Recent reviews by American Dove Mitten

This is a review copy*. I'll buy a copy for a friend to support the game.

Always a pleasure to play an isometric adventure game, we really don't get that many of them aside from the occasional Brotherhood game, especially with such crispy looking backgrounds, looking very much like a late 90s RPG. Unlike the Beautiful Desolation, this game has a very vanilla post-apocalyptic tone, it's not really trying to be unique in that sense, not too different from Fallout in the presentation, just more grounded and mostly about the people, but what it does well are the characters and highlighting their perspectives on the world around them.

I would say the game is around 5 to 7 hours assuming you doing most of the puzzles blindly, it kinda depends, there are 2 specific puzzles that I wasted hours on, but I am not counting that toward the length, I think they just need a bit more guidance. It has a little bit of replay value, I don't want to comment too much on that because I think it will be more fun to discover it for yourself, it's a good idea to keep a few load points because there are a few things that can be done differently. Actually, I read all of the dialogue which is very rare for me to do, so that added to the playrthrough because I was taking my time enjoying the mood - I thought the characters had good chemistry and I liked the tension between them. The game stays within a gloomy tone for the most part, but it also had some hilarious moments, I loved the scene with the chair and the slow printer.

Honestly I am kinda happy that the game is not voiced in English, if it was I probably would be complaining about it like I usually do, I assume that is Finnish, somehow fits so well into the theme of the game - I even learned a new word, Nyt.... Nyt.... Nyt....Nyt.....(means now) (/-_-\). I thought the game had a stellar soundtrack, or the lack of, mostly just noises in the backgrounds, sounds of crows, sounds of the wind, and other environmental ambiance, kind of brave choice on your part, but it worked very well for the game. I really like the little details in the sound effects, you would hear a different floor tile from sand to wood to metal in like 3 seconds crossing the rails.

About 80% of the puzzles were pretty chill and relatively intuitive, I had a problem with about 7 in total, and I had to ask dev for help with one of them, the DLSS one. You can get stuck occasionally for sure, but I think the problem is that the dev added a bit of a unique angle to the navigation, some of the puzzles are connected by the electricity between the different sectors, and you always have to keep that in mind if something is not working. On that note, you can actually use the map for instant travel, kind of a nice feature that I don't see that often. The game is not using the "hotspot system", going for a simple glow instead, and my take on that is that it really depends if the game needs one, there were a few hotspot issues with the small items that don't look interactive, but overall it wasn't too bad.

There is one more thing I think this game did extremely well and I want to make sure I articulate it properly because it's very nuanced and I want to make sure I give you credit for it. Maybe an example would be better, you know like those photos having a different sound Q associated with them, it feels like you take a lot of opportunities to show how the character is feeling in the moment, what the character is looking at, and even being a bit playful with animation where most games would give you a generic text comment. You always have a feeling like you interacting with things and exploring your surroundings, you even went over the top on the UI aesthetic for the different objects, nice effort there on the old computers.


(+) I didn't comment much on the visuals and illustrations, mostly because I think the game looked perfect for what you going for, very nostalgic isometric feel to it, nice shading and texture in each location. The cutscenes looked great, the extra animations for silly interactions was a nice touch, and even nice design on some of the less important things, like you did nice job with the UI for computers and panels. Awesome work on that notebook look as well.

(+) I enjoyed the characters, very nice of you to give the player choice to not put up with the NPC mentallity hehe. Interesting ending for sure, I thought something like that might happen, but you really didn't hold back. The dialogue had a nice tension between the characters, I read pretty much everything because I liked the suspense. You can also make a few different choices during a playthrough, but they not super obvious. The game had a nice balance of world-building and occasional jokes, it never felt too overwhelming though.

(+) Honestly, probably the best sound design I have seen in years, or maybe I should say more accurately how you are using the sound effects. Like that little stretch crossing the rails, the dirt, the wood and metal in like 3 seconds. Really interesting soundtrack choices with almost no music, mostly crows and wind. A lot of cool retro noises too with computers. Very atmospheric and immersive environment, gloomy and desolate, I can't say I was ever really out of the experience, aside maybe from that hilarious puzzle with the chair.

