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.
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.