"Dear Me, I was..." just released! I played it because I'm a fan of Taisuke Kanasaki's works. Another Code and Hotel Dusk are really good games, after all! (I really need to finish playing Recollection...)
The game is an experience which I'd recommend to everyone, but honestly, cannot due to the fact it'll probably resonate only with people that love slice-of-life stories, ...and, honestly, people that create things, no matter what they'd be! It was presented as a Budget title, which definitely have been missing from big editors in recent years. These titles usually are shorter experiences, but that provide unique ideas due to them not needing to commit that hard to it, lol. If you're thinking about making a 30-hour long linear story visual novel game, you can't really present it like "Dear Me, I was..." does. An entirely mute experience, that is only conveyed through visuals and song. The "game" part honestly added nothing for me. I bought it wondering how they'd make a game out of the premise, and, well, they didn't LOL but that's perfectly fine! It's just, not a game. No winning nor losing conditions.
It's just a cozy experience, which in fact, as the developpers said, made me smile at the end :) I didn't expect them to do some things, and yet! they did! I really, really enjoyed the visual style, how the story was conveyed, even if I feel like it's a bit too short, or deserved to spend some more time explaining a few things, like some text messages or something, i don't know...
Like, um. I didn't fully understand why she was mad and stopped talking to her friend. I thought she'd actually grow up with her, and seeing her literally GONE from her life right until the end didn't make much sense to me? i really liked how the final scene was live-action footage. Unexpected but really cool choice!! Also, showing the shellfish we picked... gosh, that's good.
Also, she lives in room 215... makes me think we're getting a remake of hotel dusk :333
Overall, should you pay 8 bucks for this? ...Um, I don't know! I'd say it was worth it to me because I just, kinda want to support creative works like these. But also? Would I have enjoyed just watching a longplay online? yeah! definitely! when making games like these you do have to put something that makes the player feel connected, like what they're doing matters. And honestly, there's nothing like this here.
BUT!! great experience nonetheless :)