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( 3)

The production values are impressive for a game jam project – the sprites are plentiful and detailed, music & background images suit the story, and the fully custom UI is a nice touch. The prose feels good to read, too, with the English version repeating words sometimes being the biggest nitpick I can point out. (I particularly appreciate having the option to change the language right in the title screen, since God's silliest game engine Ren'py just hides it in the settings by default...)

The plot feels meaty but never overstuffed; there are a lot of scenes, characters, and locations, but everything serves its purpose. The jam theme is interpreted creatively, although you could grumble about the game not really engaging with the image itself that much. Still, it's just a very solid piece of writing, competently put together on a technical level and constantly enjoyable to read.

I think the biggest question mark is Roy just being so, so, unlikeable from the first time you meet him. It makes TUNING OUT read almost as an anti-narrative subversion of its classic VN premise – you hang out with the manipulative bad boy childhood friend, an archetypical character on several counts, and keep waiting for that moment when he gets complexity or some kind of explanation... and it just never comes. Even the most straightforward interrogation of why the protagonist is so into him only happens close to the end of the other route. I get the idea and enjoy the story a lot overall, but Roy's stuff does feel more compelling as an intellectual exercise in genre deconstruction than a dramatic narrative – it makes the point early and doesn't really elaborate on or complicate it in what follows.

(Fair warning: the game gets pretty labyrinthine with its choices, and I'm pretty sure I completed both main routes, but I can't say if I missed anything crucial!)

( 1)

 Nabot was quite happy for your compliment on his sprites ! He worked hard on these ! Thanks for playing and for the nice review !