Recent reviews by Dan

Studio Élan (and former Studio Coattails) is a fusion of amazing writers and voice actors and other fantastic talents, producing unique quality works of magical worlds, endearing characters and wholesome romance, getting better and better with every iteration. Heart of the Woods immediately became one of my all-time favourite VNs, and I can safely say that Please Be Happy easily beats it. Can we also take a moment to appreciate that absoutely insane (at this time of writing, not counting this review) 99.3% positive reviews rating, quite possibly the highest I've ever seen on Steam and beating every other game in the all-time top charts!

In my opinion, great people have stood on each other's shoulders for a decade and refined storytelling & VN strengths to create increasingly better and more fluent, touching, wholesome titles with great characters and ambience, and this is just the beginning.

Mechanically a fairly simple VN engine with modern quality of life. Save slots sufficient for frequent use. It offers easy access to specific scenes for revisiting, full time travel logging for jumping backwards during scenes, runs as borderless fullscreen, shows OST titles as they play, customised voice settings for all characters and cute audio excerpts for menu buttons, unlockable extras for images/music and credits.

Furthermore, the menu is structured as navigating an open book complete with adequate bookmark text summaries for every new scene, completely fitting both the narrative and overall theme (though occasionally providing accidental spoilers if you happen to open the menu at the beginning of a scene).

Branching is mainly done through two major splits for the latter two chapters as well as a very minor subpath for each of these, governed by a very limited amount of choices throughout the entire game (about five in total). Other than that, there are three cute side stories to be unlocked parallel to the main plot, of which two are obtainable per playthrough. These are handled by a map system where you choose destinations during free time. However, this system feels disappointingly like an afterthought as it mostly makes it blindingly obvious where to go or contains weak filler, which is a shame considering its potential.

Please Be Happy is a heartwarming urban fairytale with casually interwoven fantasy elements, set in a modern society with a subpopulation of naturally integrated mythological, mostly human creatures, supplying a backstory to a fictional world closely resembling our own. I would love to see more stories taking place in this setting! This allows for various magic to aid the plot and for protagonists with more vivid backgrounds.

The characters are introduced in natural ways slowly uncovering their quirks, personality and flaws through a first person perspective, gradually progressing the story at a pace that manages to constantly add just a little more curiosity and warmth to the interactions to keep the reader going, elevating seemingly mundane conversations to meaningful levels of trying to decipher each character's actions and behaviour, throwing in vital drama and plot points at the right moments. The depth of the story from the onset shows that despite marketed as a yuri novel, it shines foremost as a wholesome slice-of-life "coming-of-age/new adult" (my research shows these terms are hotly contested) fantasy with romance sprinkled on top, with a lot of familial love in the mix as well.

Despite its mixed execution in terms of branching mechanics as mentioned earlier, it deserves great praise for its consistency across paths. Whereas most VNs resort to almost twisting reality based on player choices, decisions in Please Be Happy actually feel like they are only affecting what they should, and creating long-term consequences only through clear chains of causality. Though a bunch of minor cliffhangers are left unresolved, there are no apparent plot holes.

So how good is the story, then? It's so good that I'm getting moved multiple times in between subplots. It's so good that it makes me realize uncomfortably well how bad my own life is, yet provides a tiny message of positivity, care and hope. It's so good that I knew I would feel a hole in my heart when I inevitably finished it, delaying my final plays and taking breaks between scenes to make the experience last longer. It's quite good.

Super solid across the board. The use of predominantly bright colours adds to the overall theme of positivity, bringing the scenery to life both in the sprawling urban streets, the main interior buildings, and the hills, forests, parks and waterfront surrounding the city. The amount of backgrounds are largely unique.

The characters are beautifully drawn in high resolution with modern animation for natural speech, expressions, blinking and common poses. Every single character (with just one exception) is voiced and has multiple sprites to go with them.

Cutscene drawings mix up multiple different drawing styles by presumably a variety of different artists, which promotes diversity at the cost of some drawing consistency.

If story is the heart of the VN, then the audio is the soul. With beautifully composed OST by Sarah Mancuso synchronised with the plot beats and strong theme melodies for the protagonists, there's feeling in every step of the journey.

I really easily admire all of the talented voice actors in the industry, and this title just proves it further! Characters are powerfully brought to life; protagonists are provided with unique quirks in their manner of speech and accents, and even the occasional hiccups (intentional?) sound perfectly natural. Side characters all get plenty of love and having this completeness is just so important in bringing the whole world to life.

