#make a change everbyte

[duskwoodraven]

I feel moved to speak, sooner rather than later because I believe time is of the essence and this needs to be understood in order to keep Moonvale from crumbling to the ground completely.

This is not completely spoiler heavy, but it will discuss the game. I should note that unfortunately I have not finished the episode because I am struggling with the mini games in making progress. So I do not know how the episode ends, but I need to say this in order for me to rest.

I am very angry and disappointed with this game, and even more than that, I hold a great deal of second hand embarrassment for Everbyte.

One of the greatest reasons I respected these developers during Duskwood is that the game never felt like a cash grab like so many games do these days. The option to make a one time payment for complete access to Duskwood was fantastic, an option they should have carried to here and that is the biggest grievance I have.

There is no reason a game should cost hundreds of dollars to experience and enjoy. There is no reason for the prices of gems to be as expensive as they are. This is unacceptable Everbyte, and you should feel ashamed of it, you should know better.

The beauty of Duskwood and what set it apart was its feel of realism and the fact that every question had a reasonable answer. Your use of AI art has cheapened the look of your game, not enhanced it, not to mention it’s insulting to use generated art when there are many artists who are already losing jobs to AI, artists who would have been happy to work with you if given the chance. If the cost of commission is too high, then use of stock photos you had before was just fine, and I believe you should have kept it, I can’t look at Ash and Charlie’s profiles without it striking me as goofy.

Furthermore, the story does not make sense, we were able to read chats because Jake made it possible for us, now it just feels like the return of a gimmick with no explanation, the same with the mini games, in the past we did mini games to “hack” into Hannah’s cloud, now we do it “just because”. It’s lost its feeling of meaning, not to mention most private chats are behind the gem paywall, which we never had to deal with before!

The characters seem more plain to me, or maybe they are loveable but I’ll never know because again, paywall. I can’t read the premium options and get to know them deeper because of it. There are also no profiles like before, which is awful because we can’t look back on past video calls and links and we can’t see what these characters are all about, their personality is gone.

Even MC’s answer options seem blander, more vanilla, repetitive or one directional.

I say this truthfully from my soul, if this was the style of of game you dropped but for Duskwood instead, I never would have played it.

I would have never fallen in love with it.

I would have never made this blog and would never have waited years for every episode and a new game.

I would have never made art and countless theories.

I would have deleted the game immediately.

So I’m asking you, begging you, please change this for our sakes, and especially for yours.

Because despite all my gripes and anger, and everything I’ve said, I know you guys have actually worked hard on this game because the evidence is there, hidden beneath it all.

I love the actual real life people you have for Adam and Eric, I was so moved to help Adam when he started to cry. I want to know why he knows us and wants our help. I laughed when Eric told us he had tripped, and I do want to get to know him. I even wished to lovingly twist Charlie’s neck! That is the game I remember loving, its writing and characters, I can see the potential here.

But you need to change something, otherwise I cannot support this game, I cannot force myself to play it. I will drop Moonvale.

Give the players a one time payment option for 100% complete access to the game, access to all premium options. That’s the least I feel anyone could ask of you and is biggest reason you are getting this backlash.

To my fellow players, if you agree with any of what I said then I ask you not to pay for anything until Everbyte changes to make their game more affordable. Don’t be quiet and please voice your opinions everywhere they can see it. That’s the only way something could change.

I am so sorry this is what we got… you all deserve better.

[hacked-by-jake]

I posted my first Duskwood post on July 11, 2020.

I discovered Duskwood shortly after episode 2 was released.

Since then I'm here.

I got three Duskwood tattoos. (To be fair, one got a cover up but it wasn't anything huge so) But I still have two.

On July 18, 2022, I travelled 10 hours to visit Villingen-Schwenningen. The city where Duskwood takes place. I saw the fountain and the library. I saw the Gate Of Hope and the Rainbow Café. And I even saw the Grimrock Waterfall. Because it was my dream to see it.

And now, here we are. In front of this heap of shards.

Money making, using AI, deleting critical comments, probably buying fake follower etc etc.

