Review for version: 1.0 Epilogue
Despite having a bit of a backlog when it comes to AIF titles, I had to play this immediately after seeing it was made by the Picture Perfect devs.
This novel takes place over the course of a summer, ten months after the MC's parents divorced. The MC (nameable) has followed his father, rather than staying with his mother and sisters. This decision severely strained his relationship with his youngest sister and has deeply saddened his mother. It turns out that the MC did not have a real choice in the matter and his decision was for the benefit of the girls. Getting a chance to return home under the pretense of closing a business deal for his father's company, the MC convinces his father to allow him to do so. It is, at this point, you meet the women in this story.
Norah, the MC's mother, is a southern girl born and raised. Respectful and loving, she sees the best in people which can make her a tad naive but never stupid. She loves to bake but shows signs of sadness when she returns home from work at a local bakery. Being a born and raised southern boy myself, I really liked Norah's portrayal. Too often, southern characters are portrayed as redneck hicks in media, so seeing her depiction was a welcome sight. Needless to say, she was my first choice when it came to picking a LI to pursue for my first run.
Coral is the MC's youngest sister. She loves playing videogames and the two of them were creating their own when the MC left. Feeling betrayed and abandoned, she responded to his departure with hatred and contempt.
Zoe is the MC's older sister. She is an aspiring lawye. So-much-so that she has put a social life on the back burner to pursue that goal. When not pursuing her law degree, she runs a relationship blog.
Leanne is the MC's oldest sister. She no longer lives with her mother and sisters. She once pursued a career as a dancer but her failure to enter a school of dance had her give up on that goal. She shows signs of depression but tries to maintain a cheerful personality around others. Years earlier, she caught the MC peeking on her in the shower and, assuming he would grow tired of it in time, made a deal with him that he could peep on her if he wouldn't do it with the other girls in the house.
Last is Irene. Irene is the MC's step-mother. She is sent to accompany the MC to help close the deal his father tasked him with. The MC dislikes her and blames her for his parents' divorce.
This is a bit of a story heavy title so it is hard to speak about a character's route without spoiling anything, so I will try to generalize things, rather than do an in-depth review of it.
The writing is top notch. I found quite a few grammatical errors but nothing major. Wrong spelling of words that wouldn't trigger a spellchecker (his instead of this or peek instead of peak) and the occasional double word ("and and I" for example). The characters are believable and different without feeling forced.
The renders are top-notch. The characters all look very detailed, even one-off characters that you don't meet again. They are, probably, among the most realistic characters I've seen in a visual novel. Freckles, wrinkles, etc.look realistic and, for me, the eyes are wonderful. Eyes are one of the first things I notice when it comes to a character model.
If you've played Picture Perfect, then you'll be happy to see cameos of all the girls from that novel. Paris, Sasha, Miracle, Sabrina and the first three's mother all appear and have dialogue with the characters in this novel. They don't feel shoehorned in like a lot of crossovers do in VNs.
For audio, I cannot provide any input as I mute games when I play them.
In Norah's route, I experienced showering, kissing, handjobs, blowjobs and vaginal intercourse. They discuss anal while watching a show together and it seemed Norah was interested in it but I didn't get any scenes for it in my playthrough. I was happy with her story and how it ended. Didn't feel rushed or incomplete to me. It took me around eight to ten hours to play through it.
I really enjoyed this title, as well as this dev's other completed title, Picture Perfect. Like PP, Secret Summer will stay on my tablet for future playthroughs.