I've been trying to think of how to review this story for a few days and im still not sure how to put into words how happy and relieved it made me, i guess i'll figure it out while i write.
I'd been trying out a different VN right before this one and i had to rage quit due to the (sadly) typical "dumb naive mc who can't put two and two together is constantly humiliated by smirking hot boys (but somewhow she likes it) and loudly&proudly announces she can handle herself (she can't, as it turns out)". HeartForge recommended Perfumare on their blog, and seeing as i love their games and respect their opinion i thought to give it a chance and i've loved what ive seen so far.
I love the setting and the fact that the plot is different in each route makes it so much more interesting to play, as it offers a new experience that fits each character individually. I love the characters, who are complex and layered, and how the writing is a good example of "show don't tell", allowing characters' expressions and mannerisms to paint you a picture of who they are even through the mc's lens, which doesn't feel disconnected from the player at all. They are observant, generally careful of what they say or do in front of other people, as their situation demands. At some point they even bring up somethign mentioned in passing by another character rather than just letting it go. I think that, as players, it's normal for us to sometimes make connections that would be easier to forget in the heat of things but i feel like we've all encountered a scene where somethign was so painfully obvious and in-your-face that the fact that the main character didn't even register it felt like a deliberate choice of the writer to dumb them down so that the reader didn't get more clues, and ive felt that 0 times here. I do wish there'd been other gender options available as i generally prefer using neutral pronouns in games like these though.
All in all it's been a cool game so far and I've exhausted every option given, going back and forth to see what more i could experience. Also, for whatever reason my brain short-cricuit and made me think the game was finished when i downloaded it so you can imagine my wail of agony when i suddenly got the TBC screen lmao.
I Hope we'll be seeing updates in the future, im really curious of how this will end and being able to get to know the characters better!