It's an okay game that has a HUGE amount of potential. Ultimately, I'm glad I grabbed this while it was free since I'd probably feel a bit disappointed if I paid for it

Essentially, it's Lethal Company but you're Youtubers, so the enjoyment of the game largely comes down to you and your friends being funny, which is fine, these types of games can be great! I like that you're forced to confront the monsters to do good, instead of always running away, even if a lot of them just kinda stun lock or instakill you

My main issues are:

- The Ragdoll physics add a ton of comedy but the way your camera view wobbles a bunch for just turning your mouse or moving slightly is kinda unpleasant/nauseating
- The camera doesn't have a whole lot of battery with seemingly no way to upgrade it, but I get you wanna keep the videos short
- The dungeons you go into are pretty bland, with the same texture usually laid over everything. They're also super huge, which kinda makes me miss Lethal Company's incentive to search for items. Generally monsters appear without a whole lot of warning too, so it's a lot of stumbling around an empty environment until sudden jumpscare noise
- Voice chat is generally pretty quiet. Promixity chat is one of the best parts about these types of games but in CW, you basically need to all be on top of each other to hear and even then, it can still not be enough. This is especially noticable when you play back the videos you make, where a lot of the funny jokes you made can barely be heard

That being said, I think this game is a few updates away from potentially being super amazing. The ideas and core gameplay loop are fantastic

I backed the Kickstarter for this, and have also been learning Japanese for about a year and a half - Shashingo is a very neat experience, but doesn't have a whole lot of content and I struggle to recommend it for its price, unless you're a specific kind of person (which is, knows Hiragana/Katakana and some very basic Japanese, but not too much)

You have a small city plaza (with a couple of backalleys) full of props to photograph, which then get turned into flashcards. You can also be challenged by receiving a word and having to go find it. Thirdly, there is a small guide book with some basic Japanese lessons, that explain some key phrases and vocab, which is nicely presented and well explained, but nothing that you can't find elsewhere online for free

So yeah, the content is fairly simple. Honestly I think my biggest problem, which kinda just takes me out of the whole thing, is that to take a photograph, you NEED to be looking at an object that has a word associated with it somewhat directly. This makes it feel restrictive and I'd often use photo angles that the game would allow, rather than ones I wanted. It made my collection of photos look and feel a bit generic since it was hard to get creative angles the game would accept - a lot of the time it was just Thing in the centre of photo because that's what would be accepted

I will say, I think a lot of love has gone into this game. The city, although it can be fully explored in about five minutes, looks lovely and the atmosphere is great. I love that the world has a ton of Japanese posters and signage about for reading practise. The day/night cycle and different weathers add some coziness as well. I can't really complain about the presentation - it's all fantastic, I just wish there was more

Ultimately, I didn't expect a whole lot from Shashingo as a learning tool - games that aim to teach Japanese are almost never more effective than a good flashcard deck, and that's okay. Plus I also kinda appreciate a tool that isn't aimed solely at people new to Japanese, since most will start you off with learning Hiragana, which I'm way past

Unfortunately, the super wonderful vibes, presentation and atmosphere can't quite make up for the photograph aspect being a bit shallow, and a lack of content that makes for a slightly barren experience overall