As much as I wanted to like this one, it just isn't quite as good as The Testimony. I really appreciate your work mind you, and I still think that this is a fun experience.
Tabby just isn't really as fun of a protagonist as someone like Trixie is, which might be part of it, and for some reason the art doesn't have that certain feel I can't quite pin down.
finally got around to playing this after the testimony and it was so nice to see these characters be more fleshed out and their relationship develop! i did get the spell right, then spell wrong + nikita beatdown, but i wonder what the third ending is? and if there's a way to fuck things up for the three, because it seemed like the two endings i achieved ended up pretty similar in outcome anyway.
I went into this blind with no expectations (and not having played the previous game?), trying to keep an open mind about things but my god I just cant go any further into this game after getting the cave ins with Nikita being so horrible all the time. She's just so gross and awful.
I know this game has been out for a while now and the devs are probably aware of this but in case you're not and feel inclined to fix it, I found a typo. Not really spoilers because it's in the synopsis. Not far into the game yet but I loved the other 2 and can't wait to see how this one plays out. It was mentioned that there are 2 endings to The Testimony of Trixie Glitter Smith, and that this game follows that one. I was wondering which ending was 'canon'?
Typo here being king where it's supposed to be kind
-three thespians in a borough -three olympians full of sorrow -three hestians with a dildo -three egyptians with a pharaoh -free pedestrian wheelbarrow -three barbarians with an arrow -three republicans with a sombrero -three libertarians using an escrow -three indians in a pay row -three debians and manjaro -plead "let me in" to a sparrow
Somehow I got the final three (Unless there is a bad one, then I have skipped it), and it has been fun to see the interplay of the three girls, I would like to see them more in the future.
It would be interesting if the next game (If you decide to make another, Nikita was the protagonist, I really like this character).
Thank you so much for making such an amazing game as always!
hello I just feel like saying I ADORE your work sadly I can't purchase anything right now I've only seen streams but man I love it XD LeRose is my favorite so I've done some fan art of her passing out F- to kindergarteners XD it should be up on my YouTube in idk a day or so
This is so great. Please tell me it's gonna have a sequel at some point. I haven't had enough of these characters, even with the previous two games under my belt.
Glad to announce I have learnt grammer since writing my visual novels :) I would like to patch my games, but there's a lot of fiddling about involved and I font have much free time :( Sorry if it hurt your enjoyment!
I had intended to review this, like, a week ago but family stuff came up and yadda yadda. Anyways, better late than never, not even sure why I decided to inject my personal life into this but I don't believe in editing so let's go.
This game's a great follow-up to TToTGS's story, and I feel the improvements show a growth in the author that is very promising for future works. Although this tale is shorter, and contains slightly less variety on repeat playthroughs from what I could tell, the writing has broadly improved in my opinion and the three main characters work quite well with how their personalities interact. I also feel that keeping the story confined to one location meant that while there were less characters than in the prior game, more depth and character was given to the characters we did interact with. All three endings, and the variations on them, proved very enjoyable. I particularly liked how the characters' expressions on the title screen changed to reflect the most recent ending.
Tabby's a great addition to the cast, and the fact that she's more emotionally intelligent than the other two characters (and frankly, me) allows her to provide some interesting insight into Trixie and Nikita's relationship. The tone of the game is also well kept, with dark comedy highlighting the more genuinely scary moments. I think that in total the previous game was scarier, but this one was more funny and emotional - overall I would call it a great improvement and the tone shift is really rather slight.
The length of this post is approaching dangerously rambly territory, so to conclude I'll say that this was a great game and I strongly recommend it to anyone who finds it interesting, and especially anyone who enjoyed its predecessor.
P.S. I nearly forgot, but the art has improved as well in my opinion, not that it was lacking in the previous game! The music continues to be outstanding! Trans representation is wonderful! I have too many opinions about this game for my own well-being! That's all for real now. Thanks if anyone actually read this whole nonsense mess.
Thank you for such a kind comment! I think the changing main menu was the last thing I added to the game a few minutes before releasing it, and I'm so glad people noticed it!
