Son of the Woods

This was an excellent follow-up to The Daughters of the Sun - the other half of the story, one that casts the former in a completely new light. I'll reserve my detailed comments on the game below, under the spoiler tag.

The prose is lovely and poetic. It is a bit more "raw" than TDOTS, perhaps reflecting Hippolytus' more straightforward nature and his more open emotion. The voice acting by Dylan is absolutely amazing! It added SO much to the script, and he imbued a lot of emotion into each line, really conveying the anguish that Hippolytus feels as he struggles to overcome his past.

The art is gorgeously rendered (as per usual, of course). I like the muted hues of the field that Hippolytus lies in at the start of the game; the somewhat brown-green color makes it look as if the field is about to wilt, conveying the melancholic state of mind Hippolytus is in at the start of the game. I believe that the flowers in the back are black dahlias, representing betrayal and sadness - a very fitting flower for this story. 

The ripple effect as Hippolytus stares into the water is a very nice touch! I love the way the same image was altered in order to convey different moods; it was very creative, and a very good "technical successor" to TDOTS, which used similar effects (different color matrices to use the same sprite for three different characters). The initial, blue-tinged palette as Hippolytus stares into the water paints him with an air of melancholy and casts his skin in a gray-tinge (making him look like a corpse - perhaps reflecting how Phaedra's actions have doomed him, or foreshadowing his imminent death). When Hippolytus reflects on happier times and his father's achievements, the color returns to his face, and he looks "alive" again. Then, when he finally gains his resolve, he turns monochromatic, with a yellow tinge, in a style similar to TDOTS. This perhaps reflects his single-minded determination (while the yellow color harkens back to his "sun god" blood? Or perhaps likening him to the sun - a bright and positive force?)

I love the amount of nuance in Hippolytus' characterization that you get in this game, his pride, his ideas of masculinity, his conflicted feelings towards his father. (Also the aromanticism was portrayed very well - it really is bone-chilling when he begins to discuss Phaedra's advances towards him.) 

=== SPOILERS FOR BOTH SON OF THE WOODS AND THE DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN BELOW ===

While this game is excellent on its own, I think that it's much more interesting to compare it to TDOTS, which contains the ruminations of Phaedra, the other tragic figure in this tale. In TDOTS, after remembering the tragedies of her mother and sister, Phaedra begins to recount her own tragedy. From the start, she blames Aphrodite for her wicked desires for her stepson, before finally blaming the sun, her grandfather, for bringing Aphrodite's wrath on their family. In TDOTS, she is painted as a sympathetic figure, one who cannot resist her fate. But then we play Son of the Woods.

From the start, Hippolytus blames himself for Phaedra's feelings. "I channeled such feelings into my stepmother's heart." He then blames Aphrodite for cursing him, despite his aromantic identity, and then Phaedra, for inflicting such horrific feelings upon him. However, when he calms down, he ultimately blames himself for Phaedra's affections and his current miserable state for his inability to kill her. At the end, he is in a state of peace and quiet resolve. He wants to leave this dirty past behind him, despite the trauma, and, if not, he wants to kill Phaedra with his own hands for her misdeeds.

If you compare the two, you have an intriguing picture. In the actual story, Phaedra is the protagonist, but she is also the villain. She is the abuser, the one who brings misery to Hippolytus, her victim. However, in these games, Phaedra paints herself only as the victim of cruel fate, while Hippolytus takes accountability for his actions (even though he was not to blame to begin with). Phaedra resigns herself to her misery, killing herself at the end of TDOTS, while Hippolytus decides to live on, resolving to deal with his problems himself instead of fleeing from them. In TDOTS, Phaedra tells her own story, and she paints herself as a sympathetic victim. But when you compare her to Hippolytus in SOTW, she looks much less sympathetic - a person who blames others for her actions, who takes no action to change her own fate.

Overall, I REALLY enjoyed this! It was a perfect follow-up to TDOTS, building upon it both in terms of characterization and technicalities. It's INCREDIBLY clever how the dev managed to actually affect how you interpret TDOTS simply from playing this game, and I'm really looking forward to playing the last game in the trilogy!

Whoa, this one packed a PUNCH!

Hats off to the VA, the way they sold the ANGER, i was DELIGHTED 🤭💕💕💕

I loved the clash between Hippolytus's self-image as this virtuous, love-loathing person and the reality of being confessed to by his stepmother, and how it shattered his pride (but on the other hand, how virtuous of him to seek fault in himself, first!) (i also liked the clash of his cute appearance and the violent emotions hhhhhhh)

You've got a knack for tragedy, Chim, i liked this a lot. 👌

GOD YOU REALLY NEVER DISAPPOINT?????

I knew I was in for a ride of emotions with this being the sequel to The Daughters of the Sun, but I didn't know quite how many different trips you'd send me on, nor the sheer power you'd be able to convey through this.

CAN I JUST SAY ONE THING. LIKE. THE WRITING IN THIS??? IT'S ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS???? It literally feels like it should come right out of a play. I can picture this as a climactic soliloquy in some kind of ancient Greek play. The language used, the poetic quality to everything, the flow of the words. And double that up with the performance of the VA, which was absolutely AMAZING. Literally so much emotion behind every single line. The raw power especially in some of the build-up. This whole game feels like taking a small peek into an epic and dramatic stageplay lkdjfalskdfa

I'm in love with how you portrayed Hippolytus here. I feel like there's this real connection even to today's day and age, this quick resolve to blame yourself despite being the victim. To assume that HE must have somehow caused Phaedra to feel this way. That it must be something that HE did. Which is so so similar to what so many people even today say about victims -- that surely the victim must have done something to make their attacker do whatever they did to them. And even the victims blaming themselves, wishing they could have only done something differently and that they're at fault, when that couldn't be further from the truth. My heart really went out for Hippolytus, especially as he kept twisting and convoluting the narrative to search for something that wasn't there -- something he did but shouldn't have. Because he didn't do anything at all. He was just living his life.

I enjoyed the resolve he reached at the end. I had no idea what the final outcome would be (and perhaps assumed it would end up being horrifically tragic LDKJFALD), but I liked the turn it took with him deciding to leave and then the POWER behind that one scene when the sword appeared behind him. It was such a strong lasting image and tone to end the game with!! And it makes me want to continue with Hippolytus on his journey to wherever he goes.

The art in this was absolutely lovely! I really enjoyed the first scene with the soft BG and the parallax. It was a good setup to then lead into the reflection image, which was also so symbolic???? BECAUSE HE SPENDS THE GAME LOOKING DEEP INSIDE HIMSELF???? Also because it's so important for us to see these deep emotions that rock him in different ways, so having the nice close-up to really be able to viscerally feel each and every change in his expression and emotion, it was really done so well. And the way the background changed! Whether it was the subtle changes in color or the more obvious little images that appeared in the background to help illustrate parts of the story. It was just enough to keep the scene engaging and changing while not taking the focus away from the star of the show front and center. Lovely choice of music too! I enjoyed when it changed to the quicker, almost more violent-sounding tune as Hippolytus's emotions built and built and built (which, especially when accompanied by the building of emotion in the VA's voice, was doubly effective lkadjfad).

Overall just fantastic. You do such an amazing job of not only imbuing your stuff with these raw powerful feelings, but also keeping this incessant building of those feelings all throughout. I also just love how you're introducing me to all these stories that I would have never heard of before and filling them with your own thoughts and passions alkdsjfasd Literally everything you put out effects me in such a deep guttural way SOB.