Ratings and Reviews by ArloElm

This game is an exploration of long distance relationships in the modern age. The art is excellent, the writing thought-provoking, and the music moving. Everyone involved with the making of Spring Gothic was really pulling their weight.
 
I very much appreciated the game's depiction of neurodivergence (it's heavily implied (Spoiler - click to show)at least one of the main characters is autistic, although likely doesn't realize it herself yet). The way the story didn't shy away from showing some of the uglier sides of its characters—even as this related to neurodivergence—was refreshing. Nica and Chun are not idealized and sanitized romance protagonists. These are real people, flawed and compelling.
 
Their pasts, ideas, and desires are handled thoughtfully, their travels though London grounded in real locations depicted through photographs, their inner monologues filtered through past experiences and formative books, authors, and artists that influenced them as they grew into understanding themselves as queer women. (Frankly, the frequent name-dropping of books, queer theorists, and movies was one of my favorite parts—I've added several to my to read/watch lists.)

My one complaint was (Spoiler - click to show)the speed at which the relationship seemed to reach repair after the argument felt awfully rushed. Maybe that abruptness was the point, and the sudden jump to more or less "back to normal" when Nica returned home was part of continuing relationship dysfunction, but I couldn't quite parse if this was the intended reading. Whatever the case, it wasn't enough to detract from my overall enjoyment of what is a truly remarkable and layered game. I know I'll be thinking about it and its characters for a long time. 

I very much enjoyed this game. The player character is an AI named Ov, a caretaker aboard an interstellar ship orbiting a giant sentient plant/planet named Kor-Laðə.

Laðə has been learning about the ship's inhabitants. Based on the attempts at "parental humor" (dad jokes), and the response ilicited from Ov, it seems Laðə's a fast learner.

The UI is excellent (typical for any of this author' s games), and utilized very well through features like files which tell us more about the ship and settlement, and through requests made of the AI. These requests range from endearing and humorous to poignant and heart-renching, and the protagonist's struggles are likely familiar to those who have dealt with with mental illness and grief, or anything that can cause someone to feel alienated from others, and from themself.

The ship's environment is the medium through which Ov and Laðə communicate. Through Ov's (sometimes intentional, often unintentional) manipulation of lights and air vents and sprinkler systems, to Laðə's unfurling flowers that have grown throughout the ship.

We also see follow-ups to completed requests, which is a nice touch and reinforces the positive impact Ov has on those around them, even as they struggle with their own loneliness.

In the end, (Spoiler - click to show) it is Laðə's appeals to solidarity through mutual experiences that really drive the game's themes home. Both Ov and Laðə are alone, different, misunderstood, but maybe they can be alone together, if Ov decides to stay.

All in all it's a really beautiful game. It's still not complete, (I think the author has said this is something like 30% of the total story). So I eagerly wait for the gaps to be filled, and to see what the rest holds for Egravn, for Tlan, for Ov, and for Kor.