Arches

Replaying this for the first time in about a year, it still hits hard even knowing how everything ends. There's also a ton more stuff about agency and change with Dev and Artie I didn't pick up on the first time

A better version of Carl and Jenna's routes for sure I think.
But for the deconstruction of romantic simulation and the unpredictability of life's myriad experiences, it cannot fully substitute for other routes.

Thinking about it, the importance of being gay is actually kind of interesting for this story. On the one hand this has no sexual content and isn't really even a romance story so it's a lot less gay than the rest of the EP games. On the other, it feels like Brian's internalized homophobia informs his actions a lot more than in Echo. He sees Cameron, this cute little f@ggot cocksleeve who does have the life Brian probably wanted at some point (in a loving relationship, clean from drugs, able to manage his mental health and supernatural abilities decently well) and he just fucking detests him. He knows that he will get caught if he kills Cam and Dev and his reaction is to go all out in trying to murder them, which is actually really scary.. The furry stuff is also the most purely aesthetic here, if you changed the characters to humans I don't think there's a single detail of the story that would really need to change.

One of the most harrowing horror experiences I've ever had in fiction, and the whole elaborate aftermath of the abduction was an extremely nice finishing touch to the whole narrative and had me in tears by the very end. Beautiful and bittersweet story of trauma.

I had an addict mother and Cam's memories of his mom and her bizarre behavior in the years leading up to her death hit EXTREMELY close to home. Idk how Howly and McSkinny keep doing it, but their writing is almost scarily relatable and resonant to me. I even have a sibling with the same name, stature, patronizing and studious attitude, and family estrangement as Jenna from Echo. It's crazy and makes these Echo Project stories seem like they were written just for me.

Up there for me with Flynn and TJ's routes from this work's predecessor. Echo Project, for stories about furries, know how to perfectly tap into human nature in beautiful, disturbing, and unforgettable ways.

On another note, I absolutely love Anthemics' music on this.

so ready to reread this in a single night again once it technically officially hits 1.0

yall so gay omfg