Just finished this. I like how the build up was just really good. It made sense where everyone ended up.
Imos was built up from the start as being weak but kept trying to be better, until the world chew him and spat him out. He tried, he really did, but he failed, and then you can see him being wishy-washy which just led him to a further hole of hatred towards everyone.
Aina knows her priorities well, even if she loves her freedom – she’s both selfish and caring, and then her freedom was taken, her purpose was taken, and she’s forced to kept giving that she really did think the world isn’t worth it. She started off being rather prideful, but by the end of it all it was trampled in the most Grecian tragedy of them all.
Lotia had everything, except courage and honesty – no matter what ending, she lost them all and only realizing how knee-deep in cowardice and delusion she was then. She lost everyone she loved, and come face to face that it was all for nothing – and probably never realized how deep it goes because she never really questioned what was told to her.
Tori is the biggest asshole of them all, but she’s always been smart and dismissive of others, at the end of it all she rationalized everything that happened in a way that made her not feel like in the wrong – she never realized how much she fucked up until the endings where everything was crumbling down.
Lastly, Kronia was a nice girl and you can say she’s blameless, but she stuck to her message of tolerance and kindness so much that even in the end when she has someone who could have righted all the wrongs, she chose to just take care of them without a care of the wider world.
Everyone else is kinda one note, but they all have a purpose and they fulfill them well. Nothing I could say about Assym that isn't already said in game. I guess one negative is that Thrash’s change can be seen as how “what bad men need is just a good woman,” which really is off how that is kinda pro-abuse considering how much gravity everything else is, but you can also say that when he met Imos again, calling him scrub first thing and then mocking him further even if his words isn’t entirely wrong if hypocritical on top of never actually stopping his comrades in any endings; only when face to face to the consequences of his action that he seemed to really change as he chose to keep silent about Imos in the Behnricht ending. You can see it as that, but the whole “bad men need good women” thing just really didn’t fit, unless again you just want to say that “sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t,” while pointing to the other male.
The twist was really predictable at first, until you started seeing Ending 3-6. Then you see that it doesn't actually grant Imos the revenge he wished and show just how low it all brought him down. I'm surprised that it doesn't grant you some straightforward revenge porn (in either sense of the word) but the execution of the thematic clash being setup, culminating in Behrn and Phice's clash of ideology and what they represent to be really good, no matter what real life ideas you wish to see reflected in them. Regardless, showing toxicity of the cycle and the narratives we believe in, yet also acknowledging that there really is no real solution other than trying to be balanced and not go into the extremes that any of the characters did.
My main criticism I suppose is that it is still trying to be a fetish fuel - and so there is a major contradiction with the little brother (Thum? I forgot the name) whom should not fit Phice's agenda (especially when you put him side-by-side with Imos who is better looking and is pretty strong when given the meagerest of power). On top of that, the idea of gangbangs being a thing that isn't stamped out considering how it introduces uncertainty to their agenda also isn't sensible. The lack of actual religious body governing Phice's will was also weird - if you're a divine being, and you have an agenda, it makes little sense not to have a group that is loyal to your will with zeal and loyalty. I understand that with the values Phice embodies there is naturally some really dumb contradictions, but it doesn't make any sense considering the drive they went with the rest of the characters.
All in all, it’s depressing, but overall well constructed. Too dark and cruel for me to fap to though, but I am writing this long comment at 5AM without any sleep so it does a lot of right if nothing else.