Queer ladies living in a chill English town, going on mind-bending eldritch adventures each day and finishing it up with a treat from the local Gregg(')s? Wonderful. This series has been one of my most favourite finds this year, bless you <3
(Also while liveblogging TTOTGS with my dear friend we ended up chanting "trans gay cow, trans gay cow, trans gay cow!" whenever Bell turned up which was a fun wholesome time :') )
oh my goodness... i finished playing through this entire series a week or so ago, and i honestly just had to come here and say: thank you so, so much for putting this art into the world! if i am being completely honest with myself, i think this is the first time i have ever felt truly represented by... uhm... well, any piece of media. period. ever. in my entire life. the first time i have ever played or watched anything where i feel so wholly at home and welcome and understood by the narrative that i could actually take it for granted.
at several points in these games, i had to stop and wonder if this is what cis people feel like, about the stories they cherish. where they can so effortlessly relate to the main characters and find personal meaning in what they're seeing. i think it made me really realize that for so long now, all i've experienced is either man-in-a-dress hurtful dehumanizing garbage, or fauxgressive stuff about what cis people think the trans experience is. where cis actors play characters written by other cis people, whose stories pretty much always revovle solely around Trans Suffering™, so that the cis audience can pat themselves on the back and feel good about the fact that they feel sorry for the trans person who inevitably gets abused and deadnamed. because of course they will be. because we always are. because our place within fiction may as well just be the cute dog that gets killed onscreen for cheap shock value. i don't think i even knew really what an actual story starring a actual trans character could actually look like. but now i do! and it makes me so happy that i was lucky enough to come across this series :>
i can't even begin to describe how close to home trixie's outburst in bell's route hit. down to the exact age when i started my transition! every last line in that scene making me just stare, wide-eyed, over the fact that a piece of fiction that isn't even about Being Trans could so perfectly and naturally articulate thoughts that have run through my head over and over and over again throughout the years. and when i found out in tliab that tabby is trans too?!?!?! can that happen?! is that even legal?! to have two (2) entire trans characters in main character roles?! in the same story?! TALKING to each other and bonding over their shared experiences, like actual trans people might do?! and they still get to go on cool and gay cosmic horror adventures in a really fascinating setting! holy shit. what the fuckmst.
thank you again, for making these games. they were an absolute treat to get to experience. whether you keep making stories in this world, or move onto other projects, i'm sure it'll be amazing!
also, i laughed a lot whenever lovecraft got dunked on
Thank you so much! Comments like this mean so much to me! I wrote my games because I wanted trans women to have something they could point at and say "thats us!" because im so tired of never seeing myself in media!
Aaagh! Played all 3 of the games in this series over the past 2 days (and sped through cyber dark-cool-yas). I'm just starting to come out to people and begin my transition, and good god do I find trixie relatable... Hope there's a chance we get to see more of her and this awesome cosmic horror world you've created! (Have been a big Cthulhu Mythos fan for a while too so I love all the mythos stuff, it's like I found this series right at a point in my life where it's taylor made to hit all my irl anxieties... In a good way...?)
I absolutely loved this series! The hand animation and just charm in Parsnip is unmatched and i loved that as well as the dark undertones and branching endings.
The Testimony of Trixie Glimmer Smith, while losing the oustanding art, made up for it with a killer story and characters as well as really characterizing themes, parsnips being especially remarkable, with the random trumpets showing his unpredictablility and personality.
three lesbians in a barrow, while shorter, had more character development than the previous titles, a notable instance being Nikita's ear being damaged in a fight, which i thought as a character design quirk in The Testimony, and i liked the interaction mechanics, stop here if you don't want to read a rant about representation and natural feeling chacterization. Just know i loved this game series and i hope to be able to play more of them in the future, Love pretty much everything about it and could do a whole nother paragraph on the wordbuilding!
As a preface, i have nothing against trans people and i think that gender dysmorphia is a very real, treatable condition that effects thousands of people.
