es la piola

After having played through the Nurse Love series I was especially thrilled when I saw Yumeutsutsu Re:Master popping up on the Steam store. The only problem here was that this visual novel didn't support English subtitles at the time it got released, however, after a few months it finally happened and I jumped at being able to play this game. As a fan of the Nurse Love series and just yuri games in general, I immediately knew it was a game I definitely had to give a try. After all, there is nothing more adorable than two girls getting very cozy with each other.

Yumeutsutsu Re:Master opens with Ai getting ready for her new job. You see, she accepted a job offer at Yuriica Software, a small game development company, due to the request of her younger sister. However, Ai is quite nervous about her new job as she received a text message from her sister in the past that said to not contact her ever again. Not knowing the reason, it comes in handy so she takes the opportunity to make up with her although this task turned out harder than she imagined at first. Unfortunately, another obstacle about her job is that Ai doesn't really have experience with game development.

Those who played any games of the Nurse Love games will already know what to expect of Yumeutsutsu Re:Master. I have to admit that the theme is very different from the game development since it revolves around nurses, yet I found a lot of similar things in all of the games that honestly delighted me. I love the vibe this visual novel has, it's full of cute girls doing cute things but when I went on I noticed very quickly that even the most carefree characters have their own demons they are fighting against. It's just that it's not immediately noticeable. Overall, I liked the whole cast and since everyone is entirely different from each other, it's easy for the player to find one or another character they would want to romance.

Well, let's go back to the theme. It was pretty clear to me that Yumeutsutsu Re:Master revolves around the game development a lot and I have to say I was already impressed by the detailed descriptions in the Nurse Love series. So, this game often went so in-depth into this theme that I didn't know what they were talking about at times. Luckily, this game revolves around creating a visual novel so it was still relatable to me when specific terms got used and most of the time I could still follow the situation. However, that means that those who are new to the visual novel's genre, in general, will probably have a hard time understanding the happenings during the work hours.

So, the special thing here is that Yumeutsutsu Re:Master mainly focuses on its game development scenes. By that, I mean that despite being a yuri game, lovey-dovey scenes are quite rare here although they are definitely available. The romance is very slow and only starts to develop later in the game, however, that doesn't make it less sweet especially since I could not wait until they finally admitted their feelings to each other. I found it quite refreshing that a romance game doesn't only revolve around the love story itself but also has other interesting elements to offer.

However, the problem here is that both genres are not balanced out very well. So, it takes a lot of hours until the characters are getting together. I kind of felt like it was way too sudden and there was not enough romance development for me to properly understand what they could possibly see in each other. Sure, there are a lot of moments they are spending together, yet, it didn't really contribute to their relationship but only revolves around the problems with their workplace. I felt like the romance scenes fell rather short, or rather started quite late, so I couldn't really relate to them except for the things the player already gets to know in the beginning.

Yumeutsutsu Re:Master contains choices that determine which end the player is going to achieve. In total, there are four romanceable characters and nine endings. For each character, there is a good end as well as a bittersweet end available. One romanceable character, however, is locked until the player finishes the stories of the other love interests. A thing I noticed here is that although Ai is the main character the point of view changes sometimes that made me feel like I got to know the whole story instead of just Ai's side which made the immersion even better for me.

Another point that greatly contributed to my immersion was that Ai has her very own sprite. I always preferred this aspect in dating sims since I would be able to sympathize with the main character better. Luckily, the whole cast is voiced as well which made it even easier for me. Overall, the sprites and CGs are absolutely adorable in Yumeutsutsu Re:Master and immediately drew me to the game. There are a variety of facial expressions and poses available that made the game a lot livelier and additionally, even variations for the CGs are implemented into the game. Therefore, it was easy for me to get lost in the in-game gallery due to the stunning artwork.

Yumeutsutsu Re:Master reminds me a lot about the previous work of Kogado Studio just with game developers instead of nurses. However, I think that this visual novel is only truly enjoyable for those who are interested in reading more about the development of visual novels as well since this aspect is definitely the focus here. Regardless, I found the girls utterly adorable and although each of them has a different personality it was easy for me to like all of them. I have to admit that I found it was a shame that the romance scenes were rather short in Yumeutsutsu Re:Master, however, they were still absolutely sweet and I cannot wait to play the sequel Re:After to read more about all the girls.

TL;DR: It's not that bad of a read but with a price like this, even if it's on sale it isn't worth the hours. The story is lacking in elements to make it worth it. The romance is cute and wholesome but takes a long time to really get to.

