bro im actually crying rn i hate you dude

A fantastic VN, Since November deftly depicts a startling, uncertain future. The characters are fascinating, and the scenarios that play out are well-written. The art and music absolutely elevate the experience, the amount of CGs is astounding and they're all gorgeous and evocative. 

We read this on the FurryVN Discord, and whilst everyone was instantly drawn to Red Flags The Person, and I related most to the Val storyline, my favourite character was Edgar by far. His arc will stick with me a long time. (Also I adore pigeons and they are so rarely depicted!) 

Keith?? Keith WHY???

That's a very good story, thank you :3

*sees pink and black photo*

*Clicks it*

*Scrolled down and sees comments*

*Downloaded it but dreaded to play it*

*Finally played it*

*Heart empty*

I might bring this game up to my therapist… Cried on every route. Except Charlie’s. Fuck Charlie. Satisfying end tho

Really fantastic job! Each ending is really satisfying in its own way, while giving that feeling of, isn't there something else we should be doing? I'm happy I got to meet these characters and happy I got to grieve them, too.

hey. this was beautiful. thank you for creating. it's important <3

I... fuck man...

It’s been three days and I’m still haunted by this. I wake up with the feeling of impending doom pressing at the back of my skull. My thoughts spiral whenever I don’t keep my mind completely occupied. My heart shatters again and again every time I remember their faces. How am I supposed to end this?

You guys crafted an alluring Pandora’s box for me to open. Something unique, passionate, queer. But no Hope was waiting for me inside.

And I'm not sure if I love you or if I curse you for that.

Decided to play this based off vibes and was NOT disappointed, this VN is genuinely do fluffing good >▼<

Val's dream boyfriend is the wolf, Charlie knocked out. That wolf and his throuple needed the food. 

uh, spoilers in this comment. Sorry if it doesn't make much sense either, just trying to get my thoughts out. 

Damn, I watched your video on this and then came to play it when I had the time and I really liked it. Of course the absolutely fantastic art and fitting music really put in work to help set the atmosphere and induce the vibes, the writing is where the meat is. I liked all of these characters and at least somewhat invested in them (Charlie a little less so than the others), which is impressive for such a short time spent with them. 

I completed all endings in a couple hours (I took longer than others it seems) and I really enjoyed all of them. I got Nomi's ending first, then Edgar's, then Val's, then Charlie's. I liked how after every ending I was left with a different feeling. I also appreciate how the different characters all have a unique outlook and explore a theoretical reaction to an apocalypse in a different way-and I can understand and empathize with all of them. I mean, I get thats kinda the whole point of the game but I'm mentioning it all the same. 

Big spoilers from here since I'm just describing the endings and how they made me feel. 

Nomi's was a nice conversation about life and how we each felt about it. I liked how Jack didn't just completely nod along with Nomi and actually provided some pushback with his own outlook. I can see the thought process behind either but I think I have to agree with Jack in the end. Life is beautiful. I'm not sure I fully understand her "I want you to forget me" line but that could very easily be me missing something. I know every ending is abrupt (and I like that) but I think this is the best first ending as its more relaxed and almost comedic. The timing left me going "ahh I liked that. That's cute" rather than confused or upset. 

Edgar's hit me like a punch to the gut. I was not expecting their request. I mean, when they said they'd need me it crossed my mind but it was still like "holy shit" when they actually asked. I like that we actually did it to.. mostly for the sake of dramatics but don't think I'm saying that as a bad thing. I definitely see how the anxiety of knowing it could happen at any time without warning would be suffocating and wanting to see it and know its happening and feel it so badly you would do it yourself. If the game gave me a choice in the matter I still would have done it. If I was actually put in this scenario however I think it would piss me off. If you really think about it, it is incredibly selfish to ask your friend to kill you. If we're truly friends than you should know how much that would hurt me to do that. How could you ask me to do that? Nothings stopping them from jumping off a building. However I think that connects to their 'big line' where, at least the way I see it, is preemptively asking Jack to forgive them for what they're about to ask of him. STILL I have to stress I'm not criticizing the story or Edgar, I think it progressed in the most interesting way it just got me thinking. This ending left me sitting in my chair with my mouth agape for a about a minute. Just "holy shit.."  as I looked down at his body. The art and music in the section are particularly great and really enhance the ending. 

Val's probably hit the closest to home. He's obviously feeling the sense of a life lost. Yearning for a connection, for a future that was once conceivable and now, suddenly, is not must be hard. I also liked Jack's side of the conversation in this one. A few of his lines basically described thoughts and feelings I've had myself word for word and I just.. yeah. I feel like their ending is the.. is happiest the right word? They may not have 'loved' each other or even had an interaction like this without the whole world ending but they did like each other so they were able to form a connection. They were able to have something, even if it was pretend, for just a little before they were gone and I think that's sweet in a way. They went out on a high note I guess! 

