SWOLLEN TO BURSTING UNTIL I AM DISAPPEARING ON PURPOSE

[h3]please take care of yourself.[/h3] [hr][/hr] Not a great or polished game per se, more of an extremely intimate and personal collection of author's inner world translated into a small quirky game. Sometimes very obviously buried under it's surface. The title itself is a heavily Yume Nikki and Earthbound inspired exploration game. You'll be mainly looking for "effects" (like in YN) - walking, solving absurd puzzles that (a lot of the time) make no sense and talking/interacting with NPCs that have something quirky to say or give. Has very nice visuals, great music (some of which are recordings of author's guitar and vocals) and is just so damn charming in general. But it does have very obvious grating flaws - it's very confusing and there are parts requiring intensive backtracking (even more so when you have no clue on what to do next), for the first hours you'll be very much lost, numerous unnecessary and amateurish game design choices, poor optimization issues. But i think that it also achieves what it was going for, in being a fun little unique experience. Just drags out for too long.

take care of yourself (such an amazing game thank you for making this)

myself from 2 or 3 years ago wouldve cried, a lot You deserve to allow yourself to be happy

This is one of my favorite games I've played in a long time and certainly one of the most impactful games I've ever played. Far more effort, care, and passion has been placed in the creation of this game at least proportionally than most other RPG maker games and many games in general, and it really shows in the gameplay, dialogue, and characters. It would take me some time to process everything in the game and accurately articulate just why I liked it but I think a major reason is just how genuine it felt. While much of the game was obviously goofily designed, a lot of the narrative clearly came from a real place; a place untainted by irony or avoidance. This game to me felt quite inspired by some other pieces of media, but takes inspiration in the best way possible, in that you wouldn't be able to necessarily tell, but if you're familiar with those other pieces of media the vibes are clearly at least similar to this game if not directly inspired. Namely, Silent Hill and Fooly Cooly/FLCL, which are both some of my favorite pieces of media ever lol. Also Earthbound but I've never really played a lot of that game. spoiler area VVV The game isn't too long and doesn't have some kind of huge momentous ending, but the ending matches the melancholic affect that the rest of the game maintains. The developer apologizes for not having a more "satisfying" ending than what was provided, but I think that the ending suits the game perfectly and it would feel like a much different game if it ended any different way. The vague nature of the statements about the struggle of the main character/developer go a long way to allow the player to make the story into something personal to them and get a different experience than anyone else is going to have. To some, the more serious elements of this game will land and to others they won't, but I think that there's something here for everyone regardless of if they resonate with those aspects of the game. It's hard to put together my thoughts coherently at the moment for what is a very surreal and - for lack of a better word - intentionally disjointed game, but I think what would be most accurate to say of my feelings is that I *appreciated* this game. It was a powerful journey to go on.

one of the coolest and most intensely personal pieces of media i've experienced in a while. it's weird. it's funny. it's bittersweet. you can fish! you can talk to rats! it wears its heart on its sleeve. the game is vulnerable, but there's an undercurrent of hope throughout the narrative. we'll all make it through. i love this game a lot. (the extended soundtrack / companion indie folk album "take care of yourself" is wonderful, too. if you get a chance, please give it a listen!)

went from talking to dancing rats to being so impacted by such personal dialogue in hopelessness and the acceptance of it. take care of yourself

neat!

Hope youre doing better dev