In a world without men, you'll read through the story of Ai Otori, a country girl who moves to the city to work at a small game company in an attempt to reconnect with her sister, Kokoro. While the premise of the world building is interesting and the purpose for the story is wholesome, I can't recommend this visual novel especially at this price point even if it's on sale, and I got it on sale too, and I recommend going through the demo to get a better feel if you really are on the fence about getting this game. I will note that I only played one route so feel free to take it with a grain of salt, but I do have reason for only doing one.

I can't really say I enjoyed reading through. If you want the romantic content, if you aren't skipping through content or speed-reading then get ready to read hours of character development and Ai's struggles of work before getting anything close to an intimate moment. However, the romance itself is nice, cute and wholesome and something that's kind of refreshing. It's not really cheesy and it's something that makes you want to read. If you couldn't tell so far, this is a yuri novel, since no men exists there is only romance between two women. But in terms of substance, there isn't much past that.

Something I don't understand is how people can recommend this for just the yuri. The choice making is pretty particular in order to get onto a route and it's a real pain to have to start a new game repeatedly until you pick the right options or just look up a guide. One of the routes is also restricted until you've completed the other ones, which I usually don't mind as long as it serves as a good way to tell your story but it's so hard when there's already long hours of reading and making the correct choices is actually not easy. Maybe I'm just a bad reader or I sped through it too much, but I really found myself forgetting what the conflict was and how it's being solved. Half of what you're getting into is about how the character's game production is going and it's not interesting. I don't really see how anyone can think it is. The only thing that was interesting about it was the interactions between characters, poking fun at each other or being tense when someone makes a mistake or there's a disagreement between them. But a lot of text before the routes is just about their game production, that's not fun to spend several hours to read. The characters are kinda flat without much to them. They have their moments but there is no real development that makes me wanna know more.

I spent hours of reading just to find out that I couldn't get onto a route and looked up a guide. Once I followed it and got to one, this is when I felt the story was really kicking off. But I found myself just wondering what was going on half the time, it's just merciless hours of interactions that make you forget the conflict. The only thing that justifies the price point is the amount of time a player would put into actually reading this and going through every route and getting all the achievements. But if gate-keeping one of the routes is happening, I'm expecting writing that makes me want to keep reading. That is unfortunately not what happened for me, and I can't say whether or not the restricted route is worth it since I got bored of reading before getting there. I wanted to like this since the character design and aesthetic were appealing but I feel like I wasted 20 hours instead.

So, I brought this game about two weeks ago. Have played quite a bit of it, doing two routes and getting five of the endings (Two bittersweet endings, two good endings, and the normal ending.) Given what's going on in the world, I've been in a slump and having bad depression. I found Yumeutsutsu Re:Master at a good time. It's a good Yuri and fun story, so if you can go ahead and pick it up. Anyway, on to more detail.

Story- The story of Yumeutsutsu Re:Master is rather simple. It's nothing super amazing but if you're into slice of life it's good enough. I never really found the slice of life parts of the game boring, though I admit they do drag out just a bit. For me I do find the game fascinating because it delves into the game development world, especially the visual novel world. I admit, if you dont' care about game development and/or visual novel development it might be a bit hard to get into the story and even if you do, it may get a little more boring. However, like with Nurse Love Syndrome and Addiction, I really enjoyed learning more about what it would be like in the gaming world for a rookie. Overall, even if you're not interested in said topic, it can be fun to learn about. It can drag at times though.

Now for the routes, I won't get into much detail of course, but from what I've read so far, each route has it's own story. There are some similar topics that each route shares, but they are very different. For example, who Nana voices in Nie and Majo for example. I will say, the main point for the story is how Ai will 'save' Kokoro, but when you go into the routes it's a bit forgotten since the creators want to focus on said character route. However, the writers still managed to bring Ai and Kokoro to some understand and even grow close again, so that's good. Likely (and I haven't gotten to this yet) it will be Kokoro's route where the main plot of the game really comes to together. The three other routes can be seen as a what if story for Ai and so far I've enjoyed them. They do a great job with keeping all the characters together and even the problem with Kokoro and Ai are handled decently.

Characters-I really love the characters in this game. I'd say my favorites are Saki and Nana, hence why I did their routes first. Saki, for me, took a bit of time to like but she's grown a lot on me and she's super funny. Marie is okay (I'm on her route now) and overall she's pretty cool. Kind of the princely maiden. Kokoro, like Saki, took some time for me to like. She's not very pleasant in the common route, but once I read two routes fully I've grown to really like her. Ai...well...I'll say I do like Ai for the most part. A little too meek for my taste, and in Saki's route she didn't do much in my eyes, but she's okay. Some may not like her much, or may find her passive but she's okay. Honoka also is awesome too. Nana is my favorite though and so far is her route.

