Delicious FruitI Wanna Escape Into My Mind
Creator: Jane_Chef
Download Game
Tags:
Adventure (15) Needle (1) Avoidance (2) Gimmick (12) Boss (14) Special (5) Long (4) Art (6) Sudoku (2) FangameMarathon (3) SourPls (1) Plot (1) Wacky (1) Post-Sudoku (1) Cycle (1) FM_2023 (2) Is_Lesbian_Allowed_As_A_Tag? (1) Lesbian (4) Lesbian_Seems_To_Be_Allowed (1) sapphic (1) medley_but_epic (1) wantcore (1) transgender (1)Screenshots
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by DomGamer
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by Gaphodil
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by iouhoh
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by Gaphodil
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by Gaphodil
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by Gaphodil
63 Reviews:
romrom4444
this game's a blast, the art and soundtrack go off as well
[4] Likes
Rating: 9.2 92
Difficulty: 50 50
Jul 19, 2023
MrDobryiKot
Give me the address of you dealer, please.
[4] Likes
Rating: 10.0 100
Difficulty: N/A
Jul 19, 2023
Natsu
A very fun adventure game with design that keeps introducing new mechanics and ideas that flow very well despite how unconventional some of them are. It's a great time, I loved the bosses especially and I felt that the game has a very good pace. The saves are all quite fast to play through, it feels like a lot of care was placed into all of the cycles and platforming to make it feel very smooth and intuitive to play.
The music is admittedly not to my tastes mostly but the aesthetic of the game is unique and well defined, and I absolutely loved all of the art and animations. The final boss in particular was a strong highlight for this. The game has a very strong identity and sense of humour, Jane is just an incredibly impressionable maker, and I look forward to anything else she makes in the future.
Definitely worth a play! Difficulty is mostly consistent though I found there were a few standout screens that took me a while.
(As a very unimportant side note, I love all of the OG IWBTG references! Fun to see a lot of explicit references in a modern fangame in an age I don't feel like people are really fans of Guy :b I just appreciate it)
[4] Likes
The music is admittedly not to my tastes mostly but the aesthetic of the game is unique and well defined, and I absolutely loved all of the art and animations. The final boss in particular was a strong highlight for this. The game has a very strong identity and sense of humour, Jane is just an incredibly impressionable maker, and I look forward to anything else she makes in the future.
Definitely worth a play! Difficulty is mostly consistent though I found there were a few standout screens that took me a while.
(As a very unimportant side note, I love all of the OG IWBTG references! Fun to see a lot of explicit references in a modern fangame in an age I don't feel like people are really fans of Guy :b I just appreciate it)
Rating: 9.2 92
Difficulty: 50 50
Jul 18, 2023
Cthaere
And yet again I am forced to break my own self imposed rule. I generally do not give games that I did not have an immediate connection with 9+, however this game deserves it (and honestly, it deserves higher, but at that point I'd be dishonest to myself).
I doubt there's much I can say that has not been said already, however there are a few points I would like to add and accentuate. First of all, I agree with most of what marc and derf were saying, and I am glad that we're starting to take steps towards having games with well executed narratives. Too often, even when games do try to have a narrative, they tend to be either personal to the maker to the point of being near-unrecognizable to anyone else, so vague as to feel like the author only wanted the player to FEEL like there's a narrative where there isn't one, or the "narrative" is just some plot to give the kid an excuse to be where they are, without any real significance or commentary on anything. Many of them also feel very flat, where once you figure them out you can only go "was that it? is that all?". This game, in contrast, has multiple layers that make the existence of a narrative obvious, as well as its general shape, while not revealing all the cards immediately, which I wish more games would do. Many parts are also much more broadly open to interpretation, which I also appreciate.
As far as executing the concept, it is very well done and feels both direct and purposefully designed, with the final result coming together as a well made, cohesive and rich experience. I do feel like there are a few nitpicks. First, I have a personal hangup regarding high energy songs that are coupled with relatively static vfx. This shows up a few times and in nearly all of them I would have liked seeing new vfx styles and strong effects, something that I want and burnmind do well but feels a bit missing here. Final stage also feels overly long and has some big frustrating moments. The choice to bring all the gimmicks back together also felt not quite fleshed out to me; while one can very easily make the reading of the game being a journey of facing and overcoming one's anxieties, and thus the final stage could be an allusion to either having a panic attack or taking the final step to overcome them all, the final stage still doesn't sit right with me in this context (or any similar one), as it feels that either the concept can be portrayed in the abstract with minimal unpleasantness, or that the unpleasantness must be experienced whole in which case I would have preferred it to be made more explicit and turned even higher.
