Echo

Echo is one of those games that is nigh impossible to review or look at from a "spoiler-free" perspective, but I'm going to attempt to fill that perspective here anyways. From the genres this game falls under, it's understandably a bit of a hard sell if you're not a gay furry (or you don't spoil at least one or two things), but I'm going to try to sell it anyways without any spoilers, because this work is just too good to remain in the niche of a niche of a niche and it's definitely got broader appeal outside of the "target demographic." It deserves at least recognition as an all-timer VN, and as an incredible horror game, not just as "a great gay furry horror VN", if that makes any sense. It's not just "good for a furry game", it's honestly not even just "good for a video game", it's just outright a great piece of storytelling.

Echo is a game I first played over a year and a half ago and it's still probably the most a piece of media has burrowed its way into the center of my brain, maybe besides Undertale, and I played that one when I was like 14 years old lol. Echo is an incredible, harrowing, emotional, crushing, beautiful and miserable read in all of the best ways. It's such a dense and complex work that you'll probably spend weeks, if not months (if not years) attempting to unravel all of it in your head. It's directly inspired by stuff like Silent Hill 2, the work of Stephen King, and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me/The Return, and there's a lot here that's vaguely reminiscent of the work of Michael Haneke and Denpa Horror as a whole. If you like any of those things I just mentioned, do yourself a favor and put this game on your radar, at the very least. The game is (shockingly) a literal free download, you can always just try it (get to the route split first though, it's the first time you are given 4 options to pick from). You really don't need to read any more of my review, but if you're not sold on giving it a go yet, I'll go into a bit more depth about a couple of the things that make this such an impactful work to me.

The dialogue writing here is easily some of my favorite from any game ever--I know that isn't a super high bar, considering most games that aren't interactive fiction have a million opportunities to break immersion (repeated dialogue lines, weird timing/pacing due to player input, mismatched animations, etc), but the writing in this game is dense, believable, and somehow at the same time, easy to parse. There are so many layers to so much of the dialogue in this game, this is extremely a VN you could reread and get a completely different experience the second time, but at the same time, people talk like people do in real life, and it's such a pageturner for it (or, in this case, a box-clicker, I presume). I admit, preferring this sort of prose is definitely an Americentric perspective, and I don't doubt that if you read Japanese fluently this isn't that fresh of an experience for VNs, but I don't and I'm used to most VNs reading like they've been passed through a Japanese to English translation barrier first (which, usually, they have), and I'm used to most authors of actual books getting way too verbose or flowery or playing loose with run-on sentences (or having also been passed through a translation barrier first, although the languages are generally closer to English than Japanese is). Admittedly, my perspective with "normal books" is limited, especially after honors English classes in high school beat "reading for fun" out of me, but hey, my enjoyment of VNs like this one is the only reason I've made any attempt and have had any success with trying to claw back that avenue of entertainment at all.

But the dialogue is just an interface for the characters--everyone is their own complete person, everyone has their own motivations and history and relationships--every single person in the main cast is wildly multifaceted and all of them get just the amount of screentime needed to shine. And yes, the length here is absolutely necessary and almost none of it is wasted. A 500k+ word long VN is a hard ask for prospective players, but there's a hell of a lot more stuff going on here than there is in most JRPGs twice or thrice its length in terms of pure hour count. If you've got time for a Persona, you've got time for Echo. Even if we go more apples to apples with other VNs, even other works that I enjoy like The House in Fata Morgana [ファタモルガーナの館] or the Umineko When They Cry - Answer Arcs [うみねこのなく頃に散] have multiple portions that could (and should) have had hours trimmed off (Fata repeats itself for a few hours longer than it needs to and it takes a while to get going, and Umi is filled with at least a dozen hours of moe SoL and fight scenes which really detract from the story if you came for the mystery and the drama and not the "cute/cool" factors). Meanwhile, Echo isn't really a work I would want to make any major changes to at all. Sure, there's a lot of tiny things, some more CGs would be nice, they've fixed the vast majority of the typos but there's still a couple here and there, but really nothing major. There is, like, one bland minor side character that only shows up in one route that I think could do with a rewrite, and a single route that's an 8/10 instead of a 10/10, but besides that Echo is firing all engines at all times, even if it's not immediately clear it's doing so. It's definitely a game that gets better the more you think about it, not worse.

