This game is quite the mixed bag. On the one hand, I like the way the game is set up, and I'm looking forward to getting to know more characters. On the other hand, playing it is often tedious and sometimes confusing.
1) Time. While the time system makes sense, it quickly became one of my least favorite aspects of the game. The earliest parts of the game don't require you to pay attention to the time much, but after your first working session with Lana, when she tells you to go see her dad afterwards, you won't find him until the next morning. Sure, it makes sense, I wouldn't want to hang out at my workplace in the evening either. Basically, this it the moment where the game teaches you an important lesson: The evening is useless. Almost everything you do requires it to be morning or noon. And, almost everything you do makes it evening after you're done. Ironically though, the one time I wanted it to be evening, I was on the Omega-35 with no convenient way to progress time. So I went back to the ship and had to find something else to do. But of course, that also meant I had to change my clothes first. Which brings me to the next point:
2) Clothes. The MC has two outfits he can switch between in his bedroom; his uniform for working and a casual outfit for... other stuff. While it makes the game more immersive, having to manually change outfits is very annoying. The main reason is how tedious navigation is: When you realize you need to wear your other outfit, it takes about 2 clicks to get back to the map screen, 7 clicks to get to the bedroom and change, 3 clicks to get back to the map screen again, and about 2 more clicks to get back to where you started. That's 14 clicks for something arguably unnecessary. I get the necessity of wearing certain clothes for certain activities, but I don't think anyone would complain about MC just always wearing the right outfit without the player having to micromanage this.
3) Direction. There are a few times where the game is a bit cryptic on what you should do. For example, to arrive at Omega-35, you're told to interact with the navigation map on the bridge. But doing so might lead to the message that you have to meet Asha first. Which is not helpful, because even if you happen to remember that one of the three girls you walked in on while they were changing was called Ashalanora, and that Asha would probably be her, that still doesn't tell you what to do. What you need to do to progress is talk to the Captain, not once, but twice, and then keep going from there.
And that's not the only time a name just shows up seemingly out of nowhere. On Lana's questline, when MC wants to avoid her, the hint the tablet gives mentions "Anna" wanting to go to the station. Who is Anna, you ask? It's what you get when you misspell Lana. Obviously. This one isn't a problem, since it still tells you where to go, but you gotta wonder how this even happens...
To summarize, this game has great potential. The content is good. But unfortunately, it is buried under tedious things like navigation, timing, and having to wear the right clothes. If we had a more efficient way to get around, a conveniently located button to progress time, maybe a shortcut button to open the tablet (rather than always having to go into the inventory), and no clothing system, that would make the game much more pleasant to play.
. I have a question about that.