In terms of the routes, I've only played two and they were pretty great. I will be honest that Saki's route lacks a bit of romance, but is a good read and spending more time with Saki is great. Nana is awesome though. Like from her character, to design, and to her story I loved all of it. Her route is more on the dramatic side, but the romance in it was handled better than in Saki's route. Marie's route I'm on now, but I think the romance will be okay given how she cares for Ai. Still, I wouldn't say the romance is super amazing. Nana's route it is good though. I still think Sakuya from Nurse Love Syndrome has an amazing route and romance though.

Quick Side note, Saki's and Nana's route have different perspectives meaning you won't be seeing things from just Ai's eyes anymore. For Maria, we stay mostly in Ai's perspective it seems, but this is not true for Saki and Nana. It may take time to get use to, but I grew to like this. I'm a bit sad that Marie isn't structured like this, but oh well.

Art/Music-I love the art in this game. I have no gripes. The CG's are plentiful, sprites have enough variation, and the backgrounds are very calming. Same with the music. Music is good, nothing amazing, but calming and fun to listen to. So if you're someone who likes good art and nice, this is the game for you.

Voice Acting-I do like the voice acting in Yumeutsutsu Re:Master quite a bit. I notice that most of the voice actresses are a bit new, so I hope they get more roles. Ai's voice actress could get a bit annoying but was okay overall.

Overall-Overall I'd say get this game if you can. Maybe wait till it's on sale as I will admit the price for it and even the extra are quite expensive, especially given the situation the world is in. But if you need a break from the stress of life, love yuri, or just want a nice story this is for you. I do hope more people read this when they can and that more Yuri games will be made by Kogado. Their stuff is always good and gets me out of a slump.

This game looks very polished and the characters look nice however this game is just too bland and underwhelming for me to enjoy and I really wanted to like this game. In fact I gave up and tried again a few years later when I felt I was in the right headspace to play a SOL romance game. The developer made Nurse Love Obsession which I enjoyed and Nurse Love Syndrome which had a an interesting story and GIRL SAYURI. (I love those types) So I decided to play the Saki route which she fits that type of character plus I heard her route was the best. I just could not get into the story. I like games but this story written about game developing was boring, In the other games the nursing job was interesting plus they had this overall mystery of the main character through out all the routes to make you want to play them all. Sadly I do not feel that there even if it did have the same mysteries that could have been used to make the story more interesting but it was not utilized well. There was some humorous scenes but mainly I felt bored and I do like watching slice of life anime. I guess I should watch New game?
In the romance plot I felt was also weak. The main character just falls in love with Saki and I don't really see how that developed. I really need more introspection from the main character. I am a fan of developed romance plots even if they take more time. I would have preferred more romantic development.
The main character felt weak and not developed. The other characters were okay I do like Saki even though she is really confusing sometimes when she talks. I would like to know more about her back story. But her romance cannot really compare to Sayuri which is disappointing. VERY underdeveloped romance.
If you do not understand Japanese cultural references you are out of luck. Sadly the translators did not include a note like many other visual novels with nerd culture do.
The afterstory, which is are side stories for the each of the main couples after the events of this game, does look like more of what I would want to read from this game. However it does 49.99 USD so I don't know how much I want to spend for one route and I am not really up to play the other routes. I wish the afterstory was just included in the main game, Very sad that the afterstory was not how this game was written.

I got this game on sale for about 30% off, hoping it'd be a great timesink full of cute antics and fun moments. And it definitely has a few of those! It's just also, and bear in mind I'm only at the start of chapter 2, extremely slow-paced and a bit boring. A lot of the dialogue feels repetitive or inane, going over irrelevant topics or plot points that have already been discussed. The character designs are pretty cute, but the sprites aren't animated enough during conversations to help with engagement. Even getting it on sale, I feel like, having tried to play this game for over a year and barely struggling through 7 hours of it, I just don't have the attention span to appreciate whatever cool things might happen down the line.

This game could be good for you if you really enjoy those slice of life animes where nothing happens for an entire episode except cute girls talking about how Pixiv works, or if you have the patience of a saint or way too much free time on your hands. Falling into none of those boxes, however, I unfortunately can't recommend this game. Whenever I boot it up I feel like I'm wasting my time to try and warrant the price I paid for it. If I get to the end someday and discover how wrong I was, I'll update this review accordingly.