The horror is something I feel a little out of my depth trying to discuss from a spoiler-free lens, but it's good. Like, really fucking good. Echo is much more of an atmospheric and tense horror than most horror games, it's subtle, it's uncomfortable, it gets under your skin. Truly deserves the label of "Psychological Horror", not in the tacky backrooms creepypasta way but in the narrower definition of the genre that film tends to use, in the same step as Psych Drama. Something that the furry perspective brings to horror is extremely detailed and vivid sensory descriptions. Part of me thinks that the propensity of furry writing to be very concerned with the minutia of smells and touch is due to the scene's links with fetishization (although that could just be the Crash talking)--but in the end? It doesn't really matter why the furry perspective is such a sensory one, this perspective does a huge amount for this game's horror identity and the writing here is better for its inclusion.

But that's about all I can say without spoiling anything. I know I've been vague here but trust me, it is almost impossible to talk about this game in any specificity without accidentally spoiling something. Again, this is a free download on itch and I highly recommend it, it's been my favorite game of all time for well over a year, and I don't see that changing any time soon. I can't wait to see what's next from Echo Project, and from other furry VN authors directly inspired by this. Truly a groundbreaking work, in almost every single one of the half-dozen genres it's tagged with here. If you like psych horror/drama, you owe it to yourself to see what Echo has to offer.

I love Japanese VNs and loathe OELVNs. I'm not a furry. I'm straight and attracted to anime girls. If it has to be gay, I would rather it be yuri than yaoi. Ok, so it's pretty much confirmed I can't be the target audience for Echo, then. Wrong! While on the surface it seems I shouldn't be the target audience, I knew while playing my 2nd route that I was. I initially felt intrigue by the backstory of Echo and the bewildering atmosphere while playing through my 1st route, Carl's. However, I felt that the writing was pretty bad... yet I read on, intrigued by the possibility of it getting better. And it paid off! All the other routes were much better. The furry content did absolutely nothing to deter me from enjoying it. So if any of what I said about myself applies to you, don't be too quick to write off Echo. If you absolutely can't stomach gay furries on your screen that are frequently horny for each other, then by all means, dismiss Echo for that. I think that's fair. Just don't be so quick to assume that will ultimately deter you from experiencing the great story that Echo is!

The scenario of Echo is in many ways reminiscent of Japanese mystery and Denpa VNs. The furry part of it is more for show than anything, and doesn't really impact the scenario too much. I like this, because it gives people with certain aesthetic tastes something to call their own, while others like me can still enjoy the story without any major problems.
The scenario is rather mysterious, and quite frequently ambiguous. In terms of characters, their histories, their relationships, their wants and needs... it all feels rich and alive. Both the characters, and the town of Echo and its history. This is something I really want to praise about Echo. It gives a strong sense of weight to past events and is simply a well written story in terms of how or why it chooses to tell or show you certain things. While I like to compare it to Japanese VNs, one of the key differences in the writing is how American it feels. The characters are incredibly rough and undignified. But the key that makes it work is that there's something there, underneath all that. There's something there in all of them; there is something there that shaped them. No matter how unlikable they are. See, this is something that's going to work for some and not for others. I found it really interesting to get into the psychology of these characters. They fascinated me. In fact, the more I thought about it, each of the characters core personality traits felt pretty legitimate. Given how different all the characters are, that's worthy of praise, I think. The writer has written the whole main cast as somewhat complex, and in many ways, not being likeable at all (at least to me). However, reading Echo, one can't help but admire how much compassion the writer seems to feel for all the characters. It really rubs off on you. Sometimes this compassion even rubs off on you when it really should have no business doing so! That is a mark of a wonderful VN. It feels serious in how it intends to portray its characters, both major and minor roles, past and present. At the end of the day, despite being a mysterious horror VN, Echo's biggest strength is the portrayal of real human experiences. It's like the glue that holds all of it together. The town of Echo is a sad but fascinating place! There's nothing else quite like this in other VNs.

