Played this game after hearing about it from @fbfishslap on X and was fascinated to give it a shot. Absolutely loved it, really good story and well told. Did a full playthrough on my channel if interested. Keep up the good work!

After being told this game would be up my alley I decided to check it out first thing and wow, this game delivers! It combines some of my favorite aspects I've seen across VNs into one lovely package. I love the type of fragmented storytelling where you can choose what to look into first and it does a great job of dividing the game's content.

The multimedia aspect is great, and everything inside the game is so vivid, in no small part due to that. I am a massive fan of science fiction and this story weaves the futuristic elements of it in with a painfully human story.

The art is FANTASTIC and hits all the beats it needs to-- and the animations give it that extra oomph. And while small, I do love how the desk space changes as the days go on. Really makes the space feel tangible and lived-in.

The voice acting comes in at all the right moments and the performances are stellar. Every emotional beat they hit feels perfect to the scene.

And I can't think of a single line here that doesn't contribute something to the story, characters, setting and/or atmosphere-- the writing is superb.

Music here hits all the right notes and while I'm not a music guy I can definitely appreciate it! They work great establishing the mood of the scene.

Thank you Mado for the recommendation, and thank you to everyone on the team for this game! You all did fantastic. I will definitely have to check out malViolence in the future :)

I had saved this jam game for later because I figured it would blow my socks clean off, and I was right! Man. Where do I even start?

The writing hooked me from the get-go and did a good job at introducing me to this world and to the role STOP plays in it (I certainly want to check out malViolence now that I played this one!). And the way it escalated!! Starting out so smoothly with only its faint hints that something is off, and then never stopping to ramp up the intensity until its cathartic climax. I couldn't stop thinking that Dr. Deidre and Pavel's story would make my mom bawl her eyes out, it has such a poignant core about how children deserve care and dignity and the freedom to make their own choices - To not have their personality and desires stripped from them. I couldn't help but wonder if Deidre intuitively chose Pavel as a case study subject because his creative and headstrong tendencies reminded her of herself when she was a child.

Everything from the art to the sound design assisted the story's impact, making it a truly cohesive experience. Which is really hard to achieve when working as a team, so huge props for that!! <3
My personal favourites were the animations when Deidre first sees Pavel after his more intense processing, and he reaches out to her, and then the heartwrenching voice performance when Pavel has his emotional break. So cinematic.

10/10, my favourite jam game out of the dozen or so I've played so far. Bravo!!

Well, this was one hell of a way to get me interested in MalViolence! The core story is so interesting, and the different ways it was conveyed helped keep me engaged the whole time; switching from research log, to journal, text message and video interview was a really good idea to keep things fresh. It also made it hard to put down! Even when I needed to do something else, I kept thinking, "I'll just see this next one!" ...and before I knew it, I just played through the whole thing! Dr. Deirdre was such a great protagonist, and it was great seeing her grow from someone more or less complacent, believing it was possible to reform STOP from within, to someone willing to take actual action against them. The climax of the story was so tense! Presentation wise, this is top notch stuff! The production values feel so high, I'm amazed that you were all able to complete this in a month! Fantastic UI as well. Great work to the whole team, and I'm looking forward to trying out MalViolence next!

The story brings up some really good morality conversations. Super well made! Loved the different forms of media that feeds us information and gives us pieces of the story. Definitely interested in going through malViolence after October!

Beautiful--fantastic writing and presentation.  Amazing characters.  This gut wrenching story of a researcher  and their struggle to stand up to the forces that have commandeered her research even as she sees the stakes rising like a tide hits SO HARD.  I was deeply moved am not ashamed to admit that cried more than once as I played.  I was especially impressed at the way Pavil, who seems to be coded as neurodivergent,  communicates his feelings, and how we (our individual as well as our collective selves) respond to him really rounds out the themes of the story. I loved how pace starts slow and thoughtful, and by the end it's a dead sprint.  Very well done!

The juxtaposition of the cold, clinical environment and the warm personality of Pavel was done soooooooooo sooooo well! Your team did so well with what to include and what to leave out, telling a story in fragments of video interviews, case study entries, personal notes, and private messages.

