I'm forced to give this a low score ATM, so, an immediate point to clear up:
I am still playing this game. I do enjoy the game. My low score is NOT MEANT to warn people off from downloading the game, but the game does have some severe flaws that need to be pointed out, in feedback.
So, what are the flaws that drag down my score so much DESPITE me thinking the game is still worth a look if the tags are up your ally?
1) FAR TOO WORDY.
I like a strong narrative, and one flaw many games have is one scene is rushed through to get to the next. Slowing down and taking time to flesh out a scene makes games better. But...
Ok, look. Many games say in 50 words what should be said in 500, and feel rushed.
This game says in 5,000 words what should be said in 500. So while I appreciate the dev trying to include deeper conversations and making everything feel more fully realized, it instead leaves the player feeling like they're drowning in dialog.
Normally, if I find myself skipping dialog in a game, it's a sign I'll delete the game sooner than later. I intend to either play through and read the story, or just not bother with a game at all. Here I find a rare exception where I am content to keep playing, but find myself skipping 40-80% of the dialog, depending on the scene, as while occasionally funny, cute, sweet, or plot relevant, it is often so overwhelming that skimming through (and the occasional scroll back to make sure nothing was missed) is enough to move it forward for me.
Think I'm being wordy here? Maybe I am. But the game is at least as heavy handed and overly wordy as I am here, and arguably more.
2) A burn so slow it's glacial.
Like stories that don't try to rush themselves, I also appreciate a slow burn to build things up. But just as this story slows to a glacial pace, so to does the relationship building.
I LIKE THE MECHANIC of building a relationship and seeing how it develops over time and in stages. But for the mom/sis, following the diaries, you do the same countless actions, including weekend exclusive actions, to fill the pages, reach the next level, do so again, repeat repeat repeat.
The mechanic isn't the problem, but the number of things you need to do is.
Over 30 actions need to be done for mom, and another more than 30 for sis, before you reach the event that raises the level. Then, you start at square one and do another 30 for each, over and over.
This doesn't count side characters, either, who also have multiple events per level.
I'm in the level 7 now. That's WELL OVER 240 events, just to finish 7 and move to 8.
And between time-sensitive and weekend sensitive, it can be a grind to get them all. Sis have 4 events and mom has 4 events in the same timeslot, and it's a weekend time slot? You get near the end of events for that level and find yourself skipping weeks just to get back to the weekend for a single 10am event. While not grindy in the technical sense, it is exhausting.
3) No gameplay at all.
Weird to take this long to get to this point, but here it is: This is a kinetic novel, not a visual novel. You make no choices AT ALL. You move on to the next scene, and it plays through. You choose nothing. There are no branching paths. This also means that if you don't want to interact with a girl, you just avoid any events with her. Great, except you'd worry that might impact the story. Well...
4) The story, outside of the core family, is a disaster.
No one has any meaningful interactions with anyone else. Store clerk is a story unto itself, and she doesn't meet anyone else. Neighbors are a story unto themselves and they don't meet anyone else. etc etc etc.
Sure, you meet characters through other people. Kelly at the spa you meet after going there with your family. And then her events are just her.
Did you think that the neighbor's story and Sydney's are connected? Well, they're not. Did you think your family will every meet their neighbors? They won't. Now, admittedly, as side character stories are NO WHERE NEAR as fleshed out as the family story, there is a lot of room for this to change!
...but thusfar, it shows no sign of changing, so I'm not holding my breath.
Laura is thinking of hiring someone for the store. Does the MC mention this to any of his other interactions, even ones who talk about wanting or needing a job? No. Because each story is an island unto itself.
Also frustrating how, in every one, MC insists he doesn't have a girlfriend. When kissed, talks about how he hasn't been kissed in a long time, etc. And plays it all off in a way we are supposed to read as him being sincere, and not bullshitting people. Because the stories are so loosely connected that if you are practically dating say, Laura, it's like she doesn't even exist when dealing with Rose.
5) Every man is evil in the world. Except for you.
This one drives me up a fucking wall. I get it. No NTR. We don't want romantic rivals. Ever woman is either a virgin or untouched for so long that she might was well be one. Fine. Whatever. Some of that I'm OK with, and some is can shrug and accept.
But EVERY SINGLE MALE CHARACTER WHO IS NOT THE MC is a rapist, or beats their sister or wife or daughter, or is otherwise the scum of the earth. Even characters not seen and merely referred to. It gets pretty fucking old.
so, in summery?
I don't care about the visuals. It's an HS game, and is what it is. That's fine.
It's an incest focused slow burn game where you play someone who genuinely cares about his family, and even has some severe internal conflict about some of what he's done and a desire to come clean and pay the price (which, lucky for him, is usually complete forgiveness).
The side characters are interesting, and so is their stories, even if each one al most seems like it is trying too hard. They work enough that you want to see them resolved.
The game has a decent amount of good going for it. And that's why I say you should play it and enjoy it.
But you shouldn't sugar coat it. The flaws are glaring. And I'm hoping that pointing them out, while still explaining why I like the game and why you should give it a chance, inspires the dev to look a second time at how they approached things, and wonder what they can do better in the future.
Far too much has been done in this game for it to be conceivable to address my concerns, even if the dev were so inclined (with the exception of pulling disparate stories together). So the best bet is to finish this game, as it has been handled thusfar. But should the dev choose to make more games in the future, I hope they look at what was loved about this game... and what was criticized, and use the critical feedback to help navigate their future game designs, to account for issues were we felt this game was lacking.
Critical feedback does not mean a product isn't good, or isn't enjoyable, or that it shouldn't be supported. And I'm hoping, if they read this, the devs realize that.
