TL;DR: A *lot* of wasted potential. Good character design, terrible game design. 2.5/5
Preliminary note: I played [v11] of the game without walkthrough. I don't like games that need walkthroughs to be fun. I didn't finish [v11].
I give this game 3/5 instead of 2, because I hope the developer(s) will tap into the wasted potential and redesign the game.
PRO
- The characters (that I've met so far) are very well designed. No comically enlarged genitals all around. Good sex scenes. There is even one of the MC's main love interests that is not painfully skinny, but a bit overweight. Not obese or anything, just a few kilos too much, like a normal person.
- The parts of the background story that I've seen so far are satisfactorily mysterious. I would like to know more.
CONTRA
- The game design: Grinding. Mindless repetition. Inconsistencies.
Every character arc has certain flags that need to be activated in a certain order and often by having to repeat the same events/choices over and over again, usually with the same responses, just like the event one day earlier didn't happen.
At the same time the characters have sub-arcs that are inconsistent with each other. At one point I could have intercourse with a certain character on two different locations at different times, but if I even dared to ask her for the same thing or even a blowjob on another location in a different timeslot she became morally outraged and talked about platonic love.
At the end of another scene another character hints "I need to take MC to another character after the (recurring) event at 10am". Unfortunately for this to actually happen a certain flag had to be triggered which I obviously hadn't. She told me that for 3 weeks until I eventually coincidentally triggered the right event.
I don't mind grinding as long as it's somewhat comprehensible and moves things noticeable along. Being able to ask the same questions for the same answers, and doing the same events with the same outcome every day is the opposite of that.
I played the game for maybe 6-8 hours altogether, before I came to a point where for two weeks (in-game) nothing happened. Obviously I did the wrong things at the wrong times and wrong locations. Rather frustrating.
At that point I kinda gave up and looked for a walkthrough. What I found was not a nice guide for each character, but an endless list of times and events to do in the right order. Not fun at all. Scrolling down to see at what point I was stuck, I found a lot of characters that I hadn't even met yet and a lot of things that I hadn't done. I was maybe halfway through.
I decided not to waste any more time on this inconsistent and joyless grinding and haven't finished [v11].
Initially I wanted to give the game 1/5 stars, because I was frustrated. Such a good character design utterly destroyed by the worst gameplay I've ever seen so far, it was unbelievable.
I decided to sleep on it and now I give it 2.5/5 stars, because I hope the developer(s) will see it as an incentive to redesign the whole thing and make the gameplay equally great as the characters.