The Office Type

I will never know if this game is worth playing, so right up front my review is not about the gameplay. I am one of the Kickstarter backers for this game. The Kickstarter was fully funded with a little bit above the $20k, and in the time between the October start and the November end they told us that they were already to the tweaking the demo stage. The estimated delivery date of the game was July of 2019 and they set themselves a 2 posts a month goal. In the 71 months from them setting themselves that goal to now they've given 58 updates. Many of them come shortly after one or more backers desperately asked for an update. Every now and then between the vague reasons they couldn't complete the game were updates just telling us they'd gotten a grant or gone to a show. I am one of those people, and I'm intensely non-confrontational so I truly resent how much I had to push for vague updates with no concrete reasons for the delay or offered time limit to the delay. They released the game yesterday. I learned because I checked the Kickstarter campaign for comments about another date passing, and there were comments. Comments from backers asking why the Studio released the game for sale without any statement on the Kickstarter at all or keys sent out. Their first statement that the game was finally out was a reply to one of those comments. Of course, the reply then was that it takes a lot of time to send out codes, and that is true. But I've been reading and sometimes re-reading those limited updates for 6 years so I could close this chapter of my life. I bought a code for a friend, and the two of us discussed what we would do if they ever actually published. They are no longer with us, so I'm not sure at this point what they would have been willing to do. But the taste in my mouth is Target's Beige Apparel Line for Pride bad, so I will not be playing this beyond leaving it open long enough to write this review and share with everyone else the level of disrespect and disdain they showed the people that were so excited they pledged to their Kickstarter.

[b]TLDR: This game is unfinished. The characters have great potential, but it really doesn't feel like I'm doing anything with the connections I'm making. The core gameplay feels repetitive, but not in a way that provides much replay value. Definitely not worth the price in the state it's in, and probably not even worth it on sale. [/b] [i]slight addendum: I do feel willing to try again if there are significant updates, but I still feel like the actual gameplay is an issue that can't be fixed fundamentally without just making a new game entirely.[/i] I'm reviewing this purely as the game that I played to a complete (single) playthrough, as I do notice many are writing about their experiences as a kickstarter backer. I knew of this project when it was announced, never pledged to it and only recently saw it appear again, but honestly for the time it spent in development, how is [i]this[/i] the final product? It's a VN, with no skip or auto-forward options. Characters are missing expression cues or voice acting. You play the same minigame between every 5-minute interaction you have with every character, which is skippable so I don't see the point in even having the minigame at all ( for the record, I [i]did[/i] enjoy this connecting minigame, but once I've had to play it 40-or-so times, with very little weight to the game, it stops feeling like "fun" and more like "here's a stand-in for a very fun opportunity to spend time with the character you're out with" ). The decision to make these interactions between characters so short at a time, so you're just juggling interactions, and then coming back to your apartment- not to reflect on it, but just to remind you that you're a passenger and not a player- makes this game feel so unfinished you may as well have called it the demo 2.0 or a proof of concept. Anything but a complete game worth money just yet. The characters really DO have the potential to be more fun and engaging! I liked Mohsen and Calvin a lot, but it really felt like any time we were about to do something exciting, there would be the minigame and our interaction ends shortly after. Characters will mention times that you've hung out with them after hours- but 1) how is that possible when you go from said interaction straight home and 2) I never got to experience it, so why bother pretending like I did? Again, you're a passenger in this game, not a player. Sure, you can make choices, but the majority of this game is just telling you that you and xyz character did a thing, or will do a thing, and you never get the chance to be involved in it. A massive disappointment, I was really looking forward to this one since I found out about the official launch date a few days ago. I didn't want to leave a bad review, and from my playtime you can see I tried to give it a fair shake, but after completing my playthrough and seeing how the game ends, it really didn't feel worth the effort- or my money- at all.

