イマジナリーバッドフレンド (2025)

Great game! it has a hour of playtime with a great story, would be nice to have a english translation

イマジナリーバッドフレンド is a very short visual novel, but I found its simple setup surprisingly effective. One day, a boy named Shiomi suddenly appears, and the protagonist believes he is an imaginary friend that only he can see. At first, Shiomi seems kind and caring, but there are little details that make me question what is really happening. I liked that uncomfortable uncertainty because the story slowly gives me reasons to doubt what I am seeing. The gameplay is extremely straightforward. I read through conversations with Shiomi and occasionally choose between two dialogue options. There are no complicated systems or puzzles, so the focus is almost entirely on the relationship between the characters and figuring out what happened. I think that works well for such a short game because I never feel distracted from the main mystery. Shiomi himself is probably the strongest part for me. He can be gentle and comforting, preparing games and offering cake, but there is also something unsettling about how protective he becomes. The moments where he discourages the protagonist from leaving the room are especially effective because they make an otherwise friendly character feel much harder to un…