"That" scene near the end of Flynn's route is one of those scenes that is something very special, and that stays with you. It goes well beyond just being good writing and takes full advantage of the medium's other strengths. While most of the music in Echo appears to be royalty free (as opposed to composed specifically for the VN) there's nothing really wrong with that, as the music chosen tends to fit the scenes.
As for my preference in the characters and the routes, I would say that I found Flynn to be the most interesting character, but that I kinda hated him, to an extent. I also kinda hated Leo, and Chase. I mean, pretty much everybody is more or less an asshole. Yet they're all really interesting. Sometimes, I was a bit let down by how promising things seemed, but how the VN doesn't want to really "go there" for too long. Jenna was a bit undercooked. The little time the VN gave her was excellent. Perhaps they ran out of time, or just felt unsure of what more to do with this character. The inherent empathy towards Echo's characters is infectious, for good reason. My life has been one hell of a whirlwind and I feel like I know these guys. In some cases, I've even been these guys, and been through many similar experiences. That's why I enjoy it when Echo goes into more detail and gets the psychology right. Its treatment of hoodlums or otherwise highly flawed people confined to a shitty, small town really hits the mark.

So, Jenna was a bit undercooked, but who was the opposite? I would first like to point to Leo. Leo is one scary guy and someone we should all look at and tell ourselves to never become. Yet, his route was probably the best one to me. Everything about it was pretty much spot on. It's just impossible not to be moved by this route, which makes a strong point about toxic relationships. Next I think Flynn and Carl got an appropriate amount of development given who they were. Flynn is of course a much more difficult character to understand than Carl. Carl is almost stereotypical in a way, but I like that the issues he faced was written completely seriously. I feel like Carl was always appropriately written, and that people that feel like Carl, will empathize with him heavily. I think the same about all of the main characters, but that some of the other characters are harder to understand.
Chase, I don't want to speak about... all I'll say is that it's an interesting main character. TJ, I mean, I think Echo did what was appropriate with him, all things considered. Every route in Echo likes to give some extra screen time to one or two other friendly, secondary characters. I think most of these don't actually add much to the story and feel basic, but they generally don't detract, either. However, the more morally grey or morally black characters are pretty interesting!

So, comparing Echo with Japanese VNs, is there something this VN does that's outstanding? I would say it has to be the grimy, disgusting, yet realistic and compassionate take on this "desolate small town". While other psychological, horror, surrealistic and denpa VNs have perhaps been more impressive in some ways, Echo has carved a quality niché of its own with an almost Gummo-like quality to it. It knows the characters are flawed, but it insists on laying them bare before you.

Now, is there something about Echo that is not so good? Yes, plenty of things. I've given the game much praise, because I think it deserves it due to being an OELVN and furry of all things. Yet, the game does have flaws. Personally, I don't consider its unlikable cast to be a flaw. It's actually impressive that it manages to do so much with those characters. There still are plenty of real flaws in the game. One thing that often bothered me was the editing and pacing. Carl's route was clearly the worst offender, and none of the other routes had as massive issues with that, but all the routes suffered to some degree. Of course, slow pacing is often suitable for the material. The problem is that Echo's writing is so uncertain in terms of timing and pacing. It'll randomly meander, and then rush through some things, and then randomly meander in a similar fashion, and so on and so on. Even my favorite route (Leo's) had this problem at times, where the writing was pretty amateurish, and it would randomly prolong some scenes and end others. It's like they just force certain scenes to go on despite that the characters have run out of things to say. I still think what the game lacks here, it makes up for in other areas, of course. A good editor could've improved Echo. Another problem I had with Echo is that I'm just not really into most of the small talk, horny or otherwise. I sometimes kinda hate it to be honest and sometimes wished I was reading a similarly themed Japanese VN with cute anime girls instead. Of course, that wouldn't be Echo anymore, so don't get me wrong. Echo can remain Echo! I'm just glad I'm an observer because almost everything these characters are and talked about is the exact opposite of what I would want! It does have integrity in that area, it just often doesn't do anything for me, and there's a lot of arguments and small talk. Kudos for the realism, nonetheless.

