Bio
hi I'm charlie and I love websites where I get to log things
@CharlieAshes on Letterboxd
@CharlieAshes on Serializd
@CharredAshes on Twitch
Personal Ratings
1★
5★

Badges


N00b

Played 100+ games

1 Years of Service

Being part of the Backloggd community for 1 year

Roadtrip

Voted for at least 3 features on the roadmap

GOTY '22

Participated in the 2022 Game of the Year Event

Favorite Games

The Sims 2
The Sims 2
Red Dead Redemption 2
Red Dead Redemption 2
Dragon Age: Origins
Dragon Age: Origins
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
Stardew Valley
Stardew Valley

109

Total Games Played

000

Played in 2024

038

Games Backloggd


Recently Played See More

Slay the Princess
Slay the Princess

Oct 31

We Know the Devil
We Know the Devil

Oct 01

Venba
Venba

Aug 01

Sticky Business
Sticky Business

Jul 17

Iron Lung
Iron Lung

Jul 02

Recently Reviewed See More

more of a narrative experience than a game - though there IS some measure of gameplay in that you get a better ending if you give people the right orders - but enjoyable!

The gameplay loop is repetitive - which isn't necessarily a bad thing for me, I love doing the same thing over and over again, but here it felt fairly unintuitive and boring. Also, the story felt really rushed, but the writing was so awkward and forced that I wasn't exactly looking for more of it.

I'm like 100% sure this game will get too repetitive to replay anymore once I've seen all the friendship routes, but the gameplay is also weirdly addictive? I enjoyed the nostalgic aesthetic and the diverse cast. The writing was also surprisingly good! A lot of these types of life sim visual novels tend to be really amateurish or even cringey in their writing and especially their dialogue, but I thought this was actually pretty well handled. It even managed to veer between a light, playful tone and serious, mature content with a deft enough hand. Though, to be honest, I went into this game blind and was kind of surprised just how serious the content is at points.

My only major criticism is that you have to play in a fairly specific way if you want to manage stress/parental approval. You really have to focus on earning money so you can buy stress relieving food, which you need to keep your stress low enough that you can do the bonkers amount of studying necessary to be fully prepared for your exams. I don't think the exams should have been easier, necessarily, but it would have been interesting if there were alternative good endings for less academics-focused characters. Also, the interactions with the parents were by far the most shallow part of the game. It's weird that I can have more dialogue with a random dude I met at the park than my dad. That said, I do think it's a cute detail that your character from the previous playthrough and their spouse are the next generation's parents.