This game is sincerely outstanding in all fronts, to me. I highly recommend it to anyone who can empathize with a male protagonist, regardless of whether you're looking for a feel-good story, a cute romance or a good solo session.
The good:
+ Characters and relationships are extremely well developed. This is Chasing Sunset's best trait and it is worth playing the game for the characters alone! Both primary Love Interests are empathetic, sweet and behave and react to events in plausible ways, including dealing with rejection. 'Side chicks' and non-romanceable characters are also often interesting people with their own motivations and values. Even the protagonist is both likeable and not a god, and generally can be led to behave in very believable ways through your choices.
+ The writing is phenomenal. This game has funny humor, sexy talk¹, romantic moments, emotional bits (I shed some tears of joy), and all of these are well executed in my opinion.¹ I'm not particularly interested in the sexy talk, and thus might not be the best judge of that, but it was of at least passable quality to me and was often mingled with humor and romance in the monogamy paths, and I really liked that!
+ The game respects your choices. Both in the sense of whether to engage or not engage in certain relationships, kinks, etc. and in the sense of the story truly progressing in a different manner depending on what you choose. Not only did the game respect my choice to go for a faithful, vanilla, monogamous relationship with a LI, there was no shaming the player or the protagonist, no sensation that the story didn't fit my chosen path, and no feeling that I was alienating myself of large swaths of the game because of my choices.
+ The plot is interesting and creative. At least to me, it seems to be entirely original. It is not the generic 'chosen one' plot line like in many other AVNs. Most events are believable, the turns and twists are interesting, and plot progression is constant and consistent throughout, there was no moment where I felt the game had forgotten about what was happening or where events were progressing too fast either.
+ The renders are extremely well executed. It's just high quality all throughout, even from the start of the game stuff is already pretty good-looking, unlike other games where it is clear that the visual side starts a bit weak and develops over the progression of the game's development.
+ The systems are simple and well explained. This game does not have unnecessary sandbox grinding or other fluff to pad out playtime. This is just a straight up really good visual novel.
+ There are no constant 'gotcha' moments or the need for a walkthrough. I found no big choices to be made in the start without knowledge that suddenly screw you over hours later, and as the intro to the game explains and I will concur, the points system is generally lenient and you don't need to make perfect choices with a walkthrough to achieve a good ending and have access to a good development of the story.
+ The game is respectful and inclusive. At least in my story path and in my personal perspective as a neurodivergent person, the game seems to be respectful. The least respectful thing that was done by a character that the game still presented in good lights was a passing mention that a woman looked like a man, as an insult, done by an old man and was a comment that no one else opined on. The game also includes a neurodivergent 'side chick' and while she is very much stereotyped as a genius, it is not done in an overly distasteful or fetishized manner (this is still a porn game, I mean her neurodivergence wasn't fetishized).
The neutral:
* It seems to me that the game is pretty vanilla in regards to kinks. I honestly like that, but I know this is a negative for some. I put this in the neutral because there is a good amount of vanilla content, and also because there might be kinkier content I didn't see simply because my choices in the game were extremely vanilla due to what I wanted to get out of the story.
* While you're not a god, the protagonist still represents a classic male power fantasy. This is, once again, both good and bad depending on your perspective. The protagonist is a young, tall, thin, muscular, white, rich dude with a big cock, above-average fighting skills, and a lot of proficiency in pleasing partners during sex. I understand that to a lot of people, a power fantasy is what they look for in this type of game, but for me it is a bit too repetitive and predictable, and a bit hard to empathize with. I also do however understand that if the main character isn't extremely attractive the constant interest of every woman around him would be even more jarring than it already is at times, so once again, this is neutral, not necessarily a straight up negative in my opinion.
My criticisms and a few potential negatives:
- Some things are somewhat forced onto you and you can only give or retract consent after they've already started. The least spoiler-y example I can give is the protagonist's home-wrecker past, which is explored very early. The game makes it clear that that is in your past and you can choose whether to continue or change that streak, but your character will still kiss a friend's wife whether you choose to or not. It is done tactfully, every character eventually respects your rejections if you choose to do so, and you're not forced into any sexual arrangement you declare you don't want to be in, but it still will be a turn down for some and was a little bit of a bother for me in the start.
- The body types of romanceable characters are a bit lacking in diversity. While I find that the LIs and the protagonist are very good looking, there is a definite type here, the game is not breaking any molds on that side of things. Everyone is fit and toned, all the girls have large boobs, and looking back, I don't think there is a single black romanceable character.
- Everyone is always drooling over your character. This is just basic porn game stuff, and is both understandable as a narrative device and part of the power fantasy, but for those that are trying to avoid it, know it is here. I would like to state once again though that this game is worth playing even if you are explicitly avoiding this trope, due to the positives.
- Incest of some type is always forced onto the player. I will not be too specific to avoid spoilers. This will be a turn-on for some, a turn-off for others. I think it is a pity only because it is forced onto you, and is perhaps the only think I would classify as a 'gotcha' in the game, as the forced aspect of it comes pretty late.
This is my first review, I liked this game that much.
