Having played Acting Lessons (AL), I was eager to begin Being A Dik (BAD) given how emotionally engaging AL is. DPC didnt disappoint. The story in BAD is incredibly dense, and as you can imagine, the NSFW encounters are aplenty, depending on how you play the game. I'm currently on my second full playthrough, and I've found myself making decisions against my norm to experience more of the story, as your decisions from the get go will begin to shape how the story plays out throughout. Everything from dialogue responses to how other characters percieve your own are decided based on your decisions, making it not only emotionally engaging, but intriguing to figure out how to play to get the girl/s you want. You affinity plays a big role in who actually want to be with you in the end. Your choices carry significant weight, there are no guarantees in this game. Just like with AL, the soundtrack of BAD is absolutely incredible. The music pairings to their corresponding scenes really set the atmosphere and tone, getting you that much more invested. My biggest complaint, is a grand majority of this music isnt found on popular streaming services, making it a bit of a headache to collect and listen to these tracks. Fortunately, a fan run YouTube channel has every song from BAD on it, so it's not hard to find the music once you know which scene it relates to. At the time of writing this, only Seasons 1 & 2 are available of GoG, and I played through them all in about 18-20 hours for my first play through. Downside, is S3 is still in dev, and who knows when it will come out to continue the story. Given how Season 2 ends, I know for a fact I will be on the lookout for Season 3, I've even considered becoming a Patron of DPC to shorten the wait that much more, but if there was a point to end on, it would be not to let this experience pass you by. Its one of the best VN games out there, and given how its been, I can only imagine it getting better as more DLCs are released.
I'll lead with in saying that Acting Lessons is the first Visual Novel game I've ever played. Given the NSFW tag, I had a false misconception that it would be primarily focused on that aspect. I was mistaken. Now, dont get me wrong, depending on how you play the game, there will be multiple NSFW encounters, but during my first playthough, I navigated the options as if I was myself, which made for fewer encounters, but allowed me to really get invested in and appreciate the story and different character dynamics at play. I significantly underestimated how big of an emotional rollercoaster this game would be. I laughed, multiple times. The comedic timing is pretty spot on. I got choked up at other points, to my surprise. By time I had gotten maybe 2 or 3 episodes in, I realized I was deeply invested in the different characters, and the relatioonships my character had with them. The twist at the end was totally off my radar during the first playthrough, and I was shocked when it was revealed. I'll give some merit to the claim that most people cannot playthrough more than once. It definitely had me in my emotions by the end of the story. But the ending was very fulfilling all the same, albeit ver bittersweet. Id be doing Acting Lessons a disservice if I didnt mention the soundtrack. The music is great at setting the mood for the different scenarios, and the timing and pace of everything resulted in me completing the entire game in my first playthrough, which took me approximately 6:30hrs, which I think is a great playtime for a game of this genre / style. I also have Being a DIK from Dr PinkCake as well, which I have not yet played, but if Acting Lessons is anything to go by, I'm positive that will be a very similar experience. If you are a fan of VN games, and dont mind or are even looking for some fun NSFW encounters, you will not regret adding this game to your library. The various situations you have to navigte make it a very enjoyable vicarious exerience.
