PAINPAL
- Hi ! We highly recommend downloading the game for a smooth and immersive experience,web versions often introduce lag ( the game works on mobile in WebGL.)
- This game was developed with a passionate team aiming to create a more dynamic visual novel experience than usual. (The whole thing in a week)
You lost everything. Your daughter, lost in an instant. Drowning in grief and alcohol, you were trapped in the past, until he came with an offer.
The Devil makes you an offer: sow enough despair, and he will bring her back.
Now, you have a choice. How far are you willing to go? How much suffering will you spread to rewrite the past?
There is no time to think. There is only forward.
- Grief, depression, non-graphic depiction of death and gore.
Team of the project
I would like to warmly thank all the artists who shared their work with us, whether directly or indirectly. The pride we feel in this game is thanks to their incredible contributions.
Here are the different links to find them:
- Base Ui template realized by __ess__ VN Assets
- Sprite used for the Devil by Amigaux_cllb
- Code for the inline tool by Naoimh Murchan
- Most of the game's backgrounds were made by みんちりえ
- Sprite of the main character and the devil suit version by jewel-s.jp
- The background of the laboratory produced by Nixxsz
- Background of the car by Spiral Atlas
- Some assets were sourced from Booth and other platforms, used under their respective licenses.
- Music credits
- Reminiscence: https://dova-s.jp/EN/bgm/play21068.html
- Witches’ tea party: https://dova-s.jp/EN/bgm/play21654.html
- Euphoria: https://dova-s.jp/EN/bgm/play20335.html
- Spining cat: https://dova-s.jp/EN/bgm/play20404.html
- On a starry night: https://dova-s.jp/EN/bgm/play20342.html
- Thank you: https://dova-s.jp/EN/bgm/play20453.html
Download
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Comments
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I played it!
Really fun game, I liked the timed part when you have to choose how you'll escape. I really enjoyed playing it, Good Job !
Thank you very much for this feedback, especially since without your work this game would not have had the same flavor!
Great work as usual Mimico (and co)! I do think I enjoyed this game a little less than your previous one, but I can still see the passion and effort and I know to respect that. (It might seem like a lot of negatives, but trust me, I enjoyed the game a lot. I just personally focus on ways something can be improved and that’s why it might seem like I’m trying to bash the game when I’m not.)
First what I liked:
1. The production quality is once again of a high level. There are a lot of visuals, the music fits well and the movement and animations use the engine to its fullest. I also love the title screen and UI designs.
2. The writing is clear, concise and with a proper pace. It’s very easy to get through the game and keeps you immersed in the experience.
3. The twist in the bad ending is very clever and well executed. I knew the devil was going to betray me (because, you know, he's the devil), but the precise act and its unnecessary cruelty surprised me in the best ways. At the same time, it doesn’t feel completely out of left field and clearly makes me feel like I got cheated and that I was an idiot for not seeing it coming. (Personally, I expected that I would trade my life for my daughter’s, so witnessing something so close to what I was expecting but much worse was horrifying in the best way)
4. The good ending was very nice to read (especially since I experienced that one last), even if I found it a little hard to believe that the main character simply got away. It’s nice to see the main character getting rewarded for doing the right thing after going through so much. It was exactly what I needed after so much misery.
Here's what didn't work as well for me:
1. The final test in the evil route isn't much of a choice. It makes sense that killing the man isn't an option in the good route, but not having it as an option for the bad one takes away the aspect of it being a choice. If the point is that it’s no longer a choice and that the main character just watches it all fall apart, then that could work, but then it should not have been a timed choice and there should have been some more description of how the main character feels a strong compulsion he can’t control (or something along those lines).
2. The choices during the zombie section are not always a matter of deliberately spreading despair but instead are about survival ethics and situational judgment. In some cases it’s almost impossible to know what the good (or evil) choice is. This is not a problem on its own and suits the setting, but it conflicts with the section’s main aim of spreading despair on purpose.
3. Having the scenarios take place in alternate timelines is great for creative freedom and prevents plot holes, but it does carry the risk of reducing the weight of these moral decisions. Personally, there were times where I’ve wondered if what was going on was even real instead of some hallucinogenic test of character. On top of that, it feels easier to ruin these people’s lives when you don’t have a history with any of them. This can work, but I’m not sure about it for the next reason.
4. The tone is generally light hearted but the situations are surprisingly serious. It’s a tough thing to balance and I’m honestly not sure how I would do it differently, but I was left feeling like there was a disconnect between the grave situations the main character finds himself in on the one hand and the casual banter and gamey aspects on the other. Combined with the previous point and the more serious tone towards the end, this makes it hard to know how you’re supposed to feel about what’s going on. Another part of this might be that the evil deeds are not quite ridiculous or petty enough to be funny, but I’m not sure if changing that would fix it.
I think most of these problems could be remedied by addressing the final point below, though:
5. I think you might have prioritized the quantity of situations over their quality, but this could also be personal preference. I think it might have worked better to see just how much you can and are willing to ruin the life of one single person in exchange for your daughter. This might also make the comedic angle easier since there’s going to be a point where the amount of suffering one person goes through just becomes ridiculous. Imagine subsequently getting fired, broken up with, evicted, run over, run over again just because, having one of your shoes stolen, etc. If you do this, you might also get more of that feeling of having reached a point of no return and that stopping now would make everything pointless. I think this might also be why I liked The Hidden Gift more; it was more personal, even in its sub-stories.