Other flaws are mostly pretty small, and I would rather put emphasis on what Echo does well than its flaws. I think some readers may be disappointed by the slightly "unfinished" nature of the scenario in some areas. That is, that Echo sometimes introduces characters, concepts, or minor story arcs that just kinda disappear. Personally I'm not too distracted by this minor flaw, but others might be more bothered by this. The few times Echo resorted to VN gimmicks like identical choices, etc didn't come off as forced or trendy (trust me, these gimmicks get old fast, they've been used for decades) The good thing is that there is an overall sense of weight to the world.

Echo succeeds because it builds suspense and creates a strong mysterious air with how the text develops the history of Echo and the characters, and also how it treats the "unknown" and how this "unknown" affects the characters. All of this development serves as context for the excellent in-depth character psychology. It succeeds because who the characters are, how they act, and what they have gone through is purposeful and realistic; the writer displays genuine understanding of the psychology of the (mostly) queer characters they have created. Finally it succeeds because of how it uses the VN medium to its advantage to stage memorable scenes that can reach you on an emotional level. It has big and small moments that feel profoundly meaningful. Echo can be quite sad, and legitimately moving at times. A highly recommended OELVN. It is recommended if you enjoy, for example, the game Silent Hill (for its usage of metaphors and atmosphere) or the movie Gummo (for its bizarre yet raw, compassionate depiction of lowlifes in rural america) or if you like "lighter" (not so much focus on edge and shock factor) denpa story, with a focus on friendships, character story, and "setting development" (such as, Higurashi). Recommended route order: Carl, Leo, Jenna, TJ, Flynn. Make sure to do Flynn last and TJ before Flynn for the scenario to flow well. The order of the other 3 routes is comparatively unimportant.

This Game Is Free Because You Pay For It With Your Mental Health

Well, folks, let the truth be known, the niche furry visual novel is actually great! Taking note of the very positive attention this was receiving, my curiosity was sparked. I'm not a furry, and based on my admittedly narrow pre-conceived notions of the fringe subculture, I was going into this a bit skeptical. I believed I was pretty far removed from the game's target audience (I'll be referring to this as a "game" for simplicity's sake). This definitely surpassed my expectations, however, and I ended up loving it and was surprised by how much I connected with it.

We follow Chase, an otter who comes back to his hometown to do a project on the history of his hometown while simultaneously connecting with old friends. A fun vacation soon takes a nosedive into madness that only goes down further and further, each route the player chooses contributing to the larger story that is Echo. The content of these routes is largely intense, emotionally compelling, and genuinely well-written. The content focuses particularly on the strange events that occur in Echo as well as a death of an old friend, Sydney, that haunts Chase and his friends. The game is thematically very solid, consistently finding fresh and interesting directions to fully expand upon its themes.

I was initially unsure of how I'd feel about this from the prologue. The very beginning of this game is arguably my least favorite part, the writers deciding to ease the player in. There's a lot of foreshadowing being laid out which I appreciate in retrospect, but the character interactions in this section come across as disingenuous. I can see where the writers were coming from, but I felt myself already losing interest. Regardless, the rest of the prologue was keeping my interest and the game fully sank its teeth into me by the time we got to the lake and the route split occurs. The order in which I played the routes was:

Carl -> Leo -> Jenna -> TJ -> Flynn. I'll go over each.

