End of the World

chevie i am sending you my therapy bill. seriously HOW can you make me almost cry with characters that i've only known for 10 minutes??

(SPOILERS)

i think the slow reveal and overall vagueness of the plot is REALLY effective. no exposition dumps, no overly complicated backstory for the world's state; just the minimum amount of information you need for your brain to connect the dots. and the bits and pieces are really cleverly laid out: how the beginning centers around a compound that "makes them unable to detect you", the writing on the subway (i hope they find abra geroni) that get proggresively harder to distinguish from the cables... it's hard to make a post-acalyptic setting feel unique but i think this game nailed it, and despite not knowing how it even started, i completely understood the hopelessness of the situation, and the feeling of "this extremely risky plan is all we can do". the plot and atmosphere are outstanding and i couldn't keep my eyes off of the screen for a second.

the art was also amazing!! the contrast of the muted colors of the characters and backgrounds, and the striking red as you get closer to the core was incredible. i loved the amount of detail in the backgrounds and character designs, really made everything feel more realistic. and the emphasis on characters' movements worked extremely well; things like people changing their posture when they talk or their movements (or their shadows') as they walk, made them feel really alive yk? and when the art gets less realistic and more emotion based (looove the sketchy pencil-like look), it's absolutely gorgeous. i think it was an really clever choice to make the visuals more realistic and human, if that makes sense; it fits really well with the plot. and the music was phenomenal as well!! perfectly suited the mood of every scene, and goddamn it made the emotional moments hit REALLY hard. love how "tech-like" it can get, like sometimes it sounded like the main theme the machine antagonists would have, if that makes sense. i know firsthand how hard it is to make dramatic music, and this game made it seem so effortless (at some points it was a bit too loud but it wasn't a big deal, and it was mostly at the beginning). absolute kudos to stacy.o. overall the presentation did not disappoint in the slightest :D (also i'm really late for this but the button sfx that sound like a chorus? aaaa so cool)

honestly i think this is some of your best character work yet. i said it already but it's unbelievable how much this game made me care about these characters that i've known for less than an hour. the peeps at the bunker (i'm not sure if it's a bunker but it's what i'm calling it-) are incredibly memorable, i love how you only get tiny bits of information about them and yet you feel like you really do know them. i was a little scared that the goodbyes scene at the start would tug at the heartstrings a bit too early, but it was handled perfectly; not too depressing and not too optimistic (like the entire game, haha... *cries*). they feel so unique and memorable with just a few lines. and on the other end, elle and rose are incredible protagonists. their relationship, their banter, the things they talk about, the things they feel... i think they're really gonna stand out in my mind as time passes. how they care for each other, but also acknowledge how bleak the situation they're in is, but how they don't let that make them lose hope, how they try to make things easier for one another, how they reminisce about how everything was before... honestly i'm a little shocked you haven't made more games based on romance, cuz this and invasive species have amazing romantic storylines (not saying that you have to make more romance stories, or that there should be romance plots in your games more often. obviously it all depends on what the story requires and i think these two games understand that really well). but even with how tragic the story might get... what really stands out is the focus on hope. the small good things that happen, like little guy mouthing a word, or the "i'm here"s under the missing persons, or simply elle and rose thinking about the happy memories they have and how they hope the world can be the same again... the bittersweetness of everything is amazingly done, and i was practically fighting not to cry by the end. outstanding stuff.

i feel like at some points the dialogue got a bit drawn out. the dialogue is absolutely a highlight of the game and the emotions' backbone, and i definitely appreciated the abundance of pauses to save, but the subway and stairs sequences felt slightly long towards the middle. maybe some parts could've been cut, or some exchanges could've revealed a bit more of the story or the characters' past, like the memories scene at the end? (like i said i do like the vagueness of everyone's backstories but i think some more reveals could've kept the interest higher) that's just my opinion tho. also, rose's lines being at the far right (really cool detail btw) making the text appear slower got a bit frustrating. though apparently rpg maker doesn't allow simply aligning text anywhere but left? wtf is up with this engine-

overall this was an amazing game!! one of the best interpretations of a post-apocalyptic setting i've seen in a while, and a hell of an emotional gut punch and combination of worldbuilding, story and characters to boot. great job! :D

💅