Short and sweet, gorgeous to look at, incisive writing.
The vibes of this game are impeccable. I cannot understate how much I love the aesthetic of the sick-and-twisted evil botanic surgery.
The atmosphere and the presentation of the "X days remaining" vaguely remind me of some analog horror-Gemini Home Entertainment PSA (aka the good old days of analog horror). And the way you mixed it with the soundtrack and sound effects elevate it a lot.
The one thing I found a bit out of place were some of the tilesets, that did not mix together or with the overall aesthetic that much. But considering this was made in a week is absolutely a nitpick.
Congratulations on the gorgeous visuals, the original horror elements, the writing that's able to establish characters in such a short runtime.
It was an honor to be able to help proofread this work!
You are the second person to mention Gemini Home Entertainment which is GREAT because it's my favourite analogue horror series and the title of this game was based on the series's deep root disease.
After reading the trials and tribulations of making this game I can't believe this was made in only a couple of days, the art is absolutely gorgeous, I liked your art since your first game but Jesus H. Christ you have improved so much, this is unbelievably amazing, I know is one CG and the portraits BUT damn they made me feel various things (not that kind of things! Like good emotional things), specially Armillaria.
Of course the story is nicely done, always good to read e'qualialter lore even if half of the things fly over my head because I will never be smart enough for Alz games.
Also, great job on that dirt man 10/10 would dig to nowhere.
alz making a short game about a bug scientist and a jawless human semi-inspired by the concept of deep root disease was actually on my 2026 bingo card, so thanks for that :D
srsly tho, this was great!! such a grimy and intriguing and well written experience. it's really impressive that you managed to make this in one week, there's so much packed in here for a game this short. it doesn't feel overstuffed either, it felt really purposefully concise and every beat happened exactly when it was supposed to. ughh you have such a good grasp of storytelling!
(SPOILERS)
i really liked how deeply entrenched in mystery the story was. the details it lets out are scarce, and by the end i had the same amount of questions (if not more) than answers, but it didn't feel unsatisfying. it felt like getting a peek into a deeply complex universe, with just enough information to understand the story being followed, but firmly not a drop more than that. and this world seeming to be so complex isn't just due to the amount of information not given, but also by how realistic everything is shown to be. armillaria behaves in erratic ways for seemingly no reason, quatre sometimes does things that contradict their thought process, even something simple like how roots grow from the ceiling... and this realism is aided by the visuals, because they're fantastic! the tileset is so grim and dark and detailed, the character portraits are super well drawn and their light cartoonishness doesn't feel out of place, and the rest of the images (the science diagrams and the days countdown) fit the aesthetic and vibe perfectly :>
moreover, one of the things that strikes me most about this game is how it refuses to let characters and concepts be simple, or be defined by just one idea. it's something subtle that bleeds into every part of the plot; quatre is a bug scientist/surgeon, but they're also part of a species with deep existential purposes, but they also get annoyed if someone messes with their work, but they're also constantly being watched by a higher being, but they also consider humans a lower kind of life, but they also comfort the dying lower kind of life in their care as she dies. armillaria wants to escape, or maybe she doesn't, or maybe she's not conscious anymore, or maybe she is and she got scared at the end by her fear of dying, or maybe she got scared specifically because of the seed. the Room is not a room, there's a surface but there's no surface, humans don't matter but what quatre is doing will make them matter... i joked earlier about the "bug scientist" and "jawless human", but nothing in this game feels like it can be sufficiently defined by simple descriptions. as short as it is, it really feels like it needs to be played to be understood, and that's a really cool thing to experience.
i feel like maybe something could've changed in the Room each day so the gameplay loop feels less repetitive? it's not a big issue, but the descriptions of every item being exactly the same during the entire game (unless i missed them changing at any point lol) felt kind of like a wasted opportunity to justify the game not being just a visual novel (tho idk if you were too crunched for time to add something like that). also the part where you need to catch armillaria is a tad frustrating and immersion-breaking because of how fast she moves, but it's not impossible or anything.
overall this was fantastic! idk if you'll come back to this universe again but it left me super intrigued to know more about it. thank you for making this! <3
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Short and sweet, gorgeous to look at, incisive writing.