The CGs, music, UI, camera work, character designs, all worked together so well. Even the attention to detail to little things like the computer powering up. I’m amazed and in wonder at what a solid, finished piece this is!

Inspiring to say the least!

Cool overall presentation, really liked the dynamics between classic dialogue box and the one with the text globes. Real fan of how the game achieves this "Something is out of place" feeling through the dialogue, minimalistic places, character interactions, among other, good job on that >:3 !

CRIED LIKE A BABY! Fantastic pacing and the art is solid. The backgrounds have that sterile laboratory feel, without just being generic walls and corridors. The character sprites are expressive which makes it easy to get invested.

It's made very easy to adjust to the perspective of the protagonist, who has specialized knowledge that the reader won't have but follows a very clear thought process. Pavel is a very likable kid, relatable to anyone who's struggled with school. It only makes you want things to work out for him so badly....

(SPOILERS) I was really really scared that in the ending it would be revealed that the chip connected to his brain would also shut off or detonate somehow. Luckily you were kind and gave him a future :,)

super polished with a heartwrenching story! really great voice-acting and camera work, too! (and thank you for the content warnings-- super helpful)

This was incredible from start to finish and I won't lie, I was tearing up at the end. Suddenly lots of the features in MalViolence have even greater depth and I'm already itching to replay it with ProtoViolence in mind! I utterly loved this prequel. The art was also visually stunning and horrifying (in the best way) and I audibly gasped at certain parts. Thank you to the whole team for this incredible project! 

Oh my STARS this one hits all my soft spots: I adore stories that feature well-intentioned scientific geniuses who end up lost in the sauce, and later attempt to course-correct when their ideas escape their intended scope (gotta love the hot-house flowers that bloom, and then are horrified to find themselves an invasive species!); and as the parent of a child who best thrives when her unique needs are recognized and met, Pavel's storyline absolutely shattered me. The art is simple but stunning, and the cinematography hits the sweet spot for me in terms of adding to the story with life and motion, without subtracting by being unnecessarily distracting and moving for movement's sake alone: there is never any question whose viewpoint the camera represents, nor does it ever seem to shift unnecessarily or to the detriment of the story itself. An extraordinary achievement, particularly given the constraints of the jam--brilliant, brilliant work!

Really enjoyed pV!  Awesome job to you and the team, for the second time! 🎉

So different from mV in many ways, yet so much to love (and despise you for T_T) this time around~:

- Major kudos on the UI, the UI design, the various accessibility features (img descr, audio titles, self-voicing NOT buried in the Controls section, font size+color+line spacing <3), the pop-out quick menu, the CRT lines and screen curving effect, even the menu and initial splash screen login prompt all resembling a computer terminal — it presents brilliantly, while also tying in thematically to the game itself as a STOP employee, and with the computer being used to access the interviews, the most important (interactive) parts of the experience.

My only beef here, and it's quite minor: I wish there were a custom keybind for toggling Auto-Forward, considering RenPy doesn't provide one by default.  Leaving the QM open got in the way in certain scenes, so it was a bit annoying opening it to turn on Auto, only to turn it off to enjoy a CG or re-read some lines, then re-open the QM to enable Auto again, etc.

- Love the sprite work, and especially how expressive and emotive Pavel is (espec when you twist the knife later on away from happy expressions :') ).

- The cinematography, animation, use of the 3D camera are phenomenal and really made the experience feel immersive, especially combined with...

- The voice acting, which was really high-quality and well-balanced.  The "sound bites" were used tastefully, and with the most impactful lines being voiced, those scenes stood out even more (tugging further at my heartstrings </3).

- Ditto regarding the use and sound balancing of the SFX and music tracks, all of which had great ambience and atmosphere.  The music was almost too relaxed and easy-going (intentional choices, I assume >:3 ), which further added to my sense of dissonance and discomfort leading up to the story's climax (especially having played mV, so I knew more or less *what* was coming, just not *how*).

- The point n' click desk sections were a nice touch, along with the phone texting UI and SFX.  Great use of alternating between ADV and NVL modes.  Also, props on leveraging RenPy's speech bubbles system, considering that's a relatively new feature in 8.x IIRC.  