Carl - It's generally accepted that Carl's route is the worst, and I guess I agree with that statement. I still quite liked it though and thought there was a certain kind of novelty to this one that the others didn't have. See, all the routes coalesce to form a bigger picture, and while Carl's does this as well, it arguably does it the least. Even though this makes for what is arguably the least redundant of all the routes, it feels rather... unessential? Raven was also probably my least favorite secondary character. Again, I definitely still enjoyed it, especially when Chase enters the crawlspace in the basement and the route turns into this wacky surrealist haunted house bonanza. The unknown horrors behind every door keep the reader on edge, making for a very fun, though also scary, and at times emotionally stirring experience. When Jenna tags along, we see what seems to be some kind of possession that overtakes her and Carl. It's their ancestors, whose personal conflict signifies that of a larger conflict that results from colonialism. In many of the routes in Echo, the game makes a point of things occurring in a cyclical nature and of how the past doesn't define you (among other things). The presentation of these ideas in Carl's route was done very well and, depending on whether Carl allows himself to be possessed by his ancestor in hopes they can get out of the surrealist hellscape, both endings succinctly wrap up his route. The bad ending though could use some work. See, his house ends up in flames and Carl and Chase are left to escape before succumbing to the flames. There is a clear opportunity to make an intense scene here. Maybe they could try to use a fire extinguisher but it's no use, and they run out of the house as quickly as they can as the flames rise, maybe someone trips, anything. But instead once Carl and Chase have escaped whatever hellish reality they were thrown into, it immediately cuts to them outside watching the house burn up. It's a sublime moment, don't get me wrong, it just feels like a waste of opportunity and honestly, the flow felt kind of off.

Leo - Arguably the most disturbing route. About half of the route is mostly a romance arch, one that I was initially not very interested in. But alas, when Chase and Leo get back together at the high school, it's a very sweet moment, even if I'm not fully on board with that choice. Kudzu also gets introduced, his part in the game taking some fairly interesting directions. The second half takes quite a jarring turn, however, as Chase becomes kidnapped and is put through the torturous methods of Brian, one of the many characters part of Duke's crew thing. They are somewhat of an antithesis of the group we follow - the good guys vs. the bad guys. Unfortunate individuals who become stuck in the harmful environments they've ended up in. Regardless, being held hostage by Brian made for a truly uncomfortable read. The route climaxes with Chase and the gang leaving Echo on the train, and depending on whether you choose to end things off with Leo or not gives way to good and bad endings. Both endings are brilliant, the good shows an emotional, vulnerable moment from Leo that stuck with me and the bad end takes a disturbing tone just as it was in Brian's. The bad ending also parallels a previous story of Echo's history where a man trying to get on the train fails to do so, losing his legs and unable to walk just as Chase loses his feet and also loses the ability to walk. Leo has become stuck in Echo, and while it's painful to see, there's a perfect bittersweetness that comes with ending things. The latter would certainly be undesirable for Chase.

Jenna - Also a pretty disturbing route. Looking over the redundancies with Leo's route, I really loved this. While Jenna may not be my favorite character per se, her dialogue has really phenomenal moments. See, Jenna is a psych major, and we see her intellect and self-awareness shine through in many of her lines. Every direction the route goes down seems to naturally enhance because of this. The ending is noticeably a bit more subdued compared to the other routes, but it really does feel appropriate considering the previous events.

TJ - I almost cried during his route. TJ has one of the more focused routes in the game (also the shortest). The group follows a newfound treasure hunt that Syd apparently had made before his death (this was apparently a common thing he did). This is when I first saw a truly more insidious side of Chase. The other routes hinted at Chase's involvement with Syd's death but never got into the details of how. This gets into those details and man... I mean wow. The flow and presentation of everything is nearly perfect. The little epilogue that follows somewhat spoils the moment though, even if it was a bit spooky. This very well might have been my favorite route had it ended with Chase and TJ driving out of Echo for what is likely the last time.

