17.2 hours played
Written 8 days ago
I have very mixed feelings here. Spoilers for some early events, how the player can affect them, and discussions of the game's romances.
This game has a lot of moving parts. It's ambitious, you can see that from word go, and it is, overall, competently executed. I love the visuals, the character designs are distinct, I have this weird fixation with min/maxing in life sims so I can see myself coming back periodically just to see how high I can get my stats by the end of the game. It's a good way to pass a few hours, the sole minigame's simple but satisfying(it does start to feel stale after a while, but I took that as my sign to take a break).
But I felt like I saw a lot of cracks after a few hours. The story and world don't feel meaningfully reactive, it feels like it's running a bunch of binary yes/no checks.
For example, in my first playthrough I chose Tammy as my character's childhood best friend(intending to romance her). MC's mother and Tammy's father both died, they had a shared history, high affinity, and MC found her crying due to grief. MC cried with her, but the fact they both lost a parent within, like, a year wasn't acknowledged. I'm not saying the game should have pivoted the scene to focus on MC's feelings instead of Tammy's, but it felt jarring to be talking about grief without mentioning that. I expected some level of commiseration, either MC saying "hey, I get it, I just lost a parent too" or, given Tammy's personality, that she would've asked how MC was feeling and tried to shift the conversation to *their* grief. But that would take time to write and program, so instead the game checks if Tonin is alive then runs one of two conversations.
It just makes the world feel flat, and, unfortunately, the game's full of moments like that. You pick MC's childhood best friend, but that doesn't affect anything outside of how many affinity points they start with. It sounds like a goofy thing to complain about, but since you start off with a cast of 7 kids, you'd think they'd chat about that kind of thing, especially as they become teens and start to drift apart(I could see a lot of angsty "we never hang out anymore" conversations, particularly when dating comes into the mix).
You also choose an augment for MC, things like unnaturally good eyesight or an extremely calm temperament or extra fingers. Other characters have augments, too, and they're huge parts of their personalities. But not MC's, their augment adds a card to the minigame deck and increases a stat at the start, that's basically it. I didn't see it mentioned by other characters at all during dialogue or flavor text. So, sure, the game lets you choose from a bunch of options, but it rarely feels like it matters. Save Tonin and he immediately retires, you never see him again. Save Eudicot, she acquieses to Lum and effectively bows out of the story. Save MC's mom and her sprite stands near their dad's on the overworld.
MC just doesn't feel like an actual part of the gameworld. I feel like relationships, platonic and romantic, suffer the most there. I never believed any of these characters were into MC except Rex, and MC/character friendships are never acknowledged outside of affinity checks. MC always feels like a second choice for romances(again, except with Rex) regardless of their affinity with any given character. The one character who overtly and passionately expresses interest without MC making the first move is smitten with humanity itself, it's more that MC happened to be in front of him than anything else. They could've been anyone, he'd still want to know every inch of their body and soul.
As for the other characters, Cal and Tammy are obsessed with each other and difficult to split up. Marz and Tang aren't actually interested in relationships, although MC can still pursue them. Dys will always have a crush on an alien. Rex and Nomi can form a cute triad with MC, romancing Rex alone results in some weird moments with Nomi but is overall sweet. If you want a monogamous relationship, it's gonna be a lot of work and a little luck, plus it very well might end abruptly and unsatisfactorily. I understand relationships don't always work out, people aren't always compatible, I'm totally cool with MC getting shot down by a character(Serafen my beloved...) but it ultimately just feels like MC doesn't need to be there.
MC/character relationships also aren't acknowledged unless you fought to break up a couple. MC's parents don't have any thoughts on who their only child's dating, Marz' dads don't have a moment with MC if they pursue her. In general, characters outside the main cast don't feel like part of the world. They're mentioned in passing, you almost never see them, the overworld's empty except for romanceables and MC's parent(s). Having minor characters randomly crop up and give us a short scene to help flesh out the colony would've been nice. Instead, they're just numbers. 100 people live here(you will see a handful of them), 17 people died, etc.
MC really feels like they exist in a vacuum. Yes, because they're the special-est kid in the world, they can change the outcome of the story, they can choose who lives or dies, but nobody really seems attached to them and whether or not someone survives barely matters.
The epilogue's brief. It doesn't talk about anyone outside of MC's immediate circle, just their partner(s) and parent(s). It would've been nice to get a line or two about what other characters were doing. I'm not saying every character needs a post-ending novella, a simple "And Cal, who you hung out with a couple times, took over Geoponics eventually. He's happy/sad about life in the colony" would've been enough for me.
On a game that sells itself, partially, on replayability, a shallow relationship system and unsatisfying endings make it kind of hard for me to recommend. Like I said, it's pretty and I could see myself checking the "skip seen dialogue" box, turning on a podcast, and trying to speedrun it for various endings, but I was ultimately kind of disappointed in the game overall. It had its moments, if Steam had 1-5 star ratings I'd probably give this a 2.5, maybe a 3. It's not like it was awful or I'm kicking myself for spending money on it, I just thought the overall experience lacked the depth a project like this needs to shine.
EDIT:
After reading a few other reviews I feel I should mention that the progressivism is also a thin veneer. It posits living in a post-racial society where humanity's past mistakes are hammered into kids' heads(good! I like that) but concepts like white supremacy or the realities of assimilation never come up. We never even really get to hear an argument against cultural assimilation. Beyond that, the only black character you're likely to see is a fierce independent girl who sees everyone as below her, and there's a hyperintelligent, mercurial East Asian girl. The text itself furthers racist stereotypes, regardless of the writers intentions.