I don’t want to act like I'm the biggest victim of this situation. I don't want to make it about me. And I also know that Everbyte won't see this.

And as I said... I still have hopes. Strong hopes. And I don't want to believe that this situation can't be solved. But I'm still sitting here and asking myself "What if they won't see their mistakes? What if they won't change? What if they really don't care about us"

Right now I'm holding onto the hopes. But if it turns out that Everbyte is the complete opposite of what we believed through Duskwood...

This all is going to feel like the biggest joke. ^^

[ameliawarnerr]

Okay so Moonvale has disappointed the fandom terribly with multiple reasons. It's like a bad sequel to a fantastic movie...

But I hardly expect that everbyte is going to change anything now. Minor changes, maybe, but let's be realistic they took so long developing the game and there's no way they will make any major changes about it now.

I, personally, hadn't put my hopes too high. But it's still sad to read and see the fandom expressing their disappointment, especially after the hype we had created.

At this point, I'm only looking forward to see what they have planned for the Duskwood players with the code thing. I hope we get at least something matching the level of Duskwood, even if it's just a little nostalgia.

The most disheartening thing is that talking to characters in Duskwood felt like talking to real people and Moonvale isn't doing that for me.

But I still hope the Duskwood fandom/community remains the same. 🤍

[reds-ramblings]

Moonvale

Because nobody asked for my opinion... I'm going to give it anyway.

Thought, pros and cons of the new game. It's not super spoilery but I'm going to hide it just in case.

First, I would like to say I was NOT at all expecting the new story to be a continuation of Duskwood or to even be a similar story to Duskwood. Everbyte made it very clear this is not what Moonvale was meant to be. I went into this with a completely open mind and tried my best not to compare Moonvale to Duskwood. I was still disappointed. There were several changes Everbyte made that were great but they were overshadowed by the negative changes.

Pros:

1. There is now an LGBTQ option when you enter your name and Duskwood code. This doesn't apply to me so I'm not sure what it changes in the game but this option was needed.

2. You can use diamonds to skip mini-games. I would have spent money just to do this if everything else didn't cost so much.

3. This is just my opinion but the mini-games seemed to be a bit easier.

4. The Duskwood side story. It's not much now but I would play the game just for that. Was it worth spending money to finish sooner? No.

Cons:

1. Money money money. There's no premium package that unlocks everything. I get that Everbyte has to make money off of the game but the content wasn't worth what they were charging!

2. I found the characters really unlikable. Eric was alright, but the rest I couldn't care less for. I started out liking charlie but he quickly became annoying. I really wanted to like Ash but something about her just rubbed me the wrong way. Where was the character development here?!

3. The story line! The Billy Blake story was long and pointless. Maybe it will be important later on but it definitely could have been shorter. It took like 3 mini-game sessions just to get through it! When he said "should I continue" I literally yelled no!

4. The story line! It was unoriginal. Some parts felt very copy, paste, change a few lines and here's a new story.

5. The mini-games. I didn't like how it forced you to play them at set times. One of the things I liked about Duskwood is that you could play all the mini-games in each set and then not have to stop the story so much.

6. AI! I get that they don't have actors for all of the characters but why not use stock images like before? Why do they have to use AI?!?!

7. You can't rewatch ANY of the videos or phone calls. They literally disappear. Yet somehow they are "saved" so you can send them to other characters.

8. We waited 2 years for that?! It had the potential to be amazing and even better than Duskwood. We know Everbyte can make an amazing game Duskwood is proof of that. This did not live up to those standards

I'm sure there's more but this is all I can think of at the moment.

[duskwood-mc-art]

Honestly, Everbyte doesn't have it easy with their fans.

People complaining about the new payment method with the gems, while they only changed it, because people already complained about the premium package from Duskwood. However, I went through episode 1 of Moonvale without having any problems with the gems. I think the payment method is justified, not only because people complained about it before, but also because they are putting a lot of effort into their work and deserve to be paid.

Yes, the use of AI art is meh, but they said they will replace it, so I don't see a problem with it much. They are a small gaming company and still figure their ways out. And everyone makes mistakes.

