REPLAY BOYS

[h3] Romance ending only starts after chapter 4 [/h3] Even though I was a little disappointed at first that it was not really the kind of romance novel that I was expecting, but still it was a very good read. [b] Chapter 1: Jax [/b] During this chapter, Hannah will be spending like more time with Jax, and after the concert, it will proceeds back to day 1, thus, a time loop. [spoiler] That's why after chapter 4, in Jax's romance ending, he will tell Hannah that he felt like he met her before, like she is his ex or smthg. [/spoiler] [b] Chapter 2: Tyler[/b] The leader of the group, and he is the one who wrote the songs for Replay Boys. Same, Hannah will spend more time with him, after their concert, time loop back to day 1. [b] Chapter 3: Niko [/b] He is one of the members who does not trust the group, he thinks that and also has evidence that this group or the company is a [spoiler] cult, and they are brainwashing their fans. Therefore, he needs to see if he can trust Hannah. At this point: Hannah will need to choose whether to give him the gun or don't . [/spoiler] [b] Chapter 4: Caleb[/b] Caleb is the one who [spoiler] got possessed by a spirit known as Soveigner [/spoiler]. His mom is the one who allows [spoiler] the spirit to possess him by cutting off his hair. And Caleb, knowing this asked Hannah's help to exorcise him. [/spoiler] [spoiler] After done with his exorcism, the concert is done. [/spoiler] BIGGER SPOILER: [spoiler] While doing his exorcism, the spirit will asked if Hannah will trust him or not. If yes, the spirit will possessed Hannah, and sing the song at the concert If no, the spirit will posessed Anton, the boss and the one of the main culprit of the cult[/spoiler] [h3] After that [/h3] [u]Tyler's end: [/u] It all sees that who Hannah ended up with, if Hannah chose to gave him her number, she ends up with him in the end. [u] Niko's end: [/u] Hannah chose to use the earplugs that he got for her during the concert. [u] Caleb's end [/u] Hannah chose not to use the earplugs that Niko got for her. [u] Jax' end [/u] This end is kinda tricky for me, so I ended using the guide, and I ended up getting the 1. love triangle (achivement) along the way And at this point, they will ask Hannah if she prefers to stay with Jax or Tyler, so just choose Jax. [b] To save time, I recommend just use the guide for the first half of the game, after that it is a pretty easy achievments to get [/b] [h3] Pros [/h3] - The UI is extremely beautiful, with the white background, and the strong black bold words, it makes me not to feel sleepy during my play. - The Art - The plot gets more interesting [h3] Cons [/h3] - No voice acting - The romance part is very little - Character's name is un-changeable (yea, I know that it is alrd mentioned in the desc, that the player WILL play as Hannah) - Does not explain how the [spoiler] cult and the spirit costs the time loop and why [/spoiler] - Tiny plot holes [h3] Overall [/h3] Gaming UI: 10/10 Plot: 7.5/10 Art: 10/10 Yes, I know that some people might prefer a throughly whole out romance game, and not only a little bit of romance ending at the end, and it doesn't even feel like one, prolly just characters hugging, kissing, or only has a meal together at the end. But I would still recommend people to get this, as it is still pretty interesting. And it is quite refreshing as well, this is the first time I had read this type of tiny-romance visual novel, quite good for an indie game. And the price is quite ok too. Still, recommended at a discounted price since the story is short. [b] One thing that I am curious abt is when the first time until today, I played the game, it appears as like a weird kind of app, and not the app design itself, it only change to the app design AFTER I finished the game, and afk for the LATE COMING trading cards. I only got one after 3 hours.. [/b]

So positives: Most of the music is a bop The character art is charming Like the fast forward if you get a short ending Negatives: No disclaimer in game or on steam page of depictions of self harm No disclaimer in game or on steam page of allusions to lack of consent My entire community dead stopped at a certain line from Jax and then did a double take when consent was called into question. I'm fine for these things being in media, they just gotta be tagged so people can self censor if they need to. I will say, the writing got a little.. ridiculous after the beach scene with Jax for my personal taste. Not sure how Hannah can go from being someone who stands up for herself to getting blushy and uwu tucks hair behind ear after that scene. Disclaimer: I have received a key for Replay Boys as a part of the Fall in Love Festival, focusing on visual novels in which you can fall in love, and have streamed parts of the game.

