Version as of review: v0.12p1
TL;DR: One of the slowest slow-burns I've ever read, but absolutely worth the time investment. Easily one of if not THE best game of its genre.
Before this game, I was very thoroughly of the opinion that 'sad, scary koikatsu ero games' was a doomed genre that was simply too fundamentally at odds with itself and tonally dissonant (heh) conceptually to ever result in anything better than an 'okay' game that would've likely been much better served without one of it's two primary themes.
I can confidently say that this game both proved me incredibly wrong in that regard, but also made me more willing to try and accept games that fuse these ideas, if only slightly.
STORY: 9/10
I think I've gone on record many-a-times in various reviews on this site about how I simply don't understand the appeal of games that attempt to blend horror with sexual themes, and I think I can confidently say that I just think I hadn't played a good one yet. How much of that is due to the game's glacial pacing (which is in no way a bad thing, mind you) and it taking it's time to tell a compelling story beyond both the surface level horror and ero themes, or how much of it is due to having a genuinely compelling protagonist, main cast, side cast, and world in general, is up for you to decide.
What I can say for certain is that there's almost nothing I could complain about that wouldn't be a superficial nitpick, such as the dev often using similar writing styles for each character, so much so that it can often be hard to differentiate very specific personality traits at it's absolute worst, but even then the character's are all developed strongly enough that you can almost always take a good guess at how they'd react to a given scenario, and most times your guess would line up fairly well.
Similarly, this is cosmic horror done right.
No (or very few, can't recall) cheap scares or anything similar, nor does the game beat you over the head about how incomprehensible it's horrors are, or any of the tropey and tired staples that haunt these sorts of games. Just the looming, creeping feeling of dread, and the sinking feeling that no good moment is ever more than a single click away from things going horribly wrong, both for the MC or for the people around him. I wasn't ever scared of a loud noise and a flashing jpg of a spooky face, just of the consequences of the actions of the universe so far beyond my grasp I could never hope to begin to fathom them. Good stuff.
All in all, definitely one of the best stories of any game on here, though I can imagine a good portion of that comes from just how much of the game is its story and how sparse (but still well-done) its ero scenes are.
GAMEPLAY: 10/10
This point's pretty short, and it's kind of depressing I even feel the need to point this out, but huzzah, this game does NOT have that incessant grinding and sandbox 'random day on a randome time' gameplay loop that has made sure to ruin plenty of perfectly good games on this site before and likely will continue to do so until we as a species collectively realise how fucking stupid it is.
If I remember correctly it does let you choose between a proper linear "VN" mode or a sandbox mode, and while I appreciate the dev having both for the sickos who prefer the latter, I'm just glad I can enjoy the game without feeling like the dev is spitefully making the game more arduous to play for literally no benefit.
CHARACTERS: 9/10
One of the most universally enjoyable cast of characters I've had the pleasure of whacking off to. In these games I've come to expect to really like one or two of the cast and be thoroughly "meh" about the rest, but to my surprise there isn't a single miss, here. Even the character who actively antagonises the protag at every single point is still likeable and quite cute, and that's before they fuck.
Even my least favorite characters in this game would top the charts of most other games of this ilk I've played, and that's only due to lacking the strong "lovability" factor that some of the others can have. Even if you can't find yourself getting invested (which is genuinely difficult seeing as you are here for a minimum of 8 hours before you see a single tit let alone get your dick wet), there's no one here who will ever take you out of the story, or make you mad at their decisions, or anything of the sort.
Even the MC, who is almost inevitably the weakest link of these sorts of games, has a charm to him that made me genuinely excited to see what he'd say in any given scenario, and not even once did I find myself upset or even annoyed at a decision he made, as even if I didn't personally agree with it, it was still entirely understandable and completely reasonable.
The only, and I mean only complaint I could make about the cast is just the uh. . . let's call it "body types" of all the girls. While I'm definitely not going to pretend like I'm some kind of saint that cares even a bit about the percieved age of the fictional women in his erotic visual novels, just personally I'd have liked a bit more variety in there somewhere. While there are attempts made here and there and it is understandable given the "body types" we're working with here, I'd have been alright with a bit more meat on a couple of the girls at the expense of a bit of realism, though I'm entirely willing to accept that it's just the dev's preference, and hey if that's what led to the game being half as good as it is then fair enough.
ART: 10/10
Jeez I've already typed a lot, no way anyone's reading all of this. Anyways, the art's good, as I'm sure you could tell from the preview images. The character designs are great, there's good variety, and the renders themselves can range from 'great' to 'gorgeous'. There's a pleasant haziness to everything in the game that both matches the tone and themes and is just nice to look at. The game even managed to make the horror segments an odd but compelling mix of eerie and beautiful, the shattered sky in the [redacted for spoilers lol] being a personal favourite.
Genuinely, zero complaints here.
ERO CONTENT: 8/10
Just as well-done as everything else in the game, if you can imagine. The only reason I'd say it's an eight versus a nine or ten is simply due to the relative lack of it compared to the total game length. While yes, I did already say that the game's pacing is great and that I don't personally mind it at all, I would also never say no to more sex lmao.
But no, the renders look great, the animations are good, and it's likely made even more compelling by how long you have to interact with a character before you reach that point (sans one), and again, if you can get past the "body types" of the main cast (though let's be real here if you actually download the game you likely don't care any more than I don't) then it's great stuff.
Final Thoughts:
Idk what else to say, really. Just play it. It's good. Also Yoshie is the best girl and I'll fistfight anyone who disagrees.
