I bought this game because a lot of people said it was like Phoenix Wright et al and. hoo boy. We have different standards for writing quality, I suppose.

I'll give the devs kudos in that I was taken for a ride with a red herring and the actual mystery was interesting/surprising (if... kind of implausible and convoluted), but that's one of the few positive things I can say.

First off, several of the characters are incredibly obnoxious to listen to and/or terrible human beings. The intro of the game has you sit through the protagonist (Raiko) being sexually harassed by her mother. You might be like, "Hey, that's a little harsh, she didn't sexually harass her just because she made her take her clothes off and put on a cat outfit for Halloween, repeatedly ignoring her complaints and discomfort." It's okay! Just to provide zero doubt for you, the game has comments about how the protagonist struggles to keep a diary because her mother keeps violating her boundaries. And her mother steals her newest diary to write about how boring it is that her daughter isn't writing about her juicy crushes and perverted fantasies.

You know, the kind of thing that is totally appropriate for a mother to think about or say to her 14 year old daughter, and was completely necessary to put in the game because (crickets)

Shortly after, you are introduced to her best friend who, in an apparent attempt to make a funny endearing sidekick a la Maya from Ace Attorney, just talks like a teenager on Gaia Online in the year 2008. She even writes out text emojis in Raiko's journal! It's Soooo Wacky!!! Here is a verbatim quote for you:

"We found a window an' let in sum moonlight, so we can see ♥♥♥♥ now! (makin' me wonder how she jotted down dat last entry in 'at darkness O_o;)"

Wow! Isn't that fun to read and listen to? Now imagine being subjected to pages of this for most of the game because she's glued to Raiko at the hip. I started skimming most of the dialogue and it made it a lot more bearable.

So you're like, okay, well, maybe that's a little obnoxious. But wait! There's a guy in here whose entire existence is to sexually harass everyone, talk about how much he wants to and/or has jerked off to them, spends all night jerking off to porno, and there's even a part where you pick up his ♥♥♥-stained pornography!! Let's not mention the part where he snuck into the room of some female students on a past school trip and put on their panties while sniffing a different girl's panties!

But they invited him and tolerate his presence in their friend group because (crickets)

And he hasn't yet been suspended from school because (crickets)

And the Good Guy character considers him his best friend and tolerates his behavior because (crickets)

He also stalked a girl and the good guy is like 'wow I can't believe he would have done something like that!' as if it's a mystery that the guy who constantly sexually harasses women with escalating acts of aggression could have possibly done such a thing, his other behavior was so... uh... harmless?

Genuinely a lot of the dialogue is frustrating or annoying to read and often feels padded out for length. Like, you examine one thing and Nobara (your best friend) goes off on an insane tangent about it being a sci-fi cryogenic chamber or something. There is also a character who is constantly obsessed with scaring people so badly they literally pee themselves, and wants to do it to the protagonist. Like, using the words "soaked panties" and insisting she take off her underwear in public to prove it. Because that is definitely the sort of thing I want to read about a 14 year old girl and definitely the kind of normal dialogue someone would say to another person.

I'm not sure if they were supposed to be interesting, compelling characters who grow on you, but the only characters I ended up liking were Raiko and Kamen, because they (mostly) act like normal human beings.

Also - the references. Good god, the references. This game is self-indulgent in the worst way. It feels like the developers are constantly elbowing you in the ribs saying "Hey remember that one game?". A major plot point is that two of the characters dress up as twins from a horror video game... and the plot synapsis is a massive, obvious reference to a Fatal Frame game. In case you didn't get the more subtle reference, it's okay! They have a hotel room with instructions to use a camera to scare away ghosts on the wall and an ancient camera in front. Do you get it? DO- DO YOU GET IT?

No, it's okay. Maybe you never played Fatal Frame. Don't worry. There's also multiple Phoenix Wright references! Oh, and one of the characters makes a Castlevania reference that wasn't already hideously dated by the time the game released, or anything! What about a Dragon Ball reference that makes no sense? And Raiko's epilogue outfit is one massive visual reference to the iconic outfit Heather wears in Silent Hill 3!

