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Deleted 246 days ago
(+5)

There are warnings she wrote

Suicide, homicide, flashing lights, jump scares, animal gore.

You just didn't see it

(+2)

fr how are they blaming the creator when their the one who was ignorant they put the trigger warning plus the creator isn't responsible for they safety

(+9)

not everyone reads it, jenny should've put it IN the game

how is it the creators fault they couldn't find it their not the players mom people are responsible for their own safety online

i wouldnt say its completely the creators fault. whoever was playing the game shouldve checked the bio but its the creators job to put extra warnings in the game bcs some people dont read it

(+1)

I know, I'm not blaming her, it's also my fault too, so yeah, basically thats's that lo

(+9)

it's not your fault, she only added the content warning in the game later. It makes sense that you'd be shocked if you weren't properly warned. You came to play a game. Reading the bio area isn't part of that game.It's optional. Content warnings are not as optional.

(+21)

** SPOILER AHEAD ***

Login into my old ahh account to leave a comment.

From what I'm guessing, people commenting that there haven't been any signs of anything bad going on might've just skimmed over the dialogue? 

Zilas wasn't shy to point out that he's on a literal deadline/ limited time. I went into this game without the knowledge of what's going to happen as I don't follow the creator's socials and was recommended this by a friend.

>The pushed goal of reaching 1 mil in a WEEK out of nowhere

>"Can the vacation be sooner?"

>"Can we spend one-on-one time together?"

>"Do you want me to come over?"

>"Until death do us part."

>"I want to be with you forever, yes."

>"I want to introduce you soon SO BADLY."

There have been signs. very obvious ones at that. He was trying to not be too pushy but still wanting to make the most out of what time he had. 

The only tasteless part was how the endings were executed. 

I think it would've been better if the first time you go through an ending the game would've put emphasis on the fact that it was out of your control. Maybe a moment of clarity AFTER he died, like "You come to your senses" (Proposal ending) or saying that him doing the Sayori was uncharacteristic, even if he was under stress like that. That would've been enough of a hint to get the player to be like "???" in response and intrigued to start another save.

Though it was pretty obvious things went south the moment you met him outside in the snow and his body remained cold, even in bed. I guess.

-

I must agree that 5k reviews to resurrect a character is more of a tasteless joke than it is for the community though... Especially encouraging alt account? Yikes.

(+2)

yeah

(+27)

Mostly copy and pasting my rating to the comments

Discussion of suicide and death starts near the middle of the comment/review

the presentation of the game is sleek and colorful. The art assets for this game are wonderful from the character art to the ui. However there are no "quality of life" features for players, i.e. a skip or save function making multiple playthroughs boring to get through. It's important to me as a player, especially when there are multiple endings, to have a save and loading function to cut out the tedium of rereading old dialogue/scenes back to back.

As for the content, the game suffers from a pacing issue. The progression felt very abrupt, and not in a way that made sense to the story but, as if there was very little meat besides the concept of the shocking ending, which I felt could have been foreshadowed better. The suicide aspects of the story were handled sloppily imo, and evident from all the other people commenting in shock it came as a surprise (not a twist) to them.

The fluffy parts with Zilas were cute tho a bit flat. The theme of streamers being human too could have been explored more thoroughly (and with more nuance) through that lense then the horror approach that was taken. If anything I feel the obvert horror aspects of the game is reductive, too in your face and distracted from the theming. The horror (of the situation and dynamic Zilas had to streaming and his fans) was implicit through the chat and dialogue and worked well when it was approached with a subtler touch

all and all i think the writing aspect of this game wasn't handled with care, for the character and most of all for the player. also why does this game not have an age rating?

