Terranova

Y'all just HAD to lure me in with the cutesy art style and then serve me PAIN (Content Warnings for game: [spoiler] Mentions of ED, conversion therapy, underage drinking, gaslighting [/spoiler] )

If you were involved in the LIveJournal culture at all, or were a roleplayer back in the days of AIM, this game will no doubt be full of nostalgia for you. At worst, I can say that I felt $24.99 was a steep price to pay for the game - but on the other hand, this is a fully interactive choose-your-own path sort of game with beautiful artwork. The story got me so involved wanting to know what happened to all the girls in the game I played three hours my first sitting. If you enjoy interactive fiction, involved story lines, and a bit of nostalgia from around 2003, you'll love this game.

I was really interested in this game when I saw it, I love games that mimic operating systems (both phones and computers) to tell a story. I think it's a really underutilized form of storytelling, and it's so interesting for a game because it gets to give the player a unique first person view into the character you're playing as you type and go through chats with your friends. Even the desktop changing on the computer shows what is going through the character's mind/life. This game handles the style very well, with the different blogs to read and post in, and the IM is really great too. It's really engaging and fun because you get to sometimes be messaging two people at once. The roleplay is honest and reads just like stuff I remember writing when I was younger, but the story is honestly compelling too. Each of the characters is interesting and has their own issues, including the main character. Seeing the progression of their stories is really great and there were lots of parts where I was honestly really worried for the characters, [spoiler](especially Cherry, Cherry's story hit very close to home)[/spoiler]. Pay mind to the trigger warnings if they are things that will affect you, there's nothing extremely graphic or vivid, but a lot of triggering elements come into the story because they're involved with what is happening in the character's lives. I don't have proper nostalgia for this game, as I am a little too young for the LJ era and AIM messaging (I HAVE an LJ but it was made after LJ really started to be used less and fan communities were elsewhere, aka post strikethrough), but this game can resonate even without that exact nostalgia. The blogs are just like what I've made with friends, the roleplay reminds me of how I used to write, and the IM-ing isn't really that different from how people IM these days. The nostalgia will definitely hit if you're from this era, but even if you're not, there's a lot to relate to. The story is really heartfelt and honest. I had a lot of emotions while playing and really loved the characters. I wish there was more, but what's there is complete and wonderful, and everyone gets a satisfying arc. My wish for more is just that I always hate when good stories end. My only criticism I have of this game is that I think a music player on the computer would've been a nice option to have, with maybe a few music tracks pre-loaded in (like royalty free stuff at least?) and maybe with the option for the player to add their own tracks. I played the game mostly in silence, but I did tab out a few times to pull up my own music (sadly...twice when I did that I made the game lock up so I lost some progress and had to replay, but the autosave is frequent enough that even if that happens you don't lose much progress). I just feel like, with this much reading (10 hours if you're a slower reader. I think I finished this in like 7.5 hours, I just have extra time for replaying when it crashed + I had the game open for awhile when someone came in to talk to me lol), it would've been nice to have some sound options within the game itself. Even without that though the game is great and I didn't really have any parts where I wasn't excited to keep playing. I stayed up a little later than I should have some nights just to read an extra in-game month of chats and blogs, and I have no regrets. If anything I wrote up there appeals to you, you probably will enjoy this game. It's definitely worth it, especially if you enjoy fandom and LGBTQIA+ content.

Ugh, I was so excited going into this - games that use fandom or late 2000s internet as a setting are a niche that I LOVE. But Jesus Christ, this game just throws paragraphs of the characters roleplaying at you [url=https://i.imgur.com/io9K2Zg.png]Again[/url] [url=https://i.imgur.com/bg7nhbH.png]And again[/url] [url=https://i.imgur.com/csmLLBu.png]And again[/url] [url=https://i.imgur.com/RomDvj4.png]And again[/url] [url=https://i.imgur.com/pAmLJV6.jpg]And again[/url] [url=https://i.imgur.com/bl1ibDD.png]And again[/url] And that's just a tiny fraction of it, by the way. At some point, it starts to feel like 80% of the game is the characters doing roleplay over a chat messenger where you have to wait a second or two for their reply to come in. The thing is, it is quite fun and interesting, especially if you can relate to it. I love the idea of these characters doing romantic roleplay and then being like "oh wow...do I maybe actually have real feelings for the actual person behind the character?", but there's just so much roleplay text that it becomes so so extremely tedious. If nothing else, a way to speed up the chat conversations would be nice (for example, press M1 to automatically have the person you're talking to, post their message instead of waiting). What sucks even more is that the other 20% is the characters chatting outside of roleplay, navigating growing up and high school and various very real problems like family issues/depression/eating disorders. And it's great! The characters are so much fun, the relationships are interesting - Cherry is especially good - but it's like the game keeps feeling the need to stop itself from getting too interesting by grinding everying to a halt to suddenly do 15 to 20 minutes of roleplay that I'm just too tired to remotely care about There also just doesn't seem to be any audio, unless I accidentally did something? It's a bit odd the game being completely silent. The graphic elements are all really nice - the computer layout is great, the icons on Not Livejournal are fun.....just please im begging you, tone down the RP