The vibes of this game are impeccable. I cannot understate how much I love the aesthetic of the sick-and-twisted evil botanic surgery.
The atmosphere and the presentation of the "X days remaining" vaguely remind me of some analog horror-Gemini Home Entertainment PSA (aka the good old days of analog horror). And the way you mixed it with the soundtrack and sound effects elevate it a lot.
The one thing I found a bit out of place were some of the tilesets, that did not mix together or with the overall aesthetic that much. But considering this was made in a week is absolutely a nitpick.
Congratulations on the gorgeous visuals, the original horror elements, the writing that's able to establish characters in such a short runtime.
It was an honor to be able to help proofread this work!
You are the second person to mention Gemini Home Entertainment which is GREAT because it's my favourite analogue horror series and the title of this game was based on the series's deep root disease.
Once again, thank you for your good work!
After reading the trials and tribulations of making this game I can't believe this was made in only a couple of days, the art is absolutely gorgeous, I liked your art since your first game but Jesus H. Christ you have improved so much, this is unbelievably amazing, I know is one CG and the portraits BUT damn they made me feel various things (not that kind of things! Like good emotional things), specially Armillaria.
Of course the story is nicely done, always good to read e'qualialter lore even if half of the things fly over my head because I will never be smart enough for Alz games.
Also, great job on that dirt man 10/10 would dig to nowhere.
alz making a short game about a bug scientist and a jawless human semi-inspired by the concept of deep root disease was actually on my 2026 bingo card, so thanks for that :D
srsly tho, this was great!! such a grimy and intriguing and well written experience. it's really impressive that you managed to make this in one week, there's so much packed in here for a game this short. it doesn't feel overstuffed either, it felt really purposefully concise and every beat happened exactly when it was supposed to. ughh you have such a good grasp of storytelling!
(SPOILERS)
i really liked how deeply entrenched in mystery the story was. the details it lets out are scarce, and by the end i had the same amount of questions (if not more) than answers, but it didn't feel unsatisfying. it felt like getting a peek into a deeply complex universe, with just enough information to understand the story being followed, but firmly not a drop more than that. and this world seeming to be so complex isn't just due to the amount of information not given, but also by how realistic everything is shown to be. armillaria behaves in erratic ways for seemingly no reason, quatre sometimes does things that contradict their thought process, even something simple like how roots grow from the ceiling... and this realism is aided by the visuals, because they're fantastic! the tileset is so grim and dark and detailed, the character portraits are super well drawn and their light cartoonishness doesn't feel out of place, and the rest of the images (the science diagrams and the days countdown) fit the aesthetic and vibe perfectly :>
moreover, one of the things that strikes me most about this game is how it refuses to let characters and concepts be simple, or be defined by just one idea. it's something subtle that bleeds into every part of the plot; quatre is a bug scientist/surgeon, but they're also part of a species with deep existential purposes, but they also get annoyed if someone messes with their work, but they're also constantly being watched by a higher being, but they also consider humans a lower kind of life, but they also comfort the dying lower kind of life in their care as she dies. armillaria wants to escape, or maybe she doesn't, or maybe she's not conscious anymore, or maybe she is and she got scared at the end by her fear of dying, or maybe she got scared specifically because of the seed. the Room is not a room, there's a surface but there's no surface, humans don't matter but what quatre is doing will make them matter... i joked earlier about the "bug scientist" and "jawless human", but nothing in this game feels like it can be sufficiently defined by simple descriptions. as short as it is, it really feels like it needs to be played to be understood, and that's a really cool thing to experience.
i feel like maybe something could've changed in the Room each day so the gameplay loop feels less repetitive? it's not a big issue, but the descriptions of every item being exactly the same during the entire game (unless i missed them changing at any point lol) felt kind of like a wasted opportunity to justify the game not being just a visual novel (tho idk if you were too crunched for time to add something like that). also the part where you need to catch armillaria is a tad frustrating and immersion-breaking because of how fast she moves, but it's not impossible or anything.
overall this was fantastic! idk if you'll come back to this universe again but it left me super intrigued to know more about it. thank you for making this! <3