i finally played through step 4 and i was reminded of how much i love this game <3 at first i was hesitant to list off all the things i love about this game but im gonna go ahead and do that because if a game is so good and so immersive that i play it in basically one sitting, i am obligated to praise it. (potential spoiler warnings idk i dont really go in depth about anything)
- this may not be important to some people but i love that step 4 mentions cove is autistic. it made me connect with him a lot more now that we had another similarity and its always nice to see more characters in media that just... are autistic.
- the customizability !!! and decisions !! outside of the character creator, i loved that we were able to make our character feel a certain way about their body and identity, and theres even a part to define your sexuality if u want. and even changing your pronouns in-between steps has an effect, even if its a small one like the story mentioning that characters used your new pronouns. just the fact you can be lgbt warms my heart.
- speaking of lgbt i love that there are multiple lgbt characters within the story !! especially terry it made me happy when it mentioned that terry and the player would confide in each other about changes and gender if the player was also trans.
- the description mentions this but it really is a "feel-good" and "feel-better" game. maybe not in the way they intended but i played through as myself so to hear characters i loved reassure me and tell me things would be okay about situations i had dealt with / am dealing with, it did make me feel better <3
- more of a different vibe than the other points but i loved that shiloh and jeremy were here :) its cool to see characters from a creators other game make an appearance but it was like a little treat this time because those two are actually my favourites from xoxo droplets
- honestly loved drawing out the confession until the very last moment, to the point that cove was the one who confessed. and in general i love that there are different ways to establish their relationship whether its at the beginning of a step or in one of the moments.
these arent all my thoughts but hopefully it gets the idea across<3 i stayed up way too long to finish this in one go so if you see any typos: no you dont