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A Modern, Immersive Visual Novel with Telltale Vibes (Early Access Review)

If you miss the choice-driven magic of classic Telltale games but want something much more immersive and interactive, this game is a must-play. Even in its current Early Access state, it perfectly nails the feeling of playing through a living, breathing interactive story between the main character and a great cast of side characters.

What I Absolutely Love

• The Color-Coded Dialogue: The current system (like blue for optional text and orange to progress main events) is brilliant. It lets you fully "hunt down" and savor every piece of lore without accidentally cutting your exploration short.

• True Player Agency: You are given the freedom to make decisions based purely on your own feelings, allowing for a deeply personalized experience.

• The Map & Freedom: The world is incredibly open and traversable, which is a massive breath of fresh air for a dating sim.

Where it Needs Polish & Progression (Feedback for Developers)

1. Better UI Clarity for Alignment Choices (The Car Scene Example) Right now, dating sims naturally separate their playthroughs into Heavenly (SFW) or Devilish (NSFW) routes, but the text choices can sometimes be incredibly jarring. For example, during the car ride to the store, the options felt like picking between being a "Total Weirdo" or "Totally Normal," in which based on the story as it is that was weird to experience as a player who plays the story based on their actions having the choices be polar extremes didnt work for me and should be modified to be toned down BUT I suggest this.

• I highly suggest keeping Orange for mainline progression, but split the exploratory choices. Keep Blue Text for SFW/wholesome options, and introduce Pink Text for NSFW/irregular options.

• Why it works: This gives the player flexibility during day-to-day interactions to shift gears based on their emotions, while still letting them know exactly what kind of tone they are locking themselves into before they click as the Text choice either is an extreme that is not normal for average players OR it is so normalized that depending on the choices it locks you in to that route which is ok BUT i feel having them separated and keeping the text normalized based on the situations be the best choice.

2. More Daily Repeatable Actions Because the game uses a Sunday-to-Saturday calendar system, the day-to-day loop can currently feel a bit stagnant. A typical day consists of waking up, working, and staying home just to see if a house event triggers.

• We can do dishes, but we should be able to do them (or other chores) every single day, Even if there are placeholders. Having repeatable tasks to organically build romance levels with characters would make the world feel much more alive and immersive since the story is based on a Friend of a Friend and that it gets Intimate over time.

• Adding a digital calendar to the in-game laptop would be a game-changer. Whether it acts as a progress tracker or a tool to plan long-term events (like scheduling gym time, playing guitar, or going shopping), it would give players something concrete to look forward to on specific days of the week.

• Another thing with the Calendar is it would Highly Elevate the Experience as the task list is awesome of the immediate things to do BUT having the Calendar would be great for knowing and seeing what days there is to do such as maybe lucy likes partying on saturday while mia enjoys games on tuesday or even Sarah likes to masturbate on fridays as everyone is away or so as it is ok to have these as generalized events and could possibly add onto them with story elements.

The Verdict

The story might be simple, but it is incredibly good and executes its themes flawlessly (Except for some Jarring Choices Available But This can be Fixed Easily). The developer is doing an amazing job, and hitting that "Wait for Next Update" wall doesn't make me feel bad because the foundation is so solid. It makes you genuinely excited for the future of the game.

Score: Thumbs Up 👍 (Highly Recommended!)

Ratings

• SFW-Events+Interactions: 7/10
• NSFW-Events+Interactions: 5/10
• Neutral-Feeling/Progression of the Game: 9/10

Updated Ratings

• SFW-Events+Interactions: 6/10
• NSFW-Events+Interactions: 5/10
• Neutral-Feeling/Progression of the Game: 8/10

Updated Notes:

• NSFW Side: Should have Repeatable Events that make the Day worth While such as Sneaking into the Shower, Interrupting During Chores Kissing Exists But cannot do anything Else Especially since one of the Interactions is Her Bending over the Table Which Could have a Repeatable Event there but all in all Just Lots of Idle Time and that the Story Really Cuts Down on it when there but without Story or some kind of Repeatable Event its lots of idling
• SFW Side: It's Great for the Day to Day But Again Repeatable Events should be Implemented so that its not much idle time and could spice up the day to day like we are dating various girls but cannot do much with them like yes lucy has the gym but nothing elsewhere or sarah which does have painting but no other chores or events either
• Neutral Side: Given the Choices in the Game Currently and systems I assume they are Hand crafted and not Reusable in which for the dates they were great and such but if a character is missing their date time like options and systems i think having an intermission screen like example sarah we go on a date and its fine but suddenly nothing there and then it skips to the car scene, i think that is OK but I feel that if the content isn't there then have an intermission screen which keeps some of the story hidden such as dates where it progresses to the car scene would be great as it keeps the flow natural and with something to look forward to as it easily turns into running simulator for chores/events/etc. Also for the Dream Sequences they were great BUT when it came down to one of them where we are forced to choose an option which locks choices in the real world compared to the dream world I feel that the Dreams should be content that adds drama and surprises rather than forcing choices OR if the dreams are to be choice based then at least make more of them and keep them neutral and such with the choices so the player doesn't know since the beauty of a VS Style Game is the Secrecy of the Routes and Choices and Hoping for an outcome.

Regardless The Game is Awesome and Highly Recommend it as it is a New Way of doing Visual Novels and Hope More Developers do this Style More Often! Especially with POV or Third Person It's Awesome!