(+71)

i've written this in a previous comment and in my review of the game, but i wanted to leave a proper thought out comment about this game.

i was quite disgusted with the way that this game is being handled (not by the other people who worked on this game, but the main dev jenny.) the way that the suicide scene was handled was honestly terrible.

i play a LOT of psychological horror games / vns with topics like this, and they ALL handle them better. there's actual build up, signs you can look for, proper warnings. this game didn't have any actual warnings within the game, no build up, it was all just so sudden. the suicide wasn't really added for plot relevance (especially considering you don't even find out the cat is 'the main villain') in this ending. there was genuinely NO NEED for this ending.

this ending feels like it was added for purely shock value, for her to use as a way to guilt the players into giving her more reviews, mocking the character they like. there was no reason for the character to kill themselves really, it was added for shock value.

the way jenny is handling it honestly disgusts me, especially as someone who has lost friends to suicide, and had several attempts before. her making stupid tweets about the character, making videos making fun of people who are distressed over it, previously ENCOURAGING people to make alts just so they can see their 'sweet boy get a happy ending' or whatever.

and to my knowledge she has supposedly done stuff like this before, and clearly not learnt her lesson.

in my opinion, the suicide ending shouldn't have been there at all. i haven't played to the actual homocide ending (i closed the game after the hanging ending) but i am aware that is the only one that gives any sort of backstory... but even then, there is NO build up to my knowledge about the backstory.

there should be warnings in the game, and jenny should stop wielding this game as some sort of weapon over peoples heads and laughing about it, when at the end of the day she's portrayed suicide as some sort of gimmick.

i don't want this to come across as me dissing the other members of the team who worked hard on this project, because this is directed towards jenny. i also don't want it to seem like i'm being oversensitive, because i have seen SEVERAL people expressing the same thoughts as me.

i'm not quite sure how well worded this is considering i'm exhausted, but i wanted to put my thoughts towards this game forwards. i'm not the type to leave comments on games (especially negative ones) but i think she really needs the criticism. or she could just ignore it, like i've heard she does.

tldr: the way she's handled certain topics in this game / in general is terrible, and i want her to do better.

(1 edit) (+73)

This is the first time, I’m making a negative comment / review on somebody else’s project, but I feel like I have to say something after watching this shit show transpire over this past week.

Before I elaborate, a little disclaimer: This is solely against the team leader and creator of this project: Jenny Vi Pham and not directed at any of the team members. For what they were given, the artists and composer did a great job.

This is solely directed at Jenny and I hope she takes to heart what I’m saying, at least tries to reflect and show some form of compassion and understanding.

1) Suicide & character death as a form to emotionally manipulate the player.

I’m starting with my most important and the heaviest topic from the beginning, since - frankly speaking - as a writer myself and someone affected by suicide (personally and through the loss of people close to me) I am disgusted.

The execution of the murder & suicide scenes were absolutely out of place and insensitive, suicide especially is such a sensitive topic and with how the narrative portrayed it, there was no build up to it or the cat “being the main villain”.

But what was worse was: After I reached the (DDLC copycat of a) suicide ending, the cat ending played.


In this ending the cat (loosely introduced in the beginning) reveals themselves as some supernatural / spiritual being - telling the player that they are “powerless in this world” but not “powerless in that world (reality)” and that they can bring him back to life by leaving 5.000 rates on the itchio page.

This (to me and with the hanging ending I got right before this played ) suggests “Oh you can save him from killing himself by leaving 5.000 ratings on the itch page” - which is undisputedly DISGUSTING.

And since the  majority of the fans seem to be minors - proven by the people in the fanserver as well as the comments left on here - of course they would want him back!

2) No age restriction

Moving on right to the next topic: Minors - This (and I can’t believe I have to say this) IS NOT A GAME FOR MINORS. Despite this game being so graphic (especially visually, depicted by the hanging) there is NO age restriction either on this site, nor a disclaimer on the page or within the game. (At least when I played it.)

THIS IS NOT A GAME FOR MINORS.

This is actively going against itch’s terms of service.

3) Support and encouragement in the creation of alt accounts

Jenny has encouraged her fans multiple times over the course of the “full release” to make alt accounts and rating the game.