Besides, a lot of people complain about Moonvale's layout, just because it is different than Duskwood's. As much as I love Duskwood's design, compared to Moonvale it is kind of old. Moonvale's app design is more modern and up to date and I like it. It is just different.

I liked episode 1 of Moonvale, and I feel like I am basically the only one who doesn't have any issues or problems with it. I am curious for the new case, new apps Moonvale will provide that we can use, the mini games and to meet Jake and maybe other characters again.

[lyon-amore]

I think many have forgotten what it was like to wait for the Duskwood episodes.

I don't know how everyone was waiting after the first episode, since I only had to wait for the last one and, although it felt like forever, it was nothing compared to those who waited from day one.

To be honest, I get more nervous with people's comments saying that Everbyte doesn't do anything or that they give up waiting because they don't make progress, but if you think about it, wasn't it that we wanted a good game?

On the first day of Moonvale's release, we gave constructive criticism of what we thought of these new changes and Everbyte took them into account (obviously, the AI ​​is unfortunately going to stay, although for my part I won't accept it as canon if they give us an AI Jake), many have answered emails, something that not all game developers do, because many use the robotized message with the same answers for everything, but Everbyte has taken the time to answer some.

And about the tracker, they've put the changes they'll be making throughout the game. And it's a VERY long list, which means it's clearly not going to be something they're going to do in a hurry, especially considering they had to remake a game from scratch and we still don't even know what the first change or addition they'll make will be.

So for my part, I'm going to put myself in standby mode now and continue making content in the fandom while we wait.

[barracuda677]

Okay so, here is the way that I hope Everbyte will eventually change Moonvale in the future.

There are some minor spoilers :)

I hope that they'll change the interface to look a little bit more like Duskwood's old one. Yes, I know Moonvale is its own separate game, but considering the Duskwood code and the fact that these stories happen in the same universe, the Mc's should be using the same messenger. I think it would look smart if the new messenger looked like it had updated to add extra features over that month Mc spent obsessing over the events at Duskwood. They can keep those like contact bubbles at the top to further separate it from Duskwood's old version of the messenger. Furthermore, they should bring back the design of the old profiles with some additional features so we can customize our profiles, with our galleries, and look at the other characters.

Now, with the mini-games right now, they don't currently hold much meaning in the scheme of this story. In Duskwood, we only really had the cloud to hack into Hannah's cloud and it was restricted to that, so it wouldn't make sense for the mini-games to be used as a hack tool again. Rather, I think it would be neat if the mini-games were a way for Mc to do 'deep dives'/research. Every once in a while, like receiving photos and documents from Hannah's cloud, Mc could have the chance to uncover relevant articles and maybe some other cryptic stuff. Logical reasoning for things in Duskwood was one of the things that I loved about it. I loved that everything had a logical explanation behind it to further immerse us in the story with how realistic It got. This is, unfortunately, not how I feel about Moonvale currently. It is seriously lacking realism.

With those new themes that Everbyte said they were going to be adding to Moonvale, I hope that they won't be using AI. I think it is one of the main things holding the game back and I believe that if they continue to use it, they will lose support and their current rating in the app stores will remain the same. This also remains true for the diamond system. Now, I think diamonds should be restricted to being used to skip mini-games while optional to use to unlock the story. People who want to pay for a multi-media pack, pay, those who want to use the diamonds, use the diamonds. Of course, everything bought in-game with the diamonds should REMAIN UNLOCKED when restarting an episode. Also, Everbyte should downsize the coins and diamonds so they're not as distracting. Maybe make them about the size the coins in Duskwood were at the corner, and maybe change the diamond's color from purple to white so they look more discreet. I don't want our game to look too much like a game. That was why Duskwood got so popular.

