Good lord. I did NOT expect where this was going. I almost dropped the game during Part 1 + 2 (definitely not because I couldn't figure out how to get into Part 3 on my own and thought this was the full game ...) Thank goodness I looked at the guide!
---Heavy spoiler---
What more can I say except how brilliantly you have executed the twists! It's absolutely clear how much effort you've put into this, and your love shines through every single tiny detail. I have binged the game through the night and it's almost dawn so I'll just ramble my thoughts and hope that they make sense.
First off, I absolutely cannot believe that my favorite characters aren't the two yandere LIs but our two MCs! Yes, both of them! It amazes me how much you manage to construct and deconstruct the character of OG MC in one breath, despite "us" not ever directly meeting him. It's clear that he is this sort of self-sacrificing saint-like stereotypical MC, which is why he can attract the OG yanderes in the first place - and why, realistically, he will never survive from his encounters with them. In a way, he IS asking for this. The urge for self-sacrifice and the urge for self-destruction are two sides of the same coin: OG MC's rushing towards and embracing kid Leon despite the dude literally beating others (and probably OG MC himself) again and again, his consoling Vincent despite their family's bad blood and his unpleasant first meeting with kid Vincent, his wishing to "light up" Reme's empty eyes despite her coldness ... None of this is, frankly, healthy, which is probably why he attracts unhealthy people like a blazing lamp attracts moths in the middle of the night. OG MC himself will never have survived without someone else literally hijacking his body and replacing his soul.
Secondly, building upon the previous point: OG MC cannot survive BECAUSE he is such a saint. Perhaps current MC can survive BECAUSE he is not quite a saint? I adore the current MC's seemingly "normal"-sounding inner rants, but I do think that the hints of his being a yandere all along are long present. One thing I never quite liked about transmigration novels is precisely how, frankly, jerkass-ish (if not dehumanizing) the MC treats the rest of the cast. More well-written novels will explore, or at least mention, the MC's struggle between seeing the rest of the characters as NPCs vs. "real" beings, but most of them don't. The tarot card reading essentially nails this part: Current MC has been nothing but manipulative towards everyone around him, and he feels only minimal attachment towards these "game characters". Of course, minimal != none, but when push comes to shove, he will choose himself without a blink. That said, you absolutely struck the perfect balance between current MC's more manipulative tendencies (i.e. stringing both LIs along) and his more genuine attachments. I LOVE the detail that we can only reach Bad Ends 3 - all in Part 3 - without dying once. I was quite appalled at first when MC nonchalantly sent lil bro to the LI whom he rejected. It is pretty cowardly and frankly insulting to not even show up in-peron to explain, but even more egregiously, WHAT DOES HE EXPECT TO HAPPEN? These psychos have been happy to commit homicide when his affection point was much lower and when he had never agreed to a date! ... Then I remember that MC has NOT experienced any deaths in this run, and therefore he might not make the leap so quickly. BUT then this begs another question: If he doesn't expect the LI to commit murder, why doesn't he go himself? Is it because he hasn't seen lil bro killed "in-game" but OG MC killed multiple times, so he thinks sending lil bro will be "safer"? Or is it because he is "hoping for the best" ... WHILE, deep down, preparing for the worst? Despite how much time we spent in the current MC's head, it's interesting how little we actually know about him and how little he revealed about himself until the very end. Peak character writing!
Third, lil bro = Neanderthal (sorry if I spelled his name wrong!!). I adore non-romantic yanderes!! I'm not sure if this is how you intended him to be read, but I find it both tragic and gratifying that lil bro is so obsessed with big bro for the same reasons as Leon, Vincent, and Reme. The fact that OG MC is so eager to be the emotional crutch for others - including those who clearly need guidance more than indulgence (lil bro because he practically raised him, the other three because they are clearly mentally unwell) - means that something like this is bound to happen at some point. No shade to OG MC - again, I find him a fascinating character - but it's obvious that he's not up to the roles he's so eagerly taken on. He isn't and shouldn't seek to be a parent or a therapist. Given how dysfunctional their relationship is, I feel that lil bro's actions have been very well built up in this subtle yet powerful way, despite how "sudden" the twist may seem.
Fourth, Reme! I was, frankly, a bit bummed when I found out that Reme was an LI in "OG" game but no longer one in "ours", and I essentially chalked it up to this being a BxB game. I was VERY pleasantly surprised by her character in Side-B. I love her when she was this stoic kuu without dere, and I love her when she has been forced to feel guilt as a result of lil bro's wish. A well-written female character in BxB games (and, similarly, a well-written male character in GxG games) are, in my mind, oftentimes hallmarks of a well-written game in general.
