Hello everyone. I would like to share my opinion on the game.
Maybe nothing that mind-blowing is happening in this story, it is a rare example of a realistic novel in the nische of furry visual novels.
What makes me enjoy Dawn Chorus is the cast of plausible characters with absolutely understandable thoughts, motives, fears and expectations.
I also found pretty interesting that at least some characters are making crucial decisions about themselves and their relationships with other students without Arvo's interruptions. And this is a grounding and refreshing message: we are not the centre of the universe and life will go on, regardless of our desires.
Visuals of Dawn Chorus is also solid part of the game. Backgrounds has this mood of clean and colourful PS2 titles and, at the same time, remains somewhat realistic. This resembles me phenomenon of liminal spaces, surreal places of my dreams. And, as for me, surroundings are depicting this whole feeling of coziness of a Scandinavian village. All in all, backrounds of this game certainly have a unique charm.
Speaking of characters' sprites, I think in general they are better after changes and more suiting to the other parts of game's aesthetics. Pastel colors and more detailed features feels more authentic in a story of wholesome relationships and appreciation between antropomorphic (fluffy :3 ) students.
Audio is good as well. Soundtracks are doing great job at representing calmness of the North. They are soothing and giving a sense of an otherworldly serenity.
However, I have one issue with this game. It is replayabillity. Yes, every character has unique scenes, but in every route you have to pretty much skip the same whole segments of the game again and again to reach this unique content. This can be annoying, but all in all, I understand why is that so. Dawn Chorus is also a dating game, rewriting whole story for every guy would be a nightmare for developers. So, it's rather my problem, it seems. Couldn't forget about this, anyway.
And, as I said before, the plot itself is not that breath-taking. Probably, it doesn't need some crazy events happening around, considering it's "cozy student trip" narrative. But, I think, it is a continuation of the previous problem. Could become pretty boring during 3-4th reading.
To sum up, I rate this game 7,5/10. It is a mature and well-written story about people growing up, making decisions and sharing refreshing thoughts. However, game has some problems with replayabillity.
P.S. Lake is the best. Finnish. :3