The Little Rabbit Princess and the House of Eternity

Dug my old itch account up for this. I am a huge Kotohime fan, a kinnie as some would say.

This VN nearly made me cry. I love it so much, and it means so much to me. While it might not align entirely with my HCs, I still love it deeply with my heart. To the entire team, I feel indebted to you. You all did a fantastic job.

Ah... I was revisting some of the old Pride Jam games for research to write our own game for Pride Jam 6 and I got to say: This hits hard to me, even more so two years later.

You guys did a good job. I teared up.

I recently invited a friend to play this touching grass quest. I know I already posted a review during the jam rating period, but a few things stood out to me on the second go around:

• Three months out, I still think the writing is nothing short of stellar. It's hard to believe this game was written in a month, let alone two weeks. Furthermore, now that I've been freed from the chains of bias against the ship in the Latter Part, I honestly can't say that it's the weakest part in the game for me. I don't think I can say that about any part.
• I don't know if this was intentional, but the story was extremely accessible. I've introduced my friend to bits and pieces of Touhou's lore before, but as far as I'm aware, this is the first substantial bit of Touhou content she's ever seen. While there are a few in-jokes throughout the story ("podding" comes to mind), most of the characters' backstories and personalities are explored so thoroughly that she was able to understand (and thoroughly enjoy) everything that was going on. I never would've expected to be able to talk to her about Touhou in depth before introducing her to this game, but now we're discussing Kaguya and Mokou's dynamic and backstories as if she was a longtime fan. I can't even begin to explain how incredible this is to me.
• And talk we did; this game, especially the epilogue, led to literal hours of discussion about its characters, dynamics, and themes. I think with her help, I was finally able to understand (at least one interpretation of) the epilogue. ROT13:

Xbgbuvzr unq chg gur fcbgyvtug ba ure sevraqf, gelvat gb yvir ivpnevbhfyl guebhtu gurz, nyy gur juvyr fvqryvavat urefrys. Vg rira trgf gb gur cbvag jurer gur tnzr pbzcyrgryl qrgnpurf sebz ure va snibhe bs Xnthln ng gur raq bs gur Ynggre Cneg. Jvgu n yvsr fb shyy bs sevraqf, vg frrzrq yvxr fur zhfg'ir unq dhvgr n shysvyyvat yvsr. Va ernyvgl, gubhtu, ure yvsr jnf pbyq, qnex, naq rira fgntanag. Juvyr fur fhccbegrq zbfg bs ure sevraqf, fur jnf artyrpgvat creuncf ure zbfg vzcbegnag pbzcnavba: urefrys. Ure bja yvsr jnf snyyvat qbja nebhaq ure, ohg fur qvqa'g pner. Fur pbhyq znxr qb vs vg zrnag orvat noyr gb znxr ure sevraqf unccl.

Va gur raq, nsgre Zbxbh ivfvgrq ure va gur Sver Ebbz, fur svanyyl ernyvmrq gung fur pbhyqa'g nssbeq gb yrg guvatf pbagvahr nf gurl unq. Fur qrpvqrq gb ohea ure enzfunpxyr, fgntanag yvsr gb gur tebhaq fb fur pbhyq svanyyl fgneg zbivat sbejneq naq fgneg svthevat bhg jung vg jbhyq zrna gb yvir yvsr nf Xbgbuvzr. Abg nf "Xnan'f ebbzzngr" be "Xnthln'f jvatjbzna" be rira "guvf fgenatr guvat V pnyy n cevaprff", ohg nf urefrys.

Vs guvf vf n inyvq vagrecergngvba naq abg whfg zr orvat fvyyl, gura V'q yvxr gb oevat hc bar zbzrag va cnegvphyne. Glcvpnyyl, va gurfr fbegf bs fvghngvbaf va svpgvba, punenpgref hfhnyyl yrnir gurve byq yvirf oruvaq jvgu naljurer sebz dhvrg erfbyir gb bhgevtug oenirel. Ubjrire, nf Xbgbuvzr ohearq ure byq yvsr gb gur tebhaq, fur zragvbarq gung fur pbhyqa'g fgbc pelvat. Guvf, V guvax, vf jung frcnengrf Gur Yvggyr Enoovg Cevaprff naq gur Ubhfr bs Rgreavgl sebz bgure fgbevrf. Zbivat ba sebz jung lbh'er hfrq gb, jung lbh'ir tebja pbzcynprag jvgu, vf qvssvphyg. Irel srj pna unaqyr n fvghngvba yvxr Xbgbuvzr jnf tenccyvat jvgu oeniryl. Va gung zbzrag, rira gubhtu fur unq nyernql qrpvqrq gb zbir ba, rira gubhtu fur nyernql unq gur erfbyir gb trg gb xabj urefrys orggre, fur jnf qrnguyl nsenvq. Va n jbeyq svyyrq gb gur oevz jvgu frrzvatyl vafvaprer nqivpr ba frys-ybir, vg'f nyzbfg zvaq-oybjvat gb frr fhpu n enj, haebznagvpvmrq erfcbafr (cha unys vagraqrq) gb fgnegvat ba gur wbhearl gb frys-npprcgnapr. Vg'f whfg bar yvar, ohg gurer'f fb zhpu zrnavat gb vg guebhtu guvf yraf gung vg anghenyyl fgnaqf bhg.

To close this off, I know this might seem a bit odd (and perhaps a bit corny), but I can't thank you enough for making this game. Both times I've played this game have resulted in critical personal revelations, especially after my friend and I discussed it in depth. I think I can honestly say that playing this game has changed my life for the better, which is nothing short of miraculous.

Holy shit, great stuff. It would be really cool if the music for this and the other kotohime vn was on yt I really liked it!!!!

god, kaguya's face in this is just soooooooooo punchable. lovely game. book. thing. whatever this is.