Recent reviews by Killy the Bid

The game was good, probably like a 6-7/10 I'd say. I could tell it was inspired by Antichamber, one of my favorite games of all time, but this one feels like it lets its environment design and storytelling take priority over its gameplay.

Also, they REPEATEDLY said that sound travels faster than light, from a character who's supposed to be a scientist. Is that a joke? Is that supposed to say something about how their world differs from ours? Part of me believes that somehow they actually flipped them around, but honestly that seems too basic of a thing to get wrong. Were they talking about specific dense media where sound waves travel unusually fast and light travels unusually slow? I really have no idea what that was about and every time they said it I was confused.

It's very much a story-first type game, so if you're looking for a choices-matter ordeal you're not going to find that here. It's basically a visual novel with a couple of light puzzle elements. That being said the story is well told, the worldbuilding is vast and interesting, overall it's a really good experience.

Honestly I'm just shocked that a project with this much effort seeping out of every pore is as obscure as it is. It's not flawless, but I'd rate it well above other games that get talked about much more. Give it a shot, especially if you love non-linear storytelling and interesting worldbuilding.

Highly, highly recommend. Even though only 4 out of 7 episodes are released right now, the writing, art, and overall experience make for one of the best visual novel games I've played in a long time.

Still clearly unfinished, but a really fun game overall. Everything in this game has a delightful air of jank, everything you build ends up looking like that one terrible treehouse you're sure should have fallen down by now.

There are things that will need to be changed before it launches in full, but I think you can definitely have a fun time with it as it is now.

I have to admit, the name didn't give me a ton of confidence in this game. I usually am of the opinion that catgirls are, for lack of a better word, cringe. I only really bought the game because it was in a bundle with Blankspace which seemed interesting, and both games had a slightly itch.io indie feel to them. In the end though, I really enjoyed this one. I feel like this has some of the same problems as Blankspace, I feel like they write characters really well in tension, but then don't really know how to fix that tension. Like, in Blankspace we end on a concept that I would've loved to see explored further, it felt like really fertile ground for interesting storytelling, likewise this game ends with some pretty major questions left unanswered about how things are going to go going forward. Still, a cool point-and-click that has a lot of interesting elements.

It's alright. I like the chill exploratory gameplay loop, but I don't really like how gross everything is. I realize that's kind of the point, but the entire game just feels icky and toxic in a way I don't know how to describe.

It's not for me. This style of gameplay has a lot of promise, but I don't like this implementation much.

Very cute game that really reminds me of "A long hike". I think of the two, I kind of prefer the latter, but this game's still pretty great. Definitely recommend.

Cute artstyle, heartwarming story, fun relaxed gameplay, an overall good time if you like collectathons.

No improvement over the first game, which was also bad. If you liked the first one, you'll probably like this, but for most people I can't recommend it.

A collection of game-jam quality gamemaker studio games. Don't get me wrong, they would certainly be above average for most game jams, but overall? The game's are lacking a lot of substance. They have good ideas, writing that ranges from a bit boring to kinda good (so never outright terrible), art that's pretty consistently impressive, game mechanics that are not the greatest, and programming that just sucks (but that's also just gamemaker for you).

The title of "essays on empathy" made me think this would be a series of vignettes into grounded or morally complex stories, and unfortunately it's not really there. Honestly I would've given these 3-4 stars on itch.io if they were released for free, but as a paid product? I could just see three as the number of games in this collection that are worth your time and money.

Underground Hangovers is an extremely amateurish metroidvania. The game functions but it's super buggy and it's easy to get stuck in a wall or the floor. The game's design overall isn't great either, I get what they were going for but the gameplay just isn't there.

Supercontinent Ltd. is a "morally complex" (debatably) hacking game about social-engineering your way through an organization. It's got some issues of not really making it clear what information counts as "new information". Overall one of the better games in the collection.

Behind Every Great One is a narrative game about a woman dealing with an egotistical husband and his disrespectful family. Out of all the games this one feels the most like it has something concrete to say, so even while I think it's a bit surface-level in terms of the mechanics and narrative, I think this is the sort of game which, given some more development, could have really shined. Either way, it kind of feels like a proof-of-concept more than a finished game at this point. Still, the way the game judges your choices and you're always playing catch up is a good way of integrating what little gameplay this has with its narrative.