I didn't like Charlie but I thiiiiink that might be the point of an asshole character. Not to say I didn't like his inclusion, I just didn't like him. I do, however, understand the feeling of a life wasted and how enticing just going crazy for a bit before the end may seem. Like, yeah, I definitely get being angry and wanting to smash shit! I was wondering how his ending was going to go but having him go all Fight Club on us was fitting for his character. All that shit talk and he still lost, fucker. I was surprised that Jack actually killed him though. I mean, makes sense he was almost certainly going to kill us if we hadn't gotten the upperhand but I didn't go into this game expecting half of the endings to be with us killing someone. I think I connected the least with this ending but it's probably clear why. I simply wasn't as interested in the character as the others and there's less emotional attachment in the story itself between these characters. I still liked it though. 

I don't have much to say about Jack himself which I feel is typical for a pov character but I still liked him. I liked the moments where he shared his views on things in relation to the other characters and like I said before what he was talking about in Val's ending really hit home. 

I feel like there's more to say but nothing is really coming to mind and I gotta get to bed anyway so, good game! I really enjoyed it! 

 Existencial crisis on a cup. I feel fear, confusion, and i kind of wanting to do something to look back into and say i accomplished something, to at least be able to say i lived happy.

Hell yeah.  It hurt a bit, but feels like a nice summary of the times right now.  Favorites were Val and Nomi, mostly cause it reflects how I feel. Very cool.

I came here from the "How to Make a Furry Visual Novel in 30 DAYS" video looking for further inspiration, and I wasn't prepared to have my heart straight ripped out of my chest and stomped on. In less than an hour, even! The emotions I felt after finishing all four routes just would not subside until I made this comment commending the crew on their fantastic piece of art.

Thank you for the inspiration, Keith!

Wh.... what did I just read? So much Apathy in one VN.... I LOVE IT.

This at first made me feel incredibly depressed, but it is not the end of the world, not yet, we can't stave it off forever, but we can push it back, keep going, keep experiencing life, even with the world bound to end. Wonderful story, good length, I cannot imagine trying to make myself spend more time thinking about death. Thank you.

Thank You

This was SO good, thank you. I loved the writing in this so much. 

Hey Keith, I just wanted to say thanks to you and the team. This game meant a lot to me. 

I’m a queer soldier stuck in the middle east, and thing have felt unrecognizable since early November. The impending dread, being stuck in a place where I’m isolated and can do nothing but watch the tide of red; you gave voice to a lot of the rage and sadness I’ve been feeling for the last while. So thanks for doing you, thanks for getting with Phwog and Red and making beautiful, raw furry art. 

It’s because of art like this that I know I’m not alone, and still have hope. I’ve seen a lot of terrible shit in my time, most of it done by the same people who are in power right now. I’m so fucking glad I’m not the only one who’s angry.

This isn't usually my kind of vibe, but I could feel the weight of emotion through the entire thing. It compelled me. And the message at the end resonates quite a bit.

Thanks for sharing this bit of yourselves with the world. We're still here.

I read through the whole game. I even had my friend read through it too, and he and I shared similar opinions. Then, I told my sister I found the furry version of the Netflix movie Don’t Look Up, and she responds with, “Do you mean Chicken Little?” 😆

I later explained what I meant, and my family and friends didn’t care that I read a furry VN. So, there seems to be less of a stigma around this topic that was once regarded as taboo and is now more of a niche.

All in all, we’ve really come far as a society in terms of openness, acceptance, and freedom. Therefore, when this VN brought up societal issues and made references to pop culture from the real world, that took me out of the story. 

I personally felt at times that the story relied too heavily on pop culture. I even noticed that there were lyrics and a remix of an actual song, which could be considered gray and troublesome in terms of legality. 

Otherwise, I liked how you gave importance to the characters being anthropomorphic creatures in particular. It wasn’t just a gag. It meant something to the characters, their worlds, and their roots. 

Narratively, I was confused at who was who in the beginning. This could have been fixed if each character was zoomed in when talking to only show them or if everybody else had a black silhouette to only show each character at a time in the beginning to give that clarity to the player. 

The plot meandered, seemingly without purpose. The story eventually found its footing and stride at the candle shop and afterwards.

Yet, the beginning felt like unfocused filler that didn’t give me a clear message of what the theme or point of the story was. It didn’t help that the story brought all the cast of characters into the limelight without any clear distinction of who was speaking. 

I felt like I was thrown into their relationship dynamic and their situation without being eased into it, not even getting a sense of who they were as characters until later. 