Last but not least, the ambiguity surrounding Side-B itself. I feel like Side-B follows the timeline/universe where we've raised too many suspicion points. BUT I also feel that we can read it as following any universe as long as we've finished Part 3. Since the current MC will commit suicide in all timelines, the final conversation between Teddy and lil Bro will always take place ... so lil Bro will always decide to seek out the "killers" of OG MC and make them pay? I might be letting my imagination run too wild - since both Leon and Vincent keep their original look in Side-B's ending - but I think this reading makes the "Good Ends" that much more chilling. Imagine lil brother hiding just around the corner, relieved that you two made his job so much easier by coming together ... However, IF this interpretation is wrong and the "Good Ends" are really good ends where the current MC and LI survive, it's interesting to speculate what lil Bro's final wish would have been in that case.
All in all, absolutely great game. I've thoroughly enjoyed the ride - thank you so much for making this!!
I love this game! its long and so interesting,, i just finished getting all the endings and im really interested in the true ending and the "good ending" with newbie and mc. were we the yandere all along?! this was fun!!
i finished the game, its very unusual and interesting, i need more yandere bl games, hehe, thank you so much! but i have a question, i wonder if anyone has answers? SPOILERS AHEAD
so i didnt really understand what happened between MC and coworker, like we saw some car accident, and i'm not sure who got hit - MC or coworker? or that accident never happened? also, right before the accident MC said he saw coworker crossing the road WITH someone, i assume it was that doctor he fell in love with? so was the doctor also there during the accident, or no? but that doc couldn't be there, because coworker only met him AFTER the accident, and fell in love with him, and that's why our MC got mad and jealous? and did that moment really happen, when coworker cried in the hospital holding MC's hand, and begged him to come back? or was it just MC's fever dream?
I THINK SO TOO! because in the B-side when you have a ton of suspicion points lil bro blames us for killing his bro.. which might eb newbie because we see him in a car crash!
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Good lord. I did NOT expect where this was going. I almost dropped the game during Part 1 + 2 (definitely not because I couldn't figure out how to get into Part 3 on my own and thought this was the full game ...) Thank goodness I looked at the guide!
---Heavy spoiler---
What more can I say except how brilliantly you have executed the twists! It's absolutely clear how much effort you've put into this, and your love shines through every single tiny detail. I have binged the game through the night and it's almost dawn so I'll just ramble my thoughts and hope that they make sense.
First off, I absolutely cannot believe that my favorite characters aren't the two yandere LIs but our two MCs! Yes, both of them! It amazes me how much you manage to construct and deconstruct the character of OG MC in one breath, despite "us" not ever directly meeting him. It's clear that he is this sort of self-sacrificing saint-like
stereotypicalMC, which is why he can attract the OG yanderes in the first place - and why, realistically, he will never survive from his encounters with them. In a way, he IS asking for this. The urge for self-sacrifice and the urge for self-destruction are two sides of the same coin: OG MC's rushing towards and embracing kid Leon despite the dude literally beating others (and probably OG MC himself) again and again, his consoling Vincent despite their family's bad blood and his unpleasant first meeting with kid Vincent, his wishing to "light up" Reme's empty eyes despite her coldness ... None of this is, frankly, healthy, which is probably why he attracts unhealthy people like a blazing lamp attracts moths in the middle of the night. OG MC himself will never have survived without someone else literally hijacking his body and replacing his soul.Secondly, building upon the previous point: OG MC cannot survive BECAUSE he is such a saint. Perhaps current MC can survive BECAUSE he is not quite a saint? I adore the current MC's seemingly "normal"-sounding inner rants, but I do think that the hints of his being a yandere all along are long present. One thing I never quite liked about transmigration novels is precisely how, frankly, jerkass-ish (if not dehumanizing) the MC treats the rest of the cast. More well-written novels will explore, or at least mention, the MC's struggle between seeing the rest of the characters as NPCs vs. "real" beings, but most of them don't. The tarot card reading essentially nails this part: Current MC has been nothing but manipulative towards everyone around him, and he feels only minimal attachment towards these "game characters". Of course, minimal != none, but when push comes to shove, he will choose himself without a blink. That said, you absolutely struck the perfect balance between current MC's more manipulative tendencies (i.e. stringing both LIs along) and his more genuine attachments. I LOVE the detail that we can only reach Bad Ends 3 - all in Part 3 - without dying once. I was quite appalled at first when MC nonchalantly sent lil bro to the LI whom he rejected. It is pretty cowardly and frankly insulting to not even show up in-peron to explain, but even more egregiously, WHAT DOES HE EXPECT TO HAPPEN? These psychos have been happy to commit homicide when his affection point was much lower and when he had never agreed to a date! ... Then I remember that MC has NOT experienced any deaths in this run, and therefore he might not make the leap so quickly. BUT then this begs another question: If he doesn't expect the LI to commit murder, why doesn't he go himself? Is it because he hasn't seen lil bro killed "in-game" but OG MC killed multiple times, so he thinks sending lil bro will be "safer"? Or is it because he is "hoping for the best" ... WHILE, deep down, preparing for the worst? Despite how much time we spent in the current MC's head, it's interesting how little we actually know about him and how little he revealed about himself until the very end. Peak character writing!
