Below is the review I wrote that the Dev asked me to remove. Sister? What? When I felt bad for him and added an edit at the end and moved my rating from 1 to 3 stars, he reported the review and had it removed. I bent over backward, giving this guy the benefit of the doubt. Yeah, not anymore. I emailed the mods, we'll see, but my review will likely go back up. In case it doesn't, here it is. One star. I don't feel bad anymore.
First things first. The developer deserves credit and praise for his willingness to clean the slate and start fresh. That is the hardest thing to do as an artist and content creator. It's almost impossible not to be defensive and sensitive when our hard work is criticized. But this willingness to embrace criticism when it's fair is essential to success as a creator.
This is a remake of a game criticized primarily for its uninspired and clunky use of the English language. That's why I was disappointed to find a spelling error in the first sentence of the game. We recently attended "collge." Why our returning from college is essential to the story is unclear as of yet. (Dev, when you tell a story, be aware of Chekov's gun--every detail you take the time to mention should be meaningful. ESPECIALLY DETAILS IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO INCLUDE IN THE FIRST SENTENCE.) We return home and are confronted with a disturbing turn of events. People in our community have been disappearing.
This might horrify and cause enormous unease for you or me. For the MC? Old news. When his friend calls to warn him that the town has changed since he left (people occasionally vanish now), the MC reassures his friend that he's heard the news. Obviously?! What? Does his friend think he's an idiot? That would be like not having heard about "the covid." (Direct quote on the last part.)
My journey through the novel ended there. The Dev is adamant that he has used a professional translator and editor. Given the misspellings and awful writing in the first bit of dialogue, I have doubts about that.
It's a shame because the renders are great, and the idea of people mysteriously vanishing isn't a trope you often see on this site.
Unfortunately, the writing in this post has undergone closer editing than this game. And that isn't forgivable in a remake.