While trixie being trans is something i liked, with it being foreshadowed throughout the first half of Testimony, through things like the ear patch and her line about "growing boobs", Tabitha being trans actually slightly soured her character for me, there was no lead up or plot impact to her being trans, with the problems Trixie shows from her transition not afflicting Tabitha and (even taking into consideration "the queerest town in the country") it felt to somewhat overrepresent the population of trans people, the chances of two people in a small town being trans, semi friends, and not knowing it ("are those oestrogen patches on your ear?") is so low that it doesn't make much narrative sense. If i missed something in my playthrough that changes this please point it out! it just seems a bit contrived to me.
Tabby and Trixie knew each-other were trans : ) It is probably why they get on so well. Tabitha has also been transitioning for much longer, and has better self confidence, so she does not face many of Trixies problems! I disagree that it needs to be 'foreshadowed' that someone is trans, it isn't a plot twist. Some people are just trans, and in my stories especially I like to tell their stories, because unfortunately we don't get much representation in media. I think you'd also be surprised by how many people in a small town can be trans, especially a small town with a university : )
I'm glad you enjoyed the series though, thank you for your kind words on the story!
okay, i misread that interaction, i was tired while playing and writing this (still am, i need to sleep) but that makes sense, i just want to add on a thank you for replying and for making this great series, and i hope there are more in the future!
Just learned about the Bluehills county series from the bundle, and goodness but I'm glad I did. While I couldn't get Parsnip to run (closes itself in about ten seconds) I absolutely loved the VNs. Queer eldritch horror is a thing I'll never get tired of.
One question though - Trixie in the first game was (maybe) ace, and here describes herself as bi. I was wondering if that was meant to be read as her having a firmer grasp of her sexuality, or whether she meant like biromantic.
Thanks again! I look forward to whatever comes next from you.
Ok. So. I played Parsnip. Hated the bunny, loved the game. Decided to see what else there was. [SPOILERS AHEAD] Found the next part. A visual novel? I dislike them, but... I did wanna know more, that passing mention of the Yellow King in Parsnip told me there was more to this world than we were shown. "Testimony" didn't dissapoint, plenty there to learn, and subtle changes all over. I would've hoped he crystal by itself could've made a whole different ending~
So I decided to try this one. Quite fun, interesting, even if way more limited than the previous one. Interesting way to fram the story, too~ I should point out, too, I played all three today XD
[HEAVIER SPILERS AHEAD] I have to ask though... is just me or it feels that in the "failed ritual" ending... what Nikita "kills" is just the newest experiment, the explorer that died a bit ago... meaning the big bad is actually "living" and free? o_o
Played through The Testimony and this one and I really enjoyed my time with them. I like the art style and I like the characters. There's just something fun about struggling queer students confronting forces beyond their understanding. Looking forward to any sequels.
After playing through Trixie this was a pretty fun followup. Not gonna lie, it's gratifying to see Trixie's HRT having an effect, and it's always fun to dunk on Nikita.
Honestly, I really love this series. Part of me just wants another game where it's like "all of the characters just have a nice gay day together and work out their issues without anything u͕̣͎̳̰͜ņn̫̦͖̪͙ͅa̲͉t̫̠̙̱̯̙̣u͕̥̜̠͖̤̖͘r̞aĺ͚ happening," but that's just me thinking queer thoughts. In any case, thank you for working on this series! It's been really fun to play through thusfar.
I loved the banter in this game! It makes me want to know more about the characters - e.g. how did Trixie and Nikita meet? What happened at the milkshake date? This made me play your other related games (yes, even the "Rat and Bat One", and I HATE fanfiction), and makes me hope you make more content in this universe!
I first watched this game on YouTube and I thought it's really nice. I like the characters a lot, Trixie seems a bit more bitchy against Nikita than in the last game. The humour is wonderful and I love Tabithia. She has a nice design and a great character. If there were any merch with her I definitely would buy it. I hope we will see more games with those characters in the future because you create wonderful stories and characters.