She has additionally been holding the death of Zilas over her fans’ heads, shown by clips from her VODs as well as the numerous tweets she made about it.

This just more and more feeds into the exploitation of her fans’ emotions and strong will to reach the good ending.

Some examples:

"[holding food into the camera] something Zilas will never ever be able to enjoy again unless it hits 5k"

"watch me make a video with me like 'How I killed my character and became popular out of it'

"If you guys actually make alt accounts, if you really love Zilas that much, I will give you Zilas"

"See, that's a possibility of him coming back to life; so, if you just work hard, you can bring him back to life"

She also tweeted a daily rate counter, showing how many “souls” have to be taken to revive Zilas.

4) Not the first time 

This is not the first time Jenny being criticised for her lack of care when it comes to the insensitive dealings with topics such as suicide.

Within her Otome Jam 2023 entry “Innerlog” she carelessly dealt with the topic of suicide and carelessly mocked it throughout the narrative.

People tried to comment on it, trying to voice their concerns but she blocked any form of criticism. 

5) No accountability 

It’s clearly visible that Jenny has not learned from criticism and has been actively deflecting from criticism she got for her coverage on Going Live.

I feel sorry for the team who has to deal with all this now and I pity all the fans being emotionally manipulated like this and actively feeding into this desire for attention and popularity this creator clearly does not deserve.

Actually she should be glad that with these many ToS violations that this project wasn’t taken off of itch yet - or her entire account at that.

(+1)

What? Why am I an asshole?

asshole

(3 edits) (+82)

Is the 5k ratings requirement really necessary? Why should players be required to give this game that many ratings so they can get a happy ending that should have already been in the game to begin with? I should note that there's nothing wrong with asking for a review, but when it's done like this, it's incredibly dishonest especially when games on this platform rely heavily on reviews to get seen by players. This tactic is like a giant slap to the face to your fellow game devs, some of whom wait months in-between for a single review.

I strongly suggest you reconsider your approach to this matter, and release the ending that your players and Zilas rightfully deserved from the very beginning.

(+27)

Couldn't have worded it better tbh.

(1 edit) (+48)

I totally agree. I get that the endings are like this for shock value, but doing this then asking for 5k reviews for an alternative/happy ending ? The dev should reconsider this because not only is that a crazy number (the game with the most ratings on itch barely reaches 5k), this comes as very insensitive. Fans are ready to do a reverse review bombing all to see their fav character alive and happy and that doesn't sit right with me, this feels manipulative. Maybe the dev didn't plan this, but something should be done to stop that. 

(+4)

B3CKSTER WHEN I CATCH YOU B3CKSTER.

Game doesn't load, do i need to unzip files or something

(+1)

i love the game aesthetic

(+1)

if there is a happy ending could somone tell me how to get it, what choices do I need to make ?..

we need 5k reviews before the happy ending is unlocked unfortunately D:!!!!!

Ohh thank you TT

(+2)

i need my happy ending so bad

(1 edit) (+1)

Is there even a happy ending to this game? i havent played it since it got released and i dont want to play If

[spoilers]

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if he ends up dead one way or another 

and honestly since there is no save button or a skip button it's makes it harder to be patient to get the ending you want.

But if there is a happy ending could somone tell me how to get it, what choices do I need to make ?

The ending i got make me soooo sad😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭i'm gonna cry, he got hanged!!!!1

(+1)

Are there any happy endings

Not yet

i hate myself :<

(+2)

oh no- don't hate yourself, none of the endings are your fault man 😭

(+1)

Jenny, nos mataste muy rápido al Zilas T-T

(+63)

idk maybe it’s just me talking or whatever,but the ending of the game by the creator was just…off.