Otherwise, I can see how the various characters represented apathy, lust, anger, and anxiety. That was well done. 

I thought the fight scene could have used shorter and punchier sentences while the sex scene could have used more descriptive and straightforward language. 

The fight scene dragged on, and the use of one CG made the fight scene more difficult to comprehend visually. If rough sketches of the fight were used, or if one CG of the characters battling it out was shown, then that would have gone a long way in following the fight at hand. 

As for the sex  scene, there could have been that tension, conflict, and vulnerability there between the characters opening up to one another but possibly resisting each other to give the scene more layers and nuance. 

Artistically, the art had a lack of cohesion at times, ranging from detailed artwork to rough sketches, which threw me off. Due to the lack of character sprites or characters in a CG, I didn’t get an overall sense of the tone or positions of the characters during the moments that only had a background.

Musically, I was confused at the sudden stop of music, or sometimes there was no music in tense scenes, which confused me. I also thought the technique of cutting out the music during a tense scene was overused a bit much and didn’t give me that sense of dread, whereas the heart beat sound effects did. 

Furthermore, I thought there was a conflicting and abrupt tonal shift in the beginning when Edgar came into picture. I think if there was more of a buildup there, it would have been less jarring for me, or if the music was off and led into silence, that could have been effective in not only setting the mood but foreshadowing it too. 

As for the endings, I felt two of them came too abruptly, but I suppose that was the point. It would have been nicer to have a final sentence for each ending that encapsulated the mood or situation in its final moment instead of being whiplashed into an abrupt and unsatisfactory ending. 

For characters who watched a lot of movies, I’m surprised they didn’t discuss end of the world movies as much. However, I noticed the callback of playing a video game at one of the endings, making the exposition feel important, after all. Yet, a lot of the beginning could have been cut out or shortened to get the plot moving.

I also felt the transition between the characters being in the lounge to the open mall came about suddenly. I thought they were at their crib at first and went to the mall. I suppose that was meant to be a plot twist. 

For the end of the world, it seemed like all of the characters really focused on societal issues. They cared so much about the issues of the world that they forgot their own worlds they lived in and the people around them too. 

I got a sense of everyone except for Nomi, yet I think that was the point. She was guarded, used humor as a wall, and ultimately wanted to retreat from everyone. Yet, because there was that lack of connection between her issues with society and how that related to her, her climatic moment came out of left field for me. Albeit, I could understand her struggle and how that would make her closed off. Yet, her story arc seemed more distant compared to the others. 

Furthermore, all of the characters deemed the main character important or needed, as if they had a more special connection to him, when he was a blank slate of a nobody. Yet, even the main character was aware of his self-insert status too. 

All in all, I pushed through the beginning that was all over the place and found stories in the rough by the end. Could the same stories be told without vocalizing their complaints about society, without making pop culture references, and without the world ending? I think so. Yet, you were going for a particular story, and it made me feel things in the end. 

It just wouldn’t be the kind of visual novel I would create, and that’s okay. I do have visual novels on this profile here if you do want to check them out. Ultimately, I’m not the target demographic for this particular story, but I appreciate the talent and work put into this project. Good job!

Truth be told, I went into this game expecting to hate it because I personally (not personally, more aesthetically) don't like Keith Ballard. However, I was provided with a delightfully grim look into nihilism. While the writing was... flawed and sometimes made me roll my eyes, the ability for the story to explore such deep themes within the span of about an hour of playtime for a moderately quick reader was not just impressive, it was astounding. I think the setting itself is particularly clever. Any game can explore the themes and ideas in this, but the setting's specific limitations allow for these ideas to truly take more shape within the mind of the reader. Overall, very impressive game, and frankly I would hope Keith explores more things like this in the future.

I watched the creation process video on Boring Keith's YouTube channel and it got me inspired to write the story for my first game development project as a visual novel before going into the main meat of the genre I want to work with so great job this really inspired me

Deeply powerful and potent. The artwork by Phwog is gorgeous and impactful and a kind of beautiful i find difficult to articulate. The writing hit me in the chest in a way i find aspirational. To see so many responses to the end, and to see it all reflected in Jack. I think Edgar was my favourite, among all of them being my favourite. Their perspective spoke to something deep within me, that depression that feels it watches the time pass regardless as the paint slowly fades and chips from the walls as we attempt to pass the time and find meaning. To know we are able to watch and understand, while completely lacking in control. It deeply spoke to me. Thank you for this art.

