I am seated
I loved Bride Auction, so was soooo excited to play this!! And it didn't disappoint, I would liken the experience to an appetizer, something to whet my appetite for the main course. I enjoyed the premise (my analysis below) and I enjoyed the FL's dynamic with Xor. I didn't have the heart in me to betray him, so I ended up getting Prisoner quite a few times lol >u< As before, I really enjoy the art style and character design.
Spoilers below
I found Xor to be so adorable, cute sweet and incredibly creepy in equal measures. I am not a big fan of the my-boyfriend-is-an-axe-killer-and-I-secretly-find-that-hot genre lol. Still, I do enjoy nuanced takes/spins on the genre, and I enjoyed Xor and Nova's dynamic in that way. He might be capable of doing terrible things in the name of love. It definitely did take some pressure for the mask to slip and his "true" yandere-esque face to come out. But I liked he wasn't as yandere in the classic sense, if that makes sense. I also really loved his name--XOR--the exclusive OR lol. Kind of like the dilemma they're in. I hope that was an intentional programming joke heehee
I enjoyed the setting a lot as well. The setting as I understand it is that humanity suffered some kind of cataclysm, and the survivors are in space, headed towards a pseudo-Earth to rebuild.
My own hypothesis is that this is actually a lie to give the survivors "hope" or something to strive towards, some purpose as they drift in space. I got the vibes that while humanity may have come to end, there is no planet they are headed towards, and this is why they must so aggressively cull those who are not survival minded. In this specific setting, I suppose the method they use to remove students from the ship--an exam--serves a dual purpose. Obviously ppl have to be removed from the ship. But why not prevent people from ever having children? That prevents the unpleasantness of having to kill settlers' children, which always runs the risk of offense and insubordination. Additionally, to prevent a bottleneck or founder effect, it would make more genetic sense to select who to remove from the ship based on genetic uniqueness. Because in the past, when a tiny group leaves a large population to start a new group, genetic diversity and fitness takes a huge hit, as the new group is small and is only random sampling of the original genes. This renders the new ppl at risk of being unable to adapt in a genetic sense.
That's why I think there is no planet for these unfortunate people. Because if there was, there would be more of a pressure to retain genetic uniqueness and diversity. Instead, the exam selects for the most driven, ruthless people, who are willing to do anything to fulfill the win condition of "passing the exam". Once they pass the exam, the veil is removed, and the higher-ups will let these kids know, hey humanity is screwed. But because they have selected for the most ruthless, they will buy into the existing system and propagate it.
I can't wait to learn more about the setting in the full game!!! This was so much fun