The August Before

Learning of the AI usage was what tipped me over the fence into negative. To be clear, as of this release the generative AI images have been replaced with commissioned work, but I don't think (at least one of) the developers understand that [i]any[/i] use of it colours the perception of the game and perhaps your entire body of work going forward. Is it so janky and buggy because it was vibe coded? Was the story so midling because it was prompted? Maybe not, but now we can never be sure, especially since the response specifically said that they would be unlikely to stop using it completely. The excuse that indie developers can't afford to "allocate resources" to real assets is frankly pathetic. Shoestring-budget or even [i]zero[/i]-budget indie games have been made since before GenAI ever existed and there are a thousand workarounds to being unable to draw if you use your own human creativity. And when we decide to spend our money supporting the impoverished indie developers, are they just going to funnel it into subscriptions sold by the richest people on a planet they're actively trying to destroy? Anyway, if you don't care about that, and going forward with the assumption that there truly isn't any AI; the gameplay is generally fun and satisfying, but there is some classic puzzle game jank and clicking-everything-you-see and lack of intuition, along with some potentially gamelocking/breaking bugs. When you drop an item (whether on accident or because you can't put it in place yet) it's at risk of being flung across the room or falling under a piece of furniture and becoming irretrieveable. Depending on if it's an essential puzzle item or a literal piece of rubbish, you have to reset the whole room. This only really happened to me once and didn't bother me as much as it seems to have others so YRMV. Also: can someone tell me if my specs just suck ***?? Why did this make my computer burn up? It runs things like BG3 just fine lmao. But what I really wanted to talk about was the story. It's environmental storytelling and largely up to interpretation so spoilers might not be the right word, but here we go: [spoiler] The basic facts are that August and Beth are best friends, Ivy joins their friend group/starts dating August, Beth is so jealous that she doesn't go to August's/their joint? fashion show and their friendship implodes. August does... something wrong? And she and Ivy break up even though they were intending to live together for college. Beth and August were also planning to move in together at some point but it's unclear whether August chose Ivy over her and that's why Beth lashed out, or if Beth lashed out and that's why August decided to move on with Ivy. I generally dislike open endings and vague, interpretive storytelling because it's very hard to make me feel like the author isn't taking the easy way out. Whatever August did is the highlight of this one; it obviously wasn't something unforgiveable or even egregious, because Ivy is still clearly in love with her and actively trying to contact her. It doesn't seem to be a mutual disagreement/argument because only August wants to say sorry but is ghosting out of shame. There's a sticky note from Ivy saying she's sorry she couldn't be there for [unidentified thing], which couldn't [i]also[/i] be the fashion show because her e-mail to Beth says "I didn't take your friend from you, you were the one who didn't come to her show". August doesn't have enough character for us to guess what she might have done based on her flaws or wants or needs or situation. The way it's presented makes me feel that the author couldn't think of what she'd actually done either, and used the vague style of the game as an excuse to not have to. In contrast, I thought Beth's side was quite good. It seems clear to me that she has mental health issues or just an outright disorder; being this angry that your best friend is being "taken away" is extremely immature for someone who's applying to college, but not unrealistic. Even if it's because she's in love with her too, not turning up to the show and breaking her mirror are major overreactions. August says that "she can't wait for her anymore" and Beth hasn't yet submitted the college applications she keeps re-doing, perhaps implying she has issues with executive function. But as it is, this makes it feel like everything that happened is all Beth's fault with no recourse, despite August being blamed by both of them and feeling all the shame from it. It just kind of ends after that and I didn't really see what the point was. I also feel bad for Ivy because she clearly liked Beth or at least tried to be amicable with/include her for the sake of August, but that leaves her as an uncomplicated, characterless victim of these two girls. I did like the different types of media in each of the girl's rooms and what they told us about them. When I found Perfect Blue and Look Back in Beth's I thought "omg of course she would like those" despite how little information is given about her. Finding August's list of movies and it's like LESBIAN MOVIE LESBIAN MOVIE LESBIAN MOVIE as if she was being subtle was hilarious. Me too girl!! [/spoiler]

I liked it, until I didn't. So I thought this game was leading me somewhere, everything I was adding to Ivy, Beth and August's bags gave me a choice. Did I keep the important memories and let them go. I chose, what I thought would bring the 3 back together. But no, nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. The game ends just saying "All's well that ends well" but... nothing ended well? August is moving away for college, Ivy is moving to some place she and August were going to move to together and... I have no idea what was happening with Beth because it barely shows anything from her point of view. Very disappointing narrative, because you know about as much at the ending as you did going in.

