i don't really play dating sims that are just straight romance and not some insane subplot on the side (like hatoful boyfriend), but i did like this one for what it was! mostly the gender presentation options i appreciated. i hate being boxed into getting called MANLY and HANDSOME just because i'm playing as a male character, but i also don't exactly want to straight up be a girl...

i'm sad to report though that i'm not the target audience for this and probably will not be going back to it in order to get a different ending. i picked the responses that were most in character for what i'd say and even then the dialogue took me into places that i was just like "...ok" at pretty much. (which bums me out because i hate to leave him sad but oh well)

i'm not really into the "babygirl malewife" thing or the game's sense of humor in general outside of that trope, but if that's you then i'd probably recommend this i guess? he's pretty likeable and reminded me a lot of my real-life boyfriend.

actually i think that's my biggest issue, i just kept thinking about talking to my boyfriend the entire time and i have an unfortunate personality where i get really sour at the idea of talking to people other than him ... ... ... and that of course has nothing to do with the game and is just my problem

tl;dr: cute game, nice artwork, i wasn't the target audience but still had fun with it, it's free so you've nothing to lose

This VN feels like it was specifically created to pander to me, literally almost everything about it is suited to my tastes it's insane. My only beef with it is that the writing was a tad repetitive but WHO CARES edgy grim reaper dude is sexy that's all I'm here for.



(also putting a preview of their NSFW patreon-exclsuive art of the sexy reaper guy as an unlockable in the game?? Two and a Half Studios you sly dog, you got me to look at your patreon....)

My main issues with this game come from the fact that the dialogue and humor just aren't to my taste so I don't feel that giving it a low rating based on those is very fair considering it's personal preference and doesn't have much to do with the quality of the game. I really loved all of the customization options and the art!!! Kind of hard to skip through dialogue because of all of the clicking you have to do so if you want to get all endings try to save strategically so u don't have to skip much

[played via steam deck, as there is no steam deck platform option]

this game is cute, dont get me wrong, but its really nothing special. im not sure if im just old and jaded now, but the humor and writing of this really... well, it makes me realize how much of an issue i have with the VN formula. it's impossible to write a character that fits every single player possible, especially when you're writing a romance and need the love interest to bounce off of the dialogue each player chooses. you just can't capture all the nuance that comes with an individual person unless you decide to code thousands of edge-cases that tailor each route and interaction to the player, but that is so unfeasible its never been done (to my knowledge, at least) and definitely not without sacrificing the story they want to share.

grim is a real sweetie, but from day one you can see what archetype they are going for and if it doesnt work immediately to captivate you, the game... doesn't do much to try and fix that. despite trying to pretend he is anything but, grim is a very shallow character. its to be expected, i guess, from such a short window of "dating" in universe and only two-ish hours in real life, but i really struggled to put myself in this guys shoes. right off the bat you get the option to call him "babygirl", they bring up homestuck, mention things like kaomojis and slang like "rizz." it's clear who they are pandering for and the type of humor meant to attract them, which is okay! just not really for me. i cant really critique the story. not because it doesnt have flaws (i think its pretty poor overall), but because i just dont have the language for it. im sure with more time thinking about it, i can summarize it in a concise way, but this is backloggd so... sorry! if you're familiar with butterfly soup, this game is the newest version of that, just limited to one character. its uniquely charming and i think if i was 16 again, this would have hit a lot harder than it does for me now!

that said, there are a few things i like. the art is really fucking good. while some of the character creation things are a bit goofy, it's overall really great and i like the tiny bits of flavor it added to the game, even if its really not used for anything. the pet thing is cute and the neighbors story existing alongside your own is also a fun add, but the game has a lot of nothing outside of the text chains and calls. if this could have been fleshed out with maybe another week of in game bonding time, i think the game would have increased in quality dramatically.

solid dating sim. if you like it, you will probably really like it. if you dislike it, you will know right away. its free, so pick it up and give it a go if you feel so inclined. grim is a cute generic anime boy and i still would be his friend :-)