I just got through this and had a lot of fun with it! (No spoilers in this review, so don't hesitate to read it)
When I discovered the previous game, "The Testimony of Trixie Glimmer Smith", I was really surprised at just how much it hooked me. After my first playthrough I knew I wanted to go back and see the other paths the game offered, and even got to the point where I was trying things just to see the minor alterations they'd have on the game's ending, so seeing a new VN from Digital Poppy, I knew I'd be playing it immediately.
Though still being a horror-themed VN and starring two of the previous title's characters, the tone on this one felt different! The horror (mostly) played a backseat to just letting the characters interact with each other, and I found myself laughing at a lot of the game's lines. "Trixie" had its humor, but it felt like comic relief to its more pressing plot. "Barrow" seems to be much more willing to just try to be funny, and does a great job of it, even if the situation is more dire. (Even without a supernatural horror, the characters do have to deal with potentially being trapped in the barrow and not being able to get out!)
In "Barrow", you get to play as the new character, a transwoman fox named Tabby. She's a very fun character and I couldn't help but pick all the happy/positive/shippy choices whenever they were presented. She gets to play the role of mediator to Trixie and Nikita who have a very aggressive relationship with each other. The description says that you don't need to play the previous game to enjoy "Barrow", but I would highly suggest doing so myself, as it makes their dynamic a lot more understandable when you know what they went through in the previous game instead of just being told something happened last summer and to drop it. At the same time, Tabby does get to try and learn a bit about them and if you yourself are a blank slate you'll be able to pick up on some of it, if not the specifics.
Also I am extremely jealous of her dress. Though it is perhaps not the best outfit to be wearing on an outing to some weird old barrow.
"Barrow" builds on "Trixie" in terms of interactivity by turning the game into a series of limited choices. This was explored a little in a library scene in "Trixie", where reading books passed X hours and you only had so much time to get the relevant lore, but here it's the main conceit of the game. This time the lore is there but you can only read so much of it before having to work on other things. There's still plenty of old forgotten tales to be read of wars with abominations and magic spells to banish evil, but this time the player has to keep it in their own mind at the end where they need to demonstrate they've been paying attention (and hopefully got all the information needed).
At the time of writing, I've only done a single playthrough. "Trixie" was a very similar game with most of its prompts leading to the same results other than a decision of which character to spend time with, which made subsequent playthroughs a lot of mashing clicking to get to this main split. (Of course, you could just save before making any choices...) "Barrow" is structured in a way that I feel like when I get around to my next run that the differences should happen a lot faster.
As a whole, it feels more compressed than the previous game. It took me a little over 2 hours to get through, but not for lack of content. It's a quicker pace and is able to get to those decisions a lot faster given the context that the game takes place with the characters trapped together so there's no need to talk about what to snack on at a bakery or who to text about the day's events. It's just three lesbians in a barrow after all. It was a very fun two hours, and I'd definitely recommend it (and "Trixie") to anybody who wants a story focused around LGBT characters that isn't a romance.
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As much as I wanted to like this one, it just isn't quite as good as The Testimony. I really appreciate your work mind you, and I still think that this is a fun experience.
Tabby just isn't really as fun of a protagonist as someone like Trixie is, which might be part of it, and for some reason the art doesn't have that certain feel I can't quite pin down.
That's not to say it's bad, I enjoyed it.
finally got around to playing this after the testimony and it was so nice to see these characters be more fleshed out and their relationship develop! i did get the spell right, then spell wrong + nikita beatdown, but i wonder what the third ending is? and if there's a way to fuck things up for the three, because it seemed like the two endings i achieved ended up pretty similar in outcome anyway.
✞ ✞ ✞
I went into this blind with no expectations (and not having played the previous game?), trying to keep an open mind about things but my god I just cant go any further into this game after getting the cave ins with Nikita being so horrible all the time. She's just so gross and awful.
then deal with it
i love this but trixie please dont eat sand
you cant stop her
I know this game has been out for a while now and the devs are probably aware of this but in case you're not and feel inclined to fix it, I found a typo. Not really spoilers because it's in the synopsis. Not far into the game yet but I loved the other 2 and can't wait to see how this one plays out. It was mentioned that there are 2 endings to The Testimony of Trixie Glitter Smith, and that this game follows that one. I was wondering which ending was 'canon'?
