Grimm & Tonic: Aperitif

Don't really like the artwork. Everybody looks kind of ugly imo, and having all the backgrounds be photographic is just lazy, and it looks bad. The background art needs to match the character art, and using photographs makes it look like you just don't give a ♥♥♥♥. Probably because you don't give a ♥♥♥♥. Also, just use renPy when you make one of these; Having to use the mouse button to advance the text in a VN is bad design. Play a few VN's and you will notice how convenient it is to be able to use the Spacebar or Enter keys to advance the text, & renPy does this by default. I'm pretty sure this is the only VN I have ever played where you can only use the mouse button to advance text. And I have played precisely 37 of them at time of writing. Also, if you are making a VN, don't have multiple choices that are all clearly the same thing written in a different way. Here is an example of a 'choice' that is clearly pointless on the face of it from 'Grim & Tonic': 1: 'You're not how much money you have in the bank.' 2: 'You're not the car you drive.' 3: 'You're not the contents of your wallet.' These choices look like they don't matter. If they do matter, it's arbitrary & not fair to the player, because they certainly look like they all amount to the same thing. If they don't matter the choice shouldn't even be there. The UI has what looks like a save button, but which does not appear to do anything. Again, this is functionality that renPy, which is free, includes by default. This is not worth paying more than 99p for.

This game was SO FUN! It has such an interesting story line and the stories of the characters are awesome to find out. The references are cool, as well. My favorite line: "Slavery wasn't abolished. They call it 9 to 5." I felt that in my soul. I can't wait to see more episodes!

I really enjoyed the concept and story of the chapters available. Drawing parallels between ways we really help people outside of our "work" or surface interactions and hinting as to finding meaning in what you do. Or we're all just soulless, who knows? Liked the art style, the mechanics and characterisation as well as some of the Easter Eggs around video game tropes and development. Sure there's the odd typo here and there and you will notice but it doesn't affect the overall flow or understanding of the game. Look forward to seeing if there's more to come. Was nice to stream and chat with folk about too!

The art and characters are definitely quite charming. Unfortunately the game is a bit slow and thus boring. Can't see myself replaying it, even to get the last 2 achievements. It's just a bit of a slog to get through the entire thing, despite how short it is. Also a bit of an issue with continuity: in chapter 3 you have to look around for a side character, despite being told (at least in one of the outcomes) where they are at the end of chapter 2, which is a bit annoying.

Bad

It's short and sweet, really like the art too. Pretty cool. ^^