I absolutely love games like this and I'm a sucker for HTML games but there's one thing they seem to not include that Ren'Py creators will - A tally to show the player when they've hit the last of the content. Because these types of games end up having a fair bit of grinding and questions are always asked:
- I'm working x job. Have I seen/unlocked everything yet?
- I'm talking and flirting with the flatmates but haven't gotten anything new. Is the grind just bigger than I like or have I finished all their content?
Seriously. I absolutely love the Abby content and I think I've seen everything with her but I don't know and there's no way of finding out. There is also the fact that some of these events (meeting Abby in the evening, the flatmates watching tv) are randomised or become randomised at some point so this makes it harder to guess.
Which leads into one of the big problems that the dev appears to have been improving with each release - Some events require the MC to be in the apartment or their bedroom at a specific day at a specific time. Now, I could be flash-reading through the story but I'm pretty sure not all of these are signposted (the calls from the sister and the Halloween Party) so it's insanely easy to get into a grinding routine of "wake up, get ready for work, go to work, click through work, get more money, go home/try something different" and miss a scheduled event for the next week/whenever it activates.
The wardrobe is much better now the clothes washing isn't needed. That was a resource hog that was annoying as all hell, to be honest. I would say it need two more improvements before it's pretty much solid - There aren't enough slots. If a play has a casual clothing set and the work set then the third set has to be either workout or party. The second issue is actually the biggest. I don't know what the clothing represents!
Does wearing the knit top or crop top affect the MC? Does it make a difference if I put her in a mini-skirt or a mini-dress? Or just a little black dress? The way the clothing is organised (having to click in and out of each item category) really doesn't push me to experiment.
I'm not sure what the problem is but there's a bug where if I have her sleep without clothing and then have her put on Set 3 (workout), she doesn't want to leave the room. I have to put on other clothes (even just a towel), leave the bedroom, reenter it and then I can put the set on her and leave.
I think the numbers need tweaking in some way. As it was brought up earlier, the corruption can be massively high yet she still won't go out without a bra. Despite the fact a bar scene has her suggesting it as a way of getting more tips AND she party/shags her co-worker every time that scene comes back up. There's also a small issue of the fact that the writing isn't reflecting the times she's without the bra in the scenes where it mentions going without will get bigger tips. Or hell, she puts her money in a bra she's not wearing (or takes panties off she isn't wearing). This is a small detail but important for the immersion.
I'm not sure if this is happening for anyone else but I actively can't visit the new shops aside from the sex one. Everything she finds on her wander is just that, on the wandering. It never becomes a place to visit. Now, this might be because the dev hasn't started the content with those places yet but then there's no point in having them "discovered." Case in point, I've had MC smoke weed with Abby yet can't have her explore the drug when she finds a weed shop AND is actively curious over it in the discovery page.
This is developing along nicely and I'm thinking it's going to be my favourite open-wide game ahead of Life Choices and Corrupted City once it has enough content. My biggest gripe right now is definitely the lack of knowing when I've hit a content dead-end followed by the unknown clothing effects.
Edit: typos.