protoViolence - Definitive Edition

Yeah this hit like a truck. I adore the set-up of the program, the supposed concern for children's optimal health being ruthlessly contrasted with the reality of the experiments, the consistent and pervasive ableism embedded in the whole program. I also really liked Deidre, her struggle to admit that the organization she's been working for is more than a little evil, the bargaining she does until she can't deny it any more; it felt very realistic, especially since she's given years if not decades of her life to this research and this institution. Great work!

I just binged this, and I don't have nearly enough time to write a review large enough to encompass how I feel. The storytelling, the visuals... I saw Dr. Tan turn her back and it made me so happy. I love seeing them experience emotions!!! And, well. Oh god the emotions. Spoilers from this point on!











I really hope that's enough spaces to get "view rest"-ed.

I love it when you can't just look at someone and say they're a bad person. Because we're seeing from Dr. Deidre's point of view, Angie's character gets so much more fleshed out. It's chilling to see the complexities of her morals. It was definitely an Experience for Dr. Deidre, too--the visuals and writing made that abundantly clear. The dimming of the visuals and background, the growing anger of the case study reports and the diary... The sudden cut to red and yellow visuals was jarring, but it definitely fit. Plus, it's on theme with the later explosions! Subtle foreshadowing, and such. 
I was NOT expecting for them to cut off Pavel's legs. Before that, the YTDI was bad, but not that bad. The "processing" gave you a bad feeling, but it was just a feeling. The legs were a wake-up call. The chip in the brain, after that, was undeniable evidence of what they were trying to do to him. It felt like before that, everything could be excused away somehow, as long as you were willing to look away. The writing for that in particular was amazing; seeing just how much Dr. Deidre was able to deny and excuse before she realized what she had to do. I think what she ended up doing was the only course she could have taken, and Pavel's ending scene was so worth it. (Amazing voice acting on that, too! I love all the voice acting for the entire Violence series. The VAs do such a good job at making the characters feel real.)

Finally got to play this with my friend after we played malViolence a few weeks ago, the wait was driving me crazy!!! My god. Even though I knew everything that was going to happen actually seeing it firsthand was something else. Not only was this fantastically written, the presentation is off the charts too, I was so impressed by how dynamic the camera angles and cgs were and the way the character sprites moved around! It really added some extra oomph to the story. I understand Dr. Deidre if i saw all that happen to Pavel i would've given him a free pass to murder too. My friend says "you've put a chip in my brain with this one." So so excited to see what you cook up next for this series, we've become seriously so charmed by these characters and the world you built up and I can't wait to see what's in store for them! Going to go cry in a corner now .

I'm not sure why, but I have an issue with the Steam version. It's not launching- looks like I'm missing the Steam game executable. I was still able to open the folders and launch the game without Steam, but I won't be able to leave a Steam review. Anywho...

I had a great time reading this!! The art, the music, the writing... Everybody did a great job!! The feeling of suspense was great. I thought the format itself was charming, the various parts of the story being separated by notes/computer/phone & whatnot.

I left a comment yesterday on MalViolence and i couldn't get the thought away so i decided to play to this today.

spoilers

Honestly this game felt like a punch. I knew what would happen and yet. It hurt. SO MUCH. You were right when you said that i'd be satisfied with this game considering i loved Dr Danger. I LOVE LOOOOVE HER. Her struggles felt real, her pain and hope, her anger... She felt very relatable with her fear to actually start something that will change so much of her life. Idk, she was so well writen imo. And you know what fucks me up the most? To know someone that loved Pavel so much isn't there anymore. I actually cried when I put all the pieces together, to think she took care of him the way she did. Thinking of the photos in Malviolence and the prosthesis she made for him. SHE CARED HIM SO MUCH!!!

And Pavel. He made me cry too. I related a lot with him. I used to be a kid that was pushed by their peer, that was seen like a burden to some. So his experience did hurt. I wanted to hold him the whole game, and him trying to stay positive ;_______; ough my heart. The first surgery scene really broke my heart. Genuinely screamed a NOOO. 

I feel a lot regarding these two's relationship. I love them so much and thinking of them living together. ;^; gah! I will be rotating these two in my brain for a long time.