(+) Mostly good puzzles, I liked some creative choices you took with the electricity. There were a few funky solutions, there are always a couple, but I think if you provide a bit more context, I don't think the game is that difficult.

(+) Has fast travel to explored locations. 6 Save slots.


Some specific puzzles - honestly I think you should give the DLSS puzzles more guidance, including unlocking code. It's too easy for the player to apply their own logic there and get it wrong. For anyone playing the game, you can click on prompts on the computers directly, instead of the keyboard (I got confused because it's old technology). You already know how I feel about the random dog food. The last puzzle with the lights was a bit difficult I think, I hate those things personally.

A few subjective things - if I had to nitpick one thing about the actual experience, some of the backtracking felt redundant, the game has a weird realism logic to a few interactions. Also, that notebook animation seems to pop on the things you already interacted with, so you pretty much see the damn thing the entire time, it should only do it once per unique interaction. I had a bit of stutter in a few areas when I would double tap, not too often though. The UI pop up for could have been bigger so it's easier to click the right thing.

As for not having hotspots, I don't really hold it against the game as long as you can find things naturally, and it was mostly okay, aside from a few very small items. I did miss the can and the panel in the corridor. The glow is a bit too faded in the daylight areas as well.

Overall Thoughts: 9/10

It very much feels like a game from a few decades ago, and I mean it in a good way, if you have nostalgia for the isometric 2D backgrounds and a slow-paced story, I think it's great. The soundtrack (or the lack of) was very creative, I found the game very immersive the entire way, the characters were interesting, the jokes were great, the nuances with interactions were cool, and I pretty much loved the whole thing. I did get very angry at the DLSS puzzles, it's the only time I really had to take a breather from the game because I was so frustrated that I could not figure them out. The backtracking could have been a little smoother, I think you stretched the game in places where I was ready to move on.

A somewhat niche genre of games I call "make your own ugly contraption game", using the game's system of simple pulleys, pretty much allowing you to transfer the momentum to create anything with wheels or rotation, such as cars, catapults, forklifts, detachable objects, and all kind of other abominations. It reminds me a little of the Gish's level editor, it feels closer to a creative tool than a video game. Dude, is that a Walker in the trailer, looks a little complicated, no?

It's a hard game lol, may look simple, but even making a line with 2 wheels is not as easy as it looks, let alone have things that detach and grab objects while you move around, it's actually a physics game with a lot of trial and error, you need to know how to create your own fun here, otherwise I think you may find it pretty frustrating. You can technically skip any level, but what is the point of buying the game then if you not gona play it, with that said, I wish the game was more rewarding for solving those hard stages, perhaps more achievements or at least better visual progression, the game sadly looks the same the entire way.

You can attach various behaviors to the objects which sort of allows you to make transformers, like you could make a car with a detachable hook, emphasis on you "could make", not saying you will be able to. There is definitely a bit of a learning curve to it, don't expect things to work as you expect them to.


(+) It's a game that does a good job allowing you to express your creativity to solve puzzles in unique ways, however, I don't think it's an easy game to pick up, and it's more for people that can create their own fun, I think.

(+) I think you did a good job creating unique challenges, I kind of like that game is not going easy on you, you actually have to brainstorm some of the puzzles, potentially for multiple hours.


For the jumping momentum, try to give the player more mid-air control, you made the momentum conservation a bit too heavy.

It's a good idea to give the game some visual progression, while I like the puzzles, it's not very satisfying if the entire game looks the same and you don't feel rewarded moving forward. I personally would have preferred an achievement for each stage after tutorial, just because so many of them are hard and don't reward you for putting in the time.