spoilerli yorum !! august ve bethin odasinda lis posteriyle nana’yi gordugum an bu kizlarin asla normal ve saglikli bir sekilde iletisim kuramayacagini anlamaliydim zaten oyun cozy room cleaning diye baslayip uc kiz arasinda yasanmis emotional crime scene’i parca parca yeniden kurmaya donusuyor. fotograflari, notlari ve odalarda unutulan esyalari buldukca ayni arkadasligin uc farkli versiyonunu goruyorsun ve her yeni oda onceki karakter hakkindaki fikrini degistiriyor. beth ile august ayni universiteye gidip future dorm besties olma hayali kurmuslar ama beth sonunda basvurusunu bile tamamlamiyor ve kabul mektubunu cope atiyor. laptopundaki maillerden ivy’nin ona “arkadasini ben calmadim, onun showuna gitmemeyi sen sectin” minvalinde yazdigini, augustun da artik onu bekleyemeyecegini soyledigini ogreniyoruz. beth’in fashion showa gitmemesi disaridan cocukca bir hareket ama kiz resmen augustu hayati ve gelecegi olarak goruyormus. august ve ivy’nin birlikte oldugunu ve portland’a tasinmayi planladiklarini anlayinca sadece kiskanmis gibi degil, yerinin tamamen dolduruldugunu hissetmis gibi geliyor. beth’in augusta karsi hislerinin full platonik olduguna beni kimse ikna edemez uzgunum ama august ve ivy tarafi da mutlu son falan degil. beraber yasama planlari var, ivy kontrati imzaliyor ama august imzalamiyor ve bu hayal asla gerceklesmiyor. ivy’nin augustla ilgili esyalari biriktirmesi, “would you ever love me again” tarzi notlar ve augustun onun elbisesini dikip annesine “ivy’e uzgun oldugumu soyle” diye birakmasi... face to face konusamayacak kadar ne yasadiniz girl 😭 august beth’le olan kavgasindan sonra ivy’yle birlikte oldugu icin sucluluk mu hissetti, scholarship yuzunden onu geride mi birakti, yoksa ikisini de hayatindan cikarmayi mi secti tam bilmiyoruz. bildigimiz tek sey ivy’nin birlikte kurduklari gelecege augusttan daha ♥♥♥ inanmis olmasi. en uzucu yani da kimsenin tam olarak villain olmamasi ama kimsenin tamamen masum da olmamasi. beth terk edilmekten korktugu icin her seyi sabote ediyor, ivy sahip oldugunu sandigi iliskiyi kaybediyor, august ise herkesten ozur dileyip yine de kimseyle yuzlesmeden gidiyor. ucunun da odasi diger ikisinin hayaletiyle dolu ama finalde hepsi tek basina ilerlemek zorunda kaliyor. doomed yuri degil doomed girlhood cinematic universe. kizlar birbirlerini sevdiler, geleceklerini birlikte planladilar ve sonra bir tane acik iletisim becerisi olmadigi icin geriye cope atilmis kabul mektuplari, imzalanmamis kira kontratlari ve teslim edilemeyen bir elbise kaldi 7/10 keske terapiye gitseydiniz ama o zaman benim kalbim kirilmazdi

Cute simple game but apparently the devs used gen AI for the posters so I can't recommend it :(

Больно ли в это играть? Да. Пройду ли я ее еще раз? Да. 9 полароидных снимков из 10, один балл сняла только за то, что долго не могла понять, что осталось убрать в последней комнате до 100% (это были окурки в пепельнице).

八月之前，玩了这款游戏。画面、叙事、音乐以及玩法都很喜欢，人物关系和情感走向在一个个场景的整理中渐渐展露轮廓。特殊的物品诉说着深深浅浅的羁绊，是过去，现在，也是未来。记得的，丢掉的，想要遗忘的，和想要抓住的，终究归于生命所要经历的起起落落。 The August Before在抓取少量物品时有bug，没有办法将它们放到想要放置的地点。目前没有完整游玩，不知道后续还有没有其它问题。3D游戏的设计，相比2D，让房间整理和行李收拾变得更有带入感。可惜晕3D得严重，玩完第二个场景时，我猛奔到洗手间干呕起来，随后在房间的沙发椅上瘫了两个小时，动弹不得，遗憾弃坑。这样的一天，忽然间，就随匆匆逝去的2026年夏天飘远。趁着记忆的余温，信手记录于此间。 今年岛上的夏天很是寒冷——或许该用正常来形容，就它坐落的纬度来说——一半时间穿着短袖和短裤，另一半时间穿着戴帽衫和居家长裤。几乎没有外出，即便在冬天重度扭伤的脚踝已经慢慢复原的情况下，也不想出门，整天将自己关在房间，看着窗外的树叶慢慢长得茂密，慢慢变换颜色。心中是浓郁得化不开的沮丧，好像某本期待已久想要读却再也找不到的书被丢到了时间的尽头。忽然间，我好像看见了渐渐放慢转速的命运之轮最后的落脚处。或许人世间，确有一期一会，确有怎么也做不到的事情。罢了。罢了。 就像那天，我轻轻退出了游戏，或许再也不会点开。

у меня были некоторые проблемы с получением ачивок, но в целом игра неплохая. немного грустная и спокойная, для того, чтобы скоротать один вечер - самое то

This game is fine. It combines the packing type games with a cleaning type game. It is fun to organize things and solve the little puzzles. However it doesn't feel good to play-the things to pick up feel finicky, I glitched a puzzle one time and had to restart the whole room, getting 100% seems to be pure luck (?)...but it was fun to rummage around peoples rooms and try to piece together their stories. I donno, this is one of those situations where a middle recommendation would be good, but it wasn't bad so it gets a thumbs up, short and fun if you have the patience