I played this game because I heard it was similar to Va11hall-A, and I was desperate for a game with that sort of atmosphere.

I feel like the writers took the write what you know adage a little too literally here. Half of the story is about writing stories, contemporary politics and video game production. The game's main character is Freya, a starving artist who is dedicating herself to writing a novel about the encounters she has in your coffee shop so a good part of her conversations are just meta "Wow this sure is an interesting story" and "Wow writing sure is hard" style commentary.

There are some hints to political turmoil going on in the background thanks to a few headlines you get to read every couple of minutes and the comments of the characters. Most of these are pretty interesting but they feel so cliche. Why does the elven culture not like succubuses? Any historical context? Religious conflict? Wealth or class divide? No because elves are immortal di*ks fu*k you.

Addressing racial conflict is fine, but there are more poignant ways to do so. Real life conflicts happen from families marrying into another race and culture everyday. Usually things go a little deeper than "My side are just racist di*ks lol" and since the characters in this story aren't just two humans of different skin colour but different races entirely, it's even weirder and more cliched.

My favourite side stories were the ones about the idol girl not getting along with her father and the werewolf coping with his full moon rage. Sadly these are also two of the shorter and less fleshed out ones.

There is definitely a good game here, but I came in with pre-conceptions about what kind of game this would be like and in those specific areas, the writing disappointed me. If you want a chill read about the lives of some other worldly Seattle-ites while listening to Lo-fi, this worth your purchase. If you're trying to find a game that can capture the setting of Va11 hall-a, I don't think this quite does it.