Typo here being king where it's supposed to be kind
I love this game, I really identified to all three characters some way or another. Thank you for this VN!
This game was an absolute blast, I love the dialogue.
My god Tabby is GORGEOUS and pretty
LOVE IT thank you, very cute.
I llove Tabbie!!!!!
We all love her!
-three thespians in a borough
-three olympians full of sorrow
-three hestians with a dildo
-three egyptians with a pharaoh
-free pedestrian wheelbarrow
-three barbarians with an arrow
-three republicans with a sombrero
-three libertarians using an escrow
-three indians in a pay row
-three debians and manjaro
-plead "let me in" to a sparrow
(i was told to post this)
The game has been quite interesting!
Somehow I got the final three (Unless there is a bad one, then I have skipped it), and it has been fun to see the interplay of the three girls, I would like to see them more in the future.
It would be interesting if the next game (If you decide to make another, Nikita was the protagonist, I really like this character).
Thank you so much for making such an amazing game as always!
If i do ever find time to continue trixie and her friends story I do intend for Niktia to be the protagonist : )
hello I just feel like saying I ADORE your work sadly I can't purchase anything right now I've only seen streams but man I love it XD LeRose is my favorite so I've done some fan art of her passing out F- to kindergarteners XD it should be up on my YouTube in idk a day or so
This is so great.
Please tell me it's gonna have a sequel at some point. I haven't had enough of these characters, even with the previous two games under my belt.
Please god let me fix the grammar I will literally do it for free
To be fair this isn't really an attack on TLiaB I thought it was the best and gayest shit ever
Glad to announce I have learnt grammer since writing my visual novels :) I would like to patch my games, but there's a lot of fiddling about involved and I font have much free time :( Sorry if it hurt your enjoyment!
I had intended to review this, like, a week ago but family stuff came up and yadda yadda. Anyways, better late than never, not even sure why I decided to inject my personal life into this but I don't believe in editing so let's go.
This game's a great follow-up to TToTGS's story, and I feel the improvements show a growth in the author that is very promising for future works. Although this tale is shorter, and contains slightly less variety on repeat playthroughs from what I could tell, the writing has broadly improved in my opinion and the three main characters work quite well with how their personalities interact. I also feel that keeping the story confined to one location meant that while there were less characters than in the prior game, more depth and character was given to the characters we did interact with. All three endings, and the variations on them, proved very enjoyable. I particularly liked how the characters' expressions on the title screen changed to reflect the most recent ending.
Tabby's a great addition to the cast, and the fact that she's more emotionally intelligent than the other two characters (and frankly, me) allows her to provide some interesting insight into Trixie and Nikita's relationship. The tone of the game is also well kept, with dark comedy highlighting the more genuinely scary moments. I think that in total the previous game was scarier, but this one was more funny and emotional - overall I would call it a great improvement and the tone shift is really rather slight.
The length of this post is approaching dangerously rambly territory, so to conclude I'll say that this was a great game and I strongly recommend it to anyone who finds it interesting, and especially anyone who enjoyed its predecessor.
P.S. I nearly forgot, but the art has improved as well in my opinion, not that it was lacking in the previous game! The music continues to be outstanding! Trans representation is wonderful! I have too many opinions about this game for my own well-being! That's all for real now. Thanks if anyone actually read this whole nonsense mess.
Thank you for such a kind comment! I think the changing main menu was the last thing I added to the game a few minutes before releasing it, and I'm so glad people noticed it!
No, thank you for making such great games. I'm not exactly in a position to provide monetary support, so saying nice things is the least I can do.
I had a lot of fun with the innuendo, the other jokes... some self-aware comments from Trixie about this game and the recent game's writing * W *
✞
Nikita is even more lovable!
Trixie now portrays more of her "bad at lying" quality!
and
Tabby joined the party <3
Overall, its a goodie supplemental!
