Much like Homestuck, Hiveswap Friendsim is a flaming pile of trash. Also much like Homestuck, it's a flaming pile of trash that I really enjoyed and hold dear to my heart (except for the ending, which was just plain bad, once again drawing a parallel to my experience with Homestuck). In a weird way, it's enjoyable -because- it's trash, but it's fully self-aware of that fact, and tries its best to make the most of its trash-ness, with a decent success rate.

As a note, this review is on the quality of the full 18-Volume Friendsim experience. That in mind, Volume 1 is a great example of the full game's comedic stylings, and while it's characters aren't as in-depth as some of the later Volumes', they've still got really enjoyable stories that set a decent midpoint for the writing quality.


The meat of this game isn't in its overarching plot, but rather its huge cast of characters and all of the situations you get into as you meet them, and in this regard it's fab. Every Volume introduces two new characters, each getting their own episode, with most having a choice point by the halfway mark splitting a "good" and "bad" route that are about equal in length (as well as an extra choice point or two that instantly lead to alternate bad ends), so everyone has plenty of time to get proper characterization. The cast have a huge amount of diversity with their designs and personalities, and it's further bolstered by the whole "they're aliens with a really unique culture" thing, to the point that even when a few of them are more mundane compared to the rest of the cast, it's still a ton of fun to get to know them.

Like the characters themselves, the wacky and weird scenarios that you'll run into in each Volume have a ton of variety, from more mundane stuff like just listening to music while talking about alien culture, to ridiculous over-the-top fusterclucks like tagging along on a raid of an animal smuggling operation, or accidentally stumbling into a Battle Royale and being mistaken for one of the contestants. The situations mesh great with the characters they're tied to, and the game keeps a nice balance between lighthearted shenanigans, calmer world-building, and more serious/emotional stuff as you go from person-to-person, even giving your half-self-insert protagonist some character growth as things progress.

If I have one major complaint, it's that many characters -only- appear in their personal episode. Some characters do get brief cameos from time-to-time, and a few get a more prominent role due to being in a relationship or friends with the current episode's character, but even then their overall presence in the episode is minimal. To a point, I get devoting each episode to the newly-introduced troll so that they can get fully characterized by the end of it, but some of my favorite moments were the brief cross-character interactions, and it would've really given the game that extra level of fleshing-out if they'd had a couple of episodes where rather than introducing someone new, you're just playing through some small adventure with the existing cast.


At first, Friendsim keeps its plot nice and simple, and its store page does just as good a job as I ever could summing it up for you: "You just crash-landed on Alternia, and you’re DESPERATE for friendship!". It basically just exists as an excuse to set up situations where you meet a bunch of aliens and enjoy being caught up in silly scenarios with them, and in that regard it works really well. Just meeting new characters and getting to know them while gradually learning about the culture and history of their planet is fun in its own right, and if the game had stuck to this for its entirety I'd have probably enjoyed it a lot more.

However, as you progress through each Volume, there's more and more hints that something more sinister or far-reaching is behind how you've ended up on Alternia. By V13, significant portions of a number of ending paths are being devoted towards setting up this bigger plot, with full routes in Volumes 16 & 17 almost totally dropping the fun character interactions in favor of hyping you up for something cool happening at the end.

Which could've been really neat, except when you finally unlock the epilogue and go in for the "big reveal", it ends up being a lazy cop-out that doesn't actually explain anything and then boots you out without any sort of conclusion while going "Lol now read Homestuck". Spoileriffic elaboration: You find a portal to Doc Scratch's (an antagonist from Homestuck) house, where he reveals that all of the events of the game came about through his manipulations, but when you ask -why-, he just says you should read Homestuck to figure that out (and in case you haven't read Homestuck: reading it absolutely does -not- explain anything about this game's plot). I wouldn't have minded at how much less characterization or interaction a number of the later trolls get in favor of using huge sections of their episodes for plot setup, but as it stands the last fourth of the game sacrifices a solid chunk of what makes the earlier volumes so special for an ending that manages to be even more disappointing than Homestuck's.


