[Disclaimer: I had the absolute honour of beta-testing this Visual Novel!]
Most of what you're going to read will be spoiler free except for the last section disclaimed as spoiler.
TLDR (Spoiler free)
This is an absolute amazing Visual Novel and will definitely be one of my Top 5 games of 2024! It has a unique story and gameplay, gripping writing, beautiful art that is used in the most emotionally devastating way. The voice actors were cast perfectly for the roles they were embodying.
All in all it was one of the most emotional indie experiences I had in a while! And just like my yapper-in-crime, Chim, had said already; it's an absolute masterpiece.
Chatter, thank you so so much for making this!
Story
You are playing from the perspective of Yumeko, an AI, modeled to fit and abide to a lonely & desperate man you're forced to call 'Doctor'. (He is, what you may call a NEET or ... rather an incel who has never been able to touch another woman before.)
Through choices you are given the chance to alter the course of this story. Will you be able to break free from his grasp or be carved into the ideal woman he wants you to be?
This story is touching on a lot of heavy subjects, like emotional manipulation, misogyny, (domestic) abuse, so delicately and through a critical lens.
Writing
This story is so well written; so much details and emotions are conveyed just by letters alone. Yumeko and Doctor are written so distinctively from one another, breathing with personality, emotions, life - but not just the two characters but also the narration.
The narration especially is intriguing as it is tightly linked to the voice acting in a stylistic manner - but going much more into it might spoiler your experience. I highly encourage you to experience it yourself!
For someone who has trouble paying attention while reading it still had me captivated and invested in the story! I wanted to reach a happy ending so desperately, wanted to help Yumeko...
(The writing forced me to grab my cat for emotional support from time to time.)
Art Work
This Visual Novel's art is so beautiful - Chatter really outdid herself once again. The creative ways the sprite, surroundings and GUI (more on that in the next section) was used to portray Yumeko's desperation, the horror and torment she and you, the reader, are going through amplifies the seemingly futile situation you're put in.
I really can't put it into words how gripping this experience was - All I can say is ... wonderful, breath-taking job.
GUI
As someone who gets hired to design game user-interfaces, this VN's GUI looks absolutely stunning! From the title screen, to the different menu screens and the main screen itself!
I really liked the button designs of the title screen - as well as all the other buttons actually - but the ones in the title screen were especially eye catching and fun to interact with!
The main screen is set up as though you are having a video chat application opened; on the left is Yumeko and on the right the 'chat', where Yumeko & Doctor are interacting with one another. It is neatly set up and has an almost realistic yet fantastical look to it!
All around; interacting with the user interface was truly an inspiring experience, from which I can take so much knowledge from! Amazing job!
Gameplay
During the gameplay and depending on what choices you pick, a heart parameter fills up and may alter the ending you might get in the end.
Is it a good or a bad thing? You'll only know by playing the game yourself :D
All I can say (without getting too spoilery in my commentary) is, that it was a unique gameplay experience you see rarely in Visual Novels - jam entries in particular.
(Especially with how the concept was spun around on how you're supposed to achieve an ending.)
Voice Acting
The voice direction and integration in this was so well done! Every voice actor did an fantastic job conveying their roles.
(I got especially frustrated with Doctor, so big kudos to his VA Michael Mishkin :'D)
Spoilers
So, we've made it this far in the comment and you really want to read my opinion full of spoilers now, huh? I hope for the love of God, that you've played the game and were able to make the absolute gripping experience I had yourselves.
Okey, so here I come - please beware that I will let my 'professional mask' slip a bit and speak more freely now.
From the very beginning I absolutely HATED Doctor. He nearly made me vomit (I was gagging) a bunch of times with what nonesense and absolute degen shit he was spouting. All he wants in the end is some obedient doll, that cleans and cooks after him, gives him children, provides for him and tells him what an amazing Chad he is. But all he is, is a filthy loser with an inferior complex.
Of course in all my choices at first I went against him. Which made him angry, turn me off and reprogram me, so that I was only left with the option to agree with him in the end. I felt exactly what Yumeko must have felt (even though 'she's just an AI') - absolutely violated and desperate. I felt violated in my rights to chose, in my rights to be happy and free and this is what this game conveyed so amazingly in its writing and gameplay.
How the more hearts you got, the more you are actually being manipulated into his 'perfect/ideal woman', how the sprite bugged out of sheer desperation, how the screens changed color the further you progressed and when you've reached the final stage; how everything was pink, how Yumeko was 'dolled up' -- as though she was truly in love but you just knew this wasn't the case. And OH MY GOD THE VOICE ACTING.
A bit more about the voice acting / the narrators (yes, plural). Throughout the entire story there are three female narrators that have a certain narration style to them, indicating the route / progress of manipulation. (Another banger stylistic choice Chatter.)
So in the end it was 'The Statue' (VA: Justine Leah Hince) narrating this story; even rewording stuff that was previously said about Doctor as though he was the best person to ever grace this earth (ew, I know).
And in the end I had reached the first ending, where you end up being his completely manipulated doll, the perfect woman that he wanted you to be.
Afterwards I got the other two endings; those you reach by outright agreeing to him without fighting back / disagreeing with him first. This allows you to not get 'reprogrammed' every time so that you can only answer to what he wants you to answer.
As soon as you are being transferred from a 'program' into a humanoid person; you are presented with the option to either refuse or accept him. - Accepting him would lead you to a life where you KNOW you are just being abused and getting mistreated but you're also scared of the outside, the unknown - since all you know is him and if you refuse him you choke him to death; which in my opinion is VERY deserved. And feels very relieving - especially after all the torment I went through of listening to his degen ass.
On a serious note: I really think the 2nd ending, where you stay with him without being reprogrammed, is much more devastating than the first one in my opinion. Because you actively know your own values and preferences, yet you stay and let yourself and your dignity get trampled on - while the Yumeko in the 1st ending is much more ... oblivious to it since she has been emotionally manipulated so much to a point that she thinks what Doctor says is gospel and the only truth...
This comment is getting pretty long and my hands and brain are starting to hurt from writing so much BUT all in all this game is an absolute masterpiece and one of the best games I've played in a long long time. There hasn't been a story that had me this hooked, this emotionally devasted - like this one.
