lilianz
57 reviews liked by lilianz
This review contains spoilers
The comparison to Doki Doki is tacky and overdone considering this predates it by about 4 years, but unavoidable.
When I played DDLC in 2017 I heard the ~whispers~ of this ~other game~ that ~wasn't officially translated at the time~. I saw some screenshots from a certain happy birthday, and moved on with life.
Now 6.5 years later with more VNs under my belt, more life lived, and with memories hazy enough to have not quite remembered being spoiled fully, I rounded back onto reading Totono.
It was certainly an experience worth that wait, and a great of example of using the meta of your genre to tell an extremely effective story. Totono builds its main heroines wonderfully over the course of normal play, making the choice between them feel hard to make even before the curtain begins to get pulled back. Being railroaded into Miyuki naturally makes you feel bad for Aoi, which leads you into her route, which leads to abandoning Miyuki's, which leads to everything falling apart as it does. Despite me pushing in Aoi's direction as hard as possible as soon as I had the ability, they still brought me back to almost picking Miyuki in the end. The emphasis placed on your choice really did make it hard to make in a wonderful way, no saves, no reloads, just a binary with no right answer capping off an extremely memorable commentary on the genre.
When I played DDLC in 2017 I heard the ~whispers~ of this ~other game~ that ~wasn't officially translated at the time~. I saw some screenshots from a certain happy birthday, and moved on with life.
Now 6.5 years later with more VNs under my belt, more life lived, and with memories hazy enough to have not quite remembered being spoiled fully, I rounded back onto reading Totono.
It was certainly an experience worth that wait, and a great of example of using the meta of your genre to tell an extremely effective story. Totono builds its main heroines wonderfully over the course of normal play, making the choice between them feel hard to make even before the curtain begins to get pulled back. Being railroaded into Miyuki naturally makes you feel bad for Aoi, which leads you into her route, which leads to abandoning Miyuki's, which leads to everything falling apart as it does. Despite me pushing in Aoi's direction as hard as possible as soon as I had the ability, they still brought me back to almost picking Miyuki in the end. The emphasis placed on your choice really did make it hard to make in a wonderful way, no saves, no reloads, just a binary with no right answer capping off an extremely memorable commentary on the genre.
happy birthday
This one is an actual masterpiece.
Insanely interesting characters and a really engaging plot, with an extremely good plot twist and I love all of it.
Please play it. Play it before you get spoiled. It's great.
Insanely interesting characters and a really engaging plot, with an extremely good plot twist and I love all of it.
Please play it. Play it before you get spoiled. It's great.
Who's Lila?
2022
one of the only video games i loved, am giving a rating, and will never finish. i will admit, i should have quit earlier, as i continued to get a couple more endings after i had already figured the mystery out. oh well. at least i got to see the projector, that was cool.
who's lila has got to be the most interesting use of the ever-pervasive metahorror cliche. garage heathen created something i have been dying to see from more games since i played lainpsx: a mystery that you, the player, are solving, instead of some character in the story. i've always hated how mystery stories tend to have this structure:
1. setup
2. minor hints
3. dramatic detective shit
4. ending that divulges literally everything
i understand why this structure is so common. people love watching sleuths dissect crazy cases or being kept on the edge of their seats by a wild thriller. but particularly in the case of books or interactive media, this format always seemed pandering and lazy. if this is truly a mystery, set up some solid clues and let me figure it out myself! who's lila uses its meta elements to make good on the promise of a mystery-solving game. it's super tight shit and i never felt pandered to in the slightest.
however, none of this clever bullshit would mean JACK if the game wasn't interesting. luckily for us, who's lila fires on all cylinders. i lost myself in who's lila for hours. don't dismiss the visual style as some hackneyed throwback to ancient pc games; combined with the droney music and minimal sound design, it enhances your intense alienation from the characters. and damn, those are some believable characters! i replayed a couple endings just to try out the branching dialogue options, cause there isn't a single line wasted here. shoutout to the nighttime walk scene hurting my feelings.
