That's obviously my personal opinion but I didn't like at all how the latest William's update turned out to be. I definitively DID not want to see him like this.
The whole scene with Kane was messed up. The way he used and humiliated William was borderline revolting.
Plus, the whole scene really doesn't fit William's character at all. He's a closeted gay man who only had sex with another man (Sam) once, and now there he is in the middle of a foursome, getting...abused by a random stranger. Ngl, I felt like NTR'ed during the whole scene, and I hated it.
I know there a thing called character development, and it'd be nice to see William opening up and accepting himself. But I see him as a dedicated and faithful man, so the only option here on the table is Sam and noone else. That's why I felt uneasy during the whole scene. The whole way William's character was treated felt completely out of line.
Even with his inner desire of emancipation, he's still a man of honour who has principles. If he has lustful desires (which he does), just let him fulfill them with the man he loves, aka Sam.
Thankfully, the game gives you the option to refuse the whole scene, but that leads to a "To be continued..." screen for now. I know now that I'll defitively choose this choice of route over the other (will still finish them both as a completionist). But if William's bad route (that's what I call the route with the Kane scene) adds even more of this kind of content, I think I'll just drop it, because I defitively don't want to see my favourite character sullied even more than he already has been.
Heck, I think I like the game way less now because of that scene. It used to be one of my favourite, but now I'm getting mixed feelings towards it.
So yeah, tl;dr : great update completely ruined by a disturbing scene.
Why is no one talking about how todd literally just got rubbed off once at martha's barn, the immediately going to a 4-some situation?? totally not a todd thing to do, they butchered my fav. character, i lovr ur work, i respectfully disagree with the team's decision on going through with it. + william is supposed to be todd's sorta father figure and he just accepts the situation? i was abt to puke fr. It felt gross, athough william is supposed to like "nasty" sex, this just felt so super duper wrong
I think you're making a lot of assumptions about the characters (especially Will). I would recommend rereading the route.
I'd also recommend disentangling monogamous romance with morality considering the setting, the time era, and the groups of people involved in the story.
so now I'm not understanding things because if we go to the scene (spoilers)
there's obviously some level of trauma associated with this entire scene and then when he asks for a breather he literally gets restrained... that's not consentful behavior and then it leads to the rest of the scene fading out thats what the majority of the people have an issue with from my understanding (?). I don't understand I'm trying to figure out the whole purpose of this scene but it's just not clicking....
Alright, I waited for 30 public release to share some of my thoughts.
Long story short, I like this project a lot. All the characters, main and side, have something to tell. I was never big on VNs and such, but I gave these a try and this one just stuck with me. I love the characters, each of them partially reminds me of myself. Yes, I do have a favorite, as does everyone else, but I want to express that specifically because I see a lot of people focusing on this route or on that route, but I kind of take it as a full story. A complete package.
Don't know how much that makes sense, but yeah. I'm supporting this project until the end. And all the, um... Spin-offs? Side things? Stuff like the Summer AU and such I mean. All of that is nice and fun too. Thank you to everyone who's working on it and still sticking with it. You guys are great, and your characters are awesome.
Not really meant to be uncomfy, actually. Kane and Will himself as the player give Will multiple outs to this situation but Will keeps at it.
The only uncomfy stuff is meant to be when will is struggling with his past memories vs. his present situation. The struggle is leaving the past behind and being fully in the present.
opening up his trauma to a twisted sexual situation, is not the healthiest approach to william's opening to new things sexually, like getting down on his knees, I agree that he had multiple situations to avoid this, and that ultimately the situation is plausible as william is imperfect, but i still disagree about the todd thing, Im sorry.
The Murdoch's route, the picture day. It is nice to hear your own language as a crowd noise. I was like 'What?' when one of the men said 'Grażyna!' – a little surprise 😊. From all of the languages you chose, Polish.
there were lots of plish immigrants back in the day, around 2.2 million Poles and Polish subjects immigrated into the United States between 1840s and 1914, i think nikolai is polish, as he offered a polish sausage in his route.
Good to know, but I don't think the entire Echo community is Polish, haha. However, the crowd, for sure, was :]. I don't think the authors had in mind what you said. I believe it's in Polish, so most of the people playing won't get distracted.
