definitely not horrible, i just can't see myself getting the rest of the endings (A and B) after such a long break and thought i'd reflect on and compose some words about this title. slight spoilers below, but nothing that couldn't be derived from a glimpse at official character bios.

the characterisation over time of Daichi and Seiji as both friends and intimate partners is surprisingly tangible for a nukige, their contrasting upbringings despite being so close are retroactively touched on in organic ways which only deepen a reader's understanding of the pair. i admit i feel emotionally involving the reader is more prevalent in BL nukige releases, but the natural flow of thought expressed through throwaway recollection and evocative descriptions of past events immediately likened me to Daichi's life experiences as i truly empathised with him; being passively reminded of something awful and discarding the thought. he chases love liberally and receives little in return, and this reflects in the choices assigned to him within the titular room as well as his own eagerness to be wounded. the question proposed to the reader of physical vs mental (seen and "unseen") wounds continues to be compelling, throwing in Daichi's past traumas with enduring abuse himself with Seiji's seemingly idyllic life clashing in literal intimacy.

at a glimpse and after seeing the title float around for a number of years prior to reading, i had a different preconception to how the choices would work. something more strategic could prove as inspiration for a future project, rationing experiences between a pair so no one person is suffering too much torment; i once again expect a bit too much from a porn game. on that subject, i have to applaud Rn9 for featuring some of the most disconcerting but not exactly sexless h-scenes in a nukige (that i've read), they strike a fine balance between Nikaidou's gorgeous textured rendering with the most dismal backdrop; Okinawa's fake sunlight and stars accompany the languid hum of an air conditioning unit and artificial glow of the television.

again, not horrible, just something i fell off of. i recommend it to fans of utsuge or the like, nothing gets too extreme for your typical eroge reader either.

Yames' first secret game available via supporting their patreon. i played with a rotund orange cat sitting in my lap.

Yames excels at pinpoint accuracy horror experiences and communicates much within only a few minutes, and his love for those afflicted by the unknown is strong in their prose. viewing the world through a dithered two-toned lens, a sinew-like writhing strand extends from the player character and descends deeper into a yawning chasm. The Well is honest about its length from the outset, but manages to deliver a disquieting atmosphere through thoughtful use of tension and release, immersive minimal sound design, and stylised presentation which invites the player the fill in the horrifying blanks.

"I am a cute girl and this is happening to me probably for that reason alone."

on transgenderism, desire, something beyond survivor's guilt, visceral delusions and how we believe them. the prose is impressively similar to the thought processes one maintains during a nightmare or breakdown, a burst of base observations spotted with uncontrollable terror. protagonist Marisol is a prisoner to her own memories, haunted by an ultimate betrayal. it's difficult to see the other perspective.

vncup attracts incredible talent once again! i hope to get to other entries once emotionally ready.

(please read my comment below for a certain trigger warning ↓)

a great way to kill an hour, it's free and features an entertaining gimmick in a succinct package. i've read that some argue the aesthetic narrative tropes in use seem a bit busy or disjointed, but in the grand scope and upon grasping a more concrete understanding they become more cohesive. something cool is emerging here.

even if you don't play yourself, i strongly suggest giving the soundtrack a listen as it's shockingly good.

it's not very often the developers of a game earnestly wish of the player "hope you didn't enjoy it!". i'm shocked to find Presenter Slides™ has such a small presence here on backloggd given its introspective, game-analysis meta nature as a thesis indie available free of charge on steam.

the scope of interest is "abusive game design", or as student developers Mathias and Brin prefer to put it, "counter game design"; audial, visual, emotional, and physical gameplay elements which are directly counteractive to player contentment, which admittedly i've never given much thought aside from surface level sentiments of "Wow This Sucks" as a player myself. these span from eye strain, frustrating control schemes, the breach of taboo topics, busy sound design, or "attrition abuse" (that being requesting the player to do the same thing over and over again).

i learned closely of the above information upon fulfilling the tedious conditions of its unlock, in which Mathias and Brin themselves will present their thesis to you personally across 45 slides the player controls the pace of. it's quite novel and bold to stash their well spoken treatise behind the torturous gameplay they critique and were inspired by. an interesting range of topics are explored across the slides aside from the main focus, citing the concepts of daily video gaming as ritual and the player/game relationship and how they might "bleed" into one another. both of which spoke to me personally as someone who strives to play something at least once a day to log onto this very site, as well as the friendships i've made across the online games i play and pondering the significance of having never known that person unless i played that game!

while i have pedantically divested a lot of the thesis within this review i have intentionally omitted much, as i really do implore you to give Presenter Slides™ a try yourself. as yet another person who someday aspires to produce a game of my own [the crowd boos] i appreciated the window into choices i should absolutely not make.

thank you, and have a good boss fight.

played for the backloggd discord's game of the week june 13 - june 19, 2023

a perfectly enjoyable little cyberpunk foray, complete with bitter class commentary and little hope for the future. i really enjoyed our lady's relationship with her two-wheeled assistant, as well as the vague but compelling worldbuilding present; strange terms brushed past just enough to pique interest.

there's an evil corporation, pollution rampages across the night sky, and murder is afoot. a nice way to spend an evening.

