I loved this. I didn't just finish it, I finished it five times, and am planning to go back for a sixth. This is a perfect example of a game which absolutely won't win over anyone who doesn't like its genre, but excels at what it does.

So what is it? It's an otome visual novel (read: a romance visual novel targetting a presumed straight female audience), with light life simulator (i.e. schedule management — think Persona's non-combat gameplay) and rhythm-action elements. You play a girl attending an all-boys' theatre school in disguise. It is ridiculously melodramatic, and by the standards of its genre very long (I'd put it at around ten hours per playthrough), and I love it.

It's just a masterclass in How To Do A Branching Romance, with clever framing allowing for minimal changes to the story (and the musicals you perform) while recontextualising things smartly, so that aspects of the character you're focussed on in any given playthrough are highlighted. It's just extremely well put together, and I was astonished to find that all five of the routes I've currently followed were equally engaging.

I'd have gone for the sixth (and presumably final) route as well, if it weren't for Persona 3 Reload coming out and distracting me, but I've had a brilliant time with Jack Jeanne.

Reviewed on Mar 03, 2024


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