Death by Fire (Visual Novel)

Created by: V0dka

Genre: Horror/Romance

Death by Fire has some nice art, and an interesting concept though there isn't too much as of now considering it's a demo. The main character, Arson not only has a cool name but a cool design with a half mask. If you are interested in this game, you can find more out at @deathbyfirevn.

The story starts out with the MC waking up. They seem really tired and grumbling as their boss has called them. They decide to go buy some groceries, being served by a nice cashier. As they go up the stairs to their apartment, they come across some graffiti welcoming them home before getting knocked out. Upon waking up, they find that they are tied to a chair, with an animated TV show playing in the background. Someone states that it was a show that the MC liked when they were younger and as the MC looks at him, they see a man with a mask and some blood on his face. They can either ask about the blood or why he kidnapped them.

If the MC asks about why they did this, they will seem disappointed that they don't remember him, even though the MC has absolutely no recollection of him. Whereas if the MC talks about he blood, he will state that he cut the limbs off of a man who was trailing outside of their house. He will then state that he is taking care of the MC now, all of their eating, drinking etc. He will then ask if we like the TV show that is playing.

If we say yes, he will be happy whereas if we say no, then he will seem disappointed as we used to like this show in the past.

After which, he will attempt to loosen the ropes where we can either attack him or stay obedient. Attacking him will lead to knocking him over, however he will be able to grab hold of their ankle. He is unhappy, stating how happy he was when he first was able to see them again after so long, however, in displeased by the results. Staying obedient will lead to him introducing himself as Arson and him stating that he will have to buy somethings tomorrow before the MC falls asleep.

So as I said, fairly short. The story mostly follows the MC being annoyed before being otherwise kidnapped by Arson, though we do get to learn more about him through his appearance and his relationship with the MC. Arson seems to have known the MC from the past, though we don't know how or why, and based on his appearance probably had some injuries to the left side of his face, probably due to fire (considering his name is Arson and the title of this game). We also see that he has bandages on his arms so it's possible that he might self harm or that those too are injuries from said fire. Based on the cartoon that he plays, it's likely that Arson and the MC met when they were really small, so it's likely one of those childhood friends that the MC no longer remembers. I am curious about how Arson was able to kidnap the MC in the first place, since at least in our point of view we simply get knocked out before waking up to being tied to a chair. Still, it seems like the game will either be attempting to escape or enjoying the life of Arson taking care of us while being tied to a chair, either of which will likely lead to some interesting backstory between the two.

I will say that the art is very pretty, I like the design of Arson since there is a lot of intrigue to what happened to him from his mask to his mostly expressionless face to the bandages of his arms. He does a lot of good character design storytelling just from his design considering we don't know that much about whats happening in the game yet. The clerk also seems like she might be an important character (though it might just be that she's the only other character we've seen so far).

Over all though, a pretty short game, though an interesting premise. As I've said there's currently not much on it, but hopefully it becomes a fun game for everyone to play in the future.

A Double Sided Mirror (Visual Novel)

Created by: Glass Berry Studios

Genre: Horror/Romance

This r18 game is very well put together, especially in the quality of it's assets. This game is entirely voice acted, though in Spanish and it is a joy to play through. I think between the two "forms" I like Charlie a lot better than I like Charles since I really love softer and shyer boys. If you like this game you can check out more of them at @adoublesided

The story starts out with a call between Charlie and his sister, Lucy. Lucy seems to have had a nightmare while Charlie assures her that it's not her fault. Lucy seems to feel guilty that if she had not done what she did, Charlie wouldn't have to deal with such horrible things. Lucy apologizes for calling Charlie late at night, with Charlie mentioning that he has a date in the morning, causing Lucy to freak out a bit, stating that he's not ready to go on dates. A myserious voice explains that it's the reason why Charlie didn't tell her, with Lucy responding negatively.

We cut to the MC the next day wondering about their date. It seems that they have broken up at least fairly recently. They end up meeting up at the mall and wait for their date, however, after a while, it seems that he is never coming. Out of annoyance and anger, the MC ends up going to a cafe nearby and ordering something to drink. After waiting and talking to a scary barista named Cameron, she walks up to them and gives them cake, along with a note. It seems that the cake was bought by someone in the cafe, as Cameron ends up pointing at and it's the person that the MC was supposed to be on a date with, with the note apologizing for being too shy to talk to them.From there, the MC can either decide to talk to him or be creeped out.

If the MC decides to meet up with him, they'll huff about how late the date is and goes to talk to him. He is, first and foremost extremely nervous to see the MC, even telling them that he was trying to get the courage to apologize.

