spoilers/tags/warnings: extreme gore, necrophilia, involuntary incest, rape/sexual assault, gang rape, guro guro guro guro, cute girls, scat, more scat, curses/supernatural beings, multiple endings, romance, fighting, demonology, voluntary incest, high school, dehunamisation, degradation, extreme bondage, beheading

If there was an in between to recommend and not recommend this game, I'd choose that. This is NOT a game to recommend to a friend or family member unless they know what they're getting into with classic gal game eroguro! PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND! (You know... classic black cyc.) I was honestly pleasantly surprised to see this game on Steam, until I downloaded the Steam version, played it and immediately patched tf out of it.

Steam removes 90% of this game's content. Do not buy it with the intention of playing it without the patch. Even basic dialogue and options for game progression are removed. You will not get the otome experience, you will not get h-scenes, you will not even get simple conversation between characters. It's THAT censored. Without the patch, even if you don't want to see the h-scenes, you lose vital information and key context clues as to wtf is going on. You also lose endings.

With the patch, the game is could be about 80+ hours in length if you like to take your time. I'm writing my review at 30ish with the intention of completing the remaining routes. The patch is free, just get it.

Anyway... Spoilers ahead.

This is one of my favourite eroge I've played, so I'm rating it a solid 8/10. It lost points due to the sheer amount of rape it had. Believe me, it's not my first rodeo with eroguro but.. man was there just SO MUCH RAPE... I played through Aoi's routes first and I can admit that it got me feeling a bit uncomfortable at times with just how long the h-scenes were between Akane and Sadashime etc, just to get three more r-scenes after it. It took a lot to sit through and read the dialogue so I definitely skipped through it a little.
BUT, this is an older Japanese eroguro so I can't complain when I signed up for it and I expected there to be a lot more than I'm used to.

Character design is nice, I love Gore's sprite sm! He's weirdly charming, and they nailed his physical appearance. If I went into it not already watching the previews, I'd be very creeped out by him! After a while he just kinda became cute LOL. The girls are nice, they all need therapy, but I loved them all! Akane PMO though cus what do you mean we raped you and you love us? Aoi best girl, obviously. Kiika... wow... ILOVEKIIKASOMUCHHERSTORYISSOGOOD :P Big fan of Yuka's design as it perfectly describes her innocent yet evil demeanour without needing to say a word. I also really love her h-scenes !! >.<
The protagonist, Kyoji, is nothing to boast about, just another clueless, fatherless chud who somehow has the option to fuh cute girls. Y'know, the norm. The art overall is really pretty- I adore older Japanese visual novel art styles. There's a certain charm that you don't see nowadays and it conveys the horror perfectly. It fits a lot better with the genre compared to newer styles seen in Euphoria, etc. It's recognisable.

The sound design and music composition is a 10/10 for me. The OP is so catchy, I lowkey wish it was on Spotify. The music for the game itself is very well done and transports you into the world itself and you can immediately feel the vibe change on the first listen of Gore's theme. I felt a deep attachment to the music.. it was just really really good! Sound effects are decent, but very repetitive- don't expect perfection. It's an eroge, not an MMO.

The h-scenes are 9/10 The 1 point off being the sheer amount of rape this game has. It's okay the first two times... but not when they are back to back and over 30 minutes long. They are also very descriptive, and the budget for VA's must've been high cause wow did they ever put their heart and souls into it. Each scene is definitely unique though and enjoyable in their own way. Unlike other VN's, the H-scene in GSS do actually add to the story and I appreciate that so much. I felt as though I was actually progressing through the story instead of ending on some random sex scene.

Depending on how fast of a reader you are, don't expect to immediately see anything remotely good. The beginning of the novel is very very very very very very very repetitive, slow, and even more repetitive especially without the patch...god I was so bored playing unpatched. I genuinely cannot complain more about the Steam version ... who okay'd this scam??? Each route takes between 5-10 hours, so it's quite time consuming.
Overall, it's enjoyable and a classic shock horror piece! I really like Gore Screaming Show and...
I love Kiika, she just loves iron bars so much!

<3

EDIT: as I continue on each ending completion, it is so clear that Kiika is in fact best girl and has the best story thank you.
EDIT 2: more scat than i realised on second playthrough