Hello Echo Project, my name is KemonoHaru. I am intending to make a booth for potential furry conventions in the near future.
I am curious if you allow fan art of The Smoke Room and some of it's popular characters to be sold at conventions, and if there's anything that I can do to make that happen.
My booth will specialize in Kemono Styled Artwork, and I intend to draw many characters from different series with that genre in mind.
Please let me know if this is possible, thank you!
Hello! We tend to have to be conservative with which folks we do merch licensing with, since we also don't want to step on the toes of folks we already work with, so no promises, but I can totally look at a suggested business plan if you want to send me an email at wsquir20@gmail.com. I appreciate you reaching out.
So i have a problem, im on mobile Samsung and im on udate 28 and i cant update to 29, is there something i have to do? Plz help i want to read more i love the thrill❤️
As someone who has Huntington's in their family and has lost so many because of it, the mention of it caught me off guard since it's extremely rare. A lot of doctors don't know anything about it.
PLSSS, TODD IS UNERRATED~, theres like couple handful artwrks out there, but it totally doesnt make sense for his character + would be kinda too much considering i love the story more than the sexy stuff, i think plot should be of more immportance
I mean, it's pretty easy to prevent it, but thats on the developers side, not the users. If the devs don't put in some security to prevent it than there's nothing the user can do aside from programming it in themselves.
Players can choose whether or not they pursue those things, and choosing to do so does have an impact on the characters in the story.
I think they make sense for plenty of the characters considering I write them. But you're also not going to see such a heavy culture of romance or monogamy in the queer west in general considering most folks are forbidden from such institutions to begin with in this era.
I, all of my friends, and most people, whom I've discussed TSR with, absolutely love the polyamory elements. Amazing work guys, not enough VNs actually allow for polyamorous routes and that's a shame.
The characters are quite different in how they engage with casual sex, and with who. There's a considerable amount of of in-text discussion about what characters are willing to do and under which circumstances.
Plenty of characters in this narrative are not interested in such things, but also a lot are, and there's a history of sexual casualty in western boom towns; there's a reason why I picked the POVs and social groups of mostly sex workers and gay men.
If you think any of the main characters having casual sex (sometimes with multiple people) is strange, just consider that they've all paid to have sex with a prostitute.
Yeah that's fine. I do understand having an investment in a type of character and then maybe finding out that they aren't exactly what you were looking for, but I do hope you'll enjoy the different personalities and the social dynamics of these characters in what might feel like a less familiar setting. -George
I love all the characters for different reasons, but my new favorite character is Murdoch's grandma. She's just such a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of the family. Please keep including her.
Side note, are we supposed to know what Dahlia's codes mean yet? I can kind of understand them, but I don't get what they're actually trying to say. Maybe I'm just dumb.
I've been playing through TSR for a while now, and it has become not just a favorite VN, but one of my favorite pieces of fiction. The way these intertwining stories explore romance and horror, how terrifying and sublime life can be, is engrossing and inspiring. Fully planning to support via Patreon when I'm a little more financially stable. Also, I work as a graphic designer and illustrator and you best believe I'll be making fanart with the way these characters have taken hold of my brain lately! I would make the VN brain rot joke, but it feels wrong calling it that when it's literally inspiring me to create art.
Since we're writing based (loosely) on real historical events in TSR I don't think we'd want to cannonize a correct interpretation of a living religion if that makes sense? Very cool worldbuilding idea though.
okay, lets just conviniently oversee the fact that they already did add a shitton Christianity-related stuff to their vn's (this is, unexpectedly, the most religion-heacy piece of media I've ever consumed, that isn't the bible)
I literally learned what mormons are from here.
I see where this conversation is going to, so, dear internet stranger, i think both of our time is better spent elsewhere than here, criticizing a suggestion of an idea and trying to back this suggestion up.
I played up til cliffs latest one and good god is this game good, I'm on edge when I need to be and I feel love for the characters when I need to! Echo project you are are such brilliant creators and story board writers and you guys always leave me impressed! 10/10
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
That's obviously my personal opinion but I didn't like at all how the latest William's update turned out to be. I definitively DID not want to see him like this.
The whole scene with Kane was messed up. The way he used and humiliated William was borderline revolting.
