TLDR: What looks like a cozy time-waster is actually a surprisingly compelling RPG story with moments of emotional wallop. Up top, lets just say that the content warning isn't kidding. Despite the pastel colors, cute art, and emphasis on the cast, this game goes surprisingly hard. And that makes it all the better. Don't play this if you just want some light romp, it tries to deal with stuff. It's not an emotional slog, but I was genuinely surprised by some moments in this game. The loop is a lot like Persona. You have ten years of growth, with several months to a year. Each month you can engage in an activity which will boost your various stats and friendships. You also can chat to people and sometimes get bonuses and advance relationships. Some activities are around your little colony base, and others take place farther out (mechanically similar to P5's dungeons). And each year comes with certain events that take place at given calendar moments. This would be plenty, but you also need to work to help your colony and maybe solve the mystery of the planet. It's pretty likely that your first run will be a struggle. Don't expect to get a golden ending the first time. IWATE has a mechanic that allows you to essentially "remember" prior runs and at various moments you can use this knowledge to change what came before. Challenges are done via a set of collectible cards based on events that happen to you. If that sounds boring you can turn it off and let the RNG + your skills handle challenges. Some events/choices are gated by your skills. I liked the game's story and it's characters. I also like how you gradually get something more like the full story of the colony...and the planet. I assume there is even more since like I said I've only fully done two plays so far. I look forward to finding out more. One playthru takes about 14-15 hours.
Got this on sale, and no regrets, but it is pretty limited. This is hack and slash dungeon exploring IN SPACE. No story, no real RPG elements (you do get to choose character upgrades when they level). Lots of gear variations and ways to approach building a combat persona. Going to be either heaven or hell for min-maxers and obsessive compulsives. I liked the energy use mechanic, though by the mid-late game it's more of an annoyance than anything. And there is an unfortunate sameness to the places you explore, the foes you fight, and the way you fight them in any given playthrough. The game ended at the right time for me. BTW, the developers are non-native english speakers, which creates the occassional weird bit of dialogue or description. Nothing awful, just...off.