I am trying to be fair to this game because I was so excited to see this team create another game after Dream Daddy (which is a personal favorite of mine) but I'm honestly just feeling disappointed. And the feeling grows the longer I play despite giving it my best fair shot. I don't think coming out around the same time as Date Everything (another "date the nearby objects" game) did it a lot of favors but even just comparing it to it's predecessor game, The Office Type feels unfinished. Like it never left demo. - You cannot name or at all customize the player character. - The events in the relationship route almost seem torn between acting like the characters are already dating and like they're only just starting to flirt - There's almost no purpose to the "scenes" inside "Your Apartment" the way there would be in a different game like Your Best Friend, Dungeon Boyfriend, or Arcade Spirits - the "dates" feel like they're doing a lot of telling and not showing like I do not feel like I'm getting to know anyone, I'm just hitting dialoge buttons until it's time to play the minigame again. It's very difficult to tell if my choices even matter. - This almost feels like they wanted to make the three match minigame instead of another dating sim but somehow turned one into a vessel for the other. - The characters almost don't seem to know each other past the opening scene like Ben and Sylvia were introduced as brother and sister but then despite Sylvia repeatedly reffering to her sibling she never mentions Ben by name agian. I've never made a video game myself but I feel like that of all things should be a simple "if ben option select = sylvia substitute dialog brother = true" type of thing where her text box adjusts to which pen you selected. I don't know. But it makes the world feel emptier. Or if that's not the sibling she's reffering to then any kind of indicator that there's more than the two of them would be good. But in general the fact that the Intern seems to become everyones only friend is... disappointing. - Genuienly thought at first that the location you picked during date events influenced your score while playing the minigame because the characters would make different faces based on what you hover over but it seems to only change the backdrop you play in front of and some occasional flavor text. - Something about the font choice for the textbox genuienly throws me off and feels unfinished but I couldn't tell you what it is. The dialog in general also just doesn't have the same heart and humor as Dream Daddy did. Like I hate to make the comparison so often but was this even the same team that made the previous game? Or did they just use the same art style? - God 30 days is too long for an endless cycle of dialog and three match game. It's not a bad game, necessarily. but it's not the game I was excited for and I can't tell if these are actually problems or just not the way I would have done it. But the fact that this game came out in June (?) and it's now October and I am struggling to find so much as a YT playthrough of it online is very telling to me, frankly. And I just wish I wasn't... bored. :( I wanted to like this game and it feels like a big unfinished letdown.

As others have, let me preface this by saying I'm one of the Kickstarter backers for The Office Type. While I didn't get the game for free, after 7 years' time $20 feels pretty inconsequential. However, I can't recommend buying this game in its current state. I was so excited for it back in 2018 but it sadly isn't what I imagined. Firstly, it's quite broken. I understand this is a small dev team and that this is their first Steam launch, but I don't really understand how a game this bugged gets put out in the first place. I feel as though $20k and seven years would be enough to at least make the product passable. The entire roster I chose is missing their voices and every single expression cue, save for Antonio. I still have no idea what anyone sounds like and I find it very hard to get immersed when I'm just staring at a static PNG for each character the entire time. Genuinely wondering how this made it past testing, assuming there was any. There are also apparently game breaking soft locks in certain routes. Bugs aside though since those will hopefully be fixed soon, I'm not really sold on the way the game feels as a whole. The "dates" mechanic is simply a match-3 minigame, and you're told vaguely what you and x-character did together after every date without actually getting to experience it yourself. Every day you're just waking up, choosing who you want to see (three each day for 30 days), getting the most bare-bones conversation, minigame, and then ending the day to do it all over again. The minigame itself is pretty fun, but I'd much rather it be cut out entirely and replaced by actual dates. Show, don't tell! Yes, that many events would be asinine to write for a small team, but I say that's where quality over quantity is important. Look at Our Life: Beginnings and Always; one of if not my favorite VN/dating sim, a game with only three love interests in total, but you get to spend a lot of time with each one getting to know them and really feeling like you're building a meaningful relationship. The Office Type has 24 characters, but nothing feels worthwhile. I feel that Heavy Thought focused too much on presenting this grand scope of a game with so many options to choose from that they weren't left with any room to actually flesh anything out. Syl was a character I knew I wanted to pursue from the beginning when I backed the game, and while I still like them a lot, I don't feel like I'm really influencing anything when it comes to interacting with them, or anyone else for that matter. I don't relate much to the MC, what little personality they have. Dialogue choices are plentiful but have little bearing. Overall there's no personalization to anything. You're merely spectating and these storylines will go how they go, it only matters if you choose to be romantic or platonic with each character at the start. I'm not seeing any variation or branching paths, which is a big deal to me in otome games. A few smaller notes, there is no auto or skip option, two very basic things any VN should have, especially one that touts so much replayability. There are twelve manual save slots iirc, and I think there should be more. Saving in itself feels like a chore in how many clicks it takes, and you can't load a file from within the game, you have to quit to the main menu first. All of these things seem small but build up to be a slog of an experience. TL;DR: I'm disappointed by The Office Type. I don't like to write negative reviews and I can tell the dev team tried, but there are a lot of shortcomings that I just can't justify given how long it took for the game to release. I will continue to give the game a fair shake and finish a few routes after patches are rolled out, but I don't see very much changing about my overall thoughts. The artwork from the Dream Daddy team is lovely, there are some jokes and references that made me chuckle albeit being a bit dated by this point, but I'd pass on The Office Type as it is now.

