Phew, well I'm not quite sure where to begin with this review. I want to just tell you all to buy it, but that doesn't help much, does it? Full disclosure, I've been a big fan of Sad Panda Studios and their idle dating Sim Crush Crush since it came out, and have played it on all platforms and spent money on it. I'm 100% the target audience for this game. And I'm sure everyone else who is a fan of the game and the studio has as well, but this review isn't for them. Theyve bought it. This is for the rest of you.

First off, this is a Visual Novel. Don't like them? Doesn't matter. This will make you like them. It will make you a fan. Trust me. I've been looking for recommendations for other games after playing this one.

The setup for this game sees you winning a contest to go on a resort vacation to the ficitional island of Subrosa. Free lodging, sights to see, things to do. Too good to true? Yes, because shortly after you win you're contacted by two very got goddesses, one of light and one of dark. They tell you 5 girls are at risk of dying, and the only way to prevent is to found out their deepest darkest secrets. By befriending them and winning their hearts.

Now for many, many other games, this would be an excuse to just go out and get laid with some cute models and minimal dialogue. But there's more at play in Hush Hush, then all of that.

First, just a note on the presentation. This is probably one of the prettiest games I've played. Sure, it's all just plain 2D backgrounds and character models. But it's SO WELL DONE. It's all so pretty, and calming, and easy to look at. On that note, the girls. OH THE GIRLS. If you've ever seen those random clips of guys getting nosebleeds seeing hot girls, well this will probably do it for you. All the girls you meet are impossibly cute, and your 5 destined girls are stunning. There will be times when you just sit there and admire how they look, and I'm not just talking about the sexy times you get into with them. Extra special shout out for your third date with Elle, the pink haired super busty narcoleptic girl. You'll see what i mean.

The other thing to note is the soundtrack. I'm a strange guy who can listen to heavy beats and hard rock and metal, but also appreciate soft and sweeter stuff. This soundtrack? My god. It puts me at ease and fills my heart with feelings. Not just the title screen music, not just the themes for the places and the girls, even just the background music for the different times of day (we'll get to that). Hell, the games "Night" theme is probably the best song that has pretty much no use outside of you maybe idling the game at that point. But it also has several super catchy and bouncy themes that perfectly fit whatever setting they're meant for.

Anyway, enough ranting about that. How about the gameplay? Because people don't buy games solely on good music and good art (do they?). It's a visuaul novel/dating simulator. Think of one of those old flash games on Newgrounds where you had to hook up with hot chicks by working and doing jobs and stuff. It's like that, with a budget. Each day you get a choice of things to do. Events with leads to conversations, stat bonuses, money, or just fun dialogue. There's Morning, Afternoon, Evening, and then you sleep and move on.

These events are where you meet your 5 Destined girls; besides Elle, there's the saucy Tsundere Cassie, overtly sexual gamer girl Mio, athletic and outgoing Iro, and Quill, who's a catgirl. (Yeah that's it for her) You'll meet them, and arrange dates. By suceeding in these dates you'll learn their secrets and save them. And fall in love along the way. Of course sometimes the girls wants to meet on the same day and you need to arrange your schedule accordingly. Which is where the rest of the gameplay comes in.

You can earn money and improve stats every day. While there are guides written that allow you to basically do everything correctly and get the best ending, a blind playthrough is going to lead to a lot of game overs. Either because you couldn't pass a skill check, said the wrong thing, or went to the wrong place. I'm told thats part of the appeal but for me I just followed a guide so I could see everything. Your call of course.

This brings us to the writing and the voice acting. All I can say is DAMN. Well there's more of course, ha ha. First part of the game is pretty normal, but it takes a turn. Not gonna say when of course, but you'll notice at a point things seem to take a bit of a turn. It's not all so lighthearted and fun. Especially once you've gained the trust and love of the girls and find their secrets. ALL of the writing is good, no matter what you're doing. It's sharp, funny, witty, and entertaining. But when you progress on some of these dates, the writing really shines through, along with the voice acting. Every character, besides you, is voice acted. None of them are awful. They all sound exactly like you'd think they sound. And they all match their personaities. It's hard to explain but it all just kind of works and matches up well.