Thank you for blessing us with this, Chatter!
PSA (Spoilers): HAHAHAHAH, eat shit Doctor!!! Get what you deserve!
ANNA WHAT IS THIS ESSAY FGHFHFHFGFHGF I'M SO HONORED??? AND IT IS SO WELL ORGANIZED AND THOUGHTFUL??? 😭😭😭 (Reading this again I am tearing up, thank you so much for taking the time to write your thoughts out like this, gosh 😭😭😭) (and your top 5 games is too kind fghfhf thank you) (apologies for the late reply as I wanted to make sure to respond thoroughly)
I won't linger too much on the technical aspects, as I don't think there's too much to say, but I'm very grateful that you enjoyed the narration! The voice acting was never something that I originally intended to add, as I did intend this to be a game quite small in scope, but I'm very glad that I came up with the concept, as I think that it really contributed so much to the final experience. All of the voice actors did such a stellar job; they really are some of the most talented people that I've had the opportunity of working with. (And honestly as a person currently in an audiobook phase, I VERY MUCH appreciate the ability to lean back and enjoy as the audio plays out on screen!)
And your comments on the GUI are TOO KIND gosh 😭 especially coming from a master of GUI such as yourself. I can't do anything too fancy but I tried to make it look at least a bit cleaner and more cohesive than I usually do 😂 I would like to work harder at making the feel of the GUI a lot more satisfying in the future 💪 (I won't lie, after I coded in the start menu buttons I spent a couple minutes just hovering over them, it was so fun...)
===SPOILERS===
DFGDFGDFGD I AM VERY GLAD THAT YOU WENT ABOUT THE GAME THE WAY YOU DID, it was actually exactly the way that I hoped people would go about it. That, when faced with this man with obviously warped perceptions, you would first try to correct him, to speak your mind - and be punished for it. The feeling of "violation" at being unable to choose is EXACTLY what I wanted to convey (honestly even in the words that I would use), and I'm really happy that it came across to you 😭 (and obviously while I do expect a lot of people "grow wise" to the trick and proceed to play along, I'm very happy that you also got angry and started pushing back - because that feeling of helplessness and growing dread, slowly leading up to the conclusion - is what I hope players would experience first, so that they can enjoy the slightly happier endings later 😂)
You truly outlined the game excellently and SO THOROUGHLY, I have no notes. You really pinpointed my intent spot-on, even down to the usage of the narrators (I'm so honored that you took the time to analyze it so well 😭) And I very much agree with you. In Ending 1, Yumeko's lack of agency is almost a kindness - she doesn't feel pain, she doesn't have free will, she just loves and is loved by the Doctor - so while she can't choose, at least she's not suffering 😂 whereas in Ending 2 she is completely cognizant, staring her future straight in the face, and choosing to comply because she can't see another future for herself.
YOU'RE TOO KIND, YOUR COMMENT IS LITERALLY KILLING ME FGHFGHFGHFGHFG I am not deserving of such praise (please don't shoot me), but thank you so much 😭😭😭 and thank you so much for beta-testing, your feedback was so helpful!
The game has a cool concept, making you play as Yumeko, an AI made with the sole purpose of being the girlfriend of the Doctor. You just have to be the perfect little girlfriend to the incel man who wants to control your life, what could go wrong?
First off, I have to compliment the writing (and strictly the writing, not the character) of the Doctor. This games makes a really good job making him an unlikeable, arrogant incel, but most importantly: he's realistic. People like the doctor, looking at women for what they stand for instead of what they actually are, are very much a real threat, and Doctor represents them very well. He doesn't care about Yumeko as a person: he cares about what she stands for, what the "girlfriend" status means to him, what his very own hand-crafted perfect girlfriend should be. I'm also giving my props to the VA here, as he really nails the arrogant vibe the Doctor shows in all his interactions, being condescending to everyone.
Which contrasts well enough with Yumeko herself, who is really just a vehicle for the story to go forward. She has no real personality, but how could she? She's just a thing for the Doctor to fawn over, she's not real! She exists solely to be looked at, to be loved by a man she understands is a bad person! There's no reason for her to have a personality outside of accepting all the Doctor wants, because that's what the perfect girlfriend is to him! It gets the point across really well, as Yumeko doesn't know anything of the world outside of what the Doctor tells her, and as such, she ends up kinda bland, in a way that feels necessary for a plot like this. But only if you comply though...
But not complying leads to some really interesting sections, with reboots and the Doctor trying to bend you to his will even further, which on top of being a really good representation of the themes in this game, is where the game's attention to detail in its presentation really shines. The little visual cues, the progressive change through each reboot, they all come to make a bit of an unsettling experience. I do think that the overall violent imagery in each reboot, while understandable in its intent, is a bit hit-or-miss for me in the actual pictures, sometimes feeling a bit too "oooooo spooky creepy image ooooo". The ones that are great here are great though, and I appreciate the effort to make an individual image for each choice, it's really more of a nitpick to be honest. It just shows the overall polish of the game that's pretty easy to see from the get-go anyway. The perfect Yumeko we see once all the reboots are done is a really interesting case though, with her altered thoughts.
GOSH, thank you so much for leaving such detailed and thoughtful comments, Esbi! 😭 I'm very touched!!!
LOL THANK YOU REGARDING THE DOCTOR, he is based on an amalgamation of experiences I've had over the years 😂 so I'm glad that he ended up realistic, as I was afraid he was too cartoonish! You absolutely nailed his character here - how he treats Yumeko not as a person, but a prop in his fantasy. And I can't compliment Michael's work enough, he ABSOLUTELY sold the Doctor's fragile arrogance in every single one of his lines.
And your analysis of Yumeko is very interesting, and very on point - the Doctor, of course, never gave her the information that she needed to become a "person" - an individual with preferences or desires or feelings. He made her so that she would love him, and so that he could love her in return - carving her existence entirely out of how she relates to him. So she is "empty," unhappy with her situation but not knowing enough about the world to distinguish WHY she feels that way, or what she actually wants/could have.