It's a neutral review as I have mixed feelings about this game. [u]What I enjoyed[/u]: + Visually it's a very pleasing game <3 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3735104206 + Music is great, I rarely enjoy it in my games & just either turn it off or set as quiet as possible not to be distracted from the story but here it's perfect! + The main plot, though being kinda ridiculous & unrealistic, felt exciting & engaging. I really enjoyed it sometimes. A couple of twists surprised me, so I find the overall experience quite positive. +There is a cat <3 and my first choice was actually to say no to the whole world and spend time with my gorgeous kitty, the best decision ever :D +There are achievements and they count \o/ so plus one perfect game for a steam collection! [u]What I wish were different[/u]: --I need more save slots T_T One page is seriously not enough :( I don't get it why the devs are often so stingy about them :(( Is it really so hard to provide your players with an opportunity to save before every choice, ideally plus a tad more. At one point I felt so annoyed with constant overwriting & soon all the saves became a mess, so I gave up & used a guide. I'm still seething. I always wonder if the devs actually play visual novels themselves O_O Don't they get the appeal to check every choice and therefore to have an easy access to them, sigh :( https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3734967861 --It's really short :( Not like it's a serious flaw, sometimes it feels good to finish smth quickly without any deep emotional involvement, not because the story is shallow or poorly written, I just seriously need some time to feel connected. But some crucial parts were kinda rushed & abrupt, I wish romantic scenes were more detailed. Here sometimes mc is just suddenly invited for a drink, voilà--that guy's ending O_O Or two months later you are invited for a ride where he confesses to you, a kiss, the end O_O And you call this otome?! O_o --I wish the settings were standard, I had to reopen the controls too many times to remind myself what is where, for example, 'backlash' is used to hide the text O_o why?! --Sadly, I can't say I enjoyed that main concept of replaying again and again. It felt annoying to suddenly get interrupted and to start over :( Welp, for this price tag it's a decent enough game. Despite overall kinda underwhelming experience, it was still fun. [table] [tr] [th]More thoughts about the game in a [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/readingnook/discussions/0/748296282477552420/] Reading Nook [/url][/th] [/tr] [/table]

[h1]An endless time loop and a ghost?[/h1] [h2]Introduction[/h2] [i]REPLAY BOYS[/i] is an otome visual novel developed and published by Split Narrative Inc. You take on the role of Hannah, a video editor who's in charge of editing videos for The Replay Boys, a boy band who's growing in popularity. Hannah is supposed to have the day off from work, but then her friend and manager for the The Replay Boys texts Hannah, begging her to be a stand-in manager for the day, as her friend and other staff members from the record company have food poisoning. What can Hannah do? Should she help out, knowing that she's under no work obligation to do so? As for the gameplay, it consists of choices presented throughout the story. Certain decisions will raise Hannah's favorability with members of The Replay Boys: Jax (the rebel), Tyler (the leader), Niko (best singer who's into conspiracy theories), and Caleb (the newest member who's sweet and kind). Also, some choices will lead to particular endings. Since I bring it up, there are two bad endings, three romance endings, and one platonic/group friendship ending. Right off the bat, I'll just say that Caleb's route is the only one that doesn't have romance. Plenty of colorful CGs are present as well as a varied soundtrack although there's no voice acting. Steam achievements are available, which count towards a user's global total, and Steam trading cards are obtainable, too, at the time of this review. [h2]Review[/h2] I'll just state this right off the bat for disclosure purposes. lol I'm not the biggest fan of pop bands and even less so, of boy bands. (In case anyone is curious as to the music I prefer, classical and jazz music are the way to go, mainly because I find them calming and soothing. XD) Anyway, I was trying to decide what to play and since I got a