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I was also hesitant with the art style. But it definitely grew on me. I haven't completed it yet, but I also find the story fairly compelling. I'm worried about one development that I think is coming but we'll see how it plays out.

Yes :) For me Catherine is one of the most interesting one besides Sarah. Both have quite some history of misery and wear a tough shell on the outside. Many think that people in "high society" have the best life, but in reality they are often victim of their own "status". Catherine has a natural mistrust towards everyone, especially those beneath her. Though on the inside she's a very determined and lovely girl. Sarah mainly fights her own insecurity. No wonders with a family like that.

If you like surprising turns and twists, I recommend Harem Hotel, Ripples and Lucky Paradox. But of course you can not miss out on Eternum. Eternum set new bars when it comes to AVNs. It's story as well as the perfectly used BGM is just next level. Just for Eternum I reinterpreted AVN as Audio-Visual-Novel. It has around 250+ very fitting music tracks. The story can be summarized by Ready Player One meets Matrix meets Harry Potter meets Mission Impossible :)

Harem Hotel is already a bit older and the writing style is, well, a bit more primitive. However the story has quite a few surprises I didn't see coming. Also some gut wrenching backstories just like Cosy Cafe or Eternum.. Overall once you played through them you can see quite a few parallels / common themes between them. Yet each is unique in their own way. HH is quite long and due to the day / week cycle style can be a bit grindy to progress, though still worh it. While the characters are quite diverse and complex, when it comes to their sexual preferences it gets a bit shallow. Though I'm mostly invested in the story anyways :)

I'm a patreon supporter for all of them ^^. At first I was only supporting 1 or 2, now I'm at 6. I really have to stop trying new ones. Many recommended Eternum and I always pushed it back since I don't have that much time at hand. Though it absolutely was worth it. The music alone is worth it. Caribdis has an excelent audio team. Even some of the AI generated tracks are great.