Overall Thoughts: 7/10

I think it's an awesome puzzle game for the right person. I use to love game editors like the one that came with the GISH, it's very much a physics tool that allows you to create basic machines, and it's not an easy game you can pick up and expect fast results. Like I said, you have to make your own fun with it, it's a game for creative people, not so much a chill puzzle game for the average player. Could have been a bit more rewarding with the progression I think, but I had my fun with it (think I will try to make that Walker one day)

For such a cheap game I didn't expect much substance, but it's actually a very clever exploration game with a lot of secrets, and sometimes secrets inside the secrets inside the secrets, I only managed to explore about half the content in 4 hours - it can be a little cryptic, but also a charming experience with disturbing vibes at the same time. It reminds of games like Fatum Betula, it's one of those games where you will have to think outside the box, some of the puzzles have solutions I have never seen in a video game, plus the game just **** with your perspective and logic a lot.

Surprisingly there is a lot of depth to the narrative, and while I could not find the endings that would give me more context, the game is somewhat thought provoking and written with a sense of self-awareness, I can't help but feel like the game is constantly making fun of me. I may not necessarily understand what the plot of the game is about, but you can come up with your own conclusion either way - something about your teeth hygiene, which I assume is a metaphor for something else. I thought the game was just very creative with the vibes and the design of the locations, you will meet all kinds of weird characters showering you with their existentialism.

There is a "time management" aspect to the game, but it's not real time, you just have to use the daily tasks as a form of resource because you have a limited amount of hours before the game ends. One thing that might help, you can actually save the game at any point, not just before you go to sleep.


(+) The narrative may only look simple on the surface, but I think you will find that this story is not as straightforward, the more you play it, the more complex and stranger it gets. I like the smugness vibe in the writing, the game is just so full of itself, and I love it. It feels like it has a lot of layers to the experience, all kinds of metaphors, philosophy and existentialism.

(+) I think the game does a great job rewarding curiosity, there are a ton of secrets, and all kinds of creative puzzles that go beyond the game logic. Sometimes this game would do things that I have never seen before in a video game, and surprisingly that happens more often here than you might think.

(+) At first I didn't think too much of the aesthetic, but once I found some of the hidden areas, it feels like you put a lot of effort into the design of the effects, and just the variety of the locations. Makes it fun to explore.


The only negative thing I can say is that I wish we could skip the dialogue because you do have to replay certain parts for exploration. You also may have made some of the puzzles a little too cryptic, I feel like I hit a wall half way into the achievements, which is not a bad thing, I just kind of have to consider if I really want to replay the game just to test a theory I have.

Overall Thoughts: 8/10

Very deceiving game, it's a lot smarter and more creative than it looks, there is a lot of content, tons of secrets, and intriguing story to go along with it. Takes a little bit of patience to get going, you not gona find the cool places right away, but there is a lot to digest here, both in terms of narrative and cryptic exploration.
The variety of retro locations and psychedelic effects was cool, there is a lot to look at, the writing is fun and often pokes at the player, if you don't mind the game feeling a bit slow at times, it's a nice little challenge if you want to think outside the box.

I have to be a little careful here because the game is only 25 minutes and if I say anything about the story I might as well just spoil the entire experience, honestly there is not much to it, the plot admittedly covers an uncomfortable subject, but as far as I can tell what happens to the character is exactly what the game seems to suggest. There are a couple of abrupt endings, they don't add a lot of context to the story, and I assume they end with the same conclusion for the character. There is a little bit of mystery with the imagery, although I think it's pretty obvious what it represents, and I assume what I see with her parents is a metaphor, and it's not meant to be taken literally. I thought the game had a nice sinister feel to it, and overall the visuals were very unusual for this engine, I kind of enjoyed it. Personally I would have preferred if the story had more layers to it, while I like horror games with mature subjects, this one is very surface level and it didn't explore any of the characters. I had a softlock in the train, but I was able to work around it by reloading the save point a few times.
It's not bad for the price, however, I think you could have tried to go a little deeper, maybe throw in a few twists so I am not expecting the most obvious outcome. Either that, or maybe after the ending you could have done something else with her family and keep the story going.