Eternal Home Floristry is a flower-building game about a hitman. It's pretty slow, but honestly it's innovative and one of the best games in the collection. It wasn't too long, even if the opening is a little slow, and the flower-building mechanic is simple enough for them to build around and complex enough to allow some creativity. It's nice.

The Bookshelf Limbo is barely a game. Even sofar as other ones are barely games. It lampshades the fact that the whole "Essays on Empathy" title is pretentious but that's pretty hollow considering... well, they still called it that. Anyway, the game is basically a browsing storefront and you can never choose a book. That's the gimmick.

Zen and the Art of Transhumanism is a pottery game where you make various pottery designs to help people with their problems. As cool and innovative as that sounds on its surface, the mechanics are kinda boring, and the game overall feels like it's lacking a lot. I have a feeling most of the work went into the core mechanic, but it's a hard one to make into a game.

Engolasters January 2021 is a top-down game where you can choose to love your son or ♥♥♥♥ off and become space witches. Honestly I don't think there's anything more I can say about it, mechanics are janky and feel bad to control, narrative is compelling enough but missing a lot.

11:45 A Vivid Life probably the most experimental and interesting story of the bunch. I'm not sure there's a bunch of critique I could give without super getting into the weeds, so I'll just say it's interesting. Much like the rest, it can be a bit slow in some places, and maybe some variety for multiple playthroughs, but overall good. The premise is pretty much immediately gripping, and the story is left pretty ambiguous to fill in.

Dear Substance of Kin a painfully slowly paced top-down game with the most interesting premise and worldbuilding of the bunch. You are the coppersmith, a mysterious man(?) who goes around essentially doing the opposite of palm-reading. Back-writing? In any case, it's got a very dark-souls vibe to it I just wish that the game didn't take so long, but part of that is probably because the game is part of a collection and so I was playing them in order.

De Tres Al Quatro is a game about two gay comedians struggling to get by in the Spanish comedy circuit. The characters are pretty decent, the gameplay does a really nice job of making you feel like you're struggling to keep up, sort of like Behind Every Great One. The jokes range from alright to god-awful, but I think that's partially by design. Either way, didn't super satisfy me as a narrative goes, but not super disappointing either. It's fine.

Overall meh. Even at 50% off, I'd say $6.50 is more than it's worth. I'd say $5 would be a reasonable price for it, if not a little less.

It's alright. The puzzles are satisfying and the narrative lays a really good and interesting groundwork, but it doesn't really stick the landing in my opinion. I should say I got the true end, so the problem is not that my specific variation of the ending was unsatisfying, more that it set up a really interesting premise that never really got explored. In the sort-of pre-ending, if you will, there's a fairly powerful moment I think that's a little hampered by some... factors of the storytelling. Basically it is set up to be very challenging, in a good way, but it fumbles the ball a little (trying not to spoil here).

Part of it was that while the story is interesting, it wasn't totally for me. The characters are good, but not amazing. The romance is fine, not great. It feels like it's simultaneously too long and too short for my tastes, if that makes any sense. Like sometimes the story goes too slow when it should pick up a little and other times it speeds through what should be taken a bit slower, though most of that probably has to do with particular design choices they made to get around your character getting help with the puzzles.

Idk, it feels like it's trying to be edgy Phoenix Wright (though maybe that's just because I haven't played that many anime visual novels), but it feels like it stops right before the really interesting parts. As is we know a lot about one of our main characters, but almost nothing about the other.

Also, I'll admit it, I installed the 18+ DLC, and end result: it's a mixed bag. It adds a bit to the character interactions, and definitely reads as the way the authors intended for this story to be digested, but it's also a bit awkward due to how everything fits together. It's fine, unoffensive, but not great.

Overall? Better than some visual novels, the point-and-click puzzles are really interesting, but the end result is a story that's paced weirdly and wasn't fully developed.