Source: Cashmoneys
Price: £7.19
Where To Get It: Steam

Content Warnings: Child abuse (beatings, book burnings), mentions of homophobia, racism, police brutality and Satanic Panic, and a little bit of misogyny. Some softcore nudity, descriptions of lesbian sex.

Okay, only one bitch here, and I’ll get it out the way now, without spoiling anything: Oh, you can’t leave that unresolved, god-dammit!

Anyway, that’s that. So… A short, punchy Queer Visual Novel. Mystery genre, I do like those. Minimal interaction, but enough that it won’t turn off folks who aren’t fans of Kinetic Novels (essentially, puzzle segments.) Nice, easy explanation. And now, we get into the meat of why I like this.

First up, this tale of an arson that may or may not have occult connections, in a rural Southern town in the 80s, has two, neatly dovetailing plots. The first is the one I mentioned, and the other is how two women deal with their previously broken relationship. It’s well written, with the main cast having progression, change in their characters, and the secondary cast mostly having clear motivations. Descriptions are good, setting is well written…

…In fact, as a child of the 80s, it’s uncomfortably well written. Although I was somewhat sheltered from the bullshit depicted in this game, that definitely doesn’t mean I wasn’t aware of it. Book burnings by controlling parents, one of whom is secretly a child-beater. The fact that you could lose your job, a lot of your social connections, even get charged, simply for being gay. The fact that cops not beating hispanic kids, or gay people, or at least, a big scandal leading to some reformation on that point, was a Big Thing (and I’m sighing as I realise that the reformation actually sticking anywhere feels like the most fantastical point to me.)

It’s there in the conversations. It’s there in the attitude. It’s even there in a not-at-all veiled threat from one of the characters. It’s uncomfortable, but… It’s also important. Not just in the sense of the story, but also something to remember, to acknowledge.

And also well written is the relationship between the protagonists, Diane and Jackie. Their feelings make sense. Their feelings are real. Even the mistaken feelings, the shitty, misunderstood ones, make sense. I won’t say how that relationship ends, but that, too, makes perfect sense, and is as well described, as well emoted, as everything else in their dialogue.

So, would I recommend it? Yeah. It’s a good queer visual novel in several senses, and the artwork is stunning. The music has that 80s movie feel, and…

Yeah, I’d definitely recommend this.

The Mad Welshman sighs. The 80s cast a long sodding shadow, and it somewhat depresses him.

Filed under: Adult Only Games, Game Reviews by admin

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