bro i thought when he proposed to his girlfriend that it was a good ending but i was so wrong... i end up kill--- him instead the way i cried i would had preferred the sui ending😭
Hello so I read the last tweet from Jenny before writing this and since we can’t say what is true i’m writing this review with the softest tone and only talk about the game <3 have a good read !
1) The story in general
In the first place, the story feels rushed, I'm not the best writer but you can tell that we miss a lot of information for exemple starting with how fast the guy gets followers for doing almost nothing (I think maybe make the whole story a week would be better with more action) to the hanging ending . I feel like the whole story is a mix of Needy Girl Overdose ( the fact he wants 1M in a week and he is helped by his partner) and DDLC for its "disturbing" ending. And you know what it's great you take inspiration for your game but the issue is that it’s very similar so the game feel less original. I also feel like the whole game feel like a booktok comment section (probably cause I’m not target audience but I feel like that kind of way to write is gonna age very badly kinda like error 143). Also to finish this first part the relationship between the MC and the guy. The whole time it just feels like the MC controls everything about this little white hair dude it just feels like I'm playing a toxic relationship simulator (talking about the fact that we aren't guiding him for a better streamer career but we are imposing him stuff like "ban her from modding" or even when he have to apologize and the MC literally choose for him and when he say "I don't think it's a great idea" the MC doesn't listen to him and force him). Ofc the mc got some reason to be like this especially with the mod being a creep to him. To my eyes, he has 0 personality. Plus the fact that he is sexualized by everybody in the game is just so sad he kinda deserves better. :(
2)The hanging and homicide ending
So to resume this he decides to kill himself because he got bullied on the internet cause he apparently hates people with cancer (I think it’s a silly reason but someone said it’s about showing cancel culture? I think it was written in not so good way cause I personally feels like the game was making a joke). The whole reason why he did this is very silly and it explains why I think the story is rushed but you know maybe before he was mentally unstable and it was the event that finally broke him. Nope, he killed himself just like that, there is no indication that he is feeling bad, it just happened. The way she just killed him was very disturbing. Suicide is a very serious topic, normally you get signals of those things, this guy is not killing himself like that. It just feels like the ending was here to just shock people and it did, I was shocked because it happened without warning (not talking about trigger), it was so out of place. I don't really get words to describe this scene cause the picture was very graphic kinda like DDLC but when you play it you know what is going to happen here no (now yes if you read the post but it’s kinda hide). Same for the Homicide ending it kinda happened like the hanging ending out of pocket and was very graphic.
After playing for a second time normally you get an interaction with the cat (introduced at the start of the story and then forgotten) he said "yeah I can bring him back if you leave 5,000 rates on itch.io". This whole thing is just crazy to me (about how the story just out of pocket killed the character I know it’s explained by the plot but it was put in a very “awkward” way) the game ask for a good ending if you give good rates... I don’t think it's ok and I feel like the game is using his death and his suicide as a way to get reviews (btw I know he is fictional I’m more talking about the idea of his death I hope my word aren’t confuse)
Ok bye!!XX
go check twitter people are talking about the issue i can't say here
made an account not to rate (i will not), but because I don't want my friends to read. Spoilers ahead obv
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From my understanding, the biggest reason this game is getting hate, is for its "insensitive depiction of suicide", but tbh, I'm a bit confused because that's not how I saw the ending?
People keeping comparing it to DDLC and Sayori's ending (yes, I see the visual similarities), but they're completely missing the references the game tells you about. "Death Notebook", "Ryuk", "fond of apples". Ryuk is literally shown in the ending CG, so I don't know how else the game can spell it out for you.
For the benefit of those who haven't seen the anime (which I can only assume most of the people who've hated this haven't), in the show, there is a notebook where you can write a person's name and the cause of their death, and within the next 40 seconds, they will die like that. Yes, there are instances where suicide is the cause of death shown. V graphic and depressing, but story wise, makes sense.
We know from the second ending that MC wasn't just in the mood to randomly stab Zilas; that it was a sudden urge. He literally says "it's not your fault, i can explain". If we can safely conclude it was some external forces that compelled MC to, and that Zilas was destined to die one way or another, why have we all collectively just assumed he committed it out of his own volition? And if that's not the case, then there would obviously NOT be any signs to show. Because it was not suicide out of depression.
You cannot tell me how weird or dumb you think it was for Zilas to get cancelled for something he didn't mean, when you're out here doing the same (played one time, missed the hints, and decided it was okay to harass someone for sth you didn't like). I would expect some more empathy from the people who talk about mental health. (this is not a jab at anyone. some comments have been respectful, but some are just awful).
I'd like to clarify that I am not here to defend the devs. I write this (and here's the part I hope my loved ones never know), as someone who has dealt with suicide ideation for the most part of their teen and young adult years. Who still has a stack of letters tucked in the back of my cupboard, because there was one night where I was so sure it was the end. I write this as someone who still cannot trust myself with heights or high places. My mental health is something I must protect, not a random game developer. Why read the content warnings, press okay, and still complain?