For the secret chats, when it comes to those using the side story, I think those can just be chalked up to still having Jake's stuff on Mc's phone, but, the secret chats should pop up through notification rather than how they do now. It's way too abrupt and unrealistic. Now, for those playing without a code, it could be that Mc in Moonvale is simply more tech-savvy than Duskwood's Mc. This is seen when Vega was brought up (which, if I'm being honest, I probably nerd out as much as Mc did about it. When Eric described what it looked like, I immediately thought that it was a tracking device, and when it was confirmed through a search, I got giddy about it when I got to explain it to Eric. :)). Either way, a smart explanation for why Mc can read those chats needs to be in order.

Anyway, that's all I can think of for now. :)

[polgararose]

Just saw the post and read the explanation. Man, I'm so tired. I just spent 5hrs working on course work. It's 6:20am and this explanation from Everbyte has just made me exhausted man.

It's everything I expected they were going to say when they eventually responded, so I can't find it in myself to be mad or surprised.

From a business stand point, yeah okay. I get it. It's probably cheaper to use AI instead of paying a subscription or license to use the stock photos. I get it.

I get wanting to make things easier for those who couldn't get the multimedia package. I get it. But it's so difficult to earn gems. Everything that is paid with gems is expensive, and a lot of us do not want to do a time walk. When I played duskwood, I NEVER replayed until after I completed the final episode. That was my way of experiencing the story. Playing it in one go like it was an actual event. Mind you it spanned a couple of years. But it's what I did.

And what I had planned to do again in Moonvale. So this time walk option is great for those willing to replay the chapters and not wanting to spend the money.

But I don't see why they don't just still offer the multimedia package. They'd still be making the money they want. It's like the difference between casual gamers and hard core gamers in mmorpg's. Those who have the money will spend the money to make their experience easier as they don't have as much time to grind as other players will. And what they spend their money on is up for them to decide.

I dunno.

I'm tired

I'm so so gawddamn tired.

Thansk for listening to the ramblings of the local coot. Ignore any the grammar mistakes. I think I'm typing perfectly great. But I know, my sleep deprivation lies to mine eyes.

I just hope things change. Till then I'll be watching closely in hopes that things improve.

Moonvale has potential to be a great game. We know that everbyte can make great games. So let's hope everyone learns from this and things improve.

I'm gonna sleep now. It's now 6:33am....

[alys0r]

A small analysis of the Moonvale characters.

I must say right away that the characters from Moonvale seem to me more realistic and lively, even despite the disgusting avatars with artificial intelligence. These are clearly more or less the same types of characters from Duskwood, but somewhat modified. Initially, I thought that I would be extremely disappointed if everything in Moonvale was exactly the same as in the previous Everbyte game, but no. It seems that everything repeats itself, but it repeats extremely well. This is not a copy, but a parallel. Moreover, there are still differences. But about everything in order.

ADAM

Our missing waif. And yet we interact with him directly. We're connected somehow, and it's not just about the envelope with our name on it. Was Adam on his way to give us the envelope? I doubt it very much, considering that the main character is obviously not privy to this. Is it all related to Duskwood? I'm pretty sure I'm not, and if I am, it's obviously not with Hannah. To be honest, I haven't looked at the theory of this game yet, and I don't know if anyone has voiced such a thought, but the cave is clearly similar to the mine where Jake and Richie were. Especially considering that, as Jake said, if I'm not mistaken, the mine stretches for many kilometers, and the actions of the current game take place not so far from Duskwood. Soooooo, returning to Adam, this whole situation with him is clearly very different from the situation with Hannah, which is good news. I can't get a good look at Adam himself, given that there is no clear information about him

ERIC

Eric is probably one of my favorites (apart from Jake, of course, heh) among all those created by Everbyte. He is a lively and interesting character. Of all the people I'm dealing with today, it's the hardest for me to compare Eric to anyone in particular. Maybe with Thomas, because it's the first time we've talked to him, but that's all. Eric clearly has some kind of sin in the past, as can be understood from his correspondence with Ash, and it seems to me that this will play an important role in the plot (it is not surprising that such attention is paid to this). He is completely calm even in a tense situation and knows how to think clearly enough. The fact that he went into the forest alone, strangely, is still explained by the fact that he is well-versed in the wild. Eric is proactive, but he still thinks first and then acts, thanks to him for that (although this may change in the next chapters). And, apart from Adam, this is the only character whose face we've seen. Separately, I want to note that the idea that Eric could have done something bad on the night of the Festival (given that people from nearby cities come to Duskwood during the festival) is quite interesting.