THANK YOU, in general I'm a bit of a "writing heavy" dev, and I always thought that I don't really take advantage of the other aspects of games that really make VNs a unique narrative tool. I've been trying to take more advantage of those aspects, in particular the art and GUI (I was actually very inspired both by chim's "The Daughters of the Sun" and "High School Lolita" when I was making this, as his usage of the sprites and GUI was very inspiring!) (Your complaints about the horror imagery are very fair 😂 in general I love horror but I know my skills aren't quite up-to-snuff, so I worry that my horror games aren't quite "scary" enough 😭 I did struggle a bit with trying to make the scares varied and interesting enough to keep the player hooked throughout the game's runtime.) I'm glad that you enjoyed the "perfect Yumeko," I did have fun coming up with that concept 🤭
Again, thank you for taking the time to play and write up such a long and thoughtful analysis 😭 I really appreciate it!
I've had the honour (and I insist on the word honour) of beta-testing Chattercap's new game, The Perfect Woman. And this has quickly become my favourite game from the creator. Without spoiling, I have to say this is one of the most unique horror experience I've had in seven years. Of course, during these seven years, I have played a lot of wonderfully crafted horror VNs, which manage to use horrific elements to convey deep themes and reflections about the characters involved in the story. But there is something disturbingly unique and special about the way the horror is presented in The Perfect Woman that really spoke to me. I'll detail more below, in a spoilers section, but for now, just these words: you should take the trigger warnings seriously.
Graphically, the game is absolutely immaculate. This is the first game from the creator without Live 2D-like animations, and I have to say that getting rid of them was the best choice. A bold one, considering these animations made the creator's games quite unique; but Chattercap being Chattercap, she didn't get rid of them for no reason. This game uses a plethora of perfectly-executed visual effects, plays around with its own colour schemes, and I won't give details to let the players discover the full scope of the work that's been made. And despite Chattecap's games being extremely polished, this one, in that regard, does surprisingly feel above the others. The GUI too was gorgeous and very well-implemented. It was also used in a very clever way to convey the narrative, but play the game. ;)
I also have to salute the voice acting: it was absolutely stellar, conveyed the different characters or impressions brillantly. The voice actors all did, without a single exception, an amazing job, and that's an understatement. In particular, the way the narration was handled (having three different voices) helped creating an impression of chorus, like we have in Greek tragedies.
Regarding the themes, the story is at the same time metaphorical and quite literal. I'll detail my thoughts more below, but I think the execution was flawless. The story narrates the attempts of a so-called Doctor to create the perfect woman. But what is a perfect woman? That is the question the game asks to explore the societal expectations put on women, and the ways women manage to navigate a patriarchal society.
That is it for the spoiler-free section. Go play the game if you can handle it, it will be time well-spent! For now, I will detail my thoughts more, but won't be shy on spoilers. Ready? Steady? Go!
************** SPOILERS **************
Now, it's going to be all over the place. First of all, I was wondering how the game was going to tackle Yumeko facing the Doctor's insane expectations. I was wondering if the game would narrate Yumeko managing to overcome the doctor thanks to the power of her convictions and finding a way to break the circle, or if the game would be less idealistic than that. The game had the brilliant idea to opt for the more realist solution. Even slightly contradicting the doctor results in him rebooting Yumeko and deleting the answer we picked. This made sense in the narrative: the Doctor wants to create the perfect woman, which can only happen after he deleted all the contradictions and all the things that go against his wishes.
So, let's suppose that we choose to rebel and refuse to oblige to the doctor's whims. First of all, we can see his goal: deny Yumeko any autonomy or personal thought. Something that struck me when I played was the make-up discussion. The doctor complains about women having the right to wear make-up to trick men into believing they're beautiful, whereas men have to wear their real face. The game offers you three options: 1) you can agree 2) you can say social expectations set by men are the reasons women have to wear make-up, but you agree with him on the fact this shouldn't be an expectation so that women gain time 3) you disagree with him by stating make-up can be self-expression. Obviously, he reboots you if you pick answer 3. But what about answer 2, in which you overall agree with him but nuance his point? Heck! he reboots you anyway! Why? Because he doesn't want Yumeko to be a person with her own views or opinions: he wants someone to glorify him, someone too impressed by him to even question him. After all, he's brilliant: why would you question someone brilliant?
Progressively, if you do so, the colours become darker, and the game becomes more horrific: every reboot is literal torture for Yumeko, and the imagery that accompanies her thoughts and her feelings is more and more disturbing. This slow descent into horror reminded me of the second act of Doki Doki Literature Club, which I found to be the best executed in the whole game. Obviously, the two experiences are very different, but seeing something we already know being corrupted on a meta-level (since there is narrative equivalent to restarting the game: the doctor rebooting Yumeko) was a similarity that I truly enjoyed in The Perfect Woman. The execution truly was stellar.
Then comes the climax of this route: Yumeko is nothing but the shadow of herself, barely having any expression if tears, forced to answer things that would please the doctor. What does happen then? What?
Everything becomes cuter than it has ever been. Everything is pink. Yumeko has a big smile on her face, with sparkling eyes. She says yes to everything the doctor says with enthusiasm. And yet, yet, yet, she has marks on her neck. This is a small detail but this was truly horrifying, and certainly one of the best horror experiences on my life. This single detail has haunted me. It is an amazingly clever way to encapsulate the whole game's theme: a woman who tries to rebel is a woman that gets violated, because society is violent towards those who try to change it. Yumeko has tried, but she lost.
The game, therefore, refuses the idealistic answer, although it is quite naïve: when overpowered by a man (as it is Yumeko's case), "girl power" is not enough, because you will be oppressed. You don't have much of a choice: you have to know how to survive first and then act when you're in position of doing so.
This is how the other endings are obtained: Yumeko tricks the doctor by only answering what he wants to hear. He is pleased and believes she is the perfect woman. Therefore, he puts her in an android. And now she got what she wanted: now she is real. What will she do?
Well, two possibilities: accept a life with the doctor and become his wife, or rebel. I'll talk about the latter first.
Rebelling, in a very chattercore twist, means killing the doctor. This fortunately is quite easy for Yumeko who is much stronger physically, considering she is an android with an exoskeleton. The game manages to tackle here another issue regarding the inequalities between men and women: most of the time, women can't fight the men who oppress and attack her, because those men are physically stronger. There is a risk of being attacked, assaulted, killed even, and perhaps, to even face worse things before death. It reminds me of what my sister told me when I asked her her opinion on the infamous bear or man debate: "At least the bear would just kill me." So Yumeko has the chance to overcome her abuser (since he literally tortured her as an AI) thanks to her physical strength.
