Steven T. Wright for Rock Paper Shotgun noted that even as the pastel-tinged game universe splits apart at its very seams the game still "never turns its many knives on you, the player," instead choosing to self-destruct, "cracking open to reveal nothing but artifice."[35] The game has been viewed by many as a critique of dating simulators and of the people who play them, emphasized by a quote from the creator Dan Salvato, in which he mentions that he wanted to take a stab at the traditional visual novel stereotype of "cute girls doing cute things."[2] The game has also been viewed as a commentary on grief and mental illness, as well as a cautionary tale about the dangers of untreated depression, and particularly about the consequences of suicide.[36]