Introduction
I recently published an article about creating and publishing a new visual novel in ONScripter-EN titled Under the Alien Sky from beginning-to-end from July 17-19. I created that piece within the restraints of two Itch.io game submission jams. While the tight July 17-19 time limit came from Kenney Jam 2026, I worked under a set of asset and length restrictions from the O2A2 2026 – Only One of Any Asset Visual Novel Jam (“O2A2”). The O2A2 jam limits submissions to no more than 1,000 words, no more than one sprite and one background (or one illustration in lieu of a sprite and background), one background sound file, one sound effect, one voice actor, and one piece of menu background art. In the end, I was one of 182 developers/teams to submit to O2A2. Because all of the submissions are necessarily short given the 1,000 word limit, I decided that it would be interesting to switch from my developer hat to more common reviewer hat and play/read and review some of the other O2A2 submissions (most of which were admittedly more visually dynamic than my very minimalist production).
This is a three-part project, with this part featuring 11 O2A2 reviews, part two featuring 12 reviews, and part three concluding with thoughts on designing very short visual novels based on my O2A2 impressions as a writer/developer and reviewer. See part two (I will add a link to the thoughts article when after it is live).
Prefatory Notes
I did not play through most, much less all, of the O2A2 submissions. Instead, I scrolled through the novels and their introductions and decided to focus on a small selection that struck me as interesting, or at least not subjectively unpleasant, from their Itch.io pages and descriptions. Using my subjectivity lens, I was able to quickly rule out most of the novels for one reason or another. One common reason is yandere, which TV Tropes aptly defines as “someone who is lovesick, someone who has been driven to insanity by extreme obsession or love, thus resulting in abnormal behavior if not violence.” There were many yandere submissions to O2A2, and while I am sure some are technically solid entries, they largely do not interest me. There are other themes or tells I was able to rule out quickly (including a few to maintain our family-friendly programming), and at the time I set down to start going through the novels, a few did not have working builds.
I initially planned to only review novels that had working builds for web or Linux, notwithstanding the fact that I can more often than not (especially in the indie visual novel space) run Windows releases on top of WINE. While I generally stuck to that rule, I made an exception for a few interesting-looking Windows entries. (PSA: If you are releasing a Ren’Py novel, you can build for Linux in one click just the same as for Windows and MacOS.)
While I did drop without finishing a small number of visual novels I had picked up from O2A2 for one reason or another, I played (or read) through the vast majority of those I started, so my review selection mostly represents the pieces I picked up based on their Itch.io descriptions. While I think my own assessment is a good starting point, I would encourage visual novel fans to peruse the full O2A2 2026 selection and potentially find some pieces of interest that I did not select for reviews.
Part One Reviews
Below, you will find my reviews of eleven O2A2 visual novels, presented in the order I read/played them (which is largely, albeit not exclusively, in reverse-chronological order of when they were submitted). Because I ended up with a significant number of novels on my list, I broke my review article into two. See part two, featuring twelve reviews and a recap, here.
Envelope My Heart!
I started my O2A2 journey with Envelope My Heart (VNDB entry), which first time developer miao describes as follows:
For the last few years, only one man has delivered your packages. Without fail, no matter what you order — he is the only one knocking at your door.
This novel had a yandere tag. As I noted in the introduction, yandere is not my genre here, but I noticed this piece ranking highly on Itch.io’s new visual novel page when it first came out, and the screenshots indicate that it has slick production values, so I decided to give it a go.
The player takes the role of a nameable protagonist who opens the door for a pretty-boy delivery man named Cae. The man comes with a package that the protagonist was not expecting. Cae insists she sign for the package. What follows, and the contents of the package, do justify the “yandere” tag.
The novel has a terrific postal-themed user interface and the overall interface design obfuscates (in a good way) that it is written in Ren’Py. It stays within the game jam’s one asset limits by adjusting the lighting, texture, and Cae’s expressions for different effects. The novel has several choices that ultimately funnel into two similar-but-distinct endings.
