Playtime is inaccurate, as I played mostly on the IOS port. I don't recommend that port, as it is buggy. Audio would only play through a Bluetooth device and sometimes saves would be unplayable if made in the wrong place. This version seems to work quite well, I did not experience any issues.
Legitimately baffling how good this is. While very interesting in their own right, the author's previous works tend to have wonky, drawn out pacing, abandoned/non-sequitur story arcs, and often lack sincerity when the story needs it. This visual novel addressed nearly all of my dislikes while keeping the strengths of steadily increasing scale, fascinating characters, consistently subverted expectations, and a very absurdist sense of humor.
The main story dealing with themes of colonialism, soft power, survival, and the tendency of revolutionary movements to get ahead of themselves is executed well. The hyperbolic, rather cynical portrayal of leftist movements is also quite amusing, even if a bit depressing. [spoiler] The subtler meta-story of the author's previous work, Homestuck, leading to a bizarre cult-like atmosphere in it's fandom that is best left alone is also pulled off well.
The meta story is even more fascinating as of recent, as Hussie over the years since the release of this visual novel has made some decisions regarding Homestuck that not many are happy with, to understate things. These decisions seem to have diminished their reputation to a degree that is going to be hard to recover from. The character arc of Zhen abandoning her "movement" due to it growing increasingly amoral and out of control and the very obvious allegory of the Jubilites representing the Homestuck fanbase really paints an unflattering picture in context. After finishing this, I can't help but think that everyone, including Hussie, needs to leave Homestuck alone, at least for a good while. It seems Hussie is going the opposite direction Zhen did, which I expect will fascinate me for a long time as I pick apart what is going on in this story beyond what I already understand. [/spoiler]
That being said, I cannot recommend this VN enough. There aren't many political dramas featuring vaguely socialist clowns, amusingly outdated pop culture references, and of course horses. If that sounds interesting to you, free (at least at the time of writing) is a damn good price.