Plus, the whole scene really doesn't fit William's character at all. He's a closeted gay man who only had sex with another man (Sam) once, and now there he is in the middle of a foursome, getting...abused by a random stranger. Ngl, I felt like NTR'ed during the whole scene, and I hated it.
I know there a thing called character development, and it'd be nice to see William opening up and accepting himself. But I see him as a dedicated and faithful man, so the only option here on the table is Sam and noone else. That's why I felt uneasy during the whole scene. The whole way William's character was treated felt completely out of line.
Even with his inner desire of emancipation, he's still a man of honour who has principles. If he has lustful desires (which he does), just let him fulfill them with the man he loves, aka Sam.
Thankfully, the game gives you the option to refuse the whole scene, but that leads to a "To be continued..." screen for now. I know now that I'll defitively choose this choice of route over the other (will still finish them both as a completionist). But if William's bad route (that's what I call the route with the Kane scene) adds even more of this kind of content, I think I'll just drop it, because I defitively don't want to see my favourite character sullied even more than he already has been.
Heck, I think I like the game way less now because of that scene. It used to be one of my favourite, but now I'm getting mixed feelings towards it.
So yeah, tl;dr : great update completely ruined by a disturbing scene.
Why is no one talking about how todd literally just got rubbed off once at martha's barn, the immediately going to a 4-some situation?? totally not a todd thing to do, they butchered my fav. character, i lovr ur work, i respectfully disagree with the team's decision on going through with it. + william is supposed to be todd's sorta father figure and he just accepts the situation? i was abt to puke fr. It felt gross, athough william is supposed to like "nasty" sex, this just felt so super duper wrong
I think you're making a lot of assumptions about the characters (especially Will). I would recommend rereading the route.
I'd also recommend disentangling monogamous romance with morality considering the setting, the time era, and the groups of people involved in the story.
-George
so now I'm not understanding things because if we go to the scene (spoilers)
there's obviously some level of trauma associated with this entire scene and then when he asks for a breather he literally gets restrained... that's not consentful behavior and then it leads to the rest of the scene fading out thats what the majority of the people have an issue with from my understanding (?). I don't understand I'm trying to figure out the whole purpose of this scene but it's just not clicking....
Sam understands nonverbally what Will is into based on the things that Will shared with Sam in the earlier bdsm scene.
i estimate that TSR is between 58-65% completed
Would you say it's worth starting now? Or wait until fully complete?
start now, definitely worth the time and wait. Some people read this in one night, its that good.
WIILLLLIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM
I've noticed that the android update of will's route doesn't seem to be letting a certain animated scene play. Is it the options I'm choosing?
I also I encountered this problem :(
New build is up-- problems should be fixed.
Thank you <3
Alright, I waited for 30 public release to share some of my thoughts.
Long story short, I like this project a lot. All the characters, main and side, have something to tell. I was never big on VNs and such, but I gave these a try and this one just stuck with me. I love the characters, each of them partially reminds me of myself. Yes, I do have a favorite, as does everyone else, but I want to express that specifically because I see a lot of people focusing on this route or on that route, but I kind of take it as a full story. A complete package.
Don't know how much that makes sense, but yeah. I'm supporting this project until the end. And all the, um... Spin-offs? Side things? Stuff like the Summer AU and such I mean. All of that is nice and fun too. Thank you to everyone who's working on it and still sticking with it. You guys are great, and your characters are awesome.
Have a good one!
Was really sweet to read this.
Thank you so much, and looking forward to writing more for folks who read.
-George
I promise that William wants to have sex with men.
-George
Not really meant to be uncomfy, actually. Kane and Will himself as the player give Will multiple outs to this situation but Will keeps at it.
The only uncomfy stuff is meant to be when will is struggling with his past memories vs. his present situation. The struggle is leaving the past behind and being fully in the present.
-George
opening up his trauma to a twisted sexual situation, is not the healthiest approach to william's opening to new things sexually, like getting down on his knees, I agree that he had multiple situations to avoid this, and that ultimately the situation is plausible as william is imperfect, but i still disagree about the todd thing, Im sorry.
