Recent reviews by PinkFrog

It's fun gameplay and has a lot of concent for early access!

It's good. Yeah it's buggy and the patches have fixed some, added some others. But the story and the setting is interesting, the environments are pretty and the combat is fun.
Apparently, coop gameplay suffers from pretty wild glitches. I didn't have those in (online-) singleplayer so I can't speak to that.
So, all in all, it's recommended. Also there's a demo. So... yeah.

This game is 99% reading dialogs, some exploration and 1-2 minigames (at least during my first run). So, how good are the dialogs?I'd say for me it's a bit of a mixed bag.

---

While staying free of spoilers, topics vary a lot and go into surprising sci-fy and philosophical areas. But it is also a lot about flirting and dating. Girls dating girls, that is. Unfortunately, at least for me the characters are a bit flat and seem unreal. Like, they are not real people but props to express opinions and ideas.

---

After playing through the first time, I was motivated to find out more endings and try to get some of the achievements.

---

The art is very simple, even for an indie title. I think I would have liked some more depth to the ambience sounds and sound effects, especially. But it didn't distract too much from the story.

---

Overall it's a fun story, has some cool ideas to think about like in an episode of StarTrek:TNG or something. And it's very gay and inclusive in a cute way.

---

I recommend.

This is an interesting experience. In short, it's not as touching as it maybe thinks it is and neither as deep or surprising in some ways. But it tries a very interesting narrative with player choice and it is deeply human and queer and leaves the soul just a little bit fuller and happier. I can therefore recommend it to anyone who loves to read and enjoys queer stories. The art is solid, very vibrant and colorful. Sometimes a bit on the cartoony side, maybe. But this is just a matter of taste, not a verdict.
The text is fully voiced by pretty decent actors. This is rare and very appreciated.

The following paragraph elaborates a little bit and goes into mild spoiler territories so be warned.

First of all, the general premise, as also mentioned on the shop site, is that the player character is a young witch and the player followers her adventures in something resembling a slice of life backdrop. However, the story has not enough room to breath and develop. The player is rushed through the scenes and themes, character arcs are coming and going in the matter of a few sentences. This could be connected to the fact that player choice does matter, a lot, as the story unfolds. Therefore the author had to cover a lot of branches and mutations. Fleshing out all branches at the same depth and pacing that is required to fully stick the landing of the emotional impacts is a lot to ask. However, what we are left is feels more like something as a concept. An idea of a narrative structure, not yet fully fleshed out but showing a lot of potential if written to full effect. I don't "feel" for the characters, even as I read their sometimes heartbraking stories. I just nod at the story, understanding what it tries to do and represent, intellectually.
One more major... problem I had was, that I stumbled into a very satisfying ending at my first run. Doing different endings felt... strange, afterwards. I did it more out of a feeling of duty and because i arrived at the first end after just 2 hours. There are more good endings out there, some funny, some almost really touching, so i do recommend trying out more just so experience the surprises and the overall creative work that went into the story. Even after stumbling into what I'd consider the true ending.
So, as a result, I am happy I read the text and experience the various endings etc. But more importantly I'm looking forward what the developer tries next. If I had a wish I would hope for more character depth and relationship development and a narrative structure that supports that. Not the other way round.

This is a really cute, fun story and it does feature arcades at lot. I mean A LOT. The visuals, sounds and also the game mechanics of the VN are all really solid and give a pleasant and pretty immersive experience.

The personal growth of the player characters and the others is... it works. It's sweet and warms the heart. Just don't expect too deep characters. The relationships and friendships all happen very fast and most characters are pretty one-dimensional and frankly, a bit cartoony at times. But it works and this is a story about loving arcades and you get plenty of that!

Recommended for fans of arcades and the concept of human friendship and personal growth.

So, the art work is truly stunning, but this can be seen from what the store page shows. It should be noted that there is not a single image that feels out of place or lacks the quality and mood of the whole project. This is really something else. And once the music kicks in, immersion is on point.

I'm trying to avoid specific spoilers but if you want to go in fully blind, please skip the rest of the paragraph and just get the game, if you are at all interested in well-made romantic VN's. For me, the story could have gone on forever. It feels to me, like it could have explored the personal growth of the characters even longer and with more depth. Especially Sam's inner workings could have been explored more. At the end, some crucial developments are explained in an exposition monologue instead of being shown in scenes or dialog. But on the other hand I was dreading painful drama and loss going in and I go a sweet, touching love story instead, which was definitely nice.

One additional highlight for me was that the LGBTQ community got a much more interesting place in the story than what is often displayed in yuri VN's. It was refreshing to see characters who own their identity as part of the community and honor the culture surrounding it. It is highly appreciated.

Can we get the game made into a motion picture, please?

The feels, THE FEELS.

I went into this without any preconception and I'm happy I did. The story does some unusual turns and learning together with the protagonist about what is happening to her is a unique experience.

I should say that there should be some trigger warnings. The next paragraph could be seen as spoilery: The subject of male violence against women is brought up in several places, sexual violence is also implied. Luckily, the game counterbalances this with a strong depiction of women supporting each other.

The characters and their dialogs are sweet, funny and interesting. It is beautiful to follow their conversations and emotional bonds. The various endings shine the light on very different outcomes. I should say though, that some, even one of the "true" ones, left me more devastated than I anticipated. But going a different route worked for me to heal the wounds.

As often with visual novels, I found it hard, impossible even, to anticipate what choice I should take to steer the direction of the plot in a certain way. And even after checking out the wonderful guide, which is available, I still can't really tell why some choice do what they do.

Also, there is an immense amount of cooking for some reason ;)

This is heart-warmingly cute.

Only playing casually, but even on public servers this is good fun.

Good old-school fun. At least for a casual content tourist.