Did you see screenshots of the AIM like interface and instantly go "Oh crap I remember that! I miss that!" and remember live journal, being queer, awkward, and really just trying to get through life while role playing so late you were barely awake at school the next morning? So even if all of that doesn't apply to you... check this out! It's got great characters, strong feels, and hnngggg the nostalgia!!!

Ugh I think this is the first review I've done while ugly crying. Okay first off the time played is wrong, I was doing this offline while my wife played bg3 and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I was not prepared. I don't think this game is universal, but dear god. As a little baby queer growing up on Gaia Online roleplays planned on AIM I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ died. This game captures so so many of the bright and terrible and beautiful and heart breaking things about that time. The way it uses window xp to just set the mood and the diction and joke style feels so so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ accurate. As does the pain. I got the perfect ending, but god. The entire time I couldn't get those people I made stories with, shared my life with. Who I did love. Truly, but do not speak, to any more. some explosively, some just in fading. My first love was an rp partner on Gaia. As was my best friend then. Neither who I speak to anymore, one who I often worry may not even be alive anymore. It leaves holes in you, things you will grow beyond but not ever completely lose. The closure at the end with Cherry, it filled in for a lot that I will never get closure for. While as a warning Terranova is a bit buggy, often showing me the wrong blog entries or blog entries early, or sorta locking up from time to time, but all of those were resolved by its gracious autosave. Terranova won't speak so directly to everyone, but those who did share this space, this time, it will be an earth shatteringly honest look at that time and place. And will make you ugly cry on the couch when your wife asks what's wrong and that its time for bed so why isn't her wife in bed, you will not be able to answer, due to the bawling youll be busy with.

there's no background music but this is actually a positive because it means you can play the first three linkin park albums on repeat for the true unencumbered role playing experience

Terranova is a blast from the past, a stunning demonstration of what the early 2000's were like if you were online and involved in fandom / LJ. Everything from the roleplay (which was fantastic and told a story all it's own) to the online drama and romance was entirely accurate to real life. If you were a part of this era online, you shouldn't hesitate to play this game! [spoiler]Cherry is my favorite character. I was almost certain the game would end without you ever knowing what happened to her. Sometimes it's just Like That and you never do find out. I still have days where I wonder after friends I made online that I haven't heard from in over a decade. I hope they're still out there, only thriving. [/spoiler] This game absolutely broke my heart and then put it back together again. It almost pushed me to tears, which says a lot because I rarely ever cry. I was so enamored with it that for the last few days I was playing it, I couldn't put it down. I was, ironically, roleplaying at the time I was playing it and I kept delaying my posts because playing it was like struggling to put down a good book. It'll absorb you into the narrative, both the online and roleplay one. It has a diverse cast of characters and I was pleased to see representation for a handful of sexualities here. I can tell the creators of this game put a lot of effort into it and it paid off / was completely worth it. I can't wait to see what game comes next after Terranova. It left me breathless and on the edge of my seat. 10/10, no regrets!

Not quite through with this yet, but this game really tickles my nostalgia bone (good and bad) for when I used to write awful stuff about my own life on LJ. Reminds me I never kept up with some people... 'Reticulating splines' throwback got me right at the beginning :3 glad to try something a bit different from my usual fare.

This game brought me back to my hutch-style, faux-wooden-desk from high school where I would play AMVs and chat with friends and randos alike about life, school, and animoo. I totally dig the aesthetic of this game, from the sounds, the bubbly, Fisher-Price looking Windows XP layout, to the very real feeling of excitement/anxiousness I got when chatting with friends on AIM. The characters definitely feel like a piece of my childhood and I think anyone who longs for the that early 2000s-Internet-feel or just wants a taste of what it was like back in the day should check out this game.