The problem most people have with the game is not because of not reading the warnings or whats going to happen (which actually orginally was the case because in the first build, in which most people played, it had not contained any and instead they were hidden on the itch.io page, which is not an adequate place to put content warnings for something as sensitive as this.) but the fact of how poorly written it is and how it was done in a way that was not well researched, well thought out or well done.
Firstly, no it is implied he committed suicide because of the hate comments and harassment he was getting. If it truly didn't bother him in some way, which it seemed to, why on earth would he do it? Was him ghosting the MC and hiding himself away because it hurt and stressed him out also not of his own volition like you seem to be saying? YOU are the one who seemed to miss "hints" right in front of your nose. The thing most of us don't understand is why Jenny decided to go about it this way, if it was truly just Ryuks doing, it was not thought provoking or well done in any way, shape nor form. In fact, we still know nothing about Ryuk, the cat was not in the story besides very brief implications and thats why we are confused. Ryuk feels very out of place in the grand scheme of the story and like the horror aspect was an afterthought. Its very lazy writing in terms of horror, and slapping a "give me 5 thousand reviews to revive him" at the very end and half assly explaining plot and story beats at the very end is HORRIBLE writing. The main point of writing is showing and not telling, which this game fails miserably at, from one writer to another. We see a lot of issues with this because writing needs to be shown adequately so things can be explained and neatly wrap up plot threads, this game needed a lot more revision and time in the oven and should not have been done for a game jam where these topics need a lot of understanding and grace to be done properly. Just because stuff isn't always explained irl doesnt mean that should be an excuse for horrible writing on a game about a complex topic.
Secondly, NOBODY IS HARASSING JENNY!!!!! And if they are, its not any of us. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and just say you are making a lot of this stuff up in your comment. Nobody is attacking or harassing Jenny, we are critcizing her writing because it depicts something very sensitive and something that needs to be thoroughly researched which in this case it wasn't. I actually scrolled and did not find a single comment saying what you seem to be implying, just well rounded critcism from people who struggle with depression or have lost those they love to suicide or murder, which Jenny has not which is why people are offended and hurt by the writing and how insensitive it is to people who suffer from it and most of us went in knowing the content warnings, just expected more nuance. Also, only one person compared it to DDLC, one person and the difference is that Sayori is actually well written and Zilas isn't. Your acting as if a majority of us said these things when we didn't to prove a point, which you aren't. We are allowed to criticize and give our takes on very real world issues and stuff we suffer with on a published product. Part of being a game developer is accepting criticism and recoginizing when YOU release a product or project into the world, people are free to do what they like with it and just because the developer is a smaller one doesn't negate them from any and all criticism, what stupid reasoning. Your failing to realize the difference between harassment and criticism when most, if not all, of us want Jenny to be a better writer and still stand behind her because she has worked on amazing projects and knows how to write good and thoughtful stories, which is why most of us are disappointed in how she went about this and went about addressing it. Jenny isn't an "uwu poor vicitim" getting harassed, maybe read the reviews that seem to be 'harassment' to you and recoginize the game dev and lead writer has done problematic stuff and deserves criticism for her actions instead of writing it off as harassment.
For someone who claims to not be defending the lead writer and producer, you sure seem to be ignorant to a lot of what people are saying and ignoring most of our points for the sake of defending said writer, and making an account just to protect them tooth and nail kinda shows what side your actually on. Good grief.
Comment sections are not just for blanket outpourings of love and support for whatever the dev creates. Creatives can't adequately grow and learn without criticism. Not sure where you're getting harrassment from, but I've not seen it on this page and have read every critical review posted so far (even the ones I've had to google translate).
Also, (ignoring that the content warnings were initially hidden so the author could have their gotcha moment) I sort of mentioned this in a previous comment, but suicide in games rarely bothers me (as someone who has attempted and almost didn't survive, since we're sharing). When written well, it can even be incredibly cathartic. For example,there's an interactive fiction game on steam in which you can choose to have your MC struggle with suicidal thoughts. The difference is that the author of that game either struggled with similar thoughts themselves or actually did research, as everything came across as very realistic and relatable to me. It wasn't pulled out as some ending plot twist, but was included as something the MC grappled with alongside their myriad other struggles. The absolute best part is that it's completely optional. All that to say, suicide in media isn't a problem for me when written about knowledgeably and respectfully.
And a content warning for suicide (when one can actually find it) doesn't excuse the writer from criticism if it is written poorly.
Edit: Deferring to and agree with Miru's critique of the plot.
As a guy who's seen death note, I flipped out, extremely excited when I noticed the death note references. I thought this game would be long and interesting, and end in Ryuk somehow being involved in his death. As someone who got the yandere ending, some part of me wonders if Zilas really did have a deathnote and was using it to make us kil- him. Perhaps that's why he said that 'he can explain'. I believe there's a major connection between this game and death note, and I refuse to believe there's no explanation.