I have been following Octavi Navarro for several years and I love that you are still dedicated to your craft, after all these years still doing the show gimmick which is so rare to see in a gaming spectrum, and while I liked your previous games, I never found them to be particularly complex or unique, but this game is an exception, I loved the ending and I loved how emotionally charged it was leading up to it. Actually, I think the mood and suspense in a game were perfect, I don't think there was one moment that didn't belong.

You see, I thought I knew where the game was going, this is not the first game I play where you lock yourself in a room due to some emotional damage, it's actually a concept I see very often, but you didn't go with the usual conclusion - the story has a different type of resolution for the narrative, definitely not what I expected. The interactions with the characters felt very organic and wholesome, there is a nice balance of humor, rage, and many moments of tension. I like that the game is not afraid to make you uncomfortable, as someone that went through similar issues, it definitely reminded me of things that I don't like to think about, but still, I appreciate the game being very open about it. There were at least a couple of moments where I actually got a little spooked, not so much the jump scares, but the way I found his responses very relatable, like the one where he smashes the phone, just overall I thought the game conveyed his mental state extremely well.

Your pixel art is always top tier, I know not many people like this type of art especially when you working with the basic sprites, but honestly when it comes to this specific look, I can't think of anyone that does it better than you, I even recognize your work just by looking at it, you always go the extra mile on the details, and overall it just seems you are extremely versatile and can draw just about anything, the shading and the perspective always look so natural, I don't know how you do that. I assume the sound effects are from some banks, however, I think the sound design in a game was perfect, you guys manipulated the changes in the mood almost every 15 seconds, there is a good sense of changes in the vibes for each scene.


(+) Loved the twist, you took something I have seen many times, and put a different spin on it which contextually changed what I thought about the character. I thought the game had good balance of different vibes, there are jokes, there are moments of warmth and tension, as well as very good interpretation of just human suffering.

(+) Your art is always great, so that part never changed, and even more so in this game, despite the simple look, it has a lot of variety and animation for a small game, and I also like that you animated a lot of the silly things, you actually drew him peeing in a bottle lol. I like that you showed different perspectives and found a way to change the scenery despite that game essentially takes place in same room.

(+) I assume the sound effects are not all custom made, but you used them perfectly, the game had a really good atmosphere and you manipulated the vibes between the scenes perfectly.


No criticism from me this time, I feel like you realized the vision for this game exactly how you wanted, I didn't really notice anything wrong with it, not even in terms of subjective vibes, I think the game had a good pace to it.

Overall Thoughts: 8/10

As far as short games go, I thought the delivery was perfect, and honestly it's not even that short by your standards, felt like 80 minutes or so, I liked how real the game felt, I think the characters were easy to connect with, and I genuinely felt sorry for them. Probably my favorite game from you so far, hope to see more. As always the art and music were great, but you always do that part well, not to take it away from you.

I got my copy from the devs (thank you for the experience BTW)

My playthrough was about 7 hours, but to be fair, it might take a few more depending on how much you engage with the narrative and the collection. Overall I liked the game, if I had to nitpick something, the souls-like mechanics didn't translate well into the late game, I think the combat pacing worked well at first, however, the game makes it too easy to overshadow the strategy with the numbers, even if you doing little to no farming. After you complete the story you can unlock another optional difficulty and keep the stats for the next playthrough, although if you want to encourage me to play NG+ you need to modify the combat or content in a meaningful way. Don't get me wrong, I think the game does a good job with the world-building, and there are some nicely crafted character interactions in the same way it is enjoyable to explore the DarkSouls, for example, you can do a few locations out of order, but eventually, the game starts to feel more forceful with the navigation.