Did you know there was a character limit to Steam Reviews ? Me neither until today ! Guess the french version will go through the window again YAY (I'll put the french TLDR at the end though) [h2][b]TLDR :[/b][/h2] The game looks promising : great art, vibrant characters, and rare queer representation, but it feels shallow and unfinished. There are no meaningful choices, no fast-forward or naming options, and interactions lack emotional depth or progression. After hours of play, relationships don’t seem to evolve, making the “30 days remaining” mechanic more stressful than engaging. The visuals and character variety are nice, though some environments and UI elements feel off-scale or overly colorful. The minigame is amusing at first but quickly becomes repetitive and pointless. The game’s pacing improves after about day 15, but it still feels a bit long. There’s almost no interaction between characters, which is disappointing. The illustrations are nice but limited — you only get one at the end depending on your route, and it’s hard to tell how your choices affect that. It feels like the intimacy route is the most consistent and fullfiling one. [b]Overall:[/b] beautiful presentation, weak storytelling and gameplay depth. So far I can't suggest it, as I've now finished it I'm still not entirely sure I could recommend it. [h2]The way-too long version : [/h2] There is a lot to be said about the game. I wasn’t part of the Kickstarter campaign - I just wishlisted the game, played the demo, and thought, “Oh, this is nice and promising.” I mean, a game with queer representation… so rare! It must be a nice game with a meaningful story, right ? Truth be told, I haven’t tried many routes. At first, I mostly thought the character designs were just designs, rather than actual storylines with real differences between them. Having distinct stories would have been nice… if it didn’t all feel so hollow. I like to play visual novels, but here there are no meaningful choices, no “skip dialogue” (or fast-forward) button, no naming option for the main character (I fear my name is now Intern, and so is my term of endearment). Worse, maybe: everything feels so meaningless that the “30 days remaining” mechanic, which initially attracted me, now fills me with dread. What do you mean I’ve been locked onto a character, spent over six hours talking to them, and I’m still 23 days away from the end route - with no progress ? No connection? No deep-sharing, bonding, or emotional moment? Nothing??? My biggest fear is that I’ll miss something and have to redo the whole thing from scratch. Hell, I even tried pursuing both a “friendship route” and a “intimacy relationship” with two other characters at the same time, just to see how the story pacing would go - and yet, here I am, desperate for something to share with them. Maybe some choices that would make Intern feel like my character, and not just a side character from a novel with nice images ? [b]Character design :[/b] So far, so good - there’s a nice variety, the colors are vibrant, and each character has unique traits. Yet, among the he/she/they character, you can still notice a hint of similarity between their faces. It’s lovely, really ! [b]The Environment :[/b] Okay, but nothing more. I like spotting the different video game references in the background - those are nice easter eggs. Some perspectives