Friendsim does a great job of gradually teaching you about the world of Alternia, building on the already-impressive amount of lore from Homestuck while reiterating the preexisting stuff naturally as you converse with the trolls you meet. Those who've read HS won't feel like they're just re-reading a bunch of stuff they already know, while people new to the series will still get all of the info they need to understand the setting, and even get the nice benefit of learning about the planet's culture alongside the protagonist.


Writing quality starts out great, but kinda dips in the later volumes, both due to the main plot rearing its ugly head and what I can only assume was the writers rushing to finish the last few volumes (they literally make a "lol we were too lazy to write this scene" joke in V18). Still, even when it's getting weaker, there's plenty of witty humor in the narration, and the characters themselves are always a blast to talk to, whether they're roasting you for being a wimpy human, trying to rope you into some sort of blatantly illegal scheme, or even when they have to fight with the overarching story for the spotlight. The narration is chock-full of self-aware, self-deprecating jabs that help its worst bits roll over easier, though towards the very end leans a bit too heavily on how it knows it's trash and forgets to actually have some substance to back up the 4th-wall-breaks.


Contrasting how the writing takes a dive over time, the art improves immensely as the story continues. The early characters certainly have a nice number of different expressions, but they still have a noticeably budget artstyle, whereas later characters have downright fantastic artwork, and make heavy use of both one-off sprites and special UI elements to really give their episodes that extra bit of flair. BG art likewise gets significantly more lively and varied in later episodes, though even early stuff does a great job of capturing the feel of being on an alien world.

Also the soundtrack is fab but I can't say much due to word limits. Practically everything is really catchy, almost in an Undertale or LISA kind of way if their OSTs were just character themes.


Its certainly got its problems, but fans of Homestuck, the Hiveswap point-and-click, or even just folks who enjoy in-depth characters and appreciate a mostly lighthearted, halfway-on-the-4th-Wall style of writing will likely get plenty of enjoyment out of Friendsim.