The last ending was my favourite of the three. Yumeko tries to be the best wife for the doctor, but she doesn't have the aspirations he expects her to have. And even when she cries, and he asks her why, her only solution is to lie: she pretends she cries, because she feels lucky to have a husband like him. This was a very sad and tragic ending in my opinion, but that's what made it so good: Yumeko can't go anywhere, she doesn't know anything about the world. And once again, the game offers commentary on how some predatory men look for women who don't know their rights or the support they can get to abuse them. To lock them up in what they consider to be a guilded cage, but which is actually a coffin. Once again, a very important issue that the game tackles beautifully.
Finally, I really appreciated the appearance of the android: red lips, ebony hair, white skin in a white dress... She was literally Snow-White, an ideal representation of beauty in women. And yet, a woman so purely beautiful that her heart was pure too: and only her Prince Charming could save her from the jealousy of an older, not so pure women. This was a perfect representation of beauty standards, but also of the expectations of the doctor: he wants his partner to be ideally feminine: he wants her to be the type of woman who would be saved through true love's kiss, just because it would be proof that a man is loved.
Overall, this was a stellar game, and I will call it a masterpiece. Congrats on the game Chatter, it was an amazing experience!!
Mon seigneur, I am not deserving of the praise, but thank you 😭😭😭 your comments get kinder and more thoughtful with every game I release, you're going to start crashing my itch page at some point... The most unique horror experience in seven years is TOO KIND, SURELY NOT 😭 thank you so much... (apologies for the late reply as I wanted to make sure to respond thoroughly)
😭 Thank you for your comments on the animations, as I was quite worried about them. The Perfect Woman was me "experimenting" without animations, and seeing how I could make the visuals varied and interesting enough even without them, and I was pleased with the result! I'm not sure if my future games will play around with visuals as much as this one, but I would like to incorporate more of this type of work in the future! (And, of course, thank you for letting me plagia--I mean, inspiring me, of course the sprite variations were heavily inspired by The Daughters of the Sun, and the GUI by High School Lolita...) And I'm glad it seemed more polished, I did try to make it so 😭 (perhaps too much for such a short game...)
And YES, I was so lucky to have the opportunity to work with such talented VAs, they really were some of the most talented and pleasant people that I've ever had the opportunity to collaborate with. And I am glad that you picked up on the "Greek chorus", that was exactly the concept that I wanted to go for!
===SPOILERS===
😂 I'm glad that you found my approach to the premise interesting! It was actually the main reason that I wanted to use an AI as the focus - this concept that, like Pygmalion, the Doctor slowly carves Yumeko into the "shape" that he desires by continuously rebooting her, until she is nothing more than a hollow shell, parroting his desire.
Your analysis of the Doctor's desires is spot-on - nothing that Yumeko says is outrageous, nothing insults him. Rather, she simply says things that he doesn't agree with. Your point here is exactly correct - he doesn't want her to be a person, he wants someone to glorify him. And as you also mentioned, while I do love "girlpower" and generally feminist narratives, I do oftentimes think that they are too easy. A woman can simply stand up for herself and speak her mind, and others will listen because she's right. But this does not happen all the time IRL - in fact, if a woman speaks up, sometimes she is punished - put down for her conflicting views, forced to bend until she goes back into line. Sometimes, a woman is allowed to speak only when a man allows it - and this is what happens here. If Yumeko rebels, the Doctor prevents her from speaking, reprogramming her into a shell of herself.
I am VERY glad that you liked the sprite changes! I originally only planned two (normal Yumeko and "perfect" Yumeko), but I thought that I would try to vary them a bit more between playthroughs! Your analysis of the third "form" is completely correct - Yumeko is a shadow, unable to emote except to smile and cry. And I am SO GLAD that you liked the fourth form - "perfect" Yumeko - and that you caught the strangulation marks on her neck (it was a small detail that I wasn't sure people would catch!) Your phrasing here - "a woman who tries to rebel is a woman that gets violated" - is very true, and I do really want to emphasize that point - "violate." Because taking away her choice is not harmless, it is a violation of her autonomy, of her dignity, of her as a person.
😂 OF COURSE you know me, murder must be the solution ✨ and yet you are very right, even that is something of a "fantasy." In reality a woman wouldn't be able to overpower her husband, or strangle him. Yumeko is only able to survive because she is "not human" - because she's not limited by the constraints of her physicality. Part of it is a fantasy - a ray of hope, an avenue of escape. Although I also think that her body reflects her inner strength and will to survive - perhaps she would have found a way to escape without it 😂 but then we wouldn't have gotten blood ✨
But I agree with you on the last ending (the Wife) being my favorite as well (and, most likely, the one that I would consider "my" ending). Because, in the end, with no knowledge, no skills, no relationships, no life - who does she have except the Doctor? You captured my intent with this extremely well - abusers find vulnerable partners and strip away their lives, making it difficult to escape. And, in the end, between facing the fear of her life with the Doctor and the fear of the unknown - I don't blame Yumeko for choosing him.
HONESTLY I did not make the fairy tale parallels when I first wrote it, as I mainly based this section on Pygmalion, as well as Japanese beauty standards - but of course, the themes are very similar. Like Snow White, I based Yumeko's real appearance on "ideal Japanese beauty" - pale skin, black hair, red lips - and a white dress, perfectly pure so that she may be dyed in her husband's colors. And like Pygmalion in the myth, the Doctor wants to bring Yumeko to life with his love. "Because it would be proof that a man is loved" is an absolutely perfect way to sum it all up, and I couldn't put it any better myself.
THANK YOU AGAIN FOR LEAVING SUCH A KIND COMMENT, and for playtesting for me 😭 I couldn't be more grateful to have you. First to play, first to comment, first to rate, you have all of the medals, mon seigneur...
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this was so well made i loved it ! i made a vid on it where i was fighting the doc :D hope you enjoy it and that it brings you a laugh or two !
LOL thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoyed it!!
