when there's hope there's the music of now
flowing through my head symphony presense
mindful sung sweetly
making your voice, your spirit
my ground to center on
not out of time same songs repeat, singing
you were all "hope you're doing well in your own hell"
light through the white window wood
s p e l l i n g out no, i'm really here

an excellent first foray into games, post-disclosure, devil's night is presented as an intimate, personal experience - and it is! it did a lot to bring me into the experience, one that, even though i've never experienced, i've seen so many times from outside. i don't think talking about the story does this justice, it just need to be experienced, and there aren't many other aspects to speak of since it's a twine game.

as a first work, it does occasionally suffer what i can only assume is uncertainty in artistic voice, an occasional lack of complete commitment toward, or perhaps confidence in, a single coherent vision. presentation-wise it's also a bit unpolished, but as a twine game jam entry i really can't fault it for that. all i can say is that, i think the biggest obstacle to roxy as a game dev at the point this was made is a lack of confidence. looking forward to continuing the ludography soon

An ambitious game that straddles genres, it's quite impressive for the Saturn. Charming sprites, voice acting, and even small 3D sections and CGs, the game has a lot going for it. It incorporates minigames well, not forcing you to participate in them but rewarding you for doing so; in fact, it's part of the interplay between the VN and SRPG segments. Treating the characters well and keeping them in a good mood improves their abilities in combat, incentivizing you to be kind and caring, and making it believable that they all end up liking you. The music is also really good, so overall there's a lot to like!

However, the game has some significant flaws. The VN sections can sometimes be too short, not allowing enough time to interact with the characters; the final boss is awful and requires multiple restarts and I had to RNG scum for crits in the emulator; and the combat overall is weak and unchallenging for the rest of the game. Still, a good experience overall and definitely worth playing.

Kohran Li my beloved

looking back 10 years after its release, it's clear that proteus possesses the bones of something beautiful, but it's not fleshed out. to be certain there is some joy to be found in this vibrant world that is so alive despite being so simple. to be honest i wasn't expecting to come out of the experience with a newfound appreciation for it, only revisiting it in preparation to to Bernband, but booting it up and visiting that island once again is like being wrapped in a fuzzy blanket, a familiar and comforting feeling. along the way i kept discovering things i had forgotten, little details that on their own perhaps don't add up to much, but when taken in totality make the experience much more enjoyable than i remember. call it nostalgia, call it a change in perspective, but i think proteus is a better work than many - myself included - have given it credit for.

It was actually a really good game but I had an error that forced me to reinstall the app and was unable to recover my account. Still, it was a very good experience when I played it and I finished enough of the content that was available at the time before that happened to be satisfied. A good Chrono Trigger spiritual successor with plenty of homage to the original and with input from the original creator and composer. If you enjoyed the character archetypes, the story structure, the cats, or just about anything else about the original Chrono Trigger, there's probably something for you here.

Don't overlook this one just because it's a mobile/gacha game, you can in fact complete all the content with just the free characters and it's fairly generous with premium currency. Just make sure you take precautions to ensure you don't lose your account like I did.