very wild to find out this game got picked up again after being in limbo for so long, i played the demo last night and i had some thoughts...
i, of course, realize that because it is under a new studio, it will not be the same product that it would have been under its original creator. and this is fine! however, i do think its worth mentioning to others interested that this is... well. hardly anything at all like the original.
the overall feel of the story/vibes are incredibly different, giving the air of something like Diabolik Lovers, in a way. (which is fine, if that's your thing.) i think the loss of the cozy college-life vibe that was present in the original is a real shame, because otherwise it becomes kind of generic? you could very easily change the names of the characters to something completely different, and it will be just another vampire otome--which isn't what drew me into the characters 5 years ago.
and speaking of which, the characters seem kind of... one-dimensional so far? the dynamics between them all (or lack thereof) kind of feel hollow or flat, and feel a bit trope-y in the limited dialogue present in the demo. (for example, yvonne seemingly being presented as a stereotypical sexy/mature older woman, rather than elegant and kind like she originally was... kind of took me out of it.)
i only say this to say that i hope its different in the full release; because where the original took me nearly 3 hours to complete, this was only around 30 minutes. (unless i missed some parts of it... excuse me if i'm wrong.) i was a big fan of how human the original felt, which made it stand out in the sea of generic anime vampire otome games.
which, again! is totally fine and i love a good classic vamp game! but if you are coming here from the SWT you know and love, it is important to keep in mind that it HAS been changed from the ground up under new development staff.
i digress. i will say that i have wishlisted this game on steam and i DO want to see it succeed if it happens to be a good final product! (and frankly, it is what OG backers deserve after so long... as much as i love the OG, it is a shame about everything that happened and i only have best wishes for the creator. v_v) however, as a fan of the game i do have my own thoughts about the direction it took in the end. i am not going to pretend that its the same game, but others will expect it to be similar just as i originally did, and they should be aware of the differences.
with that all being said, i will say some nice things! even despite the change in direction for the characters, the voice acting is a nice touch and i think the respective actors did a great job. :) i also enjoyed the music and the art is pretty! yvonne looks very pretty, especially in the lineart above this comment section.
thank you for reading this if you sat through my whole comment LOL. again, i don't mean this comment to be malicious in any way, and i hope the current team does not take it that way; in the end, i just hope that the OG backers and fans are happy with the end product, and i hope this new team can deliver that. i'm sure my thoughts won't have much weight as its already close to the planned release, but i still wanted to share after playing the demo.
cheers