[h1]The road to becoming a supermodel...[/h1]
[h2]Introduction[/h2]
[i]Diamond Runway[/i] is an otome visual novel developed and published by LumiMaker. You take on the role of Lindsay Su, a 19-year old woman from China who's come to New York in pursuit of her dream - to become a supermodel. However, the path to becoming one has its fair share of obstacles, and Lindsay faces one after another, from the actions of a deceitful, thieving roommate that ends up with Lindsay getting tossed out onto the street to the backstabbing, vicious behavior from other female aspiring models when Lindsay participates in a competition to find the country's next top model. Along the way, Lindsay meets four eligible male bachelors who may steal her heart: Elliot Graham (the aloof, renowned stylist), Nathaniel Sharp (the CEO of a modeling agency), Ciang Jiang (the famous photographer), and Ethan Tanner (a world renowned male supermodel). Can Lindsay navigate these treacherous waters and achieve her dream of becoming a supermodel and maybe find love along the way? XD
As for the gameplay, plenty of choices are presented that determine which one of the bachelor routes that Lindsay goes on as well as how her personality is shaped, such as how career-focused she is or how scheming she can be. A few choices are timed, too. Several CGs are shown as well although no CG gallery is present. Also, there's a varied soundtrack but no voice acting. Steam achievements are available, but they won't count towards a user's global total until the game is out of "Steam is learning about this game".
[h2]Review[/h2]
Since I believe this is LumiMaker's first visual novel on Steam, I was curious to give it a try even though I definitely have no dreams of ever becoming a supermodel, pop star, etc. :o I much prefer the quieter life myself. XD
First, I thought that the story was interesting although certainly not the most original. We've probably all heard plenty of stories about young women coming to the US and such to pursue their dreams of becoming famous. (Of course, some of those stories end in tragedy.) Anyway, I liked Lindsay as the main character and especially, witnessing her character development. Initially, she comes off as naive but kind. She learns, though, that some people can be vicious, cruel, and deceitful. Although this can certainly change some people for the worse, Lindsay retains her kind personality. However, she definitely learns to become tougher and to protect herself. In some ways, I can relate to her, [spoiler]as life experiences have taught me not to trust people easily and I've learned not to readily give it away[/spoiler].
With the male love interests, I like that there's a variety of personalities. Elliot has the aloof, seemingly cold-hearted personality who takes his work very seriously and doesn't wish to engage in relationships. However, his heart slowly melts when he interacts with Lindsay, and yes, I love this kind of hot tsundere in stories. ^^ Nathaniel comes off as an intense playboy who has never truly fallen in love, but he reveals a sensitive side to Lindsay, especially when it comes to telling her about his childhood. Ethan has the more easygoing, fun, laidback personality (my second favorite type ^^), but he has dreams beyond simply being a supermodel. Finally, Ciang is the nice, successful photographer who has easily achieved his dreams, but a major scandal ends up almost ruining his image. I enjoyed discovering each of their backstories and whatnot although Elliot is definitely my favorite. Ciang is probably my least favorite (despite that he's the one whom Lindsay first meets and he helps her out initially).
Quickly going over the story itself, I like how each route ends, and as far as I'm aware, there are no bad endings. Each guy has a happy ending, and Elliot even has a new ending (which is more like a promising beginning). Also, Elliot and Nathaniel have wedding epilogues, which are fun to read. As for the writing, the pacing is fine. I felt like Ciang's route has the biggest time skips, but that's probably because of the events that happen in it. With the English translation, I feel like it's rough at times but certainly understandable. Some translation issues, such as calling others "Sister" or "Brother", feel weird since it would definitely be out of place in a New York setting (although not in an East Asian country). The English translation could certainly use a bit of polish for smoother reading.
With the gameplay, I found it interesting but unnecessary when it came to the choices that shaped Lindsay's personality. It seems that Lindsay can get a happy ending with her love interest, regardless. Also, on a technical issue, I experienced occasional freezing issues with the game, despite that my computer more than meets the recommended specs to play the game. This might have to do with the game engine. In addition, despite that you can choose between full screen or windowed mode, windowed mode is way too small and I couldn't adjust the game screen to make it bigger. However, I like that you can choose to play the story from beginning to end or just choose to go on a love interest's route. For my first playthrough, I played from the prologue to the end of Elliot's route. On subsequent playthroughs, I just chose to start from the other love interests' route since I had no desire to [spoiler]replay the vicious, backstabbing behavior that the other female models would throw at Lindsay[/spoiler]. All Steam achievements unlocked for me without any problems.
As for the art, it is AI generated, which is stated on the store page. I would have preferred for more hand-drawn art myself, and I would have liked to have a CG gallery present. Still, the art is passable to move the story along.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3475630473
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3475630873
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3475631299
I should note, though, that in some CGs, the male love interest looks very different from his sprite, which felt a bit off-putting.
In regards to the music, there's a nice variety of tracks, and they give off that feeling of being on the runway and in the spotlight. There are even a few vocal tracks, which were a nice touch, and I like that the vocals are in Chinese (most likely, in Mandarin).
[h2]Conclusion[/h2]
Would I recommend [i]Diamond Runway[/i]? For the developer's first game, I can give it a pass. It certainly could use some polish with the writing and fixing with the freezing issues. Also, I would have liked to have hand-drawn art although this is a personal preference. Still, I think it's an enjoyable otome game. Hopefully, the issues I addressed will be fixed in future updates.
Finally, I would like to thank LumiMaker for giving Otome Rakuen a review copy. I'm looking forward to more future releases. ^^
[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/7593237/]Otome Rakuen[/url] and [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44702020/]The Introverted Gamer[/url] team up to give readers highly detailed, thorough reviews of hot otome games.[/quote]
