I first began playing this game during the pandemic of 2022 after putting it off for a long time before that. From the tittle I’d assumed it’d be about playing as a prick or an asshole and that wasn’t my cup of tea. So first I played DPC’s first game Acting lessons which surprised (and scarred) me greatly, right then I knew I had to play his new game, which was getting praised left and right and to my surprise my preconceived notions were (thankfully) all wrong. Instead of being a dick I was being a dik, a frat boy with a good heart, a sad backstory and ready to conquer college and have the time of my life. Now as I mentioned earlier, I started playing this game toward the end of the pandemic but while lockdown was still in effect and in my last year of college. My dorms allowed us to either isolate in our rooms or head home. I chose the former, for days on end I was in my tiny room, only going outside to pick up my takeout or go for a little walk. I believe all of those circumstances come together at the perfect time for me to love the game as much as I did. While isolated I connected with the quite frankly pretty well written characters. I got to relieve some of the awesome parties we’ve had along with some other things 
. Got to relieve some of the drama, romance and the dumb shit we got up to as college students.
The game’s strongest side is without a doubt the atmosphere and characters. Everything feels like it’s straight from a 2000s college/coming of age movie, but one of the better ones.
The characters, even the minor ones, are written well, each with their own voice and motivation. Now sometimes the authors voice bleeds through which is more noticeable in the later episodes, but by then they have close to enough screen time and backstory to where it doesn’t matter as much. The LI’s are varied, unique and fun in their own way. And most importantly the interactions with non-romancable characters are given just as much care and attention which goes a long way in lifting the quality of the game. The roster of LI’s is already impressive enough but we get even more options toward the end of season 2 and start of season 3 – namely more Quinn, Riona and Nora, Nicole and Lily content, which DPC does in my opinion a good job in establishing them as viable LI’s considering the other ones who have had way more screen time.
The music choices are done tastefully, picked to suit each scene rather than the generic lo-fi and simple guitar strumming tracks we can hear in other tittles. The music here serves a purpose in reinforcing the atmosphere and all the different artists and genres flow well together in the context of the game. Truly one of the highlights of the game.
Those were my initial impressions of the game and a lot of my opinions still hold, now it’s 2 years later, 2 more updates and I’m not looking at the game from pandemic tinted glasses. Objectively the quality has dropped, even if a little bit, and some of the story choices are questionable to say the least. Realism and even basic logic have to be suspended for twists and swerves we can already see coming from a mile away. (something something Mc’s last name, something something minigames, something something dead horse – which I won’t beat!!) And I feel like I have to mention those things, but personally it does not bother me that much, considering the foundations this game is built upon. My biggest gripe is the pace of the story itself, never mind the quality or storytelling choices, has moved at a snail’s pace. We’re 9 episodes in, 5 years dev time, the dev cycle time has reached one year and we’re what? 4-5 months in story time? I understand BaDIK is a one-person endeavor, and what the author has been able to achieve is impressive, but come on man.
And finally, my two cents on the free roams, which I am now beating the dead horse mentioned earlier, are fucking bad. That’s all – they’re just bad. There are some instances where they are almost done well, mostly episode 9 and that’s it, almost done well. The rest of the free roam event are just bad (what? You didn’t think to click a random ass pillow to find a whiskey bottle?) Playing all the paths is a chore with all the free roams, which unfortunately can’t be turned off like the minigames.
I love this game, but some of DPC’s questionable story-telling and game design choices stand out that much more considering the foundations BaDIK is built upon. For me where this title shines the brightest is the dialogue, character interactions and soundtrack, which unfortunately are given less attention these days. There was a time this game was easily the king, but since then other developers have come on to the scene and delivered more, better and in less time.
80/100
. Got to relieve some of the drama, romance and the dumb shit we got up to as college students.The game’s strongest side is without a doubt the atmosphere and characters. Everything feels like it’s straight from a 2000s college/coming of age movie, but one of the better ones.
The characters, even the minor ones, are written well, each with their own voice and motivation. Now sometimes the authors voice bleeds through which is more noticeable in the later episodes, but by then they have close to enough screen time and backstory to where it doesn’t matter as much. The LI’s are varied, unique and fun in their own way. And most importantly the interactions with non-romancable characters are given just as much care and attention which goes a long way in lifting the quality of the game. The roster of LI’s is already impressive enough but we get even more options toward the end of season 2 and start of season 3 – namely more Quinn, Riona and Nora, Nicole and Lily content, which DPC does in my opinion a good job in establishing them as viable LI’s considering the other ones who have had way more screen time.
The music choices are done tastefully, picked to suit each scene rather than the generic lo-fi and simple guitar strumming tracks we can hear in other tittles. The music here serves a purpose in reinforcing the atmosphere and all the different artists and genres flow well together in the context of the game. Truly one of the highlights of the game.
Those were my initial impressions of the game and a lot of my opinions still hold, now it’s 2 years later, 2 more updates and I’m not looking at the game from pandemic tinted glasses. Objectively the quality has dropped, even if a little bit, and some of the story choices are questionable to say the least. Realism and even basic logic have to be suspended for twists and swerves we can already see coming from a mile away. (something something Mc’s last name, something something minigames, something something dead horse – which I won’t beat!!) And I feel like I have to mention those things, but personally it does not bother me that much, considering the foundations this game is built upon. My biggest gripe is the pace of the story itself, never mind the quality or storytelling choices, has moved at a snail’s pace. We’re 9 episodes in, 5 years dev time, the dev cycle time has reached one year and we’re what? 4-5 months in story time? I understand BaDIK is a one-person endeavor, and what the author has been able to achieve is impressive, but come on man.
And finally, my two cents on the free roams, which I am now beating the dead horse mentioned earlier, are fucking bad. That’s all – they’re just bad. There are some instances where they are almost done well, mostly episode 9 and that’s it, almost done well. The rest of the free roam event are just bad (what? You didn’t think to click a random ass pillow to find a whiskey bottle?) Playing all the paths is a chore with all the free roams, which unfortunately can’t be turned off like the minigames.
I love this game, but some of DPC’s questionable story-telling and game design choices stand out that much more considering the foundations BaDIK is built upon. For me where this title shines the brightest is the dialogue, character interactions and soundtrack, which unfortunately are given less attention these days. There was a time this game was easily the king, but since then other developers have come on to the scene and delivered more, better and in less time.
80/100