I am still playing this game. I do enjoy the game. My low score is NOT MEANT to warn people off from downloading the game, but the game does have some severe flaws that need to be pointed out, in feedback.
So, what are the flaws that drag down my score so much DESPITE me thinking the game is still worth a look if the tags are up your ally?
1) FAR TOO WORDY.
I like a strong narrative, and one flaw many games have is one scene is rushed through to get to the next. Slowing down and taking time to flesh out a scene makes games better. But...
Ok, look. Many games say in 50 words what should be said in 500, and feel rushed.
This game says in 5,000 words what should be said in 500. So while I appreciate the dev trying to include deeper conversations and making everything feel more fully realized, it instead leaves the player feeling like they're drowning in dialog.
Normally, if I find myself skipping dialog in a game, it's a sign I'll delete the game sooner than later. I intend to either play through and read the story, or just not bother with a game at all. Here I find a rare exception where I am content to keep playing, but find myself skipping 40-80% of the dialog, depending on the scene, as while occasionally funny, cute, sweet, or plot relevant, it is often so overwhelming that skimming through (and the occasional scroll back to make sure nothing was missed) is enough to move it forward for me.
Think I'm being wordy here? Maybe I am. But the game is at least as heavy handed and overly wordy as I am here, and arguably more.
2) A burn so slow it's glacial.
Like stories that don't try to rush themselves, I also appreciate a slow burn to build things up. But just as this story slows to a glacial pace, so to does the relationship building.
I LIKE THE MECHANIC of building a relationship and seeing how it develops over time and in stages. But for the mom/sis, following the diaries, you do the same countless actions, including weekend exclusive actions, to fill the pages, reach the next level, do so again, repeat repeat repeat.
The mechanic isn't the problem, but the number of things you need to do is.
Over 30 actions need to be done for mom, and another more than 30 for sis, before you reach the event that raises the level. Then, you start at square one and do another 30 for each, over and over.
This doesn't count side characters, either, who also have multiple events per level.
I'm in the level 7 now. That's WELL OVER 240 events, just to finish 7 and move to 8.
And between time-sensitive and weekend sensitive, it can be a grind to get them all. Sis have 4 events and mom has 4 events in the same timeslot, and it's a weekend time slot? You get near the end of events for that level and find yourself skipping weeks just to get back to the weekend for a single 10am event. While not grindy in the technical sense, it is exhausting.
3) No gameplay at all.
Weird to take this long to get to this point, but here it is: This is a kinetic novel, not a visual novel. You make no choices AT ALL. You move on to the next scene, and it plays through. You choose nothing. There are no branching paths. This also means that if you don't want to interact with a girl, you just avoid any events with her. Great, except you'd worry that might impact the story. Well...
4) The story, outside of the core family, is a disaster.
No one has any meaningful interactions with anyone else. Store clerk is a story unto itself, and she doesn't meet anyone else. Neighbors are a story unto themselves and they don't meet anyone else. etc etc etc.
Sure, you meet characters through other people. Kelly at the spa you meet after going there with your family. And then her events are just her.
Did you think that the neighbor's story and Sydney's are connected? Well, they're not. Did you think your family will every meet their neighbors? They won't. Now, admittedly, as side character stories are NO WHERE NEAR as fleshed out as the family story, there is a lot of room for this to change!
...but thusfar, it shows no sign of changing, so I'm not holding my breath.
Laura is thinking of hiring someone for the store. Does the MC mention this to any of his other interactions, even ones who talk about wanting or needing a job? No. Because each story is an island unto itself.
Also frustrating how, in every one, MC insists he doesn't have a girlfriend. When kissed, talks about how he hasn't been kissed in a long time, etc. And plays it all off in a way we are supposed to read as him being sincere, and not bullshitting people. Because the stories are so loosely connected that if you are practically dating say, Laura, it's like she doesn't even exist when dealing with Rose.
5) Every man is evil in the world. Except for you.
This one drives me up a fucking wall. I get it. No NTR. We don't want romantic rivals. Ever woman is either a virgin or untouched for so long that she might was well be one. Fine. Whatever. Some of that I'm OK with, and some is can shrug and accept.
But EVERY SINGLE MALE CHARACTER WHO IS NOT THE MC is a rapist, or beats their sister or wife or daughter, or is otherwise the scum of the earth. Even characters not seen and merely referred to. It gets pretty fucking old.
so, in summery?
I don't care about the visuals. It's an HS game, and is what it is. That's fine.
It's an incest focused slow burn game where you play someone who genuinely cares about his family, and even has some severe internal conflict about some of what he's done and a desire to come clean and pay the price (which, lucky for him, is usually complete forgiveness).
The side characters are interesting, and so is their stories, even if each one al most seems like it is trying too hard. They work enough that you want to see them resolved.
The game has a decent amount of good going for it. And that's why I say you should play it and enjoy it.
But you shouldn't sugar coat it. The flaws are glaring. And I'm hoping that pointing them out, while still explaining why I like the game and why you should give it a chance, inspires the dev to look a second time at how they approached things, and wonder what they can do better in the future.
Far too much has been done in this game for it to be conceivable to address my concerns, even if the dev were so inclined (with the exception of pulling disparate stories together). So the best bet is to finish this game, as it has been handled thusfar. But should the dev choose to make more games in the future, I hope they look at what was loved about this game... and what was criticized, and use the critical feedback to help navigate their future game designs, to account for issues were we felt this game was lacking.
Critical feedback does not mean a product isn't good, or isn't enjoyable, or that it shouldn't be supported. And I'm hoping, if they read this, the devs realize that.