Storm the Swan - And the Power of FRIENDSHIP and IMAGINATION

i became real friends with all of them

I'm typically not too interested in visual novels, but this happened to catch my attention on social media. As a free game, it's fairly short and mostly linear, but plays well to the strengths of the genre with its quaint character design, nostalgic art style, and engaging plot. I don't want to spoil anything, but I appreciated how this one sidestepped some of the tropes I had come to expect in the mascot horror / cursed object subgenre.

The game has a somber story, I saw roughly what was coming storywise but I did get surprised at some points. The game is a visual novel a very solid one at that just take things at your own pace and enjoy it to the best of your abilities.

I wanted to start out by saying this game is genuinely so heartbreaking, and I appreciate that. The content warnings, the care put into them and making sure people are safe means a lot to me. I've been through and seen a lot in my life, including abuse in all forms. This game captures that child like coping that I think a lot of people relate to unfortunately. The coping to pray that things will be okay, that some random character will save them. This is so beautifully written, and shown, that it carefully and throughohly (sorry for spelling it's 1 am) handled these situations well. As someone who has witnessed these situations (abuse,domestic violence, yelling, hitting etc) this game is a very real and very sad example of what happens, I love you guys for making this game. I played many games that remind me of my past, and they cover it in ways that left me scared. But this game just filled in that vent void I had in my heart for awhile. Thank you for making such a breath taking game. Ive been going through a lot, and this game while it made me cry, is one that I appreciate so very much. Thank you.

Very creepy game so far, for free try it out if you like weird visual horror novels and gameboy nostalgia. As for what its about? Its about a poor neglected kid and a gameboy, or uh, what they call a gameboy. It feels very nostalgic but also creepy. Altho the creepyness isn't really clear immediately. So having beaten this game I want to elaborate more on it, with as few spoilers as I can. I want to give you an idea of what the game is like and why its worth playing. Without ruining any of the story. Except maybe the initial introduction level understanding. The game is about a kid playing an old gameboy, and there's a kind of game within a game. Why the kid is playing the gameboy is kind of disturbing because the game is from 2 different perspectives. One real, one a fictional game world. Which is all constructed within the realm of a VN but its quite well done and a convincing transition. So if you played summer night on the dread x collection you might get an idea of the general theme of this game. But unlike summer night this isn't a skill based game, its more of a narrative. So as long as you go into it with the knowledge that this is an interactive story, and not an actual game, you'll understand it more. There's no way to win or lose, just different choices, which tell a sad but disturbing story.

Nice short game if you want your gut punched with sadness (this is a positive sentence i swear)

Bardzo dobra gra! Straszliwie rozbudowana, bardzo wciągająca, do tego stopnia, że na chwilę zapomniałam o prawdziwym świecie. Dawno się w coś tak nie wczułam. To aż przestępstwo, że dostępna jest za darmo i mówię to całkowicie szczerze. Polecam każdemu miłośnikowi horrorów. Tu jest coś tak niepokojącego. Przeplatanie słodkości z grozą jest dla mnie wyjątkowo straszne. Najbardziej podoba mi się to, że horror rozgrywa się tutaj zarówno na ekranie gry jak i poza nim (nie będę spoilerować), a to co wydaje nam się złe, nie jest największym niebezpieczeństwem. Genialne.