[Review for v0.1]
Genuinely quite impressive first release. I was brought into the game at first because of the renders and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they're not only really good, but not even close to being the best part of the game altogether.
The MC - is interesting and his dynamics with each of the LIs are solid. He's somewhat cheesy and I appreciate that this is pointed out and intentional, his lack of proper social interactions actually served to make his character a lot more interesting as well as unique and it paid off really well. I'll admit some of the scenes where he lost his control were genuinely hard to read and that on its own right is a positive point for the game, despite perhaps being a deal-breaker for some - of course, this type of thing impacts everyone in different ways and being honest it's rare for me to invest in a protagonist or a story enough so that seeing that sort of thing genuinely makes me genuinely feel anything, and that alone makes me think like there was a bunch of thought put into the writing and that there's a bunch of character development to come.
The Premise Itself - feels a little cliché. But not in a way that actually hinders how enjoyable it is in any way. It's reminiscent to what you'd expect from a lot of sports-related media but the execution is extremely well done, to the point where it's hard not to feel invested. It feels personal, everything is set up in a very neat way and everything feels at least in part intentional.
The Characters - are honestly very good in ways that compliment one another. Dialogue feels incredibly natural save for some of the more 'absurd' bits, but nothing close to being egregious to take the immersive value away from it. Each character has a unique personality that doesn't 1:1 line up with your typical character/love-interest archetypes and that's something that makes them feel more alive and 'individual' as well as make the interactions between them and the protagonist feel a bit more real.
The Writing - is far from bad, either. I couldn't even consider skipping any of the content or dialogue and even found myself rolling back to re-read something I thought I hadn't properly read yet. Good amount of content, too, and the set-up for the rest of the story and the game proper feels good. Character introductions were handled nicely and I feel that the protagonist showing genuine effort to overcome his shortcomings and better himself as a person was a very good mood to establish sympathy from the player's perspective. The warning beforehand was very welcome, too, and all that put together made the overall experience enjoyable. Nothing feels too forced or out of place and it just genuinely feels like the beginning of a nice story about self-improvement and just generally cool sports-related fun. Despite having only one NSFW scene so far - and them apparently not being the focus of the game (Fortunately) - I don't expect them to lack, either. Modelns are good, animations are good, writing is hot, overall good stuff.
TL;DR: This is an all-around very solid and promising first release. Excited to see what comes next
It's clear there was genuine effort put into the actual game as well as each individual character and the passion behind it shows. Very impressive in general, but even moreso for a first release. Wish all the best to the Dev.