- Regarding the story, I really enjoyed (being hurt by) it! <3  I definitely felt the connection between Deidre and Pavel grow over time, their bond solidifying as she gained his trust, and he her devotion and conviction.  It was also excellently painful seeing Pavel, a square peg being jammed by YTDI into their round hole without any thought for flexibility or individuality, not fitting in by mere virtue of being himself — a scenario and challenge I can relate to — with Angie being the embodiment of this rigid adherence to rules and "results" above all else.  So those aspects resonated with me, especially seeing Pavel being processed (punished) despite not doing anything severe enough to merit it, and how the cruelty and inhumanity of this becomes the fuel which incites Deidre into action.  It logically flows and hits in the feels, which is great!

I do wish y'all had another maybe 2 weeks to spend on the project, because as much as I enjoyed the story, I would have wanted to see more "intermediate" visits with Deidre and Pavel between his first processing and his Nth, e.g. with just the prosthetic legs, then with the legs + brain chip, then those + the arm(s?) and eye, to further build that sense of horror, unease, and dread re: YTDI's lack of moral boundaries (rather than jumping from "Look ma, no legs!" straight to "All the cybernetics1!".

Similarly, I would have liked for Deidre and Angie's final confrontation to have been a bit more fleshed out, although I'm having a harder time pinpointing exactly how or in what way, or what feels lacking or rushed here IMO.

30 days is NOT a lot of time, so I completely understand and appreciate picking and choosing your battles on what to focus on wrt the writing.

The beginning, the climax, and the ending were fantastic, and absolutely delivered though!  "Blue..."  Who's chopping onions nearby?! T.T

Also, the little throwbacks to mV like the grape-scented stickers and the apartment photo... <3

Again, phenomenal job this time around!  (and on finding a much more accessible form of pain and suffering: emotional trauma, instead of puzzles lol)

I am like. So miserable right now lol <-- (I promise this is a compliment)

I work with children on a daily basis, so this story was pretty much engineered to hit me where it hurts... seeing the conditions that the kids endured, the way they were treated by all of STOP's employees, and watching Pavel's horrific transformation from a bright kid to a person broken by all the trauma piled onto him... uh, I am gonna have to try extra hard to be normal when I go to work in an hour LMAOOOOO. In particular, Dr. Deidre's earlier case study critiquing the rigorous schooling and Dr. Tan's comment about "throwing them snacks just to see if they run harder" mirror some of my real-life experiences (in education, not in a child testing lab, thank god) and sort of got my blood boiling haha.

I liked the art a lot - all of it is very cohesive, not to mention extremely well-presented. The combination of speech bubbles, NVL-style text, textboxes, and records combined with the panning backgrounds and the very dynamic sprites made this such a fun and beautiful game to watch. 

Overall, I'm so so impressed with how polished this game is for something that was made for a 30-day jam; it speaks volumes of both your prior experience and your clear vision for what you wanted this game to be. There are so many other myriad Thoughts (not to mention vague Feelings that haven't yet become Thoughts) that I want to communicate about what an experience this game was, but I fear that if I tried to get them all down this comment would end up very disjointed and rambly, haha.

Thanks very much for sharing this game, and I'll definitely be checking out malViolence after I've finished with this year's Spooktober entries!

Absolutely outstanding visuals and haunting story. The speech bubbles make it feel like watching animated series while the various phones chats, logs and diaries add some interesting variety and depth to the story. The cinematography is absolutely amazing! Like seriously, that camerawork must have taken ages to do!

The partial VA really drives the emotions home. I grew really attached to Pavel throughout the story, the characters were amazing with very memorable designs. That whole team did an amazing job!

Thank you for making this game!

WE ARE SO BACK LAB RATS LET'S GOOOOOO!

Really having played malViolence first I may have known how this story was always going to end, but my god this was a gut-wrenching downward spiral. Beautifully tragic, the descent from clinically pale whites and silvers to black and red, and then yellows and oranges as it all comes crashing down-

The horror is very much in what's happening in the walls of this place, but an underrated second dose of horror comes from watching people justify and later dismiss it, the knowledge that any objections will be quashed not by force but by red tape, and the sheer helplessness of it all-

Warm and fluffy pancakes to Team Violence for all your amazing work!