Flynn - I seemed to have saved the best for last, as this ended up being my favorite route. Flynn is also my favorite character. Yes, he's an insufferable asshole, but there is something so appealing about him that had me looking forward to his route and being able to explore the nuances of his character. I was given everything I was expecting and more. The themes of the cyclical nature of violence, the unknown, the truth, the socio-economic struggles of rural America, the lack of support for marginalized youth. It all comes together so perfectly, that even if the visual novel wasn't very subtle at times of what it was getting at, I almost cried (again) at just how full-circle everything seemed to become. The writers are smart though in allowing some of the questions to be left unanswered and rather inferred by the reader. I don't even wanna get into the details, just read the goddamn thing.

So, yeah. I had a blast reading this. If the quality of the writing wasn't enough, the art is pretty good too. The backgrounds are nice, the character designs are good, and at certain important moments, a visual depiction of the scene appears. I found myself captivated by the beauty and level of detail many of these depictions had.

It is not without its issues though. To add to the negative critiques I've previously mentioned there are a couple of mostly minor issues I had. The game typically shifts between humor that is either awkward or clever and witty. The latter typically proves to be much better, much of the awkward humor simply not landing.

There's also the fact that a lot of the routes are somewhat redundant although I wonder if this is essential to the story. See, in Flynn's route when they see Duke and Chase's car on the side of the road with the monster that keeps them in Echo, it's the same event that happened in Leo's route. Although this time, it doesn't make sense. Duke wouldn't be able to steal Chase's car and drive to that point in the cliff before them like he was able to in Leo's route. However, the writers are very much aware of this, with the characters just as confused as I am about how this is possible. The actual reason is kept a mystery - it allows the game to linger - though it made me wonder if there are some kind of alternative universe situations happening. Going back to Flynn's route, in the end, he's essentially free of the confines of time and space thanks to "Sam", this otherworldly entity, symbolic of... well, many things, but let's say he's that which can not be known. Who's to say that "Sam" and others like him can't also travel through different realities? The implications this has on the other routes become massive, and partly what made Flynn's route hit so hard for me. Whatever the case, there were still many redundant moments that occasionally diminished the experience.

One last thing, and this is such a minor issue but I cringe a little every time I see it, grammatical mistakes. It wasn't like, constant, but ever so often something will be misspelled, a name uncapitalized, a letter needlessly bolded. It's something that, again, is really not a big deal, but I'm hoping in future updates this can be corrected...

If I had to sell this to someone, I would say it's like a mix of Twin Peaks and a SIGNIFICANTLY better-written Riverdale but with young adults instead of high schoolers. Trying to convince people to read this may be difficult to do though because those who read visual novels are already a niche group of people along with the fact that the target audience being furries narrows the demographic even smaller. Many people will probably take one look at the cover and say "Nope," and even if they do get past that barrier, they may be turned away from the beginning since it's frustratingly the worst section. Regardless, I was very touched by this and hope great things continue to come from the people behind The Echo Project.

made me even mentally iller

Echo is a game that's about a lot of different things, and its thematic density makes it a bit difficult to write about succinctly. It follows Chase, a young otter returning to his hometown, the little desert village of Echo for spring break and reuniting with five of his old friends there for the first time since he left for college three years ago. This structure may be an oblique reference to or a subversion of the structure of Morenatsu, which was for many years the gay furry visual novel and which also follows the MC returning to his hometown and reuniting with his childhood friends, but thankfully Echo does a lot more interesting things with its story and themes. Although I don't think there's any connection, it also is very similar to Night In The Woods; a college student aimlessly drifting through life returns to their hometown, a mining village that is now dying and deals with the danger of nostalgia and contains some kind of supernatural evil being that resides in the mine but I also feel that the VN structure allows Echo to explore its themes much more deeply.