So why is this not a 10? I hate to admit it, but I did not instantly connect with the game. I appreciate it on an intellectual level, and it is very clear what it's going for on an emotional level, however it did not work for me. It always sucks when a piece of art others love to death bounces off you, and it doubly sucks when it's a piece of art that you not only feel like you should connect with, but one that you ALSO love to death on the concept alone. But that's something you just gotta learn to cope with; this was not the first time it happened to me, and I'm certain it won't be the last.
You will also note that I avoid making a substantial and detailed reading into the game, one that I can claim full ownership of and confidently stand behind; Quite frankly, I feel unqualified to give any. My media literacy is in need of improvement, and besides this game feels like it is at least partially a personal (if not to say a cathartic/therauptic) creation, and that makes the relationship between maker and game much stickier. Besides, it's a lot better for one to form their own opinions and theories first before "getting the answer" from someone who has "figured it out", and so I feel like giving any full reading on DF would likely do more harm than good. With that said, Marc and Derf both take us in a good direction, I feel. Go read their reviews.
All in all, this is a massive step in a direction I've been waiting for fangames to go towards for a long while, and it is an exceptionally well made one to boot. Despite not having gotten as much out of it as I felt I should have, the game still gives me hope, and is an undeniable cornerstone of narrative design.
[3] Likes
I doubt there's much I can say that has not been said already, however there are a few points I would like to add and accentuate. First of all, I agree with most of what marc and derf were saying, and I am glad that we're starting to take steps towards having games with well executed narratives. Too often, even when games do try to have a narrative, they tend to be either personal to the maker to the point of being near-unrecognizable to anyone else, so vague as to feel like the author only wanted the player to FEEL like there's a narrative where there isn't one, or the "narrative" is just some plot to give the kid an excuse to be where they are, without any real significance or commentary on anything. Many of them also feel very flat, where once you figure them out you can only go "was that it? is that all?". This game, in contrast, has multiple layers that make the existence of a narrative obvious, as well as its general shape, while not revealing all the cards immediately, which I wish more games would do. Many parts are also much more broadly open to interpretation, which I also appreciate.
As far as executing the concept, it is very well done and feels both direct and purposefully designed, with the final result coming together as a well made, cohesive and rich experience. I do feel like there are a few nitpicks. First, I have a personal hangup regarding high energy songs that are coupled with relatively static vfx. This shows up a few times and in nearly all of them I would have liked seeing new vfx styles and strong effects, something that I want and burnmind do well but feels a bit missing here. Final stage also feels overly long and has some big frustrating moments. The choice to bring all the gimmicks back together also felt not quite fleshed out to me; while one can very easily make the reading of the game being a journey of facing and overcoming one's anxieties, and thus the final stage could be an allusion to either having a panic attack or taking the final step to overcome them all, the final stage still doesn't sit right with me in this context (or any similar one), as it feels that either the concept can be portrayed in the abstract with minimal unpleasantness, or that the unpleasantness must be experienced whole in which case I would have preferred it to be made more explicit and turned even higher.
So why is this not a 10? I hate to admit it, but I did not instantly connect with the game. I appreciate it on an intellectual level, and it is very clear what it's going for on an emotional level, however it did not work for me. It always sucks when a piece of art others love to death bounces off you, and it doubly sucks when it's a piece of art that you not only feel like you should connect with, but one that you ALSO love to death on the concept alone. But that's something you just gotta learn to cope with; this was not the first time it happened to me, and I'm certain it won't be the last.
You will also note that I avoid making a substantial and detailed reading into the game, one that I can claim full ownership of and confidently stand behind; Quite frankly, I feel unqualified to give any. My media literacy is in need of improvement, and besides this game feels like it is at least partially a personal (if not to say a cathartic/therauptic) creation, and that makes the relationship between maker and game much stickier. Besides, it's a lot better for one to form their own opinions and theories first before "getting the answer" from someone who has "figured it out", and so I feel like giving any full reading on DF would likely do more harm than good. With that said, Marc and Derf both take us in a good direction, I feel. Go read their reviews.
All in all, this is a massive step in a direction I've been waiting for fangames to go towards for a long while, and it is an exceptionally well made one to boot. Despite not having gotten as much out of it as I felt I should have, the game still gives me hope, and is an undeniable cornerstone of narrative design.
Rating: 9.0 90
Difficulty: N/A
Feb 5, 2024
kikones34
Very good game! It is well-designed and has unique interesting gimmicks. The concepts are also well introduced to the player, starting with easy examples so that you quickly get what they're about, and then making them more complicated as you progress. I really liked the bosses too, they were generally fair, had good telegraphing of the attacks and were pretty fun.
