Ratings and Reviews by Tabitha

This is a story I can't imagine being told as effectively in any other medium. The combination of short bits of text with "click to continue" interactivity, letting the reader take each new piece of information in at their own pace, and the lo-fi Decker illustrations and text effects all work so well together. The childhood loneliness, the gendered expectations, the horror of having a womb when the idea of pregnancy repulses you--it's all here in this tiny package, presented matter-of-factly but with so much underlying emotion. An engaging and impressive work.

This is a lovely little game that's been expanded from the original, shorter version. In it you wander around a surreal, magical greenhouse, peacefully exploring its hidden corners, choosing how to interact with what's around you and where to go next. I love games with a sense of exploration, and this one provides that in such a relaxing, lowkey way. Descriptions are short but vivid, and I replayed multiple times in order to see all the greenhouse has to offer.

This game confused me on multiple levels. I'm not sure if this version is just a demo of the full game? The itch page promises "various moral choices that will affect the story's progression and the ending" and "several chapters with different paths based on the player's choices", but in actuality the whole game took only 5 minutes to play through, and there was only a single choice at the very end leading to one of two endings. The father character seems to be set up as a sort of villain (he's the "heartless smoker") of the title, but in what we see, he hasn't actually done anything wrong (besides being a smoker, I guess?). The scenario he's in is rather melodramatic, and I wasn't emotionally engaged with the story. I also don't think that's how heart transplants work. 😅

This game was made for an "intentionally bad" visual novel jam. From what I've seen, events like that don't necessarily result in actually bad games, but rather encourage skilled authors to create a work with a looseness and silliness that can be quite fun. That was definitely the case here, with a don't-think-too-hard-about-it premise and some over-the-top characters resulting in funny exchanges as these angels and demons realize... maybe they aren't so different after all? I replayed to see every path and was entertained every time.