More of the same really. More goofy romance antics, more about escalating each joke to whatever height of absurdity it can manage.
The writing feels more polished somehow, which is good given how much longer routes tend to go than last time. The first Monster Prom dealt with general dating sim archetypes with violent twists (and the occasional sincerity hidden beneath the walls). Now in their second adventure, the game takes a lot more swings. Damien's violent fight shtick (with a hidden sensitive side etc etc) settles into genuine character growth, as he just sort of lets himself be sensitive more often. The Slayer in the first game was mostly a violent distraction, with her secret romance route mostly being a joke too. Camp builds off that route's ending of "girl get therapy" to having her genuinely settle down and face her biggest anxieties. Joy the Witch was a Buffy/Charmed joke, but now she's got these interesting workaholic layers as she tries and fails to enjoy her relaxing vacation.
My personal fave is Dahlia. The aspiring General of the Eight Circles of Hell initially seems like Damien 2, but somehow she comes off more adorably earnest than anything. Damien's violence perpetually placed him as King of the Fuck Mountain, while Dahlia has this angle of always striving for something. Its random violence versus purposeful, desperate, eager to please and prove herself violence. Damien's (initially) too cool for school and scared of being called a baby, Dahlia jumps into every single task without shame or hesitation. Its a subtle difference, but its an endearing distinction. The secret endings highlight all of this, as her personality and confidence crumble when she's forced to actually decipher her purpose as something beyond Damien's Rival. It works! Watching her eagerly scramble after scout badges is charming! I was charmed!
It also helps that the female body types are body diverse this time. Joy the witch is allowed to be large and curvy, Dahlia's the muscle god, The Slayer filling out the petite archetypes that most of Monster Prom contained. The male and nb options generally fall into muscled or slim, but its robots and skeletons so. It is what it is.
I only briefly talked about the mechanics in Monster Prom 1, but seeing how they've shifted in this game is genuinely fascinating. Prom featured six different stats: Money, Cool, Charm, etc. Occasionally, you'd have to consider whether to spend a turn at the school store, dropping your money stat in exchange for something new. The money stat and the school store is abandoned. The risk of wasting a turn browsing for items you couldn't afford is no longer possible.
Instead, Camp invents the Drink system. Every two turns, you're required to select a beverage from the campus store. You have a permanent selection of free drinks, but what drinks appear in that alcohol chest are determined by what drinks you've bought on the main menu. (These are bought with "summer memories," which you automatically collect by just playing rounds of the game). If you don't have any of those free drinks, or you just want to add some spice to the playthrough, the bartender will give you a random drink. This can raise stats, lower stats, put you on a secret ending, change your character's name, change the music, change the backgrounds, whatever the fuck. It keeps the game fresh dozens of hours in. It makes the party game much more of a party.
It also just feels like you have more control of the game that before. Since secret endings are more tied to drinks than random events, its much easier to direct the game towards the scenes you want to see. Both MP and MC have achievements tied to seeing every event and outcome. Outcomes being every successful or failed stat check. There was no way to catalogue that in MP, you just had to take notes and hope for the best. MC provides a complete list of every event and checks off what prompts you succeeded or failed. I'm never gonna go for all the outcomes bc, you know, I have things to do, but I like that the feature exists. It also provides a list of "special stuff", signaling events that might provide unique characters or outfits that could be missed on a regular playthrough.
However, this can be limiting too. Giving the player this much control cuts down on repetition, but it does end some of the random factor. It took me 25 hours to see the secret endings I wanted in Monster Prom 1, it took me 15 hours for Monster Camp. This is probably for the best. I've played 40 hours of these two games combined, I understand the flow of these events. I know the pattern of the jokes. Its a game designed for short absurdist bursts with friends.
More personally, I did the co-op romance ending with my partner and I don't know how to explain that the compatibility quiz made me cry with how seen and connected I felt. Beautiful night. We did it months ago, during a time when I wasn't sick, but I still think fondly of it. Gotta give it a good grade for that at the very least.