I liked the first 4-5 hours a lot more because I didn't feel like you were telling me where to go, at least not in an obvious way, but toward the end of the game I got a sense of tunnel vision because I felt like I was forced to kill enemies for 2 hours. I think one mistake you made, you should have made another regular location for the player to explore, and the whole psychological narrative at the end could have been dedicated to the last chapter only, not so much the actual cutscenes, but just the parts where you run and kill more enemies. Luckily for the game, it's not the only thing that makes this experience, there is still a compelling narrative with complex undertones if you are willing to read the dialogue and pay attention to all of the characters, of which there are many.

Technically, the game has all of the usual soul-like features that people refer to as "methodic combat", and at first I didn't have any huge problems with it, but toward the end, it became very apparent that this game is extremely biased toward spamming the parry. I didn't feel like it forced me to use any unique strategy for different bosses, it was always spam the parry and follow-up, sometimes you have to adjust your timing a little, but even doing it blindly was relatively consistent. Like with most of the games in this genre you could power-creep it if you farm the "bonfire" upgrades, but a strange thing here is that I didn't need to do much farming, I felt like the scaling of bosses and the enemies started to fall behind very quickly. You could adjust the difficulty in the settings, I am not a huge fan of that personally, I think the game should consistently increase the challenge toward the end, but here it felt like an arc, the end of the game was a lot easier for me than the start, actually, I beat almost every hard boss in 30 seconds just spamming, so I think something went wrong, not just the numbers.

The game still provides some limited build variety although I don't think it would change the whole spam-the-parry mentality. There are a couple of attack modifiers that can be combined using the primary and secondary slot, and you can sort of switch between them during combat to get different ranges, damage, and occasional utility like the slow. Also, you can equip various passives and companions that can sometimes modify how you approach the combat, but it won't change it significantly. You could technically build for the ranged upgrades, but I am not sure how that would pair with spamming the parry, I am sure you could make it work with enough time, I just feel like it would be slower.

Lastly, we have to mention my favorite part of the game which is the aesthetic experience, even the soundtrack is kind of unique with all of the different genres mixed into the exploration, did I hear some drum and bass there as well? We could just say that this game looks unique and pretty and that would be it, but honestly, I think there is a little more nuance to it than that. What I really enjoy here is that the look of the game kind of works with your imagination in mind, instead of showing you exactly what something should look like, the game sort of comes a quarter of the way and allows you to do the rest. Sometimes I would come across some weird effect and I am like, wait, is that the ocean XD. Honestly, I think most devs would not have the confidence to rely on players to enjoy the simple visuals, but it speaks to your ability to communicate your world effortlessly, more so than just the game having a unique aesthetic.


(+) I think the visual experience here is even more compelling than the souls-like features, there are many games that have similar gameplay, but not many of them can communicate so many different vibes with line drawings. Obviously, the game is not poorly drawn, if anything it just shows that you can be just as effective, if not more effective at making an enjoyable aesthetic because it works by using your imagination. In isolation, this probably would not work well for most games, but the way everything in the game comes together, it's a very well-put-together aesthetic experience.

(+) It's not the best representation of the souls-like combat in the long run, toward the end I felt the scaling overshadowed the mechanics, but it works well enough, and the game does attempt to have some variety with the combinations and different modifiers, I just wish you would add more mechanics to bosses so I didn't approach all of the fights the same way. Around the world, you can find different mods for both primary and secondary attack, as well as passive mods and companions that usually do ranged attacks. It has the usual bonfire upgrades, mainly you going for melee or energy+ranged build.

(+) As these games often go, it has a lot of optional lore support, if you choose to engage with it. It has a weird psychological narrative and from little that I understood of it, I thought it was good in the way it would allow you to find different parts of the story and just pacing in general, although I can't say that I knew what was happening, I am a bit of rock brain sometimes.

(+) A small note for the soundtrack, I felt like you would use the music that I don't think many devs would use, some of the tracks almost felt like drum and bass or jungle, some random ambiance in places as well, even silence. I thought the immersion and the mood were mostly perfect.