Hello! i've read through your comment and i would just like to respond to clarify some things you might have misunderstood! (please correct me if im wrong though!)
1. the story
yes, the story is a bit rushed since unlike other games this is a short visual novel game. it only takes 1 hour to complete all the endings unlike other visual novels that take days. i can understand your point of few with the mc talking in a way you dislike since some of the dialogue the mc says are quite forward, but lets not forget that this is a visual novel where the demographic (for this game at least) are interested in these sort of things. (if the dialogue seems too booktok then the demographic is probably for booktok)
i understand that at times it seems like we're a controlling partner but lets not forget that in the beginning of the game it's zilas that asks you for help, it's him who asks you to guide him to 1 million followers. and of course as the mc who's a more popular streamer, they're the ones who has the most knowledge with streaming (which is why in some dialogues the mc talks in depth about streaming). as for banning the mod its an understandable thing since it's not okay for a mod to say inapropriate things in streams even if you're close or not (as a mod its your job to monitor the chat and prevent anything that could make the streamer uncomfortable or to create an environment where the streamer will be uncomfortable. in the game the original mod often asks for zilas bra size which could create an environment where it would be normal for the fan base to sexualize him. and in game the only time we see the original mod actually ban someone is because the mc told them to) and mc explains this to zilas, why having a mod like this isn't okay in the long run whether or not zilas is fine with it.
2.the endings
the suicide ending is a shocker yet understanding like you said you like DDLC (me too!) but in the game you know whats going to happen because you've been warned of it. you've become aware of what sayori will do since she tells you she takes pills. but in reality people with depression or suicidal thoughts dont often warn people or tell people that they do, and often times you don't even know if someone is suicidal or not because they act "normal" there are all kinds of people in the world and they dont all act the same, like all people who have depression or suicidal tendencies they dont have the same problems or same backgrounds, everyone is different so just because zilas didnt act like he was "feeling bad" doesn't mean he wasn't it was a shocking ending because it was supposed to be.
for the reason of why he died its stupid yes but doesn't it just represent cancel culture? how he was cancelled for something taken out of context, for something that meant no harm. cancel culture often does this with cancelling people for unserious reasons out of context. and zilas was just unfortunately a victim of it, he tried to explain the truth yet despite that he still received massive amounts of hate, which can cause someone to go to the lengths zilas went. as for the homicide ending its been shown that it had something deeper going on, the mc didn't kill him with their own volition its been hinted that its because of something else thats been going on.(though i agree that they could've written a bit more detail about zilas inner thoughts and feelings to make the suicide ending not very random and a bit problematic).
as for the 5 K ratings its an unusual way to ask for ratings but this isn't the first time creators have made things like this (some mobile visual novel games also do these in exchange for good endings, although this doesn't necessarily count as manipulation, but i can see where you're getting it from!) this is most likely fraud (since the reviews wouldn't really be genuine since they only started rating the game for the good ending).if they asked for good ratings then it would count as manipulation, but they only asked for ratings in general. so whether or not the ratings are good or bad or just anything if it still hit the goal of 5k then we would still get an ending, manipulation is if someone controlled your emotional and mental state to achieve their own goals. which understandably seems like what this game dev is doing but what would the game dev achieve from 5 K mixed reviews? it would only confuse people who've looked at the reviews, they could gain popularity sure, but with the culture of visual novels doing similar things this isn't manipulation. if the game dev actively made you feel guilty for not giving the game a good rating for their benefit then that would be manipulation. and lets not forget, this is a fictional game, you've been warned that there will be suicide, homicide, flashing lights, jump scares, and animal gore.
"when do you think it's ok? You are using his death and his suicide as a way to get reviews and you think it's normal?"
hes fictional, he doesnt exist, its a controversial way to ask for ratings but you're making it seem like hes an actual human being. if the creator actually was advertising their game using someones death then that would be a completely different story.
3.her fans and her
the comments of her "mocking" her fans to me just seem like friendly banter, though i do understand your points of manipulation with the anonymity of the internet despite a game dev displaying their games to be 18+ minors can still infiltrate those places simply by adding an 18+ into their bio or other means so i do agree that it does count as manipulation if her fan base truly are minors. i dont think the game dev intended to make her fans look like fools it just seems like friendly banter to me (please correct me if im wrong here though!) her encouraging her fan base to rate the game to achieve a good ending is a thing some visual novel game devs do which isn't necessarily manipulation but again i can see your point of view. as for the unusual tweets she posts i don't see a problem in most of them, theyre just silly tweets showcasing her sense of humor, its not weird to joke about her own oc's and make silly little illustrations of them. now for the ED joke i think this one is heavily out of context, if this was a joke it would share the same humor as her "weird" posts, and to be frank that post just doesn't make any sense at all no matter how many times i read it. something is out of context and i dont think she meant it to be an ED joke (this is just speculation)
"Let's talk about her fans cause they are also CRAZY. They encourage the hypersexualization of her characters, create fake accounts to make more reviews (which get obviously deleted) and are also encouraged by Jenny. They are also a bunch of creeps in general on itch.io or the discord server"
you can't exactly hate on the creator for their fans's actions, the creator cannot do anything about what anyone does. and i dont understand why you're upset about the hypersexualization of her characters, i understand that it can be negative but in your "1. the story in general" you wrote down how you viewed the mc banning the mod as "controlling" when the reason they were banned in the first place was because they were sexualizing zilas themselves. so im sorry but it seems like you're contradicting yourself here (again please do correct me if I misunderstood this part!)
as for the creeps part, there are creeps everywhere and we can't really do anything about it but block them. whatever the fan does, does not reflect on the creator since they have no control over it.
