Milk Inside a Bag of Milk Inside a Bag of Milk Review

3 minutes of reading / By /

Well, that is quite the name for a game that from now on I’ll simply call Milk. Milk is a visual novel which takes place within a world only containing three colors. Those being red, pink, and black. That, alongside the abstract visuals and unsettling soundtrack, lends it an eerie atmosphere. Starting things off, we must type in our name for the game to address you as. It only ever uses it when you reach a game over, so there is not much point to it or in using a funny name. Type whatever you want, and we’ll immediately begin seeing the world through the eyes of our nameless protagonist as she mutters to herself.

After a few moments, she begins to address the player directly. It is not so much a breaking of the fourth wall, but a delusion of hers pretending to be a character in a visual novel so that someone may help her with the task at hand. To buy milk. It is easier said than done with all the creatures that occupy this world being largely unintelligible and our protagonist having a tendency of getting lost in her thoughts. We must guide her throughout her journey the best we can. On multiple occasions, there will be choices you have to make. Our entire purpose is to actually attempt to help. Choosing things that hinder or upset her will cause her to no longer want to be a visual novel protagonist and erase our existence.

It is best to at least try, as it can be a slight pain to make your way back into where you failed since there is no ‘skip text’ function. There is only a single ending, so the choices are simply fail states and do not branch the story out. And yes, there is actually a story worth experiencing here. I bought this title simply for its silly name with no idea what to expect. To my surprise, Milk’s full name actually has a meaning behind it. This is a thought-provoking journey that takes your emotions on quite a wild ride throughout all of its short 15-minute length. The tone constantly changes very suddenly and frequently, thanks to our protagonist. She charges the narrative with a sense of dread that she may do something, as well as pity, hope, and a true sense of wanting to help her.

I can not go into great detail without spoiling the story, but I will say this is a memorable title that more than deserves its overwhelmingly positive review score. The English translation has a few grammatical errors and weirdly worded sentences, though it oddly adds to the strange atmosphere on display here. Gameplay-wise it pulls a few neat tricks, like having you type out some responses and not bothering to capitalize the ‘yes’ will get us charmingly chastised by our protagonist. However, it is mostly just multiple choices we can click on to attempt getting a positive outcome. Milk is an interesting title that puts us, the players, directly into a game. We are not the protagonist. We are just a voice inside her head that can guide her to her goal or to a miserable outcome. It is a tiny journey that lasts us only 15 minutes, yet it packs quite the punch. For Milk’s low asking price of 99 cents, I can easily recommend it to anyone with even the slightest interest in visual novels.

Rating:
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