(i am new to itch.io)
i cant download update 30 on pc
The Murdoch's route, the picture day. It is nice to hear your own language as a crowd noise. I was like 'What?' when one of the men said 'Grażyna!' – a little surprise 😊. From all of the languages you chose, Polish.
and now I can't unhear it😩
there were lots of plish immigrants back in the day, around 2.2 million Poles and Polish subjects immigrated into the United States between 1840s and 1914, i think nikolai is polish, as he offered a polish sausage in his route.
Good to know, but I don't think the entire Echo community is Polish, haha. However, the crowd, for sure, was :]. I don't think the authors had in mind what you said. I believe it's in Polish, so most of the people playing won't get distracted.
Hello Echo Project, my name is KemonoHaru. I am intending to make a booth for potential furry conventions in the near future.
I am curious if you allow fan art of The Smoke Room and some of it's popular characters to be sold at conventions, and if there's anything that I can do to make that happen.
My booth will specialize in Kemono Styled Artwork, and I intend to draw many characters from different series with that genre in mind.
Please let me know if this is possible, thank you!
u a bot?
No I'm not a bot, I'm legitimately asking this question for a future booth I want to make. Moreso, I'm inquiring about making stickers.
I'll still need to ask. I don't want to step on any toes.
Hello!
We tend to have to be conservative with which folks we do merch licensing with, since we also don't want to step on the toes of folks we already work with, so no promises, but I can totally look at a suggested business plan if you want to send me an email at wsquir20@gmail.com. I appreciate you reaching out.
-George
Thank you for considering my offer! I will email you shortly!
this was such a qt interaction, hping for great succes for u!!
Will Build 30 and the Halloween builds be released publiclly anytime soon? I don't have ability to support on patreon c: mbmb <3
I think Build 30 should be released publiclly in the next few days, and the Halloween builds may be released publiclly a month later
Should be about a week or two. Have been pretty busy with life obligations.
-George S.
So i have a problem, im on mobile Samsung and im on udate 28 and i cant update to 29, is there something i have to do? Plz help i want to read more i love the thrill❤️
Also is there a discord i can go to, to get more info on updates and releases, or is that only for twt
hey barbz <3
As someone who has Huntington's in their family and has lost so many because of it, the mention of it caught me off guard since it's extremely rare. A lot of doctors don't know anything about it.
how many hours does it take to finish this vn ?
I finished this VN's every route in 2 days without sleep, so im pretty much sleep deprived 🤭
fellow cultural soldier, i salute u
hey is it possible to make a route for Kane?
I was about to ask that for Todd😭🤞🏼
PLSSS, TODD IS UNERRATED~, theres like couple handful artwrks out there, but it totally doesnt make sense for his character + would be kinda too much considering i love the story more than the sexy stuff, i think plot should be of more immportance
how close is this to being completed?
based on the update frequency and one being described as the halfway point of one of the routes, probably about a year give or take.
Does anyone else have an issue where the saves break every update? Not sure how I would prevent that.
I mean, it's pretty easy to prevent it, but thats on the developers side, not the users. If the devs don't put in some security to prevent it than there's nothing the user can do aside from programming it in themselves.
Players can choose whether or not they pursue those things, and choosing to do so does have an impact on the characters in the story.
I think they make sense for plenty of the characters considering I write them. But you're also not going to see such a heavy culture of romance or monogamy in the queer west in general considering most folks are forbidden from such institutions to begin with in this era.
-George
I, all of my friends, and most people, whom I've discussed TSR with, absolutely love the polyamory elements. Amazing work guys, not enough VNs actually allow for polyamorous routes and that's a shame.
The characters are quite different in how they engage with casual sex, and with who. There's a considerable amount of of in-text discussion about what characters are willing to do and under which circumstances.
Plenty of characters in this narrative are not interested in such things, but also a lot are, and there's a history of sexual casualty in western boom towns; there's a reason why I picked the POVs and social groups of mostly sex workers and gay men.
If you think any of the main characters having casual sex (sometimes with multiple people) is strange, just consider that they've all paid to have sex with a prostitute.
-George
Yeah that's fine. I do understand having an investment in a type of character and then maybe finding out that they aren't exactly what you were looking for, but I do hope you'll enjoy the different personalities and the social dynamics of these characters in what might feel like a less familiar setting.
-George
I'm glad Ben died.
mood
Blocked at the tarot reading. ... Weird. Now it isn't.
