Set Yourself on Fire

Really touching and surprisingly well-made for a free game. It should be more popular due to the amount of work that must've been poured in.

Insightful, moving, beautiful. Had a wonderful time and will be thinking about for a long time.

Indescribably beautiful. It felt like someone reached into my ribcage and squeezed my heart until it popped.

👍

On account of the unorthodox lack of scrolling text and advance prompts, you are immediately plunged into a directorial role. 3D models envelop you in a 6th gen stage. Words and phrases. Stills in motion. Pitter-patter. All for you to steer, for you to pace as you see fit. You start to get a feel for the kind of storyboard you're working with. You begin to predict what kind of shot will play next. You understand whether you need to press a key, or let things play out. The unheard voices of the cast and narration seeps into your brain. The music stops for no one, and you begin to wonder where the loop is, when the right time is to move to the next line, the next scene. And when you click at the perfect moment? It's euphoric, like you just directed your own film. Even if you don't, it's a pleasant surprise; something to take note of for next time? I could have written about how much it challenged my emotions, on it's commentary on education, on mundanity and the inconsequential. Don't get me started on the visuals. In the end, what really stood out is that I felt as though I was playing a kinetic VN in the frame of another medium entirely. You aren't clicking through ADV textboxes to get to the next plot twist. You aren't tabbing through journals and notes to decipher "whodunnit", neither are you standing in a fictional court of law. There is no tempting fate or bad ends; "We aren't their gods, we are observers". And yet, it feels just as, if not more engaging and rewarding to go through. This might be the ramblings of a tortured, autistic mind. Maybe there was an auto button. Maybe all Ren'Py novels are like this and I hadn't noticed. But the experience speaks for itself. One of the most evocative and dreamlike sound novels I've ever played.

清晨是死寂的化身。世界袖手旁观，陷入永恒的停滞 入睡就是品尝死亡。一旦现实枯萎凋零，梦中人或许才能体验到安宁 ’‘它让我想起了你’‘ ’‘为什么？’‘ ’‘你觉得我们会永远陪伴在彼此身边吗？’‘ ’‘希望如此’‘ 与对方一同蜕变，化作对方。这种互利共生构成了爱人生命的本质 但她们选择共存，直至共存不再是一个选择 夜深时分 风在低语 叶在呼吸 再无其他声响

As everyone else has said, this is so very well-made and beautiful for a free IF on Steam. It took me a while to get into the writing style, but the environments are gorgeous, and the way the narrative has been made interactive is very moving and well done. Really bittersweet and soft and about how much we need each other, and how to hope, what if things get better? More technically, would really benefit from a 'load from chapter' feature, it crashed a couple of times when I scrolled through, and sometimes the autosave didn't quite catch up. But thank you for this!

I'm still surprised this visual novel was free. The story itself is philosophically dense and emotionally impactful (ch.8 and 9 especially), although there were some points where the nihilistic themes kiiiinda dragged on. The characters and the worldbuilding had a lot of depth. A huge part of that depth comes from the art direction - in the "House of Leaves"-esque typography and the beautifully mundane backgrounds. It was a good choice to go 3D. As an Ethel Cain fan, I really enjoyed the ambience (some chapters I'd play an Ethel song and omigosh it'd just fit perfectly with the moment. Sun-Bleached Flies, Radio Towers, Tempest, and A Knock at the Door to name a few). I've seen some comparisons to a game called chirk, and I like to think the two universes live together. Thx for making this game. Made me cry. <3