Hey!! I played the game, and gosh, I was impressed and amused by it!
First of all, I have to say I was impressed with the implementation of everything! The GUI was gorgeous and very consistent with the vibe of the game (its modern, sleek design made it feel futuristic without being outlandishly so, just like the relatable future the game takes place in!). The art was gorgeous, I did love the characters’ expression, and the shading was amazingly done amazingly well! The backgrounds were vibrant and colourful, which fit the story!
Now, for the elephant in the room, the customisation system was OUTSTANDING??? Like it made me pull out my hair, question all the years I’ve spent devving, I think it might genuinely the best one I’ve ever seen in terms of possibilities???? So congrats to the team who implemented it, and to the artists who designed the various assets so that they would work well with the colour sliders!
Now, for the story of the game. I’m quite used to Chattercap’s writing, and yet, it was very fun to discover a new side of her story-telling, as this game is definitely more comedic than her previous work. Zuri, despite having her own issues, is a character much lighter than the usual protagonists portrays (Nelli from Karamu, the socially anxious MC from MindMindMind, or the self-deprecating one from My Husband Is A Stranger). It makes sense: while Zuri isn’t a happy-go-lucky person, she is a media-savvy influencer who is not only an expert at being entertaining after a decade-long career, but who is also quite good at dealing with people.
Yet, Zuri is something quite important: past her prime. She is 36, and of course, that means she is a fossil… Okay, obviously not, life doesn’t stop at 25, but that is something that is a lot on her mind: she is getting older (and I did appreciate the fact she was older than the love interests, even the attractively broad-shouldered Hoku), and saying we live in a society that devalues women who aren’t young would be a truism. So, as an aging woman, with the symbolic age of 36 (being in her 30s, but being closer to 40 than she is to 30), Zuri has to find ways to make herself look pretty, because that’s what makes her feel relevant to society, especially considering her divorce (with a fuckface, he didn’t steal it dfvfdfg) was a blow to her self-confidence. So her struggles are rendered absolutely well, in details I won’t spoil too but which felt very interesting!
So, how to prove that, on the market of desire, you’re still an attractive woman? Compete with other ladies of course! The game gives us options when it comes to how we want to approach the competition, and on whether or not we want to humiliate other girls. But the setting of a TV reality show inspired by The Bachelor was genius when it comes to addressing the issue at the heart of the story (the consequences of the beauty expectations on women).
The game also uses that to brush on themes like constantly keeping up with trends (with Zuri, for example, mentioning she wants to go au naturel to avoid having to adapt to newer trades every single time, in the same way some people opt for “timeless” pieces of clothing just to never be out of fashion, without questioning whether or not that is their style). This theme is also carried out with the technology introduced in game, that allows women, through medication, to change appearance quickly in a reversible manner. I think it was an amazing adaptation, in universe, of the problem with fast fashion or of all the pretexts corporations find to lead us to consume more (like winter colours, spring colours etc. for clothes… who said you can’t wear pastel-pink in winter??????) I’ve been questioning recently the necessity of consumption (radicalising myself into my anti-capitalistic views), so I did enjoy this theme in game!
For the love interests, I appreciated them a lot, the two of them! Hoku might sound a bit rude at first, but I could tell he wasn’t mean-spirited, and the game never makes him go too far! I did enjoy Zuri’s dynamic with him, and even the snippets we got of his route/character made him grow on me (but to be honest, I was, just like Zuri, hypnotised by his muscular arms the moment I saw them loool).
For Orion, he was great too! I did appreciate, in particular, that his relationship with Zuri isn’t a stereotype at all. One might expect an enemies to lovers route, but in fact, there are nuances, which I really enjoyed, as they made him look more human, even with his businessman/influencer façade. And of course, it did help he was so beautifully designed!
Like, seriously, I don’t think I have a favourite between the two LIs, and I really enjoyed the two of them!!