This game is fairly good, but could use some slimming down and refinement.
The Good:
- The MC is a nice guy.
- The two main LI's are really solid.
- While I typically dislike sandbox, this one is well done.
- Several interesting side-characters
- It has pretty realistic ( about as realistic as you can be in these games ) character development.
- I really like the diary. You get intimate insight into what the characters are feeling & thinking.
The Bad:
- As as I mention up top. The game could use some sliming down. I'll explain below.
- The game has tons of renders. Literally thousands. But a lot of those renders (if not most) are just different facial expressions. Raised eyebrows. Smiles. Eye movements. On one hand, it makes the conversations more realistic. On the other, it adds a lot of unnecessary filler.
- The dialog is similar, too much filler. Every event has lots of dialog. This review will probably have a comparable number of words as each conversation event has.
Now, I'm getting into the style of the game itself.
It's very much a day-by-day slice of life game. But as I said above, too much filler.
Just talking about the main 2 LI's. You have an activity for every hour of the game, starting at 7AM and going until midnight . You also have multiple things you can do for that activity. So in total, we're probably talking several dozen events per level per LI.
So wait a second. Several dozen events per character? That's awesome! But here is the issue: A lot of the events become very repetitive, even if they're technically different events. The characters more or less proclaim their love 3 different ways per activity. That makes the game feel grindy, even though it technically isn't a grinder game.
I personally think, instead of having events from 7 AM to Midnight, that having a morning event -> noon event -> afternoon -> evening -> night or some variation of that would be better. You'd get the same amount of progression, but cut a lot of the filler.
Now, onto the side-characters. As I said above, they're solid. Yet they suffer from similar issues as the main LI's do. But I'm not going to talk about filler renders or overly wordy dialog. I'm going to talk about the progression itself.
I think this is when the level system hurts the most. It makes sense for the main 2 to be slower burns. But I do not believe the same for the sides. For example, Mrs. Tyler in this update ( 7.4) has masturbated with MC, taken risque pictures with him and shown him her boobs, multiple times. Yet she, technically, has 0 direct sexual content with him.
That doesn't make sense and why the level system is flawed when it applies to the side characters. She is *only* level 3, so it's "too soon" for sexual content with her. But the way she behaves would imply she'd jump on MC's dick in a moments notice. She isn't the only side-LI who is like this. Their progression isn't logical. They buildup a lot of sexual tension fairly quickly...and then do nothing?
- This is a minor issue. You can make money in the game, yet only need to buy something a few times per level. You actually automatically gain more money each day, I have over 75k so far. More ways to spend the money you've hoarded would be nice.
So yeah, I guess this is getting a bit long so I'll wrap it up. This is one of the only game on here where it'd be better if it had less. Less renders. Instead of 1200 average renders, do 400 great ones. Instead of countless lines of repetitive dialog and events, have quicker, shorter and more organic dialog. And just because you have a level system doesn't mean some characters can't have quicker progression that meets their personalities.
All that said, I do like the game. I play every update. 3.75, so I'll round to 4.