Recent reviews by CremePudding

It's all very relaxing and chill. You can faff about, and if that's not your cup of tea the minigames are genuinely very good along with the room building, and you won't be nickle and dimed for anything. I can't say it's some amazing party world, more like a sleepy, languid sort of lounge where you can occasionally see Dagoth Ur and Pikachu lose their virtual life saving in the casino while some anime girls or furries puke on them from behind.

Or most likely you will be playing a lot of minigolf.

It's very much an acquired taste kind of CYOA - very slow, somewhat open-ended, very reactive and anti-completionist. Probably worth a try to see if it's worth your time regardless - nothing's quite like it. Closest point of comparison would be Fallen London (the CYOA of which Sunless Sea and Skies are based on), although the similarities are mostly surface level.

+Semi-complicated life sim system, especially on substance uses
+Story decisions are significant (partly because of the life sims elements)
+Full of mutually exclusive content from story decisions and player customization
+Very screwed up characters, very screwed up setting, very screwed up interactions
+High quality technobabble instead of sci-fi magic (I think?)
+Nice art in very high quantity for a CYOA
+Very introspective
+Somehow the dressing up is fun despite being a text-based game

-Steep learning curve and very fiddly
-A lot of plotlines are in-progress
-It can be very hard to get used to the PC being a genuine underdog
-Slow pace of play can be a deal breaker
-Too much horny content with random irrelevant people
-"Party"

=Game is built on the player being a small fry, messing up and surviving the aftermath, which might not be for everyone
=Rare, but still present perma-death might be a deal breaker as well, even if it is mostly in the very early game
=You can be an armless woman (no cyberarms, just no arms at all) oozing toxic slime with triple boobs and a flexible spine that can kill multiple people with a sledgehammer and grenades

Half of the cast make the most amazing crazy faces at the slightest provocation even when they aren't actually crazy

A staggering amount of content and very good variety. You are likely to see and be something new on each playthrough that is completely unrelated to anything in your previous playthrough.

The ability to use forbidden illegal mind control magic on your classmate only to make them do their homework or skip lessons to become a wrestler.

Bad UI, as you can tell from the screenshots.

Don't let the pretty artstyle fools you - you can order a hit on a child as the very first action you take!

Many pretty boys. Many normal and presentable old men that doesn't look like corpses. Token lesbians. Token dead person. Token furry. Exotic options. Multiple non-romance ending if you love yourself. Multiple MASSACRE endings if you are feeling edgy.

What more could you ask for in an otome game?

A cheerful visual novel with a little more stats-juggling than usual.

There is a difficulty system, so if you aren't into stats juggling you can just pick easy and still have fun. The game also show you which stats are used before you pick a storyline and it helps a lot. There are also "Inspirations", single-use stats booster you can get on the map just as easily as a regular stats increase, which is a welcome addition.

Interface is pretty but could use some work, especially the map where it can be easy to click on the wrong locations due to their proximity. The skill screens could use more information and a better sorting (alphabetical?). The diary screen should omit the empty dates as they look ridiculous, and the fonts make it slightly hard to read. On the nice side, that mean you have easy access to story recap. The backgrounds are evocative and really pretty.

Probably should get a new artist for the character art, though. I meant it. The eyes!

Characters are fun to interact with and well-written, and they all have fun dialogues. There are a lot of different stories that make multiple playthroughs viable and enjoyable. The game is bigger than it looks content-wise.

As a visual novel the game's strength is firmly on the interactive novel side with its cheerful writing. There is a lot of that.