Recent reviews by Penguino

It was a fun experience

10/10

I really enjoyed playing the game, but it did have its some issues. While there's a lot to delve into about this game in comparison to its prequel, I'll keep it short.

Major Drawbacks compared to the prequel:

1.The mystery element was somewhat disappointing – I practically figured out the culprits early on, which weakened the overall plot. The prequel's mystery element, in my opinion, was much more engaging.

2.The gameplay got a bit messy at times, and the encounters with spirits lacked the challenge I was anticipating.

3.The playtime was relatively short, although I believe the prequel had a similar playtime. However, considering the price tag, a slightly longer gameplay experience would have been better.

Major Improvements that I noticed over the prequel:

1.The 2D side scrolling navigation was a notable improvement over the navigation system in the prequel.

2.The main character (MC) is more engaging compared to the somewhat bland portrayal in the prequel.

3.The characters, CG art, and overall aesthetics truly stood out, which was somewhat expected given the price tag.

Despite some problems, I would still recommend the game and I rate this game 7.5/10

Fantastic visuals, good voice acting and interesting story.

The visual novel does come with some pretty decent visuals and voice acting, which gives you a sense of good production quality. But, it doesn't justify the price tag. The art, visuals, and voice acting are solid, but there's this unmistakable indie-game vibe that you can't ignore. If you compare it to Japanese visual novels in the same price range, you'll notice a significant gap in production quality in terms of visuals and voice acting.
That said, the visuals and voice acting are not terrible, though there are times when some voices are quieter than others, which can be a bit frustrating. And when it comes to the user interface and overall user experience, it's honestly a bit disappointing – especially the fact that it lacks a CG gallery and basic flow/progress chart.
However, I should say that the absence of a CG gallery didn't really affect my immersion or enjoyment. On the other hand, not having a basic flow/progress chart, which is pretty crucial in titles like this, does take a toll on the overall experience and immersion.

Speaking of ruining immersion, the game unfortunately has some critical bugs, and some of them are seriously frustrating, to the point where they led me to rage quit. For example, there are occasions when attempting to fast forward through text that has already been read results in getting stuck in certain dialogues. Even if you return to the menu and restart, you are still unable to proceed to the next dialogue. The only solution is to exit the game, relaunch it, disable the "auto skip read text" mode, and read the dialogue at a slower pace. During the suspicion route, there was a bug while after catching a fish a special dialogue was triggered with Gio, who was already killed at that point. It was really weird and broke the immersion for me. Bugs like these really take a toll on the immersion. The characters and plot are quite polarizing, and it essentially boils down to your personal taste, preferences, and even your political views. The characters aren't bland; they each possess distinct personalities, interests, and viewpoints. However, they do tend to say some weird things, which can be off-putting at times.
Additionally, the constant stream of sexual jokes from certain characters make it even worse. The plot here is, to put it mildly, misleading. The game advertises itself as a thriller, mystery, survival, and investigation visual novel, but in reality, it falls short of these genres. The only route that remotely resembles mystery and investigation is the suspicion route, while all other routes lack any substantial mystery elements.

This game gets a 4/10 from me.

11 Marinas out of 10

11 Shadowhearts out of 10.

Worth the money