Although the opening two days are broadly very saccharine and seem to set up a pretty generic dating sim, the inciting incident at the end of the prologue clues the reader in that this will not be the case. At the route choice, you learn of the sudden death by drowning in the lake of another of their friends 12 years previously, which indicates that the game will get progressively darker and heavier as it goes on. At this point the player can choose which of the five they want to pursue: Leo, the 'dad friend' and Chase's ex boyfriend, TJ, a very soft-spoken and meek Christian boy, Carl, Chase's best friend in high school and an unrepentant stoner, Flynn, who's abrasive but caring and was the closest to the friend who died, Sydney, and Jenna, the obligatory straight option (although the player can choose whether Chase pursues her romantically or just as a friend in her route) who always tries to position herself as the voice of reason. These summaries may seem facile but in each route they are all fleshed out very thoroughly and in a way that is extremely believable and (forgive the pun) human; not only do they each have a variety of strengths and weaknesses, but their interactions with each other are all generally very believable. The structure of the routes is that as the week goes on, supernatural forces gradually drive the inhabitants of the town into an episode of mass hysteria which typically comes to a head on Friday or Saturday, with the psychological horror elements taking a more prominent role. There are a lot of somewhat surreal dream-like sequences as well, and the narrative is willing to go places that I was very surprised at.

Like I said above, there are a wide variety of themes at play here, and the writing isn't particularly subtle for a lot of them. The biggest is easily the past, and how being stuck in the past can be very detrimental. This ranges from personal problems like being unable to get over an ex, to broader historical ones (colonialism plays a big role in Jenna and Carl's route; Jenna is the in universe equivalent of a Native American and Carl's ancestors were the ones who founded the town which involved a lot of violence towards the Natives.) The repeated motif of "always running in circles" makes this very clear; like I said, this game certainly does not suffer from an excess of subtlety.

How much the horror elements will affect you is going to be very subjective; I don't get scared by text easily so there were only a few moments that really got to me, such as the scene with Chase and Brian in the mines at the end of Leo's route, which really made me feel claustrophobic, and there are a few scenes of physical torture that are certainly uncomfortable to read. There's also one semi-jumpscare in Jenna's route that really got me, and seems to have for everyone else who has played it. What I really appreciate about the horror elements is that in many cases, they are a direct result of these problems; the mass hysteria isn't just a situation to put the characters in more extreme situations, it is caused by the characters' flaws. It's also rather clever in the way that it provides in-universe explanations for many of the basic mechanics, such as the occasional switches to others' perspectives or how trauma literally changes a person's personality. They also don't pull punches in depicting a lot of undignified things with adequate sympathy; Leo or Carl may appear to be living completely pathetic and abject lives, but it's not something for the reader to look down on them for.

As I believe that non-furries and heterosexuals should play this game, it's worth adding a disclaimer that the art style is very grounded and that none of the CGs depict any sex. There are two text descriptions of sexual activity (both for thematic reasons and both in Flynn's route). This is, despite its tags, not primarily a dating sim or a sex game, and it could easily be rewritten with entirely human characters that would require very little change. It is definitely primarily a tragic story, and some of the moments like the epilogue of Leo's good ending are absolutely soul-crushing, and they make it really worth playing.

This is not to say I don't find faults with the game; there are plenty of things I would prefer be changed or rewritten, such as Carl's route being very isolated from the rest of the story, TJ deserving more of a character arc in his route, Leo being too prominent in Jenna's route, etc, but really this game is much more well-written than a gay furry visual novel has any right to be. Some of my favorite moments are just little scenes that aren't super plot relevant: visiting the high school in Leo's route and reminiscing on how much everyone has changed, meeting a friend you haven't seen in years and realizing that the easy familiarity you once had isn't really there anymore, or getting to hike around and catch up with someone. Each route is probably 6-8 hours long, so there's definitely a lot of content here, alongside 7 short stories and two side games that flesh out events that are only briefly mentioned in the main narrative. This game isn't for everyone obviously, but I do think that VN fans who aren't furries or gay should try it out.