Bruh review the new version of TKaTB bruh because WOWIEEEEEEEEE
I've found that I don't usually do whole reviews on the updated versions of the visual novels I've already written about...but I find it dope that this implies that you lowkey want my unhinged, scatterbrained story telling. Also, big preesh for keeping me straight lol, because, once again, I've been meaning to get around to playing the update, and I just haven't, which is extremely disrespectful. But anyways! I'm yappin' way too early...
TL;DR: HE HIT IT FROM THE BACK. I REPEAT. HE HIT IT FROM THE BACK! ... technically ... we need to have a serious discussion about this thing called "consent", though...
Game Link: https://fantasia-kittcat.itch.io/the-kid-at-the-back-demo
Notable Features: Yandere LI, Custom Pronouns, Self-Insert (first and last name), Two LIs, 1+ Hour Long Demo
Spiciness: 2/5 or 8/5 -- Again, it depends on which version you get. If you get the regular degular free version, it'll be more innocent with some flirtiness here and there. If you pay for the NSFW version -- HIGHLY SUGGESTED by the way! -- it'll be way more sinful and the way that the Gods intended it to be.
LI Red Flags: 4/5 or 7/5-- Breaking-and-entering, possessive, drugged us, lack of consent, but that "lack of consent" goes even farther in the NSFW version (yes, even farther than in the previous demo) ... but I still can fix him, ya know? Like, that's bae
Wanna know more? If you are not 18+, ABSOLUTELY NOT. You will NOT put this fantastic game in jeopardy, because you're some curious 14-year-old. I honestly don't even want you on my page...but let's be real, are you actually going to listen to me? I hope that you do...ANYWAYS. My 18+ crew, let's get into it!
Almost an entire month with no visual novel review? Nah, we absolutely cannot let that happen.
You know what else we can't let happen? My constant disrespect towards this visual novel. Once AGAIN, the dev(s) ate and left absolutely no crumbs. Like, damn, can you at least leave the plate? Like-- Okay, wait, no, stop. I don't want to get too far into that, because the yap sesh will get kicked off way too early, and I won't have anything for the actual review portion.
That being said, I have done a review of TKATB before, but I'm doing an update of...well, the update. That also being said, because I'm trying to avoid parroting myself too much, the review is going to flow differently. ALSO! Once again, thanks to the bestie, I was able to see the degeneracy LIVE AND IN 4K and biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch~! Let me tell-- Wait, no, no, no, stop. Not yet. Later. We'll talk about that later...at least sorta.
Anyways, like always, I'll def try to make this as spoiler friendly as possible, especially since it's lowkey a different game at this point. Like, the dev(s) have added in extra SCENES. We have new CGs! Like...we've got CONTENT in this update, y'all!
Okay, for realsies now. Enough yappin'. Let's get into it, and y'all...there's a lot to get into.
So, effin' BOOM.
...Actually. Let's do this another way, because we already lowkey know the story. Again, if you don't, I made a review of it a few months back that will get you somewhat caught up. This time around, though, let's just talk and vibe. Enjoy some snacks or whatever, ya know?
Go ahead and pick; there's plenty. I've got me, like, three capri suns and some donut holes. Like, I'm really tryna get into this game convo with y'all because we're squad, ya know? So, let's get comfy while gettin' into it.
All right, so -- *big siiiiiiiiiiip* -- my husband Solivan Brugmansia, right? Let's discuss. Not about him being my husband or not, the game. Respectfully, check yourself. Anyways.
My Gods. that is bae right there. Like, gah damn...
For starters -- even though, I can totally fix him, and I want to make that very clear! My baby ain't do nothing entirely wrong! Like just- just give him to me. He is just a lil' traumatized and misunderstood; he is very capable of change. Like, I can fix him! I can! -- it's only fair to remind you that he is, uh, kind've batshit crazy. Now, the wild part is that I for realsies forgot that he is not entirely sane. Like, not even kidding about that.
This experience has been a sort of "Let me seep you into the madness" versus a "Let's make him insane off rip", and because it was like that, when he started doing typical yandere shit, there were -- specifically -- two different times that I experienced genuine shock. It was literally like, "Oh yeeeeeeah. This is a visual novel with a yandere love interest. Solivan's the yandere. He's not wrapped too tight. Ah, yes, I forgot about that factoid", ya know? The shit genuinely caught me off guard.
Anyways, still can't trust the orange juice, 10 is the magic number, and don't kiss Crowe...like ever lmao. You can dismiss the fuck out of that man, but he's lowkey a simp like Sol is, so as soon as you kiss him lmao...
Just remember that it's implied that Sol is, and has always been, keeping a close eye on you. Actually, let me back up a little. Let's talk more abo-- Oh, wait, do you need a refill? Okay, hold on for a second. Wait, are you good on snackies? You know what? I'll just grab everything, just in case.
...
Okay, now, let's talk more about the orange juice.
Never --
-- and I mean NEVER, trust the orange juice.
There was a moment that we got with Sol, and it was like, "...Aw :)", and then, he was like, "I made orange juice~!", and it was like, "...Aw :(". Like, lmaooooo, I thought we were past that, ya know? Like, I obviously like you! I have you at a 10! Why are you resorting to nonphysical violence? I mean, he got physical in other ways, but it wasn't violent, ya know what I'm sayin'~?
Now, the "10" thing that I keep bringing up.
This competition between them is more intense than I thought, bro, and Sol does not cope with failure well. You know how people will be like, "a win is a win"? Well, with Sol --
-- a loss is a loss, even if it's just by one point.
Remember that whole "Don't kiss Crowe" thing? I genuinely mean that. As tempting as it may be -- and believe me, it's tempting especially because...Crowe can really make a girl feel really, really... wanted, ya know?🫦... ANYWAYS -- DO NOT kiss that man, because that's the game point. Now, who's the actual winner in that scenario.... 👀🧃*dramatic siiiiiiiiiip*. I ain't gon' say it...but I'm just sayin' lmao.
Even though, I really ain't shit because...I willingly cheated on Sol with Crowe. WAIT. LET ME EXPLAIN WHY THOUGH.
This man, dear Gods, this man. I must stay focused... This man is the one that you SHOULD be dating. This is the one that all of your friends and your family really like and approve of. This is the healthy choice, but you don't choose him, because the one that you want is "dark and hot and tall and mysterious" and you're like, "but daddy, I love him!". Meanwhile, your friends are desperately trying to tell you about all the red flags with the other guy and are like "What is with you and toxic men?!". Then, when you defend your toxic crush, they shade you because they "should've saw it coming" when you had picked Sesshomaru and Sasuke over Inuyasha and Naruto.
...But, anyways, when I say that Crowe is Prince damned Charming? Babes... And then he let that hair loose????
Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaabes~!
As a side note, lol I wasn't pulling those descriptions (completely) out of my ass; that was the literal intention.
See? "Dark and mysterious" vs "Princely".
Anyways, Crowe's rizz game is...surprisingly strong? Like, I honestly don't know why I was so shocked, but I was shocked. Like, a girl was genuinely flustered, because what do you mean that "you knew that we were going stargazing but you didn't know the brightest start was going to be right in front of you" and "anything for me"? Not to mention that this man was putting flowers in our hair and carRYING US TO OUR APARTMENT IN THE RAIN? BARELY GRUNTING WHILE DOING SO??? Like, sir, please, don't do this. I have a husband...but it's like, shit, I won't tell if you won't at this point.
That's pretty much all the new stuff -- well, that I was willing to partially spoil for you. There's other stuff, but you definitely gotta see that live and in 4K, and trust me, you're gonna want to.
Once again...THE FATTEST EFFING SHOUTOUT TO WHOEVER SENT THAT ANON MESSAGE AS THEY HAVE PUSHED ME TO STAND ON BUSINESS ONCE MORE.
It is even more beautiful than I remember, and thanks to the bestie, I was able to see my husband in all of his glory LIVE and in 4K. Okay, but I was degenerate throughout this whole post, so let's just put a pause on that and actually review the game properly.
This is still a work of the Gods, and I honestly love the tweaks and additions that were made. From Brittany's personality being tweaked so it reads more as "I swear, I'm not mean; I'm just really bad at talking to people" to Crowe's scenario being way more in depth to getting some more CGs of my husband Sol. The art style is still damned IMMACULATE to look at, and the plot is STILL plotting. Also...he's cute, but I lowkey don't trust Crowe, because why are you so perfect? The dev(s) is/are writing the EFF out of these characters. Like, honestly? Continue to pop off.
I definitely plan to buy my own copy, and I HIGHLY suggest that you do the same. It's honestly just the spicy scenes, so it's not like "Ooh, extra lore!" or anything, but they are honestly so deserving of that monetary support. Not to mention, the NSFW version is what the Gods would have wanted.
Even though, I'm wondering if we'll ever explicitly know Sol's (and definitely Crowe's and Hyugo's[/Geo's]) background. Now, admittedly and as far as I know, this is really the only piece of "lore" that you'll miss if you don't get the NSFW version, because I'm certain that I'm not the only one that's noticed it, but just in case you haven't (and I'm cutting the heck out of this CG because it's very spicy, but I need you guys to see what I'm talking about).
