I'm still busy with various things so I can't put my full attention towards the community or VNs in general just yet. I have however been on a week long trip recently which means I was finally able to relax and take a moment to spend at least some time on that.

My first priority was playing through the first (well, zeroth) episode of of the Devil. It was pretty great - writing is snappy and enjoyable, visuals simple but unique and the music is bopping (even if it can get a little repetitive by the end). I also really like the gameplay elements. They're simple but work as a neat way to spice up the experience and nudge player's attention towards things that could be chalked up as background lore.

What I wasn't immediately sold on was the epilogue. The twist was fine - it wasn't particularly surprising but I also don't feel super strong about it in any way, negative or positive. What I was surprised by however is how milquetoast I felt about everything after solving the case. It's not that this part was necessarily bad, it simply failed to grip me the way the rest of the episode did. I have no idea why I feel that way, it's really strange.

I still want to continue with the rest of the episodes, more so than before in fact - I just hope their content will keep me strictly in the "main part mode".

Secondly, I also finished D1AL-ogue, the VA-11 Hall-A inspired cyberpunk technician game.

It has an interesting story, enjoyable characters and a simple progression loop (start the day, interact with 2 clients by talking and doing puzzles, go to sleep). Even though some of the writing (or more likely the English translation) didn't manage to reach the level of its inspiration it's still a fun read all the way through.

I mentioned it before but I really love the art in this one - it's a fantastic example of a classic style pixel art. For the most part anyway. There are some illustrations that look kinda funky but the stuff you spend most of your time with looks amazing and makes me want to work harder on my own pixel art skills. I'll find the time to do that one day...

Despite simple mechanics, gameplay holds up really well until the end. I actually wish there was an endless mode just to play around with randomised puzzles or something. It's kind of addicting once you get into it.

I've got nothing more to say about it right now to be honest. It's a great VN, especially for the low price of nothing at all. All that's left is to wait for the expanded version. Devs were actually planning a crowdfunding campaign for that but according to their new update post they managed to find a publisher instead - good for them.