and then played a game where anything we did didn’t work
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Day 2 of Z.A.T.O.: Continuation of suffering.
- Good news: At least Asya appears to have some form of subconscious that isn’t completely
stupidunaware of her situation. - Day 2 of [I want to kill Asya]. “I am not nice. I am a hypocrite (on the inside), but since your words were spoken with honesty, the least I can do is express my gratitude.” WTF is that if not kindness? Humility? Naiveté? Stupidity? This girl is so fragile that I just want to get rid of her already and move on with the not-so-normal village(?) they live in.
- First scare of the game: Change of perception. “That wasn’t like that literally a couple seconds ago.”
- …WTF happened on December 21st? Out of nowhere: Reality alteration ts.
- Damn. I know Asya was crazy for always being forgiving, but now I genuinely think she has to die for that world’s sake.
- [. . .]. OH WAIT. I forgot who made this game! Of course supernatural elements is subpar; this is the one who created PAFL! I just… didn’t think… that I would be forced to see through this world through the eyes of a crackhead.
- “It worked?” …I feel like that’s a reality bending murmur. Something like Steins;Gate.
- I’m getting quite concerned. If games were to go by their CG scenes, then I’ve just reached the mid-way point. However… from a narrative POV, I feel like I’m nowhere near the midpoint. More like, at the 20% ~ 30% mark? Is this VN planned to have a sequel?
- Ngh… POV changes… Somehow, it makes me feel nauseous despite there being no elements that ought to cause nausea. Did I seriously get so much used to seeing the world from the crackhead’s POV, that once I see the world from the missing person’s POV, I suddenly get a mild headache?
- …why is there a skip button that doesn’t work? Is this game meant to be played multiple times?
- …it has become creepy, this game. I still won’t forgive it for the BS that I saw in Episode 0 and Episode 1, but it finally, finally is showing me a good scary story.
- Oh dang. This game actually has (at least) three episodes.
- [. . .]. Y’know, I did say “Schrödinger’s Call was a game about coping with dementia”, but I didn’t think I’d face the same theme / genre in Z.A.T.O. again.
[Total play time: 4.7 hours.]
Welp… I finished the game. It is… less of a suffering, starting from the middle, towards the end. Still hate the beginning with a lot of passion though. Still don’t like the protagonist either, despite her kind personality. Or rather, it is because of her kind personality. I hate how -when it comes to craziness- I can empathize with Asya, to a certain degree. The plot twist at the very end was also amazing, even though it let more to be desired.
. . .
IDK. It was a good* story, but at the same time I didn’t like it either. (Quality of stories are subjective anyway.) I cannot deny the effort spent into this game / storytelling. Yet, as much as I appreciate the amount of effort put into this game, I cannot find myself liking the story I have read. Because… a core aspect / goal of the story / world, revealed in the middle section, is return to nothing. Every interaction, every bullying, every mischief, every rumors, every concern, every shock, every despair; they all just get washed away by the world itself. The only thing that remained, is the unconditional love of a girl who no longer remember anything besides her love towards the world (and a girl who was no longer present in said world).
It’s like The Boy and the Heron (2023) all over again, except there is one change actually made to the world, and the protagonist’s fate is different. Maki gets to live, albeit having fully forgotten about his adventures (which ended up being irrelevant to his future), whereas Asya kept losing her memories, until she herself also disappeared, leaving only her message behind.
It’s like… This story is like reading a POV of the origin of a Safe-class anomaly -caused by a Keter-class anomaly- in an SCP world. Yeah. That about sums up everything, to be honest.
On the bright side, I learned that Russian Morse Code exists.
(As if the Japanese Wabun Code wasn’t enough…)
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relatable
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Hrllo
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min
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Heartwarming: sad girl escapes her nightmare dimension by himejoshing out over her sister
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this gotta be truth or consequence bruh
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thats in new mexico bruh
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ive wanted to go there for a bit now but didnt have time the last time i was in new mexico
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no it’s not she’s just saying it
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please don’t let my game let you leave a layer of doubt over everyone else’s messages
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what
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for sowelis sake i am allowing your game to do just that
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is it for soweli’s sake?
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very much so
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fascinating. so that’s what you think.
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i played a game about being lost in space a bit ago
it was okay
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people really get inspired by the ‘hope penetrates everything’ philosophy, don’t they
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i keep getting the oddest craving of curry like once a month and it’s really weird
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