ASH

Lily, with her combative nature, is clearly visible here. But Ash is clearly more sarcastic. And she doesn't throw accusations right and left, preferring to find out at least something first (but not personal data (I still love Lily)). Unfortunately, it is difficult to say anything else about this, given that this is only the first chapter. But Ash is already making a positive impression.

CHARLIE

Richie is No. 2, but not the kidnapper. Charlie seems to be much more free and open than Richie, but we all know why Richie himself couldn't be like that. Charlie is clearly more active and impressionable. One of those people who can't sit still and like to get involved in something. And unlike Eric, he acts first. It still seems to me that something unpleasant will be revealed about Charlie (although perhaps this applies to everyone in general). But he is a very nice person.

VIOLET

It reminds me of Jesse, but it's hard to say for sure yet. I think, like Jesse, he will play a big role specifically for the main character.

ANONYMOUS

I think, like me, you also thought at first that it was Jake. I'm not going to build theories about personality yet, but chel clearly knows us as well as Adam. Whether he will play the same role as Jake is difficult to say. (It will certainly be very funny if they also make him a romantic interest, deciding to stupidly copy Jake….)

That's all for now. I'm wondering which of the Duskwood characters will still make themselves felt (except Jake, I think he will obviously still show up). Maybe it will be Allan. Although it seems to me that in any case it will be someone little expected by us. And maybe I will have correspondence with the main guys of Duskwood, but literally something one-time.

I'm sorry for the mistakes, I don't know English very well and I use a translator

[duskwoodgirl4life]

Wow! It's really moved since I last checked it everbyte making awesome progress can't wait for the next episode and the changes they have made.

[hacked-by-jake]

I thought about a little some some. Even though I doubt it myself a bit.

So, some people criticised that Moonvale feels less real than Duskwood did. (I don't mean like with the mini games etc.)

But in general the feeling. Also with the AI art and stuff. And I don't want to excuse the AI art, of course not)

Here my thought.

Maybe that wasn't "bad" work but somehow a way to protect younger fans. If you follow Everbyte on Instagram and you check the comments from time to time, you will also find very young people. Which is not the problem. The problem is, that many of them are not able to differentiate between between game and reality. Many younger fans seem not to understand that Duskwood is only a game.

Doesn't really sound like a huge thing now but it is. I saw comments so out of reality, it was really scary. And it's also very dangerous.

Of course they were commenting on Instagram so it should be clear it's just a game, but some of them do not really understand. And even if they do, they're attached to the characters in a way that is very unhealthy. And I say this as someone who's dealing with that behaviour myself. But I can confidently say that I can keep it apart and I know that Jake is not a real person.

But some people can't. And I do believe that Duskwood felt absolutely real. It is hard and you really tend to forget it's just a game. Especially the newer episodes make it hard. Which is usually a great thing because it means that Everbyte did a good job.

And sure, it's not Everbytes responsibility to keep an eye on younger people and to make sure it's not getting out of hand. It's a thing parents should take care of. But we were all younger and we all know that this is almost impossible. No child wants to give their phone to their parents to get it checked. So many parents don't do it. And even if, we all had secrets and were hiding things from your parents.

And I think, if you want or not, somehow you care about it as devolper etc.

And also a little story time, which is one reason why I came up with it and also a good example for that I mean.

For a long time, people always thought I'm the real Jake. And that's not a joke. I always had a disclaimer in my description, some of you might remember it. And sometimes people write to me, thinking I was the real Jake.

And one day, this happened:

I've got similar messages before. But none of them were this scary to me. I was completely shocked. And I was mad. I mean, I highly suspect this person was really young. And now imagine I would have been some weird guy saying yes. And especially, we're talking about adult characters.. Another thing.

So, this was just to show you what exactly I mean and how extremely this can be.