Finally, I must praise the main voice more - this is the first time I've encountered Dottovu and I'm already fanboying over here and tracking down more upcoming works. She not only adds to adorably tugging the heartstrings throughout the game, but plays an entire melody - namely, singing the icing on the cake, the ending theme, which you'll have the pleasure of hearing at least four times during playthroughs (unless you skip... but why would you?!) Like in classics such as the To The Moon series, I consider a powerful, reflective song an amazing finale to an already great story.

At first glance, Please Be Happy seems like your above average run-of-the-mill yuri romance novel, but don't be fooled! This is a potent all-time masterpiece with storytelling in focus, and I will without hesitation recommend it not just to people who enjoy yuri content, but to everyone that appreciates an amazing, wholesome, heartfelt fairytale, which also happens to have ladies falling in love and kissing (and nothing beyond that).

As previously mentioned, I believe this is only the beginning for great works to come for Studio Élan, and I will be stalwartly following them.

So get out there and immerse yourselves in the company of the lovely cast and the main character, who... is very pleasant... but for some reason, I'm having trouble recalling their name and appearance...
Oh well, another playthrough should probably fix that!!


Gameplay: N/A
Story: 9/10
Graphics: 9/10
Media: 10/10

Overall: 9/10

(I would like to thank the great and generous people of the TalePlay community for enabling me to win this game in their November 2022 giveaway. Please look up their Discord or YT if you have time! It is a small and very friendly gaming community where new members are always welcome.
I was required to play the game as part of the giveaway conditions, but this review is of my own volition. Feel free to leave a comment!)

An excellent sequel to a classic that delivers what you'd expect on most fronts, exceeds some and doesn't overstay its welcome, God of War (2018) is a solid all-round RPG for beginners and veterans alike, whether they've played the original or not.

The overall gameplay offers a variation of interactive puzzles that regularly invites different approaches to problem solving while keeping complexity at a low level where the basic rules are easily understood, as well as a fairly wide open-world map with a single central hub and enclosed regions to explore for a selection of goals and collectibles. The latter are lightly gated through central parts of main story progression, meaning that it takes a while before optional areas can be efficiently completed until you have access to the right tools. In terms of progression, most of the raw combat power is unlocked through better equipment, while experience gained from battle and exploration is used for unlocking and upgrading skills. Thus, engaging in optional content effectively lowers the difficulty of later content by relatively strengthening your character. It is also possible to complete the main story with the bare minimum of exploration and save it for the post-game free roam, which is specifically friendly for achievement hunters. Whilst there are very few exceptions of areas that will be permanently locked off after the story, none of them are required for 100% achievement completion.

You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned combat yet, for a reason. While in theory the wide skill tree, equipment upgrades and customisable runic weapon ability system ensures a thorough personal combat style, the experience of combat itself is severely hampered by camera angle, input lag and mediocre PC controls. Of these three, the camera is perhaps the most easily forgiven as you are supposed to use audio cues and visual aids, aiding to realism as you cannot magically know what is happening beyond your character's vision. The controls, on the other hand, seem thoughtlessly designed. Having only played on PC, I am going with the benefit of the doubt that they worked well enough for controllers on consoles, but the PC mapping is painful - and no, I have not nor should I be expected to spend time figuring out how to reconfigure it.
Specifically, combat segments often require button presses that cannot be efficiently handled by the left hand while your right is stuck on the mouse - you need to alternate between Q and Space for timing Block/Dodge while occasionally triggering ranged with Ctrl or even quick-looting health with E while constantly assigning targets with F (without a reticle to boost) while maintaining standard WASD movement. Since all skill combos are based off a primary weapon and a ton of combinations that are mostly left- and right-clicking, sometimes with Ctrl, movement or Block added, it is incredibly easy to accidentally trigger a wrong animation. Neither animation or input can be cancelled once triggered which often means that you are taking critical hits before you regain responsiveness. Playing through the entire game in story-mode (easiest) difficulty, I still found myself challenged by the controls all the way to the end, especially when fighting tough bosses that will punish every 'mistake' made with the above. In addition, wearing the wrong/right equipment can make you go from getting destroyed in two hits to being near indestructible against the exact same enemy, which also seems like a strange way of balancing the game.

Ending off on a positive note, the fast travel system is cleverly designed for non-trivial gameplay as it still takes some effort to get from A to B, though the additional system to travel across realms seems a little overly convoluted at times given the limited size of the extra zones. In terms of travel in general, the game is also very good at allowing you to backtrack almost everywhere at almost any time, mostly avoiding the infamous 'door locked behind you' trope.

