I would say... the best work so far from Love joint.
I really loved DfD and DH... but this is something even better so far.
And i dont know why people complain about the engine... its really a good one and the DEVs can do what ever they want with it... renpy has it good sides, but also flaws and its kinda a corset.
There are some things in DH and DfD which were annoying... there wasnt really a continuation of the actions you did in the episode before... some things were ignored, and than forced on you... for example in DfD i didnt pursued any other girls... but in the next episode the MC and girls kinda act that i did something with them, even had sex... which i didnt. So the actions didnt matter really... and only in the last episodes you could decide "what you want and with whom" makes most of the playthrough kinda pointless... same goes for DH. So beeing faithful or not doesnt count, i doenst has an effect on the outcome in the end... all that matter was the choice you make in the last episodes.
Hopefully its not the same thing with this game... I know many aorund here dont like to do multiple playthroughs, but for me its the better thing. To screw every girl without any consquences and in the end just to choose the endig you want is kinda weird to me. So hopefully there will be conequences if "you play the field" But if i look back to the other games, i dont think so...
Lets get back to it...
The writing is good, the story interesting. In DfD and DH there were some very very over the top and ridiculous angles in the story that were just way too much for my taste.
But in shale hill its kinda grounded now... nothing to "over the top"... the "recently" app is kinda comprehensible and works fine in the story so far without being completly unrealistic. Hopefully it stays this way... sometimes less is more i would say.
The mute MC is kind of unique but to be honest... it doesnt matter much for the game. The MC is talking just like any other person. Doenst matter if he uses signs or the voice app... to say it frankly, i dont get it why he has to be mute in the first place, it doesnt add anything to the game, kinda pointless so far to me.
But doesnt matter realy, its not a bad thing, but doenst add something to the game either.
So the renders are top, i dont know why, but the girls got some "big eyes", but its just the art-style here... they all look cute though. I really like different personas, some are likeable, some are not, but every person is unique... thats a very good thing cause in most games around here there are just some stereotypes recycled everytime... the horny slut that jumps everything, the shy cute girl with no confidence, and so on... of course shale hill does have these stereotypes too, but not too much and overall the characters are believable, kinda reasonable and overall comprehensible.
The sound is very nice, the music too... really a big plus.
I like the animations too, they are not at the top, but decent and good enough to be a plus too.
I love the Tosater-detective btw... really nice appearance after the events of DfD... cant remeber his name though, and i cant recall exactly what happens with him in the end of DfD... but i dont think there were events that lead him to be a homeless crazy guy now
Doesnt matter... important thing, he has the toaster
maybe he will be playing a bigger role and we get an explanation what happened to him after DfD in the next episodes.
Dont know what the plan is, and how much episodes youre planning... but there is already plenty of content, i would say at least half the amount of Double Homework for now... and double Homework got 19 episodes... if its going to be near 19 episodes with this one, it would be HUGE ;D
So overall... for now i would give 4/5. with more content and developing the story out it will get easily a 5/5 but for this i have to wait for some more updates... will come back to the game in a while for sure!
PS: will add this to the review section as well of course... but there no one can respond.