First act. I liked the fear and uncertainty that comes from the color scheme allowing the abuser to hide. Not sure I like how
the abuser is always abusive, you're always running. Never a time when the abuser is present but not currently hostile, when you're afraid of setting it off. Feels a bit reductive, playing into myths about abuse?Second act didn't completely work for me.
Rushed through it the first time, so I didn't realize there wasn't even an abuser there. Like, I acted as if it were still there, which I think is what you wanted to evoke, but I didn't get that sense of realization that lingering fear affected my actions until a second play.Third act:
I liked the moment of discovery that you use the second stick to control the abuser (or the fear that the player character will grow into an abuser?). Realization that it could be easy to slip into this alternate control scheme that isn't that different from the original one. Difficulty was high, didn't feel too motivated to role play an abuser. Took a while to figure out where you hid the quit game button once the game looped. These things alone don't necessarily help a game get played: gamepad requirement, non-representative screenshot, heavy theme without clear, outward assurances that you're treating it with respect. (Although if you didn't get any feedback here,
you'd still be in good company!)
As an aside, the gamepad requirement might not be totally necessary if you use sound/screenshake to replace rumble, although the
use of the second stick to denote a altered player character might be harder to simulate. Maybe
ask the player to use WASD or arrows at the start, keep to one, then switch to the other in the third act? Or maybe use arrows and mouse as the two control schemes?
Developer