What's up with these bruises? Like, you see that right? But it's not in the other picture, so it's like...? What the eff happened? Like, the reason why I say that is because the second picture happened BEFORE the first picture, so something happened to him, but what? I know that it's implied by some of the things that Sol says and how he responds to stuff and some of his mannerisms that he came from a pretty shitty background, but what exactly and is it ongoing?
But, then again, it's like duh it's ongoing, because he said that "it's the usual" that he deals with...uh...certain situations. Check this out though; in that same breath, he was like "every bruise is worth it". Like...what? That's not-- That's not a normal or healthy thought let alone something you'd actual verbalize. Like, I'm telling you, the dev(s) is/are murdering this visual novel thing. No wonder it's so easy to forget that Sol is a literal walking red flag. I'm more focused on the plot than whether or not he's gonna drug my food.
Also, also, also, I just want to yap really briefly about my favorite CG... screen... UI thingy...that I can't show you. Not because it's a spicy one but because, even though you can probably read between the lines, it'd be, what I feel is, a major spoiler. Just as a slight "pro" tip. That little green heart at the top right of your screen that turns blue when you hover over it?
It leads to that screen with the scale that shows your affinity level for Sol and Crowe. Just...check in on that thing a lot; you may see something interesting. When you do see that interesting thing...please, think of me ಥ‿ಥ Because next to the way that the affinity level is shown altogether, it was my absolute favorite thing about the update. That was done so beautifully. ...Damn, I want to show you all so badly ._.
Anyways, I think my yap session should end here. I've already said it a handful on times, but what's one more time? I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend this game. It's so good, the art is amazing, the plot is plotting, and so much work and love has gone into this game, and it's STILL only in its demo phase. I suggest donating $5 to have (permanent) access to the NSFW version and/or telling the dev(s), "Hey! Really love your game! I was just wondering if you take human sacrifices? Would that expedite the full release? Anyways! You're doing great, sweetie! <3"; aggressively supportive validation is really the only way to go, because they really are doing more than a damned good job. You should honestly see it for yourself. Here, I'll put the direct link for ya.
I'm yapping again. I'm ending it for realsies now. The biggest preesh for hanging out with me today and getting this far. PLEASE, remember to drink water, don't be dumb, and hope to see you around~!
I finally went ahead and played The Kid At The Back!
Overall review of solely Sol's route 'cause I don't have time to go through a full mixed route or Crowe's full route: 6.5/10
Pros:
The art, the music, and the characters are all goddamned amazing. The character design is great; there isn't a single character I wouldn't love a route with. The number of CGs wows me to no end - when I say I did Sol's route, I mean I went through picking every choice to see every interaction and how it changed things, and so many routes had separate CGs. The branching all on its own is amazing and I adore it. I honestly love the way line skips mimic the characters getting cut off mid-sentence. They put so much effort into this game; I can really tell it's a labor of love. It really, really kills me to give it this score, because for all that, I know it's low.
Cons:
The issue I have with the game is the writing. I'm so so sorry to say this but it literally reminds me of something I read on Quotev my Freshman year of high school, except - and I'm so sorry to the writers to have to say this - the story I'm remembering didn't have as many plot holes. The world building is fairly ridiculous, the events are unnecessarily dramatic and rushed, our character was born the literal second we started up the game and is terribly pathetic, and it very much looks like a typed-out story converted into VN format. There are some parts of it I love; it's an interesting change to get to hear other characters' thoughts in a VN and I wouldn't mind seeing more VNs explore it. The characters themselves are written great and have logical relationships. Other parts made me wonder why I was playing; I would really prefer a lot less edgy black-screen monologues.
All-in-all I think this game has potential to be one of the best indie games in the genre, but it needs a couple editors to go into a deep-dive on the world building and bring it back down to Earth, then maybe someone to go through double-checking consistency with the characters and world and what not.
Specific gripes w/spoilers below the cut.
If I were a writer I'd want to know what *specific* points in my story there were issues with so I knew if it was one person or if there was a pattern, so these are for that.
First, the world building:
The city has no name and it's horribly obtrusive because they keep calling it "the city"
This is high school with the word "college" slapped on it. I'm a huge proponent of the belief that the toxic high school environment is created by the institution rather than the students, but this is so excessive and could easily be fixed without removing the story-relevant environmental factors. Uniforms, for example, don't seem relevant, or even really obeyed in the character art.
This city is somehow completely isolated from the rest of the world and it's both obtrusive and unexplained
An absolute ton of stuff is unexplained and it's always blamed on "Oh well Character lived on a farm and knows nothing of the world". That excuse only works sometimes; now both the character *and* the world appear severely disjointed.
Why is Hyugo taking archery in college
Second, the player character:
No critical thinking
Barely any situational awareness
The spine of a jelly fish save for rare circumstances
The strength of a jelly fish
A back story, but somehow no personality whatsoever
Apparently their farm is under a rock 'cause they know nothing.
What's their major??? You can't go to college for farming. Agriculture, yeah, farming, no. You definitely can't go to college for gardening-or-art-or-something.
Inconsistently shy. One moment we have the option to sit in Sol's lap, the next Char's freaking out that they did that; at one point Char verbally welcomes getting eaten out against a tree by a long-term friend who became more all of 5 minutes ago, yet another point Char cannot handle the mere thought that eating dinner with Sol feels domestic?
Then, the story line:
Char is supposedly working 3 jobs and doing uni. If you need an explanation of why people work multiple jobs, I can give a very thorough one. This, with them having time to sleep and eat food outside work and what have you, makes no sense whatsoever.
Char's been working 3 jobs and doing uni for 4 years and knows nothing about this city or their university whatsoever
How does this character have college-level education if they lived under a rock
Things just generally develop way too fast; Crowe's whole first nsfw scene had the weirdest vibe & lead-in
This may be fixed in future versions but Sol's personality did a 180 at the end of day 2 particularly when Char has him over & it was so bad I originally thought Hyugo had given him mood stabilizers that he didn't take
Why did Sol say he was "losing patience" when Char literally had him over for a domestic dinner and late-night chat after knowing him for all of 2 days
I was driven a little crazy by all the granted opportunities to flirt with Sol just for Char to be shy and dense otherwise, like we're possessing Char to do weird things (but please don't adopt that overused excuse)
Constantly making things happen just to progress the storyline when really these things would not happen - a little is fine, this is so much. Ex. The dudes in the library weren't scared of Char screaming and Char just didn't scream anyway; some random rich guy with body guards decided to aggressively harass a random nobody at an arcade (???) and even if they were just trying to get at Sol, how big was that arcade exactly that Char could run around it yelling and not find or be heard by him?
Last, the writing itself:
"Orbs" is all but unique to written fic
Calling someone "feisty" feels edgy outside specific circumstances; it is not fitting because Char is simply not being meek when it's said
Regular blips of non-canon - I like the little things Sol says that Char doesn't hear. That said, I don't think nicknaming Sol "Pumpkin" is worth him completely breaking character, considering how obvious that nickname is. It might make more sense to have nameless narration there after Sol tells Char it's more fitting for them.
Incredibly edgy; some moments are very much written like omegaverse fic, like how some scenes make Hyugo & Sol sound like these big scary alpha males having a silent battle of ego while Sol gets bullied and also gets into completely normal fist fights
The black-screen story monologues are straight out of Twilight. There's gotta be a way in the story to express anything important in these, but honestly, most of it probably just isn't.
a bite-sized visual novel about fast food and friends
It was about time I brought my VN reviews in again, and I'm glad to re-start off with a really cute one.
B&K is a bite-sized visual novel about two friends, Bruce and Kip, spending an evening at a fast food place playing in one of those indoor playgrounds.
It might not sound all that exciting, and yet I assure you I enjoyed every second playing it.
The character interactions are charming, and made me audibly laugh out loud. The pacing is really well measured, never brushing past things too quickly and letting the core moments linger just as long as they need to -- and the writing is super-tight! Not a single word is wasted. I may genuinely study this for my own writing.
It's a nice breather. It's short, cute, gives you a fuzzy feeling, and has a very appealing artstyle.
This doesn't make it just comfort food. Within the simple premise there is a genuine reflection on childhood and adulthood that got me to pause and think.
In the visual novel space, shorter projects like this one get overshadowed, and don't get the love they deserve. In part, this is why I go out of my way to look for them, and I'm glad I did.
This VN may not be your Echo, or Adastra, but it gave me a good time. And if you have ~20 minutes to spare, I think you should play it. It may give you a good time too.
