Spring Gothic

This is a visual novel written by a large crew. It has no decision points at all, which means that its merit rests entirely on the strength of its writing and on the visuals and sound. That's always tricky for me when reviewing choiceless games because they feel like they belong to the wider comparative group of static fiction which is much more competitive.

Fortunately, this is written well and the pictures and sound are well-done. The background images have enough contrast to read the text and the focus on having only one character portrait for each conversation instead of going back and forth fits well with the writing style.

The story is about two women (seemingly in mid-20s, since one has spent time in medical school) who meet in London for the first time after having a relationship online. Things go well at first, but their differences pile up. We end up seeing first one side of the relationship, then the other, with a final perspective reserved for the ending.

The rest of the review discusses events in game.

(Spoiler - click to show)One of the characters is reeling from a breakup with a very physical relationship and tries to initiate that twice with the other. The other partner is deeply disturbed by this and tensions rise between them.

Also, the person who assaulted is very controlling. She sets up every thing on the date according to her ideas and is constantly annoyed or disappointed when the other girl doesn't fit with what she wants.

Overall, it reminded me of several episodes in my own life and the life of my friends. I saw one couple break up and learned a year or two later that one partner had assaulted the other sexually. I cut off contact with that person and supported the victim. They dated someone else and later broke up. I then found at that that person who had been assaulted went on to assault their next partner. It was all so sad. And it kind of feels like that's what's happening here; one person was in an uncomfortable hyper-sexualized relationship and was dumped, then went on to assault someone else.

The whole trip thing reminded me of something in my own life. When I was in college, there was a woman I knew who lived one dorm over, the same age of me, and she was a close friend. Our roommates were a big friend group and we'd all watch movies as a group and do activities. I'd taken her on a date before, and I knew her family well even though they lived far away (her mother liked me and showed me some neat poetry forms and became my unofficial poetry tutor). She had a really tempestuous personality and went from hot to cold a lot and had a lot of backstory from an abusive father. I ended up writing a letter saying I loved her but she didn't reciprocate at that time. We stayed friends. The summer after we moved out, I got an invitation to attend her younger brother's baptism (an event that happens in our church at 8 years old). I knew it was just a courtesy invite but I asked the mom if I could attend and she was thrilled. She even asked me to perform the baptism myself. I got plane tickets and paid for a hotel room. Wisconsin was beautiful, and I flew in a plan so small that there were only 3 seats per row (with 2 on one side and one on the other of the aisle) and, as I was the only passenger, the flight attendant had me sit in one specific spot to balance the plane. When I got there, I was welcomed and feasted. We had bear meat that the mom had shot herself. I went canoeing with the adult brother of the girl in question, and had tons of fun seeing rare native birds. I performed the baptism.

But the woman didn't talk to me the whole trip. She was completely silent. I realized I had made a huge mistake (as those reading along probably realized earlier!). I cried in the hotel room each night. She didn't say goodbye when I left, either. When I returned to Utah, flying over the Great Salt Lake, I thought it was the ugliest place in the world. (Not now, though! every time I fly over it now I think how much I love it and look back on that old memory and am glad I changed.)

Obviously I never contacted her again. Months later, though, her stepdad wrote me urgently and with great conviction. He said that she was marrying a deadbeat loser that she had recently met (his description) and said: "If you love her at all you need to fight for her!" I wrote back and said, "I no longer believe that we would be happy together." She married him and also inherited from her grandmother a ranch in Arizona, where I presume she still lives.

Years later, after I was married, some of her family members tried to add me on Facebook. My wife at the time was extremely upset, more than almost anything in our marriage, and said that that girl was trying to reconnect with me to flirt with me and steal me away. So I never added them.

After my divorce, though, I did add the little brother I baptized on Instagram. He went on a mission, got married, and seems like a great guy.

Anyway, so I resonated with this game a lot, both from my own experiences with uncomfortable 3-day visits and from seeing how assault can destroy relationships of others. So I was completely dumbfounded when they stay together at the end, it really defied my expectations. I don't really feel good for them; the hesitant one even resolves to be more physically affectionate in the future, presumably to please the other and against their earlier choices. I did the same thing at the end of my marriage and trying to save a relationship through physical intimacy alone is the sign of a sinking ship.

So, the story definitely made me think a lot, which is, in my mind, a sign of a good story.