Really potent and raw exploration of how hopeless queer people can feel under fascism (I know that's not necessarily the actual metaphor, but it's red and written in November 2024 so I ran with it). Keith definitely succeeded at making each character feel distinct, and Phwog's CGs are awesome. Even the unfinished CGs work really well imo. The soundtrack fuckin owns too. If you want a VN that really delves into how we cope (or don't) with the hopelessness of... everything these days, this one's for you.

There is a profoundness and raw sensation I feel in my chest whenever I think about this game. I played it once, alone, and then shared it with a few friends, voicing through it as we all grasped together the surreal and painful, yet beautiful horror of the world we found ourselves in.

I think some routes will hit you harder than others, and I think that can change depending on who you are, what you've been through. But whoever you are, you're not alone.

I highly recommend you play it if you can stomach the themes of existential dread.

This game kind of left me speechless. Without getting too into things, the Edgar ending stuck out to me. They're the only one who doesn't directly mirror a deadly sin in some way, as well as the request, rather than the other three, they don't request something beginning with the letter f. There's just, something so important about this , it's hard to describe.

the vn itself is awesome and inspiring. This project and BK's video about its production has given me courage to finally make my delayed renpy project. Thank everybody who participated in this so much <3 <3 <3

(( pst, releasing some character refs would be helpful for anybody doing fanart, just saying >v>;;; ))

This is pretty good!

Add interesting and engaging writing with very (VERY) dynamic and moody art, and with music that keeps the mood. You get a project which feels really complete!

Overall, great story!

In the best way possible, this game is a punch to the jaw. Desperate, raw, and horny?

It has moments where it's a little awkward, but the sincerity behind it more than makes up for it. It's been a long time since I've seen something so unfiltered, and unless BoringKeith makes a sequel in another month (this game was made in a month?!) I bet it'll be a short while until I see something this raw again.

This story will haunt me for a very long time, and I'm truly grateful for it. I'm so excited to see what Keith does next, whatever it might end up being.

Heya, probably my first comment on any game ever, lol. As someone living in Russia, this hit me quite... hard. For vArIoUs))) reasons in the game, if you get what I mean. It amazes me when little projects like this can make you cry, and I needed this. I needed this so fucking much. The characters are so real and the subject matter really pulls at my heartstrings, living in a world limited to your country, feeling like you're waiting for the apocalypse and everything is getting worse every day, from the way queer people are treated to the economy. Maybe I became too vulnerable after my breakup with my girlfriend, but I embraced that painful experience with open arms, all the way to the last line and the closing of the game.

I don't know if I was lucky or not, but my first route was Val, the one who reminds me of myself the most, the one who tries his best to stay in a cocoon of safety and comfort, trying to break away from what's happening around him, but fails and goes into loneliness in a desire for warmth and support. It was an incredibly sensual scene, the conversation, the sex and that ending, the only animated cutscene in whole game, because of which you can't look at the other endings as just abruptly cut off, accepting the reality of the situation and feeling this unpleasant emptiness inside you.

Like, you feel bittersweet feelings for the ending with Val, and then emptiness, despair, rejection of what is happening; you feel sick from Edgar's ending, and then it all ends so quickly, as if laughing at you, without even giving Jack a chance to splash out his emotions; you hate Charlie, you feel disgusted by him, and the ending does not let you cool down, does not let Jack cool down, and at the same time you still somehow feel empty from it; and the Nomi ending makes you relax, you even laugh nervously, until you are left with emptiness and a feeling of sadness from the ending...

But this time it continues and damn, man, it's incredibly cruel to say such motivating words after you twisted my soul, thank you! And after like 48 hours this game does not leave your head, and tears automatically flow down your cheeks when you understand how meaningful this game was (how meaningful was you, Keith), how much it resonates with your life, being, practically, about something completely different. And even now I can not stop shedding tears, and it is so fucking good. Thank you, the artist and the musician, if you had not all gathered together, this clearly would not have been such an experience. I hope for the best, I only have 6 months left to graduate college and move to a more accepting city where I hope to feel better than I do in my dump, lol (seriously, it's really annoying when a person thinks you're a pervert for liking not only girls and tries to turn others against you). Take care of yourself, you will get through this!

This was much heavier than I was expecting, but it was also something I needed. 

We'll get through this.

im one of those "not gay or furry, just browsing" people, so obviously i gotta check out boring keith's boring thing. But it actually isn't boring it all. every route feels like the musings of a disillusioned cynic, which is to say pretty awesome to say the least. This is also really impressive to me the more I think about because each character has their own brand of nihilism. Def some top notch heart ache. 

I also like that each character has their moment where they cut through all of their dogma, leave the webster at home and just make a "i want you to..." statement, which i find is really cool. 

Also also i love that val's love is right outside. Very awesome irony. 

Yes Captain Edgar! I shall start killing oil execs.