This game is easily in my top 5. Incredible production value and it's one of the few I happily paid for and definitely plan to support the new game. With that out of the way I do have a few criticisms where I think this game could have been even better maybe even perfect.
The interactive aspects through the phone. I think early on in the first half of the game especially the text message and Nuke app are used pretty well. That said it's kind of a shame that as things start progressing faster you lose out of that element quite a bit. I would have loved to see more imagines and comments through the nuke app and more access to pictures to add too. I also think the texting feature is barely touched when you read through your final messages near the end. Even if the messages are silly or inconsequential I would have loved when little time skips happen that when you go back into your text messages you can read conversations between the different characters. It would be the perfect way to give some extra exposition or just show how close the characters had become with each other. Would have made the world feel more lived in.
This story is one of the most heavy I've experienced. I mean that in a good way because it was actually refreshing how real it treated depression/anxiety. Cece as a character is great, I relate a lot to her. I think that having such a heavy element though be the central point in your story takes away some of the power of choice for the viewer. My guess is quite a few people end up on the Cece route in their first play-through and I am one of them. Honestly everything plays out so well I was worried when I went to experience other routes. While I loved them all, none of them felt as balanced or as heartfelt as the Cece route. I think a big problem for me there is that when you pursue other women the game progresses in a way to where it's like you moved on from Cece until she hurts herself. I think it would be a lot easier to enjoy the other routes if it felt like even in your quest for love the non Cece routes had extra scenes showing you're still very much in Cece's life and you're doing everything you can as her friend. Just one or two scenes showing this, special to those routes could relieve some of that guilt and make it easier to enjoy the romance with the other girls.
If I ranked the routes in order from best developed to worst it would be: Cece, Robin/Kira, Stephanie, Lexi, Linda, Holly
Starting with Stephanie, while your past with her makes up for how quick thing progress, I do think it's a shame how easily things get resolved with her. I wish there was a little more drama here. Like have homeland still be investigating you but this time Stephanie doesn't know, like they're using her as bait to get final confirmation. Anything, it just seems like a waste to have a unique backstory like that wrap up so conveniently.
Lexi, I love Lexi but her immaturity from inexperience with relationships makes her hard to get behind. While things seem secure in the end if you chose her since you propose, there is a sense of doubt to me given how quickly she's willing to settle down, almost out of desperation because it's hard to meet people in her position. I don't know what the solution is though to make this route feel better and I did really enjoy it either way.
Linda feels like a second thought. her development from insecure to model really isn't shown on screen, you're just kinda told later because you ignored her. It's never really clear what motivates the change, maybe a combination of the crazy summer she experienced, that said I think being a little more involved with her change while on her route would really help spice up her character and make you feel like you were making the right choice choosing her. I also wish we got a more clear picture on what exactly happens in school to lead to them not becoming a couple even after messing around together, or if they were a couple what lead to the break up. I think being a little more clear here would help understand why our MC went from being smitten over her to going for Steph instead.
I love Holly, I think if she was given more, and felt like she wasn't treated as extra she would be my second favorite character to choose. Love her design, her character, she's just great, it's great we got something with her but really would have loved a more main character path for her.
I could go on and on and while I do have criticisms really they're just little and personal. In the end this game left me happier than most and I can't wait to check out the new game when it launches.
