Half visible novel, half sports activities administration sport, Curler Drama has lots of enjoyable and fascinating concepts at its basis. Sadly, only a few of the ideas are executed to their full potential.
Visually, the sport begins brilliantly. It has a definite artwork fashion that fits the subject of the sport. The character designs all have lots of character to them, providing a variation of physique shapes, backgrounds and aesthetic kinds throughout the crew. Every character appears to be like equally highly effective of their triumphant poses, and convincingly dejected after they lose a match. The settings across the character have a enjoyable cartoony fashion, complimented by funky music.
Curler Drama begins with a light-hearted warning that you simply’re more likely to come throughout some darkish humour on this sport. This prepares you solely a little bit bit for the form of story that awaits you.
The gameplay principally takes the type of a visible novel. You play because the coach of the curler derby crew, dwelling in an enormous shared home with the women on the crew. You start by exploring the home and checking in on every of them, attending to know a little bit bit about them, and constructing the beginnings of your relationship. Each interplay you might have contributes to your connection to the crew as a complete and to every woman individually. You may as well generate connections between the women by successfully facilitating their bonds as pals.
The story is punctuated by curler derby matches in opposition to different native groups. You start on the backside of the leaderboard and work your approach up with every match you win.
These minigames require you to strategise, however don’t really feel totally realised. There are alternatives so that you can inform the women how a lot power to make use of, instruct them in particular strikes and to make use of boosts that you simply accumulate all through the narrative. However the precise gameplay doesn’t have the velocity and aggression you’d anticipate for a sport designed to emulate curler derby. As an alternative, the motion feels gradual and clunky. The birds-eye view of the match removes you from the motion, and never in a approach that essentially places you within the footwear of the coach.
Between every spherical, you select phrases of encouragement to inspire the women. That is in regards to the extent of the sports activities administration factor of the sport, and the choices for what you may say are the identical each time. You’ll be able to combine and match completely different approaches, however except you’re enjoying a wildly inconsistent character, you’ll probably use the identical ones rather a lot.
Equally, after the matches, you host a debrief again on the home. Right here, your dialogue choices are the identical each time. Some dynamic choices right here which are generated by the alternatives you’ve made earlier than within the story would make this factor simpler. Notably as different options of sports activities administration video games (comparable to managing your crew’s coaching, weight-reduction plan, journey, and so on.) don’t think about a lot in any respect.
The chapters between every match make for one more side of the sport that’s constructed on nice concepts below the floor however feels incomplete. The chapters appear distant from one another, and introduce parts of the world that don’t fairly match collectively.
They tease a way more fascinating story than you’re concerned in, together with supernatural parts in a mysterious dystopian world that takes a again seat to the curler derby minigames. Quite a lot of probably the most thrilling motion – together with stealing from law enforcement officials and conducting a jailbreak – occurs off-screen. You navigate the dialogue required to plan the heist after which the following dialog after a match is about the way it went off and not using a hitch. It feels such as you’re lacking out on the perfect bits.
The actual disgrace is that I actually like this idea. The concept that there are thrilling, terrifying, exhilarating issues taking place on the planet round you, however that your precedence is your sports activities sport, feels prefer it could possibly be actually enjoyable and will even provide penetrating social commentary. The story is pieced collectively out of clues you choose up by yourself whilst you’re busy coaching for a match. However for that to be actually efficient, it will require the narrative and the sports activities factor to gel much more easily than they do in Curler Drama.
Quite a lot of creativeness, humour and creativity has gone into the idea behind this sport. Sadly, I don’t assume the ultimate product lives as much as that potential. I really like the varied characters named after Shakespearean heroines, however I need to really feel a lot extra concerned of their story than this sport permits.