One word of warning: For some reason, the music doesn't get properly lowered by the music setting, and I had to turn it down manually with the volume mixer. It wasn't too much of a bother, but it's worth mentioning.
i have finally finished echo as my second ever visual novel after adastra. i really loved this vn and it was a super interesting read. for anyone who hasn't read it if a furry horror vn with very human feeling characters peaks your interest then i would 100% recommend echo its a really good story with some really strong characters that i enjoyed thoroughly. in this review im gonna be going through all the main cast and some of the side cast so its gonna be a kinda long post where i just gush about parts of each route i really liked but there will be titles before each section if you want to see what i have to say about one character in particular for whatever reason.
this review is all my opinion and is not going to be exhaustive so i will end up missing some things (mainly because i did not take notes while reading and forgot a lot oops). so if there is something i missed you wanna hear my opinion on ask :). also this is my first time writing something like this so lmk if there are things i can do better if i end up doing this again.
SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE GAME AFTER THE READ MORE
before i fully dive into the review i wanna go over some of the external factors that have influenced how i view this vn. during flynn's route i was the most sick ive ever been in my whole life and im pretty sure i missed out on some vital details because of the brain fog during that sickness. i am not well versed at all in vns the only other vn i have played is adastra, however i am familiar with romance tropes so even though i feel like i missed out on some cool moments simply because i haven't played many vns i did not miss out entirely. also about halfway through my playthrough i learned that there is kinda an order you are supposed to read the routes in which is: Carl > Leo > TJ > Flynn > Jenna, i ended up reading it in this order: TJ > Leo > Flynn > Jenna > Carl. i don't really know how much this ended up changing how i view the story but thats how i did it. i also made chase gay i don't really know what that ended up affecting since i played all the routes as gay chase and whenever i got something i considered a "bad ending" i would reset to my last decision and do something different. the last thing that might have some sway on how i feel is how sweet the community has been to me so far, i don't usually get myself involved with a community before i finish something but this time was different since i was making fan art and everyone was super nice <3
Visuals/Music
I really loved the music and artwork for this game. i feel like the music did such a good job of creating an atmosphere whether it was chilling in the diner with jenna and tj or getting kidnapped by brian it always did an amazing job at really putting me in the shoes of the characters. i adored all of the fully rendered drawings throughout the game i love the colors i love everything about it. of all of them i think the one below is my favorite i just love how serene it looks.
this was my favorite track i feel like it does such a good job of capturing the tone of the whole game so well or the one that plays whenever they are just chilling idk what its called and i can't find it for the life of me it is driving me crazy.
Misc
there are a few things i couldn't quite fit into any of the next sections so i wanted to put them here. i really loved every character in this game i feel like the reason why i loved them all was because of how human they felt. whenever someone did something i didn't agree with i always defaulted to sympathizing with them because of how human they felt to me. also after writing this i have realized my ranking of each of the routes is just how much leo is involved with each of them i guess i just really love the guy.
Prologue
this part of the game is a little less fresh in my mind since i only read through it once on my first playthrough but from what i remember it did a really good job of establishing the setting and getting me interested in the lore of these characters. the first river scene was such an amazing moment i love how the route split happens in a way that makes you choose between emotionally comforting someone or going after who you want to romance. my only issue with it was that i did not realize that this was a route split in my first playthrough and ended up picking tj since he seemed the most affected by flynn and i was really worried about him even though the character i really wanted to romance was leo. even though i did not realize it was a game with so many diverging paths at first i still think the prologue was really good and got me very invested in the lore of echo.
MAIN CAST
Chase
i walked into this game not really expecting to care for chase too much since i kinda didn't like marco in adastra and i was expecting him to be more of the same type of guy but i was pleasantly surprised. i hate it so much when player inserts are just blank slates so im very glad that chase is an actual character who interacts with the world and people around him. he never had any moments where i was frustrated with him and wished he had said something different(aside from the ending of tj's route) and for the most part he reacted the way i think i would in his situation so i really liked him in all of the routes.
TJ
in retrospect i really like tj's route for how subversive it is as a romance with tj not reciprocating chases feelings and how nasty chase's jealousy felt. while playing it i kept waiting for leo to show up and whenever chase would try and romantically pursue him i would get kinda sad because i wanted to hangout with big wolf man. however i feel like this gave me a really interesting perspective on this route since before chase even kissed tj i never expected them to actually get together since it didn't feel like tj was all that interesting to me. this made chase's jealousy over julian feel even more scary than it already was and that final confrontation at the lake with flynn horrifying. i loved how the horror aspects where handled in this route and how subtle a lot of it was in comparison to other routes. chase drowning flynn and the description of it is one of the most haunting things from this game for me. overall i thought tj's route was pretty good even if i spent the whole thing wanting to hangout with leo because i was dumb and didn't know i had gotten to the route split. its in 4th place in order of my favorite routes in this game.
Leo
leo's route is my favorite i love him so much. i love how you get the bad ending of his route for trying to stay with him. his route was also my first time seeing the hysteria in full swing so that was a crazy twist. every single scene with brian made me feel so anxious i never really knew what to expect from him. i loved how his unhealthy obsession with chase was treated with the weight that it really deserved. the way he reacts to kudzu and chase's relationship not only feels like a natural progression of his character but also adds so much to the horror of his route since his jealousy often ends up causing serious harm. it was so sad to see him unravel and act the way he does during the hysteria because i really wanted to see him be happy and somehow move on from chase. the final scene of the "good" ending gave me what i wanted in the most evil way possible. i had wanted him to move on so bad that i had forgotten how brutal moving on can actually be. leo ends up losing the person he is closest to in the worst way possible i say this with love though it made me cry real hard. and the implication that he is planning on staying in echo is too just heartbreaking. i could go on forever about all the things i love about leo's character but i don't want this section to be too long so i will end it here and say leo is my favorite of the main cast and he has my favorite route of this whole game.
Flynn
i feel super conflicted on flynn's route, it does so many things so well but the ending left me feeling weird. i wanna talk about the things i liked first, which is most of the route. aside from leo he was the character i was most interested from the prologue mainly because i could tell that he wasn't just going to be a one-note mean guy and i thought he had a ton of potential for a really interesting story and i was right . i really enjoyed how his mean demeanor was written the times when he decided to be nice never felt out of character, like the way he helps carl with his interview and really wants his friend to do well and when things don't turn out well he still supports carl but does it in such a flynn way i just loved it so much. flynn and chase's relationship during this route stressed me out the most out of all of the routes mainly because of how they hid it from leo i really wanted chase to just talk to leo about everything but i can understand why he was avoiding it so much. i really loved the reveal of chase killing sydney and how flynn reacts to it. the way everything in that scene plays out was just amazing i can't be mad at either side of the it since i can understand why jenna and leo don't want to believe that their childhood friend killed someone but i can also understand flynn's immediate reaction to this and wanting to lash out at chase. the sydney flashback really got to me everything about it felt so real to me and flynn trying to take a big brother role for sydney and try and protect him from seeing the corpse anymore was so heartbreaking. my favorite part of this route was when you get the perspective of flynn rather than chase it was not something i was expecting in the slightest and i was so happy to be able to see some of his thought process when he does stuff. i really liked the hysteria portion of his route but im a little iffy on the ending. on one hand i like it for the story the fact that flynn dies kinda makes sense to me i just really wished he had lived and we had gotten to see a healed flynn who now knows the truth of what happened fully, even though i know this vn doesn't like giving out easy solutions. overall flynn's route is really good i just wish it had ended differently i would put it at 3rd place in my ranking of the routes in this game.
Jenna
i almost adore jenna's route as much as leo's. i really like her personality and aside from leo she is my favorite character. learning that she likes manga and watching anime with her was such a fun little moment that i thought was cute. it really surprised me when carl went missing in this route i was kinda expecting his birthday to play out the same in every route but i this was a really good plotline. i liked that this route forced jenna and flynn to interact more since the tension they have is always so fun to read. i loved the side characters in this route micha was my favorite out of all of them(even though i think jeremy is really cute). i want to give micha his own section in this review but to put it shortly his relationship with leo made me super happy. i really liked the tension between jenna and leo it was such a good conflict that i enjoyed reading. the whole fake cheating prank was such a gut wrenching scene that i was honestly having a hard time getting through. i liked the section where they are kidnapped by brian more in this route than in leo's mainly because brian getting rocked by the ghost thing was really satisfying. the implication that carl was tortured the same way chase was for multiple days is unfathomable to me. leo and chase being sewn together made me feel sick because anything remotely body horror related gets me and micha having to sever that tie was really cool foreshadowing for leo and micha's whole thing. the whole van section was also really incredible and seeing leo start to move on from chase warmed my heart in an otherwise very intense route. i liked heather she is such an intresting character to me since i really want to sympathize with her because its clear she has a lot of unresolved trauma but she was also an asshole to jenna and tried to flood all of echo. i really loved her trying to flood the town it is such a crazy plot point but i still really loved it and jenna having to put aside how shitty heather was to her to talk her down was a really good moment. the dinner scene after everything also felt very satisfying and it was good to see micha be apart of the group for a bit his interactions with everyone made me smile. i really liked jenna's route all around it is my 2nd favorite and was a super fun read.
