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• overall: D-. enjoyment: D-.
• blooming nightshade is a short and simple VN in which a high school girl who wants a girlfriend hangs out with some girls until she gets one. thats really it. in a game like this, youre really relying entirely on two things: art, and characters. this game does not excel in either. while initially i would have said it was worth a run through just to check it out, a massive format update has removed anything enjoyable the game could have had and condensed it into something very consise, and very underwhelming. theres no story here. dont bother.
• plot: F. there isnt one. the game notably has no real intro. there is a "prologue" wherein the main character mentions that she doesnt have a girlfriend, and then meets some girls. thats all you get.
• characters: D. theyre boring, barely fleshed out, some of them are obnoxious, and their designs are half-assed and stereotypical. a couple exceptions: nanami has an incredibly cute design and a sort of bearable personality, atsuko looks cute in her casual wear and is actually a really relatable and charming girl who shines like a diamond in the trash bin. the protagonist, however, is a fucking asshole. she doesnt care about her friends, doesnt make any real attempts to improve her life or relate to people unless shes dating them, and in some now-deleted scenes she showed even worse sides of herself. shes unbearable to play as. i cant even like the routes for the girls i enjoy, because all i can think is that they deserve way better. her best friends certainly deserve better, at the least. (even izumi, who also sucks)
• writing: D. the dialogue is more or less believable, with a few exceptions. but... its boring. its a slice of life without any of the things that make good slice of life stories so loved. theres hardly any real romance, and the complete lack of exploration of even the basics of the premise are serious issues. that said, there are some notes of well done closure to the character arcs in the post-credit scenes, (which as of the latest update are actually part of the game, rather than hidden in a menu) so i have to give it points for that.
• routes: atsuko > nanami > shiori > kiku > kiyomi > izumi
• gameplay: F. this game used to have some gameplay. when i sat down to write this, i was prepared to give it a D. but then i saw on steam that the game updated, and played it again. the update stripped out the only actual mechanics the game had, opting to string scenes together for a pure "pick your route at the beginning of the game" VN. there is one significant choice in each route and its whether or not to date the girl you picked, but very little actually changes except that the friendship route is missing two scenes and she might hook up with someone else. "pick your route at the start" VNs with no lose condition are barely dating sims at all, but the fact that this game used to actually be a playable game just makes this more egregious.
• art: D. the character art is okay. its not horribly drawn, though the faces are a little weird. but given that its the only art in the game, it needs a lot more to make up for it. its samey, and boring. two girls have the same hairstyle, in a cast of only 7. every girl has the same face. theres no CGs. the UI design is disgusting, the title screen is completely blank. the font kind of sucks.