{spoilers ahead}
This was an absolute delight of a game to play through !! I got all the endings (except for Chase and Callum's "good" endings) by myself without any help and GAH !!! That was so much fun !!! The character writing and the twist were all magnificent !!! Chase was the only one I felt absolutely gutted with his ending with. I did his neutral route after the obligatory "What if I stay home?" ending and OHVFYJ#HEVF HE'S MY ABBY I LOVE HIM OMFG--Chase is a sweetheart, if a little hot-headed and he's so sweet and he's living with his aunt and uncle because of familial issues and he's so SWEET !! Bro he plays sports and he likes watching the sun rise !! His confession was so sweet and GODS the BETRAYAL was so REAL with him in the "good" ending. GODS I FELT SO BAD !! His was the one to actually gut me, and his "good" ending was the one I got second !!
I also can't help but wonder for Aunt Cindy and Uncle (forgot his name) after Chase goes missing like... Gods, imagine? The nephew they took in suddenly disappearing off the radar ? Devastating blow, I--HE WAS THE ONLY ONE TO TRY THE FOOD PROPERLY !!! Callum only does it once he's pretty much dead if you decide 'yes' and Adrian only drank the tea... Chase was the only one who ate Riolle's (which is what I named her/me) food and she--No, I'm still not over his death, he's my boi !! My precious charismatic if foul-mouthed !! He's got a charm to him! I didn't even realise he was one of the shorter stories lol, I love him so much.
I actually got Adrian's neutral and "good" (though, tbf, his good doesn't need quotations cuz man was living his best life to die by MC's hand like--Mans was so chill with it, it was kinda funny? Good for him, y'know.) The POV switch when I unlocked his good ending scared the crap out of me. I had to take a couple clicks to realise OMG IS THIS A POV SWITCH ??? And then he's like "And then she came in." and casually drops he stalks her. (I pieced it together easily with the TW and his demeanour throughout the dates) Honestly, slay for him to be into it. But like, damn dude, what a taste to have. . . RIP his band though lol, they're down a guitarist. I actually really liked the bandmates !! They seemed really chill and I just <3 them
You know what made me swoon for Adrian initially? THE CUP PUNS !!! I love puns so much and they took me OUT--I was cooing so loud at that, like, OMG??? It's so sillys and pos !! And then the red flags popped up and I lost interest but I can't deny he was very fun to play through <3 And as I said !! He was the only one I didn't need assistance to find the right options for :D !!!
Now... Callum... he didn't peak my interest as much as Chase, but that's because I'm just not into older men/DILF's LMAO. Which is fair, I'd say. I think he's a sweetheart and his wife, Hannah, sounded like a sweetheart. Bless her heart and may she rest in pieces--SORRY, peace :>
Phil is also an utter sweetheart, and I adore their little family. Callum is such a kind soul, even after Hannah's death. It broke my heart a little to read how people treated him in his single dad status, but gah, it's so real. Callum deserved better than Riolle, and Phil didn't deserve to lose his dad like that.
Also, yeah, not Riolle's smartest move to kill Callum like that. It's very easy to narrow down a suspect if Callum dropped Phil off at Phil's grandparents to meet with her before suddenly going :sparkles:MISSING:sparkles: like. Callum is NOT the type to suddenly abandon his son. He took care of him for 7 years, and never gave up, continuing to put on a brave face. Something HAD to tear him from Phil's side, and Phil knows it.
Gods that final ending cutscene is just PERFECTION !! I kinda like the insinuation that Riolle (again, what I named my character) ends up going for all of them? Like, it's implied by her "Now to rinse and repeat <3" ending lines in each run, but it kinda confirms it for me for Phil to show up at her doorstep after you complete any of your third "good" endings!! It's kinda like?? Really nice unintentional maybe storytelling to show that, even if we don't do it, after every run she takes out the other two, because she's a serial spice-collector.
Now with the character stuff out of the way, HOLY CRAP ALL THE DESIGNS ARE SO GORGEOUS ??? I didn't realise there was an album until finishing the walkthrough and seeing it at the bottom. So whilst I was playing, I was saving at every Pretty Artwork I could (o7 to the text blocking some of it out) in the 9th page save slot. Bcuz I was just admiring the gorgeous colours, shading, designs and emotive faces. It was so beautiful !! The album was like an amazing bonus to me. I CAN SEE THE PRETTY PICTURES IN THEIR FULL GLORY !!! Amazing, 10/10, glorious.
Seeing the BTS was amazing too, I love seeing the process of the way things get made, and I hope you guys are still Still friends. Cuz this game is so neat and absolutely made my day that much brighter !! I added it to my personal collection as soon as I was done. So SO good, so worth it.
Thank all you three for creating <333