Stellifier - an otome game inspired by older idols

I've always been a big fan of Studio Nochi games, so imagine to my great surprise when their next game was with idols! I know that Somnium Eleven kind of touched on themes of publicity, press, etc. but this game really incorporated it. Currently I'm playing Hawkins' route but I'm saving my favorite for last (Frey). The writing is still as witty as ever and the art as amazing as ever. I can't wait to finish the rest :) FULL REVIEW: https://gameblubbs.wordpress.com/2024/11/21/stellifier-review/

I've played my fair share of romance visual novel games and I've seen many different ones. This one was pretty good, it was fast pace but if you're ok with that then I say give this game a try. I love how they show the struggles that idols have to go through they did an amazing job describing them.

I've only played two of three routes, and I'm really loving this game! The overall world building is pretty easy to understand, and the characters are wonderful too! The interactions between the characters are one of my favorite aspects for this game, so if you're looking for a good laugh between some characters, then you'll definitely get some here lol. There's a few interesting gimmicks like making your own schedule and that's a fun way of getting to make your own path towards one of the love interests in this game. One thing I would like to point out is there is a lack of design for the side characters... but it's understandable as for why. For those that don't know, Nochi (the team that made this game) mainly relies on crowdfunding for their games and they're a really small team, to boot. I'm hoping in future projects, we could maybe have designs for side characters, kind of like how Somnium Eleven had a pretty wonderful cast of character designs! Even though there wasn't really any designs for the side characters, that fact alone didn't ruin my experience for this game, I'm still having a good time with it! Otherwise, this game shows that they've been making good progress throughout their titles and this one has surely made it's way to one of my top favorites! The CGs for this game are very nice to get, the three look fantastic in all of their art! And did I forget to mention the love interests are all wonderful characters too? Their stories get me so invested, I just have to read them through to the end lol. Oh yeah, and I'm also really digging being able to choose my gender/pronouns, such a nice detail! And like anyone would really care about me saying this, but Mikael just happens to be my favorite. Him (and honestly the other two) deserve the world ^ ^ (Disclaimer: I did help with the funding of this game by participating in their Kickstarter when it was live, and my pledge did award me with the Steam key once the full game was released. So I guess you could say that I got this game for free since I didn't purchase the full game through Steam, but through helping the game come to life).

Very good writing, very cool feel, between lighthearted and realistic, capturing lives of adult people with all the difficulty and backpain included. Wouldn't mind some shadows for npc sprites, sometimes dialogue between many was getting a little bit tiring to follow up with only names.

This game drew my attention by the art style and the concept when I was searching for a dating simulator game on steam. Each character has a distinct personality, which results in different love experiences. Outside of the romance, I enjoyed the general interactions between characters. Frey, Hawkins, and Mikael have a strong bond in each route; which I found to be wholesome and refreshing since many times these types of games only have the love interests interact with the main character. Choosing the events each day was a fun feature.

This is one of my favorite games by Nochi Studios. Mikael is my favorite with Frey being a close second. I love the options for choosing what to do during the day and night.

