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blush blush (*/M, 18+, free*)

• overall: C++. enjoyment: D.
• the sequel to crush crush, the first ever idle dating sim (probably). blush blush is... identical to it in every way, except that the characters are male and spend half the game as animals. furries, this one is (not actually) for you. the game format works, but it really could have used some improvement. the couple tweaks it got were steps back, not forward. but the art is much better, and the writing is more consistent. also, it has a basic plot. which is always fun. would i recommend it? definitely not. half the boys are ripoffs and the last character is so fucking infuriating to play that you're pretty much forced to cheat. but, you know, it is what it is.
• plot: C. now this one actually has a plot that you won't forget after half an hour of play, because it actually matters to the game. imagine that. you work at a zoo handing out water bottles to passers by, and you accidentally gave out magic water that turned all the boys into animals. does it make sense? no. but that's on the writing, not the plot; it actually has some degree of intrigue to it.
• characters: C. i'm not sure how to handle this part. there are fewer characters than the first game, (minus phone flings. calm the fuck down on the phone flings guys.) and they have sort of a consistent interesting but not too gripping quality to them. they're well designed, some of them are cute and some of them are obnoxious, and they all have unique voices. (im talking about dialogue, not voice acting, we'll get to that.) however, this is because almost all of them are straight up ripped from other material, or just flat out stereotypes. off the bat. the second boy, the wolf volks, is literally just that one voltron character everyone likes. anon has a personality that's probably all his own, but his appearance is very reminiscent of 707 from mysme. eli is literally just a stereotypical flamboyantly gay rainbow unicorn. dr doolittle is in it. the game grumps are in it. markiplier is in it. (without his consent, mind you.) the first game had elements of this too, with characters who are just expies of popular tropes or animes, but here it's particularly blatant. are these characters good? sure. because they're basically stolen.
• writing: C. again, like the first game, the phone flings (short phone conversations with non-dateable side characters who send you lewd selfies) are in general better written. interestingly, however, the gap is smaller. the main game is written slightly better, and the phone flings slightly worse. they match, more or less. however, the overall effect is something that's still fairly lackluster. it's ok. kudos for actually giving the boys personalities.
• routes: it doesn't really have routes. moving on.
• gameplay: C. just like its predecessor, blush blush is an idle game that revolves mostly around leveling up certain skills and gaining money, both of which are done by spending time doing different hobbies/jobs. as you move along, you'll unlock different boys who will require certain gifts or skill levels to increase their relationship. for the most part, the game is better balanced than the first one. ...until you get to the last boy, who has such a huge fucking difficulty spike out of nowhere it's unreal. to "make things easier" this game adds an "endless mode" for boys you've already dated, which is just... mindless grunt work that takes hours and hours of active play. you cant just set them up to do their thing and come back later, which is the whole point of an idle game. overall, kind of a downgrade from the first game, and it doesn't earn innovation points for copying the exact same formula with a gender swap.
• art: A. the art is definitely an improvement from the first game. it's clean, fresh, and anatomically correct almost without exception. CGs and dates are composed well and interesting. it's nice to look at, and even the most hideously designed boys still look kinda cute. kudos for the art improvement.
• sound: B. i usually play this game muted, if that's any indication. but honestly? it isn't that bad. music is fine, and doesn't grate. the game isn't fully voice acted, but the couple lines each boy has are fairly good quality, and they have relatively appealing voices. ...however, the vast majority of their "lines" are not dialogue but laughs, or moans, or just weird little noises. i'm really not about that. there's plenty of real language thrown in there, but still. pretty annoying to hear that every other time you click. also, eli's voice is exactly what you'd expect and i hate it. (EDIT 9/21: full voice acting has been added for every character but it costs money and i'm not buying it.)

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