review key from an event that my Steam group, [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/theintrovertedgamer]The Introverted Gamer[/url], was a part of, I decided to give this one a try. The story starts off on a slightly comedical note although it has a bit of a slow start. I like that Hannah can choose to refuse her friend's offer to help out with the band and you can get an ending (a bad one, but still). To be fair, if I had the day off from work but was then asked to work anyway, I'd rather take my intended day off to decompress and recuperate. However, after getting that ending, the story loops back to the start and then you're forced to help out the band. I found it interesting that the story loops like this rather than takes you back to the main menu. I wasn't sure what to make of it but figured that there had to be a reason. At any rate, Hannah then helps out the band by picking up its members from their homes and then getting them ready for their live concert later. During the story, choices pop up that can get Hannah closer to the guys, and each one has his own problems and whatnot. While Hannah can get to know the guys, the main story is figuring out the deeper secrets behind the band's record company. While I'll try not to reveal spoilers, all I'm going to say is that when I found out the company's actual purpose behind the band, I was like, [h1][b]What in the world?![/b][/h1] Suffice it to say that I wasn't sure what to make of it. It's way out there. I'll just say that if that's the actual reason for the existence of boy bands, I'm just happy that I have different music preferences. lol While I'm fine with the main story (despite my reaction just now), there are some unresolved issues. [spoiler]My main problem is that there's no explanation whatsoever as to why the main culprits would have even agreed to orchestrate these crazy events, dragging innocent people along with them.[/spoiler] As for the romances, they are on the shorter side, with the main plot being more of the focus. While some might be disappointed to learn that Caleb doesn't have a romance ending, it kind of makes sense, considering that Hannah is an adult and Caleb is 17, so technically, he isn't an adult yet. Still, the romances are sweet, with the most passion being some kissing. Moving onto the art, it has this comic book style with bright colors popping out. Personally, I felt that the colors were a bit too bright for my liking, but then I prefer slightly more muted colors in general. Nevertheless, the sprites and backgrounds are drawn and colored well, and the CGs especially look great. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3702988184 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3702987848 As for the music, the tracks have this pop upbeat, which feels very fitting for this visual novel. Again, I'm not the biggest fan of pop music but preferences. There's a decent variety with the tracks, and even though I'm usually neutral when it comes to voice acting, I kind of wish that voice acting had been present here, even if it's partial. It would have helped bring the characters to life. [h2]Conclusion[/h2] Would I recommend [i]REPLAY BOYS[/i]? Despite the very positive reception, I'm actually on the fence. I would prefer to give it a neutral rating, but since Steam still doesn't allow for it, I'll give it a positive rating. The story is good although as I mentioned, it leaves some unresolved issues and plot holes make for a weaker story. Also, it is on the shorter side and for the price point, it may be a bit expensive, especially with the lack of voice acting, so if you decide to pick this up, I'd highly recommend waiting for a good sale. To wrap things up, I want to give a personal thank you to Studio Ephua for the review key. They hosted the [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44764768/sale/choosewiselyfestival25]Choose Wisely Festival[/url], which I was happy to be a part of. Definitely check out their [url=https://store.steampowered.com/publisher/studioephua?curator_clanid=44764768]curator[/url] to see their list of upcoming games, which I'm looking forward to checking out. ^^ [quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44702020/]The Introverted Gamer[/url] and [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/7593237/]Otome Rakuen[/url] team up to give readers highly detailed, thorough reviews of hot romance games.[/quote]