 It felt like some pull out from under the rug with a really ..icky ending 


I mean using suicide (spoilers ,but whatever the character Zilas kills himself )

like that ..as just some sort of idk ..gimmick for a game when it’s not 


it’s terrifying and terrible and exhausting. I lost a friend to suicide.I’ve had these thoughts a lot and to see a game just use that as a gimmick just feels…disgusting (like why did it even have to be there)


I’m all for like artistic expression and stuff ,but this …this just feels like it was there for shock value (and from the responses and reactions below,I can definitely see that it made an impression)


(idk care if I’m called sensitive for this or whatever 🙄but maybe(to me at least) it kinda feels wrong to use a topic as sensitive as suicide as a gimmick to get clicks and views on a game


it just feels wrong 😑 


I doubt the creator will see this but if they do, I hope they actually have a second to think about this (and not just the sensational response the game’s received)


this just feels like another glamorization and it just feels gross 



P.S y’all should play this game.it’s called I won’t finish this game and it’s here on itch .

It actually addresses the topic of suicide in a very nuanced way than this one 

(+52)

i agree with this comment completely actually, i wanted to say something about the way this game was handled as well but i wasn't really sure how to put it into words.

the way the suicide scene was handled (with very minimal warnings as well) really comes off the wrong way. especially with how it feels like the dev is trying to guilt the shocked players into giving more reviews for 'a good ending' really confirms the suicide ending was more shock value rather than just expressing themselves. there are so many better ways to handle suicide in a game, but the way this game does it is just... out of place really.

(+19)

100%.

(4 edits) (+23)

I honestly feel that wholeheartedly. When I first played, I didn't read the content warnings, so the ending was shocking. I'm not sure how to exactly explain it, but the entire mood just felt.. weird? Like, obviously, with such a depressing topic,it's going to feel different, but the vibes I got from it weren't what I expected; probably because I didn't expect it at all.

The message of the game is good, that streamers (and all content creators in general) are still human, and have feelings too; and that it's crazy how fast something can be taken out of context and spiraled into so much more. However, I do feel like the ending could've been executed better, and maybe not as extreme as suicide. Even with the second ending, you're just kinda left with that 'wtf just happened' feeling when you walk away from it.

I think the biggest problem is that the rest of the game is all happy and cheery, with barely any indication of what might happen in the endings, and you don't really know what you're getting yourself into until it happens.I've played several other psychological horror games, maybe not entirely like this one, but at least they led up to the endings and made sense. Even if they featured topics of suicide and death in them, it wasn't just a "oh this is a cute game" and then a sudden, seemingly random 'in-your-face' terrible ending. The plot actually led up to the endings and made them make sense. IDK though, that's just how I see it. 😅

(+10)

I mean you’re definitely not wrong on this point 

(+18)

Thanks for this comment, glad I scrolled down yesterday before giving the game a shot. I didn't even think to look at the content warnings with how cute the art and screenshots looked, but even then, you can never tell how well or poorly a writer is going to tackle sensitive subjects. As someone who's suffered from chronic depression and suicidal ideation for over a decade, playing this one to the end would've likely been like a kick to the teeth.

Plus, holding back a "good" ending in exchange for a ridiculous number of reviews from their player base seems extremely exploitative on the dev's part. Just to get their game to the top of the ratings lists, not on merit but through guilt-tripping their fans for Zilas' terrible ending(s). Absolutely disgusting. 

(For reference, Our Life: Beginnings & Always currently has 4,908 reviews and is currently the most rated Otome game on Itchio. I don't think this dev wanting 5k reviews was a random number pull.)

(+2)

My pookie :c

(+3)

This is the biggest shock I have ever experienced

WTF is happening!!

(+4)

Guess what? 

🤜🔵🔴🤛 🤌 🫴 🟣

Throughout Heaven and Earth, I alone, am the chosen one.

(+3)

MY BOYFRIEND 😭

(+5)

WHAT THE FUCK.


