In the developer's description, they say this is a leisurely game, which I thought was an odd way to describe an adult visual novel. However, I was intrigued and gave it a shot. If you understand what is being offered, this is actually a really great experience!
Art and Sound
The artwork is not animated, but runs a great line between lewd an cute with some good variety. Music and sound are nothing special, but are present enough to set the mood and help the reader's imagination.
Story and Gameplay
The story is straight to the point: you meet an old childhood friend, Akira, who is actually a girl, though you thought they were a boy. She needs a place to stay for a bit, and you have free room in your apartment.
Where this game really excels is at its relationship building. Right from the go you can tell something is up, but the way it builds and ultimately pays off adds to the fun in my opinion. Good things are worth waiting for.
The gameplay itself is very standard. You can interact with Akira at breakfast briefly, have a quick stop at work (click through funny dialogue), run an errand (get stuff to help at dinner time), spend dinnertime with Akira doing a variety of your choice of activities, and then go your ways to be. There is no way to fail, and you don't even have to speedrun. A point progression system determines the pacing of special events, which you can trigger faster by being really good at pleasing during dinnertime.
For some, this could feel like a grind if you want to get to the good stuff, but in my eyes it was good relationship building and didn't actually require any effort on my part. You either succeed, or really succeed. There are some scenes that require some work to unlock, but the dev gives some hints in their masnual, included with the download.
Pros
- You and the cute girl, no funny business (except the good kind)
- Simple gameplay for unwinding after a long day
- Good art
- Simple premise that it delivers on
Flaws
While a very enjoyable game, the basis of having set interactions you go through each day meant that towards the end you really started to see some repeat dialogue for some scenes or interactions with characters. Not a deal breaker, just meant I clicked through faster. Translation was pretty great, but a few weird things here and there.
Conclusions
If you are looking for a game of the year, this probably isn't it. But if you want a cute story with good buildup, artwork, and a few different flavors (built around vanilla though), this is a nice quick stop to make on your journey.