You may have noticed that this game has won the 2022 Steam Awards for story, which should be taken with a heavy grain of salt just like every other Steam Award nominee and winner since they are mostly based on the most popular games with the most hype. The story is probably fine amongst its competitors (I have not played most of the other nominees), which happen to all be within the same genre (first-person RPG). Being an avid player of both good and bad indie games and visual novels with plenty of impact, I am very cautious about 'good enough' designs that tend to sate the average AAA audience.

With that said, the story definitely holds up on its own just fine. It took me a bit longer than it should to realize that this was a sequel, not the original (having never played the original, but knowing the setting was completely off), though this did not cause any harm at all (seriously though, the practice with reusing the exact same game titles should really stop). Growing up with plenty of Scandinavian mythology myself, it was quite a treat to see the free-form interpretation of well-known locations and deities mingled with the GoW universe and the extent of research that is shown in the final work, as well as plot points and twists that were easier to see coming yet felt fresh enough to be exciting and entertaining. The main story itself hit way too close to home and unfolds a beautiful journey through the universe while providing believable character flaws, motivations and ultimately growth for most of the cast. Side stories for optional locations are also interesting enough to serve as additional lore and reward for the exploratory player and tie the setting together. Of note is the cleverly designed storytelling mechanism during fast travel, keeping the player occupied while preserving realism of time.

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Gameplay: 7/10
Story: 8/10
Graphics: 8/10
Media: 8/10

Overall: 8/10

A groundbreaking and dedicated MMO in VR being in active development for the past several years that I've been following and participating in since late 2020, Zenith: TLC is a passion project with amazing potential by a group of talented and transparent indie developers committed to expanding and evolving the game over the next decade with ample funding from big investors. Did I mention it's also guaranteed to be forever free from P2W?
The game is designed from the ground up with the VR medium in mind and therefore won't support desktop play for a while to come. This allows it to offer an unique take on traditional MMO design.

The gameplay can be generally described as a foundation based on a mix of classic MMO features reimagined to work well for VR devices and interfaces. The developers have been inspired by a wide variety of game titles such as EverQuest, Final Fantasy, WoW, animes and books like SAO and Ready Player One, in order to create a balanced fantasy/cyberpunk themed game world with its own deep lore.

In practice, the game currently supports two classes - Essence Mage and Blade Master - with each class having three subclasses based on the traditional holy trinity of DPS/Support/Tank specialisation. Future classes will be designed in the same way. This ensures that each class can always serve each role, which can be changed freely outside combat (with a slight cooldown) and has its own level progression. A character is locked to one main class at character creation so it is necessary to create multiple characters for more main classes (unlike FFXIV for example). A third class is already in the works and will arrive within roughly a year as per the current roadmap. Currently each class has some differences in main stats and core skills which reflects their playstyle adequately, and in the long term the developers have promised that each subclass will be as complex as a traditional MMO main class, arguing that essentially there will be six distinct playstyles. The developers have also promised a complex skill system beyond anything seen before, which currently amounts to a humble selection of skill loadouts that can be upgraded through variations obtained as item drops that will level up along with the character, adding random traits to selected core skills.

Combat is executed using the basic weapon type of the selected class (currently there is no weapon variation so each main class uses exclusively one weapon type) combined with set gestures to trigger specific skills for the chosen loadout as described in the previous paragraph. Each main class has an unique way to fight: The Essence Mage weaves in shots from their rechargable projectile launcher in-between spells while managing their regenerating mana resource and dodging attacks, while the Blade Master triggers skills through their blades while performing rhythmic strikes, generating their rage resource in combat while potentially blocking enemy basic attacks by intercepting with their blade(s).

Movement consists of not only regular walking, sprinting and jumping, but also the ability to climb any solid surface without exception and gliding from any airborne position similar to games like Population: One or Genshin Impact (all of these options are balanced by consuming stamina except for sprinting outside combat as well as regular walking). The gliding mechanic specifically offers a lot of customisation that allows you control of finer momentum in the air to do basic acrobatics, occasionally aided by updrafts placed in static areas of the overworld.
For mobility and turning, the game offers a variety of classic VR options including customisable comfort settings like snap turn and out-of-body movement with sensitivity sliders, although the smooth turning feature is currently locked to a very slow speed.

Controls in general are decently mapped but can be finicky and there are still common issues with accidentally casting spells when performing other actions due to the gesture-based mappings, as well as grabbing items and weapons near waist level often conflicts because too many things are in the same trigger zone. Control settings also seem biased towards the widely popular Quest controllers even though there is official support for Index, Vive, PSVR and others, and many binds are not remappable. These issues will likely be slowly rectified after release.

