Recent reviews by El_Sayal

It's diablo, it's on steam and it's fully compatible with the steam deck. Enough said....

Similar to Mini-Metro but not quite as straight forward, frustrating in places and I can't help but feel that getting to a high score is a lot more luck dependant this time around. New maps seem to be released fairly frequently and there are always the daily and weekly challenges to help keep it replayable.

Solid TD game, there's quite a bit of grind as you are unable to upgrade tower stats/abilities (beyond switching the tower types/upgrading them from lvl 1 to lvl 3) all the important upgrades are on the 1-3 heroes you can select for the mission, these upgrades are based on points you gain through experience and levelling.

After 23ish hours playing I still hadn't managed to complete the story missions, and anticipated more grinding for hero levels to be required before I am able to. Initially the difficulty seems to tie in well with standard levelling, etc. allowing you to progress quite smoothly.

For me the first mission to require me to do some grinding to enable me to pass it was 'one tower' (lvl 22/25). Currently I have 2 of my heroes at level 50+ and am unable to progress past lvl 23, even though I have only 2 levels previous to this level below 3 stars (both are at 2 stars) and 1 endless level which is also at 2 stars.

This was proven true when it took 35 hours of play for me to 3 star all levels... I now have a significantly long and boring grind to get one of my heroes to lvl 99 for the final achievement.

The below review contains some potential spoilers:

Compared to Vol. 1, this episode seems to have a lot more storyline and not be quite so centred on the NC sex side (which is partially why I recommend this volume, but couldn't bring myself to recommend Vol. 1, that said the story is a direct continuation.)

The first 10-15 minutes are an optional catch up.
It features quite a neat summary of the first volume, although does detract from the less desirable actions the main character did in Vol 1.

While the main character is still unlikeable, the story line shows he does at least have some feelings.
After 1hr-1hr 30mins you get the first adult scene (which is NC), it ends with a choice of how you proceed (joining the humans, or abandoning them).

If you choose to remain by yourself, you end up with very little additional story line although it does show that the zombies are adapting/learning as a result of the characters treatment of them. There are approx 40 mins of dialogue (including adult scenes) in this choice meaning if you only play through 1 of the choices, the game can be completed (while actually reading the dialogue) in 2hrs-2hrs 10mins.

Choosing to return to the people, results in 5-10 mins of additional story and a general thought that the main char may have gained some compassion for the zombies/people he's been abusing; Followed by approx. 30 mins more backstory relating to other characters, along with some nice additional information/dialogue about the initial outbreak.
This then cuts to about 20 mins of the current story from an alternate viewpoint slowly detailing the discontent building as a result that the evacuation to a safer zone can't happen quickly and a catch-up with the other characters from Vol 1, along with a general continuation of their story. I found their viewpoints to reflect an accurate portrayal of how I think people would feel under the circumstances.
You then get a further 40-45 mins of story before you get to the next major development (and the first minor text (grammatical error) I've spotted so far! (and the only one I really noticed in the whole VN!)) there are 5-10 mins additional story however they start recycling images (some of the images from vol 1, or are used for multiple different scenes rather than featuring new imagery).
The first major plot hole falls about 20 mins later when a zombie woman appears without evident wounds but clearly "zombie" rather than the 'pristine' conditions like the ones our main char has been 'using'.
The story continues and after our main char goes to check things in the city he finally starts thinking about the big picture and demonstrating that he does have some compassion.
When he returns there is another change in dynamic, as the changing realities cause their strain to show on all the survivors and during a 1 hour section with him and the doctor (all story) he finally admits to some of what he's done/been up to in Vol 1. this is followed by an hour or so of additional story followed by a consensual sex scene, effectively ending this vol of the story. and the credits role.
Playtime for this option is about 10 hours, with an additional 30 mins or so of epilogue hinting on some darker turns in the next Volume.

Once the game has been completed with both options additional scenes are unlocked which are accessed through the main menu.