I have played through many of the Kogado games. Among their newest works, I love Nurse Love Syndrome immensely: the work part is realistic and poignant, and the romance is extremely sweet (particularly the part where the heroine made some food for Sayuri). I don't like Nurse Love Addiction much though; it is thrilling at times, but for the most part I find it kind of pointless. I bought Yumeutsutsu Re:Master soon after release, hoping for something rivaling NLS, but dared not expect too much.

A few months later I finally finished Saki's route. It took longer than expected, partly due to my limited Japanese skills (since Saki is a writer, perhaps she does use a larger vocabulary?), partly because it is so easy to get distracted, as the common route is a bit boring at times. So what can I say...

I immediately think of a few complaints:

• The fonts are plain-looking;
  
• The game suddenly stopped working on my Win7 system after the Aug 4 update forcing me to look for arcane ways to revert to the previous version;
  
• The work part, although extremely realistic, sometimes feels boring as said above; maybe the environment is just too familiar to me, compared to the hospital in NLS, or maybe the lack of chapter numbers made it impossible to estimate my progress, so the story just seems to drag on and on at times;
  
• There are a few utterly embarrassing scenes in the Saki route (no, I'm not referring to sex; that part was a bit matter-of-fact and not very romantic, but otherwise okay); they are realistic, to be sure, but since I identify with Saki so much, I still hate the authors for this.
  
• The route just isn't very romantic until near the very end, where the heroine made Saki wear a pretty dress and the two went shopping. Perhaps someone as old and jaded as Saki simply can't fall in love like teenagers; it felt more like "You want it? Well, okay... it is kinda nice being desired in that way, all things said", but still...

Yet, the route is by no means "pointless". It is so realistic. So poignant. It is almost a story tailer-made for me: the depressing days when running out of ideas, the constant struggles against deadlines, the quarrels with the director Kokoro (up to and including the (mildly) violent scene)... It reminds me so many things that happened in my own career, some of which hurt greatly at the time but can now be revisited with a smile.

So... I think the Saki route is not as good as the Nagisa/Sayuri routes in NLS (mostly due to the comparative lack of romance), but quite close. Let's see how the remaining routes go.

Nana's route: It is also pretty good overall, perhaps slightly better than Saki's, even. The confrontation near the end feels a little overdramatic and the resolution a bit hurried, but otherwise I love the emotional roller-coaster from Nana's viewpoint, the hard life of a low-level seiyuu like Nana in an incredibly competitive and often unfair world, and of course the romance, this time quite plentiful. My favorite moment is when Nana got a seiyuu job just after a failed audition and found that Ai had recommended her to the sound director; it somehow reminds me of the Emiru/Ruru moment in Hugtto Precure when Emiru was given rock show tickets by her brother. And the dark parts are truly heartbreaking...although I have to admit that it could have been much, much worse in real life. Being forced into prostitution is bad enough, but in real life Nana might well be forced to betray and harm her dearest friends.

Highly recommended, as part of the new wave of Japanese VN made by creators who focus more on psychology and less on sex.

For those who don't speak Japanese, the title refers to the state of mind between dreams (夢) and reality (現).
That has a lot of meaning to the scenario, and (re)playability, and I'm writing it here because I would have loved being told before starting the game.

yuri

If you have played a Kogado visual novel before, you know what you're getting in to. If you haven't, I will say you should because these visual novels are great. There are four routes in this game, and I can say I enjoyed all four of them although they have their ups and downs. Honestly the art, music, and voice acting are all spot on. It's like since it is a visual novel about making a visual novel, they wanted to make triply sure that it looked like they knew what they were talking about. This game also does a great job with the main character and not making her too innocent and clumsy like with their Nurse Love main characters. There wasn't really any time that I thought the story was too awkward for me to have to bear through. Only thing of note is that Kogado always loves to tie in a fantasy element into their games, and while that fantasy element isn't too big of a factor in most of the routes, there is always one route where it plays front and center. This game does the same thing. The only real difference here is that two of the other routes play up social issues like dreams and self-confidence that make for very emotional stories. The common route sets up a third route to be a very emotional ride as well, so when it turns out that it is the fantasy route and those other emotional issues you were expecting aren't there, it is a bit of a disappointment. Not that the fantasy route was bad, but I was really anticipating that other emotional route I was expecting.