I reviewed this game in November 2019, so four years down the road it's due for an update.
I gave SRCP five stars in that first review based on the promise of what it showed in that very early stage of development. There was only a small amount of content, one or two characters if I recall, but the art was quality and the characters all had distinct personalities that made their stories charming and endearing.
Four years later, I'd say that the game has lived up to that promise. The art remains exceptional and Robin (JoyRideX) has done an excellent job of building a much expanded roster of characters with their own personalities, body types, and aesthetics. The stories are fun, light, and campy, which feels rather rare in this genre.
The game isn't without its quirks. As of v10.0 there's an unfortunate lack of a scene gallery and hint guide, though you can find hints in the posts here. The minigames are also a bit of a mixed bag, but there's a skip option for all of them so I can't call this a downside.
It's also seemingly given up on allowing a sandbox approach to the different character storylines in favor of a linear sequence of stories. Characters stay around once you finish their story and you can go back for a fun time at any point, but this place that the game has ended up in where it has multiple separate storylines in the style of a sandbox game but has you do all of them in sequence doesn't feel ideal. I recognize that reconfiguring it into a sandbox game would be difficult given that some stories are now dependent on others, but my preference would be to interweave some of them so that more than one is progressing at any time, more in the style of a traditional linear VN.
That said, the things that I enjoy about this game - the art, the characters, the storylines - far outweighs the negatives, which are more nuisances than anything. It's certainly not a perfect game, but five stars is hardly reserved for perfection at this point and I'm happy to give it that score.
I gave SRCP five stars in that first review based on the promise of what it showed in that very early stage of development. There was only a small amount of content, one or two characters if I recall, but the art was quality and the characters all had distinct personalities that made their stories charming and endearing.
Four years later, I'd say that the game has lived up to that promise. The art remains exceptional and Robin (JoyRideX) has done an excellent job of building a much expanded roster of characters with their own personalities, body types, and aesthetics. The stories are fun, light, and campy, which feels rather rare in this genre.
The game isn't without its quirks. As of v10.0 there's an unfortunate lack of a scene gallery and hint guide, though you can find hints in the posts here. The minigames are also a bit of a mixed bag, but there's a skip option for all of them so I can't call this a downside.
It's also seemingly given up on allowing a sandbox approach to the different character storylines in favor of a linear sequence of stories. Characters stay around once you finish their story and you can go back for a fun time at any point, but this place that the game has ended up in where it has multiple separate storylines in the style of a sandbox game but has you do all of them in sequence doesn't feel ideal. I recognize that reconfiguring it into a sandbox game would be difficult given that some stories are now dependent on others, but my preference would be to interweave some of them so that more than one is progressing at any time, more in the style of a traditional linear VN.
That said, the things that I enjoy about this game - the art, the characters, the storylines - far outweighs the negatives, which are more nuisances than anything. It's certainly not a perfect game, but five stars is hardly reserved for perfection at this point and I'm happy to give it that score.
