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[v0.8.0]
NOT a dating sim! VERY story heavy/focused VN with a decent amount of high quality erotic content, but IMO with weak romance and relationships (with some exceptions) and bloated/awkward dialogue. There are some inconsistencies with the plot too.
⠀⠀⠀I hate Ep1 and it almost made me uninstall the game on the spot. Introduction's handling is poor, starting with Darci interaction, which sets her as an unlikable and even annoying character and unlikely romantic pursuit. She doesn't even react to MC having sex with Krystal, no jealousy, no regret, nothing. Her casual practice sessions turn me off. Sister is not much better appearing as a stuck up vain bitch (spoiler: she isn't), who's bragging about sexual experience at 19 (spoiler: lie). The MC is okay, just don't like him pretending to be all grownup and a ladies man, instead of just being himself. Krystal had a crush on the MC, but gave up as soon as he failed to comprehend a couple of her sexual innuendos? I would have understood if she was a shy introvert, but she's an uninhibited "slut", so it doesn't check out. Also I don't want to hear about her previous lovers and sexual experiences. Love interest don't have to be virgins (although most girls are about 18y/o so it should at least be very likely that they are), but why mention other dicks, if not to make player jealous? Maybe teacher telling her student about her college sexual escapades and importance of "protection" as a joke was ok in 2020, but it's not funny now, I also don't want he hear about her slutty past. They've been classmates fow how many years, and MC decided to discuss power plant accident with Alyssa only now? The power plant facility is supposed to be sealed off and thoroughly investigated, but not only the MC can waltz in like no big deal, but also found some secret docs just lying around! Also accident happened years ago, not to mention they haven't found dad's corpse, because he was supposedly in the center of explosion, yet MC wonders if that's his blood on the floor when gets inside, so stupid. Btw, why isn't laboratory guarded? Overall the prologue sucks ass, Ep2 and onwards is where the plot kicks off and it is much nicer.
Erotica:
⠀⠀⠀Sexual content is excellent. Lots of teasing, foreplay and general build-up. Proper sex scenes are relatively rare, but of an exceptional quality. I'd have to praise animations, sound design and scene direction above all else, but can't omit small details like immersive camera movent which convey the feeling of weight and inertia of moving bodies and very hot facial expressions. Sex scenarios are also incredibly varied and can be kinky, romantic, sensual and super hot, basically no scene is the same. Riley scenes are something else, man. Sex does not happen in a vacuum - there is always a prelude and an aftermath. All in all, I think erotic content is the strongest aspect of the game, hands down. I'm usually not a fan of HS1, but this game is rare exception. Didn't even know it was possible to create such detailed and nuanced scenes in such an old game, props to modding community and the dev for a lot of work.
Dialogue/writing:
⠀⠀⠀Conversations are too quirky and unnatural. Generally speaking dialogue is cheesy and awkward. "You're a fascinating woman" - 18 y/o mc addresses his 18-19 y/o friends, nobody calls each other 'man' and 'woman' at that age, c'mon. Characters often recite recent events that we have just seen, or go on tangents about random irrelevant topics, which is bloat. Pop culture references are fine, but this many 4th wall breaks isn't. The humor and comedy skits range from okay to embarrassingly cringe. Some of them drag on for way too long, as if the author doesn't know when to stop, when cracking his mediocre jokes. I already mentioned this while describing first episode but the script is pretty inconsistent and some things just don't add up when taking passage of time into account. Also this whole 'fate is predetermined' thing doesn't make sense to me. Like if things are meant to be regardless of what you do, then why bother going back in time at all? But overall I think the story is pretty engaging, at least by AVN standards.
Visuals:
⠀⠀⠀Graphics are pretty impressive for HS1: environments, backgrounds, lighting, shadows, post-processing - everything looks professional or at least competent enough not to break immersion in the this fictional world. On the more negative note, character models kinda look the same, especially in the faces. Their design is super basic. You can tell them apart, thanks to their unique features, but that's it. Also the only difference between teenagers and MILFs are their bust size.
Relationships/characters:
⠀⠀⠀If we omit terrible introductions in ep1, there are several good romances and all characters are likeable or at least tolerable. These romances however rarely go deep as the game's main focus is the story. The abundance of females is also a big reason for it, as there are more than 20 girls/women in the roster, which makes it physically impossible to allocate enough time for each and everyone. As for personalities: there are some sluts (but not whores), some nerds, some shy bookworms, some tsunderes and bitches, and even some loonies, so a little bit for everybody. So far every MC's relationship is fuck buddies/FWBs, no girlfriends yet. So no harem either. Also no incest besides kisses (technically there are a couple of scenes with aunt 20 years in the past, but that doesn't count).
Initially wanted to give this one a ★★★☆☆, but after a while the game picks up the slack and became better by the update. So I was kinda torn between 3 and 4 stars, and decided the latter would be fairer.
Playtime: ~13 hours.
