Entropic Float is an experience I'm grateful for the existence of. Where I often feel invisible, this game made me feel a little more seen.

I was surprised by how much content there is, especially considering that it's available for free!! I opted to pay a few dollars when I initially got it through Itch, as I didn't know what to expect, but it was worth far more as an experience.
EF is a fantasy time-loop mystery story, the larger part of which is non-linear. I tend to think that games with multiple routes/paths have an ideal order in which they should be played, but EF is one case in which I think the different parts could be played in any order; each a wonderful way to experience the story. Various moments are made more intriguing or mysterious, or lead to different readings of situations, depending on what one saw prior. Maybe there is an ideal in some cases, but most orders have differing benefits both ways. It's very consistent, minds what knowledge the player should have obtained from a specific "loop", and doesn't rehash the same information unnecessarily. It was fun theorizing as I went along!
Some of the references definitely went over my head, but I did catch a fun GNOSIA reference in there! EF clearly takes inspiration from the aforementioned and from Zero Escape (among others, surely).
The game explores many sensitive themes in ways that seem well-informed, and always does so with empathy. There are many content warnings, so if it's relevant for you, I recommend reading those before playing! A full list of them can be accessed from the game's main menu.

It's so supremely queer. I've never seen more LGBTQIA+ rep in a single game before, and felt a little spoiled! This queerness isn't at all incidental — it is inextricably woven into the fabric of the story. There's a depth to the representation that I rarely find in other fictional media, which comparatively often leans into stereotypes and misconceptions, or just plasters a label onto a character with little to no thought put into how such experiences of the world would shape and inform other aspects of them as a person. (Notably, this is the first and ONLY time I've seen a non-binary character who is over 50 years old.)
Entropic Float's characters are all written with abundant love, and with compassion for them in their struggles — and this extends well beyond LGBTQ+ specific experiences.
They're all fairly eccentric characters, but in a way I found much more tasteful than, say, DanganRonpa characters. Even with their quirkiness and more unrealistic aspects, they retain a human element (which I found DR characters to generally be devoid of).
I can honestly say that I like all of the main cast of characters! I do, however, have some favorites~ I'm glad that at least some of these characters will be returning in subsequent games (and I'm planning on checking out the DLC for EF as well).

There are lots of cool character designs and some wacky fashion. The 3D character sprites are far from perfect aesthetically, but they're still expressive and fun, just like the characters themselves. Many different art styles (drawn by different artists) are present in CGs, and this lack of visual consistency took me out of the experience here and there, but I can't really complain, especially at this price (free, if you didn't catch that).

While I'm on the topic of complaints to note:
• Shinjiro and Jazz's voice actor has no right to sound so goooood. Especially Jazz had me dyingggghhhhjdr
• the song that plays on the title screen made it difficult to load my save file, because I wanted to keep listening to it (it's good)

As for an actual complaint, though; the sound is really poorly balanced. Some music tracks are much louder / quieter than others, and although the voiced lines aren't many, when they appear, they're often too quiet to be audible, or really loud suddenly! All things considered, I was adjusting my volume controls one way or the other very frequently.

As for the system, everything necessary is here. Quick Save/Load, Skip, Log, the ability to easily rewind text going quite a ways back using the mouse wheel. Simple and convenient.
Each route/loop has two endings (both are significant and necessary to reach the true ending). Once one is reached as a result of in-game choices, the player can go through again picking other choices, or can even skip right ahead to the other of the two endings (not that I ever did the latter, as I liked seeing the alternate text/scenes following the choices. It seems very convenient, though).

I can't not recommend this one. Entropic Float is a heartfelt, suspenseful, fun, and sad mystery. It's a bit rough around the edges, but it's something special.

Shout out to Pudding.

(I played this on my desktop PC but, this is playable on Steam Deck. It's not optimized for it, but the controls are simple, so it works.)

OK, I dunno -- maybe it's not that good but, I had a blast with this one. It was thoroughly amusing, weird, and fun to play with company (although it mightn't have been half as fun on my own). However, my relative lack of exposure to this genre of games may mean I'm more easily impressed than the average person who plays this game.
It kept me guessing right up until the end, so I think it succeeded in the way it was intended to! Also, playing as (optionally) a male character in a fictional society that treats his attraction to men as something completely expected is nice.
The gacha game mechanic got a little annoying at a couple of points, and there is an instance of flashing imagery which I wish wasn't present. Otherwise, I feel this silly game was worthwhile for the time and few dollars it cost. But you won't get much romance out of this one!

Beautiful, sad; real. For no good reason, I think I was anticipating something more fluffy and light-hearted, but it was a good experience, and a more valuable one to me in this way. It feels at once heavy and inspirational.

I want to cling. I don't want to cling.
When I can help it, I want to ride the waves, and will do so with grace at times, and clumsiness at other times. I'll resist, and then I'll lovingly embrace my self who wants to resist, whose hands will open slowly, and clumsily embrace my gracefulness, and gracefully embrace my clumsiness.

Why is no one playing this?

The visual art is the first thing that got my attention, with super stylish character artwork and very neat use of color (very trans pride flag environments). The somewhat minimalistic backgrounds draw the players' attention where it's wanted, with perspective and dramatic shading that don't lack in eeriness, and evoke feelings of discomfort. The atmosphere is thick! The music also sets the mood well, although it's mostly lacking in melody and so is not memorable.
The English translation is plenty good. There are typos and missing words here and there (which were generally just amusing), but nothing is unclear, and the writing has personality. While there isn't anything very profound or emotional to be experienced here, the story is suspenseful and curious, unraveling at a steady pace that never bored me. The horror level is just right for me — it's there and relevant, but not overwhelming, so it didn't detract from my enjoyment.
This is my first exposure to Lovecraftian fiction, so the degree to which Lunatic Whispers is derivative isn't something I can really judge.

