q.u.q
q.u.q is definitely one of the more surreal visual novels I’ve played. I got it because I was actually interested in reading their other work, Mahouteq but figured hey, I usually like seeing how an author/developer evolves so I’ll pick up their first game. Checking that the publisher is the same as the developer of milk outside a bag of milk outside a bag of milk, it makes more sense.
It’s interesting because having not read Mahouteq yet (though I probably will soon), I expected q.u.q to be on a similar level of bizarre/zany, and it certainly is bizarre but in a much more “what the fuck” kind of way.
It’s a very, very short VN with a relatively barebones setting/plot. Hacchi is travelling to destroy or save the world depending on your choices. Obligatory spoilers ahead!
The reason why Hacchi does it is because of a promise she made with her friend (yuri in my head) that she had accidentally shot and killed presumably. Her friend, Teia, was selected as a hero but due to various circumstances was killed by her. To my understanding, a faction/mob raids Hacchi’s dad’s workplace, Hacchi shows up with a rifle, Teia tries to stop Hacchi from shooting but ends up being shot by Hacchi instead. This story is told in snippets and you’re not given much. In the context of the VN I think it’s fine and it works.
The only other major character of note you see in the VN is the Stranger, who if you accept more than one favour from, will kill you at the end. They mention multiple times that its to become a God, and in one of the endings even they do and create a world with multiple Hacchi’s in it to ease their loneliness.
The Stranger reads to me like they have a connection with Hacchi. It doesn’t exaaactly make sense for me to say that they’re Teia since I believe Hacchi says she has the soul of a hero which would make sense for it to be Teia.
Anyways, there’s simply not enough to go off on to really comment on it.
There’s also a pretty funny gag ending being a shrimp that made me laugh.
The music, art, and aesthetic are very well done though. For those reasons alone I did enjoy the VN, even if I found the writing to be a bit lacking and a little too reliant on “haha this is surrealist” for me to think that it’s an amazingly well written story. That being said, I think the world is quite interesting and the characters were surprisingly charming given their short screen time.