Number three, Hidden Gems, Hidden Secrets - ~~~
Positives
To begin, the design of this game is very unique and I enjoyed that original feel to it.
The chat function is something that I haven’t seen used very often in games and so I liked extracting the story from that type of format. And on that topic, the creators did a wonderful job at making it feel like a real discord chat. Characters responded at normal times or took longer to write if they wanted to send a bigger paragraph.
I’m a slow-ish reader meaning that I purposely read games aloud in order to get exactly what the author wants to portray. So, for me, it was kind of the perfect pace. But for those that read mentally and quickly, the pacing was probably a tad too slow.
The writing was great, the message was clear, and the people felt real, making each character show an effective, unique spin on what happened to them even though it was a joint experience.
Corn is that perfect strike between a genuinely nice person and a “too nice” person. This makes it more likely that younger characters would continue to put up with him even after he eventually delves into harassing them. In the real world, sudden changes like these sometimes make victims wonder if they were overreacting or possibly said something to elicit a sexual response from a person they once considered to be a close friend. This is especially true if the predator was “nice in the beginning” instead of a creep from the start. That was tactful and I enjoyed that.
The switch between perspectives was also very cool and you can see the rabbit hole get deeper and deeper as it’s finally revealed that Corn has made passes at nearly all of the biological women in the group and that gnawing feeling of disgust and surprise continues to grow.
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Plot Deconstruction
There are about seven people in a Discord Chat for a club called “The Hidden Treasures Of Poetry.” They have all moved from an old forum which was previously a mailing list in order to grow the amount of members in their group. The notes they share amongst themselves seem innocent and playful, each of the characters clearly having a close and strong relationship with one another. However, when Erica goes to the general chat to discuss something that has been weighing on her mind, news strikes that Cornelius (Corn), who was the original creator of the group, has been involved in a car crash and was now in urgent care. The group is noticeably surprised and caught off guard, but as Erica still insists to share her message, it seems that there is more to Corn than they had originally thought. Going through the game, it seems that Cornelius was a serial predator sending unsolicited pictures to women and minors in an attempt to groom them. More and more people come forward and by the end, everyone is left wondering whether they should dissolve the group. They decide to leave and from there the story ends.
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My Questions/Notes
Here are some random thoughts that arose during my playthrough
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I like the format, and the characters right now are very engaging.
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Corn was in a car crash??
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I can relate to having a small group of friends come together to participate in fun, intellectual, discussions.
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So Corn is the power abuser…
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Did something happen to August in the past?
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Criticisms
In the beginning, the background music was a little bit too discomforting for me so I turned it off. Plus, the ending was a little too abrupt. When Corn mentions in his email that he did things to August that he regrets, possibly alluding to SA, we don’t see that explored much when we switch to August’s perspective, instead leaving the player to guess what happened. A vague approach is a valid way to end a game, but for such a clear-cut story, I think that a determined answer would have worked well. I also would have liked to see a return of Corn coming back to an empty channel (from most of the characters leaving the group) Maybe even a fade-to-black as Corn is typing would have made the ending more satisfying to me.
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Overall Impression
Pretty Good! The themes were cool and it was a very engaging story.