(if there are any things i got wrong please correct me! i do not want to seem as someone spreading misinformation but after playing the game and reading this comment it just seemed like some misunderstandings happened here!!)
My keyboard isn't working when it told me to enter my name/ username. I already reload the page many times.how can I fix it? I just want to play the game T-T (I play on android chrome btw.
I can't play and this appears "Your browser does not support graphics API "WebGL 2" which is required for this content"what do i do help (my english is bad srry :(((()
I'll start with: I know this game was made in a month, however, I do think that if you're going to make a game with serious and dark topics that need researched then maybe consider... not doing it in one month. I get that it's for a game jam, and that it's also good practice to see what you can improve on, however it's just in poor taste considering how rushed, and poorly written this is. There's 8 authors contributing to this game and it still turns out like this? You probably should've chosen an easier premise for a game with an extremely short deadline. I've seen the twitter posts too, and I think your idea would've been very interesting if you decided to make this a longer project and took your time on it. This game is an example of; right idea, wrong execution.
The game has a bubbly and fun vibe the entire time right UNTIL the end which makes the endings feel extremely random. If this game was longer, you could've gone into more detail and attention on Ryuk's role earlier on in the story, because if you get an ending like the suicide one then you will not know about ryuk's involvement. You could've also made the days nearing the end a lot more eerie or jarring to get a smoother transition to the end.
If the creator intends to keep the game up then i can only hope they remake it without a deadline and take all the criticism into consideration.
this game had no reason scaring the soul right out of me with that hanging ending (i was playing this in the dark too) and i was enjoying the happy atmosphere as well. overall great game though
OKAY WHAT.MY JAW DROPPED WHEN I GOT THE STABBED HIM WITH KNIFE ENDING. LIKE.....HUH.(inside of my heart is screaming crying basically want me to throw everything)
i've seen a lot of bad comments on your page, so i wanted to clear up your feed with a genuinely positive review!
i absolutely loved the game and its concept!!!! like everyone, i also felt a bit frustrated bc i can't save my sweet bf, but i think it 100% fits the whole purpose of the game and it's really important how it also criticizes the bad sides of content creation
error143 wasn't really my cup of tea (i'm not really into micah's personality, but that's melolol), but i'm completely obsessed with the quality of your games!!! and going live hits me right on the spot!!! keep up the good work <3 love u
Trata temas que pueden funcionar perfectamente,pero no se hace con respeto, sino como una BURLA. A pesar que estéticamente es hermoso, y que el actor de voz sea GRANDIOSO, eso no salva una mala escritura. Tiene un concepto grandioso,pero está tan mal desarrollado que parece un fanfic de 2015.
Pero,a pesar de que sea un juego de finales malos es imposible negar que estéticamente es grandioso para haber sido desarrollado en un mes. Ojalá todo lo que invirtieron en la estetica lo hagan en la escritura.
I AM CRYING SO HARD RN-- and I've just seen one of the endings. Like, I read the comments to spoil myself, I didn't want to cry that hard, but DAMN-- great game tho
the first ending i got had me in tears, (all the endings to be honest), but anyways, this was such an amazing game - i wish i could play it for the first time again! i need more zilas content stat 😭😭
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bro i thought when he proposed to his girlfriend that it was a good ending but i was so wrong... i end up kill--- him instead the way i cried i would had preferred the sui ending😭
I just wanted to hold the cute streamer boy, this is so unfair (/j)
Hello so I read the last tweet from Jenny before writing this and since we can’t say what is true i’m writing this review with the softest tone and only talk about the game <3 have a good read !