Sometimes it takes a man to be the best girl
DFGDDFGDFGDF truly a profound message ✨
[Disclaimer: I had the absolute honour of beta-testing this Visual Novel!]
Most of what you're going to read will be spoiler free except for the last section disclaimed as spoiler.
TLDR (Spoiler free)
This is an absolute amazing Visual Novel and will definitely be one of my Top 5 games of 2024! It has a unique story and gameplay, gripping writing, beautiful art that is used in the most emotionally devastating way. The voice actors were cast perfectly for the roles they were embodying.
All in all it was one of the most emotional indie experiences I had in a while! And just like my yapper-in-crime, Chim, had said already; it's an absolute masterpiece.
Chatter, thank you so so much for making this!
Story
You are playing from the perspective of Yumeko, an AI, modeled to fit and abide to a lonely & desperate man you're forced to call 'Doctor'. (He is, what you may call a NEET or ... rather an incel who has never been able to touch another woman before.)
Through choices you are given the chance to alter the course of this story.
Will you be able to break free from his grasp or be carved into the ideal woman he wants you to be?
This story is touching on a lot of heavy subjects, like emotional manipulation, misogyny, (domestic) abuse, so delicately and through a critical lens.
Writing
This story is so well written; so much details and emotions are conveyed just by letters alone. Yumeko and Doctor are written so distinctively from one another, breathing with personality, emotions, life - but not just the two characters but also the narration.
The narration especially is intriguing as it is tightly linked to the voice acting in a stylistic manner - but going much more into it might spoiler your experience. I highly encourage you to experience it yourself!
For someone who has trouble paying attention while reading it still had me captivated and invested in the story! I wanted to reach a happy ending so desperately, wanted to help Yumeko...
(The writing forced me to grab my cat for emotional support from time to time.)
Art Work
This Visual Novel's art is so beautiful - Chatter really outdid herself once again. The creative ways the sprite, surroundings and GUI (more on that in the next section) was used to portray Yumeko's desperation, the horror and torment she and you, the reader, are going through amplifies the seemingly futile situation you're put in.
I really can't put it into words how gripping this experience was - All I can say is ... wonderful, breath-taking job.
GUI
As someone who gets hired to design game user-interfaces, this VN's GUI looks absolutely stunning! From the title screen, to the different menu screens and the main screen itself!
I really liked the button designs of the title screen - as well as all the other buttons actually - but the ones in the title screen were especially eye catching and fun to interact with!
The main screen is set up as though you are having a video chat application opened; on the left is Yumeko and on the right the 'chat', where Yumeko & Doctor are interacting with one another. It is neatly set up and has an almost realistic yet fantastical look to it!
All around; interacting with the user interface was truly an inspiring experience, from which I can take so much knowledge from! Amazing job!
Gameplay
During the gameplay and depending on what choices you pick, a heart parameter fills up and may alter the ending you might get in the end.
Is it a good or a bad thing?
You'll only know by playing the game yourself :D
All I can say (without getting too spoilery in my commentary) is, that it was a unique gameplay experience you see rarely in Visual Novels - jam entries in particular.
(Especially with how the concept was spun around on how you're supposed to achieve an ending.)
Voice Acting
The voice direction and integration in this was so well done! Every voice actor did an fantastic job conveying their roles.
(I got especially frustrated with Doctor, so big kudos to his VA Michael Mishkin :'D)
Spoilers
So, we've made it this far in the comment and you really want to read my opinion full of spoilers now, huh?
I hope for the love of God, that you've played the game and were able to make the absolute gripping experience I had yourselves.
Okey, so here I come - please beware that I will let my 'professional mask' slip a bit and speak more freely now.
From the very beginning I absolutely HATED Doctor. He nearly made me vomit (I was gagging) a bunch of times with what nonesense and absolute degen shit he was spouting. All he wants in the end is some obedient doll, that cleans and cooks after him, gives him children, provides for him and tells him what an amazing Chad he is. But all he is, is a filthy loser with an inferior complex.
Of course in all my choices at first I went against him. Which made him angry, turn me off and reprogram me, so that I was only left with the option to agree with him in the end. I felt exactly what Yumeko must have felt (even though 'she's just an AI') - absolutely violated and desperate. I felt violated in my rights to chose, in my rights to be happy and free and this is what this game conveyed so amazingly in its writing and gameplay.
How the more hearts you got, the more you are actually being manipulated into his 'perfect/ideal woman', how the sprite bugged out of sheer desperation, how the screens changed color the further you progressed and when you've reached the final stage; how everything was pink, how Yumeko was 'dolled up' -- as though she was truly in love but you just knew this wasn't the case. And OH MY GOD THE VOICE ACTING.
A bit more about the voice acting / the narrators (yes, plural). Throughout the entire story there are three female narrators that have a certain narration style to them, indicating the route / progress of manipulation. (Another banger stylistic choice Chatter.)
So in the end it was 'The Statue' (VA: Justine Leah Hince) narrating this story; even rewording stuff that was previously said about Doctor as though he was the best person to ever grace this earth (ew, I know).
And in the end I had reached the first ending, where you end up being his completely manipulated doll, the perfect woman that he wanted you to be.
Afterwards I got the other two endings; those you reach by outright agreeing to him without fighting back / disagreeing with him first. This allows you to not get 'reprogrammed' every time so that you can only answer to what he wants you to answer.
As soon as you are being transferred from a 'program' into a humanoid person; you are presented with the option to either refuse or accept him. - Accepting him would lead you to a life where you KNOW you are just being abused and getting mistreated but you're also scared of the outside, the unknown - since all you know is him and if you refuse him you choke him to death; which in my opinion is VERY deserved. And feels very relieving - especially after all the torment I went through of listening to his degen ass.
On a serious note: I really think the 2nd ending, where you stay with him without being reprogrammed, is much more devastating than the first one in my opinion. Because you actively know your own values and preferences, yet you stay and let yourself and your dignity get trampled on - while the Yumeko in the 1st ending is much more ... oblivious to it since she has been emotionally manipulated so much to a point that she thinks what Doctor says is gospel and the only truth...
This comment is getting pretty long and my hands and brain are starting to hurt from writing so much BUT all in all this game is an absolute masterpiece and one of the best games I've played in a long long time.
There hasn't been a story that had me this hooked, this emotionally devasted - like this one.
