Adastra took a bit to really grow on me; its opening hour makes for an incredibly tough sell that's probably going to throw off a lot of people on its focal love interest, and a lot of its initial character introductions and world building is just okay. It's several hours in where Adastra really turn the gears once you have that starting knowledge and development, and by the second half flipping itself on its head that what started as a relatively simple political battle with a cheesy romance on the side turns into something so much more extensive and intriguing by playing with the idea of trust and the different faces that people put on to get what they want from others. There's also a big gay himbo space wolf at the center of all of it, and as stupid as he can be and how rough his first impressions are, there's a point where it's hard not to at least find him even a little endearing. Will admit I did get choked up at one point, if only because having to read some of the most descriptive text possible for the biggest and most stoic cast member breaking down and sobbing his heart out is difficult not to have empathy for!
I do think Adastra suffers a bit from being what was clearly initially a side project from one of the Echo Project writers turning into something a whole lot bigger than was probably initially planned; being trapped in mostly one location for the entire game does hurt the game in trying to sell a literal galactic scale of a setting, and while it is partially the point(tm) and is something that affects the main protagonist, it tends to make parts of the game drag at points and especially during the last third of the game. There's one overly suspcious dialogue choice that feels like a bad 'gotcha' moment if you make the wrong decision for something you aren't given any clues or context for and only discover the consequences for hours later, because it means the game ends abruptly and cuts off the entire actual last third of the story, never really been a fan of those in visual novels in general. I'm also just kind of hesitant on how open the game leaves its ending off on, being clearly set up for more sequels in a story that honestly I think I would've been happy with just being standalone and smaller in scale. At the same time though, Adastra surprised me already for what I thought would've just been an okay goofy little sci-fi romp from one of the writers for Echo, so at this point I'm more than open to whatever they come up with in the future to continue this story and build off of its world and cast.
(And also a very quick brief warning to those who may have came from a more general recommendation from Echo: Adastra is a lot harder to recommend to a general audience if you don't fit into the funny 'gay furry' niche, since one of its central overarching plot points is the relationship between the protagonist and its lead character Amicus, including several straight up porn scenes! Adastra also is generally way lighter in tone than Echo is, and doesn't really share a lot of similarities beyond a brief select few darker scenes towards the end of the game. Adastra may have been written by one of the two lead writers for Echo and you can definitely spot his style throughout, but if you're expecting this to continue that game's themes and style, you'll have to look elsewhere.)
I do think Adastra suffers a bit from being what was clearly initially a side project from one of the Echo Project writers turning into something a whole lot bigger than was probably initially planned; being trapped in mostly one location for the entire game does hurt the game in trying to sell a literal galactic scale of a setting, and while it is partially the point(tm) and is something that affects the main protagonist, it tends to make parts of the game drag at points and especially during the last third of the game. There's one overly suspcious dialogue choice that feels like a bad 'gotcha' moment if you make the wrong decision for something you aren't given any clues or context for and only discover the consequences for hours later, because it means the game ends abruptly and cuts off the entire actual last third of the story, never really been a fan of those in visual novels in general. I'm also just kind of hesitant on how open the game leaves its ending off on, being clearly set up for more sequels in a story that honestly I think I would've been happy with just being standalone and smaller in scale. At the same time though, Adastra surprised me already for what I thought would've just been an okay goofy little sci-fi romp from one of the writers for Echo, so at this point I'm more than open to whatever they come up with in the future to continue this story and build off of its world and cast.
(And also a very quick brief warning to those who may have came from a more general recommendation from Echo: Adastra is a lot harder to recommend to a general audience if you don't fit into the funny 'gay furry' niche, since one of its central overarching plot points is the relationship between the protagonist and its lead character Amicus, including several straight up porn scenes! Adastra also is generally way lighter in tone than Echo is, and doesn't really share a lot of similarities beyond a brief select few darker scenes towards the end of the game. Adastra may have been written by one of the two lead writers for Echo and you can definitely spot his style throughout, but if you're expecting this to continue that game's themes and style, you'll have to look elsewhere.)