I did not care for the script or theme of this piece, and unsuccessfully (more on that shortly) resolved that this would be the only yandere entry I would read and review from O2A2. But having noted this is not my cup of tea (or package), I will note as points of praise that the piece works within the confines of O2A2 and its user-interface design (especially the text box) is top-notch.
Runs On: Web. Executables for Windows and MacOS. I played the web version.
Between Floors
I moved on from yandere novels to next read Between Floors (VNDB entry), which was posted by 34deOutono, who worked in collaboration with VG Memoria, Corrocerous, and Bleusync. This novel is available in five languages total (Russian, Spanish, Chinese, and Portuguese in addition to English). The team introduces it as follows:
On a busy day at the office, the elevator breaks, and now you are stuck with a stranger. He seems to know a lot about you. Could there be something more to him?
After reading the piece, I concluded that the team’s introduction was very much on-point, so on point that I do not have much to add other than to note generally that I interpreted the theme as one character being “stuck” and excessively self-critical. The novel features four choices but only a single ending, meaning the choices only slightly tweak the dialogue. The solo background track matches the theme well. The stuck-in-an-elevator set-up is a good idea for the O2A2 jam (maybe I should look into that concept for 2027) and the character and background art is solid, albeit the overall presentation hews closely to standard Ren’Py.
Between Floors did not leave much of an impression on me, causing me to recall my review of the English language localization of Adagio. The script is deliberately cryptic, although ultimately intelligible. But its ultimate message struck me as forced rather than following neatly from the novel itself, implicating a danger I warned about in Designing Video Games to Produce Benefits. But with those caveats granted, it is a competently-produced piece within the confines of O2A2.
Runs On: Web. Executables for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. I played the Linux version.
If the Shoe Fits
The next O2A2 novel I tried was If the Shoe Fits (VNDB entry) by LiminAce. I had initially passed it over while scrolling, but decided to return because (A) it looked like it had solid production values and (B) I had not checked the tags, which included yandere. I quote from LiminAce for the description:
You are Prince Mateo of the Kingdom of Vitrica. You are set to be married to Princess Morgana of Nox… However, an old “flame” comes back into your life, if you could even call her that. And she’s looking for her other shoe.
This piece has impressive production values from the overall UI design (little hint of out-of-the-box Ren’Py), backgrounds (including a moving one), and its use of its one character sprite with different effects to, within the rules, overcome some of the restrictive effects of the Jam’s one-background limitation. The novel uses a sort of typewriter sound effect for the text during the protagonist’s monologues and its single background track is a great fit for the piece.
The novel’s description betrays that the piece is an implementation of the classic Cinderella fairy tale (granting “Cinderella” is nowhere to be found). Like many fairy tales of yore, it turns out to be quite dark, although to the best of my knowledge this is a novel, uniquely yandere, take on Cinderella. The piece has 1-2 choices (depending on the first choice) and three endings (there are two separate ways to reach ending one). None of the endings can be described as “positive,” but one is markedly less bad than the others.
If the Shoe Fits is not my topical cup of tea (albeit not as far off as Envelope My Heart!) and the overall set-up would have benefited from not being confined to 1,000 words. But with those caveats having been noted, the script is well-conceived given the length limitations and LiminAce demonstrated great skill in stretching the single background and single sprite limitation to depict multiple scenes for an unexpectedly visually dynamic O2A2 submission.
Runs On: Web. Executables for Windows and MacOS. I played the web version.
Interview With a Killer
After dropping one I had started, my fifth completed O2A2 novel was Interview With a Killer, which was led by Naeko (naedoesgames) and featured contributions from Otoke, Fairyfaybug, GlasswingGames, Shrnch, and voice acting from Ari Eagle. Naeko describes the premise as follows:
You have been given the opportunity to interview a serial killer in order to understand the reasoning behind his crimes, as well as every little detail that he has refused to tell the rest of the public in order to obtain the first page of the newspaper you work for!