Major major props have to go out to the voice actors for these girls. They can sound sweet, charming, mad, fun, sensual, and at times angry and sad. There's two dates in particular, one with Cassie and one with Iro, later in the game and, wow. Anyone whos played knows what I mean but for the rest? You'll figure it out.

By the time you're finished of this game, and ready to leave Subrosa and these girls behind, you won't want to. You'll miss this place. You'll miss these girls. Part of you wishes they were real. And I know that sounds like some basement neckbeard weeaboo crap but I'm about as opposite of that stereotype as you can get and it still gave me big feelings. Look on the message board and you'll see others that agree with me. Chatting with a fellow player during a stream by the head of the studio, someone said it took them 3 weeks to emotionally recover from this game. I'm only less then a week so I can't verify that.

All in all this game has filled me with joy, sorrow, sexuality, and love. I know it sounds crazy about a game, but it's the truth. Just play it. Get the artbook. Get the soundtrack. Get yourself the 18+DLC so you can see the girls in their full beauty. Play and enjoy and then join the rest of us in celebrating this magnificent game.

Death Stranding is an absolutely wonderful game, but it isn't for everyone. And while I do recommend it, you should read on to decide if it's your thing or not.

The setting is very bonkers, to put it mildly. Our world has been connected to the world of the dead, represented by grey beaches. As a result, beings from there, called "Beached Things" or BTs for short, have come into our world as ghostly figures, consuming people and leaving large craters in their wake. This has also caused the rain in the atmosphere to change to what is called "Timefall", which is rain that instantly ages anything it touches, organic or otherwise. As a result, most cities in the USA are gone, large scale transportation is non existent and people are just trying to survive.

Enter you playing Sam Bridges, portrayed with 100% authenticity by Normal Reedus. And I mean that since the graphics in this game are aboslutely stellar and it appears as if you are controlling the actor himself. He doesn't look like a video game character is what I mean. Anyway, he is employed to deliver packages by hand, to various people in need, while at the same time restablishing this games version of the internet, called the "chiral network", basically using the aforementioned beaches as a means of data transfer. Yeah I don't know how that works either, but that's your objective.

So your goal in the game is primarily walking from place to place across the landscape to deliver various packages. When people jokingly refer to this as a "walking simulator" they aren't far off. But it's not just walking as you're thinking. There are mountains to climb, rivers to cross, and in some cases you run across the aforementioned BTs as well as various human enemies. As well, you need to account for the trip, carrying supplies and weapons as needed. And there are no infinite pockets here like in some games. If you take too much you're gonna have a hard time walking. Take too little and you won't be able to get to your destination. If anything, it's more of a hiking simulator then straight up walking.

Later in the game you can build roads, and get access to bikes and trucks, to speed up travel. Also you get the ability to build various structures to help out, like signs, watchtowers, and bridges. With the games online component, structures you build can show up in other peoples games and vice versa, as as you and others give "likes" to these structures, you get in game bonuses to help you out along the way. While you never directly meet another 'Sam' you are still interacting with them indirectly.

I need to make a special mention of the games sound design. A lot of it is licensed music, and obviously not written for the game. But the way the music is used, it just fits to well. The intro track "Don't Be So Serious" by Low Roar fits in so very well with the games opening, despite never being written for it originally. There are many moments in the game where music just plays as you traverse the landscape and it just works.

A lot of people cannot get passed the games weird storyline. Some don't enjoy the gameplay loop of delivering packages with some action bits here and there. But if you think you'll enjoy both, love good sound design, and have a really powerful rig, you'll enjoy this game and defintely need to join the rest of us in rebuilding America.