First thing to address: this game comes with a LOT of health warnings. Like, a freaking shit-ton of them. And considering how cutesy the visuals are, how absolutely moe it presents itself, you'd be forgiven for thinking it's another dating sim visual novel among a heavily saturated genre. On boot, it categorically tells you not to play the game if you suffer severe depression or have any one of several mental health triggers. Somewhat concerning, but OK, sure.
One thing you immediately notice is how good this game looks. Yeah, the characters are sprite-based and the backgrounds static (there are only a very few instances of any tangible animation in this game at all), but everything is so well-drawn, so clean, that it adds together to a very visually appealing game. The characters are expressive, having a large number of reactions programmed in that means you're never left wondering what they think about a given scenario.
So why all the health warnings?
Well, to the initial part of a run through, it doesn't really seem like there's a reason. The story is relatively basic, where your childhood best friend who has a crush on you invites you to join their club which just so happens to be full of cute girls and not bespectacled D&D nerds. Somehow. And situations are created whereby you attempt to woo one of the girls. So far, so predictable. But then just before the second act drops, said best friend reveals they have crippling depression, and shortly thereafter hangs themselves. Oh, and you find their body. And it comes from so far out of nowhere that it's akin to standing next to Iron Tager when he has fifty meter and you're in a grabbable state.
From there, the fuckery begins. And fuckery is very much the right word. The game resets, except in the very early scenes it glitches heavily to the point that it erases your childhood best friend entirely. Not only from the game, but from the game's character folder. The game actively adds and deletes elements from the folder you run it from. And the way it's done is creepy as fuck, as though the game itself is toying with you. The constant tearing down of the fourth wall makes the game very unsettling to play in Act 2, especially when the big reveal happens and the reason for all the fuckery is revealed.
Considering that, per the Fan Pack (I completed the game via free to play and enjoyed it so much I bought the fan pack to support the developers) it's a parody of the genre, it comes over more as an existential horror with elements borrowed from Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. The content warnings are VERY well deserved. And in terms of how the game pans out, it's incredibly well-written.
For the fact that it's four to five hours long at most (a few more more if you want all three endings), can be acquired through a legitimate free download, and is an active parody of a genre rather than a love letter to said genre, it's probably the best game released this year that I've played. And I'd thoroughly recommend that everyone write their way into Monika's heart at least once. Just Monika. Just Monika...
10/10