Carl
i really liked carl's route i relate to a lot of his struggles and even though there where less scenes that scared me it was still really good. this was the last route i played so i was feeling kinda melancholic while reading since echo had become my nightly routine for about 3 weeks and i was really loving the characters and story. i liked how much lighter(in comparison to the other routes) of a tone carl's route took staying over at his big haunted mansion is such a silly concept on paper but it ends up playing out super well. i thought raven was a silly guy even if he didn't really add or remove much from this route and he helped keep jenna somewhat in check so that was nice. the escape room stuff was so interesting to go through. i found myself feeling scared that they may not actually make it out or they would end up killing each other. my favorite scene from this route was the hanging tree stuff. i had such a vivd picture of everything happening and it was really hard to watch jenna and carl to do things that i know they wouldn't. this route also had a ton of echo lore so i kinda wish i had played it first since i feel like i missed out in other route because i was trying to piece together things that are revealed in carl's route. i really liked the james hendricks and john begay stuff . even though carl's route is my 5th favorite by no means do i think it's bad.
Side Characters
i'm not going to only talk about the ones that really stood out to me and in a much shorter way than the main cast (other than micha)
Micha
micha is my favorite of the whole side cast and i really adored him and leo's relationship that i interpreted as romantic during the last bit of jenna's route. at first i didn't really like him and thought he was kinda an asshole. as the plot kept going i kept getting more and more attached to him since he was still an asshole but he was working with the main group. normally i don't like characters like him but i feel like he was written in such a realistic way that i found it hard to stay mad at him. i really loved him and leo's relationship their connection felt so real and i think they could be soooooo good for each other. the van scene was so incredible the way the player and chase have to fill in the blanks as leo and micha talk about what happened between the two of them really immersed me in the story .leo feeling guilt over never reaching out to micha after he was disowned was such an interesting thing i never really expected leo to want to help someone who was a bully to his friends but i still feel like it makes sense for leo to feel this way since he just wants to protect people. i think its really sweet that leo ends up leaning on micha more after the van scene. also the scene in the dinner at the end of jenna was really sweet i loved seeing micha being added to their group dynamic and i wish i got even more. in conclusion leo and micha should kiss and live happily ever after <3.
Brian and Clint
i don't have a lot to say about these guys other than the fact that they are horrifying antagonists. before i saw brian fight i was under the assumption that if leo is present then we are probably safe but brian ends up breaking that sense of safety in such a horrifying way. i like that even though clint isn't physically strong the fact that he has the strongest character following his orders made him so intimidating
Jeremy
i wanna give him a big kiss even tho he is mean
Janice
i really liked janice in tj's route. i love the fact that we never get a clear answer for why she needed chase and tj to be digging holes. i almost want to trust that she isn't killing people but she clearly has a few screws loose.
Closing Thoughts
i really loved this furry visual novel and its really human feeling characters. i had way more to say about it than i thought and the more i write the more i love the story and the more i want to say but this is already such a long post. i liked adastra more but i don't really feel like it is a fair comparison because if i hadn't played adastra this account would not exist and i prob would not be drawing at all but maybe if i had played echo first it would have done that to me since it still is really good. this was super fun to write even tho i know some of it might not make any sense lol because this is just kinda stream of conscious. i might end up doing this with other things i read/watch since it also gives me an actual reason to take notes when i read/watch things. also i wanna say thank you to the community on here i haven't been involved with fandom spaces for a really long time and im still not very involved with this one but you guys have been super nice and i wanna continue making art and talking about this game :)
Despite being out with a regular old cold for two weeks in October, I managed to finish my 7th VN, 大正×対称アリス! This was part of VN Club's October challenge for the month, and yet another 乙女ゲーム to keep in my books.
Didn't really have many expectations diving into this; the blurb leaves something to be desired and basically just says "Hey, here's some gender swapped fairytale characters. Oh, and by the way, have fun with no memories!".
This is the 5th VN I've read that makes the protagonist draw the short straw - start off 記憶喪失 and discover who and what they are along the way. An easy way to introduce characters perhaps, and I'm not necessarily sick of it yet compared to the very common Schrodinger's cat or Theory of Relativity reference.
This VN is episodal; you get to interact with two particular characters per episode, except for the epilogue. It was an odd choice, because it spurred some people into thinking they could just skip to the episode with the character they like.
However, this does not remain the genderbent romantic comedy fairytale recreation I thought it was going to be, and the longer I read, the more I was pleasantly surprised and disturbed by the true story that unfolded episode by episode.
STATS AND GRAPHS
Time Spent Per Route: prologue 1.61; シンデレラ 9.45; 赤ずきん 5.89; かぐや 7.02; グレーテル 7.97; 白雪 7.67; 魔法使い 6.5; アリス 6.71; and omake 1.29. Total: 54.11 hours.
As I expected, my reading speed dropped down from my peak with あやかしごはん. It's not particularly bad, just a few thousand characters less, but still remaining consistent throughout. Also managed to hit 100k characters towards the end which will forever feel really good to do.
Discussion about every route and CGs:
As usual, I implore you to stop reading now if you plan to read this visual novel. This is a story meant to be experienced and it would be a pity if reading forward ruins it for you.
Trigger Warning: themes dealing with depression, anxiety, paranoia, drug abuse and overdose, suicide, and other mental health conditions.
Who would've thought that this seemingly fluffy and sweet otoge would contain all of these?
I'm not going to lie, while reading through the first episode, I kept thinking, wait, what was the point of this game again? Do I just go around and date all the guys and maybe somehow get her memories back? It honestly reminds me of Island, happily going around and getting to know the characters, but in the back of my mind I was waiting for something big to happen, and I must say I wasn't disappointed.
有栖 百合花
The moment 百合花 started speaking, I knew I'd love her; her banter with the characters were fantastic. She's smart, clever, and funny, and while she does somewhat evoke the very feminine damsel-in-distress type she takes everything in stride. If anything, the strange situations she ends up in are strategically planned by her, even though the guys think they're in control, which makes her an even more brilliant protagonist in my books. She has a very interesting layer of cunning that surprised me and honestly made me concerned, too, because oh boy, the choices she makes in some of these? Absolute insanity.
What a gal, what a gal.
Episode 1
シンデレラ
シンデレラ was like fine wine; the longer I read the more I appreciated his role in the story and his character quirks. I loved him as an older brother figure the more I saw him in other routes. Shh, its my white/grey haired character loving self speaking.
He has a bit of a bad spending habit, hinting on a twisted version of the Cinderella fairytale, but he eventually develops a deep sense of duty to right the wrongs of his father, pay off his debts, and to help establish his brothers and their family's cafe before truly taking on the role of being 百合花's fiancee.
It was all very sweet; this was a nice and mature romance story through and through, with our lovely protagonist helping him change for the better along the way. Again as I said, the more I got into the story, the more I appreciated him as a character - they barely dropped any hints in this route or rather you wouldn't even understand the connection til much later, so playing blind, it was practically a SoL story and you really can't expect much more to happen in the next routes.
赤ずきん
Oh, but I was wrong with that assumption.
Much like the first route, 赤ずきん's was just as sweet. My favorite 真面目 character trope makes a return! I'm sorry, but I've become such 剣が君 trash that it was impossible for me to stop imagining 黒羽実彰 saying all his cute, embarrassed lines, that I had such a good time reading this. (•///•)~♡ I've become obsessed looking through voice actors' VNDB lists, send help.
I like that the twist to the fairytale was that 赤ずきん was the actual 狼 in the story. オオカミ, 猟師, and 百合花 all plotted it out to help him forgive himself for the things he did in the past and to bring him out of his paranoia embedded into him by his mother that all people are cruel and would treat him different, so its best to stay inside. Even though my next point actually should make him feel more paranoid.
This is a turning point for 百合花'a character for me. She started to evolve from this nice, witty, pretty lady to someone to watch out for, since its suddenly revealed that she's capable of controlling a situation to such a point. Its actually pretty scary how easy it is for her to pretend and act a certain way to get to a conclusion that benefits her. In this case it does benefit everyone involved and everyone ends up happy, but the way it was brought about still feels kind of icky.
If you think about it more critically, 赤ずきん really feels like victim of 百合花's controlling nature. Of course he wouldn't be able to tell that himself because he fell in love with her, and his other friends don't see or seems fine with it, especially because one of them is her brother. Ooof, yikes. Beauty and the Beast stockholm syndrome vibes, only its the "beast" that is trapped (albeit self-imposed because that's what he was taught as a child and he thought he was doing his job) in beauty's plot. She practically won't leave him alone and it felt as if she was throwing herself at him almost.
Anyway.
Please let me know if you feel the same, because the longer I think about it the more wrong it feels. Wouldn't it have been easier to just all sit down and talk about it rather than to come up with this ridiculous rouse of someone wanting to attack her? C'mon now.
From here on out 百合花 and the story becomes more interesting and thrilling to read, so if you dropped this game after episode 1, I do implore you to pick it up again.
Episode 2
かぐや
In an interesting turn of events, 百合花 turns out to be one of the siblings of シンデレラ, グレーテル, and 白雪 instead of 猟師 in 赤ずきん route or siblingless like in シンデレラ route (if I remember correctly). Not going to lie, I kept forgetting that she was trapped in a strange dream state with アリス, but from this route onwards it was finally made blatantly obvious to me that nothing in this game was normal.
