Baldr Sky

It's the rare kind of game going for both good gameplay and story. Lasts about 100 hours, all of which are gameplay and story content instead of some 12 hours campaign and 90 to grind all styles you find in regular games. Very impressive how they came up with the combat system before devil may cry.

It starts off as a thrill, as our protagonist "Kou" discovers that he has lost his memory in the middle of combat, and to make it out alive, he needs to quickly figure out how to fight again, and place his trust in his companion, a woman whom he doesn't remember. After he somehow managed to escape with his life, he is treated for his injuries, but is informed that it will take longer for his memories to return. And this is where the trouble begins... => Constant tone shifts The way Kou recovers his memories over the course of the game is through (frequent) random flashbacks, which take him back to his time as a student, where he re-lives everyday slice-of-life interactions with his classmates. While this does gradually reveal who he is and what his motivations are, these flashbacks to a rather carefree time in his life directly contradict the more gritty, melancholic, thrilling tone of the present. As a result of this emotional tussle, it was near impossible for me to connect emotionally with what was going on most of the time. Am I supposed to feel happy about what happened in the past, or sad about the present? => Distant characters Once Kou is able to re-connect with some of his classmates in the present, they tend to be rather cold and distant in how they act, and Kou isn't able to spend much time improving their relationship. Due to this, there is not much reason to care about most of them. => Suggestive just 'cause In spite of the censorship, the game has retained some sexually suggestive scenes and innuendo, about half of which feel out of place, and as if they were only added to appeal to horny dudes. Example: [You're infiltrating an or*y to get information.] [Female accomplice]: "A guard is coming! Quick, let's take our clothes off and make out to blend in with the crowd!" ...as opposed to just talking your way out of it or hiding somewhere. (2 stars since the game has its moments, but pacing is poor as well, so I tapped out after route 1.)

I wonder if Sekai Project would add achievements for gog version too?

This game treats GOG customers like second-class citizens by removing the Achievements feature from the GOG version, even though the Steam version gives Achievements to Steam customers for these exact same games. There is no excuse for this crap! GOG customers are not worth less than Steam customers, and GOG customers' money is just as valid as is Steam customers' money. So then, why do GOG customers "deserve" to have features removed from the GOG version? The only reasonable answer is: we don't, and there is no excuse for this second-class citizen treatment! No one should buy these games until and unless the devs fix this lack of feature parity (but they probably never will!). Otherwise, if you buy these game anyway, then you are sending devs and publishers the message that treating GOG customers like second-class citizens with missing features is fine and dandy, and they will just keep doing it more often in the future.

You won't get any money from me for censored product.