#if found

[taxbywaxworth]

YOU play video games to feel powerful. I play video games to feel new, previously undiscovered shades of grief and sadness. we are NOT the same.

[rainbowravioli]

↳ Video Games played in 2023 Part 1

[videogamepolls]

Have you played If Found... (2020)?

Yes

No

I watched someone play it

I've never heard of it

Voting ended onOct 31, 2024

Requested by anon

[camfusedly]

IF FOUND... IS GOOD (Video game review)

This indie visual novel is extremely heartfelt, and extremely stylish.

It has two plot lines: Set in the 90s, the main plot is about a trans girl named Kasio who transitioned while going to university in Dublin, and now is returning to her hometown on Achill (an island in Ireland... say that ten times fast). As she dreads, her reunion with her mother and brother is tense, and she flees the house to stay with her friend and his band, who are squatting in a decaying mansion.

The secondary plot is about an astronaut who finds a black hole, and attempts to protect humanity.

Kasio's parts are told as if we are reading her journal, and the next "page" of the game is revealed by "erasing" the image in front of you.

While there are parts that are told with normal dialogue boxes and reused sprites like you'd expect in a visual novel, a significant percentage of the game has unique art, which is just baffling to me. (Someone on Steam was complaining about the game's price (just $13!) and I'm like.......... we have to pay for the artist's carpal tunnel!!) Some of it is kind of "sketchy," which matches the journal motif, as if the visuals are drawn by Kasio herself.

An example of a page that is not done being erased

Of course the erasing is thematically resonant to the story of a young woman dealing with hostility from her family and feeling unwelcome in her own hometown, and also to, you know, black holes.

In a normal visual novel, you might be clicking pretty fast, to the point that you're clicking about as fast as you can read if the lines are short, meanwhile in If Found, the erasing mechanic really makes you slow down, which contributes to the moodiness of the game, and the sense of time passing slowly in a place that's the same as Kasio left it. The uneasy moodiness is also amplified by the soundtrack and by a visual movement on the screen that I don't know how to describe, but it gives the visuals kind of a texture.

Anyway. It's a fascinating, beautiful, and heartwrenching game. If you are intrigued at all, I definitely recommend checking it out.

And now here's a dump of screenshots!

[prairiepoppy]

[whisper-and-tangle]

Save 50% on If Found... on Steam

If Found... is a game about going home, coming out and erasing everything.

If Found is 50% off rn and im BEGGING everyone to play it. It's a story-driven visual novel about an aromantic tgirl in 90s Ireland trying to survive after leaving her abusive family. I can't say much as it's best to go in blind, but GOSHH I TOTES CANNOT recommend tghis game thignys enoughs:3:33:33!!11X333

The game's description gives a better explanation of it than I ever could.

If Found... is a game about going home, coming out, and erasing everything.

It's one of the best queer visual novels I've ever played and if you're transgender this WILL make you cry/silly

I genuinely can't recommend this enough. Go in blind. pls. this game is only 3 or so hours long but it's an experience i think everyone should play. PRETY PLEASEESSPLSPLSPLSPSLSSS:3:3:33!!1X3333

[shortonegaming]

Join us Saturday, June 24 as we celebrate Pride Month with a 12-hour charity stream on Twitch! We’ll be raising money for The Trevor Project and featuring games with queer narratives and/or by queer creatives. Come hang with us for a good cause!

https://www.twitch.tv/shortonegaming