Tl;dr
This game has very good value in terms of how much it costs, especially including a free DLC that came out literally two days ago.
If you're looking for interesting writing, well-made characters (despite there being not much dialogue between your cast), can stomach cheap looking graphics and you aren't shy for dark humor and/or ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up topics - this game will be enjoyable. I could compare it to RPGs like Hello Charlotte, but the tone may be similar to LISA games.
To go a little more in depth, I suppose I'll start with what I liked most, and what I liked the least.
Writing:
I liked it the most, really. There's well written dialogue, the plot twists that happen at times, happen well. Some things that are meant to provoke emotions, do provoke them, or I can see how they could. The lore of the world is explained bit by bit, which is a good thing. There's quite a bit of lore, and interesting details behind various factions and characters around. The community has their own things that are frowned down upon, might have their own religion, and more..? Despite the size of the game, quite a few questions that you may ask yourself out of curiosity about the world - are answered. Not all, obviously, but not every question guarantees an answer.
As someone who is familiar with the Author's previous work (HL2/GMod maps), this game certainly didn't disappoint.
Gameplay:
It's typical RPG maker gameplay, I do quite like the combo style, and I had fun with it. The game does feel quite too easy (there's a bit more difficulty in the beginning with the Disturbed Mind 'origin', as you can't recruit two pretty useful sidekicks, but it quickly subsides once you find ways.) The progression however could be better, It'd be nicer if the game could incorporate perks, for example, that you gain after choices/side quests that boost your character, rather than you just reading a ton of books to become OP. Some bosses or mini-bosses are pretty underwhelming, reward-wise too. In the lower-end of the game, most battles are easy, but they take long due to spongy nature of the enemies. That's something of a complaint, as it basically just boosts the time you play the game for.
Music:
Despite its simplicity, amen-break nature, and etc etc - I think it fits the gameplay, and the story. There's very few tracks, so they do get annoying pretty fast, but it worked well for this game, and for this size. Personally - I'm quite happy with it, could use more variety, but it's okay.
Graphics:
This is probably the harder thing to judge. I think the graphics have its charm, though it'd really be better if it were a bit more hi-rez than it is. The worst thing about it, without a doubt, are the character portrait sprites. They're not that detailed, and compared to a few sprites taken from other places (example, the Jaguar) it really looks out of place. The important thing about graphics is for them to look... well, 'equal' in the sense. So that there aren't any high ups that are out of place, or low downs that are also out of place. This game struggles with that balance at times.
Engine problems:
Now, I may be wrong, but there's a bit of limitation or jank present in the scripts. For example: to craft multiple pipe bombs, you'd need to go into the menu, click the second option, and click the memorised pipe bomb. This opens a dialogue prompt with a confirmation, and only then do you get the pipe bomb. You cannot just tell the game "I wanna craft five of them", or do it right in the craft/skills menu, which is a shame.
Another janky thing, is that the notes at times do not tell you who you need to come back to. The quest lingers for a while, you forget who gave you the quest, you do it, and the quest doesn't really update. That's probably the most annoying thing (and it's not really that annoying at all) about the quest "GUI". If you could use it, to maybe open a status with a description, where you're at, and where to go back to - It'd be way more user friendly.
I got all the achievements, and I've tried to do most quests I could. I won't claim I aced the game, but I aced the achievements, and that's enough for me at the moment.
I've yet to play the DLC, but I am looking forward to doing so!
Thank you, Asocial Guarantee for the game. It was fun to play. Hope you'll make more things!
Addendum:
I thought about it a bit more, and remembered some things.
One thing I feel like this (or... future games) may use, is maybe more character to MC interaction. Think of RPGs like Fallout, where your character sometimes throws you a bone, and you have options to answer them, with varied 'opinions', and they can clash with yours. That would serve to make the characters feel a bit more full, and serve for the player to understand them a little better? I feel like this would open up more possibilities to grow 'closer' with the characters. Same also goes for them to criticize how you do things. If Malice would be only more happy the more violent you are, can't say Anna would feel the same way. Dunno about Chester... it's not like he can... see...
One interesting example - the robot. His 'task' is to learn, yes? And our actions would make it become more violent/strong or less violent/more defense, a tank so to speak? This also could lead to different 'moves' that characters learn, some stronger, some more 'utility based', like blinding/causing someone to bleed.
A comment to be made: I feel like Anna is the most 'finished' buddy. She has the most dialogue it seems, and the robot seems to be the least finished. It'd be interesting to see what he could 'react' to at the Antenna building, for example...
Also, it kinda boggles my mind, how it seems like there's no firearms in the game? There's a crossbow, there's some other thing I didn't use, but... not a pistol, or a shotgun? I suppose it'd be hard to think about the balancing of it, but ammo could be introduced, possibly locked behind loyalty with a gang or so. As it stands you don't really get anything outside of money and EXP for siding with whatever faction.