While not as visually dynamic as If the Shoe Fits, this is another piece that operates well under the O2A2 visual limitations. Its one scene features Micah Delaney, a serial killer, sitting across from the journalist view-point character. Some parts of the background image are a bit difficult to parse, but Delaney’s sprite and collection of disconcerting expressions to accompany his cavalier responses to questions about his serial killing are effective. The UI, featuring a small black text box and monospace font, fits the aesthetic very well. I also noted with some approval that one of the two choices comes on a pop-up reporter’s notepad. Delaney was fully voiced by Ari Eagle, and Mr. Eagle delivered an enjoyable, polished performance which struck all the right notes. The only technical complaints I noted are that there were two instances when the text came too close to the menu options at the end of the text box.
Interview With a Killer is a solid very short visual novel, even without reference to the O2A2 limits. I would caution against taking the script too seriously in a literary or true crime sense, but it is coherent and consistent throughout and succeeds in credibly setting up a late-story review which branches into two materially distinct endings. While this is not the forum to spoil the choice, I will note that it was well-foreshadowed in the report’s interview of Delaney. Interview With a Killer earns my well done sticker.
Runs On: Web. Executables for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. I played the Linux version.
The Gangster Next Door
Sticking with the crime theme, my sixth O2A2 visual novel was The Gangster Next Door (VNDB entry), which was authored by Kakera with GUI contributions from Nokoomis. Kakera describes the plot:
As you open the door of your home after a long day of work, you discover your (handsome) neighbor sitting on your couch with bloody clothes.
This is accurate. You play as a woman who returns home to see her handsome next door neighbor lounging on her couch with a stab wound, which forms the novel’s sole background (Mr. neighbor’s expression changes effectively). The background art is high quality and fulfills the novel’s objective of presenting the neighbor as both handsome and threatening. The background music track is pleasant and a touch ominous, albeit I think something conveying a bit more urgency would have better matched the story.
I more or less predicted the scenario of The Gangster Next Door based on the title and brief description, so I will opine that there are no major surprises here. While novel page advertises four endings, the first two endings are almost identical – simply occurring at different points in the story, while the latter two distinct endings follow from the final choice. The novel has four choices, with two of the first three falling in the “survive and advance” category. The novel is well-executed, although the presentation of a dramatic event late in the story suffered from the O2A2 visual restrictions (which, to be sure, is something to consider in the planning stage).
Granting I am not the obvious audience for The Gangster Next Door, it is, on the whole, a well-produced and competent piece, with its most notable weakness being not adequately considering the effect the visual asset restrictions would have on one of the endings.
Runs On: Web. Executables for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. I played the Linux version.
Please Be Funny
Sixth up was Please Be Funny (VNDB entry), a novel about Clara the clown by Sapphicore and shibalist (artist). The page describes the novel as follows:
For many, the circus is an escape. But for Clara, the circus is her life… and she’s the punchline.
I bookmarked this one while the festival was ongoing since a “sad clown” novel struck me as an interesting set-up in a sea of yandere-themed novels featuring pretty boys. I had one issue on launching the Linux version. It opened in full screen despite the options saying it was windowed. I wanted it to be windowed and had to haggle with the settings to make everything work (is made in Unity, which is a break from the conga line of Ren’Py novels I looked at thus far).
As advertised, the piece features a sad, but well-drawn (hat tip to shibalist) clown named Clara. We begin with Clara before she takes the stage before we see snippets of her performance in what appears to be a theater (I do not think clowns ordinarily perform in theaters, but I could be mistaken as clowns are not one of my areas of expertise). After the show, Clara is confronted by a fan. How does the novel include fans with the O2A2 asset restrictions? Readers should note that the fan has Clara’s sprite, albeit a shadow version (which does not break the “one sprite” rule). There is more creative use of Clara’s sprite, but to go into specifics would invite undue spoilers. For its music and sound effects, it uses a circus theme and audience cheering. Please Be Funny is an entirely kinetic visual novel with no choices or interactive elements.
On the whole, like some of Clara’s jokes with her audience, this one did not quite land for me. It makes clever use of Clara’s sprite to push the limits of the O2A2 theme but I came away with the conclusion that the O2A2 restrictions were not entirely amenable to the self-doubting clown concept. Moreover, the utilitarian sans-serif font for text and the low-quality theater background did not make for the strongest aesthetic presentation. It is generally competent, but constrained to its detriment by the O2A2 rules in just about every respect save for Clara’s sprite design.