But when you reference a piece of good media purely for the sake of "ha ha, remember that thing? we also liked that thing!", the problem is that people then remember that thing, and the things they felt playing that thing, and it causes them to directly contrast that with your own mediocre game and the feelings they are having while playing it.

So when you reference something, you expect the audience to be like "ha ha! wow! I too enjoyed that video game! What a funny and clever reference!" but instead it's just me being reminded that between Nobara saying "cray-cray" and "aw nutbunnies" every 5 seconds I could be playing an actual good video game that I enjoy.

They also shove in two cameos of completely unrelated-looking people at the very end, which I'm guessing are either dev self-inserts or supposed to be from a different game they have. Either way, not sure why they're here or why we're supposed to care about them but it sure feels masturbatory to shoehorn them in!

The thing that gets me is that there are some redeeming parts to this game. The art isn't terrible - the backgrounds are lovingly detailed, and the sprites are expressive, though the artist DESPERATELY NEEDS TO LEARN HOW TO SHADE WITH A COLOR THAT IS NOT BLACK, OH MY GOD, I'M BEGGING YOU. SHADE YELLOW WITH ORANGE. SHADE ORANGE WITH RED. SHADE BLUE WITH PURPLE. SHADE WHITE WITH BLUE. SHADE GREEN WITH BLUE AND HIGHLIGHT WITH YELLOW. The UI is a lot different from the standard Ren'py layout and there's a neat little trivia section. There's a lot of care in here.

The mystery, like I said, was genuinely interesting and at points stumping. And once they stopped irritatingly padding out every interaction, the character interactions weren't terrible. I almost walked out of it thinking it was a good game until I got hit with the epilogue with more sexual harassment from the protagonist's mother, more pointless references, and baffling cameos.

This team has definite potential, they just... need to stop being so self-indulgent, focus on getting a second writer and/or editor to focus on characterization (and do a sanity check with some of the lines - yeesh), and polish up the art a bit.

Also please don't make me ever read a line about an adult woman commenting enthusiastically on her 14 year old daughter's sex fantasies ever again, what is wrong with you, Jesus Christ

