When you were thirteen, you had a choice to attend a school to learn magic, or forget about magic and continue living your life as an ordinary teenage girl. You chose the former and now you make friends, find romances and your teachers throw you into a dungeon for your exams. Be careful, or you could end up on the wrong path.
If this sounds like a Harry Potter fanfic to you, let me tell you that it practically is one. They based the game off fanfiction in general, and they admit it. You can create your character to look however you want her to look, and her default name is Mary Sue. Not to mention that everyone’s life seems to be hell until she comes along. It has everything a fanfic has, the student/teacher romance, the girl that redeems the bad boy and brings the shy quiet girl out of her shell and even fixes the lives of her best friends. The best part is that the game doesn’t take itself seriously. The makers know that it’s nothing more than an escape fantasy and drags you along for the ride.
As for the romance able characters, each one has their own charm. Professor Grabiner is the strict and sadistic professor with a secret heart of gold (like the Professor Snape we see in fanfics). Damien is the troubled but cute half-demon that everyone tells you to stay away from (he’s also my personal favorite, because I liked screwed up stuff). Donald is the lovable prankster just trying to find an identity for himself. Virginia is your tomboyish roommate with a love for sweets. Ellen is the shy bookworm you help bring out of her shell. There’s also a secret character, but I’m not going to tell you who that is. If you want, you don’t even have to romance any of them.
The game plays out like a visual novel mixed with life simulation. Every Sunday, you can choose your schedule. You can learn five types of magic, workout at the gym, study, or just sleep in. Every Saturday, you get to either visit the mall or stay in and study. You even have two extra attributes, cute and weird. You can choose how to respond to various conversations and sometimes your responses drive up either your cute points or your weird points, based on how you respond. You can even collect pictures to put in your gallery and win various trophies based on certain actions you take. Try to collect them all. Wow, I sound like an ad for a Pokémon game.
There are some scenes that make the magical world seem like 1984, but the game is still a fun play through. I give this game 7 out of 10.
This is pretty much the only dating sim I haven’t felt guilty about playing because, like you said, it doesn’t take itself seriously. Loved it 🙂
Thank you and, if you don’t mind me asking, why do you feel guilty about playing dating sims?