itch.io

this was awesome, im glad i took a chance on it! i didn't expect such a detailed, highly realised game or setting. the little portraits of random customers were so cool and not something most games bother with.

the writing was great, and the characters all endearing in v different ways which i wasn't really expecting; i was anticipating that id have a hard time liking or connecting to nyargh since he looks so inhuman but i immediately was charmed by him! the characters and their problems felt very human(ha) and realistic despite the outlandish setting, but despite that both them and the setting also didn't feel like just typical humans or your average setting; the otherworldly monstrosity stuff felt well integrated into the story and the characters and like an asset, not an afterthought. i kinda got some magical realism vibes from the whole thing!

a really small thing i noticed but was impressed by, you handled having a gender neutral protag really well! most of the time i find in dating sims or the like, a gender neutral protag (as in where the mc's gender/sex isnt referred to, not cases where u have the option to pick ungendered pronouns or wev) is used for the sake of ease or laziness and is executed awkwardly and sticks out, and (though this prob only is smth that bothers or is felt by me lol) instead of making the game inclusive/queer/lgbt/etc, basically eliminates the possibility of a portrayal of same sex/gay relationships. here i felt no awkwardness, it was very unobtrusive - perhaps because Vil already knows the characters that we meet, there were no awkward moments of 'if they aren't assuming the MCs gender from their appearance/gendering me why am i gendering them from it?' etc, or references that only make sense when you assume Vil is a specific gender.

even though we're introduced to the characters midway through their relationship with Vil vs meeting and getting to know them as the MC does, the writing is great at getting across the characters individual personality and relationship with Vil quickly without hitting you over the head with exposition. by the time i got to the honey shop i felt settled into the rhythms of Vil's life, and felt a warm sense of familiarity towards their job and the characters.

really great game, it was enjoyable and interesting! better than many paid ones.

this was so fun and charming, def the best rpgmaker game i've played. i'll be sure to buy the full version when its out!

altho a bug i noticed is that even following the walkthrough it's not possible to persuade aya, the 3 correct options you have access too at that stage arent enough to fill the bar

The writing was great. 'You don't even feel sad. Just nostalgic.' that line killed me!

biased bc vtmb is my fave rpg of all time, but this also stands on its own merits. beautiful art, some nice jokes and an overall poignant story. only complaint is its length but its a game jam so. 10/10 would buy full version

Thanks for your response.

Your decision to have Vincent call the MC wife makes perfect sense to me esp wrt your explanation; what he wants of the MC is a very specific very gendered role. hope I didn't come off as too harsh, you did do a great job of having the MC possibly being anyone, which isn't easy an easy task at all. I'll have a look at the walkthrough.

I purchased this on steam a while ago. I can't really pass judgement yet since I've only finished 2 routes. I like how different the characters seem though.

But I do have one complaint: the game doesn't seem fully committed to having a nonbinary protagonist , it seems to be more to cut down the work of changing pronouns or descriptions than anything. This isn't set in a world where gender and sex don't exist;the MC assumes just based on appearance all the female appearing people they meet are women etc. But people don't really do the same to the MC, somehow percieving them as genderless without any previous discussion despite this apparently being a world where the MC judges everyone else's gender based on their presentation and/or sex. Vincent refers to the MC as their wife and, and talks about them baring his children the only problem the MC thinks about that is that they didn't agree to it, not you know, they aren't a woman and/or  are male, which makes it kinda clear the MC is supposed to be female and not very adamant about not being a woman. Which is fine just I was hoping to be able to choose somehow or even if the game didn't allude to the MC's sex or gender, play all the romances as gay and lesbian or at least neutral. But with Vincent's route, (and possibly some of the others I haven't done yet) this isn't really possible. It's not a big deal I was just expecting non binary protagonist to mean non binary gender and getting to choose the MC's assigned sex or with their sex not mentioned. Rather than either being female or appearing enough so people assume and not preturbed by being called female or capable of giving birth. It feels a bit lazy since it would have been easy to put an option to say something don't you mean husbandor what you're asking me is impossible i don't have the parts required to bear you children you crazy, hell even if the MC is female just have think about being upset or annoyed he's calling them their wife or wev.

this is a super minor complaint i'm sure most people didn't notice, esp if theyre women and projecting their gender onto the mc, so i hope this doesn't sound too harsh. just was a little weird to have the mc not bat an eyelid at being called wife after not referring to themself as anything gendered.

it strongly reminds me of the vampire the masquerade videogame (the bloodlines one) which i love because thats my fave video game of all time.

great job i didn't expect that at all