1) The story in general
In the first place, the story feels rushed, I'm not the best writer but you can tell that we miss a lot of information for exemple starting with how fast the guy gets followers for doing almost nothing (I think maybe make the whole story a week would be better with more action) to the hanging ending . I feel like the whole story is a mix of Needy Girl Overdose ( the fact he wants 1M in a week and he is helped by his partner) and DDLC for its "disturbing" ending. And you know what it's great you take inspiration for your game but the issue is that it’s very similar so the game feel less original. I also feel like the whole game feel like a booktok comment section (probably cause I’m not target audience but I feel like that kind of way to write is gonna age very badly kinda like error 143). Also to finish this first part the relationship between the MC and the guy. The whole time it just feels like the MC controls everything about this little white hair dude it just feels like I'm playing a toxic relationship simulator (talking about the fact that we aren't guiding him for a better streamer career but we are imposing him stuff like "ban her from modding" or even when he have to apologize and the MC literally choose for him and when he say "I don't think it's a great idea" the MC doesn't listen to him and force him). Ofc the mc got some reason to be like this especially with the mod being a creep to him. To my eyes, he has 0 personality. Plus the fact that he is sexualized by everybody in the game is just so sad he kinda deserves better. :(
2)The hanging and homicide ending
So to resume this he decides to kill himself because he got bullied on the internet cause he apparently hates people with cancer (I think it’s a silly reason but someone said it’s about showing cancel culture? I think it was written in not so good way cause I personally feels like the game was making a joke). The whole reason why he did this is very silly and it explains why I think the story is rushed but you know maybe before he was mentally unstable and it was the event that finally broke him. Nope, he killed himself just like that, there is no indication that he is feeling bad, it just happened. The way she just killed him was very disturbing. Suicide is a very serious topic, normally you get signals of those things, this guy is not killing himself like that. It just feels like the ending was here to just shock people and it did, I was shocked because it happened without warning (not talking about trigger), it was so out of place. I don't really get words to describe this scene cause the picture was very graphic kinda like DDLC but when you play it you know what is going to happen here no (now yes if you read the post but it’s kinda hide). Same for the Homicide ending it kinda happened like the hanging ending out of pocket and was very graphic.
After playing for a second time normally you get an interaction with the cat (introduced at the start of the story and then forgotten) he said "yeah I can bring him back if you leave 5,000 rates on itch.io". This whole thing is just crazy to me (about how the story just out of pocket killed the character I know it’s explained by the plot but it was put in a very “awkward” way) the game ask for a good ending if you give good rates... I don’t think it's ok and I feel like the game is using his death and his suicide as a way to get reviews (btw I know he is fictional I’m more talking about the idea of his death I hope my word aren’t confuse)
Ok bye!!XX
go check twitter people are talking about the issue i can't say here
why delete my comment >:(
edit: the creator is deleting the negative comments because they don't want criticism????
made an account not to rate (i will not), but because I don't want my friends to read. Spoilers ahead obv
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From my understanding, the biggest reason this game is getting hate, is for its "insensitive depiction of suicide", but tbh, I'm a bit confused because that's not how I saw the ending?
People keeping comparing it to DDLC and Sayori's ending (yes, I see the visual similarities), but they're completely missing the references the game tells you about. "Death Notebook", "Ryuk", "fond of apples". Ryuk is literally shown in the ending CG, so I don't know how else the game can spell it out for you.
For the benefit of those who haven't seen the anime (which I can only assume most of the people who've hated this haven't), in the show, there is a notebook where you can write a person's name and the cause of their death, and within the next 40 seconds, they will die like that. Yes, there are instances where suicide is the cause of death shown. V graphic and depressing, but story wise, makes sense.
We know from the second ending that MC wasn't just in the mood to randomly stab Zilas; that it was a sudden urge. He literally says "it's not your fault, i can explain". If we can safely conclude it was some external forces that compelled MC to, and that Zilas was destined to die one way or another, why have we all collectively just assumed he committed it out of his own volition? And if that's not the case, then there would obviously NOT be any signs to show. Because it was not suicide out of depression.
You cannot tell me how weird or dumb you think it was for Zilas to get cancelled for something he didn't mean, when you're out here doing the same (played one time, missed the hints, and decided it was okay to harass someone for sth you didn't like). I would expect some more empathy from the people who talk about mental health. (this is not a jab at anyone. some comments have been respectful, but some are just awful).
I'd like to clarify that I am not here to defend the devs. I write this (and here's the part I hope my loved ones never know), as someone who has dealt with suicide ideation for the most part of their teen and young adult years. Who still has a stack of letters tucked in the back of my cupboard, because there was one night where I was so sure it was the end. I write this as someone who still cannot trust myself with heights or high places. My mental health is something I must protect, not a random game developer. Why read the content warnings, press okay, and still complain?
The problem most people have with the game is not because of not reading the warnings or whats going to happen (which actually orginally was the case because in the first build, in which most people played, it had not contained any and instead they were hidden on the itch.io page, which is not an adequate place to put content warnings for something as sensitive as this.) but the fact of how poorly written it is and how it was done in a way that was not well researched, well thought out or well done.