(also, its fun and silly to drag your guy's face around while his muscles fight you. i am adding this line later cuz i realized i didn't mention the actual gameplay very much)
who's lila is short, and by design has absolutely ZERO replay value (and i say that as a firm non-believer in games needing to offer a new experience on replays to have replay value). it's still damn well worth your money. go play it already.
who's lila has got to be the most interesting use of the ever-pervasive metahorror cliche. garage heathen created something i have been dying to see from more games since i played lainpsx: a mystery that you, the player, are solving, instead of some character in the story. i've always hated how mystery stories tend to have this structure:
1. setup
2. minor hints
3. dramatic detective shit
4. ending that divulges literally everything
i understand why this structure is so common. people love watching sleuths dissect crazy cases or being kept on the edge of their seats by a wild thriller. but particularly in the case of books or interactive media, this format always seemed pandering and lazy. if this is truly a mystery, set up some solid clues and let me figure it out myself! who's lila uses its meta elements to make good on the promise of a mystery-solving game. it's super tight shit and i never felt pandered to in the slightest.
however, none of this clever bullshit would mean JACK if the game wasn't interesting. luckily for us, who's lila fires on all cylinders. i lost myself in who's lila for hours. don't dismiss the visual style as some hackneyed throwback to ancient pc games; combined with the droney music and minimal sound design, it enhances your intense alienation from the characters. and damn, those are some believable characters! i replayed a couple endings just to try out the branching dialogue options, cause there isn't a single line wasted here. shoutout to the nighttime walk scene hurting my feelings.
(also, its fun and silly to drag your guy's face around while his muscles fight you. i am adding this line later cuz i realized i didn't mention the actual gameplay very much)
who's lila is short, and by design has absolutely ZERO replay value (and i say that as a firm non-believer in games needing to offer a new experience on replays to have replay value). it's still damn well worth your money. go play it already.
Who's Lila?
2022
I literally devoured it in one day... the day before my upcoming exam, yey...
I was expecting some gimmicky game about making the right expressions, and laughing at the most ridicolous ones. Couldn't have been farther from the truth. I played Oneshot yesterday, and still, the game managed to blow my fucking mind. Cryptic, toughtful, atmosferic, simply amazing. I hope the industry will follow the same approach, 'cuz in my opinion videogames express their full potential when following this approach.
I was expecting some gimmicky game about making the right expressions, and laughing at the most ridicolous ones. Couldn't have been farther from the truth. I played Oneshot yesterday, and still, the game managed to blow my fucking mind. Cryptic, toughtful, atmosferic, simply amazing. I hope the industry will follow the same approach, 'cuz in my opinion videogames express their full potential when following this approach.
Who's Lila?
2022
There are various forms of death to be found in Who's Lila?
Physical death ?
Ego death ?
Author's death ?
The facial deformation mechanic might be underused from a gameplay perspective, however, it's absolutely not from a symbolic one, Who's Lila? is without a doubt one of the most focused games out there thematically speaking.
A game somewhat about social anxiety, probably about the free form of self, and, of course, about a dead girl wrapped in plastic.
Physical death ?
Ego death ?
Author's death ?
The facial deformation mechanic might be underused from a gameplay perspective, however, it's absolutely not from a symbolic one, Who's Lila? is without a doubt one of the most focused games out there thematically speaking.
A game somewhat about social anxiety, probably about the free form of self, and, of course, about a dead girl wrapped in plastic.
Who's Lila?
2022
Scratched the exact itch I had for a neat little indie mystery/horror game with its bizarre-yet-intriguing narrative and ARG elements that strike the perfect balance between making the player go out of their way to see everything and not being too convoluted to follow.
Two complaints: one, the point-and-click controls are not nearly responsive enough to carry two entire stealth sections; and two, the game's main mechanic, that being the face-stretching feature, isn't as integral to the plot as the game's marketing would lead you to believe. The feature is totally superfluous to most of the more lore-intensive endings, which is a shame, because I think it's a really cool idea that could carry an entire game's worth of content, with or without the ARG stuff that I liked. Just food for thought.
Two complaints: one, the point-and-click controls are not nearly responsive enough to carry two entire stealth sections; and two, the game's main mechanic, that being the face-stretching feature, isn't as integral to the plot as the game's marketing would lead you to believe. The feature is totally superfluous to most of the more lore-intensive endings, which is a shame, because I think it's a really cool idea that could carry an entire game's worth of content, with or without the ARG stuff that I liked. Just food for thought.
Who's Lila?
2022
Some clumsy/awkward game design, ARG design, and David Lynch reference design gets in the way every now and then. Worth it for the rest of the dread.
