Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Jan 2, 2022

  I bought this game on sale, already being familiar with SBN3's YouTube channel. I recommend watching some of his videos for a good idea as to what to expect from this product. In short, this is a well conceived satire that, while extremely brief, left me delighted and wanting more. MILD SPOILERS AHEAD The story (in fear of sounding cringe) has many parallels to Easton Ellis' American Psycho, with the high school replacing Wall Street as a prison that breeds fear, apathy and cruelty under the guise of contributing to society. You get to experience life at the top of the food chain, for better or for worse. The one thing preventing the blatantly evil protagonist from growing a paradoxically devout and sweaty fanbase is that [spoiler] she's a girl [/spoiler]. Like most visual novels, the gameplay involves making decisions that impact the plot and then watching said plot play out. There are no difficult choices, as the back button is always handy, but it's often hard to decide which option is funnier or will lead to a funnier outcome. The script is excellent. Consistently hilarious and occasionally deeply moving, the latter of which came as a pleasant surprise. The voice actors also recognize this, each giving solid performances throughout. Auto-progression pulls everything together, giving the dialogue a natural and comedic flow that many games, visual novel or otherwise, would benefit from. Even AAA game companies can fail to make their dialogue this human. SBN3 claims 'the game is entirely based on real events, encounters and personalities' and this is nothing short of the sad truth. It's easy to sympathize with the characters, even if they are a bunch of pricks and predators. I've known many Jefferys. Sometimes he was me. I can't evaluate the game's historical accuracy, but the unchallenged rape, racism, sexism, homophobia and general maliciousness of the cast seems pretty authentic to the late 2000s. In a good way. Voice acting and script aside, the game's aesthetics are limited to the bare working prototype. Music is scarce outside of the menu and opening cutscene, though constant dialogue prevents dead air. Animations and changes in facial expressions are used sparingly but appropriately. Flashy effects and a loud soundtrack might run the risk of drawing attention away from the characters, but some more details would have made many scenes worth replaying instead of fast-forwarding. My central critique of this game is how different it plays from how it's marketed. Though there are many decisions to make throughout the game, and many could be considered sociopathic, it is far from the 'sociopath simulation' described in the trailer. There are many opportunities to reject people, but rejection is never the main objective. There isn't really an objective at all. I understand why this approach was taken. SBN3's style is wonderfully unique but complicated. His content appeals to a niche demographic of nostalgic nerds, self-aware of their own nostalgia and nerdiness (whereas most nerds are blinded by at least one of these). This style is especially hard to sell to gamers, who can and will play the same broken game for 30 years and not see anything wrong with this. Case in point, this is not a visual novel for visual novel players. This is a game for anti-visual novel players, and an excellent debut from the King of New Media. Support this developer.
• gamedeal user

  Jan 3, 2022

  this game shows the most oppressed group of all, gamers
• gamedeal user

  May 16, 2022

  How interesting... I was hesitant to buy this. It sounded kinda painful, but the trailer and description sounded so intriguing. Even after purchasing, I was hesitant to start playing. I just knew that I would either love it, or hate it. Thankfully, it was the former. I loved the humour in this game, the time period felt correct and familiar, the characters were at least memorable and had pretty good voice acting, (although the best were definitely Nicole and Jecka, thankfully,) just overall a great time. Obviously there are some 'uncomfortable' topics in this game, but that's like, kinda the point? It didn't bother me personally, and let's be honest if you are interested in this game you probably already know that this kinda stuff doesn't bother you either. I used the save system to go through every dialogue option eventually, although there are many points where things looped back into familiar territory, so sometimes it was just a few lines. This made it easy to see everything, but having your choices have more impact might have been nice. I did end up seeing every ending though of course. There were some real surprises, and I am glad I did experience it all. Really I'm just left wishing there was more content. Looking forward to (hopefully) more like this in the future.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 12, 2022

  Next time when I fly to the states, this game shall be my reference.
• Mik on a Stick

  Dec 4, 2022

  Really fun game, the player character was very refreshing to play as. Breaks a lot of the tropes and generic endings of the genre. Very sarcastic/cynical humor, but still charming & likable. Most of the endings happen pretty quickly, but I think the pacing of the game works well with the humor and keeps the jokes from not hanging around too long. I think this game represents the misery of high school very well, in a fun way. The voice acting was also really good/enjoyable, from both the male and female cast. If you are a fan of non-traditional dating sims/dark humor, this is a good game. Do read the trigger warnings tho.
• Bipolar Anime Thot

  Jan 5, 2023

  10/10 emotionally manipulated a guy into killing himself then I overdosed on Perc
• Hippiescum

  Feb 17, 2023

  Made the choices I would have irl. A lot of people died very quickly. Probably a good thing I'm not a girl.
• gamedeal user

  Apr 23, 2023

  I hate all of these people.
• calli

  May 1, 2023

  This game was really fun. Classic edgy dialogue, with fantastic voice acting. The different plots and storylines branch quite a bit, and are quite fun. Of course it isn't for everyone, I think the main appeal would be to those who enjoy that specific era of edginess and can appreciate what the game is trying to recreate.
• DΞSOLΛΤΞ

  May 25, 2023

  Shes just like me...