the game allegedly got a story update, so i gave it another shot.

i like the visuals (except for franz herself... and the AI art), the sound design is not bad, and looking at the concept and concept art - it could have been a very interesting game.

instead its a game where you become an "owner" of a little girlthing, who is supposed to be very scary, but actually looks like a weird pale potato and talks in almost unintelligible baby talk. her previous "owner" talks to you and berates her, saying shes ugly, she needs to be hurt to learn her place and evolve, and other such nonsense.

then the game brings up a donation and review screen as a mandatory part of progression. the options to refuse donation or exit out of the review are almost obscured.

throughout, you have to pet or beat franz (your choice) and spy on her thoughts. sometimes you can say things to her, the two options being very clearly mean or nice. sometimes she says mean or nice things to you. she laments that she wants to be free and all her other owners treated her badly, and you will too. other than the few times the game kicks you out, the gameplay consists mostly of waiting in the app for a long while and then scrolling to click a single sentence, rinse and repeat. its a lot to wait without doing literally anything.

when i was almost at the end of the game, i got messages warning me to delete her while i still can, to break the cycle, to get out. but she was not scary at all, with all that baby talk and repeated dialogue. all i did was rub the screen and all she did was call me a wimp for it sometimes.

then i reached the end of the game. my phone camera turned on, and then.... nothing happened. apparently, the other ending is just a black screen. credits showed up.

whatever this game is trying to go for, i dont get it. its just ridiculous. every time i got a notification from it and opened the game, i was just waiting for it to kick me out again. im a huge fan of pathologic and the void, and not only did i not care for this game - it was disappointing on multiple levels. i feel like i wasted my time. i also saw no story update or anything new (except that now the donation option is now also in the menu).

and addressing the elephant in the room, making a game about abusing and demonizing a childish girl, considering certain allegations, is not a good look.