Started playing 夢現Re:Master b/c it’s 60% off on Steam for GW, and it has overwhelmingly good reviews, sounds interesting (yuri + game dev office setting), etc. I’m only 3 hrs in, but so far I’m very… confused? on the fence? underwhelmed, but still interested? Also started NEW GAME! -THE CHALLENGE STAGE.
夢現Re:Master
The premise is completely unbelievable - a girl who can’t so much as touch type, and barely knows anything about computers or game design/development, gets scouted to a game dev company b/c it will somehow be helpful for her younger sister (who cut off contact with her 5 years ago)… but just gotta roll with that. The way the office functions is also incredibly unrealistic so far. The coworker interactions border between mysterious and kinda fun and interesting, to asinine and borderline insulting to your intelligence. I guess it depends on your expectations…
The part that really should be interesting: the game dev aspect is so far a really lost opportunity, as it starts from the most basic of basics (which is bg knowledge that anyone playing a VN probably already has). I can’t help but compare it to NEW GAME! | L22, which really nailed making the game dev stuff both accessible and interesting.
On a brighter side, the protagonist is enjoyable, and the emotional side of things is kinda interesting so far, and the aesthetic is really on point. The language is a good level for me (at most 2-4 unknown words per screen). So it’s great for vocab acquisition. Everything besides the protagonist’s internal monologue (which there is a lot of) is voiced.
NEW GAME! -THE CHALLENGE STAGE
This one is really simple language wise, so far, and everything is voiced (besides Aoba’s internal monologue). So far it’s basically what you’d expect from the anime. EAGLE JUMP got an urgent request for DLC, and Aoba’s put in charge. There’s different routes (non-romantic I assume). The (mostly) simple language almost felt like a let down, right after 夢現Re:Master… but it’s not like I have zero lookups either. So far though this has been the easiest VN I’ve tried to read, and I can mostly follow in realtime. So I guess I’ve got something nice to relax with 
If anyone’s played 夢現Re:Master, I’d be curious to hear your thoughts. I’ll probly keep playing it for language learning, and also cuz I already spent the money on it 
