High Times

High Times is a charming, interactive dating sim. Between the music, art style, and flavorful characters you meet, this game is sweet treat. I played the demo and what it had to offer before playing the full game. Even though I've only played roughly 7 hours of the game, I love the direction and flow of the story so far. One of the things I highly praise is the dialogue of each character as well as the nod various social media apps and interactivity on those apps. It reminds me of the charm I felt from Date Everything and the creative interactivity Until Then offered. Games like this warm my heart and motivate me to want to play more to see the outcome of everything. Overall I think this game is a wonderful gem.

I found the demo just a day before full release, and I enjoyed it very much. Graphics, VAs and overall concepts are great. However, story and gameplay just did not click for me. I really tried to like this game, but it is just not fun. Gameplay is okay for like an in-game week or two, but it gets old really fast. Yeah, you gain some additional tools, recipes, etc, but it's just not enough, especially given that new flavors don't really change much. Flavor combinations, recipes - all that doesn't matter, you just need to match some tags. I loved most characters in one way or another, but you can't focus on those you enjoy. Basically 50% of the game for me was a beef between Bredditor and paranoid girl in glasses, with weeks in-between characters I actually enjoy (and yes, I did match requirements for them to appear). Oh, and encounters with characters that I don't like felt *so long*.. Dialogue choices are rare and basically never have any effect on the story other than affection gain. Emotions don't really have an impact either, at least it doesn't feel like they do. Yeah, you can intentionally make the order wrong and miss some sincere moment and stuff. Sometimes customers give you a choice, but these are very rare and I'm not sure if these actually change anything either. Overall, it's a game that I really expected to love, but some game design decisions really broke it for me. If you want to focus on characters - go ahead and give it a try, but don't expect much of the whole mood stuff or a dynamic story.

I'm not usually one for dating sims, so I was a little unsure if I'd enjoy this game when I started out, but the art style and concept caught my eye, and I love shop simulators, so I thought, "why not give it a try?" Holy crap. This game has become a slight obsession for me. It's like sitting down to watch my favourite show and I just can't get enough of it! I'm still working my way through my first playthrough, and I know this is one I'll have to 100% (with over 200 achievements, mind you)! The voice actors are top-tier, the art is absolutely beautiful, and I can't recommend it enough. I have only one problem... I can't find a merch store, and I need a "Starducks" travel mug!

I recommend this game if you liked other slice of life games about meeting strangers and helping them solve their problems, such as: Vampire Therapist, Coffe Talk, and VA-11 Hall-A. I don't recommend it if that's not a genre that appeals to you, of course. This game is similar to those games; the main draw is getting to know a bunch of different people of different walks of life and growing closer to them. I will say, though, as a plus, this game has more gameplay than those previously mentioned games. You will probably manually make at least ~700 donuts on your way to ending every visitor's arc. Additionally, this game offers romance for the player, so if you're into that like me that is another bonus. You can also be polygamous and romance multiple people in one playthrough, and they won't mind at all. There is also character customization since you create your character instead of playing as a 100% predefined character. The game is fully voice-acted and the voice acting is really good. I enjoyed my time with this game a lot. The donut making got a little grindy near the end if you're trying to complete every single visitor's story, since as I mentioned before, you make about 700+ donuts for it, so I wished around ~Day 200 some donut-making shortcuts were unlocked or something like that, but other than that I don't have any complaints, and it's something only completionists will notice. Good game, worth the price even if it's not on sale.

As someone who is a Tired Bisexual [i] (TM) [/i], it honestly feels like this game was made for us, which I really appreciate, lol. The story, character dynamics and interactions feel very real and complex, while also having a touch of silly, tongue-in-cheek humor about them. Several moments actually made me tear up (and a few made me blush), which goes to show the quality of the writing, character design, and stellar voice acting all around. I don't mind having a set backstory and personality for our MC, as it allows more depth to the interactions and histories of their relationships, as opposed to having a blank-slate faceless MC like so many dating sims do. The gameplay loop of donut making is pretty fun, and while it does get a bit tedious after awhile, it's the building of the relationships that really matters to me, so that's not a problem at all. I did have some bugs though, such as not receiving achievements that I should've [spoiler] (for example, dating both MJ & Emmette didn't get me the love triangle achievement) [/spoiler], as well as skipping over a couple of story beats [spoiler] (I never got the scene of deciding Emma's wrestler backstory; it just decided for me later) [/spoiler]. But overall it didn't detract from my experience. 8/10, I would love to see more of these characters! (Also, the soundtrack is amazing; I have Emmette's theme song on loop quite often lol)

Even though I'm still very much mad about my cut scene decision... I can't be petty. This game is freaking hilarious. I actually really do like this game a lot. If I didn't, I'd refund it a long time ago. But I like to give things chances. The hilarity of the game actually saved it from a bad moment of frustration. Surely it will fix itself in future updates. I'mma just enjoy being dramatic... and purposely giving people the wrong donut.

High Times is a fun chaotic bi-(pan?) sexual visual novel with a a gameplay loop that has me saying "just one more day." I love that it's dialogue heavy and the premise of a dating sim about closure is unique. I enjoy seeing how conversations and relationships evolve and the conversations that get the MC and their exes to that point. This isn't a shallow dating sim and it doesn't allow you to mainline one story in a speedrun. It's more realistic in the gradual unfolding of all the stories. I am enjoying all the side stories of various customers and they all have routes of their own with their own conclusions. It's quite immersive in that way. There are a lot of people to meet and interact with and most of them have multiple routes to pursue. It's a lot of content! This is a slow burn and I am into it. The MC's inner monologue and dialogue options often match what I would really say, and that's new for me and really fun. Dialogue is heavily suggestive. This is not a game for kids despite the fun, bright aesthetic. There should probably be a CW about the dialogue just in case. Pros: slow progression that feels more natural. Unique premise and characters. Fully voiced characters with great voice acting. Great art style and music. Story routes that don't feel shallow, side stories that provide additional content and routes. Satisfying "just one more day" game loop. Cons: a fair amount of repetition for customers, (it's not a dealbreaker for me because I can go on autopilot like every day I worked in public service with regulars but some may find it annoying.) Still some bugs in syncing dialogue and with some of the donut making. (Example: powdered sugar topping is buggy but is a known issue, one customer asks for a "cheer" donut but says the glaze is wrong despite using the cheer glaze.) I wish there were more choices in conversations and more dating routes. TL:DR: I love this game. It's been very thoughtfully crafted and I'd love to see more games like this. It's engaging and relaxing. Highly recommend.

记得早期宣传似乎是逃避恋爱flag呢，于是加了愿望单，上了之后酒买了。结果发现好像完全是另一种情况了，纯温馨恋爱向，现在打开商店页面仿佛踏入平行时空。 很无聊，非常无聊，极其无聊。首先是不知道为什么做甜甜圈可以作为卖点，几乎没有烹饪感，也没有模拟经营，本来看宣传以为至少二者有一的。其次是恋爱对象也很无聊，可能公主稍微有意思一点，男角色连外形都无聊……乍一看此作稍微有点神奇人类，可以期待出现妙趣横生的对话，但是也没有，连小疯都疯得平平无奇。