just venting a bit before i disappear for a whole year again :")
this year marks the 11th year since i first played euphoria and it left me such a deep mark it's been my favorite vn ever since! things have surely changed a lot since 2014 (well, back then there wasn't even any english translation and the fandom was like. five of us) and nowadays i even see people talking more about euphoria
talking about what euphoria means to me (as someone who literally grew up liking it) is kinda hard because first, i'm not eloquent enough to start describing my feelings about it and second, if i tried it still wouldn't do any justice towards the game. i'll give it a try because, you know what? i'm 25 now!
liking euphoria as a 14-year old back on 2014 was challenging because people immediately assumed the worst of me, and called me so many nasty stuff... ofc, as a 14 y.o i was really sad and felt kinda alone. euphoria helped me understand sexuality better, overall and for myself as well, the game talks about so many topics on its 31-hour gameplay (such as mental illnesses, fetishes, life itself, relationships, codependency) and even if i tried to deny the sex scenes and say they aren't relevant to the plot at all, they are!
euphoria is a nukige, so it means a good part of the game has sex scenes. even a few years back i tried to say "oh you can skip allll h-scenes they aren't relevant at all", but my vision has changed since then and now i understand that denying the game its most defining part is as if i didn't really liked the game itself; as if i were trying to force myself to like it. why does everything i like has to be clean and easy to show others? who am i performing for? am i trying to experience something or am i trying to fit in?
but even as a young teenager, when people tried to call me out for liking this game, not even once i backed down or tried to lie about it. i always owned up the fact that this is my favorite visual novel - if you play it, then maybe you'll get it, maybe not, and it's fine if you don't! we can always talk about it respectfully and try to understand each other.
many people still call me "performative" or "trying to be edgy" for even talking about euphoria, but what i find most performative is calling people out for liking media that isn't suited to your taste. i mean, hey, sorry i'm not up to your squeaky clean standards and the stuff i like has controversial topics - it doesn't automatically means i'm a bad person. nuances are a thing, and it means not everything has to be black or white; that is, if you're willing to be mature enough to let go of this puritan idea that every media has to fit a certain standard.
it almost feels misogynistic how people shame me for liking a visual novel that has a lot of sex scenes; and even if people try to justify and say "well, but it is a misogynistic game!" i have no doubt most people would just look over this fact if i was a man. it would be quirky, even.
i feel like i'm talking a lot lol but i just wanted to get those thoughts off my head and on to something :')
sorry for disappearing every year, life's been tough but euphoria is always on my thoughts! i even listen to the ost on spotify sometimes <3
if y'all wanna follow me on social media: i'm niasguts on X, gutslieb on tiktok. i'm way more active there :')








