i love this game so much. i would absolutely not recommend anyone play this game without looking at the content warnings first.

dead wishes takes an interesting concept and absolutely delivers on it, theres some routes that feel underdeveloped but there wasnt a single one that didnt capture my interest in terms of both the overall story as well as the characters. theres a generous amount of routes and endings, more than youd usually expect for sure. the tone can vary quite a bit between routes and its written in a way that makes that a strength to the game and not a weakness, though it does mean youll probably find some routes less compelling than others. the player character makes choices that make sense for each route and you can see their personality adapt to their circumstances. the art and the music are both good, the amount of choices you can make and how much they affect the story feels very satisfying and immersive. the writing itself is what saves this from feeling like 'misery porn' and makes it so enjoyable that youll want to experience every route.

for negatives, the ending felt a bit weak to me, like it couldve been expanded on in some way but i did still really like it, and as i mentioned above it does have a feeling or 2 or so routes having less attention paid to them than to the others.

if you dont like feeling miserable this game isnt for you, 5/5