Miya Might Break

[H1]A step-parent neglecting a child under their responsibility. Think I've heard that before...[/H1] Thank you VAINSANE for this curator copy. This is nonetheless an impartial review. Before jumping in, a quick PSA. This is my first game from VAINSANE, so if there are recurring references or universe links I missed, that’s on my newcomer badge. Also, the Steam page trigger warnings are very vague, and the story touches on heavy themes like [spoiler]suicide, murder, psychosis, mental breakdowns, and unhealthy relationships[/spoiler] (amongst others). That matters here. One more thing: if motion sickness tends to ambush you, be careful. The transition movements can be intense. This story follows a former prodigy trying to keep herself together while living with her stepfather, Rasu, performing small rituals to calm the storm in her mind. Those rituals echo through the neighborhood and pull in her neighbor Seru, who tries to help(?) in his own way. The atmosphere is really uneasy, nailing that surreal tone right away with the creepy character designs and a cute-but-suspicious talking plushie. Structurally, it’s a very short experience (about 23 minutes to 100%), with achievements unlocking naturally once you see all endings. You can save anytime, even during choices, and there are useful options like fullscreen, sound sliders, skip settings, and adjustable auto-forward speed. That said, most of the story is linear with only one major choice at the end, so the branching feels more like a final fork / trident than a journey where you chose the destination. A couple of rough elements stood out. There’s no autosave, and yes, my computer crash reminded me the hard way. The motion-heavy presentation can be uncomfortable. Also, you absolutely need to read the store description before playing or the narrative may feel confusing for most of the runtime. The writing style leans heavily on short sentences, which sometimes makes the storytelling feel like a chain of fragments instead of a continuous thread, especially as someone who's used to more fleshed out visual novels. The game also starts with auto-forward enabled by default, though the log makes it easy to rewind. Overall, this is a compact surreal horror title with a strong atmosphere and some structural quirks. If you enjoy psychological stories that feel strange, intense, and slightly disorienting, it’s worth a look, just don’t skip that store description first to avoid clicking through the thing like a headless hen! [quote]For more reviews like this one, please check out [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45639970-Ele%2527s-Little-Recommendation-Corner/][b]Ele's Little Recommendation Corner[/b][/url]![/quote] [quote]For reviews covering all types of indies, recent and old, don't hesitate to drop by [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/][b]IndieGems[/b][/url]![/quote]

At 20 minutes this is the shortest game from VAINSANE, and ironically the one with the best writing, that being said, it does not have the same allure and world-building from previous games. This game almost has the opposite problem from the last 4, the developer generally has cool ideas for the story that are too bloated with outside information. However, [i]Miya Might Break[/i] arguably has much better pacing and focuses on the nuances of the few characters that it has. I am still not sure if the dev speaks any English, although I didn't notice it being too much of a problem here. I didn't read the store page and totally missed the point of the game on my first playthrough, mainly because you can assume that she is imagining some of the characters, unless you read the store page or get the context from one of the 3 endings (some characters are real, and some are not). It's a linear game, with 3 choices at the very end, I ended up playing it twice because I felt like I missed some of the context, and on further inspection I feel that the writing was done pretty well, it never adds anything that isn't relevant in the moment, which is the criticism I often had for dev's previous games. Initially I thought this was an existentialism narrative, but it's not really the case. As far as I can tell the whole point of this game is Miya is hyping herself to "something" that she can't do [spoiler]which seems to be killing or confronting her stepfather [/spoiler], simply because at this point her spirit is too broken to make it happen, and yet she is so desperate, it's inevitable that something must give. As it already says on the store page, there is an implied abuse from her stepfather, although interestingly we see him yelling at her multiple times, but we don't get any hard evidence for actual abuse, so the extent to which Miya is being emotionally suppressed is largely from her perspective, or at least she believes that no matter what she does it will still happen, even though I feel that we don't get that hard evidence for it other than Miya being hard on herself. As far as I can tell her stepfather is trying to make her get out of her box, but not so much directly preventing her from doing so (and if he does, it's not explored enough in the game) [h1]Pros: [/h1] (+) I like what you did with the music choices, the game almost has an ethereal quality to it, dreamy but also with a sense of despair and dread. The little motion cutscenes nicely complement her panic attacks and anxiety. (+) Unlike your last 4 games there was very little narrative junk, you focused on the characters and it feels like every section in the story contributes to us understanding how desperate Miya is. [h1]Feedback: [/h1] - Actually, no criticism from me, I think this is a huge improvement for you, the game is just 20 minutes, and you picked a simple idea for the narrative, so lower risk, lower reward. But I do think it's much better than your other games, at least in terms of pacing, maybe not in terms of ideas and potential for world-building. I would have liked maybe a little more in terms of those moving cutscenes, I think they were great addition to highlight her panic attacks, maybe could have done a little more there [b]Overall Thoughts: 6.5/10 [/b] On a surface it has some similarities to many existentialism visual novels on steam, but overall that is not what the game is about, Miya isn't putting herself in the box, [spoiler] the box seems to be imposed on her (at least from her perspective), and she is trying to get out, but has no strength to do so. [/spoiler] Overall the story is not as crazy or creative compared to what the dev did in the past, but I do think the characters and the dialogue were much cleaner overall, so easy recommendation at $2, had some good atmosphere to it as well. [code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]