feel off, and sometimes it’s a bit too simple, but maybe I’m just being picky. [b]The UI and Dialogue Box :[/b] Honestly ? Not really good. The dialogue box and options are okay, maybe a bit too big compared to the screen. The lack of shortcuts to fully play with the keyboard is a weird limitation I’ve had to get used to (no Ctrl button, no quick save/load, etc.). The characters look small compared to the environment - it feels strange to have such gigantic workspaces, desks, and chairs with such small characters. (Maybe that’s because of the minigame windows that appear later ?) I’d also say there are too many colors everywhere - but to each their own, I guess. I get that there’s some consistency between the game’s logo and its colorful palette. The gallery is quite... peculiar. I think it’s the first time I’ve seen each environment displayed separately by time of day (usually it’s more of a carousel where you click to switch from morning to evening). [h2][b] EDIT : The pacing [/b][/h2] The pacing does get better around day 15–20 as Intern, but it’s still a bit too long. The feeling might be due to the “dating” system, though. One sad thing is that there’s absolutely no interaction between the characters apart from the game’s introduction. I wish there were more - those moments were really nice! For example, two characters are siblings, and yet this is never addressed in the story, nor does it have any consequences. As for the illustrations, well, you get one at the end of the game depending on the type of route you follow. It’s a bit sad, considering the illustration feels like a reward. I didn’t get one by simply being friends with the characters. Maybe I missed the illustration because of the choices I made? Since there isn’t much difference between one answer and another, it’s a bit hard to tell. [b]The Minigame :[/b] It was funny the first time. Then I realized that under the “love-o-meter” was shown what the character likes (it took me three dates to notice, I’m slow, yes). If you want to maximize the heart, it’s better not to play the minigame - just skip it - so you can win that round. And be ready to read a lot more, because if you want to interact with as many characters as possible from your roster, you’d better not waste time playing it. [h1]Le TLDR en français baguette, oui oui : [/h1] [h2][b] TLDR : [/b][/h2] Le jeu semble prometteur : belle direction artistique, surtout sur les personnages, hauts en couleur, et une rare représentation queer, dommage, le jeu ressemble trop à une démo. Il n’y a pas de choix significatifs, pas d’option pour accélérer les dialogues ni pour nommer son personnage, et les interactions manquent de profondeur émotionnelle ou de progression. Après plusieurs heures de jeu, les relations ne semblent pas évoluer, rendant la mécanique des “30 jours restants” plus stressante qu’intéressante. Les visuels et la variété des personnages sont agréables, même si certains environnements et éléments de l’interface paraissent disproportionnés ou trop colorés. Le mini-jeu est amusant au début, mais devient vite répétitif et inutile. [b]En résumé : [/b]une belle présentation, mais la narration et le gameplay sont de gros points faibles. Je changerais probablement l'avis pour le conseiller en fonction des mises à jour et si l'histoire s'accélère à un moment, mais en l'état c'est un peu compliqué.