Runs On: Web. Executables for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. I played the Linux version.
Anemone Questionnaire
My seventh O2A2 novel was Anemone Questionnaire (VNDB entry), which was released by Melody under the banner of Atelier in Wonderland. The piece features contributions from DOVA-SYNDROME (music) and Skolaztika (Ren’Py GUI). I unironically decided to give this a spin because I like the name “Anemone” and had kicked around an Anemone-themed title for this site before settling on The New Leaf Journal. Melody describes the piece as follows:
You play as a shy woman on a highly-anticipated dinner date with her good friend and long-time crush: the cute and stylish mono-eyed fashion designer Anemone. This could be your chance to finally confess your love to him. All you need is the right catalyst…
To be sure, I would have passed this over save for “Anemone” in the title. But as one of my favorite anime/visual novel bloggers Takafumi once opined, there is much to be said for a good title.
In Anemone Questionnaire, you take the role of a nameable young woman (“Marina” by default) who is going out to eat with her crush at a seafood restaurant. Who is her crush?
As you can see, her crush is a one-eyed fashionista boy in a dress. Moreover, the boy does not have one eye because he lost an eye, he simply has one very large eye, cyclops style (this is never explained). The pair banter until the player is presented with a choice of what to order, which ultimately determines how long the next segment will be – an aquatic creature-themed quiz game (it works better than the previous visual novel quiz game I covered in my review of Instant Death! Panda Samurai. Anemone has a memorable character design and a variety of expressions to go with his blinking, and the fully-stylized user interface brings everything together. I also appreciated that the novel’s sole sound effects (to go with the catchy background music) went with the characters speaking and reminded me very much of Animal Crossing. The novel has two endings which are ultimately tied to how well the player does in the marine quiz game.
While this is another case of my not being at all the target audience, I will opine that Anemone Questionnaire is a model piece for O2A2-style projects. It take full advantage of everything it is permitted to do on the visual side under the O2A2 rules, and it combines those visuals with a catchy background music track to create a fun ambiance that matches the simultaneously absurd and down-to-Earth set-up. The quiz game is fun (I will note that the questions appear to be randomly selected from a bank) and it interacts in an interesting way with the choice of what the nameable protagonist orders. My only small quibble is that it would have benefited from being able to expand the script a bit to make the two endings follow more neatly from the player’s performance in the quiz game (e.g., more dialogue between answers), but on the whole this is a very well-executed short visual novel.
Runs On: Web. Executables for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. I played the Linux version.
Froggy Goes Boating …
Eighth up is Froggy Goes Boating … which has a charming children’s picture book aesthetic. The art and music were put together by Benjamin FeatherBoy. I will note in this case that the music is notable in that FeatherBoy “performed and mixed the music,” which readers/listeners will find is a calm banjo tune.
This is the most visually interesting O2A2 novel I have covered thus far. The title screen features a full colored pencil-style background with a mouse and frog on a boat. The mouse is fishing while the frog plays banjo. In the novel proper, the frog occupies the field of vision. We see the frog’s fingers playing the banjo, which matches the background music. The frog goes through a number of expressions along with the dialogue. The mouse has dialogue, but we focus on the frog. I will add that I felt some Animal Crossing vibes recalling boat rides with the singing Kapp’n and Froggy Goes Boating’s text box style.
The premise was not quite what I was expecting going in. We learn that Mr. Frog, who is a gentleman (or gentlefrog), is courting Ms. Mouse, but he is up against rival suitors including a bee and an owl. Mr. Frog, despite having a good rapport with Ms. Mouse as her fishing buddy, was perhaps overzealous in courting Ms. Mouse the day prior in an incident involving gnomes and a possibly ceremonial pistol. Mr. Frog and Ms. Mouse discuss the incident, their good relationship, and all of Ms. Mouse’s gentleman suitors, with their conversation and Mr. Frog’s banjo occupying the entire piece. At the time I played, there were some technical issues with the menu (text log did not work, and I had to restart on one occasion when I became stuck in the menu).