So Steam reviews have 8000-character limit, so something had to go, and I decided that my 5-page rant on the balancing was the most useless part of the review, but I kind of covered my issues with the game above. You might want to look into the HP of the last 5 bosses, even without farming the character will overpower them pretty badly. Like 2 combos = death, 30 seconds for the 'hardest' fights.

Overall Thoughts: 8/10

The visuals, the narrative, and the exploration were mostly great, the only problem I have is that toward the end, I started to have tunnel vision because the numbers overpowered the difficulty with little to no farming, I killed some of the hardest bosses in 30 seconds just mashing buttons, and I also think you made a mistake of not giving the bosses more unique mechanics so you not just doing the parry tactic the entire time. The last few hours felt a bit too forced with the linear gameplay, I think it could have been another open area instead, but overall, I still enjoyed the experience. The aesthetic of this game is the reason you would want to experience it, for me anyway, I played like 30 souls-likes, the concept does get a little old even if it's a good one, but I think the look of this game alone elevates it beyond just another game in this genre.

The game is literally 20 minutes so I can't write much of a review for it, all I can say is that it was nicely made for a short experience, you just need to make a bigger game, I would rather pay $10 for a 2-hour game than $3 for a 20-minute game. The retro aesthetic was really nice, one of the more enjoyable choices of textures that I have seen recently, even the darkness distance was used nicely which I don't see very often, with a few good psychological effects like making the previous location different. The ending and the plot felt completely ambiguous which is a good thing sometimes, but in this case, I thought you would give me something to at least speculate, as it stands I have no clue what the game was about, even though I was interested in the events. The combat was basic but had a nice idea with a good impact on hit, maybe if you had some type of boss fight and a few extra enemies for variety, I think it could go a long way. So yea. Very promising, I don't think you doing anything wrong, but please make a bigger game next time, at least 60 minutes.

Review Copy*

I really wish you gave me a bit more time with the characters, the idea is certainly very original and it had a good mystery going for it, if the ending was more impactful I would have no problem recommending it, but in the end, it felt like something was missing in terms of context, I didn't really understand how you are meant to interpret the last scene. The game is only 30 minutes and I don't think it had enough time to really nail that feeling of paranoia, even though I think you could have done it with a bit more context, instead, the whole thing happens in like 8 minutes so you not capitalizing on the best part of the game. About a year ago I played a game called Isolania which played with a similar idea of going insane in a small space, but that game was like 11 hours so it had a lot more buildup for the conclusion.

On a side note, the post-processing effect you added makes the words too blurry, and I think the retro aesthetic in this game looks much better without it. Luckily you can disable it in the settings. I also had a bunch of bugs specifically with the opening and closing of the capsule.

So essentially you play as a service robot, or at least that is what I got from it, and it seems there is some kind of unknown substance that affects the people that are on lockdown, the entire game takes place in 4 rooms, playing more into the idea of isolation and psychological decay. There were a few scenes with the characters that I liked, I think the few times you would animate their interactions the game felt a lot better, for example, the scene where he watches you or meets you at the start of the day, I think the game needed more moments like that building toward the ending, I wanted to see their mental state decay more slowly. I also think the game needed more moments with the characters just chilling, if you gave me a better idea of who they are, the ending would be more impactful. I think the narrative in general had the potential to be interesting, it just happened way to fast for my taste, and I wanted more time doing those advertised mundade tasks while watching the characters go crazy.


(+) If nothing else I think the game was relatively original, and I think you could have done a lot with the paranoia if we had more time with the characters, but in the end, it had a lot of good ideas which I feel were not explored enough.

(+) So if I am not mistaken the models are not custom made by you, but overall I think the retro aesthetic and texture looks decent, you can always give a little bit more detail, not so much the graphics but just the things in the environment to catch your attention.


You had my attention with the mystery, I wanted more time with the characters and get a better feeling of isolation, watching people go crazy in the small space is a compelling idea, but it just happened too fast. If you would add maybe a few extra days just me watching the character chill and interact with me I think the overall experience would feel more complete, I also didn't really get the ending, not sure if it's me or maybe you didn't explain it enough. Overall if you could put a bit more effort into character emotions, make the models move at least a little bit so I am not just looking at static objects. The few times you get those weird interactions is when the game shows some promise.

