I played the game in several sessions, so I kept writing down some thoughts about the story as I went. Up until the first meat challenge, here’s what I had written down:

The idea of using the villain, especially his voice, as the narrator isn’t a lack of characters at all. It’s a gamble with the audience, and it really pays off. Genius naming choice! Every family member has a name starting with R, and they sound so damn good in Chef Vordalak’s voice. A mother telling her kid that once they turn 18, they can decide whether they want to shit in the street is exactly the kind of humor that makes this game worth playing :)) And there are way too many other jokes to mention them all. To put it in Chef Vordalak’s words, but with a little twist: tell stories with humor, humor is what makes a visual novel good. That chef is cynical as hell after the first test, but once I heard about the meat challenge I started getting genuinely worried about where the story was going.

Once I realized what had happened to the dog, I just played on to finish the story. It was way too horrifying and shocking for me. By the end, I honestly don’t even know what to say. But seriously, for all the work you put into this, this is genuinely a horror story...

Some of the cleverest writing and BEST voice acting delivery I've experienced in a game before. As a person who unfortunately exists within the horrors of everyday capitalism, this story is a bit TOO relatable. The animations and framing from scene to scene were always so on point. I felt I couldn't stop playing  (which is also a bit horrifying) and the pacing kept me constantly engaged.

I don't want to spoil anything for anyone but I was impressed over and over with how far you went and the mixed media you used in the process.

Congrats on creating an almost too perfect mirror of the current state of our most wonderful economic system.

Heck yeah. I love me some horror with a message and dark irony. Not only does this one say a lot about the toxicity of the workplace, but I also found certain lines from Russet and Vordalak really nailed an unsettling, gaslighty vibe. Vordalak's voice actor really knocked it out of the park with very charismatic narration, and Rosey's voice actress also did an excellent job with the emotional scenes near the end. 

I do feel that a couple scenes could be paced a little tighter (it's definitely important to build positive feelings with the family, but I'm not in love with repeat poop jokes haha). 

The art style also works more effectively for the later, monstrous imagery than it does for the normal family sprites, imo. (For example, some of the expressions for the family are a bit flat and static, and their skin doesn't have much contrast with the background in some shots in the dining room.) However-- a couple artistic moments did stick out to me as really successful. I loved the moment where the table symbolically grows longer between Russet and Rosey, and it's awesome you were able to fully animate the dog's walk cycle early on. I liked how a certain character's appearance changed over time almost like they were becoming more and more like Chef Vordalak in both ideology and appearance. The last few shots of Rosey were pretty harrowing. 

As a heads up, any time I accidentally right-clicked, I would get a Renpy error (easy to rollback from, though.) Also, after the game finished, it randomly stuck me back into an earlier scene instead of playing credits or going back to main menu.

 Overall though, great work! 

The game serves as a reminder of how easy it is to lose one’s humanity in the relentless pursuit of success—and of just how inhumane the world we live in can be.

Chef Vordalak’s voice acting was superb, and his characterization was equally impressive. His charisma kept me engaged throughout the game.

A Taste of Success is a visual novel that blends several kinds of horror, including domestic horror, body horror, psychological horror, and monster horror. The game has an oppressive atmosphere that comes through clearly in both the dialogue and the artwork.

The music and sound design were well chosen, and the voice acting was enjoyable throughout. I didn’t encounter any major technical issues during my playthrough. The only minor problem was that, on a few occasions, a single click caused several lines of text to skip ahead at once. Scrolling back with the mouse wheel allowed me to return to the right place.

Thank you to the creators for the game! I wish you every success with your future projects.

The game is genuinely disturbing and frightening, leaving you with a heavy feeling long after it ends

it's so good, amazing even, the art style compliments the story so well. Its well written and uses a trope in a fresh new way, i think horror is at its best when its political, when it has meaningful social critiques, when it bridges the gap between ordinary life and horrifying cenarios or when it shows the more animal, brutal or unhinged side of the humans, and you folks did all that, congrats on your work.

Before I even played this vn I had it downloaded and sitting in my files for a couple days bc I was a bit scared to start it lol The screenshots/art style of the game page alone was enough to unsettle me before I could even get into it properly. Voice acting was all amazing, Chef Vordalak was especially creepy and well written. :) 

Great job with this one! :p