I had great hopes for this game after enjoying Dream Daddy. I'm massively disappointed. The game is bugged, I'm stuck in the park with zero days to go and the only way out was to exit through task manager. The characters are great but I'm not sure that there is enough to do. The scenery is attractive, but even the changes in venue become samey after awhile. Clicking through the same puzzle every day became a grind, but you can skip it. Dream Daddy had a lovely relationship between the father and daughter, I missed that aspect. I feel that there is just not enough character development, or story to justify the price of this game as it stands.

TLDR: PLAY THE DEMO F I R S T BEFORE YOU CONSIDER BUYING THIS GAME I came across the announcement for this game on Twitter and was excited to play a game that was likened unto Date Everything. My friend and I started playing it and immediately noticed that the Main Character (Intern) that you play as is extremely difficult to read. We originally attributed that to the type face of the text and pushed forward, but we soon realized that the MC/Narrator is hard to relate to. Their dialogue felt detached and soulless, there was no motivation for the MC to pursue anyone and the answer text didn't have a clear "freedom of choice". There was always a distinct "No" but never a "Yes", very odd choice to have in a dating sim. Especially since you don't get an identity outside of being "an Intern from Sales". There is no opportunity to project yourself onto the character. For Example: Benjamin asks if the Intern likes winter and there was no choice that my friend and I agreed with. We love winter and all the answers were either: No, Play dumb, or be indifferent. There was no "yes" opinion. So the writing for every character felt off, and in about 30-45 minutes into the game-play, we both were skipping dialogue to get to the end of the day. The (seemingly optional) matching mini game was also not fun and quickly became like a chore to finish. Also the character design for Madelyn from HR being a sports bra and track shorts TO WORK felt wrong. I don't know what happened there but it really bothered us. We do not recommend this game and we should have played the demo before buying the full game. Also, in our opinion, you shouldn't have this many "known issues" on launch day. People waited six years and weren't told of it's launching, you could have and should have waited longer.

Some animations seem to work only sometimes or at least only for some characters. First this game was really interesting and fun but in fact that it's unfinished. all so almost got to last days...Got a bug that I can't get past...I'm gonna wait on it and if and when fast forward becomes a thing I'll re-download this and try again. Can't recommend this game right now.

I've only had time to play for a few hours, but I've been enjoying the game so far! It seems like most of the negative attention it's getting is coming from Kickstarter backers who aren't giving it much of a chance because they're angry about how long the game took to come out and for the keys to get sent out. A review is meant to be about the game itself, though, so I wanted to balance it out with some positivity. On the negative side, the game does still need some work. Certain characters are missing some functionality, and there are a few bugs here and there. These are acknowledged in the game description, and patches are planned. It came out literally a day ago, it's not unusual these days for day one to be a bit rough around the edges. I'm more than willing to give the team some time to iron out the kinks. The bugs are the only issue I've had so far. On the positive side, the game is very entertaining. I find the character art charming, and it's nice that there's an equal gender spread that you get to determine. There is a lot of content to see for each character. Dialogue choices feel a bit shallow, I get the impression that it doesn't really matter what you pick. But each interaction is fun to explore, regardless, and feeds you a bit about the character each time you hang out. I imagine it'll get more in depth the further you go, I'm still very early in the story. I like that you get to pick where you go for the date, and I don't mind the mini game. It's a match 3+ game with an extra mechanic, and it's a nice to break up the visual novel portion. It's not difficult to learn or win, but if you don't enjoy it, you have the option to skip it and still get the relationship points. If you aren't sure, there is a demo, so you can check it out without committing to buying it. If you like visual novels that don't take themselves too seriously or get super deep, (ie: Dream Daddy, Date Everything,) this is in a similar vein. Maybe not quite as lore-heavy, but not everything has to be. I look forward to seeing the game when it's been polished. It's not revolutionary, but it's a pleasant way to spend a few hours. I hope it gets some more positive attention once the kinks are ironed out!

I just completed a full playthrough of the game and was also one of the original Kickstarter backers. While I will concur with a number of the other folks who have pointed out the bugs and somewhat unfinished nature of specific areas (only one character had voice lines coming through?), I want to specifically focus on the quality of the writing. The characters themselves (in my case, Conrad, Cal, and Syl) were all enjoyable and I greatly enjoyed their story lines, though I will note they dragged a bit in the middle. More importantly, though, I was delighted by the overarching plot payoff regarding the merger. There's definitely areas that I was frustrated with - the minigame was fun, but wasn't connected to the plot, and it did feel like it was interrupting dates; the lack of interaction between characters selected felt like a glaring missed opportunity; and I'm unclear on the point of selecting so many characters at the start if the game incentivizes only speaking to 3 all the way through. That said, I'd overall put this at a 6.5 or 7 out of 10 - it was worth the time I put into it, and I was broadly satisfied. (I'm not too irked by the length of time this took to release and frankly am just glad it came out, and I don't think that's really a metric that's useful for other potentially interested players to go off of)