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Welcome, and thanks for submitting your game!

I'm usually not a super huge fan of first person but I thought the delivery method of the story fit it surprisingly well. I thought the twist landed quite well, and since the story is so short I found myself caught in the whirlwind of it rather than guessing what was going on. That's a plus to your writing, for sure.

A few accessibility suggestions:

  • I found myself wanting to go back a page to re-read something, and since the game only allows going forward, I did miss a bit of the story. I'm one of those readers that likes to jump forwards and backwards a bit. I ended up having to restart the story to read it again, which wasn't my favourite. Perhaps adding a way to go forwards/backwards could help with this? Not everyone's a straight-forward, linear reader.
  • Since it's a game, I felt the experience could benefit from a little audio stimulation, even if just a little bit. I created a horror text game (which you might find some inspiration) that was mostly a text-based story. But audio played a huge role in establishing the immersion and suspense aspects of the story. This will increase your 8KB size, but I'm wondering what role being 8KB is playing as a design pillar for you?

Overall, I thought this was a great story; you've clearly got a good handle on writing stories that make you want to keep reading until the end. A little sound and support for non-linear readers would take this to the next level!

Thank you so much for playing and for taking the time to leave such a detailed review! I'm really glad you enjoyed the writing and that the twist landed well, especially since first-person isn't usually your preferred style. Knowing that the pacing kept you hooked until the end is great to hear.

I wanted to share a bit of the behind-the-scenes and the design choices that shaped the project:

• The 8KB limit and style: For this game, the 8KB threshold is a personal design challenge and a non-negotiable technical constraint I set for myself. Alongside the main Instagram GIF inspiration I mentioned before, the game is also heavily inspired by erika_hg's One for Sorrow, Two for Joy. I aimed for a short, strictly linear text narrative with a clean 2-bit visual aesthetic.

• Audio and the back button: The lack of music and the forward-only navigation are structural choices driven by both that minimalist vision and the strict file size limit. Every single byte counts, and adding audio or a history system to allow reading backwards would inevitably push the file size past my 8KB target.

• Keyboard navigation: I actually tried to implement keyboard arrows to let players move forward through the text, but the software simply wouldn't respond to the input, so I had to cut that feature out entirely.

I will definitely keep your notes on accessibility and sound design in mind for future projects where I won't have these rigid space constraints.

Thanks again for your time and for the thoughtful feedback!