Mystic Messenger

« This game is so neat. I genuinely love the concept, I love the art, I love the characters. The story is surprisingly dark for such an otherwise bright and fun game, and the twists and turns are engaging and interesting. The translation is pretty good - it's a little goofy in places where certain jokes or figures of speech in Korean don't quite land the same in English - but there's nothing that doesn't make sense. It's a time commitment for sure if you're playing it as intended; the game lasts for 11 real-life days, with chats triggering once every hour or two up to around 3AM, and unless you want to deprive yourself of sleep you will miss some. I don't play it this way because frankly I hate missing out on content, so I tend to run through routes all at once. I'm still yet to play V and Saeran's routes, as well as all of the character-specific runs through of the DLC chapters, but from what I have completed: Jaehee's was my first route, and the one I'm most fond of. I love Jaehee - she's probably my favourite character from the game as a whole, and I think she's wildly underrated (I can't blame people, considering most of the people who play this are likely straight girls, but c'mon! At least for the content!). It's sweet, cozy, wholesome, and the least dark of all the routes; the main antagonist is literally capitalism. It's light on the romance and more implications and "gal-pal"ing in the main story thanks to censorship, but it's more explicitly romantic in the DLC episodes. Yoosung is a sweet one, and the character I probably relate to most. I enjoyed his route by the end, but the first half of it can be pretty frustrating due to his repeated insistence on comparing you to Rika, calling you Rika, telling you he pictures you as looking like Rika, etc. Not exactly inducive to a good romance. He does get over it if you're on the right ending, though, which I was relieved by (that **** did feel pseudo-incestuous at times). Zen is probably my least favourite of the main five characters, but I don't dislike him per se - I just find his habit of making everything about him and doing nothing but complaining in every single chat he's in exhausting (seriously, keep track of how many chat rooms he just comes into and complains in when you're not on his route). That said, his route was still sweet; he's very straight-forward and romantic, which is a nice change of pace from the more slow-burn options. The antagonist in his route pissed me off for very personal reasons, and she's pretty much cartoonishly evil, but I suppose there are people out there like that. Jumin was my favourite of the Deep Story characters, but I'm not sure how I feel about his route itself. His bad endings can be pretty wack, and the first time I played through his route I was left with such an uncomfortable, cornered feeling - and that's with getting his good ending. It wasn't what I expected at all, and there were some truly questionable elements in it. I did eventually come to appreciate it for what it is, but if you have a history of any kind of abuse or non-consensual encounters etc. you should probably know what his romance entails before starting it. Seven's route is the fan-favourite, and I do see why, even though it doesn't quite click with me as much as it does for others. This is the most plot-heavy and relevant route, and there's a lot going on here; there's a reason most people say you should leave this one for last. I don't personally like the 'Seven is aware of your replays' theory (it makes me feel guilty!), but I suppose that's another reason to leave this one for last. »

« This game has the worst mechanic I have ever seen in a video game, bar none, and I doubt it'll be surpassed. The introduction has my(?) phone(?) hacked(?) and some guy(?) telling me to go to an apartment(?). Because reasons, I am in the titular Mystic Messenger, where a bunch of people are secretly hosting a """party""", and they let me join, because reasons. After this introduction to the writing of Mystic Messenger, I learn that ALL THE CONVERSATIONS ARE IN REAL TIME! The game description won't tell you this. The trailer won't tell you this. They're deliberately hiding the main aspect of the game. They also won't tell you that you can skip the wait with hourglasses, which you get with real money. ***Your only choices to progress are to ruin your sleep or spend money, and the developers are banking on the latter.*** The game seems to take pride in not telling you important gameplay aspects, so here's another thing it won't tell you; each character has their own route. To get on a route, you have to get enough Hearts from a character, which involves being a jerk to everyone else. If you fail to do this (and you will, the only way to figure this out is by looking it up), you get the bad ending. The bad ending reveals that everyone in the game is a robot except for two characters. ...ok then? You're telling me I don't need to care about most of the characters? I'm not spending another second on this crap. Goodbye! »

« Really really fun implemention of this idea. The grand finale wasn't my favorite thing, but all the character stories leading up to it made it a fun journey. »

« It's not a game for everyone, but if you can play it definitely do! Seven is my favorite love interest. »

« Mala historia, además de tener un sistema de pago y progresión nada entrañable o cautivador »