Progress when reviewing: S2 Ch.1b:
Another banger that, unfortunately, starts rather weak. So before I go into it more, for everyone reading that, make sure you play until at least chapter 4-5 as the game picks up massively after the first 3 chapters.
All in all, a great game. The dev learned, after a rather weak start, how to use the HS2 engine properly and the animations and scenes become better and better.
The story itself is engaging, but please be aware that it involves a lot of mystery and horror elements (I missed that at first) next to having a lot of comedy aspects. To be honest, I really don't like the whole mystery/horror setup, but that is not because it was done especially bad, but because I just absolutely don't like the genre.
The game has a few sandbox-y elements, but it seems the dev decided that most can be skipped, as it seems, there was some backlash. Especially for the "mystery" scenes, where you are supposed to investigate a bit, the dev provided a fully railroaded VN option if you so desire.
I can not say much on the quality of the horror or mystery, as I do not really play anything like it, so I do not have much experience. What I can say is that there are a few attempted, light, jump scares which were pretty obvious, though. It felt like the whole mystery/horror genre was dropped towards the end in favour of a more general fantasy setup, but who knows what happens going forward.
Even though I do not have much experience, I know that making good horror is a really hard thing to do, and I kinda think the game does not really profit from the genre if it's in its core, a porn game.
The last chapter in particular seems to have dropped a bit in quality, unfortunately, but please ignore the doom sayers in the comments of the post, as they are talking out of their ass as usual. Just because the story hit a bit of a bump in the road does not invalidate the rest of the game. I am sure the dev will get right back on track.
Minor spoiler ahead regarding the use of "dreams" or "illusions" in the game:
All in all, definitely can recommend the game and I am looking forward to seeing more!