There are all kinds of softlock bugs with the capsule depending on how and where you close it. The post-processing effect looks really bad in this game, but you can disable it, the only reason I mention it is because it made the game look worse than it actually is, why would I want blurry text.

Overall Thoughts: 5/10

It's an interesting experience for a low price, I was very much looking forward to where you would take the narrative, but I just didn't feel like you gave me enough to work with, it was too fast, I wanted more time with the characters and I wish you explored the idea of isolation and mental decay more slowly. You need to put more effort showing emotes from the characters as well, make them move a little, or have more interactions with you that are not just objects using dialogue boxes. I like some of the effects like that "hug", you need to do more of that.

I think the game is cool, I just wanted a little bit more effort with the details and context, that is the main issue, you had a unique experience, just not enough of it to really make it memorable for me. I thought about leaving a negative review, but in this case I think it's not so much that I didn't like the experience, I just need you to give me a little more substance.

Unending grief, panic attacks, hearing voices, drowning in the trash, not having a reason to keep going, I mean... enough about myself. I like how you combined mellow moments and sudden terror, thematically pretty different from other psychological VNs that I played, the ending with Mat was super depressing, I think the game does a good job whaling on the character, and the plot feels too close to the heart.

I was a bit confused on my first playthrough, but during my second run I started to pay more attention to the dialogue from "YOU" and what he actually meant for the character, I think there are some interesting details that become more apparent once you have the context from any of the endings. Even though I enjoyed pretty much all of the conclusions, I am a little disappointed that his identity was not left ambiguous, I feel like you made it very clear what it represents for the character. Essentially the whole premise of this game is that you share your head with someone, and as a player, it's up to you to figure out if it's just her thoughts or perhaps something else. There are 4 endings that can be completed in 60 to 90 minutes, so the game is only about 20 minutes without skipping.

I assume the OST is not original, but I still liked the music and the sound effect choices, I thought the immersion was mostly perfect, although the song was looping a bit poorly, and I had to raise the volume from 5 to 7 because it was a bit too low by default. I like that the VN panels were presented in a unique way, even though the animation was simple, it still worked for the experience. Aside from the endings, the routes were mostly the same, but I do like the detail where the shape of the monster adapts to the path.

The writing was pretty enjoyable I would say, it's not too complicated but it feels like there are many layers and small details that can be missed, I thought the interactions between the characters felt genuine, aside from a little bit of cursing which I felt didn't belong there, overall I think the story has a good weight and impact for the character.


(+) I think the game has an interesting combination of mellow tones and sudden terror, with impactful conclusions for the character. For the most part, I liked the writing and the characters, as well as the dialogue between YOU and his victim.

(+) Even though the art was simple, I liked the overall presentation with how the panels would appear, the perspective changes in the images, and just the simple but effective visual storytelling.

(+) I don't know if the music is made for the game (I assume not?), but I do think the choice was perfect. Very moody.


The only nitpick I have is that, you had 4 endings, but I feel like between them you very much answered the question that I don't know that I wanted to be answered, I wish it was less apparent who YOU was, I think that should have been left to my imagination. Not a huge fan of cursing in VNs, personally it just distracts me, I think the writing in this game had good attention to detail and it would be more effective if you kept it subtle.

I had a glitch where when I loaded the game the images stopped appearing, but I could not reproduce it.

The song loops poorly, there is a big pause, and the volume by default was too low, had to raise it to 7.

Overall Thoughts: 7/10

I kinda got exactly what I wanted from it, this moody experience with different tones and a bit of mystery, certainly could have been a little more ambitious with the endings, but I still liked the simple delivery and I still felt the emotional impact, especially with the call ending, I think it has a very realistic and relatable plot. Small game with a unique vibe, not super special but I am glad I played it.

