Having just played through the V0.11.7 demo, I'm genuinely and sincerely impressed by how good this game is so far! So many femboy-centric titles on itch especially are both heavily dependent on AI assets (nope) and don't really give the LI much depth beyond "is a femboy" (and optionally, "had a trauma") - and it's incredibly refreshing to see this not just clear that low bar, but soar majestically over it~
Hazel in particular feels like a genuinely well-rounded character - a bit of a menace, a bit of a sweetie, a bit of a mess, a bit complicated, a lot of fun, all bundled up in a delightful little package. The rest of the cast feel like they're going that way too, albeit we've seen less of them so far - but they really feel promising! The characters really are the strong point of this title so far, if you want depth and variety it's there.
The villain? Seemed reasonable enough at first, got to know him more, now my skin crawls every time he's on screen. I hate him. Great job on that count!
The story is solid and relatable (who doesn't dream of escaping their dull life and having a magical fresh start where everything's full of promise?), and the overall plot and individual scenes progress at just the right pace; it slows down where it needs to, and ratchets things up again to keep things fresh.
I think another real strength is in the amount of variety you can find within that story, though. If you want a big ol' femboy fuckfest, it's there for you. If you want a sweet BL without dicks waving around on screen, it's there. If you just wanna make friends and save a business, good news! I saw that the final game is intended that you can't reach everything in a single run through, which is great too - a bit of baked-in replay value!
I saw in a recent post that the game is being rebuilt from the beginning, so I guess this review is technically already out of date - but if what we've had so far was a little bit of a wing and a prayer at times, I'm really excited to see what a second bite of the cherry with a fully thought-out plan (and time to execute it!) will deliver
(And just because it feels rude not to say it - yes, of course the femboy dickings were hot 💞)