Why is it that the playboy characters are always those who are seriously depressed? Oh but wait...it isn't as shallow as I thought it was going to be.
The most interesting character design of the six, and the only one referencing Japanese folklore and mythology, and of course can't forget the 関西弁 as well to cap it off.
There was a lot of heavy topics in this route and very much like our protagonist, he had some sort of amnesia, but it turned out that he was just suppressing all the bad memories in his life.; かぐや was an unwanted child constantly put through the foster system and was essentially forced to witness or to help push through someone else's suicide attempt against his will. He grows up feeling unwanted, hence the multiple relationships, and he is extremely possessive and desperste for attention as well since he never had stability in his life. GEEZ.
百合花 was very nice to him from the get go, always giving him the benefit of the doubt until she figured out what the root of the problem was. The issue is - and I can't believe you have to go through this to get the good end - is that she also takes it to the extreme and stabs herself in the gut to make him trust her enough to quit his own suicide attempts. She actually dies in one of the bad ends, which is an obvious end, and one of the only bad ends that didn't feel pointless.
Let me tell you, I lost my mind when it happened! Where did all the fluff go and why is this suddenly so depressing? ｡･ﾟ･(ﾉД`)･ﾟ･｡
グレーテル
This time around, everybody is siblings with each other except for 魔法使い and アリス. They're really pushing this sibling narrative with all of the past romances, huh....
One glance at this boy, I knew something terrible was brewing underneath the surface. It takes かぐや's possesiveness and easily triples it - literally the first scene at the start of the route involves a gigantic cage in a dark room. ドS sibling has arrived.
グレーテル has a massive シスターコンプレックス, and she is constantly trying to snuff his urges in a manner that won't cause him to go bonkers with jealousy. The scenes switches a lot to explain why グレーテル made the extreme decision of locking 百合花 in a house in the middle of the woods.
Turns out he wasn't actually a sibling of 猟師 and 百合花, but someone who was kind of just taken in as a family member. He was always made to feel inferior to his siblings, so he was constantly striving to excel in all of his school activities. His obssessive love for 百合花 causes him to get picked on in school a lot, and for 百合花 to receive equally nasty comments from his peers as well - which then causes everything to snap causes him to almost beat a student, and eventually many other students, to death if not for someone else holding him back. He gets suspended from school and he misses a year, causing him to not be able to go to school with 百合花, who at this point, he obsessively wants to protect from the 狼 of the world, which explains the cabin in the woods, and his distaste for オオカミ, 百合花's friend, and someone he thinks is making moves on her.
To control his anger, and later on what was revealed as what I can only describe as schizophrenia - extreme hallucinations and delusions of himself mocking his decisions - he eats a lot of "sweets" or really he takes his medicines for his condition just so he could pull through and function like normal. It was presented as an addiction, and it was very concerning the way he gulped down multiples from his prescription bottle.
Again, 百合花 with the strange suggestions such as staying together in a house that's about to burn down to the ground, welcoming the urges of her "sibling" in one of the bad ends, and telling him to quit his medicines. Now I'm not a psychiarist, but I do know that you shouldn't suddenly not take your medicines for illnesses such as these, even if you feel fine, because it can actually cause more psychotic breakdowns in the future. Obviously that didn't exactly occur in this since this is fiction, and they get a pretty questionable happily ever after as sibling...fiancees? Ick.
Still, this was a riot from start to finish, and pretty much my favorite next to the best end, because of just how ridiculous the whole thing was.
Also, the ribbon. ( ﾟ• ﾟ)
EPISODE 3
First of all, can we talk about this absolute fire of an opening song?! Easily my favorite rendition, and I never skipped listening to it whenever I booted up the game. Coming from the chaos of Episode 2, you just know that things were about to go down!
By this point, I was very alert to any scent that would lead me to a a hint to what was going on, but I was still left flabbergasted at what was to come.
白雪
Honestly, coming from that epic soundtrack and the events in Episode 2, this started really tame, with 百合花 hanging out casually with 猟師, 白雪 and his mom a lot.
If anything the most suspicious person was his mom - I honestly thought she was poisoning him or something, a theory based on the original Snow White fairytale, especially because 白雪 was starving himself and refused to eat anything that he was given - easily interpreted as an eating disorder - except for his mother's apple pie which was his favorite. Even the stuff that she gave 百合花 turned rotten and made her sick.
As it turns out, 猟師 made 白雪's acquaintance first, when he saw him at the dead of night by the lakeside. He earned his trust eventually by giving him books to read and talking about his sister 百合花 ありす, who had beautiful blonde hair and strange two-toned colored eyes.
His family used to be rich, until a time where his father left him and his mother to fend for themselves. They moved out of his mansion house to a cottage in the woods, and his mother worked herself to the bone, dodging tax collectors and teaching 白雪 to do the same, because the 狼 of the world are terrible people. They lived in this kind of seclusion, with 白雪 occasionally sneaking out to the lake.
One thing led to another, and 白雪 revealed his secret to 猟師 - that he kept the decaying body of his mother at their dilapidated house in the middle of the woods, and kept himself alive by munching on the now rotten apple pie she last baked for him. He also believed that him leaving her to sneak out caused her death, and that he deserves the kind of life he lives because of it. OH BOY.
The other thing was that he was aware. He knew that he was both real and unreal, and that at the other side of the looking glass was a person named アリス - the same name 猟師's sister had - and he was keeping 猟師 close as a friend, but also to get to his sister who might be his way out.
Thankfully both 猟師 and 百合花 were kind enough to make him realize that not all people are evil, and that he wasn't responsible for the things that happened to him.
魔法使い
And so we move on to 魔法使い, one of the biggest enigmas in the game, and another piece of the puzzle who is aware of everything that is going on.
Of all the characters and throughout the game, both 白雪 and 魔法使い were the most secretive of their backstories and intentions with acceptable reasons. Both of them knew what the world was and how it functioned - through the looking glass of アリステア's mind.
魔法使い was there to act as a reset button - which explains why he appears at every bad end - to make sure that 百合花 made the correct decisions that would solve every other character's problem, except for his.
I think its better to explain further in the next section, to kill two birds - well three - with one stone, and since he won't get his proper, unselfish, happy ending until the Epilogue anyway.
アリス & アリステア
アリス, the beginning of it all and the first split personality of アリステア.
For a good beginning of the Epilogue, ありす chases after アリス, through all the different characters' stories, only to reveal that she wasn't the ありす they knew and loved, and the only people who could explain why were partially 白雪, 魔法使い, and アリス.
Which brings us to the original, truly existing person, アリステア.
アリステア is a shy and reserved boy from a classy family, a dad who had many riches and a kind mom who loved fairy tales. His parents hosted a party one day, and he decided it was best to keep to himself in his room, much to his mother's disappointment. He would often talk to himself in the mirror, convincing himself or rather, the then unbeknownst to him split personality アリス, who was confident and bold and someone he believed to be a better version of himself.
With アリス's urging, he goes down to the party and finds ありす crying, with her beautiful blonde hair similar to his, and a pair of strangely beautiful colored eyes that were the cause of her to be teased. It probably happened at the same time, both アリステア and アリス were besotted by this girl who shared their name, hair, and eventually her ribbon, and for the remainder of her stay before she moved countries, she played with one or both of his personalities - again most likely unbeknownst to her.
Years passed and they grew up and lost touch with each other when アリステア's father's empire collapsed and his family was left with a lot of debt. By this point アリステア was already struggling without his friend ありす, his family was in shambles, and he had began to have these out of body experiences - his multiple personalities slowly appearing and taking over.
He got acquainted with 猟師, ありす's brother who was left in the country to pursue his studies. He also helped アリステア to talk to someone who could handle his case. Eventually through this connection, ありす and アリス reunite, with her parents deciding to officially take him under their wing as part of their family, despite all of them knowing about the multiple personalities.
Their first encounter was with シンデレラ, ありす being able to tell the difference immediately. He was dead set on making his father's wrongs right, and their only work around was to make him ありす's fiancee so they can live together without the stern looks of others.
ありす, with the help of her brother's initial guidance was able to tell all of the multiple personalities (the six initial characters except for 魔法使い who doesn't appear til much later) apart and treat them accordingly to how they interact with her, all along loving the original アリステア, unbeknownst to him who feels like he doesn't own his body anymore.
All that happened in the five previous routes except for 魔法使い, was アリステア's reality split into five to form fairy tale characters - a reflection of his mother's obsession - for the personalities lived in his mind and possessed his body at different occasions which also got him into trouble for obvious reasons - グレーテル being the most violent personality.
It all boiled over when one evening, he wakes up in bed with ありす - with the smell of sex in the air - and none of the memories. He reacts to the extreme, in a fit of anger, and demands to know who dared to damage ありす's body as well. I still don't know who it is - probably グレーテル because he was the one who blatantly expressed such urges multiple times in his route.
He chugs a bunch of meds which leaves him comatose in the hospital in the hopes that he can enter his mind and talk to his multiple personalities.