DUDE GIVE MY BOYFRIEND BACK

WHAT WTF THAT ENDING CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD- IM BAWLING

(+5)

IM LOSING MY MIND

(+6)

CMON GUYS 1,203, WE’RE 1/5TH THERE!!
TELL YOUR FRIENDS, TELL YOUR MOM, TELL YOUR DOG

(+11)

The only thing I wish about this game is that it had a skip button so and or save button so that i can skip passed dialog that Ive heard or so I can go to certain points in the game I have saved besides that i really love this game and the voice acting its so good

(+3)

I actually kind of want one too. I get why they do it tho, but the immersion fades out too fast after two playthroughs. 

I feel that. As amazing as the voice acting is and stuff, I really wish we could skip through some dialogue during the streams, and especially the dialogue in the first voice message we receive during the beginning of the game. It's becomes a sort of drag lol

yeah. Maybe a first playthrough skip bonus?

I think that'd be good if she implemented it, yeah 😅

(+1)

Agreed. It would help for replays tenfold

Make mobile

(+3)

OMFG GOD THE CAT SAW EVERYTHING ;-;

(+1)

that cat is a demon responsible of all of this 😭😭 just play the second ending you'll see

(1 edit)

bawling my eyes out

how do you see how many ratings?

click more information

(+3)

my baby... WE GOT MARRIED IDC

(+1)

what just happened.

WHAT HAPPENED WHY DID YHE RATINGS GO DOWN OR AM I JUST LAGGING

(+1)

There was a person who spent hours making a few hundred acc's to rate the game. Itch.io thought he was a bot and took them all down. It sucks, I know 🥲

ITS A REALLY GOOD GAME!


[spoilers]

My jaw dropped so hard when I got one of the endings, Made a bad mistake and now I regret it so badly TT

(+2)

the error143 refs lol 

ALSO HOW COULD U DO THIS TO CUTE BOY ZILAS JENNY HOW COULD YOU W IVE BEEN STAYING IN UPDATE WITH THE PROJECT ON INSTA BUT HOW COULD YOU D0 THJIS TO ZILAS AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

(+5)

This is the most cringe game I've played simply due to the dialog, which is why this is probably the most accurate streamer experience.8/10, every ending is big chungas wholesome 100.poggers or some other cringe twitch slang.kek

Deleted 246 days ago
(1 edit)

I'm not hating tho? The dialog is just cringe which is about right for twitch streams. How is a 8/10 hate? That's GOOD, unless you're one of those people who view anything under 7 as bad in which case you're using the scoring system wrong. How about you get lost, you don't seem to be able to discern what's a obvious joke from someone not joking. Anyone with a mouse wheel could scroll once and see dozens of warnings about the ending. Anyways stay safe, have a nice day, and maybe see you again? Have a nice one.

AINT NO WAY THATS WHAT HES DONE , ueueue i got too attached 

(+2)

[SPOILER]



i thought the twist was actually that he died out on the cold I DONT EVEN KNOW IF THIS IS WORSE THAN ACTUALLY KILLING HIMSELF

(+1)

Actually, (spoilers!) that is part of it! He does die in the cold, you have to get the other ending to find out. I won't spoil it too much incase you wanna play that ending for yourself, but all you have to do is make sure that he DOESN'T get to 1M subs, so just tell him to hide his goal from his followers and not sing the karaoke stream. Then you should be all set ^^

(+1)

I DID THIS TWICE BUT I JUST KEEP GETTING THE SUICIDE ENDING

Really? That's so weird, that's what I did and it all turned out fine- Umm, maybe try watching a tutorial then? I'm really not sure, I'm sorry!

(+1)

AHHH I RLLY WANNA PLAY IT BUT IT WONT LET ME TYPE A NAME OR USERNAME ETC SOBSSS

(+1)

It depends on what device you're using. Right now, it's really only for PC and doesn't really work for mobile 🙃

Awh man.. Thanks though!

(+1)

No problem; sorry you couldn't play though!

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