Firstly, no it is implied he committed suicide because of the hate comments and harassment he was getting. If it truly didn't bother him in some way, which it seemed to, why on earth would he do it? Was him ghosting the MC and hiding himself away because it hurt and stressed him out also not of his own volition like you seem to be saying? YOU are the one who seemed to miss "hints" right in front of your nose. The thing most of us don't understand is why Jenny decided to go about it this way, if it was truly just Ryuks doing, it was not thought provoking or well done in any way, shape nor form. In fact, we still know nothing about Ryuk, the cat was not in the story besides very brief implications and thats why we are confused. Ryuk feels very out of place in the grand scheme of the story and like the horror aspect was an afterthought. Its very lazy writing in terms of horror, and slapping a "give me 5 thousand reviews to revive him" at the very end and half assly explaining plot and story beats at the very end is HORRIBLE writing. The main point of writing is showing and not telling, which this game fails miserably at, from one writer to another. We see a lot of issues with this because writing needs to be shown adequately so things can be explained and neatly wrap up plot threads, this game needed a lot more revision and time in the oven and should not have been done for a game jam where these topics need a lot of understanding and grace to be done properly. Just because stuff isn't always explained irl doesnt mean that should be an excuse for horrible writing on a game about a complex topic.
Secondly, NOBODY IS HARASSING JENNY!!!!! And if they are, its not any of us. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and just say you are making a lot of this stuff up in your comment. Nobody is attacking or harassing Jenny, we are critcizing her writing because it depicts something very sensitive and something that needs to be thoroughly researched which in this case it wasn't. I actually scrolled and did not find a single comment saying what you seem to be implying, just well rounded critcism from people who struggle with depression or have lost those they love to suicide or murder, which Jenny has not which is why people are offended and hurt by the writing and how insensitive it is to people who suffer from it and most of us went in knowing the content warnings, just expected more nuance. Also, only one person compared it to DDLC, one person and the difference is that Sayori is actually well written and Zilas isn't. Your acting as if a majority of us said these things when we didn't to prove a point, which you aren't. We are allowed to criticize and give our takes on very real world issues and stuff we suffer with on a published product. Part of being a game developer is accepting criticism and recoginizing when YOU release a product or project into the world, people are free to do what they like with it and just because the developer is a smaller one doesn't negate them from any and all criticism, what stupid reasoning. Your failing to realize the difference between harassment and criticism when most, if not all, of us want Jenny to be a better writer and still stand behind her because she has worked on amazing projects and knows how to write good and thoughtful stories, which is why most of us are disappointed in how she went about this and went about addressing it. Jenny isn't an "uwu poor vicitim" getting harassed, maybe read the reviews that seem to be 'harassment' to you and recoginize the game dev and lead writer has done problematic stuff and deserves criticism for her actions instead of writing it off as harassment.
For someone who claims to not be defending the lead writer and producer, you sure seem to be ignorant to a lot of what people are saying and ignoring most of our points for the sake of defending said writer, and making an account just to protect them tooth and nail kinda shows what side your actually on. Good grief.
Comment sections are not just for blanket outpourings of love and support for whatever the dev creates. Creatives can't adequately grow and learn without criticism. Not sure where you're getting harrassment from, but I've not seen it on this page and have read every critical review posted so far (even the ones I've had to google translate).
Also, (ignoring that the content warnings were initially hidden so the author could have their gotcha moment) I sort of mentioned this in a previous comment, but suicide in games rarely bothers me (as someone who has attempted and almost didn't survive, since we're sharing). When written well, it can even be incredibly cathartic. For example,there's an interactive fiction game on steam in which you can choose to have your MC struggle with suicidal thoughts. The difference is that the author of that game either struggled with similar thoughts themselves or actually did research, as everything came across as very realistic and relatable to me. It wasn't pulled out as some ending plot twist, but was included as something the MC grappled with alongside their myriad other struggles. The absolute best part is that it's completely optional. All that to say, suicide in media isn't a problem for me when written about knowledgeably and respectfully.
And a content warning for suicide (when one can actually find it) doesn't excuse the writer from criticism if it is written poorly.
Edit: Deferring to and agree with Miru's critique of the plot.
As a guy who's seen death note, I flipped out, extremely excited when I noticed the death note references. I thought this game would be long and interesting, and end in Ryuk somehow being involved in his death. As someone who got the yandere ending, some part of me wonders if Zilas really did have a deathnote and was using it to make us kil- him. Perhaps that's why he said that 'he can explain'. I believe there's a major connection between this game and death note, and I refuse to believe there's no explanation.
I was not ready for that sui ending bro 😭
I dead ass was SHOOK, i just thought he would have took a break-..
Hello! i've read through your comment and i would just like to respond to clarify some things you might have misunderstood! (please correct me if im wrong though!)
1. the story
yes, the story is a bit rushed since unlike other games this is a short visual novel game. it only takes 1 hour to complete all the endings unlike other visual novels that take days. i can understand your point of few with the mc talking in a way you dislike since some of the dialogue the mc says are quite forward, but lets not forget that this is a visual novel where the demographic (for this game at least) are interested in these sort of things. (if the dialogue seems too booktok then the demographic is probably for booktok)
i understand that at times it seems like we're a controlling partner but lets not forget that in the beginning of the game it's zilas that asks you for help, it's him who asks you to guide him to 1 million followers. and of course as the mc who's a more popular streamer, they're the ones who has the most knowledge with streaming (which is why in some dialogues the mc talks in depth about streaming). as for banning the mod its an understandable thing since it's not okay for a mod to say inapropriate things in streams even if you're close or not (as a mod its your job to monitor the chat and prevent anything that could make the streamer uncomfortable or to create an environment where the streamer will be uncomfortable. in the game the original mod often asks for zilas bra size which could create an environment where it would be normal for the fan base to sexualize him. and in game the only time we see the original mod actually ban someone is because the mc told them to) and mc explains this to zilas, why having a mod like this isn't okay in the long run whether or not zilas is fine with it.
