#if found

Kasio's parts are told as if we are reading her journal, and the next "page" of the game is revealed by "erasing" the image in front of you.

While there are parts that are told with normal dialogue boxes and reused sprites like you'd expect in a visual novel, a significant percentage of the game has unique art, which is just baffling to me. (Someone on Steam was complaining about the game's price (just $13!) and I'm like.......... we have to pay for the artist's carpal tunnel!!) Some of it is kind of "sketchy," which matches the journal motif, as if the visuals are drawn by Kasio herself.

An example of a page that is not done being erased

Of course the erasing is thematically resonant to the story of a young woman dealing with hostility from her family and feeling unwelcome in her own hometown, and also to, you know, black holes.

In a normal visual novel, you might be clicking pretty fast, to the point that you're clicking about as fast as you can read if the lines are short, meanwhile in If Found, the erasing mechanic really makes you slow down, which contributes to the moodiness of the game, and the sense of time passing slowly in a place that's the same as Kasio left it. The uneasy moodiness is also amplified by the soundtrack and by a visual movement on the screen that I don't know how to describe, but it gives the visuals kind of a texture.

Anyway. It's a fascinating, beautiful, and heartwrenching game. If you are intrigued at all, I definitely recommend checking it out.

And now here's a dump of screenshots!