itch.io

seconded lmao

good things come to those who wait uwu

i love

i havent even played it yet and im excited

the dry humor i was aiming for didnt quite stick the landing, but i legit agree. that slice-of-life sort of grounded-ness has a special kind of charm that the more intense plot structures of, say, echo, do not :p

i feel cheated that i just learned about this vn this evening. its a good problem to have that there are so many to choose from, but that also means the algorithm can get stuck in a bubble of only presenting the most popular ones, and then it requires some serious digging to find the gems buried beneath the surface. anyway, it was worth the effort to find this one!

the only thing that would make this more historically accurate is if theres survival cannibalism—or, as it was known in that period, 'the custom of the sea'

im into the laid-back amount of nsfw scenes too. i was also surprised at first, but then realized how much less engaging it would be if it were just a barrage of erotica from start to finish with only a threadbare amount of plot/character development

I find it fun to take time and read the descriptions!

sometimes i use this game as a buddhist meditation on the nature of trishna (clinging)

many blessings for this info lol. so simple but so easy to overlook

alrighty detectives, i have a new case for you. ive 99% finished the game, and with the new update that came out (ver 1.2.1) there were a couple of extra scenes that got added. one of them was very easy, it was just a simple scene with selitrius, but the other im not sure how to even get started on. has anyone else discovered anything about it?

EDIT: found it thanks to @jakov on a newer thread. its a simple but tender scene where calen reads the book to warrick at any point after he gets stabbed and is ill, its not nsfw but its still worth getting imo. you just walk up to him while hes lying in the healers bed with the book in your quick-access and itll start.

TSR is not quite as light as Adastra (and yes, Adastra is the lightest of the series to stomach imo), but is certainly less heavy than Echo and even less heavier than this game lmao. TSR isn't finished yet, but would probably be the next step if you want to make somewhat of a more gradual descent into the deep end that is Echo and Arches. It's also my fave of the series, but that's just me ;p

carl's is brian-free, jenna's has some scenes but def not as bad as other routes, and i forget about flynn but im pretty sure his is fucked-up in a different (and mostly brian-free, if i remember correctly) way. it took me at least three whole-ass years between my last full reading of 'echo' and my first time finishing 'arches' due to all the shit that brian does in this vn, so sometimes it be that way. jenna's may be the only one i can definitely say has an optimistic ending, since i just finished it again earlier tonight, and perhaps carl's does too—so maybe save them for last if you want to end your experience of the storyline on a high-note.

remember: go slow, take breaks, and turn it off if it's ever too much!

nah, there's just no way to save the day and have the sexy wolf back at the same time

while yes, 'the smoke room' isn't finished yet like the above-listed are, i would recommend it nestled right between flynn and 'arches' tbh. i feel like 'echo' sets up a lot more breadcrumbs for TSR that are easy to forget about if not immediately followed-up on, whereas 'arches' is still fine to start and be pretty easily-understood if its been a while (in my case, years) since one's last reading of 'echo'. that, and TSR is light-hearted in more places and provides somewhat of a break (or at least, as much of a break as you're going to get) in-between rounds with the emotional heavyweight that is brian😅

i love all of the echo-verse, dont get me wrong, but TSR just really hits, yk?

you called?

its shit like this that makes me realize im not immune to horror, its just that most horror is not this well-written

i had a whole long post previously, but i have changed my opinion since replaying jennas route. the river that feeds the lake was augmented by the dam when the town built it upstream, and a reservoir is essentially a dammed river—so it doesnt seem entirely false to use either term for lake emma. i read more about reservoirs than i ever thought i would, but i think no one would be terribly remiss in calling lake emma a reservoir, given that the hyperlinked hydrological website states that 'large artificial impoundments, frequently called reservoirs, are waterbodies typically created by placing a dam across a stream or river.' lake emma comprises whatever water is permitted to pass from the dam further downstream, so even if its not officially a reservoir itself, its damn (heh) close to one.

