SnowMan

alr there's gotta be something about these jams that makes developers want to rip everyone's heart out and stomp them to pieces with their games-

seriously tho this was SOOO incredibly written and devastating!!

(SPOILERS)

the writing is genuinely A+ stuff; i love games where the narration is full of introspective monologues, and here every time var reflected or rambled about his state of mind, his habits or just all the stuff that's happened to him, it felt extremely well done. i think you captured perfectly the feeling of "there's a ton of complicated and contradictory emotions behind what i'm doing". var wondering about things like if him hiding himself away but also wanting people to reach him is selfish, or if he's actually as bitter and cold as his father said he was... it all hit really hard, and it's not really the usual themes you'd usually find in a story like this. i really appreciate how unique the emotions and story feel, and how despite the (seemingly) fantastical nature of the story, nothing feels exaggerated or unnatural. every action or line of dialogue is both believable and creative, and i think that's really impressive :> i feel maybe some dialogue could've been cut down, but it's not really a problem and i never got close to being bored.

the main focus of the game is the story, but i want to take a moment to appreciate the visuals because they're so so good! LOVE the gameboy-green aesthetic of var's house, the way trees look really natural and not like a couple of tiles being repeated, the pheasant's design, the lighting when it gets dark, the static-y effect of the screen when var is going through something intense, and ofc the character busts! their designs are great and super expressive (i feel like i repeat myself when i compliment your art haha but it really is great and expressive!! i'm just unoriginal lmao). really like how barren the snow areas feel; coupled with the white feathers it made the ending sequence really tense. and the use of color in general is superb, especially in the text! i feel like some colors were a bit hard to read, but it wasn't too bad and it never got to a point where it was unreadable. overall the presentation is REALLY great, and it really elevates the whole experience!

i think it was a really bold choice to leave the supernatural elements of the story unresolved, and it paid off extremely well. some people have said it already but the plot feels like a fairy tale; a story of someone who shuts himself off from the world, but receives the one thing they actually want, only for it to be taken out of their hands because of their own fault (i mean technically var couldn't have known but you get the point-)... it's really tragic, unexpected and... well, bitter. and while var's monologue at the end is practically devoid of closure, i'd like to think he got at least some sense of peace with his life, especially after his confrontation with his father. that calling out his abuse in front of him (even if it was all in his head), and that var will choose how to live his own life, gave him some amount of rest, even after bora's vanishing. and no matter what happened in the end, it's undoubtedly beautiful to see var find comfort in someone else; someone to talk to about their deepest thoughts, someone he likes being around with and who doesn't judge him, someone who truly wants to understand him... and possibly the first person to make his heart truly feel warmth (considering his father knows about him liking men, i assume var already had crushes before the game's events, but my theory is that none were as strong as this one). but despite everything... it all ends with his one sliver of happiness escaping his grasp, and him finally accepting the role his cold heart was giving away; a snowman, freezing to death in some mountain.

(ok i hope you do make a game where these two have a happy ending becAUSE MY HEART AAAAA- (srsly tho no pressure, do it only if you want to ofc))

this was such a bittersweet experience, and it proves once again how talented you are at storytelling! your games, and especially your characters, always manage to accurately represent the feeling of being trapped and unable to change your situation, as everything and everyone around them crumble... until they see they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. this game absolutely deserved to be so high in the jam's story ranking :D amazing stuff!

(p.s. feel free to correct me if i got anything wrong with the plot or themes, i admit i'm not the best at analyzing things like that haha)

I hate you so much right now egg. This was so good and so sad ;_;

It was like a fairytale, and I wish it had more than one ending. I quite liked Bora and Var's dynamic...
Good riddance about Var's homophobic dad, though... although I'm sorry his memory still tormented Var the way that it did.

(Also, if you do check out the video, please excuse my voice. I was/am getting over a cold and my voice is definitely a bit weak in the video ^^;)

I really liked the story! Just the color palette alone makes this super visually interesting. One little bug I'd like to report though- after Var has his conversation with his homophobic ghost father and the static and black and white effects fade, if you leave the house without taking the gun and then walk back in, the effects will come back and won't dissipate (I still haven't finished the game as I'm typing this, so I don't know when the effects will fade away, if at all. I just want to have this typed out so I won't forget)

Okay I finished. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO :( I DON'T WANNA SPOIL BUT. MAN. AUGH. I WISH THERE WAS ANOTHER ENDING. also a secret ending where Var gets to kick his father in the nuts