What? This is so sweet...
At least within the culture in which I've been raised, humans really aren't taught how to empathize with and talk to people about subjects like chronic illness and death. We stumble a lot, and don't give people who have chronic or terminal illness enough space to speak for themselves and openly share what only they understand. Usually we try to avoid it altogether, because it feels uncomfortable and we don't want to think about it or accept reality — and we expect those afflicted to do the same. Even when it comes from a place of deep compassion, it can have an effect opposite what we wish for. I would love to see attitudes around this shift in a big way — for people to get more comfortable talking about these matters, and to get more comfortable listening. I want to learn how to relate better when it comes to this, too. I believe Astra's Garden handled this really nicely, for such a short story, and it was pretty relaxing.

ostensibly political but rly more of an aesthetic manifesto/individualist thing. doesnt bother to elaborate on "love" as the innermost principle of making good art as if everything including language were a sign for it. video games made by indies and industry devs alike r made for gamers (latently fascist white/asian dudes) and not real people with any remote amt of individuation. the contrast btwn part 1 and 2 (what games r v. what games can be) reads like stuff i myself and my friends have thought which is assuring. really the only thing undermining this is that this user thinks kingdom hearts is an example of a good video game when i cant think of much that screams culture industry distraction-generator louder than a disney + anime rpg. cool to know there r people on the earth

re other reviews on this page, ill say again what was sort of implicit in teh above: i am not so sure the femininity is the point as much as the strict adherence to self-determined/discovered values, which is basically wht "love" stands for. titling and style is provocative in a way thats super interesting to me

I wrote a review about this some months ago, but after some other people I saw review it change their minds (plus being reminded of it by having people tell me I'm wrong) I decided to give it another shot. I think the first time I came into this I saw the one line about 'girldick' at the beginning and I kind of turned my brain off after that because of how much I hated that one line. I'm not going to delve into this too much on backloggd dot com, but as a transgender woman myself I have a lot of issues with 'girldick' and the adjacent culture around it. It's gross and fetishizing and it genuinely makes me uncomfortable. But, after reading this again, I realized there's way more to this that I flagrantly ignored my first go around. (Also, as someone pointed out on my first review saying something among the lines of "there's only like one line talking about weird online stuff" and I will concede that they're right. My bad!)

As my boyfriend states in his review, while this is art it's not really something that's made to be talked about the same way as "proper games" (whatever that means to you) are. Which is why I'm not giving this a score this time as it's rather pointless to, in my mind.

There are a lot of thought provoking ideas in this work. I don't agree with all of them (I think the bit about writers being "obsessed with conflict" especially is very silly), but it made me think about games in a way I've not really thought about them before. Take the topic of violence; while I disagree about video game violence being nothing but filler or a power fantasy, I completely get where the author is coming from. When you take a look at video games as a medium, in most cases there is some sort of expectation for a combat system. Again, this is something that I never really gave much thought to this before as it's always been the norm for essentially as long as video games have existed, but having it pointed out puts into perspective how odd it is. In other artistic mediums, such as novels, paintings, movies and the like, while many of them feature combat of some form, it's not something that's expected because of the medium it was created in. In other words, I doubt anyone has watched Finding Nemo and went out thinking "Y'know, that was a good movie, but I think it's weird how there weren't any big fight scenes!".

I think this outlook of expecting games to have combat, or hell any pre-determined mechanic, as the author states, is limiting to the genre as a whole, and only serves to make games less unique. I think there are many other interesting ways to have the player interact with the world and the creatures inhabiting it that is more than just beating the ever loving crap out of them. To quote the author, "if u want to reinvent a medium u have to eviscerate it first. destroy video games from the inside out like an alien parasite." I agree. Games should be deconstructed to their barest parts, those parts should be turned over and examined, and subsequently thrown out and replaced with something entirely new in its stead. Still a video game, but something that disregards any and all preconceived notions as to what a video game is supposed to/should be.

