I told myself I'd wait to finish the DLC before posting a review, but my fingers are itching with excitement. I love it. I just completed one route on the DLC and had to start writing. My heart is fit for bursting.
[b] The Premise: [/b] You play as a somewhat shy first-time teacher with a troubled past, with a bad-ass, teasing, amazing bestie. The school has four other single teachers and a single doctor, and bonus points for the "oldies" like me, they'll all over the age of 30. Prime dating material. Lots of chaos.
[b] The objective notes, good and bad: [/b] English translation is good in most parts; some errors in others. Nothing that detracts from the story or flow though...mostly. My biggest irk is oftentimes "it" is used where the word "that" should be- that is something that happens consistently in almost every dialogue that utilizes it. Ex: "I forgot about that" turns into "I forgot about it". Imo, though, a small, nitpicky thing.
The routes are not long- think bite sized pieces. Some routes are more in depth than others. Honestly, Edgar was done a disservice. It's hard to articulate, but I just feel like his story and backstory wasn't fleshed out very well. Compared to Lawrence and Ray, which I felt like were the two best routes in the game (though Markus continues to be my best favorite boy. Er...man. Def a man.)
I loved the music- I wish the music played for longer. The game is mostly silent aside from some background sound effects, then a track will come on and only play for a few clicks before fading away. Which is a bummer- because the music that was chosen for this game was on point. I'm still trying to track them all down on Spotify.
You have the ability to set text speed, auto speed, and you can skip previously read text and toggle unread text. Lot's of save slots that can be utilized. You can scroll back on text, up to a certain point of course, but it bears worth mentioning because it's a feature I wish more VN games had.
There is no default protagonist name, no protag appearance customization- not a problem for me personally. No voice acting in the game. Not a problem for me either, as emotions were conveyed thoroughly well through the text.
[b] Now for my favorite part....the subjective notes: [/b] I love the overall message of the game. It's about healing. About forgiveness. About strength and perseverance, about accepting vulnerability and mistakes, about moving forward. Overcoming those inner thoughts that hold you back. It's got a mental health hue to it and that's always something that speaks deep to me. I definitely cried a few times. And I laughed endlessly. Just beautifully written- seriously, kudos to the writer.
Art style might not be for everyone, but I personally loved it. I wish there were more CG's!! It has a perfect balance between sweet and, at times, spicy. Definitely angst in certain routes. Note though: there is nothing NSFW or anything. Even the "spicy" scenes are like a fade to black, inferred kind of thing.
The secret ending was a "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥" kind of twist. That's all I'll say on that.
I said above how some routes felt rushed, but it really just depends on what you're looking for. If you go in with an open mind, the game is seriously just so sweet and heart-warming. My only irk about the "rushedness" of some of the routes is solely due to the fact that it got confusing (especially in Edgar's route) because the peak of the suspense seems to hit out of nowhere and then gets resolved almost as quickly, which makes it lose some of its emotional impact. I expected the most out of Edgar's route due to his personality and somehow was left disappointed.
The DLC is freakin amazing. Especially the scene towards the beginning with your bestie- honestly, that small scene was so healing in its own way. Nothing like having a girlie being hella proud of your progress as a human being.
[b] The summary: [/b] With that short novel of a review out of the way, it's a long winded way to say it's worth the buy. It's not perfect by any means, but a lot of the things worth it in life aren't. The story is sweet, the message and theme are meaningful, the banter is funny, and the old guys are hot. What's not to love?