and if it was simply a mistake on the part of the author, i dont think its relevant enough to be a major concern to the events of the plot

i came for the bard shenanigans, but i stayed for the trailer song that, fittingly, is also bard shenanigans

the board reached thru the screen and cursed u, sorry

so excited! i hope this vn gets more of the attention it deserves alongside other bangers like remember the flowers and dawn chorus

how tf have i never heard of this before?? such an absolute hidden gem

exciting! i also just got over being sick (the sniffles persist tho), so i get u

wallace and deacon are a precious pair and all but my favorite character is still jay

he could sue for libel tbh

i havent played the most recent update for will yet and therefore have no opinions on whatever this hot-button topic is, but even so, there are a lot of points here that resonate with me in general. 'the stories that y’all put out let me enjoy a side of me i hide and i am so grateful for that,' ugh how seen that made me feel.

even if this project is receiving financial support, it is still a passion project first and foremost, which means that the creators are not making something just for the sake of making it. they are putting together something they love so much that they want to continually share it, something that they have the yearning to work on and express whether or not it ever gets popular; and for that reason they deserve a large amount of grace and understanding, because they are sharing updates for a story thats far from finished. how can we have fully-informed and thoughtful opinions about the work before its done? we as readers can offer up our feedback when we feel it is necessary to do so, but otherwise should give the team breathing room to do what theyre doing in peace. even if an update is an uncomfortable one, there will be a resolution, there will be closure, but for now we must learn to wait and see how that scene will later fit into the larger whole.

i just want to end by giving a big thanks to the team for everything theyve done on the smoke room. i dont have the means to support on patreon, but this project, out of all the projects under echo, makes me feel the most. i not only feel like i step into this rich tapestry of prose, but that i see it through the eyes of an actual person with motivations and heart, and not just the narrative framing device of a neutral or passive first-person protagonist. it just- ugh. its fulfilling in a deep way that only a few other works of fiction have ever been able to impact me before, and thats because i can sense how much love and care goes into the work of producing it. this work has a spirit for certain, and it is full of longing and the kind of full-bodied beauteous sadness that only we queers can truly savor. mwah!

came for the werewolves, stayed for the illustrations and the mentions of my home state of arizona (whats up tucson peeps)

the embedded link wont play (youtube says its age-restricted), but heres the link so you dont have to wade through the sewer of homophobic shit that i did to find it again

i was sold at 'convince more people to become homosexual', for this indeed is my unofficial mission in life already

omg i need more! besides a few typos, its very compelling

this feeds my craving for specifically gay spooks. i dont care that october was last month, halloween never truly ends and spooky season is all year round

edit: how could i be betrayed like this

i mean, polyamory does exist even after marriage. if everything is consensual and transparent, you can indeed be married to one person and also be dating other people, and your married partner can even be friends with your other date(s) if everyone is okay with that. hell, in that arrangement the other married person will probably also be dating other people too, and that doesnt inherently make the marriage any less meaningful. ive been in that situation before as the non-married person, and its actually pretty chill. however, if the other married partner doesnt know anything is going on, thats a straight-up emotionally-manipulative relationship, and is 100% not okay regardless of whether or not the partner would have been fine with the situation if they had been informed. in this case it feels like the events of the story might unfold more towards something like that, since we don't know if dave is aware of chesters extra-marital feelings, so im a bit nervous about how that will be revealed in later updates. plenty of people will unfortunately lie and tell their extra-marital date that everything is legit when it is, in fact, not at all legit, so the mc should tread very carefully indeed :f thats a very long answer to your comment, but hopefully an informative one!

i dont think so, it seems like a stand-alone release. my condolences for your loss tho :(

ok but spill the tea tho! i still havent found mandilitrio and im otherwise finished with the game :(

hi im stupid, ive been trying for an hour to find a lantern or some other way of getting light into the cave so that i can get these stones everyone is talking about. i got the antipoison tea, i just need a method of illuminating the cave to be able to enter. do i need to find a torch or oil (since arakarn offered a lantern if i could get oil) or what??

edit: you have to ask the shopkeep next to the bakery, gotcha

with unlocking the nsfw visuals? what i did is:

-when given the choice, DONT kill assassin (this one is very important)

-support leandros on the ship when discussing him leaving for renemos

-when talking to jaws about feelings for leandros, choose 'maybe more'

-run away after attempted kiss (but im not sure if this one would change anything, but its what i chose and seems to work)

this is the first place in my life ive ever heard cum referred to as 'milky molasses', A+ for creativity

chapter 12 holy shit WHAT

OMG

i feel so many things, but mostly, good job on rendering an accurate portrayal of a genuine psychopath as seen in the character of adrian. those tender scenes with lyall thruout the vn are also very precious, 10/10 always need more