Highway Blossoms has a fantastic story. It's genuinely really good for a cute little road trip/treasure hunting story with two disaster lesbians. The visuals are good, the writing is alright, the voice acting is only slightly grating at certain times, the music is fine, and there's even some optional smut for the people who don't just want to experience a wholesome story.
Now you might read that and then ask "Why did you only give it 2 stars? Is it not a good game with all that praise?" and that's the thing. It's not a game. Highway Blossoms is a prime thing to point at when it comes to the whole "What makes something a game" argument.
I'm not playing a game when I play through Highway Blossoms, I'm reading a book but instead of flipping a page every few minutes I'm mashing spacebar a couple thousand times. The story is good but you're not acting in it, you're just a third party. There's no action the player can take to do anything, you're just reading a book or listening to the characters speak to one another. There is no gameplay. It does not exist.
I think Highway Blossoms is a beautiful and really engaging story with all sorts of twists and turns. And I do recommend you give it a read. But I wish that way to experience it was as an anime, or a short mini series, or a book. Or anything that doesn't destroy your mouse or your keyboard to read. It took me about 10 hours to finish, but it probably could be read through in about 9. After that it'll sit in your steam library for the rest of time. Because past your first reading, there's no reason to go back.
Now you might read that and then ask "Why did you only give it 2 stars? Is it not a good game with all that praise?" and that's the thing. It's not a game. Highway Blossoms is a prime thing to point at when it comes to the whole "What makes something a game" argument.
I'm not playing a game when I play through Highway Blossoms, I'm reading a book but instead of flipping a page every few minutes I'm mashing spacebar a couple thousand times. The story is good but you're not acting in it, you're just a third party. There's no action the player can take to do anything, you're just reading a book or listening to the characters speak to one another. There is no gameplay. It does not exist.
I think Highway Blossoms is a beautiful and really engaging story with all sorts of twists and turns. And I do recommend you give it a read. But I wish that way to experience it was as an anime, or a short mini series, or a book. Or anything that doesn't destroy your mouse or your keyboard to read. It took me about 10 hours to finish, but it probably could be read through in about 9. After that it'll sit in your steam library for the rest of time. Because past your first reading, there's no reason to go back.