To preface, I played this a couple weeks ago at the recommendation of a "friend" - one I'm not particularly happy with at the moment. This was before the content warnings were added to the game and I didn't even think to look for that stupid hidden dropdown in the description. The game looked cute and my "friend" didn't say anything so... After sitting on it a few weeks to avoid any knee-jerk feelings, I decided to make an account to actually post a review.
1) The Death Note references(???) Why? Why make such an important part of your endings, not only so subtle and quickly moved past that most didn't catch it, but based on an entirerly different piece of media created by a different artist that a large part of your players hasn't seen? I only know from reading some of the comments that they were even there and what they meant.
2) If the author was trying to impart that streamers are people too and the harm of parasocial relationships - points which were honestly coming across rather well for the majority of the game - then why were all the horror elements and weird references hamfisted in?
Why was the first ending most got just a *very sudden* disgusting CG of Zilas hanging himself before the game just ends?
There are so many other ways it could've been done if the writer was determined to go that route. Zilas could've disappeared, it could've ended with a goodbye note or a phone call - hell, even just the MC finding blood splattered around his empty room. The only reason to end it with a very visual hanging was to shock and disturb the player. THIS is what people have a problem with. No one wants to see their struggles, their awful ideations, what they've lost friends or families or lovers to used as some disgusting, rug-pulling, contrived plot twist. A ploy just to rake in undeserved ratings for a rushed game that was initially presented as just another cute romance VN, until the developer received enough criticism that she was forced to show some reluctant concern to her players. Just enough to add a condescending warning to the beginning of the game, mind, not actually attempt to adjust the problematic plot or listen to any other feedback.
Whatever message the writer was going for got muddied and lost among all the weird and unnecessary twists she decided to add. To anyone who doesn't get the references or play more than once ( I've lost any and all interest at this point) it just looks like Zilas suddenly hung himself after one spike of bad publicity, with insufficient buildup or warning signs. If it was really the cat that did it, then what was the point of any of Zilas's struggles with streaming and having to handle streamer drama and criticism in the first place? It all just falls apart at the end.
3) To this writer and any others: if you don't have first-hand experience or haven't done copious amounts of research on a mental illness or any other sensitive subject matter... consider just not making it part of your story? Because not only will you likely deeply hurt and upset a portion of your playerbase who have had the misfortune of being affected by it personally, you also risk negative criticism (in case the former doesn't concern you.)
Now that I know that her players' mental health isn't even on her list of concerns until it directly impacts her, I won't be touching anything by this developer again. It should never have taken two months after release to add content warnings to the game.