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UPDATE FROM A WEEK LATER: now that the emotions are settled and I'm over my 12-hour romance, I will say the festival was a good time after all and I'm going back next year.  Especially since (according to a podcast I was listening to) they are going to try and make it more educational/interactive next year.  I'm also going to their other two festivals, pirate and ghost themed.

And I completely forgot that in May I'm going to a historic homes tour for houses from the 19th century, so that might be something I can apply to the book.

I'm about to cry with joy, this is fantastic and my gratitude to you for giving my weird little game a whirl.

For anyone peeking in here, the Steam port releases November 14th.  It will be $2.

https://store.steampowered.com/widget/3312820/

For anyone still peeking in here, the Steam page is live and the Steam port releases November 14th for $2.

https://store.steampowered.com/widget/3312820/

I love the art, it reminds me of some of the 80s cartoons I used to watch in the 90s.  Nutmeg is a vibe, I too wish to be a chubby bat thing glaring at the world.

(And kind of off-topic but ehersh, I saw that you're one of the devs and also that you're on the path to becoming a teacher; I'm on my first year as a certified teacher after being in a work/study program for two years and I will say good luck, utilize any and all resources given to you, make sure you've got your procedures in place, be aware that your craziest kids will never miss a day, and always remember that each day is a new beginning.  :-) )

Thank you so much not just for the review, but for the book recommendations!  :-)  I am so glad people are liking my minimalized sprites, my biggest struggle during the jam period was accepting how my art looks.  I'm also very glad that my writing/story/world/characters are well-received too!  I love Alexander Nakarada's music, its been a part of my projects since 2020 for a reason.  ^^  Anyway its like 645am and im rambling in my pajamas, thank you again for the review!

I love escape room VNs (and not just because the very first VN I ever published was an escape room lol), and this one has so much style and character that it really stands out.  I also loved all the irony in the intro, that was just delightful.

Thank you so much!  I'm glad people are enjoying the visuals.  You have no idea how much self-doubt I have regarding anything I draw myself.  xD  And thank you for the best luck wishes, I'm going to need it.  :-)

I will say as someone who was once a newbie myself that game jams like these are great ways to keep building up skills, something about working alongside other devs to reach a deadline helps a lot.  xD  The love and care yall put in to everything definitely shines through.  Ah, VNN!  I don't see that one used a lot, but I always hear that it's a good engine to work in.  ^^

Oh yes, once I found yall on Twitter and Bluesky I followed so fast.  xD  Genuinely am excited to play the final game, but please don't rush or crunch, I am a patient lady.  :-)

There's quite a few Fantasy VNs in the running this year.  Automaton of Second London is a Fantasy game first and foremost (although romance is also a big part of it).  There were a couple other games (Tell It Slant and deathwish) that would probably fit in too, but that's between you and their respective dev teams.  xD

First I hurt myself from laughing.  Then I hurt myself from crying.  I'm in a lot of pain now.  Jack whyyyyyy.  Great job, this is a dang good game right here.

Love the speculative insect biology and Oz's design.  I will definitely be back when this one is finished, I am already there yo

I saw in another comment that this was made by some beginners, which if I'm understanding that correctly then great job to you all because you've put out something impressive!  Very great visuals and variety of UI elements.  Out of curiosity, what engine did you use?  It's one I don't recognize.

That was a very optimistic ending considering its about swapping body parts due to social media pressure.  I liked this one a lot, especially since the way the story is constructed you end up getting trapped in that loop of constantly changing yourself up just to see what happens next.

I mean, everyone else has already covered everything I was going to say about how great the characters and visuals and monster design is, minigames, mechanics, etc etc etc, so instead I am just going to say "GARRET!!! <3 <3 <3" and hope that properly covers it.

Very interesting setting (I was a little confused though as to whether it was the afterlife or not?), nice music and VA, lovely art style (especially on the Madame's design).  Neat little adventure!

Very beautiful work!  Love how the gui is set up and the general writing style.  The art is gorgeous, too.  Loved how the mystery built upon itself to its solution.  And props to the VAs, of everything I've rated so far theirs was the best.  Great work!

Thank you for the kind review!  

I'm so glad you like Eyre.  She's a character I was so worried would not go over well, but it looks like she went over perfectly.  

And if it helps any, she's getting a bigger role in the book version.  :-)

Thank you for the kind review!  

I'm so glad you like Eyre.  She's a character I was so worried would not go over well, but it looks like she went over perfectly.  

And if it helps any, she's getting a bigger role in the book version.  :-)

SR PELO!  THAT'S WHAT IT WAS!  Yeah, he's got a fun style.  Thanks for jogging my memory.  :-)

Great monster design and visual style.  Balancing expeditions was a great idea. 

Love how peculiar, strange, and mayhaps even bizarre the setting and setup is.  Also love the look of the sprites, they kinda Jhonen Vasquez in a way.

Very stylish, love the look of feel of the game.  Liked all the foreshadowing and want to see more of all these characters.  Especially if Dusk is gonna turn out cool like that.

I love the way photography was used for the visuals, its very stylistic.  I also liked how lycanthropy was used as a symbolism for cruel desires, very nicely done.

Very stylistic with lots of intrigue.  Pacing felt a little slow but that might just be me.  Impressive job!

The art is very nice, very "vintage manga" "Goth twist" sort of thing.

Very stylish!  Love how you utilized RenPy to create some more like an old point-n-click rather than a straightforward visual novel, as well as making the UI within the game rather than text boxes outside of it (if that makes sense?  I hope that makes sense).  Nicely done!

The visuals remind me of something but I can't think of what it was.  An old webcomic?  Maybe?  I'm getting myself off track, visuals are fun.  Story is a straightforward slasher tale, which during Halloweentimes works perfect.  Clever twist at the end, too.  Nice job!

Thank you so much!  I'm glad the twisty, deepening turns drew you in.  :-)

Thank you so much!  Now that you mention it, I can see how Amethyst Hearth snuck in there a little.  Mostly it was a spiritual successor to Kalzrak.

No don't be, these things happen sometimes, it's all good.  :-)

I love this Tim Burton vibe the game has going, and all the smooth animations are astounding.  There was a spot where the dialogue went so long that it fell out of the textbox (the part where Grimes responded to the main character saying he wanted to be a writer), I don't know if that was intentional or not but it was still really good for that moment (and if it wasn't intentional then consider this a bug report :-) ).  Very fun experience, very Halloween-Gothic if that makes any sense.

Thank you for the kind and detailed review!  Yep, it was just me working on this one.  So  glad you liked the story and the art style, story was my main focus with art being a source of anxiety.  Little worried about my own hearing though because I didn't realize the starting music was loud, I'll have to fiddle around with that later...

Just read it, thank you so much!  I'll review yours here in a bit!

I would have liked to get some closure as to what was going on, but it was a nicely made game.

Can you just, like, inject more of this type of Gothic wilderness horror romance directly into my veins, I need it to thrive.  Thanks, loved the game.  <3

YOU CAN DO THIS IN RENPY???

Okay so....I apologize in advance...its a very well-made game, love what you accomplished with Light.VN (I'm inspired to give it a try myself now), very impressive job from a coding standpoint, but it is making me motion sick so I can't finish it and I am very sorry about that, plz forgive my sorry stomach.  :-(