Playing games with an emphasis on story.

If you like games about the trans experience, and you like lo-fi, distorted graphics, then this is probably the sort of art project that might be up your alley. The creator clearly put a lot of emotion into it. As a game this sort of thing isn't really the type of thing I like, but the issue is concept more than execution.

Name: Belong
Status: Complete
Site: https://aflutter.itch.io/belong
Rating: PG
Pairing: ?/M, ?/F
Description: A first project sort of simple high schoolish dating game.



Belong is straightforward dating game VN. Compared to most of the games in the BLM bundle this one feels more unpolished and amateurish, from the anime art to the writing. The dev has uploaded a pdf explaining a bunch of her decisions and processes, and in it she says that this is her first attempt at a game, so a lot of the stuff I have to say makes sense within that context

The game is free so playing it is 0 risk, but I was very impatient to finish it near the end there. For a first game it's not a bad go. The thing is complete and of decent length, but I'm aware I'm damning it with faint praise by saying as much.

Talk to Me is a mundane VN centered around a male MC that has a lot of issues. He's depressed and has had a hard time recovering after what appears to be the sudden death of his mother some years back. He moved away shortly after, and has been slowly spending through his inheritance in a small apartment, not working, not doing anything really, especially, as he explains in the intro to the game, not making any friends. The game is broadly about him making human connections again, and dealing with some of his issues. At first I really didn't like the MC, because in the very first scene you're expected to pick some random girl in a library to try to come on to, and you are guaranteed to make a mess of it. I was getting some low key incel vibes from him for a little bit, but things calm down after that and he ended up being much more self-aware and nice as the game goes on.

Overall this was a good adult dating game. Had it had more time to develop its female LI routes more or just hard focused on the one story it seemed to want to tell it would have been a real solid VN. As it is it's fine but flawed.

Since the game was made within a month it makes sense that a lot isn't explained and the game is very simple. The filler was way too much imo, but if you can endure that it's got a cute doll maker element and a chill relationship at the heart.

Name: Animal Lover
Status: Complete
Site: https://trainwreckstudios.itch.io/animal-lover
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: F/M
Description: Animal is a double entendre. The game is kind of about toxic masculinity and forgiveness.

Animal lover is an otome game, so F/M, where 6 guys have been cursed by a witch, and the MC is the only person who seems to be able to temporarily turn them back by kissing them.  You run around the first part of the game trying to find as many animals who are actually guys that you can, and then the latter part is figuring out how to permanently undo the curse and keep them human forever. Each guy was cursed at a different time. The eldest is Edmund, who is an actual prince from many hundreds of years ago. The rest of them come from America in the 20th and 21st centuries, including a guy from the 50s, 80s, 90s, and then one from very recently. They all have stories and personalities that are tied to those times, which is a neat way to provide variety.

I would say that this was a firmly OK game. It doesn't do anything particularly badly, but it also doesn't take too much advantage of a VN's strengths. Playing it was also a little weird, because Aadara's argument for why the LIs should be cursed to live out an eternity as hamsters and ferrets was pretty strong. If you romance a guy he is able to express real remorse for his behavior, but it still feels kind of weird to be okay with them after having only known them for a little while. Did any of these guys really learn their lesson? The game ends before I'm able to say.

Name: Can Androids Play
Status: Complete
Site: https://scarletcatalie.itch.io/can-androids-pray-red
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Gen
Description: Doomed soldiers chat about death and then die



This is a ten to fifteen minute game with a single basic concept. It's reminiscent of a chapter in a sci-fi compilation. I've always liked conceptional short stories so I enjoyed this game, even though it was so brief. But because it's short it's hard to review without just straight up describing the whole plot, so I'm basically going to do that.

The game is built in unity, which allows the devs to create a nice 3d, atmospheric scene of a desolate landscape in which you and another mech pilot have crash landed. Both of your mechs are disabled and when the sun comes up your mechs are going to explode. So you're fucked. The whole game is these two mechs chatting together, rather abrasively, about their situation. At some point this conversation turns to the concept of God, whether he exists, what he's like, and after a certain revelation in the game, what his feeling may be on a particular subject. At the end you're given an option of basically two ways to die. You can sit in your mech and explode or you can open the cabin and die to the atmosphere. The choices are given meaning in the prior dialog.

Like all good spec fic there's a lot of what ifs that come up in the course of this short conversation, though since the speculation is theological in nature it's kind of easy to take a relatively simple approach to one of the problems if you're an atheist. The second question expands from that to the concept of personhood, which is a question you can ask whether you believe in God or not.

I can't say that the ideas in this game are particularly groundbreaking, and the idea is really all it has, though the writing is fine and the music sets the mood well. But I don't know if I would spend money on something like this. The dialog elements are pretty meaningless except for maybe the last, and the story would do just as well as a short two page chapter in a larger book. So if you're really into conceptual sci-fi maybe go for it but otherwise probably skip it.
 

I had to avoid looking at the graphics while I played, but luckily for VNs good writing is always more important, and this game has that. If you can get around the assault on your eyes (or who knows, maybe you're into it) then this is a fun game worth checking out.

Ultimately the game is too short to elicit any sort of emotional investment from me. What's there is a well-made little diversion, but as far as VNs go it doesn't feel like it breaks any new ground. For that reason I wouldn't really recommend it unless you really like the premise.