Recent reviews by Minty

Incredibly fun and addictive, if you enjoy Roguelites and food you'll definitely enjoy this game.

The storyline and main character's motivations are straightforward, the NPCs and merchant characters are all diverse and attractive in their own way, and each and every one of them will speak varying bits of dialogue at different points of the game that help immerse the player fully into the world; you will find it so easy to fall in love with Paell and its residents. Speaking of illustrations, don't play this game on an empty stomach because you will definitely feel hungry looking at all the delectably drawn cuisines.

Gameplay is simple, open-ended, and highly customizable, though lacking a certain finesse. The player is, for the most part, thrown into the game right from the beginning without much of a tutorial, left to figure out the mechanics on their own. Gameplay tips come in scarce, and often show up a little too late into the game by which point the player would have already figured things out on their own, and there is certainly plenty of room for quality-of-life improvements such as a notifier when your backpack is at full capacity, a reload timer, more detailed weapon info like attack speed etc., more graphics options (a windowed mode might be nice), though I'm quite confident that future patches will address these concerns.

It's a fun game but I gotta downvote it cos Creative Assembly are being downright asses.

No start date that actually lets you dive in on a start date where the actual 3 kingdoms are already established, many promises made prior that have since been abandoned, many bugs still as of yet unfixed.

Do something about it please, CA, and I'll reverse my opinion.

It's a fun game if you enjoy worldbuilding and the 4X format. Every game you start plays differently and you can tweak difficulty settings depending on whether you're looking for a challenge or just want to take it easy. Look after your people, grow your empire, and build a civilization that will stand the test of time.

Hours of fun for everyone. Sometimes you lose friends, though, because it's that kind of game.

Easily the best game I've played in a while, and I don't even play VNs on Steam very often. Super engaging characters, thought-provoking dialogue, and tons of routes and endings and conversation options to explore. The whole setting plays up intriguing sci-fi elements while incorporating social issues that resonate with the present day; the characters live in a world where they come across futuristic phenomena and deal with future-world problems in a very familiar and relatable atmosphere. It leaves a lot for the player to think about and reflect on the current situation happening in some parts of the world today. I personally ended each session longing to interact more with the characters.

The soundtrack is also amazing, every single track. You can choose from several cyberpunk synthwave tunes to play on the jukebox every single workday (I personally recommend Welcome to Vallhalla and Every Day is Night) and treat yourself to a chill gaming experience where you can sit back and relax in as the characters dish out their life stories to you over a drink or two.

Anime fans who are naturally drawn to the game by its pretty visuals will also definitely get a kick out of the various easter eggs and pop culture references all throughout the game (pro-wrestling fans too!).

Clearing the story only takes a few hours, and after the first playthrough there's definitely still enough content to compel you to start a NG+.

I legit feel inspired to become a bartender now after playing this.

Why don't you try mixing drinks and changing lives too?

I'm not obsessed with this game at all.

100% Orange Juice?

More like 100% RNG Juice

This game is a tour guide of Tokyo and some parts of Kyoto presented in visual novel form. While staying true to aspects of its medium such as relationship routes and happy endings, it provides a comprehensive insight on various things related to travelling around Japan, such as means of getting around, conveniences like washrooms and credit card ATMs, the kinds of food offered in restaurants, besides of course meaningful descriptions on various places of interest that even I, a frequent traveler to Japan, would recommend visiting. This first edition may be somewhat outdated (the Tokyo Skytree is already fully operational, for example), but there is a 2015 edition to look forward to.

For a VN, it is rather short, and that contributes to the fact that plot progression may seem somewhat forced or rushed. Nevertheless I do think the writers pulled off a splendid job given the space they had to work with. I got to the endings with feelings of bittersweetness and warmth. It isn't unneccesarily complicated, there are no bad ends, and flags are automatically triggered based on the decisions made on the first three days, and beyond that there is minimal player agency so just sit back and enjoy the ride the rest of the way. Obviously since there are two girls, one would need to run through the game more than once in order to unlock all the endings (read = 2). Each of the storylines are distinctly different from one another, it's worth the extra playthrough.

One more thing to appreciate about the game is that learners of Japanese will find the game tremendously helpful as it presents Japanese text above the English, written in everyday conversational Japanese. Players who are studying the language will be able to grasp the nuances not found in written or scripted Japanese, and can rely on the English translation presented simultaneously to understand how native speakers communicate with each other.

Do pick up the game if you haven't already! 9/10