Which is where ありす comes in. She actually somehow manages to create another personality of herself in アリステア's mind - a game to be played repeatedly, with 魔法使い as a sort of overseer, to make all personalities happy with a version of ありす for themselves.
It pretty much works out, they all pick the ありす that catered to their needs, except for 魔法使い who actually was in love with the human ありす, and アリス who was hesitant as well since he knew about the human ありす from their shared childhood. アリス talks to them carefully, and leaves all of them a version of ありす that loves them or that would at least would love to keep them company.
So that's at least 12 different personalities that all live rent free in his mind, but won't take over his body for the most part.
The biggest twist even, is one of the bad ends, where one of the ありすs goes rouge and actually just takes over アリス's body and murders the original ありす, so for obvious reasons アリス would be left to deal with the repercussions and live with the fact that with his own hands, he killed the one person who ever loved and cared for him - whether or not that was own mind's doing.
I honestly can't even begin to explain how mind blowing this entire revelation was to me. I'm writing this two months after reading, and I'm still so impressed by how this entire story teased the reader with so many hints and still be able to drop a bomb this big at the end.
Fantastic storytelling, and I'm absolutely dying for people in my club to start reading this, so I could talk to someone about it. ｡･ﾟ･(ﾉД`)･ﾟ･｡
-☆-
It was so long and there was so many things to keep track of by the end - probably the reasons why I couldn't sit down and write this. I'm incredibly surprised that something written so well would be hidden under the otoge genre never to be even looked at by a lot of people just because of the tag. If only they knew!
TL;DR: I've got a head injury? I'm gonna need a doctor! How's my memory been? It's been fine. Wait, what? I've got a head injury? I'm gonna need a doctor! How's my memory been? It's been fine. Wait, what? I've got a head injury? I'm gonna need a doctor!
Game Link: https://livingslime.itch.io/prescriptionlove
Notable Features: Self-Insert, Yandere LI, gender neutral language, 2 endings
Spiciness: 0/5 -- Don't get me wrong, it's not wholesome either, but this is the type of LI that'll make you say "But daddy, I love him!" even though something is clearly off.
LI Red Flags: 2/5 -- Gaslighter, obsessive tendencies, overly "medicating" us DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT. HE'S SO SWEET. I CAN FIX HIM.
Wanna know more? Well, let's get into it!
Okay, not gonna lie, this review is long overdue, because I played this like...maybe 3 or 4 days after the initial drop, and here I am, like, 3 weeks later lmao.
Um...okay, you know what? I'm-- I'm not gonna push myself to write an intro this time lol. I mean, since when is it ever good to push yourself? ...Sometimes, the answer is sometimes, but you should never push yourself too hard, ya know? ...I'm getting off track.
I guess I could start by saying how I found this game on a total accident, and holy shit, am I glad that I found this game regardless. It was damn good, and...honestly, a little unnerving at times. Like, I'll tell you more about it later, but let me tell you, one part in particular had me genuinely spooked.
Anyways, before I get too far into my yap session, I'm going to go ahead and tell you about the game -- with as little spoilers as possible, of course. I mean, how would you be motivated to play the game otherwise unless I leave just enough suspense and mystery? Exactly, so allow me a moment to set the scene, and let's get into it.
So, boom.
We wake up...somewhere.
No, like you don't get it. Logically, it's like, duh, hospital, but we have a whole ass IV in our arm, a splitting headache, and it's almost painfully obvious that our memory took a hit, because we don't remember damn near anything, you feel me? We have, what is essentially, a hole where our memories are supposed to be, and the memories that we do have are so fragmented that they doesn't make any sense. Like...what the hell happened, ya know?
At this point, we're making things worse, because we're trying to force ourselves to remember something -- anything -- and our brain is just like "Mmm...nah. How about we panic, though? Let's do that instead." So, we do. We start feeling really anxious because it's like, how do we go from remembering everything one moment, blink, and then just...virtually no memories at all? Like, nothing? Like, we can't even recognize what a hospital looks like or even is.
"Hey, hey, it's okay".
Huh?
Oh! Oh, hello~! Could this be our boyfriend? Fiancé? Husband~?
"I'm Dr. Anselm."
I mean...he didn't say that he wasn't our husband, ya know? :3 Okay, wait, wait, no, stop, don't distract me. Let me get back on track.
Anyways, this tall gentleman helped us regain control of our nerves and informed us that we were perfectly safe and were currently in a hospital. Dr. Anselm basically told us that he has been overseeing our care and that he was the one in charge of our surgery.
...Wait, our fucking what?!
Before we get too freaked out, though, he tells us that we had some kind of accident that involved blunt force to our head which naturally caused a traumatic brain injury. He then tells us that, when we were brought it by the paramedics, we were in need of an emergency operation in order for us to live. Oh, and we had been asleep for two days straight. Well damn...
Imagine not remembering what you even ate for breakfast yesterday -- well, two days ago -- and this random man who claims to be a doctor comes out of the woodwork and tells you that you had brain surgery. If I could just reiterate once more...what the hell happened?!
Even still, admittedly, Dr. Anselm is being super gentle about the whole thing, and it's bringing a good amount of comfort and security, like everything is going to end up okay; he's even going to let us call our family to let them know that we've pulled through and that we're safe...even though, it's a bit off that no one's visited to start with.
No matter though, because it's past curfew anyways, and Dr. Anselm is adamant that we should rest first and call tomorrow. Fair enough. Rest is a part of recovery after all, and we'd rather get our memories back sooner versus later, not to mention that we actually are a little tired. Lmao, now here's when the issues start coming in...
See, we managed to fall asleep, but then the creak of the door woke us up. Now, at first, we're like "Meh, probably the nurses checking in or whatever", but the issue is, remember when I was like we felt a sense of comfort and security from Dr. Anselm? Lmao, this shit was far from comfortable, let alone safe. So, we make the mistake of we look at the door, and in the gap --
Lmao nah, ain't no way. We're hallucinating.
BRO, AIN'T NO FUCKING WAaaaAAAaAaAaaAAaY. WE ARE NOT HALLUCINA-- DoCTOr ANSEeEEeEEEeeeELM!!!!
Bro, we hit that call button so fast, but that thing also ran off just as fast before Dr. Anselm came rushing in. So, naturally, now we look like we're experiencing the side effect of delulu, because we're trying to explain that we saw something that was clearly not there, but it's like...bro, no, we know what the fuck we saw! Like, dude, please do something!
As always, Dr. Anselm's being super sweet and promised that he'd look into it and get someone to check the security cameras. He encourages us to try to go back to sleep so we don't disrupt our recovery, and, oddly enough, we're able to, even after that.
The next morning, comes along, and Dr. Anselm let's us call our folks, like promised, but...no answer. Hurtful, but okay. Dr. Anselm, also like promised, tells us that they checked the security cameras, and there was no one watching us from the door. Great. So, now we're two for two in this bitch. Perfect.
Still, leave it to Dr. Anselm to help us feel better, though, so it doesn't weigh on us too much for too long. He really is our knight in shining...lab coat.
Even though, with all that medicine he's been giving us...
Not to mention, we had this vividly weird dream...
And, sometimes, there's these weird little flickers in his expression when we ask certain questions or say certain things...
Is Dr. Anselm really trying to help us? Or...
...is it benefitting him that we don't know what happened to us?
Then again...
Nah, that's kind've delulu to think. He's done nothing but try to prioritize our health and recovery. We're safe. We can trust him. It the doctor's orders, after all, and he'd know what's best for us.
4 words: I CAN FIX HIM.
No, no, no, no, no, hear me out! I can fix this one! Like, the red flags are there, but I can FIX him! Is he the one that caused us to have a traumatic brain injury? Maybe. Is he over-medicating us? Possibly. Am I gonna overlook all of that? Absolutely. I mean, who cares that I have an intense suspicion that we're not actually in a hospital and that we're just in a basement that's staged to look like a hospital. Who hasn't played doctor before? I ain't gonna fault this man for trying to heal his inner child and playing pretend. Like, honestly? Good for him.
Okay, but no, enough of that. This...was really good! It physically hurts me that this game is not done yet, but I am so excited that this game isn't done yet, because I am anticipating the hell out of what is next to come. The developer really has a strong foundation, and I can only imagine how they're going to build on it.
The pacing is a little slow, but it's not a bad slow! It's literally seeping us into the story, and I honestly feel like the pacing could not have been executed any better than it has been. This flowed exactly how I feel a demo or prologue or intro or whatever you wanna call it should. I just know that whenever there's an update, shit is going to start getting real, and I cannot wait for that!
Let's talk about the environment/atmosphere...ooh bitch. Let me just say this, I can watch all of the horror movies in the world and be totally fine. I can watch let's plays of horror games and read scary stories...but I cannot be in the situation myself. Haunted houses/trails? Playing horror games myself? Shit scares me out of my soul. That being said, that part where it was talking about being watched through the crack of the door? Chills. Fucking chills. I don't know what it was, because that's not anything revolutionary, especially in these yandere games, but for some reason, the way that the dev executed it just hit different. And the art! Like did you see the CG?! Lmao nah, nah, let me remind you. Actually, let me zoom in on it.