(vague non contextual spoilers)

i think this might be the most disquieted i've felt playing any sort of game whatsoever. trauma gazing descent into delusion stressfest. wide eyed depravity.

contrary to general criticism i see floating around here, i quite enjoyed the way it seemed to keep going after its supposed "peak" to keep it brief, suspending the anxiety to an agonisingly slow pace and wondering where it could possibly go from here; somewhere bad, evidently. i can also see why the ending might be divisive, but while my wound of finishing this title is fresh i find it to be devastatingly powerful.

haunting voice performances, higurashi's typical superstitions grounded in a filthy reality. mouth agape staring at my monitor at 1am-core. onto the next.

bloatier than its previous counterpart C.H.A.I.N. (review) and mostly a waste of time, which hurts to admit.

i previously felt assured knowing developers actually knew about the entire previous string of games that came before them this time, and that a more complete or focused narrative could be achieved. some branches managed to put something together, but unfortunately a majority of others just fell absolutely flat, many of the microgames unplayable/unfinishable in desperate need of a few more days QA. luckily by alt+f4'ing back to the launcher, one can proceed regardless. not much is lost.

i might've had a better final impression of C.H.A.I.N.G.E.D. as a whole if the final tape ending i finished on wasn't so disrespectful to my time and engagement; an ambling repetitive mess, asking the player to complete the same trivial task around 10 times (!!! no exaggeration!) interspliced with scary ambient sfx and cryptic looping spookytalk. what bothered me most however is that it just had nothing to do with the overarching narrative of all the games that came before whatsoever. what were they cooking!

i really do dislike to be so disparaging towards something that actually does maintain a lot of charm half of the time and is literally free, and i wish i could write more following my thoughts on its precursor, but i feel C.H.A.I.N.G.E.D. bit off far more than it could chew. there was just too much bad here to enjoy the good.

to end on the good, bryce butcher's submission was the most enjoyable and memorable to me personally. found via the rightmost route to keep it vague.

played in warm anticipation for C.H.A.I.N.G.E.D.

a game of telephone this large and across so many different people of varying storytelling talent and the nature of how the story continues i feel is something destined to fail, depending on how and where you might apply that term. to assume a coherent plot would be maintained across 20 individuals is extremely optimistic, and C.H.A.I.N. shines in its diversity. its an impressive organisational effort with a unique presentation, each game entry (or "specimen") stored within a nostalgic cd slip case with mock confidential governmental document included, complete with much beloved black bar redactions. unfortunately, a litany of concepts and a nifty launcher cannot carry this anthology on its back.

narrative, gameplay, and interface quality fluctuates wildly across the specimens, and i'm not afraid to admit i did end up skipping two of the most inaccessible and poorly controlled games. at the point i reached those particular specimens, the general theme or story was so out of control and formless that i felt little guilt in just moving forward. as you might as well now guess, the narrative lulls around the middle with creators struggling to adhere to the previous entry and take it somewhere meaningful, though i do understand the appeal that lies in the idea of looking back and saying "how did we end up here!?".

what punished the experience most for me however were specimens which featured extremely irritating visual effects for long periods of time, something i typically don't struggle with. if you experience light sensitivity i strongly suggest skipping specimens #3, #5, and #13.

while C.H.A.I.N. might fall flat as a whole, its spotlight on smaller developers is to be admired and celebrated, and i am actively seeking a few out upon finishing. a collaborative indie game development project of this scale is ultimately to be cherished, and its ambitious yet average execution simply excites me further for its upcoming counterpart following this learning experience.

my personal highlights were specimens #8 and #12 :)

didn't live up to my personal hype but was okay. dragged its feet quite a lot and could've done without the obvious padding to keep the experience consistently engaging, along with very little environmental diversity to keep me in the zone. runtime could've easily been chopped in half with little lost.

decarnation's highlights is in its art direction and subtle, expressive animations. "pixel psychological horror with gore elements" is enough to put many to sleep, but the execution on display really was something special. our heroine Gloria will dance, stagger about a room, perform lithe jumping manoeuvres, and shovel cake into her mouth with shocking clarity and flow.

a major nagging flaw however is the game's implementation of a rhythm game for key moments or scenes (around 5 times). the map notes are nonsensical, poorly timed with little on-beat visual indicators to let the player know they've hit a note correctly; there is a "coin" or numeric system which will float over notes after hitting them ranging from 0 to 100, but otherwise there is no chime or other visual indicator. it certainly didn't impede me from finishing, but it made these song segments horribly tedious and drawn out as i knew i'd be punished simply for trying to hit an organic rhythm.

grotesque, uncomfortable, darkly feminine, quite average. still my favourite coverart of 2023, though.