If the MC reassures him, he will start getting happily flustered before the MC starts eating the cake. The MC expresses their appreciation and offers to give some to him as well. He gets flustered as there's only one spoon and gets even more so when the MC feeds him suddenly. He basically gets so nervous he has to eat some drugs to calm down, though when the MC apologizes, he mentions that the drugs are for a condition he's had for a while. The MC wonders why he didn't tell them about his condition, with him stating that he didn't want to think that he was weak and not want to go out with him (which sidenote, that would make me want to go more out with him because bulliable and I like weakness in my men, anyways), which the MC reassures him about. He thanks them as no one has ever said that before, before the MC offers to go on another date with him. They also ended up eating all the cake much to their surprise. Before leaving, he has a big outburst wanting to exchange numbers. They also don't know each other's name as the app makes the two of them exchange nicknames for safety reasons (which seems weird but what do I know about dating apps), and the two introduce each other, with him introducing himself as Charlie. The MC rides the subway back, but while there sits next to someone who is very creepy. The MC feels extremely uncomfortable and panicked and leaves as soon as it hits their stop. When getting back, they are spooked by the sudden notification from Charlie before going to check the fridge, seeing that it's empty. After wishing that they had some more of that cake, the world seems to glitch before the MC notices that a cake did seem to be in the fridge the entire time. They end up eating it before bed and texting Charlie before going to sleep.

If they feel instead off about the situation, they'll talk more sternly to him, not even sure if he is the date at all. He will prove it by showing them their profile, but as they wonder about how they knew where they were after the date, he will then transform into a more confident version of himself. The MC seems to not remember what happened, but as he flirts with them, they realize they didn't tell him that they're not really interested in dating at the moment but rather just meeting new people. When they do tell him, he seems to be amused at the fact that they would think that's bad. When the MC does ask him on another date, he goes back to his shy version again. The story then continues as above.

If the MC is creeped out, they'll realize that it's very strange that he'd know where they were, considering that the cafe was pretty far away from their original meeting place. The MC becomes paranoid that he's been following them around and feels fear of what he could do. They end up throwing away the cake and confronting him, talking about how they waited for a long time and that a cake isn't enough to fix this issue. The guy starts shaking before the MC basically tells him that they never want to see him or interact with him again. The MC then leaves, becoming increasingly paranoid that he is following them and rushes into a nearby bookstore. Once there, someone mistaken them as a bookshop employee before coming back and asking if they are alright. The MC can then decide if they want to tell him or not.

If they decide not to, he will leave, leading to the MC bumping into someone else (who looks kind of like Charlie). He apologizes and notes the MC's behavior. To bring their mind off of their other date, he offers to buy them something near the food court. The MC seems to reject sweets at the moment as it reminds them of Charlie, so instead opts into eating something spicy. The guy ends up buying some spicy wings for them instead. After eating, the guy tells the MC that he actually did seem them in the bookstore and wanted to talk to them, but ended up bumping into them before actually figuring out a way to do that. He introduces himself as Charles and the MC asks for their number, to which he hesitantly says the he left his phone at home, asking for them to instead write down their number so that they can call them later. When getting back, they are trapped in a downpour, but Charles ends up bumping into them and offering them his umbrella for them to both be under. The two of them end up talking, with Charles mentioning that he was using this an excuse to not go to his family's gathering and to hang out with the MC. After some more light flirting, the MC ends up in their apartment, texting Charles before bed and going to sleep.

If they do tell him, the guy will help try to get them away from Charlie and even offers to walk them home. He introduces himself as Jeremy and promises to keep the MC safe. While doing so, we are interrupted by a not very happy creature (presumably Charlie) before going back to normal. As the two of them walk out of the mall, the MC and Jeremy hold hands (out of safety). The MC is able to arrive at their apartment safely and gets a text from Jeremy who asks if they are safe. After this, they notice that they've forgotten to buy food as the fridge is empty and goes to sleep hungry. Before falling asleep they notice that someone (Charlie) seems to be crawling up from the foot of their bed.

I just have to say first of all that this game is really well made for a demo, from the voice acting to the cameos in the backgrounds, to the UI and sprites, everything looks very polished. The more jump scary horror scenes are really good too, with the one where Charlie at the foot of the bed actually making me flinch because I wasn't expecting it. One of the more minor issues I do have is with the trigger warning screen and only because having to open up the game over and over again and having to wait a minute for the trigger warning to finish is pretty tiring. I would have liked it better if perhaps there was a way to skip it on second viewing by clicking on it. This is a pretty minor thing compared to the rest of the story going on.

In this game there are seemingly two yanderes, Charlie and Charles, who are the same person, but are able to change appearance and personality. From what I can tell, Charlie/Charles are closer to being an entity that is trying to become human that is attached onto Charlie. Charlie seems to be the dominant personality of the two as he's not only the first version we see in all routes but also the one we see calling Lucy in the beginning. From what I can tell, the personality/appearence tends to change into Charles when Charlie becomes majorly uncomfortable, as seen when he does turn into a more confident version of himself as well as when we end up seeing Charles after rejecting Charlie. It's likely related to the pulls that Charlie ends up eating in one of the routes after he starts shaking really badly. It does make me wonder if the Charles personality can suddenly appear if something happens, or if Charlie's personality would basically be gone for good. It would also explain the sudden change in his eye color and general appearance as his clothes also change pretty drastically (at least in terms of style, not so much clothing colors).