2.the endings
the suicide ending is a shocker yet understanding like you said you like DDLC (me too!) but in the game you know whats going to happen because you've been warned of it. you've become aware of what sayori will do since she tells you she takes pills. but in reality people with depression or suicidal thoughts dont often warn people or tell people that they do, and often times you don't even know if someone is suicidal or not because they act "normal" there are all kinds of people in the world and they dont all act the same, like all people who have depression or suicidal tendencies they dont have the same problems or same backgrounds, everyone is different so just because zilas didnt act like he was "feeling bad" doesn't mean he wasn't it was a shocking ending because it was supposed to be.
for the reason of why he died its stupid yes but doesn't it just represent cancel culture? how he was cancelled for something taken out of context, for something that meant no harm. cancel culture often does this with cancelling people for unserious reasons out of context. and zilas was just unfortunately a victim of it, he tried to explain the truth yet despite that he still received massive amounts of hate, which can cause someone to go to the lengths zilas went. as for the homicide ending its been shown that it had something deeper going on, the mc didn't kill him with their own volition its been hinted that its because of something else thats been going on.(though i agree that they could've written a bit more detail about zilas inner thoughts and feelings to make the suicide ending not very random and a bit problematic).
as for the 5 K ratings its an unusual way to ask for ratings but this isn't the first time creators have made things like this (some mobile visual novel games also do these in exchange for good endings, although this doesn't necessarily count as manipulation, but i can see where you're getting it from!) this is most likely fraud (since the reviews wouldn't really be genuine since they only started rating the game for the good ending).if they asked for good ratings then it would count as manipulation, but they only asked for ratings in general. so whether or not the ratings are good or bad or just anything if it still hit the goal of 5k then we would still get an ending, manipulation is if someone controlled your emotional and mental state to achieve their own goals. which understandably seems like what this game dev is doing but what would the game dev achieve from 5 K mixed reviews? it would only confuse people who've looked at the reviews, they could gain popularity sure, but with the culture of visual novels doing similar things this isn't manipulation. if the game dev actively made you feel guilty for not giving the game a good rating for their benefit then that would be manipulation. and lets not forget, this is a fictional game, you've been warned that there will be suicide, homicide, flashing lights, jump scares, and animal gore.
"when do you think it's ok? You are using his death and his suicide as a way to get reviews and you think it's normal?"
hes fictional, he doesnt exist, its a controversial way to ask for ratings but you're making it seem like hes an actual human being. if the creator actually was advertising their game using someones death then that would be a completely different story.
3.her fans and her
the comments of her "mocking" her fans to me just seem like friendly banter, though i do understand your points of manipulation with the anonymity of the internet despite a game dev displaying their games to be 18+ minors can still infiltrate those places simply by adding an 18+ into their bio or other means so i do agree that it does count as manipulation if her fan base truly are minors. i dont think the game dev intended to make her fans look like fools it just seems like friendly banter to me (please correct me if im wrong here though!) her encouraging her fan base to rate the game to achieve a good ending is a thing some visual novel game devs do which isn't necessarily manipulation but again i can see your point of view. as for the unusual tweets she posts i don't see a problem in most of them, theyre just silly tweets showcasing her sense of humor, its not weird to joke about her own oc's and make silly little illustrations of them. now for the ED joke i think this one is heavily out of context, if this was a joke it would share the same humor as her "weird" posts, and to be frank that post just doesn't make any sense at all no matter how many times i read it. something is out of context and i dont think she meant it to be an ED joke (this is just speculation)
"Let's talk about her fans cause they are also CRAZY. They encourage the hypersexualization of her characters, create fake accounts to make more reviews (which get obviously deleted) and are also encouraged by Jenny. They are also a bunch of creeps in general on itch.io or the discord server"
you can't exactly hate on the creator for their fans's actions, the creator cannot do anything about what anyone does. and i dont understand why you're upset about the hypersexualization of her characters, i understand that it can be negative but in your "1. the story in general" you wrote down how you viewed the mc banning the mod as "controlling" when the reason they were banned in the first place was because they were sexualizing zilas themselves. so im sorry but it seems like you're contradicting yourself here (again please do correct me if I misunderstood this part!)
as for the creeps part, there are creeps everywhere and we can't really do anything about it but block them. whatever the fan does, does not reflect on the creator since they have no control over it.
