Pros:
-Renders are decent
-UI is nice
-Concept is interesting
Cons
-Pacing is terrible
-Not nearly enough set up/build up
-Characters are hard to believe
-Dialogue is often cringy
Edit: it seems like it does get at least a big better after the intro bit.
I think the basic premise of the game sounds interesting, and the renders are pretty good. I especially appreciate the fact that the mom character actually looks older instead of looking like a 35 year old supermodel. But that's about where my praise dries up.
I'm really trying to like this game, but there are a few things that are consistently taking me out of it. Firstly, the pacing is way to fast. Too much happens too quickly, and it the relationships develop way, way, too fast. And the second is probably a consequence that poor pacing - the character's are unbelievable, and flat.
Take Emily, for example. The way you meet her is by approaching her in a coffee shop where she is sitting alone, looking nervous, directly after she had rebuffed the waiter. Being the completely not creepy dude you are, the first thing you do is go over to talk to her.
Then later that day, continuing your very normal, not at all unhinged behavior, you happen to drive up along side her while she's walking down the street, again alone, at night. Of course, in a not alarming at all way, you roll down your window and offer her a ride, which, in defiance of all common sense, she accepts.
Now, as if our credulity was not already being stretched dangerously thin, we are suddenly informed that MC is looking for a secretary, who he wants to accompany him on his impromptu road trip to his home town, the following day I might add, and he offers the job to Emily. And somehow she misses the massive pile of red flags from strange man she'd only met that morning and accepts the job. Girl, I'm sorry, but you're just begging to get murdered.
And the game continues in that vein, with the familiarity between her and MC seemingly coming out of absolutely nowhere. It's clear that the game is trying to set up a romance between them, but there's just no foundation for it. The only real set up it gets is, in fact, my third issue with the game: the dialogue. Oh boy, is it rough in places. Particularly the MC's dialogue.
It's pretty clear that the dev is trying to write him to sound clever and thoughtful, and charming, but it comes across more like what your average 15 year old thinks all those things mean. A good example is when you're in the bar with Emily and you start telling her about your oh so interesting and original passtime - watching people in public places because, oh, just what could their stories be? Guess what? Every romcom made in the last 100 years called, they want their quirky personality trait back.
There's nothing insightful or interesting or charming about anything the MC ever says. It's just the same cookie-cutter, cardboard nothing that hollywood has been tossing in their bargin bin runoff forever. The kind of stuff that filters down into the psuedo intelectual minds of overly self-serious 14 year old fanfic writers, and will make them shudder with embarrasment when they think back on it later in life. It's just cringe and it completely take me out of the story.
So, that's where I'm at with this game right now. I'm trying to enjoy it, and maybe things will pick up once we're through the, uh, into bit. But I have to say, I don't have high hopes.
Please make more options to choose from. For example, the choice of clothes, accessories, shoes. I want to know more about the other characters and about the house. How the transition process will take place. Thank you!