i played the demo and i was excited to play the full game since i liked jax but i didnt know the full game is just the same day 4 times but with a different love interest...it didnt have any romance build up...and they're all teenagers except for jax. feeling: disapointed.

The fact that this game is not more talked about is a CRIME. It’s short, but legit had me CACKLING the whole time. My recommendation is to go in blind, because you think you’re getting one thing and you’re actually getting another. The CHARACTERS are great, so even though the romance is minimal, the story will keep you around.

[h1]Hitting all the right notes[/h1] I don't follow pop music. Boy bands? No thanks. Give me a denim-clad, long haired, raspy voiced rocker with a loud guitar and an equally loud scream any day. Now you're talking. The relevance of that opening line is that I am, in theory, not a part of the target audience for this game. Which serves to make it all the more impressive that (once I figured out how the story was setting up) I loved every minute of it. [h1]Story[/h1] Hannah, our MC, is a remote working digital doctor for the latest big thing to hit the popular music scene, The Replay Boys, a group of three young men who appeared to have really hit the big time when their small independent record label was bought out by the larger Sovereign Records, who saw fit to add a new, even younger member to their ranks. The band are due to play their first arena concert the day following where the story begins, and Hannah is the only employee of the company who has not attended a meal out which has resulted in [b]all[/b] of the other staff becoming sick from food poisoning, and which results in receiving a text asking her to perform as stand-in band manager for the day, which was due to be her day off. [h1]Gameplay[/h1] This can be a little confusing in the first instance, as there is an option to refuse to help and simply spend the day with your pet cat, a cute, very furry moggy named Cronut. I expected this to follow through to the end of the day and conclude that particular run of the game. However, the game has other ideas, as the day is lived on a repeating loop until all character route variations have been played. The first time this happened, I actually thought that something had gone wrong, and it does make the “endings” feel sudden, but once you adjust your expectations to fit with the looping narrative, it makes a whole lot more sense and becomes fun seeing the wider picture gradually fill in more details until you have the whole story. Thrust into the position of manager-for-the-day, Hannah has to collect each of the four band members, get them to the arena for their show, and deal with their individual issues. It's worth perservering, as characters who start out dislikeable turn out (as in all good stories) to have more about them than is at first apparent. [h1]Positives[/h1] • Graphically, backdrops are simple and clean and work well as support to the character sprites, which in turn are large character busts (chest up only), including one of the player character. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3760471548 But just when you think backdrop shading is simplistic throughout, along pops one to raise the bar a level: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3760472213 • Interactions between the guys, especially in the early stages when none of them feel like someone you'd want to voluntarily spend time with, are often genuinely funny and utterly believable. • Choices matter, although it can be challenging to find all of the included Steam achievements. • The story becomes a little clearer with each repeated day and is fun as it's gradually revealed. Don't expect an epic masterpiece, but if you can just tune out reality and enjoy it for what it is, a good time is highly likely. • Several audio tunes and (while not my thing) they are all decent and appropriate. • The text font is lovely and clean, very reader-friendly. • Once you've played through, the game presents an occasional “skip directly to the next choice” button which saves a chunk of tapping. [h1]Negatives[/h1] • Once experiencing the day beyond the first time, several caption sequences are the same as you've previously seen – which is fair enough, it's the same day – but they [i]are not[/i] recognised as [u]seen text[/u], which means the only way you can skip them is by holding down the skip button (CTRL on keyboard, there is also a mouse option). This is slow, but also skips the unseen captions sandwiched within, so you're either going to be tapping individually past seen text, else missing a few unseen lines that you weren't expecting to come up. • There is no back button. Due to the looping day nature of the story, I can see how that could be awkward to code, but it still makes QoL worse for the player. • The number of save slots is quite restrictive. • Controls are rather odd. This isn't strictly a gameplay negative, but don't expect your muscle-memory controls to be successful. There are some unusual options, like screenshake on/off, and the one which threw me, “text animations”. With this set to on, you get a rolling text print for each caption, but taking it off, thankfully, provides instantaneous display. In addition, it is possible to hide the text box if you want to take a screenshot (as demonstrated below) but instead of the customary “H”, you will need to press “\”. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3760472685 [h1]Verdict[/h1] I had a really nice time with the game despite it being based around a boy-band theme of which I have no interest at all. The story is original, and should be enjoyed by anyone willing to take off their serious head for a couple of hours and immerse themselves in the silly subplot which lends that whole spark of originality. Romance is implied in the game with the older members of the group, but doesn't go deep (and with only one looping day and a quick revisit afterwards in the narrative, it would be immersion breaking if it did), so if you're considering this for some hefty character development of cute boys you can swoon over, you will be looking in the wrong place; but if you want some smiles, a light-hearted plot with a touch of peril, and a feel good romantic end opportunity, you might just find that The Replay Boys are playing your tune. Thank you to my wonderful friend for this surprise and very successful gift. [quote]Be sure to check out Otome Lovers other excellent review of this game by [url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198018894642/recommended/2074370]Amjara[/url][/quote] [quote]When [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/4680120/]Otome Lovers[/url] encounters [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44686303/]The Butterfly Effects[/url], it's a blend of enchanting love stories and the magical ripples of fate! If you enjoyed the review, please follow us.[/quote]

went into the game completely blind and was caught off guard by how dark the story gets. art is super good too!

What I liked: + All endings are cute + Lots of variation between the endings to make your choices feel like they matter + I love it when games give you the option to just stay home, its always funny + The MC actually has quite a bit of personality. + That the 17 year old wasn't a romantic choice; that his ending is sweet and platonic + It also doubles as a good adventure/ thriller VN What I didn't like + This game was too short : ( I finished everything in like 2 hours. I found myself thinking that there was a lot of random stuff going on in the beginning. Not that I minded, I just assumed it was one of those VNs where one character is a robot for some reason, and another is secretly a magican. You know the type. But actually! Can't go into more details without spoiling it but everything comes together really well. Things you think are random are actually bits of foreshadowing. Highly recommend especially at the 7 dollars its retailing for right now!

I haven't been grabbed this hard by a game in so long. I played the demo, laughed out loud multiple times and would find myself bopping along to the catchy music. I HAD to buy the game immediately after trying the demo--I couldn't wait! It's almost 3:30am and I just played the game and did 100% of all the achievements in one sitting. I am tired, but I am SO SO satisfied. The writing is brilliant. I'm going to pester all my friends with this game and go find out if there's any merch out there like the rabid fan I am now. (I don't even write reviews for most of what I play!)