✞
The books/tome stuff, the spiral stuff brings me back to TMA, and some Uzumaki...
I'll be waiting for another creative work from you guys~
Queer ladies living in a chill English town, going on mind-bending eldritch adventures each day and finishing it up with a treat from the local Gregg(')s? Wonderful. This series has been one of my most favourite finds this year, bless you <3
(Also while liveblogging TTOTGS with my dear friend we ended up chanting "trans gay cow, trans gay cow, trans gay cow!" whenever Bell turned up which was a fun wholesome time :') )
oh my goodness... i finished playing through this entire series a week or so ago, and i honestly just had to come here and say: thank you so, so much for putting this art into the world! if i am being completely honest with myself, i think this is the first time i have ever felt truly represented by... uhm... well, any piece of media. period. ever. in my entire life. the first time i have ever played or watched anything where i feel so wholly at home and welcome and understood by the narrative that i could actually take it for granted.
at several points in these games, i had to stop and wonder if this is what cis people feel like, about the stories they cherish. where they can so effortlessly relate to the main characters and find personal meaning in what they're seeing. i think it made me really realize that for so long now, all i've experienced is either man-in-a-dress hurtful dehumanizing garbage, or fauxgressive stuff about what cis people think the trans experience is. where cis actors play characters written by other cis people, whose stories pretty much always revovle solely around Trans Suffering™, so that the cis audience can pat themselves on the back and feel good about the fact that they feel sorry for the trans person who inevitably gets abused and deadnamed. because of course they will be. because we always are. because our place within fiction may as well just be the cute dog that gets killed onscreen for cheap shock value. i don't think i even knew really what an actual story starring a actual trans character could actually look like. but now i do! and it makes me so happy that i was lucky enough to come across this series :>
i can't even begin to describe how close to home trixie's outburst in bell's route hit. down to the exact age when i started my transition! every last line in that scene making me just stare, wide-eyed, over the fact that a piece of fiction that isn't even about Being Trans could so perfectly and naturally articulate thoughts that have run through my head over and over and over again throughout the years. and when i found out in tliab that tabby is trans too?!?!?! can that happen?! is that even legal?! to have two (2) entire trans characters in main character roles?! in the same story?! TALKING to each other and bonding over their shared experiences, like actual trans people might do?! and they still get to go on cool and gay cosmic horror adventures in a really fascinating setting! holy shit. what the fuckmst.
thank you again, for making these games. they were an absolute treat to get to experience. whether you keep making stories in this world, or move onto other projects, i'm sure it'll be amazing!
also, i laughed a lot whenever lovecraft got dunked on
hell yeah
Thank you so much! Comments like this mean so much to me! I wrote my games because I wanted trans women to have something they could point at and say "thats us!" because im so tired of never seeing myself in media!
Aaagh! Played all 3 of the games in this series over the past 2 days (and sped through cyber dark-cool-yas). I'm just starting to come out to people and begin my transition, and good god do I find trixie relatable... Hope there's a chance we get to see more of her and this awesome cosmic horror world you've created! (Have been a big Cthulhu Mythos fan for a while too so I love all the mythos stuff, it's like I found this series right at a point in my life where it's taylor made to hit all my irl anxieties... In a good way...?)
I'm so happy my games could hit you (in a good way) Good luck with coming out <3
I absolutely loved this series! The hand animation and just charm in Parsnip is unmatched and i loved that as well as the dark undertones and branching endings.
The Testimony of Trixie Glimmer Smith, while losing the oustanding art, made up for it with a killer story and characters as well as really characterizing themes, parsnips being especially remarkable, with the random trumpets showing his unpredictablility and personality.
three lesbians in a barrow, while shorter, had more character development than the previous titles, a notable instance being Nikita's ear being damaged in a fight, which i thought as a character design quirk in The Testimony, and i liked the interaction mechanics, stop here if you don't want to read a rant about representation and natural feeling chacterization. Just know i loved this game series and i hope to be able to play more of them in the future, Love pretty much everything about it and could do a whole nother paragraph on the wordbuilding!
