The problem isn't that it's a bad game. It's not.

The problem is that it plays more like a visual novel that has a bit of action. Which is not what I wanted.

TL;DR: It's a fine $30 game.  I just can't justify it as a full-priced game.  At all.

The characters look like they might have had potential; but ultimately things just didn't click.  The relationship aspect feels half-hearted and I completely don't buy any of the connections between characters at all.

IN short: Ringo (the main character you play) is an AI-controlling android that along with Figue is working with Aion to stop the destruction of the world as foreseen.  To do this, there are certain characters that you must "soul hack" which is told to be a form of bringing back to life; at the end of the game you learn the truth of what soul hacking really is.

Along the way you also learn about Covenants - even though the game does a piss poor job at fully explaining them - and their importance to the vision of the future.  The characters you save are believed to be connected to these Covenants.

What I Liked

✅ A LOT of animated, fully voiced cutscenes.  Long ones too.

✅ Some of the music is good.

✅ There's New Game + (although it's debatable whether you're going to want to play through a second time).

What I Didn't Like

👎 The game is quite buggy.  It took a bit to get it fully working - I actually wrote two guides with bug fixes on Steam.

👎 Story is inept.  It's like they tried to tell a grandiose story but ultimately, it just falls on its face.

👎 There are affection angles that come out of nowhere, poorly developed and not really fleshed out.

👎 The "big bad" turns out to be a popcorn fart, initially beating the tar out of you only later to get completely schooled and handled like it's nothing.  The real final boss is a minor plot twist based on aforementioned affection angle.

👎 The social events for building Soul Links are slightly entertaining, but only serve to allow you to go deeper into souls for your party.  Arrow is the only one who really matters in this regard - the others are for optional story building.

👎 The dungeons are just horrible.  I once said that Rogue Galaxy had the worst dungeons in gaming?  This game is FAR worse.  Linear, twisty tunnels of just boring, uninspired design.  One of them is arguably worse than the Chrysler Building (Parasite Eve).