I do love my horror on the dark side, and I think this is probably the darkest one I've played so far from the jam in terms of the narrative, so thank you for that ^-^ Wonderfully heartwrenching and bittersweet! 

This is unbelievably slick and stylish! The art & cinematography are beyond gorgeous, especially in some of those scenes towards the end! Just *chef's kiss* :D

Overall, a fabulous triumph of a VN ^-^ I shall have to check out malViolence someday!!

One of the most cinematic i've seen so far! It felt like I was experiencing an anime before my eyes! The story had a lot of intrigue, and the characters were compelling and very well designed! 

The dread inducing moments were gut wrenching but definitely supplied my horror fan sensitivities hahaha. 

The sound was also well thought out, the music was on point and the effects really elevated the experience, it is a total package!  

Overall great job! 

gosh this was certaintly a rollercoaster emotions and i loved it sm.OH and also pavel deserved better:(

What a ride man. I'm literally crying, whyyyyy ;-;
10/10

Already posted a glowing review for this game on the Spooktober submission page, but just gonna repeat my thoughts with a tl;dr again. If you've already played malViolence: this is a great game. If you haven't played malViolence: both it and malViolence are great must-plays. Though I will say I think malViolence should be played first, then this one. I think the reveals & story beats are much better with the sequel's context.

It's been an amazing journey seeing how Mado and their team has developed their skills through their VNs. Absolutely getting five stars across the board from me!

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SCATTERED, SPOILERY THOUGHTS BELOW:

+ The authorization input when you boot up the game is interesting. I only inputted "DEIDRE" so far since I already played malViolence... does it accept multiple answers?

+ GO!!!! uses Amen Breaks. best song in the game

+ "oh man I wish we could see what Deidre looked like in this time.. oh hey look we get a view of her, she looks pretty- oh wait no it's THIS part of the game- oh no fuck"

+ shriya game soon? (insert pleading face)

Full disclosure: While I was reading the setup of the story, I had to stop for a few minutes. I was wondering whether maybe this wasn't the game for me. I wanted to make choices to affect the flow of the plot. I therefore went back to the game's page to double-check the description, only then to realize that there was only one ending. I've enjoyed kinetic novels before, but I have a huge preference for multiple choices and endings. I seriously considered moving on to another game at that point. However, as I was skimming through the comments, I saw highly positive feedback that encouraged me to continue. And I'm eternally grateful that I did! 

The distinct and expressive character designs, especially of Pavel, first drew me to download this game. But the entire project just wows on every level imaginable: the fleshed-out worldbuilding; the overall sci-fi/technological aesthetic and graphics; the way the sprites and camera move; the variety in visuals and storytelling formats, including the epistolary portions and the art style that shifts as the situation steadily grows direr; and the great music, sound design, and voice acting. In short, everything in this game is so meticulously planned to snag the player's attention right off the bat and to ensure that they stay engaged the entire way through. 

I didn't expect to get so attached to the characters! I teared up not once, not twice, but thrice! And I gasped and cursed to myself so many times. Because I haven't played malViolence yet, I was totally in the dark about the fates of these characters and was filled with more and more dread as the story rapidly barreled toward its high-stakes and action-packed conclusion. Then I was super satisfied by the ending and overjoyed upon reading the extras. I can't wait to check out the sequel now. I'm desperate to learn more about these characters, the challenges they face, and the seemingly dystopian world they inhabit. 

This is one of my favorite VNs/KNs in recent memory. Congrats to everybody in the team for delivering such a standout project! You're all incredible! 

(Note: Copy-pasting this comment from the Spooktober VN Jam 2023 page.)

Took me a while to get around to it because I wanted to wait till I was a little less sick so I could read this with a clear head, and it was well worth it!! 

There are many things that stand out to me with this, but I think one of the most obvious words that jumps out to me is 'juice'. There are so many little details in the art, in the UI, in the design, in the just... general EVERYTHING that elevates this from a good game to a jawdropping one. The level of polish on everything really makes things so satisfying, and I loved being able to pick out little details, such as the backgrounds changing between dates (I particularly liked the little mug stains!) or references to malViolence (the stickers...!!)