To no one's surprise, I like Charlie more than Charles because god he's so cute when he's shy. I actually streamed this game to @meo-eiru and we both agree that while he needs to get an outfit change he is way too adorable. The voice actor did a good job making him very shy and changing into Charles or when Charlie becomes a more confident person. From what we can tell Charlie seems to have stalked the MC for a while, even knowing that they went to cafe, but too shy to have actually talked to them, even knowing what kind of cake that they would like. He seems to have some sort of power as well that's shared with Charles, being able to change reality in some sort of way, either by changing his appearance/ personality, but also manifesting items as well, like when the MC wished to eat the cake that Charlie had gotten them only to find it glitched into their fridge. Like I said, Charlie seems to be the "base" personality of the character, likely affected heavily by whatever Lucy did to make him this way and seems to change under stress. So it could be possible that this is some sort of DID, however, it doesn't explain the glitches in reality that tends to happen in the game when it does happen. Most of the time though, we were both like go back to Charlie every time he became Charles. Stay Charlie, you're really cute.

Charles on the other hand is more closer to standard yandere love interests in these types of vns, being a lot more open and flirty with the player and confident. He does have his cuter side to him as well though like when he was spreading his arms excitedly when talking to the MC. Much like Charlie, we do know that Charles does follow the MC around as when he coincidentally was near their apartment when they go home in the rain as well as just bumping into them into the bookstore, though we don't know to what extent Charles and Charlie know of each other. He is at least aware enough that the MC does not want to see Charlie again, thus has to pretend that he's left his phone at home as to not let them know that they actually matched on the dating app. Apart from that, we don't really know too much of the extent of his yandere actions, at least not in the game, since we don't know exactly how much of it intersects with Charlie. We also learn from him that he's not on best terms with his family as he has been avoiding his family reunion, which does sort of make sense considering the interaction we see in the beginning where Lucy (from what I can tell) doesn't react too happily with Charles's response.

Conceptually in the game, there are a lot of mysteries that have been set up already, from Lucy and Charlie/Charles's relationship to who exactly Charlie and Charles are, to what's going on with all the glitches in the story to who if Cameron is going to get killed or not, so we'll have to see what will happen in the future. I do like the concept of yanderes that change depending on the player's actions (because I'm not biased at all as my game, Perfect Love, also does something similar) since that leads to a lot of possibilities. It's already pretty well made from what we see in the demo, so I'm sure it'll be something great to see whenever the full game is finished.

Overall, good game, with an intriguing mystery and well made. Charlie is the best boy and I hope I get an ending where I can kill him with my bare hands (lovingly or otherwise). I would recommend playing this game if you are interested in it.

As a bonus, have a meme that @meo-eir made after playing the game.

No one wants to be alone on their birthday! So why not spend it with Blythe, an adorable bunny who just wants to make it special <3 Bitter/Sweet was made for Yandere Jam 2023! You can download it now for free :3 https://melancholy-marionette.itch.io/bittersweetblythe (It has full English voice acting, and you can choose either a masculine or feminine voice for Blythe + pick MC’s pronouns ^-^)

Okay but I find the the vibe and look similarities between Milo(2021) and Nova(2011) to be funny.

I’m gonna be honest I do not care if a trans boy teen is annoying and has horrible taste in music y’all are just mean.

I’d rather hang around with Karkat who listens to Cavetown than someone who is mean.

no one supports you like an internet friend you never met

i hate it when game devs put “fixed several issues” in patch notes 

no. tell me what you fixed. i wanna know what the glitch was.

you know those patch notes that are like “fixed an issue where if the player sat in a bush for too long, they’d become the size of a skyscraper” 

i wanna read those. tell me those. 

Polyamory isn't about sticking it to the people staring. It's not about parents' acceptance. It's not about cheating or sneaking around. It's not even about the sex, not that that's not a bonus.

It's about reminding each other to take our meds. It's about breaking bread with metamours. It's about sharing special interests on long car rides. It's about learning about your lovers' love for their partners.

It's about retying her dress while our gf melts at the sweetness. It's about the way they both helped me stay ambulatory. It's about tag team compliments. It's about the way that little girl excitedly looked between the three of us, her eyes fixing on each of our clasped hands.

It's about support, and love, and living.

13 years later redraw time

13 years later redraw time

these are the best cards on the planet and no one can tell me otherwise

(etsy)

13 years later redraw time

"The Stoppables"

People sometimes wonder why the farmer in Stardew Valley has the strength of a giant and the will of a thousand men in order to make the old farm profitable and revive the dying town.

They're a twenty-something ex-Joja employee and they have just discovered free will for the first time in their life. If I had the caffeine addiction of a college student and the rage of a fallen god I could probably run a pretty good farm too.