Like, what the fuck is thaaaaaaaaat?! (╥ᯅ╥)
I didn't mention this, because I was narrating/summarizing, but I had genuine fear tears when I read through it the first time, and it was somehow worse when I had to grab and attach the screenshots and type through that part. Like, I HATE shit like this, bro! Like, just make it obvious! Don't put faces and figures and shit like that in the darkness and barely out of view to the point where you can't see it unless you focus on it!
I was literally squinting my eyes and reading fast as shit because I wanted to read it, but I wanted to get through it and away from this scene, but I also wanted to prep myself for a possible jumpscare. Like, developer. De-ve-lo-per. Pop off. This part was so good, and I loved/hated every second.
I'm doing that yap thing that I do again, so I'm going to save you from the rest of my ramblings and start winding down. If you do not already have this downloaded and ready to play, you have got to do that expeditiously. I am telling you, I know I say this about a lot of these visual novels, but this is one that I absolutely cannot allow you to miss out on. This one is so good! Just don't get too invested, because it's just a demo. I suggest going to the game's page, putting your pride aside, and beg for an update as soon as possible -- respectfully, of course. It should be common sense, but don't harass the dev for an update ... but damn, do I hope they come through with an update soon. Very soon. Tomorrow actually...today.
Anyways, here's the link. Go download it, and tell the dev that your life is theirs, because I'm honestly contemplating starting a cult in their honour. I'll sacrifice the nearest weeb for two extra lines of reading material in this visual novel. I'm serious. I'm yapping again...
Okay, anyways! Ending it for realsies this time. Again, I highly recommend giving this game a playthrough. Here's the link to the game page and download...again. If you're able to donate to the cause, donate to the cause, as I'm sure the dev would seriously appreciate the monetary support. Oh! And just as a "pro"-but-not-really-tip: for right now, the choices are more of an "illusion of choice". The endings will be worded the same no matter what, so there's no extra dialogue or CGs, or secret options, or anything like that. It'll just be dialogue pertaining to that specific answer choice at that specific time, and then it's not brought up or mentioned again after it's done.
And...that's it! Lol I'm finally done yapping. Big preesh for getting this far! Please remember to drink water, don't be dumb, and hope to see you around~!
TL;DR: "We're gonna be best friends forever, right?" "Mmm, I dunno. You get kind've annoying sometimes." "That was a trick question. You will literally never be rid of me. Even if I die, I'll haunt you." "All right, all right; yes, we'll be best friends forever. I was just joking lol." "Lol yeah...but I wasn't." "What? o_o" "What? :)"
Game Link: https://billetdoux.itch.io/fallen-devotion
Notable Features: Self-Insert, Yandere LI, Supernatural LI, Selectable skin tone, Selectable Pronouns, Multiple Endings
Spiciness: 0/5 -- No spiciness here! unfortunately But! He does give us a little hug, which was really nice :)
LI Red Flags: 1.75 / 5 -- History of stalking and kidnapping. He's not much of a threat, right now...at least towards us.
Wanna know more? Nah. Not if you aren't at least 18, you don't. Frankly, you shouldn't even be on my page, because I am no where near child friendly. Oh, you're over 18? Well shit! Let's get into it!
I was so excited about this game demo dropping. I was so excited about this game demo dropping. I was so excited about this game demo dropping. I was so excited about this game. demo. dropping. You hear me?
Like, the moment I saw the LI I was just-- those of you who have been rocking with me for a while know that I have a massive thing for alt style men, and baby, when I saw him, it was wraps. I had been crushin' on that man since I saw the initial screenshot on Tumblr.
Anyways, thirstin' aside, I'm super excited to tell you about this one, because so much went down in the demo. Now, am I gonna tell everything that went down? No. But, what I am gonna do is tell you as much as possible without ruining the game itself. Trust me; you're gonna wanna give this a try for yourself after I give you a snippet of what's going down, and bro, shit is going down.
So boom.
Our bestie -- well, ex-bestie -- is dead.
That's already a lot going on in that one sentence, right? Nah, it goes farther than this.
Basically, it started -- at least today -- from us waking up from having a dream. Actually, scratch that, because it more like a nightmare at this point, and it's happened multiple times this week alone. What makes it a nightmare, though, is that it's always about our best friend, but no longer best friend, but not because he's dead, ex-best friend.
Like always, we try to brush it off as best as we can and head into work for some much needed sense of normalcy and, frankly, some grounding. It should really be noted that these frequent nightmares are really starting to wear down on us, though. Now, why is that?
Because, now, we're starting to hallucinate -- ...lmao -- random text messages and attributing random scribbled notes to his hand writing and ish because of it. Like, we seriously thought we saw the man's bike outside of our workplace. The sleep deprivation is real, ya feel me?
"Lol, nah, that's not why. It's because you're trying to act as if the guy never even existed. Did you ever think that maybe the universe or whatever is tryna tell you something? Because, if I was him, I'd be haunting your ass. ...You look a mess by the way lmao. You own a mirror or nah?"
ಠ_ಠ
Leave it to our co-worker to be brutally honest with us. It's almost as if the comment about us clearly trying to forget our best friend, but no longer best friend, let alone non-living ex-best friend wasn't enough. Despite that though, we know that the comment is from a place of care, because we really have been trying our absolute damnedest to drown out all memories and feelings associated with our ex-bestie. It was so bad to the point where we hadn't even gone to the guy's funeral. You noticed how I haven't even told you his name? Yeah, it's that real of an issue.
Now, this whole thing escalates when these first-year college kids come in talking about something called "soul ties". We don't have anything better to do so we unintentionally but intentionally eavesdrop for plot purposes. So, uh, that whole "soul tie" thing that they were talking about? It's basically how, if someone dies and they still have some unresolved stuff from their living days, they can just kinda bunk with someone who they were close to, because, apparently, it's way easy to communicate through their dreams.
(⊙_⊙;)
Well...talk about awkward, because if that's not exactly related to what we're going through right now. Did we hallucinate that ish, too?
Just on the off chance that it wasn't a hallucination this time -- "this time" lmao -- and is one of those signs from the universe that our coworker was going on about, guess what we did when we got home? Hit up the Goo-gley. Nah, I'm kidding...well, only slightly. We actually did search it up on Google, but our laptop kind've crapped out on us, so we didn't get super far.
Actually, I lowkey lied again. See, our laptop crapping out wasn't a coincidence. As soon as our laptop went "😵", a message came up like "Always looking for answers, but never asking the source. That's crazy...". So, now, we're lowkey gaslighting ourselves because ain't no way that's real, right? But it's like...that's clearly 1000% real.
"Will you let me in...?"
(⊙⁄ ⁄ ⁄﹏ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄⊙)
...I mean, shiiiiiiit, when you look like that, I just might, ya feel me?
But should we is the question.
Friends...Squad...the demo came out so good, y'all.
Holy hell, this demo came out so. friggin'. good. I felt things. I felt emotion. I felt anticipation. I felt delulu. Like, damn, why'd our (ex) best friend have to die?! But it's like, the how? Like, ah, the drama!
But no, this really was damn good. Those of you that have been rocking with me know that I get slutty for art style and CGs -- I frickin' loved the art style. Like, it was just so visually pleasing to look at. Shit, Clive -- that was his name by the way lmao -- was visually pleasing to look at, you know what I'm saying? Like, y'all see this?
Like, disrespectfully, speak for yourself MC, because he sure as hell is my type 𖹭 ...visuals wise, at least.
Speaking of things being visually pleasing to look at, can we please talk about our coworker Dariel? Look at him!
The way that the dev drew this healthy (I think) Black man! Actual tears. I love when people draw Black people with Black hair styles. Like, that man's hair is thiquxe. That man has a dedicated wash day. That man uses gyah damn shea butter and coconut oil daily. Like, dude, fucking pop off. I always appreciate diversity in a game, especially when it's done so right.
But anyways, the pacing was phenomenal. Like, the way that it gives you just enough information and just enough "Oh, he ain't wrapped too tight" and just enough trauma and just enough drama and just enough backstory--!! The way that the dev put all of that together was so--!! Bro, I'm in love. Like, I am so excited for the rest of this game to drop. Like, yo, how far is he about to go? Because y'all don't know yet, because I didn't tell you, but like...bro, anybody would be pissed in that scenario, but it's like...Clive is a yandere LI, so that's a different type of pissed for him. What I'm basically getting at is: What is Clive Donovan -- fun fact that's his last name. I didn't know until I was tagging it lol -- capable of?
This is honestly another Perfect Love -- y'all remember that review? --scenario. I could honestly drone on and on and do an unplanned 60+ minute powerpoint presentation on this game and how much I love it, but I will spare you that. What I won't spare you is the pressure I'm applying for you to play this game for yourself. I really hope I'm not overhyping it, but I thought it was really, really, really good, and I am excited for you to experience that for yourself; I need you to experience that for yourself. I mean, the link is right here. Just give it a little clicky click. Hell, while you're there, tell the dev "Hey. There was some chick on the internet foaming at the mouth over this game. I now understand. You're really good at doing the thing, so...keep doing the thing!". Monetary support is always appreciated as well, so if you're in the place to do so, give them that extra "Thank you".