(if there are any things i got wrong please correct me! i do not want to seem as someone spreading misinformation but after playing the game and reading this comment it just seemed like some misunderstandings happened here!!)
hey your comment got deleted mine got deleted too >:(
@pome
the game is 10/10 LIKE I DIDNT EXPECT THAT OOMMGG!!!!!!!!!
great!!
My keyboard isn't working when it told me to enter my name/ username. I already reload the page many times.how can I fix it? I just want to play the game T-T (I play on android chrome btw.
I can't play and this appears "Your browser does not support graphics API "WebGL 2" which is required for this content"what do i do help (my english is bad srry :(((()
zilas is coming Zilas is coming Zilas is coming
Я ЧИТАЛА ПРЕДУПРЕЖДЕНИЯ, НО НАДЕЯЛАСЬ, ЧТО БУДЕТ ХОТЯ БЫ ОДНА ХОРОШАЯ КОНЦОВКА!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Зря играла в это на ночь....
i personally love the game, please add a good ending i want to see them actually get to be married!
good ending is recyerd
I'll start with: I know this game was made in a month, however, I do think that if you're going to make a game with serious and dark topics that need researched then maybe consider... not doing it in one month. I get that it's for a game jam, and that it's also good practice to see what you can improve on, however it's just in poor taste considering how rushed, and poorly written this is. There's 8 authors contributing to this game and it still turns out like this? You probably should've chosen an easier premise for a game with an extremely short deadline. I've seen the twitter posts too, and I think your idea would've been very interesting if you decided to make this a longer project and took your time on it. This game is an example of; right idea, wrong execution.
The game has a bubbly and fun vibe the entire time right UNTIL the end which makes the endings feel extremely random. If this game was longer, you could've gone into more detail and attention on Ryuk's role earlier on in the story, because if you get an ending like the suicide one then you will not know about ryuk's involvement. You could've also made the days nearing the end a lot more eerie or jarring to get a smoother transition to the end.
If the creator intends to keep the game up then i can only hope they remake it without a deadline and take all the criticism into consideration.
this game had no reason scaring the soul right out of me with that hanging ending (i was playing this in the dark too) and i was enjoying the happy atmosphere as well. overall great game though
I want to hold Zilas gently and give him the softest forehead kith aaaaa I love this game so much but please let my boy be happy ;w;
OKAY WHAT.MY JAW DROPPED WHEN I GOT THE STABBED HIM WITH KNIFE ENDING. LIKE.....HUH.(inside of my heart is screaming crying basically want me to throw everything)
I'm confused if rubbing cats is good now or bad 💀 LOVE DA GAEM
Love the art sm I'm devouring it and the blinking just ties it together sm. 😭 BBG DIDNT DESERVE THAT ENDING DTO
Once he said "everybody's so creative" i got irrationally angry
OMG, You broke this vtuber with this game 😱😭
lovely game but omg the sui ending
huh.....
heyyy jenny!
i've seen a lot of bad comments on your page, so i wanted to clear up your feed with a genuinely positive review!
i absolutely loved the game and its concept!!!! like everyone, i also felt a bit frustrated bc i can't save my sweet bf, but i think it 100% fits the whole purpose of the game and it's really important how it also criticizes the bad sides of content creation
error143 wasn't really my cup of tea (i'm not really into micah's personality, but that's melolol), but i'm completely obsessed with the quality of your games!!! and going live hits me right on the spot!!! keep up the good work <3 love u
I was so surprised when we stabbed him AND HEARTBROKEN LIKE WTH?!?! AHHHH I WANT TO GO AND HUG HIM NOWWWW UGHHH
AND THE SUICIDE ENDINGS AND THAT CREEPY ASS CAT IS JUST MAKING ME CRY SO HARDD
how do you get the homicide ending??
NO MATTER WHAT I DO I GET HIM HANGING HIMSELF NOOOOOOOOOOO
IM CRYING SOOOOOOOOOOO HARD
BROTHER WHYYYYY
im literally screaming
OH MY GOSHH
Es un juego mediocre.
Trata temas que pueden funcionar perfectamente,pero no se hace con respeto, sino como una BURLA. A pesar que estéticamente es hermoso, y que el actor de voz sea GRANDIOSO, eso no salva una mala escritura. Tiene un concepto grandioso,pero está tan mal desarrollado que parece un fanfic de 2015.
Pero,a pesar de que sea un juego de finales malos es imposible negar que estéticamente es grandioso para haber sido desarrollado en un mes. Ojalá todo lo que invirtieron en la estetica lo hagan en la escritura.
just... wtf lol (but in a good way)
5k is nothing pshhhhh
what the balls bro
I AM CRYING SO HARD RN-- and I've just seen one of the endings. Like, I read the comments to spoil myself, I didn't want to cry that hard, but DAMN-- great game tho
the first ending i got had me in tears, (all the endings to be honest), but anyways, this was such an amazing game - i wish i could play it for the first time again! i need more zilas content stat 😭😭
a wonderful game, it's really good, but i'm so sad
my baby my baby you're my baby. no chichos no acepto esto
no no lo digas
i'm crying
guys what is going on