개발자님 뽑뽀 딱대 그냥 사랑스럽네 담 게잉도 기대할게요

I absolutely love this game. It has 'multiple' endings. With the sheer abundance of non existent choices throughout the story, it truly feels like a hardcore RPG. I was so deeply immersed in Miya’s role that I didn’t even notice my agency was a myth until the final screen. In a stunning display of efficiency, the game saves you from the burden of decision making for 99% of the experience only to generously offer you three distinct buttons at the very end. 10/10, would follow the linear path again.

[h1]Eng and PT-Br review[/h1] Mais um jogo curto desse developer. Dessa vez temos um jogo de terror psicológico! A ideia é muito boa mesmo! e a sua apresentação com todos os efeitos 3d e estilo de arte bem característico é muito boa. Mas há alguns problemas, como é recomendável ler a sinopse do jogo na página da loja, algumas informações importantes para entender o enredo do jogo estão lá e o o jogo aborda temas muito interessantes e pesados, mas realmente, não explorar todo o seu potencial, enquanto isso é legal pois deixa você pensando sobre o que realmente aconteceu, eu sinto que esse jogo poderia ser mais longo e desenvolver seu enredo melhor. De todo modo, ainda é um jogo bem legal que trata de temas pouco explorados no gênero, com um visual e OST bem bacanas! [hr][/hr] [h1]Eng and PT-Br review[/h1] Another short game from this developer. This time we have a psychological horror game! The idea is really good! And its presentation with all the 3D effects and characteristic art style is very good. But there are some problems, such as the fact that it's recommended to read the game's synopsis on the store page; some important information to understand the game's plot is there, and the game addresses very interesting and heavy topics, but it doesn't really explore its full potential. While that's cool because it leaves you thinking about what really happened, I feel that this game could be longer and develop its plot better. Anyway, it's still a pretty cool game that deals with themes not often explored in the genre, with a really nice visual style and OST!

на самом деле это игра, из всех остальных от VAINSANE как по мне самая слабая в отличии от других она больше похоже на типичный психологический американский ужастик следящий чел за забором, отчим, и шизеющая героиня ходящая кругами в комнате моя оценка 5.1\10 (вся оценка в основном из за моего впечатления от других игр автора и необычного визуала)

beastmode

A short but very emotionally and psychologically hard hitting game. Having played most of Vainsane's works I had an idea of what to expect going in but this game in particular was especially thought provoking. The concept of having, what I can only describe as a "devil on your shoulder" was executed very well with Mopa the cute looking creature being a big influence and reflection of Miya's fragile mentality. Given Miya's "habit/ritual" suggested that her struggles were clearly very internal but the influences in her environment act as a catalyst in triggering the buried and hidden thoughts she always tries to keep tucked away. This game gave me a constant sense of suspense which ultimately lead to a key set of decisions which determine the fate of this character who you've been heavily invested in for 30 minutes. When the choices appear, it had me frozen for a good 5 minutes trying to figure out exactly what I should do and it lead to me thinking, "what if this was me? What would I do?". For a game worth less than a cup of coffee, I can say that it gives you a hit much stronger than any amount of caffeine ever could.

ほぼ一本道の短編 翻訳も丁寧でセーブ機能やスキップ機能もちゃんとある 短いながらちゃんとシナリオも楽しめた

해석의 여지도 있고 비주얼도 독특하고 좋은데요 재밌게 잘 했어요 근데 분명히 배경음도 줄이고 환경음 효과음 다줄였는데 접시깨지는 소리가 진짜 엄청큼 소리 조절이 안먹히는거 같아요 아니면 점프스케어를 노리고 너무 크게 소리를 집어넣으신게 아닌가 귀때기 찢어지는줄알았어요 당장 다른 플레이어들의 고막을 보호해주는 패치를 하지 않으면 커밋해 버릴거에요 ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