Froggy Goes Boating is an entirely kinetic piece featuring no choices or player interaction. The dialogue had its moments, getting a chuckle out of me when Ms. Mouse and Mr. Frog dispassionately discussed the gnone-and-pistol-related incident of the day prior, but I found that it dragged a bit by the middle stages, perhaps on account of the fact that the meandering discourse between friends is more effective when we are not meeting and parting from those friends in 1,000 words or less. But while my enthusiasm for the script waned a bit toward the end, this piece earns a positive valuation for its excellent audio-visual presentation and its fun, albeit not perfectly-executed, conversation between the dramatic personae.
I think the digital picture book idea here, which I examined back in 2021 in my review of The Poor Little Bird, can be a good fit for O2A2-style game jams (I will submit that Froggy is probably better than Poor Little Bird, so it takes first place in my current digital picture book ranking).
Runs On: Web.
Sunday
Ninth in the read-and-review order was Sunday, a solo submission by omure (with credits to several Ren’Py assets). Omure describes the piece as follows:
A short story about strange things that sometimes happen during the height of summer. One sprite, one (very blurry) background, one ambient track, one sound effect, one ending you’re already suspecting.
That vague description is accurate enough. I will fill in the blanks by noting that the player takes the role of a boy, or young man, following a girl in a school uniform in a hike up an overgrown trail.
I very much like the aesthetic presentation in this Sunday, finding it reminiscent of al|together 2008’s From the Bottom of the Heart with its splitting the window down the middle vertically. The blurry green-and-white background and the back-sprite of the girl work effectively. The novel uses an attractive monospaced font and cleverly distinguishes the girl’s speech from the view-point character’s by coloring her dialogue green. The novel has no music, but the sounds of summer insects and walking effectively convey its setting – here being a boy and a girl hiking through an overgrown trail in the summer. The novel features several prompts where the reader must click to say something on behalf of a boy, but only the last has options – neither of which ultimately affect the ending.
Unlike some of the pieces I discussed above, Sunday’s set-up and feel are very much my cup of Sunday coffee. But more than any other novel discussed in this article, Sunday is close to hitting a mark it just misses. It works well within the O2A2 asset restrictions and it does well to convey that something is off about the set-up, and many discerning readers should, as Omoure suggests in the introduction, make a directionally-correct prediction about the ending before it occurs. On a second reading, readers may note that the novel is subtly clever with its sound effects. The banter between the boy and the girl is natural in one sense and deliberately off in another, which is effective. But despite its merits, there was something missing in the set-up for me, although I did appreciate the melancholy Higurashi-esque conclusion (I use conclusion in a specific way in this context). This is one case where I think a few tweaks (perhaps transcending the O2A2 Jam’s 1,000 word limit) could boost Sunday from an interesting piece that is missing something in its set-up into a genuinely notable short visual novel.
Runs On: Web. Executables for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. I played the Linux version.
Tea Time with the Princess
I hit double digits from O2A2 with Tea Time with the Princess (VNDB entry), which is a submission of PaletaRosa with contributions from dan_jpg1 (coding, game design, and UI design) and FanyLozano14 (background art and character color). I picked this one largely because it looked pretty in the screenshots, looking past the fact that they did not upload a Linux build (Ren’Py supports Linux builds with one click!) and playing the online version. The release page describes it as follows:
It’s the brightest moon of the year. That means it’s tea time with the princess. A short, bittersweet story about two lovers from rival sides.
I did not read an additional note before tackling the novel:
TW: Major character death, themes of hopelessness and self-harm.
Tea Time with the Princess is a very pretty short novel in the visual department and it uses some clever techniques to make the visuals work within the O2A2 limits. The player takes the perspective of a prince named Ze’Rek who is meeting in secret with his love, Gidella, the princess from a rival kingdom. The novel’s one sprite is used for Gidella, and she has the best-designed character sprite of the novels I reviewed thus far, also dressed appropriately for someone who had to sneak out from her royal residence in the dead of night. The novel cleverly plays with zoom and moving and re-sizing Gidella’s sprite to show movement and different scenes without extra assets. We also have little lights representing fireflies moving around the screen, which is a nice touch. The text boxes and menus are highly stylized, with Gidella and Ze’Rek having different icons and color themes to match their kingdoms. My only artistic point of criticism is that the font choice for dialogue is not a good font for reading full sentences – so I would counsel reassessing the font in the event of any revisions. The single background music track is excellent (perhaps the best thus far) and would have been a good fit in many of the full-length novels I have played and reviewed.