That's not really all from me, because, like I said, I could keep going, but I'm going to stop it there. Highly suggested to give this game a try, but remember, it's just a demo. Don't get invested to the point where you wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night and start obsessively checking the dev page every 2 hours for an update...I'm totally not speaking from experience, by the way. That'd be...silly. ...ANYWAYS!
Here's the link to the game once again, here's a link to the dev's tumblr page, and, dude, biggest preesh for getting this far, because I do tend to yap a lot. I'm glad you stuck it out with me, and we could hang out for a bit.
Please, remember to drink water, don't be dumb, and hope to see you around~!
Bro, Clive really does look good, like I want him to wife me up so bad...
TL;DR: You know when you're talking to the person you've got a crush on, and, then, you turn into a certified dumbass and say something stupid? So, imagine that, except it's not you, but your crush, and your crush isn't saying anything stupid, but everything homicidal, and it's like, oh...mkaaaaaay. Suddenly, that weird thing that you said earlier ain't that weird anymore. Talk about awkward...
Game Link: https://lucia-lily.itch.io/pulsatio-cordis
Notable Features: Gender selection, Self-Insert, Affinity system, Multiple endings
Spiciness: 0/5 -- It's definitely not innocent, but as far as spiciness? There wasn't any. It was lowkey kind've sweet, though, in an overlook all the red flags and fix him sort of way
LI Red Flags: 4.5/5 -- Intense shifts in emotions, stalking, obsessive, drugged us, homicidal, manipulative, kidnapped us, forged a letter, planted evidence
Wanna know more? Well, let's get into it!
Yo. How's it going?
I'm gonna be real with y'all; I really don't feel like doing an intro lmao. Sometimes, I deadass don't know what to say, and I'm at a loss as to how to start it off. I also don't push myself to make an intro either so lol. I figure if I just be honest about it, it won't seem as lazy. Is that working?
Anyways, I think I was scrolling around on...Itch.io? Actually, I think this one came from here. I think I saw, like, a picture or something... Anyways, I discovered this game, and it was pretty solid! I'll get more into it later, but just as a whole, pretty damned solid!
I feel like I should mention something, though. This review has been done for like...weeks now, but I was making a post that kind've goes along with this, and it wasn't done and still isn't, so I never posted this lmao. It was honestly a "hear me yap more" type thing, because there was an aspect of this game that was super interesting, and I couldn't help myself.
...Okay, now, I really don't know what else to say so, we're just gonna jump right in. As always, I'll tell you as much about the game as possible without spoiling the game itself. That being said, let's take advantage of my lack of yappin' and get into it.
So boom.
Let me just cut to the chase: we are down bad for this hottie at school named Liev Lavanté. Like, bro, even his last name is hot. Could you imagine having a last name like that? That was a trick question, because we've already pictured us getting married and living together and being so domestic together with the cooking and the hugs from behind and siiiiiiiiiigh~ <3
Anyways, he's absolutely perfect in every way possible. He's super smart, super popular, super charming, super attractive, super...well, super everything. I point that out, because, aside from there being a massive amount of competition, the main issue is that he is, very clearly, way out of our league, but yolo right? Right. Not to mention that the worse possible thing that could happen was us getting shut down, so...? Fuck it, we ball, and, with that ball, we shoot our shot. Basketball references, am I right? Aha....ha....okay, anyways.
Actually, let me correct that. We kind've shooted out shot (shot our shot didn't hit the same, so it was necessary to be illiterate; just overlook it lmao). In actuality, we weren't that brave about it, but it still took us well out of our comfort zone to make a cheesy ass confession letter and shove it in his locker.
So, now, we're at home, anxious aye eff, because we were extremely bold and basically told this man that we wanted to slob his knob (not really, I'm just a degenerate) in writing, and we're mentally preparing to get rejected, cry it off this weekend, and move on wi-- wait.
Holy shit, wait--!!!!!
AH--!!
FOR A DATE, THOUGH, OR...??! FREE FOR WHAT???
OH M-- ALEXA!! PLAY THAT REMIX WITH BEYONCE IN IT BECAUSE
I.
AM ON.
TO SEE.
MY HUSBAND.
I'M HAPPEH. I'M HAPPEH. TO SEE. MY HUSBAND...until we weren't lmao. Yeeeeeeeeeah, let's dial it back and remember that this is one of those visual novels. Now, let me explain the issue.
So...there are times where Liev gets reeeeeally intense.
Like, insanely so, and, I don't think you guys understand what I mean (well, of course you don't, because you haven't played it yet. Duh moment. Anyways...); he's one of those people that either feels nothing, or he feels everything...sorta. Let me keep explaining.
So, one of the first things that we did was go out to eat, and, admittedly, the staff were struggling a bit, but it's all good, ya know, because we're with bae. Like, we're talkin' and vibin'. We're learning about him, he's learning about us, and we're just chillin'. Time goes by, and the waiter eventually comes out with our main dish, as expected.
Now, that sounds like something totally normal and innocent, right?
Yeah, no...apparently it wasn't, because Liev was really pissed off about that waiter interrupting our conversation.
What makes this more off-putting is that, not only did he highkey blow up about the waiter, but he started saying some pretty dark stuff. Now, mind you! We just confessed to this man and are having our first real conversation with him, and he's coming out of the woodwork with this stuff. Like, Liev was saying that he was in love with us and how everyone could burn in hell and that he wants to hold us but also murder everyone in the room and--
Like, bro, it just kept going...but then he stops and returns to normal conversation like the conversation hadn't ever not been normal. Like, oh...m'kay ._.
Naturally, this kind've puts us off...like, a lot. Actually, this puts us off so much that we've gone into survival mode. Like, we're literally just trying to get through the date without triggering Liev and getting ourselves killed. Now, this seems like a simple enough task, but, aside from the fact that it's never that easy in games like these, it's a guessing game as to what would actually make Liev flip or not.
Like, are stuffed animals the trigger?
Is it holding his hand?
Is it when we've finally had enough and ignore him?
Like, what makes Liev go from being okay to being not okay? It's literally a matter of life or death to know these things, because Liev is not beyond confrontation.
So, it'd be best to tread lightly, or it could get really violent, really fast.
So! Not bad! Pretty damned solid game!
It definitely wasn't one of my favorites, like, story or yandere-wise, but holy hell, was it one of my favorites clinical-wise! The way that it's clearly laid out that, "No, he's not just some random psycho and a bad person; he's legitimately mentally ill and is in serious need of help" was sooooo satisfyingly done. Now, admittedly, it was a lil' obvious here and there, but it wasn't bad!
Designs of the characters were cute, we had an MC with darker skin, which is, personally, always exciting to see, and the flow of the story was done really well, in my opinion! There were times where it'd go from, like, 0 - 75, sometimes 100, without warning, but it actually made sense as to why it'd happen like that, which was fantastically implied and lowkey laid out.
Anyways, I honestly don't have too much else to say about it, except that I really enjoyed the mental health aspect of it. I loved it so much, I couldn't help but do that thing that I tend to do and diagnose Liev. Lol if you want to see me ramble more about that in depth, you can check that out...whenever I actually post it lmao; it's a work in moderate progress at the moment ^^;
To get back on track though, I recommend a casual playthrough! It's the right duration for the story that's being provided, there's multiple endings, which is always interesting, and Liev is a lil' cutie...even though, I really wish that he was at least drinking age. Something about-- well, for the sake of potential spoilers, I'll just say that I don't like that Liev was out here collecting scholarships. Like, that just gave me full ick lmao. It was my fault, though, because had I actually read the game page and not said "Ooh, he's cute and the page is in pink! <3", then I would've saw how it said big as shit that
and
Like, there was no reason for me to be shocked by mentions of him getting scholarships and shit lmao. I literally just had to read.
Okay, wait, no, stop; I got off track. ANYWAYS lol. Me recommend game. Game solid. Game make me go "Damn...that actually kind've sucks, and I feel bad...". Game might make you go "Damn...that actually kind've sucks, and I feel bad...", too. All right! Now with that finally being said, I invite you to go to the dev's page, and tell them, "Hey! You did a good job here! When's the next game dropping? I'll be first in line for it, because I want you to keep doing the thing!". I'm sure that'll make them feel all warm and fuzzy and proud.
That's pretty much it! This review was a little scattered, huh? Well, I'm sure it's all right, because I'm finally done yappin'. The link for the game is right here, and, if you wanted to see the therapist side of me and hear me yap about Liev's potential diagnosis, keep a look out for that post. It'll be posted...eventually lmao. That's honestly why it took me so long to post this rambley review, because the plan was to put them out together, but it was nearing towards the end of the month, and you already knew that I wasn't going to let an entire month go by without posting something. Better yet, I try really hard not to.
Anyways, the biggest preesh for getting this far! Please, please, please remember to drink water, don't be dumb, and hope to see you around~!
