Retrace

Story: Brilliant Themes: Dark and Deep Art: Beautiful Music: Haunting Romance: Very gay <3

A touching story, if horrific, about discovering yourself. no spoilies.

I did like this, but frankly, it feels more like a proof of concept or alpha than a complete game. The dialogue feels underwritten in a lot of places, even by the end I didn't really feel like I had a firm grasp on some of the characters. I was surprised how little dialogue there was, and I think the game could have used some more internal narration, if nothing else, to make it more clear what is happening on screen. There are some moments where the visuals weren't really clear about what was happening, and then there wasn't much dialogue and no narration explaining what exactly I was looking at. Some emotional moments too, I feel could have used additional dialogue. I wouldn't have minded a much longer prologue to get more a handle on the dynamic between the characters, even if there was no additional gameplay. There are also some continuity errors visually regarding items, where you can pick up an item twice if you leave and come back, though it luckily doesn't make the game bug out. The game is nonlinear, which is a fun idea, but it feels like there isn't enough unique content for the characters to stretch their legs and have truly unique interactions and situations happen. For example, one "route" has an early branch where a character can die. Now normally, you would expect this death to hang over everything, maybe a unique situation arises. However, it leads to the same gameplay and story situation, and only a handful of lines being different. At the end, I could only scratch my head at why I needed to see such an anemic ending to progress the game overall. It didn't give that satisfying feeling other games I've played where each ending gives you different pieces of the overall puzzle and cause the player to speculate. The game also has a few issues with player direction. It can be difficult to keep track of what rooms are through what doors because you will often be placed in a random spot away from the door you just went through in the new room, meaning you need to guess which door in the room is the one you entered from. There are also cases where you will go down through a door, but in the new room, the door to exit isn't "up" from the players perspective, but a side direction. [spoiler]Technically, there is a plot reason for why this might be, but a map would have been appreciated if the layout had to be that way.[/spoiler] I've written a lot of criticism, but I still did like it. Unclear circumstances around individuals forced into solving escape room puzzles is a setup that always inspires curiosity. The music does a fantastic job of setting the tone, even if there is only a handful of tracks. The music may be why my expectations were so high initially. I also liked the character sprites, I enjoyed their unique look. I also did enjoy the puzzles, even if the explanation before you try them is a little ambiguous sometimes. It is worth playing, but I do recommend waiting for it to go on sale.

It's not a perfect game, really complicated, the guide was the only way I'd ever figure everything out, lol, but I enjoyed the ride anyway. :) I'd say it's worth it, if you're not sure, get it on sale, if it does go on sale.

The game mechanics definitely reminded me of Zero Escape and I appreciated the logic puzzles as well as how there were hints to push one to the right path in the game. The story was great and got me to feel more invested in the characters within the first few minutes of interacting with them. Each END brought all the characters closer or at least let the player know how close they all were/are to each other. The soundtracks were amazing and did a great job of evoking emotions throughout the game. I might edit this to be more specific, but in the meanwhile I'm looking forward to Schrodinger's Catgirl!

Short but sweet - the art is excellent, the music is solid, and the writing is outstanding. If you're looking for a horror-light (but not zero-horror) atmospheric story, this is a good choice. Also, it's quite gay. Big fan of that.