As a preface, i have nothing against trans people and i think that gender dysmorphia is a very real, treatable condition that effects thousands of people.
While trixie being trans is something i liked, with it being foreshadowed throughout the first half of Testimony, through things like the ear patch and her line about "growing boobs", Tabitha being trans actually slightly soured her character for me, there was no lead up or plot impact to her being trans, with the problems Trixie shows from her transition not afflicting Tabitha and (even taking into consideration "the queerest town in the country") it felt to somewhat overrepresent the population of trans people, the chances of two people in a small town being trans, semi friends, and not knowing it ("are those oestrogen patches on your ear?") is so low that it doesn't make much narrative sense. If i missed something in my playthrough that changes this please point it out! it just seems a bit contrived to me.
shit that was long.
Tabby and Trixie knew each-other were trans : ) It is probably why they get on so well. Tabitha has also been transitioning for much longer, and has better self confidence, so she does not face many of Trixies problems! I disagree that it needs to be 'foreshadowed' that someone is trans, it isn't a plot twist. Some people are just trans, and in my stories especially I like to tell their stories, because unfortunately we don't get much representation in media. I think you'd also be surprised by how many people in a small town can be trans, especially a small town with a university : )
I'm glad you enjoyed the series though, thank you for your kind words on the story!
okay, i misread that interaction, i was tired while playing and writing this (still am, i need to sleep) but that makes sense, i just want to add on a thank you for replying and for making this great series, and i hope there are more in the future!
Just learned about the Bluehills county series from the bundle, and goodness but I'm glad I did. While I couldn't get Parsnip to run (closes itself in about ten seconds) I absolutely loved the VNs. Queer eldritch horror is a thing I'll never get tired of.
One question though - Trixie in the first game was (maybe) ace, and here describes herself as bi. I was wondering if that was meant to be read as her having a firmer grasp of her sexuality, or whether she meant like biromantic.
Thanks again! I look forward to whatever comes next from you.
I think Trixie is very uncertain of her sexuality. I think bi romantic is a good way to describe her.
Very good, very soft, as a transbian it makes me happy........
Hi i love these lesbians great great job. if u make another game id love to see the ,milkshake date
Ok. So. I played Parsnip. Hated the bunny, loved the game. Decided to see what else there was.
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
Found the next part. A visual novel? I dislike them, but... I did wanna know more, that passing mention of the Yellow King in Parsnip told me there was more to this world than we were shown. "Testimony" didn't dissapoint, plenty there to learn, and subtle changes all over. I would've hoped he crystal by itself could've made a whole different ending~
So I decided to try this one. Quite fun, interesting, even if way more limited than the previous one. Interesting way to fram the story, too~
I should point out, too, I played all three today XD
[HEAVIER SPILERS AHEAD]
I have to ask though... is just me or it feels that in the "failed ritual" ending... what Nikita "kills" is just the newest experiment, the explorer that died a bit ago... meaning the big bad is actually "living" and free? o_o
This game actually came out after The Testimony of Trixie Glimmer Smith, so the events of the previous summer can be seen there!
play parsnip, then testimony of trixie glimmer smith, then your questions will be answered, combined its about 4 hours of game. very worth it
Played through The Testimony and this one and I really enjoyed my time with them. I like the art style and I like the characters. There's just something fun about struggling queer students confronting forces beyond their understanding. Looking forward to any sequels.
I was surprised at the end with how invested I was in these three characters' relationships. The Trixie:Nikita ship is real. Good work!
Pretty good
Get this game.
After playing through Trixie this was a pretty fun followup. Not gonna lie, it's gratifying to see Trixie's HRT having an effect, and it's always fun to dunk on Nikita.
Ironically, I actually ended up taking notes on the mythohistory of the place to make sure I didn't mess up the ritual.
Probably not enough for a report, though.