So maybe they made it a bit less real for younger people.

I don’t know if they even think about that. As I said, I don't really think it's like that, but it crossed my mind and I wanted to let it out.

And even if this might be absolute nonsense, that this is the reason Everbyte changed some things, it can’t hurt to point out that these young people exist. And how unhealthy that is.

[duskwoodraven]

let’s ignore all the technical problems right not .

what do you think about the storyline???

say everbyte fixes everything w have. a problem with, would you keep playing? is the storyline interesting enough to keep you hooked through it all like duskwood was?

Slight Moonvale Spoilers?

Oh 100% I would keep playing 😄

I am really intrigued with Adam and why he disappeared, the moment he started to cry was the moment I wanted to help him. I want to know why he knows us and why he wished to meet with us. I think Eric is fun too, and I think both of their actors are solid choices. The video calls have been my favorite parts so far.

I don’t have much opinion on Ash and Violet at the moment, but there are still many more episodes to go to let them develop and grow. I also think Charlie is annoying but that’s perfectly okay! You always need a character to hate that’s what makes it fun.

And of course I want to talk with all of our duskwood characters again, I want to continue their story and make sure Jake is okay, and finally meet Hannah.

I have little issues with the story, at least not any issues I cant overlook, any issues I do have with it I’m willing to let change as more episodes come out. After all, even the beginning episodes of Duskwood seemed less exciting to me compared to the later ones. I see the promise!

[captain-uncharted]

More about Moonvale

This is just one more complaint, because I'm disappointed and upset. I may be repeating something from my last post.

Two years of waiting just to get a game whose design makes me think I'm playing a doll dressing game that 10 y.o little girls love… Sorry, but this was my impression about the game's design, the sound of the opening, the colors, the AI pictures for the profiles, the fact that it costs 45 coins for just ONE diamond when you need 25 diamonds… Having to buy diamonds all the time…

Not to mention the cute opening image, that flashlight with a warm background, so different from the cold colors and the skull from Duskwood's opening screen, and also the dramatic song that scared me the first time I opened the game, the raven sound effect in the background...

And also, the polemic AI images they used to represent the characters... bro, that one killed me... Would it be so expensive for them to just get a random real person's photo and put it as the profile picture? I would volunteer for it 😂😅 (not that my face is great, but is at least real) and would ask for much money...

Also, the characters have no real profile, no pics of them, no Instagram fake profile so we would know them better... Duskwood made its characters so real by doing this...

Not to mention the pay to play thing.

I'm really sorry Everbyte, I still like you guys, it won't change, I respect you for all the prior games you've made, but I fear to say you 'kinda' failed with us this time... I was expecting something VERY different from that...

[duskysprivate]

I sent everbyte a message while playing duskwood, suggesting that they make the icons in the minigames different shapes instead of different colors so that colorblind people would have an easier time playing the game.

They didn’t change that part of duskwood but I’m glad it’s used in moonvale

[lyon-amore]

Tired of having to explain that in a first episode they are not going to give you so much potential in the characters and that they need development

In Duskwood the same thing happened, there was almost nothing that was information about Hannah or that you talked to Jessy and Jake about other things, because clearly it was different with them because they were romantic options

I liked that you can see that the characters in Moonvale are totally different, it should be noted that even in that game at least I can identify with a character because I don't talk much in chats either and when I do, it's not much and I put stickers 😅😂

They are giving us different characters and I like that, but since after Duskwood, did they want more? In a first episode that is not even a sequel? Who is it for new people even if it is difficult for us to admit it?

We are simply the ones who make the criticisms to improve it, we come from Duskwood and Everbyte knows it, and we have already seen all the changes they will make during the game

And the first episode is an introduction to the game with small clues to theorize, it is not the complete game, they still have to continue it, but some do not understand that 🙄

Also, in the end I started to think that we don't know what has happened in their private lives to prolong the release of the game, so I don't think they really have been waiting for years for a better AI when is the boom of this now, not before

I feel that they harshly criticize the story and its characters only because of everything that has happened with the changes that they did not like, but in my case I decided to put aside what upsets me to focus more on the story, which was what interested me, having a new mystery in a new game since before finishing Duskwood

[justserahtonin]

Let's talk about Moonvale.

