Spoiler Free SIEVE Review

I recently read SIEVE by Becky Goop, VVV444, and Mia Cain. A project created for the TOXIC YURI GAME JAM on itch.io. The initial thing that drew me in was the amazing art by Mia Cain, a drawer of a few lesbian games I’ve played and one very loyal hound. Lovely Lady RPG is one I may write on in the future. I was very pleased with SIEVE, especially for a game jam game. For those unaware (how you would be at this point I’m not sure but) a game jam is where people make games within a limited time frame. The goal is to create a solid draft of a game in the short amount of time given. I’ve tried my hand at a few of these kinds of things, but never personally made much headway. My work is usually terribly long form as well, but this isn’t about my work it’s about the amazing writing in SIEVE.

Possibly one of the biggest strengths of this visual novel is its ability to move between the three poles of its story. It is not a long work, which happens to be my only complaint about it. I would like to see more. Though in the very economic package we received there is a clear skill of the writer displayed. A true deftness in its movement between deeper, larger lore explanations, the smooth explanation of these fictional devices, and the messy unfolding of a reunion between the two main characters. This keeps the pace of the story up but it also refrains from one element sandbagging the whole affair. This story feels whole, no elements can be pulled off cleanly, and each part bolsters the other. An achievement for someone concerned with world building.

Ila & Corinne have a history. Though the visual novel doesn’t explain everything, we get a very naturalist unfolding of how they are now and who they were before they collided again. The arousal and the baggage that exists between them is so powerful and the wonder of who they are and how they are urges the story forwards. Not only does their connection feed us, but it feeds into the depiction of technology in the story.

Ila knows Corinne, even if it’s been years since they’ve been together, and she taps into Corinne’s wonder about electronics to pull her back into her life. The colorful, believable descriptions of wondrous crystal technology flows so naturally. The jargon feels very well founded, and those that are put off by “magical technology” will enjoy the technological explanations. There is a believable quality to the crystals, not only because it is well described but because it is well grounded in the world.

Corinne describes the laws and status of the crystals and the uses of them feels like they echo about the deeper world. That deeper world feels very intriguing. The narration and plot is very economical with the time it has, giving us high yield moments where we can infer or understand greater things through smaller details. After reading the novel, I only want to know more about the locales and the people, which is a good sign. It does feel like it’s touching deeper with its world building. Silence opinion havers, the porn game is speaking! The man-made horrors feel reminiscent of our world. The story doesn’t shy away from that. A factor that circles back to the character dynamic between Ila & Corinne, and the events that unfold at the dramatic turn.

This is the time to get off the platform and touch the third rail. Go play it yourself. It’s free and it’s only an hour long at most. Make sure to leave a review if you enjoy it. It's got some tags on it though, make sure you’re okay with that stuff. It is called TOXIC YURI GAME JAM.

Spoilery SIEVE Analysis

Ila comes on the scene like a freight truck, based on what we know she acts a bit out of character, and then very out of character. She puts out her cigarette on Corinne, and Corinne’s reaction of confusion and naivety illustrates that such behaviour was not common four years ago while they were together. Not only that, but Ila is the first one to act on their reunion. She leaps out into Corinne grabbing her up, and yes, huffing her pits. Ila talks at length about the smells of the town and the textures of life, claiming that returning is what has reawakened her to the novelty of old sights and sounds from home. Which is a common human experience, so much so it flies under the radar upon first read. Her moving on from being mad at or afraid of Corinne and her behavior before she left might also fly under the radar too, but it's clear she knows she should be or could be mad.

We see Ila continue to act impulsively, shocking herself with a live wire and then Corinne. Ila is seeking stimuli of any kind, pain or frustration from Corinne. Maybe the desire to feel pain as an avenue of pleasure drives her, but it doesn’t seem as clear cut. It seems to me she’s seeking out anything, trying to hone in on sights and sounds and yes smells to ground her. To feel. Something. Anything. Like she’s coming up for air. After all, her near endless bottle of oblivion needs a recharge.

The unmitigated GAL Ila has to call Corinne’s mushrooms and booze hiding from the world. The idea that someone who constantly uses a device to deaden all of her feelings to the world has any place to criticize how other’s self medicate or escape the horrors of modern life speaks to the malformed view those in power or comfort tend to have. It’s a good image, a good metaphor. People in power insulate themselves from the harm they cause the world. Be it with their wealth or their power, in this case Ila (ipad baby) uses technology to keep her feet dry in a monsoon of human suffering.

The two exchange comforts, Corinne’s mushroom and booze and Ila’s emotion smooth Sieve. In the end, they retreat to a comfort you can only receive from another person’s body. They fade into a new kind of oblivion together. Until of course it comes to a halt and reality returns. The comfort that wins is the Sieve. Ila steals Corinne from her life, quite literally spiriting her away onto a military ship. She is pressed into service, unable to fully process the world thanks to the Sieve, thanks to the mind numbing possibility of comfort, affluence, technology, but most of all power.

The story is steeped in post internet ideas of the effects of too much information. There are, in fact, too many horrible atrocities happening or that have happened to absorb all at once. Even though Corinne says, and we see, she can’t stomach the news. She still knows it. She knows what happened, and can call Ila out on it. Ila believes in an unflinching, unblinking torrent of obscene specifics. A pageant of blood soaked specifics and microscopic detail absorption, and she believes it to not only be her and the world’s duty but a moral obligation. These words can be read in so many ways about the current climate, the still unfolding genocide, or the past, our world history which has always been one nearly unbroken line of xenophobic, fascistic global canibalization. Corinne says it is too much, and that’s the truth. There is no way to hold it all in ourselves. Not without growing numb, turning away, or numbing ourselves to the world. At least not alone.

My biggest take away is a hope that all art can be so moving.

That others can be so moved. That my own work can strike others.

Even if it’s a porno type game.