Reviews by NMCannon

As someone completely new to Werewolf: the Apocalypse, this was a great intro! The art and music create a beautiful, haunting atmosphere alive with possibility. The writing is blazing, dripping, and sensual. I love all the queer sapphic characters. My first playthrough had a very happy ending, which rarely happens for me without a walkthrough. A beautiful gem of a game, and a must play for World of Darkness fans.

It gets so lonely here was so good that it got me into ebi-hime's games in general, fast making her one of my favorite indie solo-developers. When The end of obsession was announced, I eagerly added it to my To Play list. While I didn't enjoy this sequel as much as the original, ebi-hime's second foray into yandere witches and princesses is worth playing.

The end of obsession has a much more straightforward take of the yandere archetype, and is a lot more dismal and depressing for it. Chains, cages, torture, mental deterioration, knives: it runs the gamut. As an epilogue for It gets so lonely here, it seems to ask: what if the yandere's victim didn't get better? What if, after going through all the cycles of trauma, the victim calcified the hurt, sloughing off all human compassion until a brittle construction remained? What if they just got worse. There's no cathartic triumph and reclaiming at the end of this game. Like Rapunzel in her tower, everyone's simply stuck.

Speaking of Rapunzel, the game borrows from that fairy tale with its setting and towering premise. Maybe because I was raised on feminist fairy tales and studied the Grimm's, I kept thinking that the POV character would (Spoiler - click to show)cut or make a rope of her hair, jump, find out everything was an illusion, or discover some inner magic. Something besides the tedium of sitting in the tower and yet another cryptic visit from the witch. As is, the point-of-view character is so passive that I felt myself scrabbling at the walls—though these feelings might have been relieved if I'd realized sooner that the Skip button automatically stopped at any new narration. What is advertised as a 20-60 minute game took me a full three hours. What I think is supposed to keep the player going is the overall mystery of the witch's identity. This mystery didn't work out in my favor, because I'd guessed the solution so early.

In the Notes section, ebi-hime says the first kernel of inspiration for The end of obsession is what if the yandere got tired of their victim. This question is sort of answered. Loneliness and boredom will eat a person alive and change her reactions in a desperate hope that something else will change. The music matches perfectly with the mechanics and themes of the game. The art is cutesy and fantastical—the witch's outfit is an especially remarkable work. Between the music and the vivid narration, the atmosphere tenses the stomach, despite the lack of plot. I think The end of obsession achieves the minimum of what it set out to do, but my frustration with the POV character and the lack of catharsis caused me to enjoy it less than its predecessor.

Wow! What an amazing game! This is my first game by ebi-hime, and I'm absolutely enthralled.

Scuttling away from the more bloody aspects of the yandere archetype, It gets so lonely here buries itself alive in the trope's psychological horror. The love interests are deeply traumatized by grief, guilt, death, and, yes, the loneliness of survival at all costs. The heroine isn't immune either, as her insecurities and jealousies stick to her like barnacles, making me think she would lock these women up, if given the power. Murder isn't the most healthy of love languages, but the twilit dreamy atmosphere, artful melancholy, and eerie soundtrack can lull you into thinking about it. I definitely recommend playing twice so you can sink your teeth into the True Ending!

Once on a windswept night is just do damn good. I feel like I say every ebi-hime novel is the best ebi-hime visual novel, but it feels true every time.
 
To tell the plot is to recount a dream. The player's ambiguous body meets Lycoris, a princess-looking lady in a library full of books written and yet to be written. She asks for help resolving a book and we're thrust into the nest stories of Daffodil, Sister Madeline, and The Traveller. Usually I content myself with one run of a game, in the name of getting through my backlog, but I couldn't stop playing windswept until I reached the true happy ending. The ruminations on loneliness, grief, coming-of-age, hunger, toxicity, love vs obsession, self-actualization (like having the selfishness to declare oneself a Person with Wants and Needs), emotional desperation/desolation, fairy tales, authorship, and narrative arcs (as in, what characters think is supposed to happen vs what they want to happen) are recognizable themes from ebi-hime's other works. At points, Once on a windswept night felt like a proto- or sister story to It gets so lonely here. Sister Madeline and the gravedigger would have a lot to talk about, and Daffodil admires a cannibal queen from another land. There's tons of Easter eggs to ebi-hime's earlier games. I feel honored to be able to witness repeated motifs and preoccupations in one creative person's body of work. Us fans are so lucky. Each game is a delectable treat, and Once on a windswept night is no exception.

Be a little selfish! Take up space! Vocalize your feelings and let people know you love them! An ever increasing number of lesbians!!! Dive into this story about stories.

A side-effect of writing a werewolf romance novel is one becomes addicted to the concept and craves more. Zahabi's Never Date Werewolves scratched that itch well and good. Contrary to the title, I can and will date all the werewolves.

The player character in Never Date Werewolves is a single mother with a "litter" of six children. There are three possible love interests: your next-door neighbor (he/him cishet), your children's summer school teacher (gender variable), or your boss in the dress shop (she/her cis queer). Romance is the easiest part of the game, however, because children's school projects, choosing & preparing an alpha for the pack's first hunt, and getting to work on time are much harder to balance.

Never Date Werewolves was at its weakest when it strayed from the happy, low-stakes path suggested in the blurb. A dark undercurrent of the game is an ongoing prejudice against werewolves in the world. Think homophobia or racism today, where werewolves are "naturally" violent predators. A tertiary thread of the game is navigating discrimination, and one of the love interests is against werewolf rights. It was a bit bizarre, in a game otherwise about completing art projects and enjoying spaghetti bologna ice cream, to be given the option to wish your children weren't werewolves, ban the inner Beast of a character, and condemn werewolves as shameful blights on society. The real-world parallels were uncomfortably easy to connect. At least you can also tell the bigots to buzz off.

Overall, however, the game was like the reading equivalent of being burrito-ed in comfiest blanket after a hot shower and a cup of hot chocolate. The kiddos were adorable and distinct, and the adorbz was well-balanced by the real struggles of being a parent. The descriptions of Lyon, France were gorgeous. It was refreshing to read a story where Masquerade was already broken. I've played three times now (once for beta; twice for free with adverts), and each time has been a sweet joy. Alix all the way!

If you're in the mood for a sweet summer romance with a wolfish twist, check out Never Date Werewolves!