Review of this, because it kinda obsess me a bit and I wish the best future for that game. In short: I only recommend to buy the "full" game if you LOVE the demo and want EXACTLY more of the same (including the "to be continued").
I have zero clue what the "deluxe" version give.
Pre playing review: I do LOVE the art, the concept does sounds interesting, and a certain screenshot certainly drove me in.
I love(d) this.
Demo review and feedback
- The intro is nice and enticing, and make me curious of the game story.
- the UI is OK and servicable too, the use of a calculator is a nice touch. What does the book, calendar and mirror does tho.
- The loaning process is not great. How am I supposed to know how much I lend before knowing how long they have to give back?
Why can't you ask for the collateral and ask more detail on each of these before deciding the lend value?
Plus I have zero clue on how much value have everything in the game? (that may be a lack of cultural information that the bookshelve could provide)
In short, it just feel like a game of guessing, without enough information. That may be intended, but it doesn't feel fun to play in it current state.
- Trying to see if you can roll back ; I realized the "menu" button does quit the current game and send you straight to the menu. No fine choice save, no ability to adjust the sound or UI, and most importantly ; you have to restart your current "client" from scratch
And after seeing a mysterious two silhouette, and a To Be Continued without any other form of feedback, that was the end of the first run.
Poking more at the demo, I can add the following:
- if you succeed a client, it'll show a check-mark at the end.
- depending on the choice you made, client made have "bad end". This is great, but give me the feeling than doing more run will be needed
- with two clients, re-playability is already a chore. There is no fine way to save, no way to auto skip the talk until choices ; and you only know if you "checked" a client after ending the week/going through the full demo.
It just make the game feel like guessing on what you have to pick without providing enough clue, nor enough reward for trying.
- I did give up to "ticking" the first client, not finding what may make her happy with her loaning.
Post demo: I'm thorn between liking the mood of the game, and thinking the current game loop just ruin any enjoyment I can have in it.
Fast forward some days, and with the lack of hope of having more people posting feedback here, I decided to buy the game. Opinion on it:
- The game end on a "To Be Continued" after the first week. That is NOT what i expected when buying a "full" game. Either I am blind, or it is not stated the game is still in development on the game page.
- First week is 8 clients, in a row. Having two client before knowing if you managed to get them right or not already felt like a chore, but 8?! That's feel like too much.
- I overall enjoy the cast of character, and feel like there is an interesting underlying story.
Sadly the gameplay does not make me want to dig deeper for it.
- At least your aunt come to see you at the end of the week to provide some more story elements/clues.
- The game bugs at some place, including one that grayed out a lot of ending's section.
- even more than the demo, it feel like an early version and not a full game release (may be bad communication on the page)
- No lewd in sight, I may simply not have picked the right choices (likely), or they are in the deluxe version. I do not know yet, and am not sure I have the will to try to bruteforce a game with 8 clients.
- No gallery in the "full" version, either it's an unlock, or for the deluxe version.
Post game; The game page does not seem to advertise it correctly, so I feel like I just bought something else than what was promised, which does not feel good.
I just hope the game will be updated until that impression is replaced by the love the art and character deserve.
I hope this feedback will be useful, especially for the devs ; and to whoever stuck here to the end, thanks you for reading.