first review ever, wanted to post this since i played this on launch (with my own mtl) and really enjoyed it!
i'll give some rough pro/cons:
pros:
- solid story: even with my horrible mtl, i still got a really good experience reading the dialogue and learning about the school/world as a whole (quick aside: reading/interaction is a really key component of the gameplay loop - more on that later)
- great art: if you're a corruption/mind control enjoyer, the name Sanatuki should ring a bell; they've made some great doujins (and a game!) in the past. they are one of my favorite h-artists, so getting this game was a no-brainer for me when i saw that they were involved. the art was great throughout; however, there were a few characters (such as the other student council members) who didn't have art of the same "quality" or "style" (not sure which one is more appropriate) as the rest of the characters. also, the school nurse not having ANY art was disappointing. but, that doesn't detract from the rest of the artwork in my opinion, so i'll keep it as a pro rather than a con
- character diversity: man, there are a LOT of characters in this game. nadeshiko and akane are the two main ones (akane being the one you control), but there are so many characters around the school that you'll interact with. there's a really high likelihood that you'll find the "character for you" somewhere in the school. not every NPC has artwork (such as the one morals/hall monitor girl), but again, i don't think it detracts too much.
- dark-side routes: i believe that every good mc/corruption game should have the ability for the player to play as the "bad guy" - it makes the experience so much more enjoyable than just getting a generic game-over into reset. there are a few different dark-side routes you can play as, including those in the preview screenshots. all of them are great, even if some differ in length than others.
cons
- limited scenes: even though i praised the art, there's actually not that many "scenes" in the game. if you decide to auto-unlock everything in the recollection room, you'll know what i mean. a lot of the art in the game is centered around the different "arcs" throughout the story, with the scenes themselves acting as sort of the "cherry on top". i would have liked there to been way more scenes (especially in some of the dark-side routes), but it is what it is.
- not "rpg" enough: this is not a personal con, but, if you're looking at this game to play a regular rpg, you may be disappointed. this game does not play like a regular rpgmaker h-game. as dazed said, this is more of a exploration/puzzle game that uses rpgmaker to allow the player to actively engage in that process. i personally didn't have any problem with this, but just a quick warning i wanted to give people if they read this before playing.
- dialogue dumps: i don't know if it's just my coomer adhd brain but i genuinely felt that some cutscenes/dialogue sections took an eternity to finish. it probably didn't help that i was trying to decypher my own bad mtl translation while playing, but there are long stretches of cutscenes that are sometimes really difficult to get through, at least for me. ymmv on this, but again, just a heads-up.
final thoughts and score:
i think this game is great and i'm really looking forward to whatever this circle publishes next, whether it be a sequel to this game or something new. i think a 4/5 is a reasonable score for this game, even though this game checks all of the boxes kink-wise for me. the lack of scenes is something that really does erk me and i really hope that take that into consideration for whatever title they work on next, even if it comes at a longer dev time. honestly, a 4.5/5 would be my wanted score, but i think a 4/5 does this game justice.
it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you like mc/corruption and are open to the puzzle/exploration/dialogue, it is a really solid game.