There are approx 2hrs 10mins of additional scenes/dialogue unlocked, most of which are flashback/filler, the first 2 are story with the latter 3 being story/adult. (The second & third are mostly flashbacks to scenes that weren't in vol 1 but are set during it).


Positives:
- Nice artwork & voice acting
- Well written again (Only 1 noticeable translation error)
- More story line
- Trading cards

Negatives:
- No steam overlay (although steam screenshots do work in this Vol.)
- Main character is still an arse
- I had several issues with game stability, it completely refused to boot for me after I played for a while, the support was trying to be helpful but in the end I managed to resolve the issue on my own. (see my post in the game discussion for information, I've passed the information on to the support team, so hopefully there will be a resolution for it in the future.)
- No achievements

<update> Potential spoilers, based on the games apparent premise. (This entire review may give away what the VN is about...and I guess based on that potential spoilers?!) <update>

Wow, what to say about this game so far (I've not finished reading as of this moment, as honestly it's hard to read too much at once).
If I could summarise it in in one statement from where I am so far "He was thrilled at the immorality of it."
When I purchased the game I have to admit I hadn't spotted the nudity and mature content tags (listed at about 10/11 out of the rest of them), however they REALLY should have been the main tags to this game. As such I was expecting a semi dark walking dead style end of the world scenario, instead I ended up with a necrophilic rapist...(although if I'd read the store page more thoroughly the creator/publisher is up front about this).
There is very little I can do other than emphasize the rape/NC scenes in this VN. It is NSFW and tbh not safe for standard reading, mostly due to the fact that the protagonist is such an unlikable person. (Not just through his actions but also his thoughts.)

<update> 2 more hours into reading the 'story line' and it went through a brief period of trying to get you to vaguely associate with the protagonist, then he forced himself on a living person after trying to reason with himself to ignore the fact they hadn't eaten in 5 days. <update>

<final update> The actual story line finally starts to get interesting around the 8 hour mark when the power goes out and continues through till the end, full play time/read was around 10 hours. <final update>

That said it has the following:
One of the best translated VNs I've seen on steam, it's well written and has good voice acting.
Nice artwork (if you ignore the text based around it).
Major downfalls for a steam game:
No steam overlay (manual screenshots via artwork only).
No achievements (although it does have cards).
The storyline/protagonist (if they'd have shown the writing/storyline demonstrated in the final 2 hours of the novel throughout the entire VN rather than been in a perverted holding pattern for the first 8 hours this review would have recommended the game).

<update> my original comments were made after playing for approx. 3 hours <update>

If you've played and enjoyed Plague Inc. you'll probably get on well with this.
Similar play style but with a more emphasis on fighting (in a civilization style).

Really nice casual game, simple in principle but difficult to master. A few frustrating levels but once you get used to some micro management it all works out nicely :)

I've been excited to see a few free updates (new challenge maps, and the steam workshop) have happened recently, as I really do have a love for this game!

Enjoyable defense game, very similar to others by this publisher.

The only negative I'd say is whilst they think it is 'cute' to have all icons/upgrade/etc. done as caveman-esque paintings, it does make it difficult to tell what upgrades you're actually going for, etc. (conveniently you can open a webpage which explains what the differences are, etc. but as the default game is full screen this isn't that useful)

Just like all the other Zup! games, except this one wants you to turn your monitor upside down :P

Another poorly translated VN, genders are completely fluid (He instead of She, He instead of I, She instead of I).
Almost everytime a characters name is written it's spelt differently "Juno" seems to be 'young' most of the time, and "Aiko" IKE.
The viewpoint switches between these 2 (as far as I can tell from the translation) with no actual separation (one minute "you're" Juno and the next Aiko (although this could be due to the inaccurate genders, etc.)).
There are also some awful spelling mistakes, like "cream" instead of "cremation" ...

That said, the art style and music are quite nice (although all of the art is character images while they're talking, over backgrounds).

Approx. 30 mins to complete a single play through, 40 mins to complete all 4 endings