You can’t change that now, of course, but it might be something to consider for the future. I understand that your preferred kind of story is one consisting of smaller ones (in this one, as with The Hidden Gift), but it could be worth thinking about the degree of emotional investment from the reader for your next project. Then again, just because the rapid fire decisions didn’t work for me doesn’t mean they won’t for anyone else.
And just to reiterate: you really did a good job! I’m simply hoping to provide a different perspective and I can only encourage you to keep making these games. As a final comment, here are two technical bugs I encountered:
1. The coin counter stays the same after loading or rolling back a decision. I imagine that probably wasn’t intended.
2. I let the timer run out during the final choice and it took me back to the zombies.
Hello! Hope you're doing well!
First of all, thank you for taking the time to test the game and write such a detailed and precise review. I know that takes time, and I really respect that—I truly appreciate it.
I'm glad you had a good time, and I totally agree with you—there's definitely room for improvement!
Regarding your points
1️⃣ Ending System_We simplified the ending for production reasons (we only had a week). Originally, we wanted a system where if the player had a medium number of coins, they could choose their ending, but if they had too many, they would automatically get the bad ending, and if they had very few, they’d get the good ending. We even considered a special ending for collecting zero coins!
2️⃣ Descriptions & Emotion_I understand your point about the lack of descriptions to deepen the character’s emotions. Since this jam’s audience isn’t used to visual novels, we intentionally kept the text minimal to avoid overwhelming players. But as a VN player myself, I also feel that more descriptions would have made the experience more immersive!
3️⃣ Choice Clarity_You're right—sometimes, it's obvious which choices will spread despair, and sometimes, it's not. I thought mixing both approaches would create some surprises while still giving the player free will to spread misery or not. But I see what you mean—it can make the system feel inconsistent.
4️⃣ Lack of Emotional Attachment_I completely agree. The problem with using multiple universes is that players don’t get attached to the characters, making the moral choices feel less impactful. This is a shame because the game is supposed to make players question their morality. I’ll definitely take this into account for future projects!
5️⃣ Comedy vs. Seriousness_This is an interesting point—it raises the question of whether comedy and serious tones can blend together. I think they can, but in this case, it might be too 50/50 instead of having a dominant tone with subtle elements of the other. (It’s something we often see in theater, where heavy messages are hidden within comedies.)
6️⃣ Linear vs. Interactive Gameplay_You're absolutely right. I was worried that VN players are rare in a generalist jam, so I feared that if the game was too linear, people would lose interest. That’s why I decided to include more coin-related situations, but it’s true that this came at the cost of quality and emotional impact. Your suggestion is really interesting, and I’ll definitely share it with the team. The idea that suffering can become so extreme that it turns absurd is a great direction to explore. (While still creating a real dilemma of "Might as well finish what we started...")
Thank you also for the bug reports—I’ll make sure to note them down and fix them!
Also, I just noticed the bug that sometimes appears at the end. There shouldn't be any timed choices at the end of the story; they only occur during the zombie event.
You're absolutely right, I need to work more on emotional attachment, whether through the art, design, or writing. In this jam, I limited the word count for my team, fearing that non-VN players would lose interest. But as a result, we probably disappointed the ones who were actually here for the story.
We might actually submit this game to the NaNoRenO jam, since we created it during that period! So, we may make some changes before then.
To wrap this up, I just want to sincerely thank you for your honesty and for taking the time to play and give such in-depth feedback. That’s incredibly valuable, and it's the only way we can improve.
Thanks again, and I hope you’ll enjoy our future games even more!
You only had a week? That makes it even more impressive! Given that time frame it all makes a lot more sense and I can see why you had to make certain choices (and more importantly, needed to stick to them so you wouldn’t lose progress).
Regarding the issue of the different audience, you could be right. I’ve had a look at the jam comments and they all seem positive so you probably made the right call there. Of course you can’t know how they would have responded if it had leaned more into the VN side, but it’s safe to say they enjoyed it the way it is. So if you were to submit it again for NaNoReNo, perhaps it would make sense to have two versions (still on this same page, of course, but with an additional file).
I’ll be sure to have a look again if you do submit it for NaNoReNo because I'm curious what you'll change and what you'll keep. Not sure if I’ll comment since you already have my feedback and I might not be able to say anything new, but I’ll see.
Yes, in the case of Nanoreno, I think we’ll be less afraid to take the time to explain certain elements in more detail while still keeping a dynamic pace!
Yes, it’s a good idea to make two versions, even though I think the Nanoreno version will be the final one, as I prefer having a deeper story—just like you do as well.
Thank you, that’s really kind of you to offer to give feedback again! But please don’t feel obligated at all, what you’ve already done is already incredibly generous.😊
good game with a scary environment ! i loved it . you wonder until the end what is going to happen to you !
Thanks a lot! Really happy you loved it! 😊 I’m glad the suspense kept you wondering until the end!