Drift Away

"don't let them... drift away"

oh. oh my.

you know, before i played this, a tiny (and a bit asshole-ish) piece of myself was saying "aight, i think i know pretty well broodygaming's style by now, and how she always goes straight for the feels. so since i already know what to expect, there's no way this manages to move me as much as her other games, right?"

what i forgot is that you don't make games. you make javelins. not big javelins; small ones. subtle ones. ones that tear right through the center of the heart and stay there for a long, long time.

...

yeah i woke up feeling poetic today, AND I BLAME THIS GAME FOR IT-

okay serious review now

honestly it was very surprising to see a survival game from you. especially considering how hard that kind of gameplay is to code with this engine haha. it was a really nice surprise, and it helped this game stand out a lot! loved how simple everything was; food and heat, that's all you gotta look for. it made it so finding each piece felt satisfying, and not finding anything filled you with dread. the dream sequences were also super cool, and idk if you used a plugin or coded it yourself but those pan outs to the full pictures were HEAVENLY. i don't think i've ever seen another rpg maker game do that, and it's so cool.

i feel like at this point you're just showing off how good your use of atmosphere is. between the sound effects, the small animations, the parallaxes, the weather, the colors, the lights... i feel i could gush about every little detail. like the character sprite of the floof being inverted in the dreams? awesome. the panic-inducing music when you drown? awesome. the actual drowning death scene? awesome. the fact that lighting up the pictures makes tiny noises that kinda sound like a song i mean seriously how the hell did you do that that was ungodly cool? also awesome.

in your last game you mentioned you were getting into making original OSTs, so please correct me if i'm wrong but i'm assuming the music in this game is original? and if it is, i just want to say that it's perfect. not amazing; perfect. every single track was FLAWLESS. and conveyed the exact emotion it wanted to convey. my biggest tip of the hat to you, and i wholeheartedly hope you keep making music. (and if the tracks weren't original, just assume i'm complimenting your music taste haha)

in terms of complaints, i felt through the entire playthrough the luck mechanic was kinda random? it was pretty good and steady at the beginning, then i got my first lucky star and i spent a few days without finding any food or heat. then i got my second one which have me a bit more luck, but that was at the end of the game. i liked that it was a surprise thing that wasn't explained in the beginning instructions, but i feel like it could've been explained better how it works. but hey, i still managed to beat the game so it definitely didn't ruin my experience or anything.

finally, i'd like to thank you just for making a game about this. i didn't know about the saltmarsh sparrow before playing, and i really hope they get the federal protection they deserve. the ending of the game really hit me in the feels, but it really shines a light on something that happens way too often to way too many species :( thank you for representing the truth, and for still managing to convey a light of hope that this can be stopped.

apologies if i rambled on for too long or if this was kinda disjointed lol. i wanted to give this game the praise i think it deserves, and hey it looks like i'm not the only one. fantastic work! <3

anyway gonna go cry in the corner now bye