a very harmful mentality to have. Her behavior only proves this point because all shes done with the suicide and murder endings is laugh at her audience and mock them for being unable to save him. "Better give me 5k reviews or poor, sweet Zilas is gone forever." and use suicide and murder as shock value and a thing to hold over someones head rather then to educate and show how suicide effects people which she fails at miserably. What your failing to realize is that, yes, while this may be entirely possible this happens irl, fiction does not equal reality and fiction is its entirely own thing and implying that it has to represent irl issues you experienced is harmful. Not everyone has the same experience as you and saying this is a realistic potrayal to you boogles my mind.
In conclusion, its actually a lot more harmful to spearhead the idea that mental illness can't be done wrong and let poor writing through the cracks is a very fucking awful thought process as it perpetuates the idea that we shouldn't hold writers accountable for doing poor research and let them get away with continuing to do streotypes we've been trying to get away from for years. While you may not take offense to it, other people do and we can actually differeniate fiction from reality. Not even sure why I'm arguing with a pfpless person on itch tho, you guys never have good points and are probably just Jenny on an alt and will never respond to my counterpoint. Very sad.
The problem most people have with the game is not because of not reading the warnings or whats going to happen (which actually orginally was the case because in the first build, in which most people played, it had not contained any and instead they were hidden on the itch.io page, which is not an adequate place to put content warnings for something as sensitive as this.) but the fact of how poorly written it is and how it was done in a way that was not well researched, well thought out or well done.
Firstly, no it is implied he committed suicide because of the hate comments and harassment he was getting. If it truly didn't bother him in some way, which it seemed to, why on earth would he do it? Was him ghosting the MC and hiding himself away because it hurt and stressed him out also not of his own volition like you seem to be saying? YOU are the one who seemed to miss "hints" right in front of your nose. The thing most of us don't understand is why Jenny decided to go about it this way, if it was truly just Ryuks doing, it was not thought provoking or well done in any way, shape nor form. In fact, we still know nothing about Ryuk, the cat was not in the story besides very brief implications and thats why we are confused. Ryuk feels very out of place in the grand scheme of the story and like the horror aspect was an afterthought. Its very lazy writing in terms of horror, and slapping a "give me 5 thousand reviews to revive him" at the very end and half assly explaining plot and story beats at the very end is HORRIBLE writing. The main point of writing is showing and not telling, which this game fails miserably at, from one writer to another. We see a lot of issues with this because writing needs to be shown adequately so things can be explained and neatly wrap up plot threads, this game needed a lot more revision and time in the oven and should not have been done for a game jam where these topics need a lot of understanding and grace to be done properly. Just because stuff isn't always explained irl doesnt mean that should be an excuse for horrible writing on a game about a complex topic.
Secondly, NOBODY IS HARASSING JENNY!!!!! And if they are, its not any of us. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and just say you are making a lot of this stuff up in your comment. Nobody is attacking or harassing Jenny, we are critcizing her writing because it depicts something very sensitive and something that needs to be thoroughly researched which in this case it wasn't. I actually scrolled and did not find a single comment saying what you seem to be implying, just well rounded critcism from people who struggle with depression or have lost those they love to suicide or murder, which Jenny has not which is why people are offended and hurt by the writing and how insensitive it is to people who suffer from it and most of us went in knowing the content warnings, just expected more nuance. Also, only one person compared it to DDLC, one person and the difference is that Sayori is actually well written and Zilas isn't. Your acting as if a majority of us said these things when we didn't to prove a point, which you aren't. We are allowed to criticize and give our takes on very real world issues and stuff we suffer with on a published product. Part of being a game developer is accepting criticism and recoginizing when YOU release a product or project into the world, people are free to do what they like with it and just because the developer is a smaller one doesn't negate them from any and all criticism, what stupid reasoning. Your failing to realize the difference between harassment and criticism when most, if not all, of us want Jenny to be a better writer and still stand behind her because she has worked on amazing projects and knows how to write good and thoughtful stories, which is why most of us are disappointed in how she went about this and went about addressing it. Jenny isn't an "uwu poor vicitim" getting harassed, maybe read the reviews that seem to be 'harassment' to you and recoginize the game dev and lead writer has done problematic stuff and deserves criticism for her actions instead of writing it off as harassment.
For someone who claims to not be defending the lead writer and producer, you sure seem to be ignorant to a lot of what people are saying and ignoring most of our points for the sake of defending said writer, and making an account just to protect them tooth and nail kinda shows what side your actually on. Good grief.
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.
This is geniunely one of the best games I've played regarding abuse, gaslighting and other forms of manipulation. I'm not going to spoil it for anyone who wants to play as I highly recommend it, but I will touch on my personal feelings. I've went through something similiar to this and the way it was put together and structured was a very realistic approach and very well researched, it made me feel a lot of strong emotions, bittersweet ones. It made me cry, it made me smile, etc etc.
I want to personally thank everyone who worked on this game, from the writers, coders, artists and devs for making such a beautiful masterpiece thats both horrifically accurate and horrifically nostalgic to those who have gone through similiar experiences. Putting stuff out like this helps people learn and understand abuse, and it could help them realize they're in abusive situations themselves without knowing.
I always see abuse portrayed as hitting, verbally berating, etc, and while those hold true and are very real, it's nice to have a game that accurately portrays gaslighting and more subtle abuse in a realistic way that doesn't demonize the victims of these situations, as they are hard to get out of, and even harder to understand. So thats why I'm thanking you from the bottom of my heart, I feel heard and like I finally have a game that represents some of what I went through. I've honestly thought about this game for hours and will continue to think about it even after that.
I will keep singing my praises about what a gem this game is, from the graphics, the music and the story. You and your team are truly amazing. Have a good night/day/afternoon, thank you so much for your hard work.