TL;DR: One of the slowest slow-burns I've ever read, but absolutely worth the time investment. Easily one of if not THE best game of its genre.
Before this game, I was very thoroughly of the opinion that 'sad, scary koikatsu ero games' was a doomed genre that was simply too fundamentally at odds with itself and tonally dissonant (heh) conceptually to ever result in anything better than an 'okay' game that would've likely been much better served without one of it's two primary themes.
I can confidently say that this game both proved me incredibly wrong in that regard, but also made me more willing to try and accept games that fuse these ideas, if only slightly.
STORY: 9/10
I think I've gone on record many-a-times in various reviews on this site about how I simply don't understand the appeal of games that attempt to blend horror with sexual themes, and I think I can confidently say that I just think I hadn't played a good one yet. How much of that is due to the game's glacial pacing (which is in no way a bad thing, mind you) and it taking it's time to tell a compelling story beyond both the surface level horror and ero themes, or how much of it is due to having a genuinely compelling protagonist, main cast, side cast, and world in general, is up for you to decide.
What I can say for certain is that there's almost nothing I could complain about that wouldn't be a superficial nitpick, such as the dev often using similar writing styles for each character, so much so that it can often be hard to differentiate very specific personality traits at it's absolute worst, but even then the character's are all developed strongly enough that you can almost always take a good guess at how they'd react to a given scenario, and most times your guess would line up fairly well.
Similarly, this is cosmic horror done right.
No (or very few, can't recall) cheap scares or anything similar, nor does the game beat you over the head about how incomprehensible it's horrors are, or any of the tropey and tired staples that haunt these sorts of games. Just the looming, creeping feeling of dread, and the sinking feeling that no good moment is ever more than a single click away from things going horribly wrong, both for the MC or for the people around him. I wasn't ever scared of a loud noise and a flashing jpg of a spooky face, just of the consequences of the actions of the universe so far beyond my grasp I could never hope to begin to fathom them. Good stuff.
All in all, definitely one of the best stories of any game on here, though I can imagine a good portion of that comes from just how much of the game is its story and how sparse (but still well-done) its ero scenes are.
GAMEPLAY: 10/10
This point's pretty short, and it's kind of depressing I even feel the need to point this out, but huzzah, this game does NOT have that incessant grinding and sandbox 'random day on a randome time' gameplay loop that has made sure to ruin plenty of perfectly good games on this site before and likely will continue to do so until we as a species collectively realise how fucking stupid it is.
If I remember correctly it does let you choose between a proper linear "VN" mode or a sandbox mode, and while I appreciate the dev having both for the sickos who prefer the latter, I'm just glad I can enjoy the game without feeling like the dev is spitefully making the game more arduous to play for literally no benefit.
CHARACTERS: 9/10
One of the most universally enjoyable cast of characters I've had the pleasure of whacking off to. In these games I've come to expect to really like one or two of the cast and be thoroughly "meh" about the rest, but to my surprise there isn't a single miss, here. Even the character who actively antagonises the protag at every single point is still likeable and quite cute, and that's before they fuck.
Even my least favorite characters in this game would top the charts of most other games of this ilk I've played, and that's only due to lacking the strong "lovability" factor that some of the others can have. Even if you can't find yourself getting invested (which is genuinely difficult seeing as you are here for a minimum of 8 hours before you see a single tit let alone get your dick wet), there's no one here who will ever take you out of the story, or make you mad at their decisions, or anything of the sort.
Even the MC, who is almost inevitably the weakest link of these sorts of games, has a charm to him that made me genuinely excited to see what he'd say in any given scenario, and not even once did I find myself upset or even annoyed at a decision he made, as even if I didn't personally agree with it, it was still entirely understandable and completely reasonable.
The only, and I mean only complaint I could make about the cast is just the uh. . . let's call it "body types" of all the girls. While I'm definitely not going to pretend like I'm some kind of saint that cares even a bit about the percieved age of the fictional women in his erotic visual novels, just personally I'd have liked a bit more variety in there somewhere. While there are attempts made here and there and it is understandable given the "body types" we're working with here, I'd have been alright with a bit more meat on a couple of the girls at the expense of a bit of realism, though I'm entirely willing to accept that it's just the dev's preference, and hey if that's what led to the game being half as good as it is then fair enough.
ART: 10/10
Jeez I've already typed a lot, no way anyone's reading all of this. Anyways, the art's good, as I'm sure you could tell from the preview images. The character designs are great, there's good variety, and the renders themselves can range from 'great' to 'gorgeous'. There's a pleasant haziness to everything in the game that both matches the tone and themes and is just nice to look at. The game even managed to make the horror segments an odd but compelling mix of eerie and beautiful, the shattered sky in the [redacted for spoilers lol] being a personal favourite.
Genuinely, zero complaints here.
ERO CONTENT: 8/10
Just as well-done as everything else in the game, if you can imagine. The only reason I'd say it's an eight versus a nine or ten is simply due to the relative lack of it compared to the total game length. While yes, I did already say that the game's pacing is great and that I don't personally mind it at all, I would also never say no to more sex lmao.
But no, the renders look great, the animations are good, and it's likely made even more compelling by how long you have to interact with a character before you reach that point (sans one), and again, if you can get past the "body types" of the main cast (though let's be real here if you actually download the game you likely don't care any more than I don't) then it's great stuff.
Final Thoughts:
Idk what else to say, really. Just play it. It's good. Also Yoshie is the best girl and I'll fistfight anyone who disagrees.