Death, and what lies beyond...

I'm a bit of a sucker for philosophical musings, about life, love, loss, death, so on. I find it interesting to linger on these subjects, something that's kind of led to me becoming a bit of a brooding wannabe philosopher in my late teens. With that being said, the concept of this story appealed to me right away. Overall, however, I feel like the concept isn't executed as well as it could have been. This is definitely a story that would have benefited from being longer and having more choices to make and paths to explore. As it is, it feels like a proof of concept for a much larger game.

The first page was quite good and drew me in; the line about Death's speech being like a bell tolling painted an interesting idea of what he sounds like to me and made his line that much more chilling. Some of the lines afterwards were also interesting, what would be filler lines in other stories being made reminders of the protagonist's looming demise. These were interspersed with rather boring lines by comparison, such as "your phone reads 10:35 PM"; personally I would've incorporated that looming demise into even those lines, like "your phone reads *time* and every second that ticks by reminds you of Death's words."

The choice with the speakers of different religions was well-written, but ultimately just needless exposition. The very idea of an anti-religious speaker, in a world where the Grim Reaper, ghosts, reincarnation, and, oh, *the Afterlife* exist was stupid. Sure, it makes sense I suppose, you'll wind up in whatever afterlife you believe in and all that, but I felt like choosing the anti-religious speaker just locked you out of an actually interesting ending like believing the Abrahamic speaker, the Ghost speaker, or *especially* the Snake Shirt speaker. Even endings where you don't talk to the speakers at all which were *much* more interesting than the anti-religious ending.

The reincarnation ending was by far the most interesting ending... But also the most disappointing. It feels a bit too tidy and was written in a much less interesting, more dry way than other parts of the story. I feel like a more abstract stream of consciousness approach to the writing for this ending would've tremendously helped; something that gives off the feeling that you're living trillions upon trillions of different lives rather than just telling you that you are. Different flashes of memories and feelings merging together until you can't make them out anymore. Something more artsy I guess. Maybe that's just my tastes.

Overall, I feel like this game can be summed up as a competently written piece by an author yet to grow into their own style. Keep writing, find your style, and incorporate it more into your writing. Definitely learn to show, rather than tell. Good luck on your next story.

5/8

It was a fun experience i wish it were a bit longer, but after all, it was fun.

This story has a very in-depth philosophical discussion of life, death, the afterlife and the meaning of life itself.

This story helps summarise most of the religious and philosophical ideas that has ever existed and tells the reader that they all have a point. The afterlife will be what we think the afterlife to be. It is not as important as living a good life as humans on earth so that our afterlife will be enjoyable. What the afterlife really is like does not matter; what matters is that by doing good deeds and making life on earth easier for others, we will have a good afterlife.

You carried out this story very well with good branching. I’m feeling generous today and you also deserve it, so 6/8! Looking forward to your future stories!

Its great.....yeah. Good Job!

Don't fear the reaper.

I personally enjoyed this well written albeit short story. Length doesn't matter much to me however so you're in the clear there. I liked the idea of what you believe, you end dying and being sent. It's similar to the belief that we all have our very own afterlife, that is tailored to our preferences, beliefs, loved ones, etc. Good story overall and I liked the abstractness of it.

Some interesting ideas for a story to explore and definitely a more unique premise than a lot of short games I've seen, but a bit more could've been done with it. Even a couple of randomized scenarios besides the beggar and the puppy would've mixed things up a little on a replay.

The message here seems to be that you get an afterlife custom tailored to your beliefs, with the most detailed writing and interesting outcome reserved for immediately latching onto the wisdom of some stoner in a T-shirt.

If it were me I'd have gone 'Psych!' and thrown the atheist in hell if they were a dick, as basically the god of the storygame world, that's an author's right when it comes to people who ignore lost puppies.