compared to the previous style savvy games, pretty disappointing. the jumbled focus on online play is isolating and frustrating to players who dont / cant play online. not to mention a horrible gacha system that, from what ive heard, was supposedly fixed (i dont play the gacha so i cant speak to it). not sure why they went in such a different direction with this game, im sure i speak for many players when i say the previous formula of running a boutique, getting to interact with shoppers, going to the mall (?) to buy new clothes from all sorts of different brands was lots of fun.

will probably be finishing this game this week, but i REALLY LOVED it. the writing is seriously incredible. i was taking so many screenshots because there were times the writing would seriously floor me. i think i liked Hideo's route the most, but Fujita is a close second. im fascinated to learn more about the plot as i continue. this game is certainly not going to be for everyone, it gets pretty heavy with content popping up all over the place that can be triggering. just look up CWs in advance if youre interested in playing it. also, if you didnt know, this was originally an R18 game, and you can find videos (with full voice acting) of the cut content for the western Switch release online. ;-)

i dont really know how to feel about this game. on one hand, it was worth every dollar i spent singularly because of Hanzo's route which is one of the most well written, emotionally captivating and engaging routes in an otome that i've ever played. however (and maybe this on me for not heeding the M rating) i did not anticipate how fucking dark some routes were going to get (and i'm not talking Bad endings, just normal route content). like not to the point i was disturbed but to the point i genuinely couldn't understand what they were trying to say about specific pairings or even the plot itself. i'm nearing the end of Kuroyuki's route right now which i haven't been able to stand, but Chojiro's was worse. Goemon's felt really rushed and then brushed quickly past an insanely traumatizing event that occurs near the end of his route but that Enju never really.. processes? at all? idk. i'm glad i bought this, i fucking loved Hanzo and would literally keep this game on my switch just to replay his route whenever i want, but that's about it. and Gekka, shrug, idk i just dont care for him.

not done with this yet but really loving it. it took a little to grow on me since its sorta plot heavy but i really enjoy it now
edit: ive since completed, it was really fun, i enjoyed how different the routes were and how they approached filling in plot puzzle pieces that all made sense at the ending. i dont know how i feel about 'true routes' like in this case Akaza. it sorta defeats the purpose of even having other LIs when you delegitimize them like that by saying "yeah, thats fun and all, however [insert LI] is MCs canon LI". idk, for me the Akaza route is clearly intended to be the end all be all of Byakuya's story so it kinda erased any of the other LIs. which was a shame bc i think Kuroba was really my favorite. idk maybe this makes no sense. it was a fun game that i'd still recommend and took me about a week to complete all the routes.