Well damn, someone played Echo. I jest - this had plenty going for it on its own right, even if there were some noticeable similarities.
First outright spooky VN I've played this jam. If there's anything I've found over the last few years, it's that nobody does slow-burn horror better than gay furries (for some reason), and this is another one to add to that esteemed collection.
Spoilers from this point forward.
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Implementation of Theme:
If I'm reading it correctly, it's not exactly subtle; "You helped me see the light"; "you're the light of my life". Xander is the light which brought Julian out of the darkness of being a literal monster. I like this take for two reasons:
1) it's twisting "a light in the dark" from something positive, even if it's in the context of a bad situation, to something only positive for one character and disturbing/unsettling for everyone else.
2) For what I assume is the "true" ending, the "light" encasing Julian is kind of unceremoniously snuffed out, bringing a fitting end to the character, and is quickly replaced by the light of the sunrise as Xander and the townsfolk are able to move forward.
It's good stuff. Works for me.
Story:
Hooked me right from the cold open and I thought most of the rest of the story was really well-paced, especially for a relatively compact jam entry. I thought the waxing poetic on how to begin stories bit was a little meh but it really picked back up from there, doing a great job of both setting up each of the characters in their "normal" state and dripping in the supernatural and spooky elements at a good rate.
I will say that I kinda wish you didn't give the option to leave after Julian's snap outside the car. I took the leave option first, assuming that this was going to be a short bad-end, like either Julian catches up and kills you or you pass out and die trying to cross miles of desert on foot while being a writer from San Diego. I was still contemplating a few directions the story might go, including whether Xander was somehow the villain (would've been wild if Julian was a serial killer and Xander was like, an even more prolific serial killer) but as soon as the "leave" option allowed Xander to escape the loop that kinda gave the game away for me and I was able to see most of what was coming after that.
With that said, almost everything about the Day 3 segment was great. The oppressive atmosphere, the visuals (the unhinged murder CGs god damn), and overall tension really sold it for me. Still not entirely sure what the mouse's deal was though? She's alive and interacting at the motel in real life, but she appears dead when the rest of the spirits come out? Did current Julian kill her that night?
Other complaint about the story was how the "true" ending wrapped up. Everything about Cody for me was just kinda "no". Like, man, you just saw your now ex get hanged because he disemboweled dudes and ripped their dicks off and stuff, and you seriously think now is the time to ask one of his other victims, that you literally just met, to come live with you? What? Why? I think this maybe could have worked if the last interaction we see with them is Xander just asking Cody if he wants to go up to Logan with him and leaving it at that. I get the desire to have a positive ending, but this felt a bit forced. (Also, neither here nor there, but if you're coming from SoCal there's pretty much no way you're getting to Logan without passing SLC so might I suggest to Xander just hanging out there? No? Never mind)
Presentation:
Really really good. The music in the cold open was a bit too dissonant for my taste but I know what you were trying to do and it didn't last very long so I don't really have a major complaint. Art here was phenomenal; haunting, tense, and all around spooky.
One minor thing I would point out is that the transition to the first sex scene felt a bit awkward. I know you were trying to replicate a smash cut, but I'm not sure it really worked in this medium.
Creativity:
So, Echo does not get like, undisputed reign over all horror stories taking place in the desert, but it did feel like there was a lot of overlap. Tiny western town with a weirdly high gay population; some sort of supernatural curse or other status effect looming over it; loop that prevents you from leaving during the event; child murder protagonist backstory; wolf boyfriend to death love interest; MC is a writer of some kind that uses the event as a premise for a work; inexplicably getting together with a random side character at the end, etc.
As I said in the opening, I think this VN does enough to stand out and still be wildly entertaining, but there were a few moments, whether directly related to Echo or other media, where I couldn't help but think "I've seen this movie before." I'm not really dinging you too much for it though - this project was still oozing creativity, especially in the art direction.
I give this 19 disemboweled foxes out of 5,454 bacon cheeseburger combos.