WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT

this game definitely wasn't for me and i'd be lying if i said i didn't feel like throwing up right now (<-- didn't read content warnings) but pushing through the last act was genuinely so fucking worth it hooooly shit i want to throw up

one of the biggest strengths of this vn is just how well every character is written. both rachel and lori are assholes but for good reason (well better reason for lori and less so for rachel) and i think that the environment they're thrown into makes for really really good character interaction (what does x do when they're backed into a wall is really really nice struggle). and the fact that this is complimented with the fucking dungeon crawler sections is really nice. because it takes the reader into the world with you in the best way possible

the demon designs are really amazing too. i'll keep this review brief because i do have lots more to talk about though i don't wanna spoil anything ^^ amazing game that i'll be thinking about (against my own will really. holy shit. in the best way possible) and thank you for the experience!!  

          

UUUUM....

Oke, so... i don't even know where to start. Let's just say i let out the most panicked laugh i ever could the moment the "bondage" happened. And after that...

well...

The *chasers* am i right?

wow, that was really something. I’d like to give Lori a headpat and a bowl of soup

Insane team, insane premise, insane execution! I cannot believe renpy can do this. I was having a great time and then I was reminded of who wrote this visual novel and spent the last segment in deep emotional pain. Excellent work!!

rachel and lori as this comic https://www.supermegacomics.com/index.php?i=317

my GOODNESS. last scenes are super effective at 3am i'll tell you what.

just opening up this game is a box of surprises and delightful little treats. from plot to art to tension to music to action to- i think we all know what we think of that freaking awesome doom dungeons but WOW. WOW.

powerhouse of a team, AMAZING PROPS TO EVERYONE- this is such a cohesive and horrifyingly impressive show of work and talent and synergy.

the testerrrr

wow.

stacked team. insane premise. crazy execution.

this game is a marvel on every front. the characters, the music, the worldbuilding, the writing, the coding, the everything works in tandem to make something insane. absolutely insane.

i would love to write a more intricate review but i literally just finished and i feel like i took 50000 hits of something that makes the 3d dungeon crawling walls cave in so all i can think to say, is wow. amazing job from everyone involved.

crazy.

Wow, I came into this with some pretty high expectations since it's such a star studded team of devs but you all still managed to blow me away! Of course the 3D dungeon crawling sections are a real mind boggling treat, and I loved the way that they evolved as we dove further into the zone, but I feel like I have to give my props to the music as well! Genuinely fantastic, and created such an oppressive atmosphere that felt like a boot being pressed against my ribs.

The writing was as always, a real treat especially when shit really starts to hit the fan, and the GUI changing to match each character's background and vibe gave me a real sense of how each of these characters would react when faced with the zone. I also really enjoyed the use of certain visual effects later in the game, and how they created this uneasy feeling as I felt I could only watch what would happen to these two women.

Insane work, props to the whole team for pulling together and making something this haunting.

god this was so fucking sick. of course the technical aspects are amazing- i gasped a few times, i think when you first move in the 3D environments and then when you have to actually navigate yourself– but just every part was so good and interesting. loved the art, loved the music, loved the weirdo girls in this. awesome!!!!!!

the lore was very interesting and i was super curious to know more… i would have been interested in some kind of glossary or compendium but i can see that ruining some of the mystique too. hard to know where to come down on when it comes to The Lore.

SPOILERS

I really got a big chuckle out of the vibe shift from rachel being like ‘wow omg lori is so scary and im just like a Normal Girl’ to her becoming the biggest freak alive. from being possessed (?) or something else (?)… who can say. but it was extremely funny. poor lori!!! the last act was so grueling and shocking in the best way… poor lori. didnt think it could get worse than a girl throwing up on her mid coitus but actually yeah it definitely could. i really felt like i was going to get jump scared in the final scene where lori is trying to sneak out of that room… chills.

one complaint i will mention is i did have to try the escape last section a few times– this is possibly an issue with me playing this on steam deck and mapping my game pad to WASD but i felt like i was mashing pretty insistently and i still got got. second time i was pretty close to to the end of the sequence too which did make me wonder if it was legitimately the end of the game. it was a really cool sequence and drove home the desperation but maybe the timing could be a bit more forgiving.

Absolutely brilliant work. I did not know Renpy was capable of doing what it had to do here. It would honestly have been enough just as a technical achievement but the way in which Lori and Rachel were trapped together, what it did to them, and the interplay between them was very engrossing. Also sold the absolute shit out of this kinda apocalyptic hellvision the world is trapped in visually and with music that reminded me of SMT in the exact right way. Just a winner all around; legit insanely impressive.

THIS WAS AWESOME. i feel like the concept and worldbuilding is so unique and the pacing is phenomenal. everyone truly brought their best to this!! there was not a single thing that didn't impress me. the GUI is stunning and unique, the 3d environments are so cool, the sprites are charming, the writing is incredible, and there are times where i had to pause just to listen to the music. what a freaking feat to do this all in renpy!! you should all be very, very proud of yourselves. i really loved how there were different tonal shifts at points, every time i thought something happened that i wanted, only new horrors awaited, and i think that kind of subversion of expectations is the best kind of feeling!! ANYWAYS, i could ramble a lot, GOOD. FREAKIN. JOBBB!!!

totally not biased because i worked on this game, but phew, what a ride! being able to beta read this did NOT prepare me for the final experience. i love dungeon crawlers, and i love The Zone concepts, so this was super fun to play and work on! 

slight spoliers but the ending honestly nauseated me so badly /pos like. directly being placed in lori's pov in that part had me sympathising a lot with her and also hoping so badly she would escape. the final "dungeon" section i was spamming w LMAO. 

and damn. that ending. ough. good shit. hope to work w yall again! :)

This was right up my alley as a fan of thing like smt 1 and 4, strange journey, urasekai picnic, scp, baroque, hellnight so I played it, but it still has a strong identity of its own. This works by itself for the headlining relation but it also feels like there is infinite lateral space for the sci-fi here to work in multiple stories. The sense of atmosphere is overwhelming. I've visited before but now I know i've truly seen the real Chicago. Thank you!

what a wild ride, holy shit. things definitely spiraled but not in the way i was expecting. i love how creepy Lori seemed at first just for her to get the short end of the stick. She's so cute. The world itself is really fascinating, i loved the section in the beginning with the webpages. it feels so fucked up and yet mundanity exists... humanity still finds a way to share information despite it all. surely this isn't a metaphor for anything.

The 3d sections were really cool, I found the ending segment with the glitchy walls particularly visually appealing, but the gameplay behind them felt a bit unresponsive & slow compared to the snappiness of the plot itself. I do appreciate that you gave the player moments of free movement though, I still kind of cant believe this is renpy. LOL.

On top of the technical innovation, though, the "normal" visual novel stuff is still really great too; it really feels like y'all thought of everything lmao. The UI and character sprites are beautiful, and the sound design is perfectly upsetting when it needs to be (The audio during that specific scene near the end made me have to scrunch my face a couple times). overall, um... it's good!!! everyone did a good job on this one. wowie

This was a technical marvel. It kinda captures the “dungeon crawling” and post-apocalyptic atmosphere of Tarkovsky’s Stalker. The setting is also kinda fascinating.

That said, I find the last section quite unintuitive. It seems to be bad at registering inputs? I wish there was a way where I can tell the game is actually acknowledging the input besides the movement. I actually went out of the final section because I thought the game wasn’t inputting and turned left – I thought going straight was the wrong way – so I had to reload from an autosave.

Still, what a cool title. Goes to show there’s still more things we can do with Ren’Py.