So let's get straight to the point: I'm going to make this analyse about the game itself, the story and then my opinion at the very end. Part 1 - the game We start choosing our MC name (ok, normal thing into this type of game) and then we can also pick our MC genre (I'm saving my opinion for the last). We enter in the game and we're jornalist from some notorious/midterm Journalism and we're going to spend a whole week with three (pretty) guys who were a boy-group, and now are going to [re]debut. This is the game premises and its pretty nice and makes you wondering what's going to come next, and thats nice. But then we face the first issue: the game lacks off of tutorial. The game doesn't teach us how the love interest works, how many 'events' we need to pass through so we can land into a route and even if we need points to get into some desirable/wishable route. That's a issue I found myself pretty annoying and not nice. This isn't obvious and I don't know why the game doesn't bother about teaching us about. The other issue here is some minors bugs (when you load, you can't play yet, you need to load again so the game actually allows you to 'go to the encounters/etc' That's make the game enjoyable (at certain point) and it's pretty nice. I found myself pretty satisfied with the layout and the game proposes (like social midias and etc), and that's 'new' into this type of game. And the arts are pretty amazing. I loved each part and each type: the main arts, the side arts (when you get on social midias etc). Everything pretty perfect and I loved it. But something that isn't cool its basically the main propose: your choices. You barely make any choice and the choices the game gave to you is pretty limitable and not that nice. Another thing that annoyed me was the LACK (I truly mean that) of side characters Image. Into the game progression we're introduced to kinda important side characters, but we don't know theirs face. Like: are you a girl? A man? I don't know. And more: I forgot about them. I lack in name of characters, so not having any image to associate them made the game kinda complicated and not nice for me. The pronouns. When we're hanging out with the boys, I struggled when they used 'they' instead of his, them instead of 'him'. This wasn't necessary and made me pretty annoyed. Like this: "Then XXX took me into they arm and made it hug me tightly. Them hand was close to mine and them lips was so close to mine". Like, why didn't used the BOY pronouns? Unnecessary and made me pretty confused. Part 2 - the story I didn't actually finished the game, but something I found annoying was the lack of information on which route you are going to. You flirt with Hawkins? You gain points? How many points I need? About this part, the interactions you have with each character isn't equal: I found myself with more Mikaels date/encounters than Fray, and even more than Hawkins (poor Hawkins). Is this made according to your LIS points? I don't know, because - again - the game lacks off of explanations and tutorials. But so far, the game story its more than enjoyable and some scenes even made me like 'awwww im dying (in a good way), so this is nice. The story and the interactions (even if limited) are pretty awesome. Part 3 - my opinion I think the game it's pretty in layout and characters looks like, but kinda doesnt made me satisfied. Few options, few instructions about WHO your LIS is going to be and etc. Othe thing I found myself kinda annoyed was with the pronouns choice. Like: it's not big deal to make a game only for yours, you know? And to be fair: most girls doesnt/didnt pick the others pronouns. That was a nice thing do make, but not enjoyable. Doesnt affect the game at all, but it's just annoying how every company tries to make the game for 'everybody', even when it's pretty clear the game isn't. Like, Visual Novel it's more for girls than for mans, and I say that because I barely know mans who play this type of romance VN. Despite all of that, the game it's nice and like I said: i had some nice and cute reactions towards the games story progression. I don't know if i actually recommend the game because doesn't looks like something I would actually recommend. But how the game propose (romance story) it's accomplished, then I need to gave them a honest recommendation.

I've not played the game to full completion but I can certainly recommend it for anyone looking for a decent otome VN that isn't insanely long, after having gotten three endings. (There are six character endings, and I wonder if there might be other hidden ones, too. Feels like there might be! :) The characters have a lot of fun banter and chemistry, and there's clearly been a ton of work put into researching and writing out the full history of not just Stellaris but the surrounding industry, including other bands, producers, managers, labels and so on. MC is gutsy, talented and witty, which makes for a great voice and personality to play through. The voice notes didn't super do it for me but I appreciated the idea and the effort! Rather than typical CGs we get social media posts for the most part (there *are* typical CGs but they are rare), which was interesting. The mechanics sort of remind me of Devil Survivor-style event scheduling but massively simplified. There are choices to make per event that are always interesting to consider, and the devs were kind enough to include a route tracker so you can actually see if you've been picking options that will advance your route. There is a default bad ending you will keep hitting if you aren't able to progress any one route fast enough, which is a fun way of making sure you stay on target. When starting, I recommend that you duplicate your save file (so you make two of the exact same save) when you start, because the save state will automatically update your file as you progress your game. For devs to note: It's got a couple of bugs that didn't hinder my actual gameplay but just broke immersion for a moment (a weird script skipping bug occurred in Hawkin's good ending route around the start of the final bit backstage, but I just checked the log and scrolled back up to read what it skipped; and then when they performed also during Hawkins' good ending route, their faces did some wacky-woo-hoo things that made me laugh). Suggestions from me for potential patch updates would be for: a) changing the colour of the header or font for the textbox UI for different characters, just to break the monotony of pink and aid in reading; b) if possible, commissioning art for sprites to fill in for Lorelei, Arden, Abigail, Li and Khris, because these characters appear often and talk a lot, but sometimes entire sequences that go on for minutes and minutes of reading are just textboxes without anything to look at; and c) just have a proofreader very quickly catch the occasional typos and words stuck together - these happened frequently enough for me to notice and it sort of bothered me!

Super cool comeback story about 3 older idols. :p

It's okay. I didn't really like the writing and how the romance seems to be coming out of nowhere when the protagonist should keep things professional. I played 2 routes, Mikael one was okay and I really didn't like Frey's route surprisingly. This game is not for me but I'd say get it on sale and make your own opinion