Fantastic game but-
Jin_Uzuki
Incredible first route/main route that will keep you glued to the screen. After it, it offers a decent second route with an alternative take on the story and some decent surprises. After that, it kinda falls short, as the quality decreases the more you read (Though the fourth route is better than the third one and overall tolerable) finishing in one of the worst endings I've ever seen.Admittedly, the first route is like 80% of the story and 50% of the novel (But it will feel like 80% of it due to how short the other routes are) and the routes after the second one are really short anyway so by the time you'll be done with the second one the game is basically over. And the last route can be pretty much considered an AU by the words of the author (It was so polarizing that an explanation had to be put out on the game's official site...).The core cast is strong, the OST is decent with a couple of outstanding themes, the art is very impressive and completely nails the atmosphere. The love story is VERY good and manages to develop organically, it avoids the usual tropes associated with the genre and fits the game's themes, it never feels like an excuse to have the characters bang, which is rare for the genre. So 5 stars to the first two routes, 3 to the rest and like negative stars to the "ending/last route". Undoubtedly the best BL game out at the moment and a very good story on its own, as long you understand the game will give you the main route/true route the first time you play it.
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Honestly incredible
wheels
Not to overstate this, but Hashihime is incredible. It doesn't always stick the landing -- especially the final route -- but it's so clever and ambitious in everything it does that the lows almost don't feel like they matter. Although the plot twists and turns, and the visuals are crazy strong, the real strength of this game is its character writing; Hashihime honestly has side characters better than a lot of other games' romance options. (This is a Naoshi appreciation zone.) Tamamori is a fantastic protagonist, both intensely flawed and intensely likeable, and his possible love interests are all compelling characters. I've been puzzling over the question of who best boy is for weeks, and I *still* couldn't tell you. (It's been flipping wildly between Tamamori, Minakami and Kawase, depending on the day. The main trio really are all that good.)Sorry to gush, but I finished this game over a week ago and haven't been able to stop thinking about it. It doesn't sound this way from my review, but I have stupidly high standards for media, and I can't remember the last time *anything* made me hungry for more the way Hashihime did. Hats off to MG for an incredible localization, and I'd love to see them bring over more of Adelta's stuff in the future!
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Long and addictive
Minase
I spent around 50 hours completing this game, and I enjoyed most of them. Kind of wish I didn't read the unnecessary final optional branch after I did, but it couldn't sour the overall experience.The character designs are mostly natural-looking, contrasting with some very beautiful and colorful CGs (and there are about 200, good, bad, erotic and not). The characters are also compelling, especially the main three: Tamamori, Minakami, and Kawase. Despite Kawase's darkness, it's easy to care about him eventually.The story is strong and not that repetitive despite the "repeating the same three rainy days" description above, which made it easy to keep reading for hours at a time. Both normal and erotic scenes can be funny, heartrending or terrifying, but it was about 30 hours in before anything erotic. This isn't a romance or sex-heavy game.As for the localization, it reads very fluidly at all times. Some of the line spacing is awkward to read, but that's about it.Thank you to Mangagamer for bringing over such a complex and interesting game, and I recommend it to any fans of horror stories and a desire to see some sympathetically mentally ill men struggle to connect with each other through tragedies.
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MG point:96
