The perfect sick day game.

I bought this half a year ago because it really looked incredibly charming and I recognised the artist! A comfy visual novel about a young girlie named Penny who struggles to get her work done and gets up to silly business around the office sounded right up my alley and I wanted to boot it up very soon. I guess my attention wavered because I kept putting it off. But today I called in sick at work and this seemed like the perfect thing to get through the rainy day. It was indeed a cute and funny time that eventually surprised me with how relatable it was and the lengths it travelled to address an extremely contemporary real world issue.

The art style is my favourite thing on display, it’s just so freaking cute and all the character designs are amazingly pretty. Combining this with absurdity in events and deadpan dialogue made the experience extremely entertaining, cosy and bingeable for me. I saw everything that there was to see in one sitting and I didn't get bored at all.

I wasn’t quite prepared for how relatable Penny would become throughout this. I wouldn’t consider my occupation that of an artist, but there are certainly times where I feel I have to be creative or “inspired” in a sense, making little progress for days or weeks and coming short of what I wanted to achieve. Considering the main dev is an artist themselves this theme comes straight from the heart; despite all of the strange hilarious events I was taken through, there was an underlying sense of dread and depression in Penny’s days at the office that was difficult to not find painful.

The next paragraph will spoil the ending of the game.

It turns out a higher up of the company Penny works for is the embodiment of corporate evil, and the task she was given was purely to compare to the better efficiency of “creative automation”. We as the player struggle through a lot of fuckery to get her 6 posters drawn, only for the boss to demonstrate to the big wigs that a robot can steal the work of already existing creative minds, and pump them out in seconds, resulting in the redundancy of as many employees as she can and the best possible business results. This, of course, is something that everyone in the present day who even considers themselves a fan of creative outputs is very aware of and loathes. What exactly did Endless Monday have to say about this? In the end, not much at all. The climax is exaggerated and pretty drawn out, and abruptly ends with a sudden resolution where they just smash the robot and move on. I can only assume that the goal here was purely an expression of fear, and that this future feels like an inevitability with no clear solution, especially since the boss in question is seen at the end, proclaiming that she will achieve her goal and return eventually. It’s something that hits you a little harder when you’re put in the shoes of someone like Penny, who simply wants to follow her dreams, and should make you want to fight against these practices, no matter who you are, because they mean that those dreams will not be possible in the slightest.

Endless Monday is cute, fun, silly and everything in between and it also has relatable and foreboding elements mixed in that end up making it an emotionally unique couple days at the office to say the least.

A cute visual novel! Gives you everything you’d really want in one, cute characters, quirky little moments, relaxing music. The part that has honestly stuck with me the most is the music and general atmosphere. I’ve gotten an office job recently so whenever I stay late I usually play the soundtrack and go about my work.
Another great part, this game is based off of an artist on twitter’s OCs, @hcnone. It’s honestly inspiring to see someone go from that to development a game for their own characters, super inspiring for any artist!

Air fryer propaganda.
Air fryer propaganda.
Air fryer propaganda.
Air fryer propaganda.
Air fryer propaganda.
Air fryer propaganda.
Air fryer propaganda.

I had no familiarity with Endless Monday or hcnone's work prior to buying this game, but I'm definitely excited to seeing what I've missed and what they create in the future after playing this. Really loved what is here and found everything so charming. Loved Penny and all her friends/co-workers, and went out of my way to try and find every dialogue and get all the achievements. Game isnt too long, clocked in around 6 or 7 hours with all my Lumber Lass grinding and going for 100% completion.

Tiger-chan is awesome. I'd die for her.