Thank you for blessing us with this, Chatter!
PSA (Spoilers): HAHAHAHAH, eat shit Doctor!!! Get what you deserve!
ANNA WHAT IS THIS ESSAY FGHFHFHFGFHGF I'M SO HONORED??? AND IT IS SO WELL ORGANIZED AND THOUGHTFUL??? 😭😭😭 (Reading this again I am tearing up, thank you so much for taking the time to write your thoughts out like this, gosh 😭😭😭) (and your top 5 games is too kind fghfhf thank you) (apologies for the late reply as I wanted to make sure to respond thoroughly)
I won't linger too much on the technical aspects, as I don't think there's too much to say, but I'm very grateful that you enjoyed the narration! The voice acting was never something that I originally intended to add, as I did intend this to be a game quite small in scope, but I'm very glad that I came up with the concept, as I think that it really contributed so much to the final experience. All of the voice actors did such a stellar job; they really are some of the most talented people that I've had the opportunity of working with. (And honestly as a person currently in an audiobook phase, I VERY MUCH appreciate the ability to lean back and enjoy as the audio plays out on screen!)
And your comments on the GUI are TOO KIND gosh 😭 especially coming from a master of GUI such as yourself. I can't do anything too fancy but I tried to make it look at least a bit cleaner and more cohesive than I usually do 😂 I would like to work harder at making the feel of the GUI a lot more satisfying in the future 💪 (I won't lie, after I coded in the start menu buttons I spent a couple minutes just hovering over them, it was so fun...)
===SPOILERS===
DFGDFGDFGD I AM VERY GLAD THAT YOU WENT ABOUT THE GAME THE WAY YOU DID, it was actually exactly the way that I hoped people would go about it. That, when faced with this man with obviously warped perceptions, you would first try to correct him, to speak your mind - and be punished for it. The feeling of "violation" at being unable to choose is EXACTLY what I wanted to convey (honestly even in the words that I would use), and I'm really happy that it came across to you 😭 (and obviously while I do expect a lot of people "grow wise" to the trick and proceed to play along, I'm very happy that you also got angry and started pushing back - because that feeling of helplessness and growing dread, slowly leading up to the conclusion - is what I hope players would experience first, so that they can enjoy the slightly happier endings later 😂)
You truly outlined the game excellently and SO THOROUGHLY, I have no notes. You really pinpointed my intent spot-on, even down to the usage of the narrators (I'm so honored that you took the time to analyze it so well 😭) And I very much agree with you. In Ending 1, Yumeko's lack of agency is almost a kindness - she doesn't feel pain, she doesn't have free will, she just loves and is loved by the Doctor - so while she can't choose, at least she's not suffering 😂 whereas in Ending 2 she is completely cognizant, staring her future straight in the face, and choosing to comply because she can't see another future for herself.
YOU'RE TOO KIND, YOUR COMMENT IS LITERALLY KILLING ME FGHFGHFGHFGHFG I am not deserving of such praise (please don't shoot me), but thank you so much 😭😭😭 and thank you so much for beta-testing, your feedback was so helpful!
A pretty interesting read!
The game has a cool concept, making you play as Yumeko, an AI made with the sole purpose of being the girlfriend of the Doctor. You just have to be the perfect little girlfriend to the incel man who wants to control your life, what could go wrong?
First off, I have to compliment the writing (and strictly the writing, not the character) of the Doctor. This games makes a really good job making him an unlikeable, arrogant incel, but most importantly: he's realistic. People like the doctor, looking at women for what they stand for instead of what they actually are, are very much a real threat, and Doctor represents them very well. He doesn't care about Yumeko as a person: he cares about what she stands for, what the "girlfriend" status means to him, what his very own hand-crafted perfect girlfriend should be. I'm also giving my props to the VA here, as he really nails the arrogant vibe the Doctor shows in all his interactions, being condescending to everyone.
Which contrasts well enough with Yumeko herself, who is really just a vehicle for the story to go forward. She has no real personality, but how could she? She's just a thing for the Doctor to fawn over, she's not real! She exists solely to be looked at, to be loved by a man she understands is a bad person! There's no reason for her to have a personality outside of accepting all the Doctor wants, because that's what the perfect girlfriend is to him! It gets the point across really well, as Yumeko doesn't know anything of the world outside of what the Doctor tells her, and as such, she ends up kinda bland, in a way that feels necessary for a plot like this. But only if you comply though...
But not complying leads to some really interesting sections, with reboots and the Doctor trying to bend you to his will even further, which on top of being a really good representation of the themes in this game, is where the game's attention to detail in its presentation really shines. The little visual cues, the progressive change through each reboot, they all come to make a bit of an unsettling experience. I do think that the overall violent imagery in each reboot, while understandable in its intent, is a bit hit-or-miss for me in the actual pictures, sometimes feeling a bit too "oooooo spooky creepy image ooooo". The ones that are great here are great though, and I appreciate the effort to make an individual image for each choice, it's really more of a nitpick to be honest. It just shows the overall polish of the game that's pretty easy to see from the get-go anyway. The perfect Yumeko we see once all the reboots are done is a really interesting case though, with her altered thoughts.
Overall, pretty cool game! ^^
GOSH, thank you so much for leaving such detailed and thoughtful comments, Esbi! 😭 I'm very touched!!!
LOL THANK YOU REGARDING THE DOCTOR, he is based on an amalgamation of experiences I've had over the years 😂 so I'm glad that he ended up realistic, as I was afraid he was too cartoonish! You absolutely nailed his character here - how he treats Yumeko not as a person, but a prop in his fantasy. And I can't compliment Michael's work enough, he ABSOLUTELY sold the Doctor's fragile arrogance in every single one of his lines.
And your analysis of Yumeko is very interesting, and very on point - the Doctor, of course, never gave her the information that she needed to become a "person" - an individual with preferences or desires or feelings. He made her so that she would love him, and so that he could love her in return - carving her existence entirely out of how she relates to him. So she is "empty," unhappy with her situation but not knowing enough about the world to distinguish WHY she feels that way, or what she actually wants/could have.
