This review contains spoilers
(Review from my Steam account)
While I liked this game overall, I feel reluctant to recommend it. I really enjoyed the themes of the game: it truly captures how difficult adult life can be. As someone who first picked up the game in high school and play it again in his twenties, the themes feel so much more emotional to me now and I'm grateful I decided to give the game another chance after several years.
The gameplay itself I found very enjoyable, even for someone who doesn't typically play choose-your-adventure romance games. I felt so invested in all the different arcs and characters (especially Markansas!) in the game, and I was so shocked to see how influential some of my actions truly were throughout the game.
Unfortunately, however, I felt very disappointed by the finale. For a game centered on so many life decisions, I really expected to see a much more climactic epilogue. Instead, the outcome of the game is solely based on a series of answers you give at the epilogue and how much money you've earned in the game (which you can grind for at the final chapter anyway). I also wish that the endings had much more nuance to them; instead, the endings all share similar plotlines, except they happen to different characters.
While I still feel invested in the storyline and the characters (in fact I'm excited to play through the sequel to see what happens), I'm not sure if I am willing to replay or recommend this game because of the finale. It's an overall fun game, but it sucks that the mechanics of the finale almost makes the rest of the game useless.
While I liked this game overall, I feel reluctant to recommend it. I really enjoyed the themes of the game: it truly captures how difficult adult life can be. As someone who first picked up the game in high school and play it again in his twenties, the themes feel so much more emotional to me now and I'm grateful I decided to give the game another chance after several years.
The gameplay itself I found very enjoyable, even for someone who doesn't typically play choose-your-adventure romance games. I felt so invested in all the different arcs and characters (especially Markansas!) in the game, and I was so shocked to see how influential some of my actions truly were throughout the game.
Unfortunately, however, I felt very disappointed by the finale. For a game centered on so many life decisions, I really expected to see a much more climactic epilogue. Instead, the outcome of the game is solely based on a series of answers you give at the epilogue and how much money you've earned in the game (which you can grind for at the final chapter anyway). I also wish that the endings had much more nuance to them; instead, the endings all share similar plotlines, except they happen to different characters.
While I still feel invested in the storyline and the characters (in fact I'm excited to play through the sequel to see what happens), I'm not sure if I am willing to replay or recommend this game because of the finale. It's an overall fun game, but it sucks that the mechanics of the finale almost makes the rest of the game useless.