I really liked this game, the presentation is great, the art is amazing and the ost works wonders! I also really enjoyed how the story telling was done, with different days showing different aspects thru Dr Deidre's POV. Honestly a really cool way to tell this story, and it did make the medical aspect even stronger imo! I am SO curious with what will happen to the other characters in that universe, especially Pavel's friend, genuinely you and your team created something really great. 10/10 would cry again. Also Pavel is now my sonion (onion son)

hoooo wow. It's been so long since a visual novel has immersed and taken me on this much of an emotional ride. It is so, so cinematic and professionally made. Yet another one of these things that I feel I shouldn't have had the privilege of experiencing for free, but alas, I'm glad I did. Came into this expecting a slice of life adventure dark comedy like, scp/lab-like short story, and my expectations were far far exceeded. 

spoilers from this point onwards!

The music, though I don't often tend to notice it as much, I can say certainly did WONDERS for the mood of the game. What I really noticed was the directions taken with art and atmosphere. The artstyle, though relatively consistent, did not remain stagnant in the slightest. It perfectly mirrored the realisations of the MC, starting out bright, clean and polished, only to become gradually dim and grey and the grim reality set in. One thing that I really thought exhentuated the more horrific, tense and story climax parts towards the end was the simplistic, black red and yellow sharply boldly coloured framing. I'm no artist nor do I study it, but I can certainly say it achieved it's goal and felt really, really atmospheric. 

The voice acting was great, and super emotional. While I'm not one to be particularly fond of children, let alone motherly, Pav's crying monologue post-seizure really tugged at my hearstrings. No kidding, I almost actually bawled; teared up. In the playtime, the story feels perfectly paced and it really feels like you're just taken on this journey with the narrative. I also quite enjoyed pondering the wider philosphical takes on the nature of medical/scientific ethics, and quite enjoyed how, for a little while in the beggining, we too were lulled into this false sense of justification for the organisation. Also much appreciated the bitterly realistic acknowledgement that, no matter what MC did, they could never truly win against a big government funded organisation. They couldn't ever save each and every child. 

All in all an immensely impactful experience that had me taking a moment to just. Let settle for a little while post-play. And that's a deep-reaching impact not many games manage to achieve for me. 5/5

FINISHED THE GAME AND EUGHHHHH I HAVE THINGS TO SAY 

(spoilers in this comment though !!!)

First of all slay Dr. Deidre for this. Like yes become a villain for that boy you consider your son now (at least that's how I see it). Fight the system girl. Yes even if it's with bombs. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD-

ON A MORE SERIOUS NOTE THOUGH this was very different from malViolence (which I played first) and also from most visual novels I played. I usually play stuff with multiple choice and several endings, but I have to say I didn't mind it at all ! Probably because I already liked the characters and knew some of the story, but still. Even though the interactive parts were minimal, I mean there were still there- And so yeah. Little point I wanted to raise.

About the story itself : I really liked this addition to the lore and story of Cautionne and Dr. Danger. It helped to understand some things in malViolence better and just well... Gave more context in general. And well I learned a lot about Dr. Danger as well.

I wanted to comment on a specific moment in the game that really impacted me : the one where Pavel/Cautionne reveals his legs after his first precession. Because when he lifted the blanket I thought "oh they probably gave him cybernetic legs huh. guess it hurts poor boy show me-" AND THEN I WAS HIT WITH THE SIGHT OF. NO LEGS AT ALL ?! COMPLETE AMPUTATION ?! Truly the only thing I could do was sit with my mouth wide open, staring at my screen for a good one or two minutes while I was thinking "WHAT. WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU. MY POOR BOY. WHAT HAVE THEY DONE. YOU LEGS. MY BOY. MY POOR BABY BOY. YOUR LEGS-"

Also the seizure scene. I knew it was going to happen at some point but when I actually had to read through it. Aooch. My heart ached and broke. MY POOR BOY PAVEL/CAUTIONNE-

I really loved Shriya character's as well. Wish Dr. Deidre could have taken her with her too. I wonder how she's doing now.

Annnnd I think that's it for my little ramble about protoViolence specifically ? I do have a few more things to say though-

Since we got the beginning of this duo's story and kind of the "end" of it (with Dr. Danger being dead), will we ever get to know what's in between ? Because. I think some found family domestic fluff, eventually hurt/comfort (which I wouldn't mind at all since it's one of my favourite tropes-) would do my poor heart some good. After seeing those poor people suffer so much.

Also, about Pavel's name in malViolence : is "Cautionne" kind of a code name like "Dr. Danger" for Dr. Deidre ? Since Pavel's name seemed so important to him because it kind of symbolised his individuality and identity, I couldn't help ubt ask myself that.

Once again, great game ! Hope we can see more of the Violence series soon :)

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)