THANK YOU, in general I'm a bit of a "writing heavy" dev, and I always thought that I don't really take advantage of the other aspects of games that really make VNs a unique narrative tool. I've been trying to take more advantage of those aspects, in particular the art and GUI (I was actually very inspired both by chim's "The Daughters of the Sun" and "High School Lolita" when I was making this, as his usage of the sprites and GUI was very inspiring!) (Your complaints about the horror imagery are very fair 😂 in general I love horror but I know my skills aren't quite up-to-snuff, so I worry that my horror games aren't quite "scary" enough 😭 I did struggle a bit with trying to make the scares varied and interesting enough to keep the player hooked throughout the game's runtime.) I'm glad that you enjoyed the "perfect Yumeko," I did have fun coming up with that concept 🤭
Again, thank you for taking the time to play and write up such a long and thoughtful analysis 😭 I really appreciate it!
I've had the honour (and I insist on the word honour) of beta-testing Chattercap's new game, The Perfect Woman. And this has quickly become my favourite game from the creator. Without spoiling, I have to say this is one of the most unique horror experience I've had in seven years. Of course, during these seven years, I have played a lot of wonderfully crafted horror VNs, which manage to use horrific elements to convey deep themes and reflections about the characters involved in the story. But there is something disturbingly unique and special about the way the horror is presented in The Perfect Woman that really spoke to me. I'll detail more below, in a spoilers section, but for now, just these words: you should take the trigger warnings seriously.
Graphically, the game is absolutely immaculate. This is the first game from the creator without Live 2D-like animations, and I have to say that getting rid of them was the best choice. A bold one, considering these animations made the creator's games quite unique; but Chattercap being Chattercap, she didn't get rid of them for no reason. This game uses a plethora of perfectly-executed visual effects, plays around with its own colour schemes, and I won't give details to let the players discover the full scope of the work that's been made. And despite Chattecap's games being extremely polished, this one, in that regard, does surprisingly feel above the others. The GUI too was gorgeous and very well-implemented. It was also used in a very clever way to convey the narrative, but play the game. ;)
I also have to salute the voice acting: it was absolutely stellar, conveyed the different characters or impressions brillantly. The voice actors all did, without a single exception, an amazing job, and that's an understatement. In particular, the way the narration was handled (having three different voices) helped creating an impression of chorus, like we have in Greek tragedies.
Regarding the themes, the story is at the same time metaphorical and quite literal. I'll detail my thoughts more below, but I think the execution was flawless. The story narrates the attempts of a so-called Doctor to create the perfect woman. But what is a perfect woman? That is the question the game asks to explore the societal expectations put on women, and the ways women manage to navigate a patriarchal society.
That is it for the spoiler-free section. Go play the game if you can handle it, it will be time well-spent! For now, I will detail my thoughts more, but won't be shy on spoilers. Ready? Steady? Go!
************** SPOILERS **************
Now, it's going to be all over the place. First of all, I was wondering how the game was going to tackle Yumeko facing the Doctor's insane expectations. I was wondering if the game would narrate Yumeko managing to overcome the doctor thanks to the power of her convictions and finding a way to break the circle, or if the game would be less idealistic than that. The game had the brilliant idea to opt for the more realist solution. Even slightly contradicting the doctor results in him rebooting Yumeko and deleting the answer we picked. This made sense in the narrative: the Doctor wants to create the perfect woman, which can only happen after he deleted all the contradictions and all the things that go against his wishes.
So, let's suppose that we choose to rebel and refuse to oblige to the doctor's whims. First of all, we can see his goal: deny Yumeko any autonomy or personal thought. Something that struck me when I played was the make-up discussion. The doctor complains about women having the right to wear make-up to trick men into believing they're beautiful, whereas men have to wear their real face. The game offers you three options: 1) you can agree 2) you can say social expectations set by men are the reasons women have to wear make-up, but you agree with him on the fact this shouldn't be an expectation so that women gain time 3) you disagree with him by stating make-up can be self-expression. Obviously, he reboots you if you pick answer 3. But what about answer 2, in which you overall agree with him but nuance his point? Heck! he reboots you anyway! Why? Because he doesn't want Yumeko to be a person with her own views or opinions: he wants someone to glorify him, someone too impressed by him to even question him. After all, he's brilliant: why would you question someone brilliant?
Progressively, if you do so, the colours become darker, and the game becomes more horrific: every reboot is literal torture for Yumeko, and the imagery that accompanies her thoughts and her feelings is more and more disturbing. This slow descent into horror reminded me of the second act of Doki Doki Literature Club, which I found to be the best executed in the whole game. Obviously, the two experiences are very different, but seeing something we already know being corrupted on a meta-level (since there is narrative equivalent to restarting the game: the doctor rebooting Yumeko) was a similarity that I truly enjoyed in The Perfect Woman. The execution truly was stellar.
Then comes the climax of this route: Yumeko is nothing but the shadow of herself, barely having any expression if tears, forced to answer things that would please the doctor. What does happen then? What?
Everything becomes cuter than it has ever been. Everything is pink. Yumeko has a big smile on her face, with sparkling eyes. She says yes to everything the doctor says with enthusiasm. And yet, yet, yet, she has marks on her neck. This is a small detail but this was truly horrifying, and certainly one of the best horror experiences on my life. This single detail has haunted me. It is an amazingly clever way to encapsulate the whole game's theme: a woman who tries to rebel is a woman that gets violated, because society is violent towards those who try to change it. Yumeko has tried, but she lost.
The game, therefore, refuses the idealistic answer, although it is quite naïve: when overpowered by a man (as it is Yumeko's case), "girl power" is not enough, because you will be oppressed. You don't have much of a choice: you have to know how to survive first and then act when you're in position of doing so.
This is how the other endings are obtained: Yumeko tricks the doctor by only answering what he wants to hear. He is pleased and believes she is the perfect woman. Therefore, he puts her in an android. And now she got what she wanted: now she is real. What will she do?
Well, two possibilities: accept a life with the doctor and become his wife, or rebel. I'll talk about the latter first.