This game certainly DID whet my appetite for malViolence content, but now I just want to know more things!! I really hope I can hear more about Shriya, she had such an absolutely wonderful design, but for now the team should rest up!! Thank you all for your hard work!

So, I actually did not play MalViolence (the game this is a prequel for) before playing this VN. I had only seen illustrations from the director, whose artwork I've been a fan of for some time. I have to say, once finishing this game I went straight to Steam to download MalViolence so that I could see what happens next for these characters. I found the story we were shown here that compelling!

This is a tight, well executed, and emotionally gripping story. I was moved deeply by the characters we meet and was genuinely shaken by quite a few of the story beats. The first "shoe drop" moment we're given made me gasp out loud. The way the story is presented to us through the lens of a researcher taking notes, recording interviews, and even texting a friend was very creative and immersive. 

I definitely recommend checking out this VN; the couple hours it took to play went by quickly (in a good way). No prior context to who these characters are is needed...though, be warned, you may be left itching or more of them once you're done. :) I look forward to seeing any further work from this team. 

'Wow...' 

Those are the words that escaped my mouth after I finished this game.  Like a tidal way of feelings washing over you, receding, and then letting you revel in what just overwhelmed you.

As a general scardey cat, I'm happy that the horror in this game didn't make me jump and scream.  No, instead it made my heart drop into my stomach as dread for what happens and then my hands ball up into fists and my teeth to grind as anger replaces it after events happen and horrifying scenes play themselves out.  I won't spoil the ending, but I'd say that if felt anger and rage like I did... hold onto it until the finale.

As mentioned earlier, this game does a great job at slowly filling you up with dread.  You know that things aren't quite right, that things are certainly heading towards something sinister, and our protagonists does it as well, and perhaps worst of all we grow attached to someone who will be involved in the culmination of that dread.  Until... well... 

You see the horrible scenes play themselves out.

I'd say the strength of the game, aside from the slow build of dread is how it shows the multiple ways our protagonist also shows that same sense of dread.  How it's handled, how they rationalize it, avoid it, come to terms with it, and ultimately... act upon it.  In addition, I think that the game hits on themes that many people may go across in their lives.  Power and it's use, the unintended side-effects and consequences of our ambition, and how the road to hell can be paved with great ideas, good intentions, and pure pursuits.  But when that resource is exhausted... blood, bones, and suffering will do well.

At some point, you have to decide whether to keep walking, turn away, or dismantle the road itself.

Now with that poetic rambling over with, gotta give mad props to the voice acting.  While sparse, it's used expertly well in the places that it appears.  It was a pleasant delight whenever they popped up and, naturally, they fit the characters well. 

Likewise, the music was fantastic.  My favorite is how it plays during the introspective segments, and I believe that it shifts as the game goes on, but that might just be me.  

UI is good, and the cinematic use of various parts of the screen, speech bubbles, and even a notebook/phone at times is very clever.  Gives some nice dynamics to the game and keeps things fresh, same when interacting with the characters and how the sprites and camera shuffle and focus on various parts to highlight the text.  

All this to say... props.  This was an amazing game, and an excellent spinoff!

There is a genuine reason that this page is given a warning when you first open it up. Horror games usually end up trying to shock or scare, but eventually you come down from an intended chemical rush. This is not that.

ProtoViolence is genuinely horrifying in the events that transpire. Whether it's something more obviously graphic or a banal reality that exists today, there are subjects in here that should give you pause.

I highly urge everyone to experience it.

Spoilers inbound! 

I finished ProtoViolence a few hours ago and I have so many, many feelings. I'm continually impressed by how this world is presented: whether it's the slow pans or how you, as Dr. Dierdre, can access information, to the voice acting and, of course, the writing. Full disclosure--I'm relatively new to playing games, so it took a bit for me to understand how to progress the story. ^^; (The rule appears to be that the computer is the last thing you can access, and the files + phone can be chosen in whichever order you like.) 

That aside, though, I loved the slow build-up to the horror. When I read the warnings, I assumed it would all be in your face right away, but it's...really not. As Dr. Dierdre says, things at YTDI look peaceful and serene. "Look" being the operative word, as it doesn't take long for the real "bleeding edge" of progress to seep through the carefully-controlled margins. The point being: when the horror actually reveals itself, you flinch not because it's some monster beyond human comprehension, but the icy, clinical way that it presents itself. (Until it doesn't, and that art shift is great.) It's what was always going to happen, no matter the kid. 