Will Nik's route get more update?? WHY DID IT END LIKE THAT 😭😭
Dead ass had to call off work from that end of that chapter. Now we wait in solidarity (hopefully not forever).
Seria bom se o Dimitri tivesse uma rota?
Spoilers for Nik route
So we became sexual comunists eh! ajsjsjjsjs seriously is there gonna be 3 paths and one of them are you gonna end up with Nik and Yao?
It's coming to the end
YES! Nik update!!!😭
i estimate that TSR is between 56-65% completed
New chapter was GOLD! Loving what I've read so far!
I share my bday with Willian :D
Slight spoilers for Murdoch's route
--
--
I love all the characters for different reasons, but my new favorite character is Murdoch's grandma. She's just such a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of the family. Please keep including her.
Side note, are we supposed to know what Dahlia's codes mean yet? I can kind of understand them, but I don't get what they're actually trying to say. Maybe I'm just dumb.
I've been playing through TSR for a while now, and it has become not just a favorite VN, but one of my favorite pieces of fiction. The way these intertwining stories explore romance and horror, how terrifying and sublime life can be, is engrossing and inspiring. Fully planning to support via Patreon when I'm a little more financially stable. Also, I work as a graphic designer and illustrator and you best believe I'll be making fanart with the way these characters have taken hold of my brain lately! I would make the VN brain rot joke, but it feels wrong calling it that when it's literally inspiring me to create art.
How far away is this from being done? If it is close to being finished I'll probably just wait until it's complete.
Im gonna start a Jim hate forum, and proud
Holly is a Queen, Mother, i repeat, a QUEEN, MOTHER she is MOTHER. I said what I said.
Holly WISHES she had even a quarter of Grandma Byrnes's power level and Her Motherness Authority.
Light work no reaction
I cant argue with that 😭
Hi team Echo Project.
I was going about my day and I've remembered of you guys and have came up with an idea.
Since the lore you guys create is heavily grounded in irl stuff, how about this:
If i remember correctly, in the bible there's this story about the Babylon tower people were building to reach god or whatever.
God saw that and decided to punish them by making them speak different languages.
What do you guys think about using this to make a biblical explanation for existence of many species of people in your vn's?
Like, not only did god make everyone speak different languages, but also be different species?
(Also loving the game, thanks a loooooot for your work)
Since we're writing based (loosely) on real historical events in TSR I don't think we'd want to cannonize a correct interpretation of a living religion if that makes sense? Very cool worldbuilding idea though.
-George
Gotcha, its all good
"Since the lore you guys create is heavily grounded in irl stuff"
"in the bible there's this story about the Babylon"
I love it.
Okie, this feels like a pick at my words haha.
If it really is, then let me clarify what i mean:
I myself am not religious, so i do not actually believe that thats what actually happened irl.
What did happen irl is bible was created and this whole Babylon story is in there.
And since bible is a book that exists irl, saying "stuff grounded in irl" doesnt sound any contradictory at all, does it?
Hmmm, let's see... does that mean...
They could add, idk, the Ruling Ring from Lord of the Rings? Cause the book was created irl.
But I guess you're just equating some notion of "widely known stories" with "stuff grounded in irl".
okay, lets just conviniently oversee the fact that they already did add a shitton Christianity-related stuff to their vn's (this is, unexpectedly, the most religion-heacy piece of media I've ever consumed, that isn't the bible)
I literally learned what mormons are from here.
I see where this conversation is going to, so, dear internet stranger, i think both of our time is better spent elsewhere than here, criticizing a suggestion of an idea and trying to back this suggestion up.
bye forever
Idk how you're missing the point so much. It's not about religion or criticism of a suggestion. It's about improper use of notions.
bye forever, lol.
I played up til cliffs latest one and good god is this game good, I'm on edge when I need to be and I feel love for the characters when I need to! Echo project you are are such brilliant creators and story board writers and you guys always leave me impressed! 10/10
Thank you so much for reading!!!
-George
Updated from 27 to 28 and whenever I try to load an old save it gives me an error :(
Hey... do you know if i download the new version if my saves stay?
Yes, all of your existing data / saves will stay.
Your saves will stay, but they won't work, unfortunately.