Note (Not apart of the review and skippable): I do not write full length reviews. Of all 24 steam reviews I've made so far, only 3 have been longer than one sentence. However here I see a project full of passion and potential and it actually makes me really happy to see someone try their hand at a sub-genre that is very difficult to make right. Another thing to note is that I am not a consumer of Akemi's works (ASMR or ARG). I will write this review as objectively as possible.  I will also make it spoil free because there are no spoiler tags on itch I guess (I'm not sure if people even read itch reviews but better to be safe).  Lastly I'm writing this as I go. LASTLY LASTLY I'm doing this as a bit of writing practice so if its too long didn't read, fair enough.

The review itself:

Gameplay:

Well, it's a visual novel not much to say here.

Story:

To be honest, it's a visual novel. The focus IS THE STORY. So you'll just have to take my word for it when I describe this stuff. 

I see some subtle forshadowing.

Wow a bit of action. Hardly expected. Nothing visual but soundeffects make up for it. 

A bit of mystery

Allowing the reader to infer

It's a slice of life and the story so far just establishes your relationship with the characters. I think it does a good job at that, the voice acting really helps too. 

Characters:

I'll try my best to be spoiler free. 

Annabelle is sweet and caring with a bit of shenanigans to her. She cares a lot for the protag and it's a bit easy to tell her intentions. She has some good writing and a truly professional voice actor. 

Chiko is somehow even sweeter and their sibling relationship is one that's honestly very unique. I might be a bit biased because she reminds me of my own sister a bit. Except for the being sweet thing. 

Mayu, at first glance she seems like a shallow character with not much to hide. BUT I WAS WRONG. She has some convictions and I'll be damned does it make me curious. Great character. Kudos to the voice actor. 

Felicia. There isn't much to say from the demo. 

Horror:

I don't get scared easily so lets see how this goes. Horror games for me are either "well that was something" or "what was that lol". 

Pardon my language but fuckin hell that subtle bass startled me.

Okay so there really is only that one segment that isn't really scary.

Art:

Character Art is so good I thought it was AI for at first glance. They really show how visuals can display emotion and tell you something that can't be said with words. 

The background art is really good. My biggest issue is that is doesn't really show life at all. But maybe that's for the better. In my own personal opinion I feel like it is important to display when places are filled with people compared to when they are not. But hey, I'm not an artist and the art is really good to begin with. One which stuck with me is the changes in light that comes through the classroom window.  A last thing is that some of the outside scenery is a bit confusing. 

I'm sure some changes will happen because this looks goofy. Actually I can't put images on here. Keep thinking this is the Canvas UI. To sum it up there is a scene where you are on the roof and one of the characters is behind where appears behind a small AC unit. The background art is entirely different than background sprites (In cases where they aren't purposely drawn in). So they kinda just stick out. This is the 0.1.0 version afterall. 

It just had to be said, the art isn't going to make your jaw drop or anything. But it does stick with you. I think that really matters when making a game like this so iconic. It's why everybody gets hit with a bit of anxiety when they see Monika's infamous stare is so recognizable. 

Music:

Arklite does a damn good job at making music that sets the atmosphere. In the calm segments they fit help express the mood. This isn't really music but the silence segments do a great job of emphasising the text and thoughts of the protag or in segments that allow the voice acting to pop as it is now isolated, allowing the listener to fully focus on it.

Voice Acting:

The voice acting has been actually really great so far. Had me tweaking out though when Simon (The main protag) is pronounced is a uh... uncommon fashion. You can experience it for yourself lol. It feels very natural and put a smile to my face at certain segments.

Issues so far (As of the windows version 0.1.0):

Having this weird stutter every so often. The game keeps progressing but the text stops loading for approximately .5 seconds (I didn't actually time it just guessing). It's not so often that it is an issue but it happens about every minute on long lines of text.

Not a bug issue but a personal issue. When you learn the name of Jay an unimportant not even side character while working at the bar it still leaves him as bargoer 1. 

Other stuff note:

I won't put this in issues because it isn't related to the game but the only way to give feedback so far is the itch.io review system and comments. If this is to avoid the pressure of angry fans who constantly threaten you for even the smallest update, fair enough. If not you should create a discord or forum or something. I don't know I'm an accounting major not a community manager. 

A redundant note but funny that the names are quite random. We have Annabelle a French name, Chiko Japanese name, Felicia common in the U.S. (until recently) but is actually from old Rome(A latin origin), and Mayuka another Japanese name. 

I dislike (I realized hate is a strong word) you for making me remember physics.

The UI is kinda cute. I'm not sure how to exactly describe it but it has an arts and crafts aesthetic. 

Conclusion/TLDR:

Game is good, go try it. Not scary because it is in the very early stage. Still a couple hours of content which is amazing to actually see from such an early product.

Parting note: I really enjoyed this so far and I'm quite amazed this will be free. Although I do know that DDLC was free, very few games are. I might be a broke college student but if there was some sort of paid option like DDLC+ down the line I'd be glad to support. I really hope this game comes to fruition. If you need help with anything else please let me know (I'll do your taxes! Not actually I'm legally not able to). 

Thank you!

- SpaceCubes

Coming back to this 3 months later, I now realize how incoherent I was.