I bought this game because a lot of people said it was like Phoenix Wright et al and. hoo boy. We have different standards for writing quality, I suppose. I'll give the devs kudos in that I was taken for a ride with a red herring and the actual mystery was interesting/surprising (if... kind of implausible and convoluted), but that's one of the few positive things I can say. First off, several of the characters are incredibly obnoxious to listen to and/or terrible human beings. The intro of the game has you sit through the protagonist (Raiko) being sexually harassed by her mother. You might be like, "Hey, that's a little harsh, she didn't sexually harass her just because she made her take her clothes off and put on a cat outfit for Halloween, repeatedly ignoring her complaints and discomfort." It's okay! Just to provide zero doubt for you, the game has comments about how the protagonist struggles to keep a diary because her mother keeps violating her boundaries. And her mother steals her newest diary to write about how boring it is that her daughter isn't writing about her juicy crushes and perverted fantasies. You know, the kind of thing that is totally appropriate for a mother to think about or say to her 14 year old daughter, and was completely necessary to put in the game because (crickets) Shortly after, you are introduced to her best friend who, in an apparent attempt to make a funny endearing sidekick a la Maya from Ace Attorney, just talks like a teenager on Gaia Online in the year 2008. She even writes out text emojis in Raiko's journal! It's Soooo Wacky!!! Here is a verbatim quote for you: "We found a window an' let in sum moonlight, so we can see shit now! (makin' me wonder how she jotted down dat last entry in 'at darkness O_o;)" Wow! Isn't that fun to read and listen to? Now imagine being subjected to pages of this for most of the game because she's glued to Raiko at the hip. I started skimming most of the dialogue and it made it a lot more bearable. So you're like, okay, well, maybe that's a little obnoxious. But wait! There's a guy in here whose entire existence is to sexually harass everyone, talk about how much he wants to and/or has jerked off to them, spends all night jerking off to porno, and there's even a part where you pick up his cum-stained pornography!! Let's not mention the part where he snuck into the room of some female students on a past school trip and put on their panties while sniffing a different girl's panties! But they invited him and tolerate his presence in their friend group because (crickets) And he hasn't yet been suspended from school because (crickets) And the Good Guy character considers him his best friend and tolerates his behavior because (crickets) He also [spoiler]stalked a girl and the good guy is like 'wow I can't believe he would have done something like that!' as if it's a mystery that the guy who constantly sexually harasses women with escalating acts of aggression could have possibly done such a thing, his other behavior was so... uh... harmless?[/spoiler] Genuinely a lot of the dialogue is frustrating or annoying to read and often feels padded out for length. Like, you examine one thing and Nobara (your best friend) goes off on an insane tangent about it being a sci-fi cryogenic chamber or something. There is also a character who is constantly obsessed with scaring people so badly they literally pee themselves, and wants to do it to the protagonist. Like, using the words "soaked panties" and insisting she take off her underwear in public to prove it. Because that is definitely the sort of thing I want to read about a 14 year old girl and definitely the kind of normal dialogue someone would say to another person. I'm not sure if they were supposed to be interesting, compelling characters who grow on you, but the only characters I ended up liking were Raiko and Kamen, because they (mostly) act like normal human beings. Also - the references. Good god, the references. This game is self-indulgent in the worst way. It feels like the developers are constantly elbowing you in the ribs saying "Hey remember that one game?". A major plot point is that two of the characters dress up as twins from a horror video game... and the plot synapsis is a massive, obvious reference to a Fatal Frame game. In case you didn't get the more subtle reference, it's okay! They have a hotel room with instructions to use a camera to scare away ghosts on the wall and an ancient camera in front. Do you get it? DO- DO YOU GET IT? No, it's okay. Maybe you never played Fatal Frame. Don't worry. There's also multiple Phoenix Wright references! Oh, and one of the characters makes a Castlevania reference that wasn't already hideously dated by the time the game released, or anything! What about a Dragon Ball reference that makes no sense? And Raiko's epilogue outfit is one massive visual reference to the iconic outfit Heather wears in Silent Hill 3! But when you reference a piece of good media purely for the sake of "ha ha, remember that thing? we also liked that thing!", the problem is that people then remember that thing, and the things they felt playing that thing, and it causes them to directly contrast that with your own mediocre game and the feelings they are having while playing it. So when you reference something, you expect the audience to be like "ha ha! wow! I too enjoyed that video game! What a funny and clever reference!" but instead it's just me being reminded that between Nobara saying "cray-cray" and "aw nutbunnies" every 5 seconds I could be playing an actual good video game that I enjoy. They also shove in two cameos of completely unrelated-looking people at the very end, which I'm guessing are either dev self-inserts or supposed to be from a different game they have. Either way, not sure why they're here or why we're supposed to care about them but it sure feels masturbatory to shoehorn them in! The thing that gets me is that there are some redeeming parts to this game. The art isn't terrible - the backgrounds are lovingly detailed, and the sprites are expressive, though the artist DESPERATELY NEEDS TO LEARN HOW TO SHADE WITH A COLOR THAT IS NOT BLACK, OH MY GOD, I'M BEGGING YOU. SHADE YELLOW WITH ORANGE. SHADE ORANGE WITH RED. SHADE BLUE WITH PURPLE. SHADE WHITE WITH BLUE. SHADE GREEN WITH BLUE AND HIGHLIGHT WITH YELLOW. The UI is a lot different from the standard Ren'py layout and there's a neat little trivia section. There's a lot of care in here. The mystery, like I said, was genuinely interesting and at points stumping. And once they stopped irritatingly padding out every interaction, the character interactions weren't terrible. I almost walked out of it thinking it was a good game until I got hit with the epilogue with more sexual harassment from the protagonist's mother, more pointless references, and baffling cameos. This team has definite potential, they just... need to stop being so self-indulgent, focus on getting a second writer and/or editor to focus on characterization (and do a sanity check with some of the lines - yeesh), and polish up the art a bit. Also please don't make me ever read a line about an adult woman commenting enthusiastically on her 14 year old daughter's sex fantasies ever again, what is wrong with you, Jesus Christ