Played this game for the first time yesterday and finished it today. I realized immediately that the story must be inspired heavily by the movie "Passengers", which I really enjoyed thematically, so it was no surprise that I got really immersed while playing.
The positives:
- Unique setting, character models and backgrounds. There are space-themed games and I have played some of them, but the assets that are being used here (very well at that) feel fresh and it makes playing more fun, because there's new shit to explore for seasoned VN-players.
- The pacing. What I mean is that the characters spend some time to get to know each other before really building a relationship. They work and play together and talk to each other before they get to the next level. Selene is conflicted and while she pretty much gave the MC a death sentence in some way with her actions, her actions make sense. Somewhat. The fact she's still lying and doing her own thing bugs me. The MC, while he started out as an annoying wimp, does redeem himself as the story progresses. He takes charge, is competent in his field and stands up for himself and Selene/Ellie. I like that.
- The renders are pretty good, the coding-stuff is fun as I'm learning how to code myself right now, although I'm still very much a beginner.
- I like the dynamic that MC and Selene have going on. It seems natural, and Stella, while not being given all that much time to talk, is also very lively. I hope that she'll soon get to join the group.
The negatives:
- The pacing. As the game has been out for a little over two years now, I wonder how these 6 females that are still sleeping in their cryo pods will ever get their moments inside the game. It plays like a harem game in the making, but if those girls are still asleep after two years and Selene already took quite a bit of ingame time and attention to 'conquer', it doesn't bode well for those characters. Stella is still a captive and mostly a non-factor, too.
- Pia. I feel that her purpose was a) to give the players sex scenes (that were super long) to tide them over and b) to give SOME background information for our MC. I skipped her sex scenes since I don't like her model and as she won't appear in the game other than in dreams or thoughts, she's very much not a real character to me.
- The sandbox. I feel that right now, it doesn't serve much purpose at all other than to find secrets, which seem to be just pictures unless I missed something.
In conclusion:
I find the game brilliant and if I had to compare it to all the other games I played, it would be a solid 8 or 8.5/10. I've put it on my watchlist and look forward to finding out how things will go!