8.3/10

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Much like Homestuck, Hiveswap Friendsim is a flaming pile of trash. Also much like Homestuck, it's a flaming pile of trash that I really enjoyed and hold dear to my heart (except for the ending, which was just plain bad, once again drawing a parallel to my experience with Homestuck). In a weird way, it's enjoyable -because- it's trash, but it's fully self-aware of that fact, and tries its best to make the most of its trash-ness, with a decent success rate. As a note, this review is on the quality of the full 18-Volume Friendsim experience. That in mind, Volume 1 is a great example of the full game's comedic stylings, and while it's characters aren't as in-depth as some of the later Volumes', they've still got really enjoyable stories that set a decent midpoint for the writing quality. [h1]The Characters[/h1] The meat of this game isn't in its overarching plot, but rather its huge cast of characters and all of the situations you get into as you meet them, and in this regard it's fab. Every Volume introduces two new characters, each getting their own episode, with most having a choice point by the halfway mark splitting a "good" and "bad" route that are about equal in length (as well as an extra choice point or two that instantly lead to alternate bad ends), so everyone has plenty of time to get proper characterization. The cast have a huge amount of diversity with their designs and personalities, and it's further bolstered by the whole "they're aliens with a really unique culture" thing, to the point that even when a few of them are more mundane compared to the rest of the cast, it's still a ton of fun to get to know them. Like the characters themselves, the wacky and weird scenarios that you'll run into in each Volume have a ton of variety, from more mundane stuff like just listening to music while talking about alien culture, to ridiculous over-the-top fusterclucks like tagging along on a raid of an animal smuggling operation, or accidentally stumbling into a Battle Royale and being mistaken for one of the contestants. The situations mesh great with the characters they're tied to, and the game keeps a nice balance between lighthearted shenanigans, calmer world-building, and more serious/emotional stuff as you go from person-to-person, even giving your half-self-insert protagonist some character growth as things progress. If I have one major complaint, it's that many characters -only- appear in their personal episode. Some characters do get brief cameos from time-to-time, and a few get a more prominent role due to being in a relationship or friends with the current episode's character, but even then their overall presence in the episode is minimal. To a point, I get devoting each episode to the newly-introduced troll so that they can get fully characterized by the end of it, but some of my favorite moments were the brief cross-character interactions, and it would've really given the game that extra level of fleshing-out if they'd had a couple of episodes where rather than introducing someone new, you're just playing through some small adventure with the existing cast. [h1]The Main Plot[/h1] At first, Friendsim keeps its plot nice and simple, and its store page does just as good a job as I ever could summing it up for you: "You just crash-landed on Alternia, and you’re DESPERATE for friendship!". It basically just exists as an excuse to set up situations where you meet a bunch of aliens and enjoy being caught up in silly scenarios with them, and in that regard it works really well. Just meeting new characters and getting to know them while gradually learning about the culture and history of their planet is fun in its own right, and if the game had stuck to this for its entirety I'd have probably enjoyed it a lot more. However, as you progress through each Volume, there's more and more hints that something more sinister or far-reaching is behind how you've ended up on Alternia. By V13, significant portions of a number of ending paths are being devoted towards setting up this bigger plot, with full routes in Volumes 16 & 17 almost totally dropping the fun character interactions in favor of hyping you up for something cool happening at the end. Which could've been really neat, except when you finally unlock the epilogue and go in for the "big reveal", it ends up being a lazy cop-out that doesn't actually explain anything and then boots you out without any sort of conclusion while going "Lol now read Homestuck". Spoileriffic elaboration: [spoiler]You find a portal to Doc Scratch's (an antagonist from Homestuck) house, where he reveals that all of the events of the game came about through his manipulations, but when you ask -why-, he just says you should read Homestuck to figure that out (and in case you haven't read Homestuck: reading it absolutely does -not- explain anything about this game's plot).[/spoiler] I wouldn't have minded at how much less characterization or interaction a number of the later trolls get in favor of using huge sections of their episodes for plot setup, but as it stands the last fourth of the game sacrifices a solid chunk of what makes the earlier volumes so special for an ending that manages to be even more disappointing than Homestuck's. [h1]The World-Building[/h1] Friendsim does a great job of gradually teaching you about the world of Alternia, building on the already-impressive amount of lore from Homestuck while reiterating the preexisting stuff naturally as you converse with the trolls you meet. Those who've read HS won't feel like they're just re-reading a bunch of stuff they already know, while people new to the series will still get all of the info they need to understand the setting, and even get the nice benefit of learning about the planet's culture alongside the protagonist. [h1]The Writing[/h1] Writing quality starts out great, but kinda dips in the later volumes, both due to the main plot rearing its ugly head and what I can only assume was the writers rushing to finish the last few volumes (they literally make a "lol we were too lazy to write this scene" joke in V18). Still, even when it's getting weaker, there's plenty of witty humor in the narration, and the characters themselves are always a blast to talk to, whether they're roasting you for being a wimpy human, trying to rope you into some sort of blatantly illegal scheme, or even when they have to fight with the overarching story for the spotlight. The narration is chock-full of self-aware, self-deprecating jabs that help its worst bits roll over easier, though towards the very end leans a bit too heavily on how it knows it's trash and forgets to actually have some substance to back up the 4th-wall-breaks. [h1]The Presentation[/h1] Contrasting how the writing takes a dive over time, the art improves immensely as the story continues. The early characters certainly have a nice number of different expressions, but they still have a noticeably budget artstyle, whereas later characters have downright fantastic artwork, and make heavy use of both one-off sprites and special UI elements to really give their episodes that extra bit of flair. BG art likewise gets significantly more lively and varied in later episodes, though even early stuff does a great job of capturing the feel of being on an alien world. Also the soundtrack is fab but I can't say much due to word limits. Practically everything is really catchy, almost in an Undertale or LISA kind of way if their OSTs were just character themes. [h1]In Closing[/h1] Its certainly got its problems, but fans of Homestuck, the Hiveswap point-and-click, or even just folks who enjoy in-depth characters and appreciate a mostly lighthearted, halfway-on-the-4th-Wall style of writing will likely get plenty of enjoyment out of Friendsim. 8.3/10 Follow my [url=http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31984244/]Curator[/url] to be kept up on all my reviews, including stuff I ghost-write through Family Share!