The writing feels more polished somehow, which is good given how much longer routes tend to go than last time. The first Monster Prom dealt with general dating sim archetypes with violent twists (and the occasional sincerity hidden beneath the walls). Now in their second adventure, the game takes a lot more swings. Damien's violent fight shtick (with a hidden sensitive side etc etc) settles into genuine character growth, as he just sort of lets himself be sensitive more often. The Slayer in the first game was mostly a violent distraction, with her secret romance route mostly being a joke too. Camp builds off that route's ending of "girl get therapy" to having her genuinely settle down and face her biggest anxieties. Joy the Witch was a Buffy/Charmed joke, but now she's got these interesting workaholic layers as she tries and fails to enjoy her relaxing vacation.
My personal fave is Dahlia. The aspiring General of the Eight Circles of Hell initially seems like Damien 2, but somehow she comes off more adorably earnest than anything. Damien's violence perpetually placed him as King of the Fuck Mountain, while Dahlia has this angle of always striving for something. Its random violence versus purposeful, desperate, eager to please and prove herself violence. Damien's (initially) too cool for school and scared of being called a baby, Dahlia jumps into every single task without shame or hesitation. Its a subtle difference, but its an endearing distinction. The secret endings highlight all of this, as her personality and confidence crumble when she's forced to actually decipher her purpose as something beyond Damien's Rival. It works! Watching her eagerly scramble after scout badges is charming! I was charmed!
It also helps that the female body types are body diverse this time. Joy the witch is allowed to be large and curvy, Dahlia's the muscle god, The Slayer filling out the petite archetypes that most of Monster Prom contained. The male and nb options generally fall into muscled or slim, but its robots and skeletons so. It is what it is.
I only briefly talked about the mechanics in Monster Prom 1, but seeing how they've shifted in this game is genuinely fascinating. Prom featured six different stats: Money, Cool, Charm, etc. Occasionally, you'd have to consider whether to spend a turn at the school store, dropping your money stat in exchange for something new. The money stat and the school store is abandoned. The risk of wasting a turn browsing for items you couldn't afford is no longer possible.
Instead, Camp invents the Drink system. Every two turns, you're required to select a beverage from the campus store. You have a permanent selection of free drinks, but what drinks appear in that alcohol chest are determined by what drinks you've bought on the main menu. (These are bought with "summer memories," which you automatically collect by just playing rounds of the game). If you don't have any of those free drinks, or you just want to add some spice to the playthrough, the bartender will give you a random drink. This can raise stats, lower stats, put you on a secret ending, change your character's name, change the music, change the backgrounds, whatever the fuck. It keeps the game fresh dozens of hours in. It makes the party game much more of a party.
It also just feels like you have more control of the game that before. Since secret endings are more tied to drinks than random events, its much easier to direct the game towards the scenes you want to see. Both MP and MC have achievements tied to seeing every event and outcome. Outcomes being every successful or failed stat check. There was no way to catalogue that in MP, you just had to take notes and hope for the best. MC provides a complete list of every event and checks off what prompts you succeeded or failed. I'm never gonna go for all the outcomes bc, you know, I have things to do, but I like that the feature exists. It also provides a list of "special stuff", signaling events that might provide unique characters or outfits that could be missed on a regular playthrough.
However, this can be limiting too. Giving the player this much control cuts down on repetition, but it does end some of the random factor. It took me 25 hours to see the secret endings I wanted in Monster Prom 1, it took me 15 hours for Monster Camp. This is probably for the best. I've played 40 hours of these two games combined, I understand the flow of these events. I know the pattern of the jokes. Its a game designed for short absurdist bursts with friends.
More personally, I did the co-op romance ending with my partner and I don't know how to explain that the compatibility quiz made me cry with how seen and connected I felt. Beautiful night. We did it months ago, during a time when I wasn't sick, but I still think fondly of it. Gotta give it a good grade for that at the very least.