My spicy hot take is this fan game tackles toxic hypermasculinity and sexism way better than the original game, which is insane this is a free fangame, that frankly feels like a better written sequel than joyful does.
In this game you play as the weirdos trying to get the girl to "save humanity" but its clear that that really does seem like a excuse to justify all the murder and kidnapping that goes on in the world. my aforementioned issue with the original game is that it paints brad out to be this bad guy but in this your characters suffer from treating the supposed last woman as a savior or whatever fantasy you want.
even in the more fun light hearted secret pain mode route where you have a lot more party members and banter rather than tragedy, still doesn't reward the characters for doing the things they do "for the girl" all but one ending end like this and its the ending where the characters through tragedy realize this flaw, and the main antagonist represents this violent toxic masculinity the best.
the main party's dynamic in gameplay and story is great, it follows the traditional lisa combo system but minus the secret route in pain mode, it is just going to be the main three characters but luckily they balance eachother out in gameplay between damage, tanking, and support while feeling like a fair challenge, as for the character dynamics you how toxic masculinity doesn't let these characters really show how much they care for each other until its too late, its well written.
the game is a little bit more linear than painful or even what was in pointless that's not bad but I'm more surprised how much I actually feel I prefer painful' exploration and party members solely from a gameplay perspective, the writing in this is way better I will say the multiple routes does allows more replay value for what is quite a short game which isn't a complaint it is a free fangame after all as well as having the joy mechanic affect how certain routes play out as opposed to painful giving you extra dialogue and a end credits scene I didn't care for.
This game still has touchy subject matter but I feel for the most part it writes it better but its still a warning if you can't handle this stuff, I don't know if I could recommend it to people who have more of an issue with painful/joyful than I do but if what I say interests you I think its a really solid short story
(I am actually exited for the sequel)
In this game you play as the weirdos trying to get the girl to "save humanity" but its clear that that really does seem like a excuse to justify all the murder and kidnapping that goes on in the world. my aforementioned issue with the original game is that it paints brad out to be this bad guy but in this your characters suffer from treating the supposed last woman as a savior or whatever fantasy you want.
even in the more fun light hearted secret pain mode route where you have a lot more party members and banter rather than tragedy, still doesn't reward the characters for doing the things they do "for the girl" all but one ending end like this and its the ending where the characters through tragedy realize this flaw, and the main antagonist represents this violent toxic masculinity the best.
the main party's dynamic in gameplay and story is great, it follows the traditional lisa combo system but minus the secret route in pain mode, it is just going to be the main three characters but luckily they balance eachother out in gameplay between damage, tanking, and support while feeling like a fair challenge, as for the character dynamics you how toxic masculinity doesn't let these characters really show how much they care for each other until its too late, its well written.
the game is a little bit more linear than painful or even what was in pointless that's not bad but I'm more surprised how much I actually feel I prefer painful' exploration and party members solely from a gameplay perspective, the writing in this is way better I will say the multiple routes does allows more replay value for what is quite a short game which isn't a complaint it is a free fangame after all as well as having the joy mechanic affect how certain routes play out as opposed to painful giving you extra dialogue and a end credits scene I didn't care for.
This game still has touchy subject matter but I feel for the most part it writes it better but its still a warning if you can't handle this stuff, I don't know if I could recommend it to people who have more of an issue with painful/joyful than I do but if what I say interests you I think its a really solid short story
(I am actually exited for the sequel)