Ok, phew, it's been a while since I used tumblr and needed a new one.

I've been in the Duskwood fandom since pretty early on the game, so I wanted to jump on the thousands of opinions on Moonvale. Now, I'll state first the negative facts but also the good ones. I've seen tons of nasty opportunists trying to throw hate, including other devs.

Also, IMPORTANT, Moonvale is NOT Duskwood, we know. But I'll be referring to Duskwood to point out exactly why the fandom or at least I feel negative about.

First of all, let's go with the bad stuff. I'm not even going to say anything about the diamonds and their price, I just refuse. But what I want to talk is about the minigames and the AI art. AI art is just... oof. I know some people don't mind, but as an illustrator, let me tell you how much it hurt me. This community has always valued artists, I remember I had a blog where I drew other people's MCs and that made me make some cute and valuable friends, I remember how much the fandom loved artists, so seeing this... just hurts. I get the "we want to give your new friends their own spotlight" but Everbyte did that in Duskwood beautifully with stock images, with the gang trying to add us in more activities or chatting with us. You don't need stolen art to give someone a spotlight. Those new to Duskwood may not remember it, but Richy was faceless for a big part of the game until they got an actor for him and no one was mad about it. In fact it gave Richy some kind of shy guy charm.

About the minigames... Look, last time I played Duskwood, I did without any extra moves and those were hard, more or less like Moonvale's. But you know where the real problem is? In how the interrupt the story. And how little immersive they look and feel like when playing them. Let's look back to Duskwood. The minigames had a goal: hack Hannah's phone. Whether it gave us a clue or not, it felt real and, in words on MC in Moonvale "not every lead will take you to a clue". But you put work in there and when something unlocked, it felt good. And if you didn't, you had at least one or two credits and a character praising you for the good work (thanks, Jake). In Moonvale, it feels like "oh, nobody's here, let me play some candy crush". Also, the vibe does not match the tone. In Duskwood, the minigame design felt like you were hacking, you were decoding something. But here it really feels like some Project Makeover game.

NOW, let's get to the good parts. I feel the story might be interesting. Who's Unknown?, how can Charlie help us?, what happened to us and that fame we got in Duskwood? I find Eric quite lovable and Charlie kinda like a big mouthed friend with good heart. Ash is like the mom friend or lil sis friend, worrying but being kinda childish and Violet being the shy one. There's something with the mysterious figure in Eric's call that looks familiar. Was the figure wearing a cap? Am I imagining stuff?? And the last call??? Let's be real, Duskwood had real plot holes and was a bit bland the first episodes but we grew to like it as the story kept going. I see real potential in there and some theories I'd love to share once sometime has passed, but not now.

Why am I saying all this without mentionion UI design, lack of premium choices, message history and so on? Because those are easy fixable things. Those are little changes that can happen over the time, like Richy's gallery in Duskwood or little sponsorships, packs and so on. I think I'm not the only one who wouldn't mind paying up to 10€ for a premium pass, I can save the money. Everbyte heard their fandom before and I really hope they do now. Let's be honest, we are to blame too. Half of us went looking for a "Duskwood 2", but Moonvale is not that. Expectatives can often be harmful to both sides. I really think Everbyte didn't wait for such backlash, so I want to have faith, I want to believe they will read these reviews and stop to think "why was Duskwood so beloved? Let's go to the core".

Have faith in Everbyte and in Moonvale, we still don't know who Adam really is, what people know about us and how is it that two people in danger had our contact. Maybe this story can give us some clues to MC's past. Maybe Adam turn out to be Jake. Who knows, there's a lot of space for plot twists and I'm here for it.

Let's keep the Duskwood community as peaceful and chill as it has always been. Let's leave no room for free hate and put logic and reasons to our opinions so everyone can learn and so Everbyte can know exactly why are we angry or disapointed.