sexy fweged recommended this to me as part of this list thanks dude

what the fuck
end of the review

no ok fr im not entirely sure what i played right now and im even less competent to explain what this game is about but we will try anyway because we are very brave on this day

hello charlotte ep 1 of 3 ? or maybe more idk i saw some other games when looking for hello charlotte so either the page is tricking me or theres actually more of this abstract artsy indie (?) project but anyway revolves around charlotte looking for food because shes v hungry (can relate) and somehow gets into a continuum limbo of TV channels and audiovisual distortions in the world around her umh that escalated p quickly id say

anyway after getting to know her housemates a loli doctor with a gas mask because ? (UPDATE im playing the second episode and i just realised hes a man what the actual fuck people why did i think he was a loli this says a lot about me) a sebastian michaelis looking fella and a breaking bad radioactive costume methhead charlotte gets to babysit tsundere rude boy and show him the surroundings and then shes like what the fuck im so tired can you leave me alone and then he leaves and then he vanishes and then you enter a TV until you get into a teddy bear house (weird twist + bad dungeon and cheap deaths)

then she gets into a silent film like environment finds felix and just goes through some more boring puzzles about numberssssss (theres a lot of them because apparently thats the only kind of stuff they can put in a rpgmaker game) and then like get into a labyrinth or whatever find some strange people in particular umh spider looking they/them and then VERY BIG FAT JUICY SPOILERS AHEAD felix gets decapitated im so sorry tsudere guy but anyway frei (the spider looking being) goes to charlotte and is like ok well you just need to change channel then she changes channel (whatever the fuck that means) felix is now alive you try to get the fuck out but a maze needs one of the 2 to be left behind

if you choose felix hes gonna get killed like a fucking stupid ass bitch by a ? thing girlie i have no idea and then its a bad ending buuuuut if you choose charlotte a masked guy possesses her for a period of time that feels like 3 mins and kills the same being that killed felix then shes normal again and everyone is safe so you just get out of this place and get into another world called the slaughterhouse v funny now for some reason felix is like umh shouldnt pythias (as if i know what that is) be around here boom theyre all dead apart from like 2 or something anyway theyre like godlike entities but after the coming of the oracle (another divine entity that isnt shown for now) theyre all trash now anyway they get into the last room and the oracle is in a fucking tv screen going on and on about how this world is dying etc etc so charlotte accepts them in her mind and they are now the same thing and then she tells this to the umbrella man going oh umbrella man aint that fun girlie . you literally took an entity of a plane far superior to your understanding into your narrow and obtuse mind why the fuck you laughing anyway everyones happy lets go to sleep the end

now this is like surface level story but charlotte is actually a puppet which is like a being controlled by a puppeteer which is yes the player but its also a separate entity called seth ? that also appears in the very last scene and the bad ending ? so am i seth what are the implications here

anyway yeah they get all the time into this 4th wall breaking stuff and also the writing and interactions are kinda making fun of the rpgmaker tropes which is cool theyre self aware of the medium theyre coming out of so at least i can commend them on that

ok well in all seriousness the story is what it is i dont think its that particularly groundbreaking or interesting but for a game that took me probably less than a hour ? its serviceable and lures you into the world

as a rpgmaker game the gameplay is standard rpgmaker stuff that we all know and love/despise so i wont get into that dangerous territory but i will talk about the stuff that i loved about this little game

first and foremost the art is AMAZING OH MY GOOOOOOOD its just ughhhhhhh i love the little illustrations here every characters icon has so many expressions and different sprites and honestly for an rpgmaker game thats not to be taken for granted like its just fine fine work and in general i just like this art style a lot

the thing that actually pulled me into the experience was the atmospheric and abstract nature of this world charlottes living in that feels like a big ass simulation made just for her i have no idea if thats the route that theyre gonna take for the next episode but if they do i knew it all along

still everything feels very evocative and esoteric in some ways from the characters just spawning out of nowhere to vanishing into thin hair and the equally claustrophobic yet agoraphobic rooms and halls and sceneries and stuff the world feels simultaneously vast and minuscule and time is stopped in a repeating and endless loop

i saw a nice effort that was put into the subtle world building elements that characterise this world (the oracle ? the pythia slaughter ? the puppet/puppeteer relationships ? the different channels/worlds ?) i know theyre preparing something big for the second episode i just know it i cant wait to play it tbh backloggd people say its better so should i trust them

aside from that i also listened to some killer tracks that i wasnt expecting at all honestly they really surprised me with this one i felt it was gonna be like chill ambient/dark music and instead they delivered some stuff i really liked . it was scarce and it was short but i can see a lot of potential in there

anyhow cute little game for a cute little hour im gonna play the second game next so be assured to see me again talking about this white haired girl with mental issues

also bomb cover art

i feel like that entity just sitting around in blood and felix telling you not to touch it was actually the most disturbing stuff in the game why the fuck would you lemme see experimentation on animals just like that

the bad ending with the teddy bear skewering charlotte was actually kind of hilarious im sorry

zapping but make it abstract and scary

some parts kind of reminded me of yume nikki (has never played yume nikki)

the fact that the ink princess story is unfinished is something that the developers will have to talk about with my lawyer because i cant believe they just left me there wondering what the fuck this ink princess is up to in paper kingdom so as soon as i know who you are trust you will be dealt with . period period