Overall, I'd say it's alright.



The whole game pretty much centres on everyday life with a wholesome, loving family. Each has something weighing on their consciousness, which you can imagine what exactly based on the synopsis. If you're already looking for this kind of game, you'll know what to expect.

As someone who was indeed looking, I'm mostly satisfied. I do love their family dynamic by the end of the game, with the main character's moral plight of housing an immigrant being icing on the cake.

However, my one complaint would be the game not being long enough to sell its resolution. It's an epilogue narration style of ending, the one that goes "so basically this is how things turned out in the end", which kinda bummed me because I was hoping for a better sendoff for these characters that I was invested in. Other than that I mostly enjoyed it.

Also, don't expect your choices to matter other than slightly changed snippets of dialogue.



The main character, Slava is by far the best character. He's often thinking about his duties towards his state, and whether his loyalty has skewed his moral compass. He can be brash and insensitive, which I think fits considering his background, so I'd expect he'd suck at socialising to some extent.

Lena has her moments, switching between sad and frail, to snarky, to cute and clumsy. Her best trait is that she's endearing, which is important to tug at your heartstrings where she's concerned.

Slava's sister was kinda just cute for most of the game, until I reached a certain scene that properly conveyed the extent of their relationship. It's probably my favourite scene from the game as it touches on the love of found family, further reinforcing the theme of the game. That particular scene did take a slight unexpected turn towards the end; kinda weird, but didn't mind.

And Anya, well, she's alright. I wouldn't say she has too many traits that make her likeable other than she's cute and generally nice. Her past isn't that relevant, nor are the circumstances of why she's there, just that she is. I see her less as her own character and more as an extension of Slava having more to protect. Honestly, the romantic dialogue was mostly meh, usually not straying far from compliments and 'interrogation'. But even they had their moments, especially when they were just having fun.

There are other side characters. The people at the orphanage were a nice touch because the down-to-Earth conversations really sell the community vibe. And as for Sasha and her mother, well, they didn't get much screen time but they did enough to influence Slava's thoughts in a direction that was interesting.



The (almost) fully voice-acted scenes are very neat. I wish Slava had a voice for himself, but it's normal that the first-person POV doesn't get one.

The characters blink and move during regular scenes, which is also neat. At first I thought Lena's eyes were too big, but I got used to them.

As for the CGs, they're a bit... odd. Often there are impactful scenes that I feel should get CGs, but they don't. Then the game surprises me with a CG of an unassuming scene that could make do without one. A bit disappointed with the overall lack of them, or even the prioritisation of the limited CGs.



Overall, if you're looking for a decent VN to pass time, and you like this kind of genre, this could be it. Just make sure you have reasonable expectations going in, and enjoy.