Players communicate with each other through the core proximity voice chat system or two private chat channels for party and guild, respectively. Currently the latter option prohibits people from participating in "global" chat because a player can only be in one chat channel at a time, which is a limitation that is being worked on.

The world map covers a region estimated to be roughly 7x7 square kilometres (often compared to the size of the island in GTA V) and takes roughly half an hour to traverse from one end to another at a regular pace, including more than a dozen distinct zones of relative size considering the VR medium. The pathing is reasonably linear and there isn't huge room for exploration compared to desktop games, but there is decent verticality and small easter eggs and rewards hidden about (as well as in plain sight). Examples of exploration rewards are collectibles used for upgrading maximum stamina, lore stones and loot chests containing materials and XP. Each zone is well designed and generally the themes cross over nicely. Expect a ton of glitched surfaces as you get closer to the bounds of the game world at any location, though.

Progression is mainly done through quests and public events for experience and levels with item drops and materials sprinkled in between for use with the synthesis and enhancement stations. Whereas items exist in at least the classic five tiers of MMO rarity (common/uncommon/rare/epic/legendary) and have a slight random quality modifier (regular/superior/flawless) expect even the very best items to drop frequently and consistently after a short while of gameplay and/or be easily synthesised, leaving little room for long-term progression other than re-rolling random substats and upgrading equipment to +10 (the current maximum). The same flaw is present in the levelling system that is currently capped at around level 40 for the first taste of end-game content, but which can be achieved within a few days of hardcore gameplay, leaving many options locked for future content design.

(Continued in comments)


Gameplay: 7/10
Story: 7/10
Graphics: 9/10
Media: 9/10

Overall: 8/10

All the known pre-release costume codes!

ALWAYS STICK IT IN CRAZY (Zoey, Scarehoe)
CAFFEINE QUEEN (Lola, Afrikini)
CHECKING HER OUT TWICE (Jessie, Naughty List)
EXCUSE ME ITS SIR (Polly, Tuxedo)
LICK OR EAT SMELL HER FEET (Lillian, Candy Corn)
SISTERS IN LEGS (Ashley, Clamouflage)
YELLOW TUBERCULOSIS (Lailani, Koimono)
MOOOOOOOOOOOOO (Sarah, Cow Girl)

EDIT: Added post-release codes from yesterday

FROM C TO SHINING DD (Brooke, Stars & Stripes)
IN A HOLE (Candace, Onahole)
SEX BADGE EARNED (Nora, Spiral Scout)
CHERRY ON TOP (Abia, Morning Delight)

Code in caps (unlock description in parantheses). Redeem from main menu Code screen.

Apparently people are now randomly giving awards for one-line meme posts or other troll reviews in every popular game for absolutely no reason, so I'll just post this sentence as well that makes no sense but follows the same logic, along with the usual honest Yes/No that doesn't really explain much but apparently is currently much more worth the time than writing an actual nuanced review that would actually be helpful to others.

Apparently people are now randomly giving awards for one-line meme posts or other troll reviews in every popular game for absolutely no reason, so I'll just post this sentence as well that makes no sense but follows the same logic, along with the usual honest Yes/No that doesn't really explain much but apparently is currently much more worth the time than writing an actual nuanced review that would actually be helpful to others.

Apparently people are now randomly giving awards for one-line meme posts or other troll reviews in every popular game for absolutely no reason, so I'll just post this sentence as well that makes no sense but follows the same logic, along with the usual honest Yes/No that doesn't really explain much but apparently is currently much more worth the time than writing an actual nuanced review that would actually be helpful to others.

Apparently people are now randomly giving awards for one-line meme posts or other troll reviews in every popular game for absolutely no reason, so I'll just post this sentence as well that makes no sense but follows the same logic, along with the usual honest Yes/No that doesn't really explain much but apparently is currently much more worth the time than writing an actual nuanced review that would actually be helpful to others.

Apparently people are now randomly giving awards for one-line meme posts or other troll reviews in every popular game for absolutely no reason, so I'll just post this sentence as well that makes no sense but follows the same logic, along with the usual honest Yes/No that doesn't really explain much but apparently is currently much more worth the time than writing an actual nuanced review that would actually be helpful to others.

Apparently people are now randomly giving awards for one-line meme posts or other troll reviews in every popular game for absolutely no reason, so I'll just post this sentence as well that makes no sense but follows the same logic, along with the usual honest Yes/No that doesn't really explain much but apparently is currently much more worth the time than writing an actual nuanced review that would actually be helpful to others.