Wait.... is there no main menu gallery in this one? Or am I just missing something?
Not on the main menu, but there is one in-game. It'll tell you when it becomes available and how to access it.
I didn't add one to the main menu because there's just a tiny bit of malleability to the scenes that are pertinent to the playthrough, such as characters referencing previous choices and also plan some that'll slightly alter appearances and stuff.
I thought it'd be corny or awkward to include a main menu replay that either railroads you into one canon, or just goes with whatever you last chose when you played the game.
I actually think the default to previous choice, is fine. That is a GREAT idea if you can DO that... and it will be so much easier to access the gallery from the main menu.
I love this game... but whilst this one has a story and characters I feel a bit more invested in than many.... ultimately I still play AVNs for the A bit... Adult... above all else... and I like to A, know what I have yet to unlock, and B, plan my gameplay around it. So a main menu Gallery, with locked scenes having a 'Hint' for how to unlock them, like Ripples for example.....makes unlocking scenes, and playing to do so, SO SO SO much easier. Just take a few notes on a pad, and start the game.... accessing them from a save, well that IS OK if your saves are EARLY, but if all you have is LATE game saves, and missed EARLY scenes.... you know what I mean?
I guess you do you, but I think such galleries (especially with locked scene hints) are the kind of QOL touches that really elevate the best games in the genre.