Remarkably complex and deceptively engrossing, Chinese Parents is a unique experience. Life Sim and visual novel, mixed with light puzzle elements, training your child to ace their Gaokao is very fun throughout. It also is a great window into Chinese culture and what childhood and teenage years are like, of course masked by several game mechanics.

The game has several issues here and there. Although it's great the game has a translation now, and most of it is fantastically done, some parts are hit and miss. The odd typo or poor translation shows in terms of clunky sentences, or just outright bad English; some references or situations may go completely over your head because of their nuance with Eastern culture mixed with a bad translation. There's also gameplay differences between playing male and female children, and while this isn't inherently bad, playing a girl is way easier (at least in my experience) than playing a boy, particularly related to the dating mechanics, which are much more restrictive on the male side of the things.

This being said, the game is worth it despite the rough edges. The unique experience of a really solid life sim - which are few and far between - is a joy. And the game features generations of kids, so you can move into a NG+ starting as a newborn again. Each run is always a little different, because of generational skill enhancements, family income differences, and learning the mechanics or taking a different route in a new playthrough, giving hours of additional gameplay to be had.