If you've played another Sequel game, you know what to expect. Of note, the level up system and manaflask item is added from Asylum (I preferred Awakes' system personally, but there is a lot of versatility to this one, even if skills are too expensive IMO)
If you haven't, key points:
-You are a rare man in a dying world of magic and technology, on the cusp of total collapse.
-Your character cannot fight, and tag along with a growing gang of resistance fighters (all female plus a trap) against the local threat to the entire world.
-You socialize/romance in a central hub, and you are not restricted in who you pursue. You are the only man, ladies have to share. Skippable sex scenes if you aren't interested.
-Points of no return are clearly marked, and you are never rushed, although the world only opens up and events with the ladies unlock as thee plot progresses.
-Strong characterization for the ladies', with a lot of freedom in class-building.
-Dark themes and settings.
If you are new to the series, you will miss references but still understand the plot. I do recommend you grab the other games though. The second and third games are on this site, and Awake has an amnesia plot that lets it stand alone comfortably.
Legitimately fun gameplay, unless you really hate RPGMaker games, and excellent writing and translation.
EDIT BELOW
I've finally had a chance to finish the game and... I'm a little disappointed.
Just before this dropped, I had literally just 100%ed Blight, the first game in the series, and was replaying Awake. I was excited and wrote a hyped up review after a few hour, without saying much of value.
I don't like Dita very much. I honestly found most of the socialization boring this time around. Stuff moved too fast (the trap went from "I don't know what I am" to "I'm a man and want to get fucked" over the course of 1 socialization and a way too early sex scene.).
The combat has more going on, I like the side character recruitment shit, I liked the story for the most part. The bosses were hard, and I had to grind more than I remember, but I feel like the game was shorter. I had to grind because less happened between boss fights, and I leveled up slower as a result.
The skill tree isn't bad, really, but the skill prices are way too much. Giving Kuu enough healing requires buying no attack abilities for like 40 levels. There isn't enough diversity in roles to justify 6 playable characters. Colony did it right with 4. We have heavy two physical attackers, one dedicated mage, a rouge/healer thing, Dita with heavy attacks and the completely mandatory bind ability, and a tank. It's clunky, and I never found a reasonable choice between the berserker and machinist (passive support, sure, but I already have a dedicated healer and tank, I need some form of damage output that doesn't run on a 4 turn cooldown and require using a skill to enter fight mode or 5 levels of skill points to buy a passive)
I went back and replayed Colony before finishing this, and yeah, I wasn't just burned out from like 40 hours of Blight. A lot of this just never landed right. The postgame stuff almost feels obligatory. OOOH, three bonus super bosses and digging up the true cause of all human suffering, oooohhhh. Blight had a cool new adventure in a new region with huge worldbuilding consequence, 4 super ultra bosses of ultimate power, an arena, and a bunch of little fun character stuff around town. Wandering around Windstilla and trying to solve shitty puzzles that tons of cheaper, shittier RPGMaker games churn out every week just isn't comparable.
The story was good (though I adore this world), the humor and writing was good (though some of it feels obligatory. Haha, beetles, amirite?), the combat (especially bosses) had some major retooling (though credit-roll boss was straight infuriating, the fuck you do that without grinding?) I feel like the game hurry's along too much. I hope the dev isn't burning out. I miss Rabi, she straight up the spirit of the series.
I'd do 3 and a half if I could.