Speaking of kids, let's talk about Pavel, who you will want to spit in A Certain Scientist's eye for. Even knowing Malviolence's story, it still felt like meeting him all over again--as it should, since this is his, dare I say, "origin story" *laughs and cries*. Either you've known a kid like Pavel or you were a kid like Pavel. And the...things...that happen to him (and have happened to others) will make you want to shove A Certain Scientist straight off her ivory tower regardless of where you sit on that binary. Mostly because, well, they're inhumane, but also because they're not unlike how kids with special needs etc. are treated IRL, taken to their extremes. There's even a point where Pavel has a breakdown over it and man. Man. It resonated hard enough that I had to take some time away for a bit. 

The real winner for the horror scenes though was easily the one near the very end, mainly because it hit the Unable To Help A Child Despite Being An Adult primal fear button with a vengeance. I literally gasped out loud! Which doesn't happen very often. It was set up beforehand, but it still felt like the worst case scenario in a situation full of worst case scenarios. "Get this kid out of here, Oh god", I kept thinking, even though of course that was already the plan. 

And then, several scenes later I gasped again out of sheer, gleeful triumph. "Yes, Pavel, take control back! Run away, BE FREE, AHAHAHA", to give an example of my thought process. XD (I did feel that the other kids' fates were a bit too ambiguous at first? But now that I've had time to think, it fits. Looking forward to maybe seeing a few of them later on! Shriya Reunion Tour when??) 

There's a lot to think about here, in a good way. I get the feeling I'll be mulling it over for a long while after this, and not just in the "somehow crossing over with other canons for fun" like I've been daydreaming these past few months post-reading Malviolence. The themes of child abuse and the systems that perpetuate it "for the greater good" are written in a very thought-provoking way here, so it was bound to happen. 

(To end this on a lighter note: as an Ant-man fan, I got a kick out of Roach-man. XD And CONGRATS MADO AGAIN!!!)    

JUST FINISHED PLAYING PROTOVIOLENCE IN ONE SITTING AND OMG IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DEIDRE AND PAVEL MY BELOVEDS!!!!!!!!!!! what an immersive beautifully cinematic and haunting experience <3

This game is so special!!!! I've been dying to learn more about the malviolence world, and this did not disappoint! This team is seriously constantly pushing the envelope on making a VN experience feel full and immersive, the visuals went above and beyond, and the writing was haunting. I really enjoyed the gameplay loop of checking Deidre's different external and internal thoughts between logs. The camera movements throughout the game were so lively and impressively directed. My heart genuinely sank at multiple different points, despite ultimately knowing what the outcome was going to be. I really hope y'all make more games in this universe because there's still so much I want to know! Fantastic work!

Can't wait to play protoViolence!

WOW!!!!

spoilers below, maybe?

first of all if you haven't played malViolence first, do that! it's well worth your time! protoViolence is great on its own, but much better when you know a little more about what's going on!

second of all, WOW !! it's amazing what a more first-hand account of a story can give you, emotionally speaking. it's one thing to know about what happened to a character in the past, but to actually see it happen as the character is becoming more fleshed out and you learn more about where they came from and what their struggles are.... wonderful. delightful. heart wrenching.

also, great VA choice for pavel!! that one part with the drawn-out dialogue (that i don't want to go into detail about for spoiler reasons) was painful to hear (in a good way!). i have a problem sometimes where voice acting kind of takes me out of a story but both VAs did a great job!!

i'm looking forward to playing through this one again to really absorb everything, i feel like it definitely deserves another read!

anyway. cushion :)

help i stayed up until 2 am to finish reading this, so you know it's good aha >_<
i'm surprised it reads so cohesively given there are so many writers involved. you all did a fantastic job! the visual presentation is great (love the comic book style textboxes + all the various poses and expressions the characters have, it's v lively) but the story is really, really good.
this is going to be one of my fav entries for sure...
also, wah... poor pavel..... poor baby.............
i'm sad now hahaha ;;;;

cushion...