My impressions of the story and dialogue are a mixed compared to my positive assessment of the aesthetics. Gidella and Ze’Rek have their long-awaited annual secret reunion, show their affection for one another (with some gentle teasing), and give the readers context for their unfortunate star-crossed love. This ultimately sets up a choice for Ze’Rek which implicates the authors’ dark topic warnings for the piece. While the team did well to fit the story into a 1,000 word limit, this is a case of a story that did not quite work for me within that limit for two seemingly conflicting reasons. On one hand, I think this sort of story will typically need more than 1,000 words to invest the reader in the characters. Simultaneously, in trying to fit everything into 1,000 words, it read like an info-dump in the middle sections. Taken together, this is a story that could be made more engaging without word-count restriction.
However, having noted that I do not think this was the best story for the O2A2 restrictions, I saw enough here to make me interested in looking at some of PaletaRosa’s other projects.
Runs On: Web. Executables for Windows and MacOS. I played the web version.
Soon We’ll be No One
I wrap up part one of my O2A2 review project with Soon We’ll be No One (VNDB entry), which is a solo project by Quesphere. Quiesphere, like me, used sound assets from Free Sound. Like Envelope My Heart!, I noticed Soon We’ll be No One on the general page of new Itch.io visual novels before I confirmed that it was an O2A2 submission.
Soon We’ll be No One is set in a diner as a potentially apocalyptic event is said to be fast approaching. The player is a man working the diner, and his perspective is on a young office worker taking time off from work (perhaps understandable under the circumstances) to enjoy a coffee at the only open diner in the area. The young woman is well-designed in the main, although I will submit I assumed she was a teenager in a school uniform before reading the piece. The background as a whole is high quality for the project and the scene fits within O2A2 parameters. The novel uses an attractive letterboxing effect that works well here (I dare say it may be even better with a heavier letterbox, a la Narcissu). My main in-novel aesthetic critique is that I do not like the sans serif font choice here for reading, although I appreciated the color cues distinguishing speakers.
Bucking the recent trend in the article, the scope of this story is good for the O2A2 restrictions. This is a purely kinetic piece with no choices or player interaction. It ultimately consists of an almost-surreal back-and-forth conversation between the girl and the view-point character about their thoughts on the uncertain apocalyptic event hurdling toward them. The novel begins by allowing the girl to speak for herself in such a way that her oddly nonchalant, fatalist outlook comes off as largely credible in the novel’s later stages. Subjectively, the set-up and script falls into the broad not my cup of coffee category, but returning to objectivity, I tip my hat to Quesphere for what is, my personal taste aside, a well-conceived and well-executed novel within the O2A2 restrictions.
Runs On: Web. Executables for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. I played the Linux version.
Part One Conclusion
I write this conclusion after having reviewed my 11th O2A2 visual novel, with 12 more on my to-do list. From the initial set of 11, Anemone Questionnaire stood out in the general classification for its stellar execution (taking into account scripting, audio-visual qualities, and some interactive elements) within the restrictive confines of O2A2, while Interview With a Killer possessed the most tightly executed script and interactive element. On the visual side of things, If the Shoe Fits and Tea Time with the Princess were the technical stand-outs for working within the restrictions to show different scenes, but the banjo-strumming frog in Froggy Goes Boating… is the most memorable visual. In terms of overall aesthetic, I single out Sunday for its effective depiction of summer and will also highlight that as the piece that, perhaps more than any other of these first 11, could benefit the most from growing a bit beyond O2A2’s 1,000 word limitation.
If you enjoyed part one, read on to learn about 12 additional O2A2 novel submissions.
