ACE Academy

This was one of the first visual novels I ever played and it basically spoiled me for the rest of the genre. Play it. It's great.

I'm not even sure where to start with Ace Academy. This is probably my favorite Pixelfade game, hell it's probably in my top 5 VN It isn't the best, I won't be that biased. Some of the references kind of date it But it's characters are great and you'll probably find one you'll get attached to. Overall I give it an astonishing 5/5 despite it short comings it makes up for it in everyway.

ACE Academy is a very well made dating sim visual novel that feels like a lot of love went into it. This is probably one of the few true high quality western produced dating sims. The game takes place in a futuristic school environment with mechas, and you build your relationship with multiple female classmates. Although the overarching story is nothing too exciting and mostly linear, the choices are actually meaningful for the relationships/certain events. The dialogue is pretty well written, and you can tell the writers knew what they were doing. There are plenty of witty remarks, references, and a more "western" tinge for some writing/humor (vs japanese style writing). The game is also fully voice acted (English only though), and I think the VAs really did a great job. I especially liked Valerie and Shou's VAs. All the art/character portraits were also very well made, and the music was very solid. The only gripe I have with the game is that the ending felt like it was a bit rushed, and we didn't see a more satisfying resolution for an overhanging plot point. Overall, solid dating sim that grew on me more and more as I played it. I would recommend the game to anyone who likes dating sims, and I look forward to playing the other games by PixelFade.

I'm gonna be honest. I really enjoyed this visual novel. It combined one of my favorite sci-fi tropes (mechs) with a dating simulator and a really good story. I would recommend this game to anyone interested in visual novels.

ACE Academy is a VN about giant robots and school life. Beat the Kaori route in 8.8 hours using a mouse and keyboard. Difficulty is NA. As of this review, the game is no longer available on the steam store, so this review is for people who still have it in their library and haven't played it yet. This is my fav VN from PixelFade, and a pretty good VN compared to other VNs out there. There's more focus in relationships and story than robot fighting, and Robo-fighting amounts to 'click the right answer fast enough'. The characters are great, the voice acting is great, the music is spiffy, the artwork is good, and the story and character interactions are interesting enough to keep you coming back. I played for Shou, who's just one cool dude. One day I hope PixelFade rises from the ashes like a confused phoenix and spawns more VNs from its flaming feathers.

peak academy

If you play ACE Academy focusing only on the main story without getting into the romances, it's honestly pretty mid. The plot alone isn't strong enough to carry the game, and the ending... well... what ending? Nothing to write home about. But it gets significantly better if you start messing around with people. Choosing the funny options and just enjoying the banter. The characters become more entertaining, and the experience overall feels more engaging and fun. Where ACE Academy really shines to me is in its romance. The character arcs are completely missiable if you’re not focusing on them, but if you do engage with them, they can be surprisingly heartfelt and rewarding. That said, not all the routes are created equal. It’s pretty clear to me that one girl got the developer’s full attention, with significantly more depth and polish than some of the others. It doesn’t ruin the experience, but it does make some of the other routes feel a bit underwhelming in comparison. Or it could just be me being biased. Also, as you restart to try different routes, the game starts to feel repetitive really fast. A lot of scenes and structure are reused, so chasing every romance feels super tedious even with the skip button. ACE Academy has great humor, heartfelt moments, and pretty solid romance. The music is pretty good and fits the mood well, but I do wish the art quality was a bit more aesthetically pleasing. As for the ending—it didn’t really land for me. It felt like the season just stopped midway without proper closure. Still, despite its flaws, I genuinely enjoyed my time with it. 8/10.