GOODBYE WORLD

I was hopeful and wanted to like the game, but I ended up disliking the main character SO MUCH that I cannot recommend it. The game plays more like a visual novel with "gameboy-esque" segments. I get easily motion sick so I had to force-skip these by the 5th one. I didn't mind the visual novel vibe though. The pixel art and sound design is well done too. The story on the other hand...was not great. It circles around something that any creative would understand, wanting to pursue your passion for work. Major Spoilers Below: [spoiler] What the game fails to do, is make the MC likeable at all. Not once does she see that her dreams require actual [b]WORK[/b]. She does zero research into what market she's entering, what type of game she is trying to make, etc. It's all incredibly selfish. The game makes everyone look bad, the teacher, the other student, [i]all[/i] businesses from the small mom & pop store that Kanii worked at part-time to the publisher that gave her much needed criticism on her game, even Kumade who chose a full-time job that made her feel appreciated over working tirelessly part-time to try and stay afloat. It felt incredibly immature and hard to watch Kanii react in the way she did. [/spoiler] [spoiler] As Kumade maintains her job and is depicted as juggling those same pressures, Kanii stays in her own self-pity and refuses to see herself as doing anything wrong. It's insinuated that the two of them lived together, and Kanii was in and out of jobs while Kumade paid for everything. The devs seem to push that it's okay to be a [b]terrible[/b] friend if it's in pursuit of your own happiness, but didn't want to 100% follow through so they pulled a fast one with #13. The only moral that Kanii takes away is to [i]communicate[/i]...which scratches the surface of her issues.[/spoiler] The price is also rather steep ($12) for such little gameplay and such a weak story. You would really be paying for the art and sound. But even on sale, I wouldn't recommend. I've seen comments saying how this is a nod towards other indie creators, but to me...it feels insulting to insinuate others go through such a narcissistic thought process. It moreso feels like the devs wrote about their own journey, carrying bitter resentment towards everyone in their lives.