It hurts my heart to give this game three stars, but while I enjoy it, I also have some complaints I feel should be brought up regarding some of the core aspects of the game that really stand out. 

My first and biggest complaint is the writing. While at times it flows very good and very natural, there are times more frequent than I'd like to admit it all feels like a first draft. 

I was very excited to play the game because of the queer aspects--and the warnings made me believe the game would be for a mature audience. If I'm not mistaken, it is supposed to be for a mature audience. But when the game handles queer aspects, it feels like it's talking to the mature audience it's intended for like we are children who need everything spoon fed. And, as much as I hate to say it, the other heavier topics follow this pattern. 

The only one that felt natural was the first comment on SA. Our demon boy was excited while expressing what happens to sexual assaulters, and our angel guide expressed discomfort at the descriptors and murmured a soft "even if they do deserve it," it felt natural. It felt like those were strong opinions the characters actually had, and it showed one was excited and elated at such grotesque punishment/torture for that, while the other expressed discomfort at hearing about it and had the sentiment that, while deserved, it made him uncomfortable to hear. 

None of the other addressed "heavy topics" felt the same. They felt like the game was holding my hand so I knew 'this is queer, this is bad people, this is consent...' and so on. None of it felt natural, and felt like a last minute add-on instead of something well thought out. This follows throughout almost the whole game and the topics I was most looking forward to, as well as the characters. 

I truly feel like this game needed a beta reader for what the writers came up with. And a few more drafts before publishing. For ten dollars, that is a lot for what the game itself has to offer--and the quality should reflect the price. I feel bad to say this, but I feel as a player it is my job to be honest with the developers and say that the price was not worth the product itself. 

My second complaint follows the issue with the price--a lack of options. We have some to progress the story, or some to decide who we want to be (more glaringly obvious than needed, but I digress), but for a game that cost ten dollars, I wish we got to see more options. I thought finding the keys, we could get the option to take or leave them. I thought going with who we wanted would be an option we could choose. I thought asking questions, or siding with people when DJ starts getting unnecessarily upset at someone would be an option. 

We as a player do not get enough options to progress the game in a way I feel we would like. I understand making a game takes time, and I support what me buying the game went towards, however for it to be something more people are willing to pay for, the product should be worth it. It should feel like a game we actually get a lot of chances to work for the ending we want. 

For a game about life, death, utopia and hell, the characters all feel too 'good'. It feels like the creators were too afraid to give anybody negative traits. 

Which brings me to my third problem. The characters and how they are written.

I was very excited for the game based off the premise and the character designs--they are STUNNING, and stand out as creative above all the other games I wanted to buy at the time! I still believe the character designs are very creative and I actually think whoever designed them did an incredible job. 

But that's as far as the praise for characters can go--because everyone feels one dimensional. This is most likely another problem with the writing--but everyone feels like a first draft written on paper. Of good traits, and the bad traits are just 'flaws' like "cares too much", "secretly sad :(", or "a dad who cares about his kid". These are not flaws. And, especially in humans and demons, characters SHOULD have flaws. 

But, no. Nobody has flaws (that the game addresses). Everyone is actually perfect for Utopia and Hell isn't all that bad, just Earth with a better legal and justice system. The demons? Demons don't have to be evil. People from hell don't actually even have to be bad--they're ALL just misunderstood. 

There's no complexity--with the characters, Utopia, or Hell. No flaws, nothing that makes this game highlight what I think it was TRYING to, with Utopia being a present for being good and earning a spot with trying to have the best heart someone can have, and Hell being a reflection of Earth--bad people roaming about, torture for their misdeeds, and those who were never dealt a better hand. And Limbo, for the indecisive. 

There's glaring issues with how I THINK the game is meant to portray these places at, because the game likes to over-explain everything except for the one thing I have the biggest questions on. 

It feels like a middle finger to people who don't want to go to literal Hell, but can't dedicate themselves to showing WHY. Is Utopia secretly corrupt? Are they not allowed to show flaws they actually have? Can they be so different from humans, devils, and angels? Is there a difference besides outcome? Why is Hell portrayed as better? Is it just because it isn't Utopia? What does that mean for those in Utopia? 

I have so many questions, some I didn't even write down, and I feel like none of it is answered. 

I like the game. It hurts to give it three stars, but I can't rate it any higher and call it an honest review. While I enjoy it, I also want to bring up genuine flaws I have with it. I would LOVE to see the game oneday redone with more care for the final product, a deeper dive into the content it holds, to see a PROPER version of what this game could offer, but I'm sorry to say that the version I got wasn't that version. It still feels incomplete. It still feels like the demo--something that isn't finished and may not be. 

More writers and beta readers would do the game very good. As well as beta testers, so if they have questions they can be answered in the game itself. So it can feel COMPLETE. 

I can't say I'd recommend this game to others at full price. If the game were to go on sale for like three dollars, I'd scream at everyone to buy it before it goes back to full price so they can enjoy it, and get their moneys worth. 

(a small miniscule complaint I have is the voice actors; it would have been very cool and felt like better representation than the dialogue tried giving to see actual trans people voice a trans person. I remembered there were a few trans characters and I kept waiting, and when I checked the page again I found all the people I met already WERE the trans people. a missed opportunity that would have been great to see)