Having just 100%'d the game, I am incredibly happy to say that I liked it even more than I thought I would - and that is saying A LOT.

I absolutely loved my first route (Caesar's good ending), and I thought no other ending would top it because she was my favourite to begin with. What could possibly be better than getting the best girl, and it being the CANON ENDING? But I was exhilarated to find out that I was only half right. While it remained my favourite ending, the rest of the package doesn't feel like it's trying to compete with itself. It just expands everything.

As sweet and interesting as romancing every girl is, it's also amazing how you keep learning more and more about the setting, about its issues, and, through the bad endings, about its horrendous consequences. It's the first time a dating sim visual novel has made me care so much about the world it takes place in - arguably, as much as I cared about the characters themselves. I came here for the cuties, but I stayed because I was ENGAGED (in the story - didn't get to do that with the girls, surely because I am Bad At Videogames and not because of the barriers put in place by an awful fascist system.)

But talk about cuties, I would be lying to myself if I were to not mention Margherita at all. My goodness. She is so wonderful. I love how she isn't just a blank slate to represent the player, but a genuinely fleshed out (and REALLY FUNNY) character whom you feel connected to not as an avatar at your command, but as a, well, as a character. When I reached Augustus's bad ending, I didn't feel bad for not being able to get together with her - I felt bad for MARGHERITA not being able to get together with her. You end up playing for her sake, and, in my (limited) experience, that's incredibly rare in this kind of game. Props to everyone who made sure Margherita was the absolute MVP of this game, because the whole experience is so much better thanks to her. She deserves the world.

tl;dr GAME GOOD