The game is heavy on timing-based obstacles, and I feel it was generally well-balanced. In almost all of the rooms, everything is placed so that there's good cycles if you just go right after resetting, so you don't need to stand there waiting every time you die. You sometimes do have to wait for certain cycles after the first few obstacles, which can get a bit tiring if you reset a lot, but it wasn't that big of a deal for me. It was also clear to me that the position of everything was quite deliberate to create interesting challenges.
As someone who's gone through a gender identity crisis, the story resonated with me. I also liked the symbolism of the stage elements and bosses. I do think, however, that execution-wise the themes were a bit overdone. I get the feel the dev wanted to transmit, but in my opinion some parts were edgier than they needed to be, both style-wise and music-wise. There were also some questionable stylistic choices that made seeing certain elements a bit difficult, which felt unfair, although they were few and far between.
As for the music, I did generally enjoy it, but some of the songs had a way too strong start (e.g. second phase of the final boss), and it was giving me a headache to listen to it over and over again after resetting. The full song may be fine because it calms down later, but listening to the start on repeat, not nice. I do think though that all the SFX were very well chosen and satisfying.
The hand-drawn graphics and animations are very good, and it's really refreshing to see some original art in a fangame, honestly. In fact it's refreshing to see this many original elements in a fangame in general. It does use some assets from other games, but they feel more like cool references. It also adds to that feel that the dev made the whole thing in Unity, rather than using the classic GM engines.
Now, I have to say that stages 1 through 4 were very good, but stage 5 fell a bit flat for me. It starts promising, mixing gimmicks from previous stages in cool ways. But then, it gets dragged on for SO long, it gets to a point where I feel it's not adding anything to the game, it just feels like padding. I think the game would've benefited from a shorter stage 5 that only kept the most interesting gimmick combinations. And then, the last boss was a bit hit-and-miss for me, some of the phases were good, but others were a bit underwhelming or unfair. All in all my least favorite stage, and it's a shame that it's the last thing in the game.
There's also one nitpick I have about the engine that others have already mentioned, which is that The Kid completely stops after a room transition, even if you're still pressing the buttons. It doesn't get too in the way though, as there aren't any moments in which you need to go back and forth quickly between different rooms.
All things considered, I really enjoyed playing the game and it's obvious that the dev put lots of effort into it. Totally recommended!
[3] Likes
The game is heavy on timing-based obstacles, and I feel it was generally well-balanced. In almost all of the rooms, everything is placed so that there's good cycles if you just go right after resetting, so you don't need to stand there waiting every time you die. You sometimes do have to wait for certain cycles after the first few obstacles, which can get a bit tiring if you reset a lot, but it wasn't that big of a deal for me. It was also clear to me that the position of everything was quite deliberate to create interesting challenges.
As someone who's gone through a gender identity crisis, the story resonated with me. I also liked the symbolism of the stage elements and bosses. I do think, however, that execution-wise the themes were a bit overdone. I get the feel the dev wanted to transmit, but in my opinion some parts were edgier than they needed to be, both style-wise and music-wise. There were also some questionable stylistic choices that made seeing certain elements a bit difficult, which felt unfair, although they were few and far between.
As for the music, I did generally enjoy it, but some of the songs had a way too strong start (e.g. second phase of the final boss), and it was giving me a headache to listen to it over and over again after resetting. The full song may be fine because it calms down later, but listening to the start on repeat, not nice. I do think though that all the SFX were very well chosen and satisfying.
The hand-drawn graphics and animations are very good, and it's really refreshing to see some original art in a fangame, honestly. In fact it's refreshing to see this many original elements in a fangame in general. It does use some assets from other games, but they feel more like cool references. It also adds to that feel that the dev made the whole thing in Unity, rather than using the classic GM engines.
Now, I have to say that stages 1 through 4 were very good, but stage 5 fell a bit flat for me. It starts promising, mixing gimmicks from previous stages in cool ways. But then, it gets dragged on for SO long, it gets to a point where I feel it's not adding anything to the game, it just feels like padding. I think the game would've benefited from a shorter stage 5 that only kept the most interesting gimmick combinations. And then, the last boss was a bit hit-and-miss for me, some of the phases were good, but others were a bit underwhelming or unfair. All in all my least favorite stage, and it's a shame that it's the last thing in the game.
There's also one nitpick I have about the engine that others have already mentioned, which is that The Kid completely stops after a room transition, even if you're still pressing the buttons. It doesn't get too in the way though, as there aren't any moments in which you need to go back and forth quickly between different rooms.
All things considered, I really enjoyed playing the game and it's obvious that the dev put lots of effort into it. Totally recommended!
Rating: 8.2 82
Difficulty: 50 50
Oct 20, 2023