Holy shit, it took me 2 years to finish this game.

But seriously though, the storyline for this game is cool, being a designer for an idol group. The only problem I have with it is that story events take super long to trigger. There’s also the fact that the game wasn’t exactly designed for you to pick the second option for an idol’s concept. Dressing Rosie in punk didn’t exactly suit her storyline. Shame you can’t change your choice. But it is nice seeing the outfits you design being used in cutscenes.

The gameplay loop gets dull/transparent very quickly, I couldn’t play for more than an hour without my eyes glazing over. I’ve only played the very first style savvy, but it seemed to have a system that had customers stop coming after a certain amount of time playing. So I know that the developers know about the gameplay limitations. Of course, you can’t do that in this game since it’s no longer tied to the real time and date. But on the other hand, it does allow you to progress without impediment.

The side content is expansive, building off what was developed in the previous games. The hairdresser was tough getting the right option a lot of times, it’s not so clear what hairstyle corresponds with what style. With makeup, you have to pick nail sets out specifically before you can equip them at home, which makes getting them tedious. The men’s store was an interesting look into how the game would function without any stock or price controls.

I thought that the music place would play more of a role in the story, seeing how you are helping an idol group. I must have checked that place a hundred times, but I always got the same responses. Decorating your shop and home is very nice, but I only wish that there were more options for it. I don’t like how the two are directly tied together, so to get more furniture for your home, you have to buy stuff for your store.

I like how you can get your own assistant for the store, its nice having a someone you can talk to for advice. There seems to be a lot wider variety in customer interactions, I was still getting new ones 70 hours in. I noticed that it’s also a lot tougher to sell window case items. And that you can’t sell outfits that combine multiple styles, which is very restricting in a fashion game.

In terms of the fashion itself… I mean, the game came out in 2017, so most of the fashion is out of date by 2022 standards. Ironically, the oldest items have come back in style, so I found myself dressing people in the same things I did back in 2008. If only a new game would come out so I could use updated fashions.

As much as I ragged on it in the review, I really appreciate games like these. As a kid, Style Savvy really opened my eyes to possibility of a serious dress-up game. Games like these have their niche and are of infinitely higher quality than crappy dress-up game apps. It takes a ton of work to create the thousands of unique items and a complex system to sort them, as well as the hundreds of unique customer interactions.

If you like games like this, I can recommend the Love Nikki series on mobile. (if you don’t mind P2W and time-gating practices. Which goes back to my point about having games like this to play for kids)