A thought-provoking story about someone's "current" self VS their "ideal" self.  An interesting read, and one that's growing on me the more I think about and reflect on it afterwards (however painful that might be, recognizing aspects of myself in the story 😰).

The scripting and ATL are super well done! 🎉   Really dynamic and expressive!  And I appreciated the camera work and the custom screen transition(s) - those were cool.

I've never seen a game explain the concept of losing yourself so well, bravo!

Aaa this was a frustrating read haha...

It was very well-written, and I think you did a great job with the characters! Mari really is a very infuriating MC though, what with how incredibly stubborn she is. I did feel sorry for her, though, which is pretty impressive. You did a great job writing a character who's irritating, but also sympathetic. She felt very believable, too. She's giving big depressed vibes haha, she might be a bit too relatable...

Goldie is also such a sweetheart! I liked her a lot, she's such a fun character. I love her fashion sense (or should I say Mari's fashion sense?) too!

This was a really nice read, so thank you for creating it! I enjoyed my time with it a lot!

Bleak but brilliant--the story is tense and painful, and balanced so well by the spectacularly expressive character designs. Excellent work!

(Copied from the Spooktober jam review page to help this game with Itch.io's algorithm!)

Wow, wow, wow - thank you for making this. The writing and the central thesis of this visual novel struck a chord with me.

Mari is painfully realistic. I've been in her position - especially when I was actively job-hunting right after graduating university. Her browsing r/antiwork, feeling jealous of her successful peers and failing her interview for her dream job by a hair's breadth struck a nerve with me. That said, Mari violently rejecting every genuine offer of help from her friends and especially Goldie really gave me goosebumps - you've really captured the existence of someone who hates her life, but doesn't want to do anything to help herself change it for the better.

And of course, I can't talk Mari without talking about Goldie - her direct counterpart. She's someone who's actively choosing to be kind and genuine about everything -  from how she presents herself to maintaining her friendships. It sounds silly on paper, but I really will think about her and how she goes about life when I make decisions in the future. There really is something satisfying about going out and doing something to change your life, versus sitting around and complaining about it.

Again, thank you for making this work - I really enjoyed this. A hearty recommendation from me.

The music is nice, the character design and portraits as well as the animations elevate the experience a lot, my favorite part were definitely the endings, such a good closing for the story, very satisfying.

Another great aspect that was really REALLY well done was all the choices we make trough the game, even if they don't affect the ending they go a long way on making the player actually relate and feel the story and emotions of the character.

I personally related a lot to Mari(gold) and her views on life so I often clashed with the narrative of the game but that's more of a personal opinion than anything and it did not affect my enjoyment of the game at all.

My only "issue" is that maybe the story stretches a bit too long in some points, although is very nice to see the slow decent to madness of the protagonist and how everything slowly crumbles, regardless of who's fault it is; aside from a really nice spooky story it makes for a great self introspective cautionary tale.

Keep up the good work!

Wow. What a story this was. I'm not sure I enjoyed my experience, honestly. It felt too real, too uncomfortable, too self-cringe-inducing, too depressingly relatable. While I can't say I had fun reading this, I can confidently say I felt this story on a deeply personal level. 

it must take an incredibly skilled writer to get a reader to self-reflect to this extent. I couldn't help wondering as I was reading whether I, like Mari, have ever been stuck in the same sort of negative, nihilistic, and ultimately self-destructive patterns of thought and behavior. I'm pretty sure that, at certain points in my life, I would be dwelling on ideas and engaging in harmful habits like hers. 

At the same time, I also felt good about myself when reading some parts of the story. Mari doesn't have a very effective filter, for better or for worse, so her bitterness slipped out in front of others so many times. I would then tell myself: well, at least I'm not that terrible to those around me! One example was when Mari thinks about commenting on someone's social media. That might be one of my favorite scenes because it felt so authentic. It was interesting being stuck in what possibly is similar to the mindset of many internet trolls. I'm sure a lot of them are deeply unhappy individuals who want to lash out in the only platform where they can do so invisibly and without consequence so that they can feel better about themselves, however briefly. 

Goldie served as a flawless foil to Mari's character. Amidst Mari's spiral deeper and deeper into pessimism and hopelessness, Goldie acted as the perfect counterpoint for the reader's benefit -- she showed that a better path does exist, if only one dared to reach out and grab it. While nothing in life is easy, one will never get anywhere if they gave up and stopped trying to change for the better. 

Overall, this is a story I won't soon forget! I am very grateful to the team for developing and releasing this thought-provoking and emotionally resonant visual novel. You're all amazing!

(Note: Copy-pasting this comment from the Spooktober VN Jam 2023 page.)

I had the opportunity to beta read for this, and it was such a pleasure seeing the project come to life with the visuals, animations, music, and sound effects! The sprite art is lovely, with lovely shading and really bold linework that stands out well against the backgrounds, which were photo alterations that were given a filter with a very painterly look. The sprites are incredibly expressive, and Mari and Goldie have such distinct and memorable designs. I loved the browns and slightly muted colors of the color palette - it felt very "autumny"/'Halloween-like." The music is very atmospheric. This game is FULL of animations, transitions, and the like, making it seem very dynamic and making good use of the sprites to produce a variety of shot compositions. 

I really enjoyed this story - it's a little creepy, a little supernatural, but also really relatable.

==SPOILERS BELOW==

When I was first reading the premise, I thought that Goldie would surely turn out to be some wicked supernatural entity that steals away Mari's life. However, it turns out to be the opposite - Mari is responsible for everything that goes wrong in her life, while Goldie tries her best to help Mari improve. Mari's downward spiral is frustrating at times to read, but it is also incredibly relatable; I think that many people can relate to Mari's desire to stick with what's "safe," without taking risks to strive for what she really wants. And at the end she blames Goldie for everything that she's dissatisfied with, without taking responsibility for her own inaction. It's an incredibly clever use of "horror" - instead of the protagonist having to fend off some external force, the real "horror" comes from her own actions. I really loved how creepy and yet satisfying the endings were. My favorite was probably the one where Mari turns into a mannequin herself - although it's a pretty tragic ending, it felt oddly fitting for her character.

Really fantastic job by the team!

I really liked the story, felt like a very relatable thing, yet constantly making you wonder "who" was right, and "who" was being truthfull. Wether it was a scheme, or an actual helping hand in some way?

HAD to check all the endings, and I was hoping for the one option that was left out (to avoid spoilers) But I tottaly get the reasons behind said choice!

Also loved the art style, and the expressions and movements of the camera.