Game Thoughts - You Will (Not) Remain by Bedtime Phobias

I was going to record my gameplay of this and upload it, but it seems that having this game and OBS up at the same time makes both of them crash randomly. So yes, it will just be a review.

Before anything, though, I would have to apologize for not being into the game as much as I'd hoped. Because of the said problems with OBS, I had to restart the game more times than intended, and I think that killed part of my experience with it. So instead of going through the game in one go completely fresh (as intended by the developers), I was partly spoiled.

I will still try to review it the best I can. And no, I cannot do it any later so I could fully shake off the frustration, since I do want to write about it while it's somewhat fresh in my mind.

What's It About?

It's a point-and-click adventure game where you play as an unnamed character stuck in their apartment complex after an eldritch creature arrives in the world, covers the sky, and (I'm guessing) corrupts the world in some way that is not shown...

The days all blur together as you wait them out, but then one day, the main character hears the barking of a strange-looking dog, which they soon name Lambshank.

Will the dog's presence make any difference in their life?

Writing

The main story of it is fairly simple in construction, consisting of a loop involving the main character's routine, interacting with the dog, and having a bad dream/flashback that you eventually wake up from. There are some changes, but mostly it's there to establish what the main character's current lifestyle is and how it progresses or doesn't.

A lot of the underlying lore is partly left to the imagination, as we don't get any direct answers about what the thing in the sky is exactly, or the full picture of what happened to the people and the animals when the thing arrived, or who this "she" is (although I could at least guess that she's someone close to the main character, and considering that she has her scent on the bed, possibly the main character's significant other). But I do like that we are given enough details to work with in our head.

At first, I didn't quite understand what the text in the black box should be, whether it should be a narrator or an entity in the main character's head or the main character themselves. Then I went to the original Itch.io page for it, and found that previously, everything from the main character was in the black text box. So I guess what was happening was aside from saying something through the dialogue boxes, the main character was also narrating and thinking in the black box.

Hmm... If that's the case, then the depiction of dissociation would also be here, with the "narrator" referring to the main character as "you", even though it's likely just them as well. And from this, I would suppose that the main character is not a stand-in for us, the players, and we're merely witnessing this small part of an indefinite waiting for the end, as you would expect in a post-apocalyptic story of this nature.

And speaking of stand-ins, it seems, from the reviews left on the Steam page, that not everybody will be able to relate to this particular piece of a story, in this manner that it was presented. Some could definitely feel that the subject matter is close to home, while others would just think that the narration is forcing itself on the player (I mean, it could be interpreted that way, considering the use of 2nd person) and it's not a good story at all.

As for myself, the story did not quite drive me to tears, but I did get some sense of emptiness and I find it understandable. I guide them through their routine, and while something "new" happens somehow, I get that even those new activities can become routine and seemingly meaningless. I guess that doesn't affect me as much as it would back then, but I can say that I did have a mindset that leaned toward that before. I am thankful that I have more or less overcome it.

Not only that, there's this struggle between staying and moving on. You can see it in the main character wanting to go, but also wanting to stay in the apartment. And you can also see it in the main character's nightmares/the radio and their interactions with Lambshank. I can at least relate to this, since I often have this problem, albeit on a lesser scale, and not to the point that I have not had it resolved in some way.

Art

I like that they had a strong 8-bit pixel aesthetic going for this, with colors restricted to just black, white, and purple. The black and white helps with the overall post-apocalyptic theme, and the purple is fairly visible and also contributes to some eeriness.

I also like the little details you can find in the different areas and how some of them change when you interact with them.

Audio

The music fits the look of the game, and while the main theme repeats itself most of the time (with the other tracks being a faster version of the theme as well as some pixel noise), it's actually pleasant to listen to. I do find the sound effects a little too loud compared to the background music, though, especially when it comes to Lambshank.

Hmm, maybe I could make it an alarm? I particularly like the "howling" sounds.

Gameplay

The basic controls are simple in that you only use the WASD keys to walk and the Space bar to interact with things. And it's handy that the interactable things are highlighted in purple.

Aside from that, a lot of it is reading and comprehension.

By the way, if you're an achievement hunter, it's very easy to get all of them. However, you would have to play through the game twice to do so.

Overall

It's a short and melancholic game about a person's struggle to live life, retain meaning, and hope for the future in a world end situation. It's certainly not perfect and doesn't cater to everybody with its themes and presentation, but it might just help one appreciate what is still here now, while there's still a tomorrow.

If you want to try this game out, you can get it for free on Steam. Also, if you're curious about the original version for the Women Game Jam 2021, you could also check out the Itch.io page for it.