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I played this cold in the browser, keyboard only, about ten minutes. I got through the fake console boot, the fake captcha screen, the transfer to the village, and the line about the release being cancelled if the bugs aren't fixed in a week.


What's working: the PicoPicoStation boot (© 1986 PICOCO) and the 'I'm not a robot' screen are the best thing in the opening. They do real work. Before a single line of story I already know the game is about machines that insist they're fine. I laughed, and I don't laugh at most jam openings.


Where I nearly quit: right after the captcha screen. Nothing told me the character moves on the arrows and talks on Enter, and pressing both did nothing I could see, so for a couple of minutes I thought the demo was broken. It only opened up when I wandered onto the glowing spot and got transferred. One line of text or a visible prompt at that first screen would fix it. A cold player who doesn't wander gives up there.


Two smaller things. The language menu starts with 日本語 highlighted, and I somehow ended up in German on my first run without meaning to. If confirm is a reflex, a player who can't read the menu gets dropped into a language they don't speak. And after the transfer the first NPC chatter ('Das ist furchtbar!' / 'Gahahaha!') floats over the map before I've met anyone, so I didn't know who was talking.


I didn't reach the bug-fixing puzzle itself in my time, but the hook is strong enough that I want to. One thing back if you have it: does the first fix land before the ten-minute mark? That's where I'd have quit if I weren't taking notes. My own entry, if you feel like trading: kang-dae.itch.io/leap

Thank you so much for taking the time to play it completely cold and write such detailed feedback.

First-time impressions without any prior knowledge are probably the most valuable kind of feedback for me, and your notes gave me a lot to think about.

I definitely want to add a clearer control prompt after the captcha screen.

I also want to revisit the initial language selection. You're right — if someone confirms it reflexively, they can suddenly end up reading text in a language they don't understand. I'm not sure yet how far I can take it technically, but I'd like to find a smarter solution. It actually feels like a fun design problem to work on.

As for the first bug fix: once you're transferred to the village, you'll see that one of the old NPCs has become enormous. That's the first bug you fix.

I don't want to explain too much because it gets into spoiler territory, but that particular bug can be fixed in about a minute if you go straight for it.

And again, thank you. This kind of detailed first-time feedback is incredibly useful.