Witch's Heart
2017
This review contains spoilers
okaaay i liked it overall but i have such complicated feelings no one told me this game wasn’t finished and everyone talked about it like it was…but anyways
in terms of gameplay, i really loved it. the minigames were a nice way of killing time in case one did not want to continue with the story in between sections. i found the demon request system was fun, allowing the player to explore the house to their heart’s content. this system is adaptable to different playstyles; a completionist vs someone who is just playing to experience the story. even if someone is the latter personality, completing requests is not hard nor do they take very long. the battle system is uncomplicated and i liked that there was variation between characters. the tools were also an interesting way of spacing out exploration. there was no overwhelming amount to be explored before moving onto the next part. overall, the experience was fun.
i feel rather complicated on the story aspect of it. the characters are a bit hard to care for at first; they come off as rather trope-y, but their backstories supplement their personalities very well. i ended up caring for a lot of the cast a lot more than i did in the beginning. however, i still find it hard to care very much about the demons even with their backstories. their designs are cute though.
spoilers begin here!
i love timeloops in media as much as the next person, but i do not think a video game is the best media for it. of course it is not impossible to execute the concept well in a way that is not annoying, but i did not find that here. i do think the story is compelling. i genuinely love it very much, but it was rather painstaking replaying the same parts over and over again, even with skippable parts. i feel even one or two loops would have sufficed, with the bonus stage taking up the majority of it.
i love the themes of grief and loss, with unending suffering that is emphasized through a timeloop scenario. noel takes on the sisyphean task to save clair and that devotion is expressed so well. i love the motivations of the other characters in addition. the emptiness that wilardo feels both from immortality as well as betrayal. ashe’s desperation to see his family again. sirius’ own devotion to lady dorothy and his unsubtle care for noel and clair as well. it was interesting to see these people from different walks of life gather here by some twist of fate for the witch’s heart. while i criticized the time it took to repeat the scenarios earlier in my review, i do think some part of it was saved by the fact that during the loops it explored the relationship dynamics of the characters. though i still believe the bonus stage does a good job of exploring such dynamics anyways.
on my final note, i loved the art. there was no shortage of art, from cgs, to transitions, and even the sprites themselves. it must have taken an incredible amount of work to produce so much art, most of which would only be view for a few seconds before moving onto the next scene. they still leave lasting impressions despite their short screentime. not to mention how cute the style is; it feels very early 2000s anime, giving off a bit of nostalgia for something made in the late 2010s. its aesthetics bring out a bit of an excitable energy with it.
that’s about all i have to say. fantastic game overall have a nice day everyone
in terms of gameplay, i really loved it. the minigames were a nice way of killing time in case one did not want to continue with the story in between sections. i found the demon request system was fun, allowing the player to explore the house to their heart’s content. this system is adaptable to different playstyles; a completionist vs someone who is just playing to experience the story. even if someone is the latter personality, completing requests is not hard nor do they take very long. the battle system is uncomplicated and i liked that there was variation between characters. the tools were also an interesting way of spacing out exploration. there was no overwhelming amount to be explored before moving onto the next part. overall, the experience was fun.
i feel rather complicated on the story aspect of it. the characters are a bit hard to care for at first; they come off as rather trope-y, but their backstories supplement their personalities very well. i ended up caring for a lot of the cast a lot more than i did in the beginning. however, i still find it hard to care very much about the demons even with their backstories. their designs are cute though.
spoilers begin here!
i love timeloops in media as much as the next person, but i do not think a video game is the best media for it. of course it is not impossible to execute the concept well in a way that is not annoying, but i did not find that here. i do think the story is compelling. i genuinely love it very much, but it was rather painstaking replaying the same parts over and over again, even with skippable parts. i feel even one or two loops would have sufficed, with the bonus stage taking up the majority of it.
i love the themes of grief and loss, with unending suffering that is emphasized through a timeloop scenario. noel takes on the sisyphean task to save clair and that devotion is expressed so well. i love the motivations of the other characters in addition. the emptiness that wilardo feels both from immortality as well as betrayal. ashe’s desperation to see his family again. sirius’ own devotion to lady dorothy and his unsubtle care for noel and clair as well. it was interesting to see these people from different walks of life gather here by some twist of fate for the witch’s heart. while i criticized the time it took to repeat the scenarios earlier in my review, i do think some part of it was saved by the fact that during the loops it explored the relationship dynamics of the characters. though i still believe the bonus stage does a good job of exploring such dynamics anyways.
on my final note, i loved the art. there was no shortage of art, from cgs, to transitions, and even the sprites themselves. it must have taken an incredible amount of work to produce so much art, most of which would only be view for a few seconds before moving onto the next scene. they still leave lasting impressions despite their short screentime. not to mention how cute the style is; it feels very early 2000s anime, giving off a bit of nostalgia for something made in the late 2010s. its aesthetics bring out a bit of an excitable energy with it.
that’s about all i have to say. fantastic game overall have a nice day everyone
Witch's Heart
2017
MY BABY CLAIRE 😭