Wow, this demo really sucked me in! The writing was really impressive - I won’t lie, it hit a LOT of buttons that I find personally interesting (MC with a rich/complex backstory, complex pre-established relationships between the MC/LIs, etc.) The game has such a strong concept, and I really enjoyed how most of the choices revolved around authenticity/image, rather than purely around romance (the social media aspect of the gameplay was very interesting and thematically relevant, too!)
I think that the topic of biphobia is a very interesting and relevant one (in my own experience, I’ve found that even people who are very progressive/open can still have a lot of misconceptions about bisexuality), but it’s also one that’s difficult to tackle since you’re dealing with prejudice within already marginalized spaces. I think that the way it’s presented here is thought-provoking, with quite a lot of nuance - while obviously Ayla can date whoever she wants, the fact that her agency did deliberately paint her as a lesbian icon complicates things quite a lot, and it makes the public reaction to the scandal a lot more reasonable. (Honestly the entire thing reminded me a lot of discourse that I’ve seen on and off in K-pop/TV spheres…)
I also enjoyed both love interests, especially how different they were. Levi, of course, is very supportive of Ayla, but at the same time I like how his relationship with her is not all sunshine and roses (how Ayla is dependent on his support; how he withholds information from her/manipulates her in subtle ways, even if it’s for her own good; etc.) Cheri’s open antagonism is a bit more straightforward, but I’m looking forward to seeing how their relationship develops, seeing as how Cheri’s somewhat one-dimensional view of Ayla was shattered. (Also looking forward to seeing how the topic of biphobia is addressed in that route, considering Ayla hides it publicly.)
Overall it was a fascinating demo; I really enjoyed it!