itch.io

Cute little demo with a simple and sweet story. I look forward to the finished game, but in it's current state it also has a few hard to ignore issues.

Positives:

• The concept is unique, trauma cleaners aren't often explored and the nature of the profession provides for some interesting directions you could take a game.
• It was interesting looking into Adam's life through his belongings.
• I like how what you choose to give his sister at the end actually completely changes what she thinks of the circumstances surrounding his death and how you can make her impression of what happened more or less accurate. He felt pressured and was grieving, wanting to honour his father and driving himself of the edge because of it. Meanwhile, I gave her the trophy and his plans for the sequel to his game in one of my runs, which leads her to believe he lost himself chasing fame.
• The art style of the game is cute, I especially like the almost dreamy imagery of meeting the sister at the end.

Negatives:

• The walk speed is agonisingly slow.
• The auto progressing intro text goes by way too fast to read it completely, I hope in future the text speed can be adjusted and/or switched to manual progression like it is in the rest of the game.
• The camera angles were annoying to work with. If you zoom in and walk as low as you can, half of the screen is empty black space and if you walk as high as you can the upper half of the wall is not visible because the player character is also noticeably uncentred and placed towards the top of the screen. It wouldn't be an issue playing the game on a large screen, but I would prefer to have the camera be placed higher for better visibility. I'm also not a fan of "snapping" style rotation because it limits the control.
• It's a little tedious having to pick up every small item individually like the paper balls and stacks of ramen pots. I'd prefer if tiny things like clusters of paper or bottles counted as one item all together and picking up an item in a stack, or at the bottom of a stack, got rid of the whole thing, like how the piles of dirty dishes work.
• The range at which you can pick items up is a little finnicky, especially with the aforementioned paper balls. I was practically right on top of one at one point and couldn't pick it up. It felt like I had to get further away from some things to be able to grab them.
• I noticed in the item descriptions when you clicked on them in the inventory that one or more seemed to cut off before finishing, or read awkwardly like there was meant to be more said but there wasn't. There are also minor issues like spelling and grammar mistakes dotted throughout all of the game's text, but those can be attributed to the game not yet being complete, and so I do not count them as real marks against the game.
• I wish the 3 item limit was more explicitly clear. It wasn't hard to figure out, but the "family box" section doesn't need to be so large if there are only 3 things you can put in. You could also use slots in the family box to make it more clear.

Suggestions/Things I may have done differently:

[These are not necessarily criticisms of the game, just other ideas]

• While I understand it and there's nothing actually wrong with it, I do not think the 3 item limit on what you can put in the family box is necessary to achieve the outcomes intended, since the player is choosing what to include and omit regardless. Personally, since the family only gets one box, I would have made the limit based on item size. A lot of what you can give Adam's sister are things that don't take up much space like books, posters, pictures, etc., but there are also the large consoles and trophy, yet since the limit is amount of items and not size, giving her something like the 2 biggest consoles and the trophy is seen as the exact same as giving her 3 pieces of paper. It feels a little more realistic and still provides limitations to work in if the box can only hold a certain amount of items based on size instead of number, and the player still isn't required to fill the box and gets to chose what is most important for the family to have.
• There are comments in the game about cleaning the carpet and the tv stand is visibly dirty. I'd love if you could actually clean these things up.
• I'd add an incentive to clean the room more instead of just grabbing the significant items and getting out. Like, since you are running a business here, cleaning more earns you more money that you can use for... something. That's your problem to figure out lmao.
• It would be cool if what you gave the family affected the scenery after they look in the box. Adam's sister's reaction varies greatly depending on what you give her, it would be an interesting artistic choice if it affected the surroundings visually after that flash of light too.

I love this game, it has such a cool premise and all of the dialogue options with the creature (which I have now so lovingly dubbed Echo) are really interesting and I feel like everyone can relate to at least one of the things he says in some way. Feeling like you have no place, trying to get something that seems just out of reach, not wanting to be judged but wanting to be seen, keeping so many things you don't need simply because you can (Less seriously, I think every gamer can relate to that last one, am I right?)

But seriously, I love how you never actually see the creature, after all a classic phrase in horror is that whatever you see in your head will always be 1000x more scary than what is actually there. That fear of the unknown really adds a lot.

This is an amazing experience that manages to be eerie with a weird sense of familiarity to it. Felt almost as if I was the one that didn't belong there, that was intruding. And the voice actor was great, really added a certain atmosphere to it. I'd definitely recommend you guys to quit reading the comments and actually play the game if you haven't already, dammit!

I think that would kinda ruin it. There relationship being so strong yet so purely platonic just has a feeling that wouldn't be the same with romantic involvement. I also think that it shows just how important it is for you to be vulnerable with your friends and also be there for them when they're vulnerable for you, even sacrificing a potential romantic relationship (Amy) for them.

Honestly, having the option for a romantic opportunity with May would change how much it meant for people. (For me, at least)

Generally, the importance of communication with significant others and support for each other when times are tough in relationships of a romantic nature is always talked about and highlighted, while platonic relationships take the backseat. This game, to me, shows the importance of friendships and being there for the people you care about, even outside of romance. That you shouldn't neglect your friendships because you have work to do or people to date. You need to learn to address your concerns with them and take time to look out for them, spend time with them, make sure they know just how valued they are in your and others' lives. I love to see this kind of theme take the forefront. You can be there for your loved ones, even if you're not dating each other.

As someone who isn't very romantically driven myself, it's refreshing to see a story where the main relationship remains as just a friendship instead of falling into the trope of "Oh, they care about each other so much. Thus, they must date."

As sweet as the idea of being able to have a romantic involvement with May may be, I also don't think over the course of the game that there is ever even one point where it seems like it would be a good idea for her to try. She's not in any state to jump into something like that, and trying to would only be damaging. There's a whole lot of healing, thinking and recovery that she'd need to do first. Having the option to kiss her at any point in the game as it is would feel forced and shoe-horned in.

I probably could have said this all in a much shorter, simpler way, but here's this instead.