Review for the version : v0.6.1 (w/ Episode 6)
Full disclaimer : I usually stick to games with a few specific tags / fetishes, and this game didn't have any of those. I tried it simply because I kept seeing good comments about it all over the forum, and I couldn't be happier that I did.
This game lures you in with great renders of multiple girls, and you end up falling in love with the story.
Graphics : 9/10
Almost all the girls are very well designed & the textures are pretty good as well. Animations are very well made for the most part. A few rooms could use a bit more decoration or could be a bit messier to feel more « alive » but it's not a big deal in any way, I'm just pointing out room for improvement. Overall the graphical aspect of the game isn't THE best I've seen, but it's easily on my top 5, and games that have even better graphics tend to have much much smaller updates, so I'd rather stick with « not entirely perfect graphics » but keep the huge updates if there was ever a choice to be made.
Sound & Music : 10/10
The soundtrack of this game alone would make it stand out from the lot. Being A Dik has, BY FAR, the best musics I've ever seen in a VN game, and it's in the top 5 of all games I've ever played, excluding titles such as Guitar Hero & Rock Band. I've added many titles included in the game in my own favorite playlist, something that never happens with a XXX game. As for the sounds, there aren't that many, even if there is some, but it's pretty much better that way. Any more sounds would probably just ruin the mood set by the music, and since the music is so great, it works perfectly.
Story : 10/10
To maintain a certain level of legitimacy to my reviews, I don't do « 11/10 » scores, but if I did, it would be right here. The story of Being A Dik is it's best, and most surprising, feature. In a game where characters are, at first glance, pretty stereotypical, the longer you play the game, the more you discover how, in fact, every character is extremely complex; how characters that seemed perfect are flawed, how characters that seemed bad to the bone are in fact trying their very best, how characters that seemed pretty mean aren't really, when you give them time to open up. All of this would make for a great game, but on top of that, the narration, and how the story unfolds itself, is pretty much flawless. You end up being surprised & shocked as your own judgement of these characters shift throughout the game, and how many of them are linked in ways you wouldn't have imagined. If it wasn't enough already, the story will make you feel a range of emotions you rarely see in a XXX game. Epic Humor, Crushing decisions, Neverending Dramas, Hatred, Sadness, Surprise, Joy, this game has it all.
Gameplay : 9/10
For a VN, Being A Dik offers a lot of interraction to the player. There are many mini games to be played, most of them being originals and extremely well put together. Your character has many stats either related to the mini games or to the story. All your decisions impact how nice or bold your character is, which is translated on a very comprehensible scale. Some major decisions will even permanently affect that scale, making you think twice about your choices. Choices that are rarely without consequences. The sole complaint I would have regarding the gameplay is how sometimes the places are hard to navigate, and how you might end up going in the same rooms multiple times looking for a particular character. In the latest Episode, DrPinkCake tried some type of « room fast travel » that help naviguate the main building of the game, but there is still ground for improvement on that front. Other than that, I think it's probably the VN with the most interractions from the player that I've ever played, and there is not even any grindy feel to it all.
So, to conclude, there is a reason this game is at the very top when you browse by « Weighted rating » of all the games on this forum. Go look it up on steam if you want, it's got overwhelmingly positive review all around. This game is the best XXX VN you'll probably encounter for a very long time. It has many hours worth of pure awesome playtime. Play it, you wont regret it, and once you end up falling in love with it, support DrPinkCake on his patreon, the guy REALLY deserves it.
Cheers, Maggots !