Dont see why they bother with that sandbox crap? This shows just perfect what I say about 99% of free-roam/sandbox games. The mechanic is pointless.
The last game had that stupid free-roam, but you could only do 1 thing at a time. It was no freeroam it was a "navigate to the next event" and therefore pointless too.
Instead of that stuff they should work on their writing.
Rachel: "So you finally decided to tale into account my suggestion?"
MC: "Not sure yet..."
Rachel: "Before I answer your question, tell me this."
What?
That makes no sense because the scene misse the question of the MC. Right before that, he is thinking about that - asking her about her college, but because of the new scene it feels strange. Why not add a few more lines to better transition into that dialog? The player does not know anything about a suggestion from her, just that she told the MC something about her college.
I think the scene feels especially fractured, because the MC is leaving the pool to order some sun cream from his PC and than the next scene is back at the pool and thats with that dialog above. I think that is bc of the sandbox foundation of the game - so even in the VN mode that crap is destroying the flow.
In general the transitions in the VN mode feel chopped off and rough. The game jumps from scene to scene with sometimes only a few lines without any intro/outro. e.G. the 2nd time with the Ll/mom at the pool. You cream her and
Bam! she is gone an the older rm/sis is there and wants some cream.
Then, there are barely any choices ... you have to run into every room and peek on the girls.
All this makes it no fun - they should stick to one. Fully fledged crappy sandbox or a full VN with connected scenes, some choices and proper writing.
The last game was quite good - only the annoying and pointless free roam sucked. This is far away from that.
Oh, the renders are good. Some facial expressions look a bit weird imho, but thats fine.