Version 0.06
I see a lot of people writing half-assed review just to shit on the game without much detail, so I'll do one better and actually give some argumentation and reasonning.
Yes, I really enjoy this game.
Yes, it's the same dev as Parental Love.
Yes, it's a different style as Parental Love.
No, it's not a bad thing.
Luxee wanted to experiment with a different genre than the more kinetic feel of having one singular story going on with variations depending on your choices. Result is an attempt at a semi-sandboxey type game. Is it a perfect sandbox ? No, because it's not totally sandboxey, but at the same time, it is enough so as to avoid making you feel like you're just getting dragged by the story and can only wait for the next event.
It's not much, but you being able to go to different places, and sometimes see characters in different places, makes them feel a little bit less "only here for you" so to speak.
Now let's talk about said characters. The cast if fucking huge compaired to PL. Luxee apparently wanted to make a lot of options, or had a lot of ideas for a wide variety of characters, and decided to not hold off.
So far, not all of them have the same amount of content. The game is still early, keep that in mind. And as this game is less linear, it means (apparently, I have no proof to support this but as a creative person it seems that way to me) that Luxee works on whoever they have ideas and inspiration from, rather than being forced by a continuous story.
Some people will say it's a bad idea and Luxee should have done exactly like PL, but in my opinion they're wrong. The result isn't necessarily bad. It's too early to tell, really.
So far, the character that have some development aren't numerous, but what is there is interesting. They have different feels rather than all seem to have the hots for the MC without anymore personality like other games do.
For example, we have the younger sister's best friend having a crush on her friend's big brother, trying to act on it with gusto with relative efficacy, which is pretty adorable. We have a girl trying to have a boyfriend despite her asshat of a brother threatening whoever gets close to her. We have a young trans girl having lived a hellish life of parental abuse and bullying clinging desperately to who is essentially, in her eyes, her white knight in shinning armor.
All the characters are shaping up to have their own circumstances and their own story within the story, their own personality. Some aren't really defined so far, so some people might say they are uninteresting, boring, bland. The game is in fucking version 0.06 dammit.
Speaking of the trans character, let's adress the elephant in the room.
Nea is a divisive character. Luxee shows a clear interest for trans character, and not the ones already post-op and so already fully female (which would mean being barely a mention with no consequence whatsoever).
Nea is mid-transition, and is, so far, the character with the most developped story. A lot of people love her, a lot of people hate her, and some don't have strong opinion one way or another but tend to keep a low profile.
The truth is, wether you have an open mind, are transphobic as fuck or don't mind one way or the other, Nea is the character with the most care and thought put in her story, but also the one with the worst issue.
After some backlash full of ill-intent and narrow-mindedness, her story now has (and I will not sugar coat it or hide it as to avoid bad surprise for some) a really bad ending in the form of a suicide. And while it does make some sort of sense given her whole story and background (I've talked at length about it in the thread if you want to look it up), it's also poorly handled. Maybe Luxee got too heated at the backlash and wrote that part in a rash reaction, maybe not. Maybe it'll be changed someday, maybe not. The long and short of it is that this part is rather poorly executed and some might feel like it is very "manipulative" from Nea. Those also often try to push absolute realism in a game about a guy, ultimately, dating a dozen different girls at once. So... yeah...
If you have enough of an open-mind though, Nea is trully a very well written character, and becomes quite lovable, as the scenes with her can be very sweet.
And sure, some people complain about the mom being an absolute perv pushing her son to build a sexual relationship and harem with his two sisters...
But come the fuck on, it's a porn game about a douzen girls dated by the same guy, again. Complaining about a character being a perv in a porn game...
Let's switch to the next subject.
The renders are really good. But that's to be expected since Luxee has experience working on Parental Love before. Characters also don't look the same with haircut and hair color variations like some other games tend to have. Here, they all have their own style and clearly had care and time put into designing them, to further the variety even more.
Also, some of the stories interconnecting might be a shit idea for some (especially those who hate Nea and complain that she's part of other girls routes...), but in truth, it isn't. It actually makes the game more alive as it shows that the various LIs don't each live in a bubble of their own. It actually help the world feel more real since some people would know each other already without the MC having to appear for people to notice each other like life didn't exist before him.
Where the game does, admitedly, have issues, is that it's easy to get lost.
The semi-sandboxey nature makes it so it's not always really clear where (and when) you're supposed to be to continue a story, making Lain's mod nearly required. But again, the game is still young, and maybe that'll be improved later on. So far though, adding Lain's mod is not so much a hassle as to be that much of a problem.
In short, while the game has a divisive character, if you can stomach games that are early in development, this one is definitely worth a try. Characters are well written and set up some interesting personal story, and the variety in their personality makes is intriguing to wonder how each will develop.
Me mindfull, though, if you have anything against trans people. For you, I would honestly say that this game isn't for you if you can't accept that others might feel differently. (I will, however, reassure you : no, you don't have to do anything with a penis)
Otherwise, if you have nothing against them, like them or are curious, I'd encourage you to try to enjoy the game and Nea's story (rather than skip it), but keep in mind that it's pretty bleak at times. Just don't come on the thread to post trolling messages celebrating her suicide, like some did.
The others girls, though, so far, a mostly a delight, and are shaping up to be pretty interesting.
