Playing this game generated for me some mixed feelings, that I will try to put into this review. This mixed feelings mostly touch on what the current experience of the game deliver and what is potential is.
Visual style and Animations - 3/5
The characters models are good and with plenty of details given to them. Just for the character models, I will give 4 stars. Unfortunately, what drags the game down are the animations, they are quite crude and sometimes feel unnatural, with a strange overlay between still images that have an animations layer added over it. I am confident that with time, the animations can evolve to be much more detailed and natural.
On a personal note, I find the character model of Jamie on the unrealistic side of things. For me, Jamie character mode seems to be created just to fit the role set for him in the game and takes away from his depth as a character. What I am talking here can be resumed in a way that his character model is well too suited for his role in the story, I would have liked for Jamie to be more androgynous and of an average build. The way it is now giving the impression of an underdeveloped teenager.
Music and Atmosphere - 3/5
There is only one track for the music at the time of writing this, it would have been nice to have more tracks, but it is common enough for visual novel games to not have music at all.
Generally the game manages to create a suitable atmosphere and build up before the scenes or though the dialog in a scene. Unfortunately, most of the work put into creating that build up goes nowhere, because either the scene does not follow through or the story shifts to another character before any outcome ca be reached.
Story, Setting and Characters - 3/5
The story is overall interesting, except some plot points, and it managed to make me invested into it. Nevertheless, the story is a slow burning one, which takes its sweet time to develop and at times it seems to be going nowhere.
The plot does not make it hard to predict was going to happen next, visual cues and references are usually made quite clear and explained by the characters in game. Well, I do not think this is a bad thing for the story, it certainly makes it clear for the player where the story goes. Or the dev is just baiting the player into thinking about an obvious outcome and lead the him to a plot twist
I would say that the there is a 50/50 changes that the story might just bait the player into a plot twist.
The characters are personalities and motivations are above average. For the most part, the characters are two-dimensional, but this can change with some creative writing. I find the characters likeable, but a bit bland.
The most interesting character for me is Donna and her pet. Sarah and Melanie are fun to follow, they are not that unassuming. And between Jamie and Valerie, I would go with Valerie from the perspective of character writing.
The setting is definitely the most creative component of the game. I pretty much like all the settings the game uses, and I hope this to carries forward to the characters once the story build up is done. There is real potential story wise for it to go 4/5.
Gameplay - 3/5
There is not something unique in terms of gameplay, for the most part it is the average visual novel gameplay experience. There are some choices to be had during the game, but it is not yet clear what impact they will have in later part of the game. For now, the choices you can make are only determining if you will see a certain scene or not.
Content ratio - 3/5
The content ratio to play time is on the modest side. I think the content ration somewhere between 70/30. Where 70% of the CG are SFW and 30% are NSFW. I think this is mainly caused by the slow burning story and the dev not wanting to spoil the player in the early stages. With the given story and setting, there is real potential for the dev to create some excellent NSFW scenes and change the content ratio to at least 55/45, but time will tell.
All in all, the game has some real potential to get a solid 4/5 rating once the story can dig herself out and stand on its legs. This game is one of rarest ones of this genre which manages to provide good content and I hope the dev will continue with the game.