This was so???? The emotions I felt while playing were so deep. Usually I'm able to separate myself from the MC in visual novels but I actually found myself genuinely empathizing with the MC more. How they felt losing their spouse, seeing the love they felt for Original!Seto. I expected him to be a Lost Lenore type, a faceless, vaguely perfect background backstory to add angst. But I actually felt so sad seeing their life before, how we loved him and he loved us so genuinely. To the point that when Android!Seto showed up and his textbox said "Moonlight" I was immediately like "MY HUSBAND CALLS ME STARLIGHT!"
Impeccable writing.
Also hats off to the VAs, chef's kiss to everyone. Especially Felix and ENVI. When Original!Seto talks you can practically see the fondness in every word which really contributed to making me fall for him (rip honey i'm sorry i banged your android but in my defense. it's 2025 I had to fulfil the prophecy)
I am so looking forward to whatever comes next!!!
This is so beautiful omfg CAMILLE!!!!!!
Ngl I know which ending is the unambiguously "Good" option but like. Is it wrong that I prefer Ending 2? Fix them? Nah. Make them worse. Make them so much worse. I am the wife now.
I also love the background characters too. The implied story with Adela ad Dorado, Pascal too. It's such a fantastic self-contained plot that leaves room for imagination.
This game reminds me of that Edgar Allan Poe story The Oval Portrait, where an artist becomes so obsessed with painting his wife to detail that she dies while sitting for a portrait and he doesn't notice for literal weeks.
Damn this game is so good. I want to gush about everything the art the music the UI the plot!!!! But rn in the most respectful and normal way possible, I want to make it clear that am about to become everyone's new stepmother. Idc if Pride is a little evil, as long as he pats me gently on the head and tells me I'm doing a good job
as i said in my the discord channel, this house may be haunted af and i may be experiencing horrifying visions that send me into manic writing episodes that last for days on end, but more importantly. aster are u free tonight???
with enough confidence and panache i believe we can one day smooch the horrors
Thank you so much for writing this. Hanahaki disease has always been a touchy subject for me as a grey aroace. The idea of someone falling in love and then blaming me for making them sick, the fact that it is a trope that pretty much explicitly states "PLATONIC LOVE IS WORTHLESS HERE. FAMILIAL LOVE IS WORTHLESS HERE. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KISS THIS PERSON YOU MIGHT AS WELL SIGN THEIR WILL AND TESTAMENT RIGHT NOW". The guilt that it inspires worse than the claims that already exist in the real world. That someone having a crush on you means you MUST give them a chance because if not you're a horrible human.
My favourite scene was the depiction of the cycle. Abuse, gifts, abuse, gifts, never speaking, never confronting, the sibling trying to help you see past the fear and repetition. It got to the point that my own memory irl began to blur. Haven't I read this already? How long has it been? Am I rewinding scenes? What is happening? Is this all there is?
And then Ending 4, gashkls god that took me out. I think I cried a bit. I need to sit with this for a while.
When a game lists out more than a dozen warnings, which include SUICIDE, MURDER, GUN VIOLENCE, etc. You should be able to put together that this is a violent game in which the MC will likely be a victim of said violence. Like. There are so many TWs and the game says multiple times that there are no good endings.
I played through this game in one sitting and ahhhh it was so good, no regrets. My favourite Luca just because I appreciate a man who is open and honest. We love a man who communicates and isn't afraid to put himself out there.
My second favourite is Mark, which like..................ya'll don't even understand the whiplash I went through. I played his route last and he kept appearing in the other stories like my brother in otome hell can you not pick fights with my dates??? So by the time I reached him I was stressed. The first chapter deadass had me taking deep breaths like don't back out, we can get the good ending, just keep going DON'T SHUT DOWN BE STRONG-
AND IT WAS WORTH IT. He is so cute and vulnerable, AND HE PLAYS OTOME GAMES W/ US baby we have no choice but to stan.
The game is fantastic and while I do agree that it needs some polishing (particularly in the English translation) the other criticisms read more like subjective issues rather than objective problems. It's one thing to point out that the grammar is off or that the word choices feel off, it's another thing to claim that the art and story need touching up because you personally don't like the colour combos or the MC being kissed on the first day. You're right that it's a demo and we don't need everything up front, but the point of a demo is also to lure in players and sometimes that lure is being able to kiss a hot dude.
Holy shit, this was so good I'm keeping spoilers under the cute
Okay the first time I played I was like "oh hey, he seems cute" like I did choose cats, spring, yellow flowers so I was like yeah that makes sense, he seems nice in a desperate sort of way. Then when he was panicked about the news and started talking about the garden shears I was like "hm this sounds like foreshadowing i wonder what for"
Then in my next play I deliberately chose other answers and got John ONLY TO WATCH AN INNOCENT DILF BE MURDERED LIVE ON SCREEN BY CHEKHOV'S GARDEN SHEARS. ASHTON HOW COULD YOU. HE CALLED ME KIDDO. HE HAS CHEST HAIR AND SCARS.
This omg. Idk if it's because I'm studying to become a psychologist (working and getting my masters rn) but every scene with Adam had me like "I want to put this man in a lab and study him like a bug."
The psychodynamic theory isn't my preferred view, but this man is exhibiting so many defense mechanisms. Denial and projection of his violent tendencies onto other people as sacrificial lambs that will make him 'pure', extreme repression based on good old fashioned Christian Guilt, displacement, and reaction-formation just to name a few. My brother in Christ, just admit you've got a very fucked up crush.
So glad he's not my patient bc I want to beat this man up so much <3
I don't think there's a way to program disorders into an RPG in a way that won't feel like your character is being railroaded into certain choices/emotions. You'd probably have to just select whatever fits the in-game event based on context and personal opinion, which isn't hard since the games does include a lot of response variations.
Oh this was such a good game! I think my favourite thing about it is that the MC (Marlowe) retains a strong sense of self, and the plot is not shy about calling Niall out for his treatment. It was very interesting, and the GUI was definitely my favourite design choice. The way it changes as the disease spreads, the fact that the options menu and CG are shown via a side-view of the brain, the save option is a microscope etc. So good, 10/10.
Rambling down below:
It was also a fascinating thought experiment as to whether a creature like Niall even recognizes what he's doing as abusive. He's a single-celled creature who, by nature, requires another living being to survive. He is a parasite (symbolism!) and if your entire survival and propagation is dependent on another living being then wouldn't you love that thing? Especially if it could talk back. If it could tell you that it loved you too. You don't want to die, but you don't want your host to die either. Yet neither of you can live with the other. Something something metaphor something something idk