Third, lil bro = Neanderthal (sorry if I spelled his name wrong!!). I adore non-romantic yanderes!! I'm not sure if this is how you intended him to be read, but I find it both tragic and gratifying that lil bro is so obsessed with big bro for the same reasons as Leon, Vincent, and Reme. The fact that OG MC is so eager to be the emotional crutch for others - including those who clearly need guidance more than indulgence (lil bro because he practically raised him, the other three because they are clearly mentally unwell) - means that something like this is bound to happen at some point. No shade to OG MC - again, I find him a fascinating character - but it's obvious that he's not up to the roles he's so eagerly taken on. He isn't and shouldn't seek to be a parent or a therapist. Given how dysfunctional their relationship is, I feel that lil bro's actions have been very well built up in this subtle yet powerful way, despite how "sudden" the twist may seem.
Fourth, Reme! I was, frankly, a bit bummed when I found out that Reme was an LI in "OG" game but no longer one in "ours", and I essentially chalked it up to this being a BxB game. I was VERY pleasantly surprised by her character in Side-B. I love her when she was this stoic kuu without dere, and I love her when she has been forced to feel guilt as a result of lil bro's wish. A well-written female character in BxB games (and, similarly, a well-written male character in GxG games) are, in my mind, oftentimes hallmarks of a well-written game in general.
Last but not least, the ambiguity surrounding Side-B itself. I feel like Side-B follows the timeline/universe where we've raised too many suspicion points. BUT I also feel that we can read it as following any universe as long as we've finished Part 3. Since the current MC will commit suicide in all timelines, the final conversation between Teddy and lil Bro will always take place ... so lil Bro will always decide to seek out the "killers" of OG MC and make them pay? I might be letting my imagination run too wild - since both Leon and Vincent keep their original look in Side-B's ending - but I think this reading makes the "Good Ends" that much more chilling. Imagine lil brother hiding just around the corner, relieved that you two made his job so much easier by coming together ... However, IF this interpretation is wrong and the "Good Ends" are really good ends where the current MC and LI survive, it's interesting to speculate what lil Bro's final wish would have been in that case.
All in all, absolutely great game. I've thoroughly enjoyed the ride - thank you so much for making this!!
well that was traumatic
I love this game! its long and so interesting,, i just finished getting all the endings and im really interested in the true ending and the "good ending" with newbie and mc. were we the yandere all along?! this was fun!!
i finished the game, its very unusual and interesting, i need more yandere bl games, hehe, thank you so much!
but i have a question, i wonder if anyone has answers? SPOILERS AHEAD
so i didnt really understand what happened between MC and coworker, like we saw some car accident, and i'm not sure who got hit - MC or coworker? or that accident never happened? also, right before the accident MC said he saw coworker crossing the road WITH someone, i assume it was that doctor he fell in love with? so was the doctor also there during the accident, or no? but that doc couldn't be there, because coworker only met him AFTER the accident, and fell in love with him, and that's why our MC got mad and jealous? and did that moment really happen, when coworker cried in the hospital holding MC's hand, and begged him to come back? or was it just MC's fever dream?
PEAKKKKKKKKKKK spoilers below;
lil bro and the newbie(mc's crush) kinda look similar the color of eyes and hair is it a coincidince or something else is going on
I THINK SO TOO! because in the B-side when you have a ton of suspicion points lil bro blames us for killing his bro.. which might eb newbie because we see him in a car crash!
eek- the screaming of the MC is soo loud and long- QAQ
btw anyone knows what the cheat code is?
The cheat codes can be found here: https://pumpkin-spike.itch.io/stuck-in-a-yandere-visual-novel-help/devlog/733700...
What OS are you using? Ren'py games sometimes flag the system cause they're indie games. It's up to you if you wish to take my word on that it's safe.
thanks
I just finish the game and It was sooo good
Not so proud to say i finished it 100% in a day bro 💔