Cute little game. A clear reflection on the feelings of isolation and longing faced during the pandemic but with an eldritch doomsday coat of paint that's REALLY reminiscent of Saya no Uta.

As a dog owner I felt the vibe but the presentation was definitely stronger than the writing. Lot of the dialogue felt too on the nose for my taste and the climax twist was muddled.

I feel like they should've sticked to the allegorical pov more instead of actually trying a contrived plot with the eldritch being since the game doesn't have the time to properly develop that (it's literally 30 minutes long, short projects like this should be more focused in order to work) so it got messy by the end.



SPOILER RAMBLE

I interpreted the climax as a possible allegory for the moment the pandemic almost ceased but then resumed shortly after, restarting the cycle and spiralling the main character into a broken and hollow state of repetition but that message is oddly conveyed if that was the intention due to the literal plot conflicting with the irl scenario parallel since I'm assuming the implication is that the dog was already "marked" by the eldritch being and thus the main character ended up leaving his loved one he longed for to her death in order to survive but ended up bringing the dog in unaware of the mark and ironically being saved by a marked entity.

This game was incredibly okay. The highlights, in my opinion, were the sound effects/music and most of the prose/poetry that make up the narration. The art is fine, but in my opinion, needed another pass. The 1-bit style is cool in theory, but it makes certain things hard to read. I remember being especially confused during the opening because not only is there nothing that shows the controls, but I couldn't even tell where my character was on the screen because they blended into the background. And like I've mentioned in previous reviews, I really can't stand pixel-imperfection at all, and it is pretty bad here, but I understand it's very very hard to do in modern engines, so I let it slide. I like the inclusion of the purple highlight on things that need to be interacted with. It's a great design choice and definitely helps show what and where things are, but at the same time, the further use of the purple around the doorframe and in the window as setdressing and not as a design cue were very confusing to me at first.

This next section contains discussion of the ending. I didn't mark the entire review as spoilers for the sake of the first half.

I feel like I was quite confused by the message of the game. It was obviously about depression, based on the warnings in the beginning, but also the allegory of being alone and unable to leave the house. And at the end, when the game is building up to going outside, I saw that as the logical conclusion, and a sort of happy ending to the story. But then, the dog pulls you back in, and it turns out that the signal telling you to go outside was actually a lie. This was a very disappointing ending for me. Not only because it felt like it was backpedaling on the depression message (I.E. leaving the house (escaping depression) is bad) but also because I felt like it came out of nowhere. The purple haze in the distance acted as more of a plot device than anything else, a reason why we're trapped indoors. The rules of its magic go largely unexplained, and that's ok. It serves its purpose AS a plot device and didn't need to be anything more than a reason to stay inside and not let people in, AKA, an allegory for depression. So when the game ends with a 180 where all of a sudden the mist has a brand new property of human speech mimicry and uses it to try and lure you outside, it completely catches you off guard and, in my opinion, entirely undercuts the previous message. As predictable as it would've been, having the player get to go outside (even if we never actually see the outside) would've been a much better ending. I don't know. I may be reading too much into this and caring way too much, but the game made its purpose as a story about depression very clear, so the sudden shift from allegory to lore felt out of place. It just felt like the conclusion was "don't try and heal, don't escape depression if it's too scary or hard" when the whole game was about "we can't do this forever/we can't live in this loop forever/this isn't living life".

Una experiencia corta y sencilla cuyo único punto de interés existe en su narrativa. Pero aun en esa simpleza, creo que presenta de forma excelente sus temas a través de su monótono ciclo de juego.

Para ser un juego de una JAM hecho en 48 hrs, pienso que el equipo involucrado consiguió dar en el blanco para dar un retrato sincero y eficaz de cierta realidad que, por desgracia, invade la vida de muchas personas, incluida la mía. Por lo mismo creo no equivocarme al darle el visto bueno.

Si tienes el tiempo, te recomiendo darle una probada.

A pandemia é o grande trauma coletivo de nossa década, então nada mais natural do que várias pessoas tentarem processar esse trauma através da arte - e isso inclui, obviamente, videogames. Algumas obras tentam processar esse trauma coletivo coletivamente: são para que todos que passaram por esse evento traumático possam se identificar em alguma medida. Outras são reflexões mais pessoais, uma forma do autor expressar o que ele sentiu ou passou. Ambas as abordagens são válidas e apreciei games e trabalhos interativos dos dois tipos.

You Will (Not) Remain é o primeiro, entretanto, que sinto pender demais para o segundo tipo quando seria muito mais efetivo e interessante se pendesse para o primeiro. Ele tem tanto o detalhado ambiente virtual quanto uma alegoria visual para a pandemia efetivos os suficiente para você se imergir no mundo. Mais interessante, ele recria de forma muito competente e razoavelmente sutil um dos aspectos básicos do isolamento: a rotina - e como ela se torna cada vez mais enfadonha. Entretanto, em vez de deixar o jogador experimentar por ele mesmo esses elementos, o protagonista a todo momento explicita seus próprios pensamentos e conclusões de forma cada vez mais intrusiva. Provavelmente eu curtiria mais o jogo se a cada dois minutos não pensasse "cara, por favor, para de me dizer como eu devo me sentir".