So far a 50/50 experience for me, I didn't like the first episode, and I thought the second one was much better, largely because of how the game is presented visually, possibly due to fluctuating quality in background design and world-building. It feels like the game has pockets of dense visual content with evocative animations, but at the same time, it often falls back on generic dialogue panels like most visual novels on steam, largely in the first episode, while the second one didn't have as much of a problem with it, possibly because the panels were shorter and had more surreal backgrounds.
Maybe it's just a budgeting thing, I understand that you not going to make the entire game out of "ending panel quality art", but at the same time, if you look at specific parts of the second episode, it will have back to back sequences of using much better art panels, so like, you giving me a very contrasting experience with how much care you putting into the game, like you clearly capable of maintaining much higher quality for these drawings sometimes 10-20 minutes at a time, and then you insert some generic common pack filler again. Early access right now has 2 episodes, with 2 more planned for release, took me about 2 hours to finish. The story feels a bit all over the place, to be fair I do think it has a few nice character moments, but it's one of those things that probably will only come with experience, there is no way to explain it, I kinda feel like it tosses you into the world and constantly bombarding you with information, maybe you should focus on fewer things at a time.
It's almost like you making a 9/10 visual novel and a 5/10 visual novel depending on where I am in the story, like you already shown me that you can do so many nice effects with the visual warps and animation transitions, that should be the entire game, not half of it. Like, I would rather you make a shorter game but just keep the best parts of it, instead of having some* elements that I like. It might take more work, but honestly, I think if you manage to do that, you just making a much, much better visual experience from start to finish, completely on another level from most VN games.
[b] Let me use some examples of what I mean (obviously visual spoilers):[/b]
[i] In most VN games nice drawings like these are reserved for the endings because frankly it probably takes too long to make them. And it the second episode, you have so many of these just for the narrative progression, which is fantastic, like I don't see many VN games being able to maintain that for more than a few images. And when you have almost half of the game like that, that should be the game, not a better half of it. [/i]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3604179629
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3604192361
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3604178064
[i] In contrast, about 60% of the first episode looked like that, kinda forward dialogue boxes with plain city in the background, I can almost take any visual novel on steam and substitute it here, would look about the same. I felt maybe 30% of the second episode looked liked that too, but the surreal backgrounds, clothing design and dialogue pacing felt better, so I actually didn't mind it as much. [/i]
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3604195827
[h1] Pros: [/h1]
(+) There are actually some really amazing visuals in some* parts of the game, maybe 30% of the episode 1, and more like 70% of episode 2. Sometimes you do those nice visual effects, as well as different perspectives for the panels, and you should do as much of it as you can. To me it's like a difference of making amazing VN and a generic one, and somehow you managed to do both.
That said, I think the art direction in episode 2 in general was much better, better backgrounds, better clothing, and the characters were more interesting to follow.
(+) I kinda had a similar view on the writing, I just didn't find the character very compelling in the first episode, partially because I also didn't care for the visuals, but I think in the second episode there are more eye catching visuals and more suspense in the narrative, so I do think it feels better, and I hope you can keep improving in the next 2 episodes.
[h1]Feedback:[/h1]
- when you use those forward perspective panels for dialogue, I would suggest either to keep them shorter, or make sure you have more interesting backgrounds, or perhaps more facial expressions for them because they will be the weakest parts of the visual experience, especially when you contrast them with the rest of the game. They took a bit too much time in the episode 1, where in episode 2 they felt shorter, and you had more unique panels with a more interesting location. Just the design for the locations in the episode one wasn't that great, which made the second episode stand out as a much better experience in terms of pacing
Honestly, instead of working on episode 3/4, you may consider just improving or adding more of those higher quality panels/backgrounds for episode one first. try to reduce that basic forward perspective, it’s important to make a good first impression. Cuz you have the skills, but people need to see it instead of what they can find in every generic VN
If you find like a VN game on steam from a developer with no experience, almost every panel will look like that, and that is because they lack the experience to do better. So the less you rely on that perspective, the more versatile I feel the visual novel is, and that shows skill and knowledge from you. And you had like half of the game that looked great, with half of the game that looks plain. You can use it sometimes, just don't rely on it so much.
- I like when you guys are doing various visual effects, honestly the more you can do it, the better
- the writing overall felt a bit overwhelming, too much random world-building, maybe try to focus a bit more on the characters, which you do occasionally, but I am not sure how to explain it, it's not a bad story but it feels like it never grounded itself so I could absorb it
- sometimes I could not move the mouse during dialogue choices in episode 1, I am not sure if it's a bug or it was like a narrative implication (didn't feel right). Also where did you put the auto-text on the UI? Maybe make it more obvious
[b] Overall Thoughts on Early Access 11/11/2025 [/b]
The first 2 episode felt very different to me in terms of visual presentation, with the second one being much better in pretty much every way, including the characters and the pacing. There is clearly some talent and you guys occasionally doing some nice visual/world building moments, but for me, I wish you would just do the better part, even if the game would be shorter, even if takes more work, I think it would be worth it personally if you could maintain that art quality like in the middle/end of episode 2. If you making such awesome art, you don't want to keep diluting it with inferior panels, if that makes sense. Well sorry for the rant, probably a load of nonsense.
[code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]
