I made a mistake.
When this thread first went up for this game, I was intrigued by the actual story and character focus, but turned away due to the main theme and gimmick surrounding fraternities and sororities. I am fine with a more active or alpha MC due to these social groups, but I made a huge and ignorant assumption thinking I would be forced to be an asshole to people. Due to this assumption, I bookmarked and watched the thread, but held off on it since February 2019 until finally playing it a few days ago. I follow about 80 active projects on this site, and I slept on one of ten that I am extremely invested in and care about the running narrative.
The main system as play that controls the course of the narrative via the choices is a scale like system where the main character can be more "DIK", aggressive, overly confidant and somewhat of an asshole, or on the other side of the spectrum a "CHICK", more passive, and more polite. Because it works more as a scale, you can actively choose choices that lean you towards one way or another. Also, if you are on certain ends of the spectrum usually extremely towards DIK or CHICK or maybe even in a neutral zone, certain choices can be unlocked during certain events. This adds to replay value and also I feel gives each choice more interesting perspective depending on the affinity of the MC. Usually when I play games like this I just choose the choices depending on what I feel I would do or what the MC would do, and just continue, and when the game finishes use a guide to see other things. I was so intrigued by the characters and interactions after doing my "personal" run up to version 0.5.2, I did two more runs for both sides of the spectrum of DIK and CHICK to see more of what I possibly missed, and was not let down by finding out more details and things about characters.
There are many nice details about this game with the way branching paths work. There are a few pretty major branching path segments where some content can be missed due to story events from these branching paths. These don't change a lot about the core story, but they are really interesting to get a better perspective of characters who you may not see at certain points of the story depending on which route you may choose. The main example of this branch comes in the form of a major choice between three options, and it was interesting going from my primary playthrough then going to the other playthroughs and seeing other options and how I get to learn about other characters depending on my choice. This branch doesn't change the entire course of the story, but it does determine who you will hang out with during certain sections and you can gain better insight about certain characters or events, so replaying and seeing all choices from this branch would give the player the best understanding of all characters and events.
Another major feature is the use of the phone. The phone can be accessed to play minigames for different rewards, view bios for the reoccuring characters, view and interact with messages on a fictional social media service the characters use, view character stats, etc. I like the attention to detail with the phone and features for different reasons. For example, there will be times where the MC's phone isn't on him due to story reasons so you won't be able to view any of the phone's menus. Pulling out the phone during class can cause the teacher to reprimand the MC. Also, the bios for the different characters is very well done as it updates depending on choices and truly tailors to the player's experience. It is very great especially for a game with a variety of interactions can take place. It does wonders when I want to think about what to say to a character or think about how the story is progressing. The fictional social media service, "Rooster", is interesting in that I initially thought it was there for flavor text to give more dimension to characters and events as their social media posts will give a bit of extra flair to events. Like for example, a character will post a picture as they are preparing for a date with you. Yet, there are moments where a character will post something and this could lead to actual in-game interactions with these characters to further get to know them. Also, being able to actually reply to posts and like posts and replies adds to the experience.
The girls are very fun and I love them all. Josy, Maya, Sage, Bella and Jill seem to be the main girls at least up to the end of season 1. Each of their interactions with the MC make me actually care for them and want to learn more about them as people. Don't want to give too much away about their characters for the review, but for example, Sage I find especially cute in her reactions and interactions with the MC as she is in a rough patch with her current boyfriend and hope the MC can continue getting closer to Sage soon. The renders are very nice, sometimes I just have to sit back and be like, "damn this looks really good." Like seriously, the animations and quality of renders is stunning, I highly suggest looking at them closely to fully appreciate each scene.
The side characters I really enjoy. The main, "DIK" squad are a bunch of cool bros who seem like a blast to hang out with and each have their own quirks and I hope to learn more about them. Derek may be one of if not the best "bro" characters in these kind of games. He has dimensions to his character, he is funny and interesting to interact with, he will defend and even criticize you when needed, and his quirks make him just memorable plus he knows how to get pussy. The HOTs sorority members are also interesting and I hope we get to interact more with them and learn more about the different members. Each of the girls in the sorority also have their own quirks and objectives so they are easily memorable. The antagonistic Quinn for example seems like the quintessential bitch, but there are already hints to more aspects to her character. The other fraternities of the jocks, and preps also have these great qualities of having interesting members and interactions with the different characters whether positive or negative interactions. I also enjoy the fact that different characters are in active relationships including several members of the DIKs for example. It makes things much more believable and I feel more attached to these characters and just like seeing them interact with their partners and such.
Overall, solid game and highly recommend.
ve it.