Rebelling, in a very chattercore twist, means killing the doctor. This fortunately is quite easy for Yumeko who is much stronger physically, considering she is an android with an exoskeleton. The game manages to tackle here another issue regarding the inequalities between men and women: most of the time, women can't fight the men who oppress and attack her, because those men are physically stronger. There is a risk of being attacked, assaulted, killed even, and perhaps, to even face worse things before death. It reminds me of what my sister told me when I asked her her opinion on the infamous bear or man debate: "At least the bear would just kill me." So Yumeko has the chance to overcome her abuser (since he literally tortured her as an AI) thanks to her physical strength.
The last ending was my favourite of the three. Yumeko tries to be the best wife for the doctor, but she doesn't have the aspirations he expects her to have. And even when she cries, and he asks her why, her only solution is to lie: she pretends she cries, because she feels lucky to have a husband like him. This was a very sad and tragic ending in my opinion, but that's what made it so good: Yumeko can't go anywhere, she doesn't know anything about the world. And once again, the game offers commentary on how some predatory men look for women who don't know their rights or the support they can get to abuse them. To lock them up in what they consider to be a guilded cage, but which is actually a coffin. Once again, a very important issue that the game tackles beautifully.
Finally, I really appreciated the appearance of the android: red lips, ebony hair, white skin in a white dress... She was literally Snow-White, an ideal representation of beauty in women. And yet, a woman so purely beautiful that her heart was pure too: and only her Prince Charming could save her from the jealousy of an older, not so pure women. This was a perfect representation of beauty standards, but also of the expectations of the doctor: he wants his partner to be ideally feminine: he wants her to be the type of woman who would be saved through true love's kiss, just because it would be proof that a man is loved.
Overall, this was a stellar game, and I will call it a masterpiece. Congrats on the game Chatter, it was an amazing experience!!
Mon seigneur, I am not deserving of the praise, but thank you 😭😭😭 your comments get kinder and more thoughtful with every game I release, you're going to start crashing my itch page at some point... The most unique horror experience in seven years is TOO KIND, SURELY NOT 😭 thank you so much... (apologies for the late reply as I wanted to make sure to respond thoroughly)
😭 Thank you for your comments on the animations, as I was quite worried about them. The Perfect Woman was me "experimenting" without animations, and seeing how I could make the visuals varied and interesting enough even without them, and I was pleased with the result! I'm not sure if my future games will play around with visuals as much as this one, but I would like to incorporate more of this type of work in the future! (And, of course, thank you for letting me plagia--I mean, inspiring me, of course the sprite variations were heavily inspired by The Daughters of the Sun, and the GUI by High School Lolita...) And I'm glad it seemed more polished, I did try to make it so 😭 (perhaps too much for such a short game...)
And YES, I was so lucky to have the opportunity to work with such talented VAs, they really were some of the most talented and pleasant people that I've ever had the opportunity to collaborate with. And I am glad that you picked up on the "Greek chorus", that was exactly the concept that I wanted to go for!
===SPOILERS===
😂 I'm glad that you found my approach to the premise interesting! It was actually the main reason that I wanted to use an AI as the focus - this concept that, like Pygmalion, the Doctor slowly carves Yumeko into the "shape" that he desires by continuously rebooting her, until she is nothing more than a hollow shell, parroting his desire.
Your analysis of the Doctor's desires is spot-on - nothing that Yumeko says is outrageous, nothing insults him. Rather, she simply says things that he doesn't agree with. Your point here is exactly correct - he doesn't want her to be a person, he wants someone to glorify him. And as you also mentioned, while I do love "girlpower" and generally feminist narratives, I do oftentimes think that they are too easy. A woman can simply stand up for herself and speak her mind, and others will listen because she's right. But this does not happen all the time IRL - in fact, if a woman speaks up, sometimes she is punished - put down for her conflicting views, forced to bend until she goes back into line. Sometimes, a woman is allowed to speak only when a man allows it - and this is what happens here. If Yumeko rebels, the Doctor prevents her from speaking, reprogramming her into a shell of herself.
I am VERY glad that you liked the sprite changes! I originally only planned two (normal Yumeko and "perfect" Yumeko), but I thought that I would try to vary them a bit more between playthroughs! Your analysis of the third "form" is completely correct - Yumeko is a shadow, unable to emote except to smile and cry. And I am SO GLAD that you liked the fourth form - "perfect" Yumeko - and that you caught the strangulation marks on her neck (it was a small detail that I wasn't sure people would catch!) Your phrasing here - "a woman who tries to rebel is a woman that gets violated" - is very true, and I do really want to emphasize that point - "violate." Because taking away her choice is not harmless, it is a violation of her autonomy, of her dignity, of her as a person.
😂 OF COURSE you know me, murder must be the solution ✨ and yet you are very right, even that is something of a "fantasy." In reality a woman wouldn't be able to overpower her husband, or strangle him. Yumeko is only able to survive because she is "not human" - because she's not limited by the constraints of her physicality. Part of it is a fantasy - a ray of hope, an avenue of escape. Although I also think that her body reflects her inner strength and will to survive - perhaps she would have found a way to escape without it 😂 but then we wouldn't have gotten blood ✨
But I agree with you on the last ending (the Wife) being my favorite as well (and, most likely, the one that I would consider "my" ending). Because, in the end, with no knowledge, no skills, no relationships, no life - who does she have except the Doctor? You captured my intent with this extremely well - abusers find vulnerable partners and strip away their lives, making it difficult to escape. And, in the end, between facing the fear of her life with the Doctor and the fear of the unknown - I don't blame Yumeko for choosing him.
HONESTLY I did not make the fairy tale parallels when I first wrote it, as I mainly based this section on Pygmalion, as well as Japanese beauty standards - but of course, the themes are very similar. Like Snow White, I based Yumeko's real appearance on "ideal Japanese beauty" - pale skin, black hair, red lips - and a white dress, perfectly pure so that she may be dyed in her husband's colors. And like Pygmalion in the myth, the Doctor wants to bring Yumeko to life with his love. "Because it would be proof that a man is loved" is an absolutely perfect way to sum it all up, and I couldn't put it any better myself.
THANK YOU AGAIN FOR LEAVING SUCH A KIND COMMENT, and for playtesting for me 😭 I couldn't be more grateful to have you. First to play, first to comment, first to rate, you have all of the medals, mon seigneur...
THE WAY THIS COMMENT IS TOO NICE TO BE TRUE THOUGH WHEN DID YOU GET A REDEMPTION ARC