Honestly, I really love this series. Part of me just wants another game where it's like "all of the characters just have a nice gay day together and work out their issues without anything u͕̣͎̳̰͜ņn̫̦͖̪͙ͅa̲͉t̫̠̙̱̯̙̣u͕̥̜̠͖̤̖͘r̞aĺ͚ happening," but that's just me thinking queer thoughts. In any case, thank you for working on this series! It's been really fun to play through thusfar.
I'd love to write a game like that one day, when I have a chance : )
I loved the banter in this game! It makes me want to know more about the characters - e.g. how did Trixie and Nikita meet? What happened at the milkshake date? This made me play your other related games (yes, even the "Rat and Bat One", and I HATE fanfiction), and makes me hope you make more content in this universe!
I first watched this game on YouTube and I thought it's really nice. I like the characters a lot, Trixie seems a bit more bitchy against Nikita than in the last game. The humour is wonderful and I love Tabithia. She has a nice design and a great character. If there were any merch with her I definitely would buy it. I hope we will see more games with those characters in the future because you create wonderful stories and characters.
I'm glad you enjoyed the game! Thank you for your kind words ^^
I just got through this and had a lot of fun with it! (No spoilers in this review, so don't hesitate to read it)
When I discovered the previous game, "The Testimony of Trixie Glimmer Smith", I was really surprised at just how much it hooked me. After my first playthrough I knew I wanted to go back and see the other paths the game offered, and even got to the point where I was trying things just to see the minor alterations they'd have on the game's ending, so seeing a new VN from Digital Poppy, I knew I'd be playing it immediately.
Though still being a horror-themed VN and starring two of the previous title's characters, the tone on this one felt different! The horror (mostly) played a backseat to just letting the characters interact with each other, and I found myself laughing at a lot of the game's lines. "Trixie" had its humor, but it felt like comic relief to its more pressing plot. "Barrow" seems to be much more willing to just try to be funny, and does a great job of it, even if the situation is more dire. (Even without a supernatural horror, the characters do have to deal with potentially being trapped in the barrow and not being able to get out!)
In "Barrow", you get to play as the new character, a transwoman fox named Tabby. She's a very fun character and I couldn't help but pick all the happy/positive/shippy choices whenever they were presented. She gets to play the role of mediator to Trixie and Nikita who have a very aggressive relationship with each other. The description says that you don't need to play the previous game to enjoy "Barrow", but I would highly suggest doing so myself, as it makes their dynamic a lot more understandable when you know what they went through in the previous game instead of just being told something happened last summer and to drop it. At the same time, Tabby does get to try and learn a bit about them and if you yourself are a blank slate you'll be able to pick up on some of it, if not the specifics.
Also I am extremely jealous of her dress. Though it is perhaps not the best outfit to be wearing on an outing to some weird old barrow.
"Barrow" builds on "Trixie" in terms of interactivity by turning the game into a series of limited choices. This was explored a little in a library scene in "Trixie", where reading books passed X hours and you only had so much time to get the relevant lore, but here it's the main conceit of the game. This time the lore is there but you can only read so much of it before having to work on other things. There's still plenty of old forgotten tales to be read of wars with abominations and magic spells to banish evil, but this time the player has to keep it in their own mind at the end where they need to demonstrate they've been paying attention (and hopefully got all the information needed).
At the time of writing, I've only done a single playthrough. "Trixie" was a very similar game with most of its prompts leading to the same results other than a decision of which character to spend time with, which made subsequent playthroughs a lot of mashing clicking to get to this main split. (Of course, you could just save before making any choices...) "Barrow" is structured in a way that I feel like when I get around to my next run that the differences should happen a lot faster.
As a whole, it feels more compressed than the previous game. It took me a little over 2 hours to get through, but not for lack of content. It's a quicker pace and is able to get to those decisions a lot faster given the context that the game takes place with the characters trapped together so there's no need to talk about what to snack on at a bakery or who to text about the day's events. It's just three lesbians in a barrow after all. It was a very fun two hours, and I'd definitely recommend it (and "Trixie") to anybody who wants a story focused around LGBT characters that isn't a romance.
Tabby isn't great at dressing appropriately. Thank you for the kind words!