You REALLY don't like this game despite being so deeply invested in it. It's like you're stuck in a cycle of gooning and hating.
Can you make a game of your own? I genuinely want to see what it would be like.
You look at my criticisms as gooning and hating? I try to lend as much as I can when it comes to constructive criticism. My preferences aside, this game suffers a lot from how it is designed to burn your time and your choices. It has a lot of Millennial writing and a strong reliance toward references for some of its character's primary traits. I did not get a good impression that these characters were people. And my immersion broke fully once I had tried progressing with Oriana's events. Iris' trivia at first wasn't too bad but it was the third set of questions that really brought to my attention how some of the poor phrasing and grammar screwed over something that was intended to get your mind itching rather than guessing (also you cannot fail without starting from the very beginning of the questions). Even if we were to talk about the sexual aspects to this game, sure Hazel has a lot of scenes compared to the other girls. But even her content feels rushed in parts or not thought through fully. Your first proper scene with her is at such a bad angle being one of the few animated sequences available currently. You cannot engage with most of the stuff whether erotic or in a narrative sense without being burned out trying to make sense of one or reaching the other. Whether from a lack of content since it is so early in development or it's being shoved into later chapters that take a while just to reach if you're not skipping the text directly.
Anyone can make a game but games of this nature take a lot of effort to even complete whether it is due to the way it's framework being too inefficient or the scope of the game bloats too hard to ever complete in a reasonable time frame. I am not a developer yet but I wouldn't try to leverage that as a critic which is what I am first and foremost. While the capacity to make games or any sort of media is something just about anyone can do, it takes a different skill set to be able to express one's criticisms toward an experience whether flawed or highly acclaimed. I think if this game cut out the fluff, used a bit of restraint on some of the indulgence (it fits for a few of the characters), rewarded the choices a little better, and focused in on better establishing the characters, I think it would be a much cleaner experience. It's understandable that characters like Iris and Sae are very heavy handed with their references given their respective interests. I just think it could be beneficial if it were given a little more meaningful choices to better get to know what made them (and the other girls) so heavily invested into their interests. I get that Iris is meant to be somewhat of a mystery but others just aren't there yet because the game isn't finished or ready with that content.
As the game stands currently, it is too far early to adequately judge the rest of the cast. As for a game of my own... I'm not saying anything until I actually have something to show for it. All I can say is that it isn't erotic or of that nature. I'm giving myself a year to complete it or a demo. Outside of that... I doubt I'd ever share it here on f95. My experience is more so with writing so this is a first that I hope to complete by the end of December 2026. I wish any developer luck to finish what they start, it is always a tragedy to witness something never reach the finish line whether that's due to personal or external factors. But creating an ero game is something I wouldn't mind throwing my hand at should I ever feel the day comes and I want to see if I can do it.
But if there is something positive about this game it is that the game does a pretty decent job establishing the girls' personalities. Even if sometimes it comes off as shallow or what is available currently does not showcase the other sides to who they are just yet. They at least stand out. For better or worse in some cases. It just hurt sometimes when it felt like you were just getting to know the character and you get met with disappointment when it ends or something as soul crushing as Yuka's characterization. I think so far, Hazel is the best characterized character, she's an absolute buttmunch who is more than used to crushing people in spite of the pretty face. She's also the most eager to get it on in spite of just how awful of a character Jin is. The only thing I cannot comment on is the horror, not because there's nothing to say but just because it's a bit out of my scope of experience. It does well to get the abstractness and dreamlike quality across in the visual sense at least.