The gameplay isn't really difficult, especially after one has played through it once and knows what the goals are.
It's somewhat on the short side, but well worth the price for me. There are seven endings, which are easy to get with a guide, but I recommend going through your first playthrough without a guide and rolling with your mostly inevitable failures (failing can be fun). There is something you can interact with toward the end of a playthrough that makes subsequent playthroughs a total cinch, and it is miss-able, so either be thorough in your examination of the environments, or perhaps check out a guide for the very ending.
I do wish that the endings (at least the "best" one) were longer, or that there were some bonus short stories, as I like the characters and wish I could see them more! The endings are fun but quite short.
There is also a button for speeding through text, which is a boon when going for all endings, but must be used with caution, as it skips through not only previously read text, but all text. There is a text log though, so one can check what one might have missed.

Lunatic Whispers getting so little attention honestly made me hesitate to play it, so I'm very glad I gave it a go!

Disclaimer: I played with good company, so my experience did benefit from that!
(Functions well on Steam Deck. Played docked with a controller.)

I excitedly began playing this on November 15th, 2019, the day it released. It started out fun enough — the beginning is cinematic, has some nice music and pretty locations... Exploring the Wild Area was novel and enjoyable for me at the time. I spent a lot of time there, actually, squeezing every bit of enjoyment I could out of that place; camping with my Pokémon as they became inadvertently over-leveled, hoarding items I would mostly never use... until I wound up dropping the game for a few years. Over the course of those years, I saw some of the criticism that this game received, and I didn't really get it. Everything seemed fine to the point that I'd played. Oh well, Pokémon fans can be pretty critical at times.

I picked it back up more recently, and pushed ahead with the main story. From there, it just went downhill. Lower, and lower. This sucked. If I weren't so loyal to the Pokémon main series of games, I probably wouldn't have pushed to complete it, especially with how much of a drag the final parts of the game were, wherein an utter lack of content gave way to anticlimactic repetitiveness.

The main thing I have to say is that everything about this game is so surface-level when compared to the other main-series Pokémon games. They tried putting a coat of pretty paint on stuff, but there's nothing of substance behind it. It might fool you for a bit, but it can't keep it up for long at all. It shows in things like the lack of flavor text after leaving the first town, for objects you'd be able to examine in other games (except Scarlet and Violet, which is similar and even worse in that regard), and the inability to enter the majority of buildings. (Of the structures that can be entered, many look near identical to each other, with the exception of buildings one is required to be in for story scenes. They wouldn't want you to miss the few locations they put any effort into designing, after all.) Where new towns in other games often promised crannies to peek into, small discoveries to be made, or unique features... this game largely presents the facade of new towns, where all you can do is pass through them.

In other Pokémon games, there are optional activities to participate in, some of which have a lot of depth to them! TV/radio programs, contests and performances/musicals, underground mining and secret bases, riding Pokémon, flying through the sky from location to location, the Safari Zone, Trick House, little side quests, gambling, photography, an entire second region to journey through (HGSS was just WOW), optional Legendary Pokémon to pursue, Entralink, the ability to pet or walk with one's party members — I could go on and on. There are no such treasure troves of optional content, locations, and features in this game. The most there is to mention here is like, Max Raid Battles and making curry. And you can play fetch with your Pokémon. (I believe it goes without saying, but I'm judging this game based on the $60 USD full game, not based on paid DLC.)

Once you're done in the Wild Area, I felt there's no real incentive to return — it's all behind you — and everything from there is a straight shot from one Gym to the next, broken up only ever so slightly by bits of an absolutely mediocre plot that had so little thought and care put into it. Pokémon games aren't known for their high quality story telling, but this is a new low. I can't even say that it seemed to me like the writers were trying. It felt so lazy, stingy, and stale, and not once did it touch me emotionally. It's devoid of the adventurous magic I've found to varying degrees in the games that came before it, as well as the more recent Legends Arceus and Scarlet/Violet. The story lacks imagination... They tried going for some plot twists, but they fell completely flat. Most of the characters have so little personality, you could copy the words spoken by one of them and paste them on another character's text box and it might not be apparent at all that you'd done so. There were a couple of main characters who could have been interesting, but the writers just didn't... really do anything with them.
There are a few nice music tracks, but not much I enjoyed relative to most Pokémon game soundtracks.

Overall, this game is an empty disappointment.

A life of luxury spent observing the fake gato...

They really let me spend 14 in-game days with my cat before they gave me the epilogue. I was expecting something open-ended where I can take care of my chosen cat for as long as I want to, as in some other games from this series. That's just the game set-up — they want to have the player raise other cat breeds, but they make the player start over for every cat without the abilities, money, and items acquired in the last playthrough.

It's cute, but pretty bare bones, like you'd expect from a GBA pet sim. I liked the events inside and outside the house and the little scraps of social sim. It would have been nice if there were more of these, but there's only enough unique events to last for one short playthrough (although perhaps some are unique to the breed or are based on the cat's stats. Having played a little of a second playthrough, it's all the same so far). It grows boring after seeing all of them.
The music tracks with the synth meows were fun, and also the worst music I've had stuck in my head in a while.

I grabbed a $4 copy of this from a used game store, which was entirely unnecessary. But if you enjoy trying out different pet simulators, I think this is worth emulating for a couple of hours~

Also, they make you pick "boy or girl" for the player character, and then never gender the player character---

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.