When I first read this, I took this as "all video games are bad and I am so much smarter than you for realizing this" when that couldn't be further from the point. The author clearly has a deep love and passion for video games, as is made obvious throughout the whole work. It's this love, this passion that makes her want to change them. So they can grow. Video games can be, and SHOULD be so much more. This game is a love letter to video games and their potential. It's a message about why we should break down the barriers that only serve to limit the creativity put into games and the love that games make.

To close, I want to talk about a different game. A game that I had an extremely similar experience with, and that explores strikingly similar topics to this one. That game is moon. When I played moon, I was so incredibly bored. It felt like a complete and utter slog. I didn't feel like I was accomplishing anything at all. I hardly knew why I even kept on playing. It's only when I beat the game and put thought into what I had just experienced that I had realized the point of moon: to be a "boring" video game. moon, like Video Game Feminization Hypnosis, was made by people who have a deep love for video games and want to push boundaries. The purpose of both of these games is to make people think. They want you to feel challenged. It's by design. They're both extremely earnest experiences that pay respect to the boundless possibilities of the medium. And I think they both succeed splendidly.

If Steam had a middle ground option, I'd absolutely pick that and if you're a fan of Hussie's work (or Joker (2019)), I still think this is worth checking out because there are some really great moments and I still believe the beginning of this Visual Novel is very very strong. The first chapter has some especially relatable moments if you're someone who does creative work for a living and has to promote online. Ultimately though, Psycholonials feels unfocused and hollow.

A comment on Reddit once said that it feels like there's not much difference between reading Psycholonials yourself and having someone describe the plot/events to you, which I very much agree with. This isn't a gripe at the lack of interaction since kinetic Visual Novels have been around for a long time, that's fine with me. However, the story is rifled with timeskips, and they often happen when things get interesting, meaning it feels like a lot of plot/character development is very rushed as it seemingly happens off screen. Joculine probably being the best example of this.

Each chapter is pretty short, maybe around 30 to 40 minutes and it often felt like the story was spending time in the wrong areas. There's also a lot of inconsistency in regards to realism which took me out of the story a few times

The start of Psycholonials is fantastic because the story has a small scope. As it gets bigger and bigger, the constraints of 40 minute episodes just can't keep up and do the premise justice. Some people will say that the point of this story is that there's no satisfying ending or that there's no point at all - which sure that's fair and valid, but also doesn't free it from criticism

Psycholonials was originally released one episode per week and I would be super hyped for each release, because I was enjoying it so much. I could barely wait for the next chapter but about half way through, I started to realize that my enjoyment was dwindling. Now that every chapter has been released, you can read the story in one go and I think that'll make it a lot more enjoyable and that reading it in 40 minute increments every week genuinely harmed my perception of it

I won't say too much because of spoilers but the ending didn't do it for me either. I will say though, the surreal visuals are great and the soundtrack slaps. I also really like Abby and Z as characters, even if I wish we'd seen more

don’t ever serially experiment on lain!! worst mistake of my frigging life !!!!

double featured this w we’re all going to the worlds fair which like pair together rlly well,, touching on same themes and ideas,, even repeating some of the same dialogue which was like unexpected

prob one of the coolest and most interesting games architecturally speaking,, like how almost all of the clips/images in game are either of rotted half abandoned buildings or visual clutter and overpopulation like the cramped subway or wires connecting everything and everyone. idk idk makes sense why ppl try to find some solace online but also why the rot seeps through there too. sad game lmfao

we can talk in circles about the art that may have inspired fallow, we can waste time talking about the long lineage of story-driven rpgmaker games that led up to this behemoth; that won't stop fallow from haunting me.

it is infinitely more than another sob story or moody indie game. it is the metaphorical place where all of us who have been outcast from society reside, brought to physicality. stroll down the dusty hallways of the fallow residence and relive memories that are not yours - and yet they are ours.

when i hear the credits theme, "shame", i do not feel the grief i so often do for characters i've loved or fictional worlds i had to leave behind; i feel something watching me over my shoulder. a comforting kind of sadness that will cocoon me even as everything i loved crumbles away.

on the wall above my desk rests these words: "my sisters and i had a secret wish to die in a place that cared for us". i think i will remember them in those final moments.