This copy was given by the dev*

I was a little concerned with the dialogue in the cutscenes, the interactions between the characters felt very robotic, perhaps a bit forceful on the voice acting side (I wish the tone was more relaxed), and I didn't find them particularly funny, but luckily during gameplay, I still got a sense of playfulness from the main character, and I enjoyed the jokes with some of the puzzles. The game is extremely lighthearted which I don't mind personally, the only thing I would say, I felt like the characters would only have enough dialogue to get you to the next puzzle, I wish there was more dialogue between them, it felt like the scope of the game was very limited and they would not project enough personality.

The game is relatively short for the genre, about 2 to 3 hours compared to the average adventure game which is 5 to 10 hours in my experience, so I wish you had at least one more puzzle section in a different location. It does come with a walkthrough, you can just request a solution anytime you get stuck, which is fine in my opinion, also the game is generally not that difficult, and you can easily beat it just by eliminating the hotspots. No save slots though, it seems to just continue where you left.

I felt like visually the game was very limited in the variety, and it seems you were very conservative with the scope of the world, I did not like most of the cutscenes because the animation was very basic, but the animations during puzzles were generally enjoyable, as well as animation for the character just moving around. The locations also didn't have a lot of detail, although I still liked some of the background jokes, and hiding subtle hints in the environment. The game pretty much had only 2 locations, the castle and the town, so I felt like you needed to change the aesthetic at least one more time, just so you have some visual progression for the player exploring the world.

Puzzle design was probably the better part of the game, even though most of them were not logical at all, I still thought the solutions were funny. For me, memorable adventure games are those where puzzles can make you laugh, the way you make me think outside the box and how they would impact certain characters was the best part, so at least you got that down.


(+) Even though a lot of the puzzles were not logical, I still think the solutions were generally playful and creative, I had some decent laughs every 4 puzzles or so. The only puzzles I did not like were those where the solution didn't feel practical, like using the crossbow in that situation. With that said, I think the way you would incorporate side characters in the puzzles and how they would impact them is a good habit, with a few nitpicks I generally think this game has good puzzles that are fun and not difficult.

(+) As for everything else, I felt the game had poor consistency, yes there are some funny dialogue lines, yes there are some parts with decent animation, but it felt like overall you could not put everything together with the same level of quality. To be fair, I do think you generally had the right idea, the game does a decent job poking at the character, so maybe it's just not having enough people to make something bigger and more ambitious.

(+) Comes with in-game walkthrough and hotspots. No save slots though.


Especially with the cutscenes, I felt like the dialogue and the writing was very rigid and I think the voice actors were trying too hard, I think it's on you to make sure people can relax and have a more organic performance when you direct them. To be fair, I didn't feel it was a big problem around the town or during the gameplay in general. I think it's a combination of the writing not being very playful or interesting in some parts of the game, as well as not having a good pace between the responses, sometimes it would feel like 2 people reading their lines but not being in a conversation.

The animation and location detail was decent in some parts of the game, so I can see that you can do it, but it was not consistent overall, especially at the start of the game during cutscenes. I understand if you have limited resources, but I do think you should find that consistency so I am taken by surprise when something feels more low effort than the rest of the game.

I do think 2-3 hours is bit too conservative, I felt like the game needed at least one more puzzle section with a biome change. Usually in the same price range, these games are 5 to 10 hours.

Overall Thoughts: 6/10

I generally think you have the right ideas on how to make a good adventure game, I would say at least 70% of the game was very playful and interactive with the way the puzzles would poke at your logic, just occasionally lacking on the dialogue execution and feeling too robotic with some of the characters. I still enjoyed the game visually, but I felt like you should have kept it more consistent with the quality, sometimes you would animate really well, and sometimes it felt like only a small part of the character would react. Maybe not a fair criticism because I don't know your situation, but I wish the game was a little more ambitious in size, it felt like it needed another location or 2 to add more visual variety.