Dramatical Murder (2012)

This game is just one big trigger warning.

SA isn't romance. Bad enough when SA is used as a plot point of convenience, but you're really coming here trying to make SA an okay thing in a relationship, huh? Gross doesn't begin to cover it.

Also, there's a full blown 2-ish minutes of flashing/warped images that are a huge seizure trigger at the end of Noiz's route that you can't skip or even get to move faster in any way shape or form. TBF, there are a many scenes with flashing lights or other potential triggering imagery, but at least those you can click through and get to pass by relatively fast. This is a loooong time and it's extremely intense, again, with no way to get through it.

before we get into it, a disclaimer: i have not and probably never will play the bad endings; i've been told many of them present sexual noncon situations and i personally have no interest in experiencing any of that. regardless, i consider the game finished on my end since i've played every intended fully-finished story for each of the characters.

the good

• high quality art style and some pretty nifty animations at times
• every romance choice feels apart from each other and characters have distinct personalities
• main plot is hinted upon throughout the non-main routes in interesting ways that keep you guessing at every turn
• final/main route has elements that i personally tend to enjoy a lot in fiction (body sharing, multiple personalities, multiple consciences, multiple selves), but ymmv on this one

the complicated

• mink's route... is kind of a mess. it's full of noncon, so be warned if you're reading this and ever decide to tackle it. however, i'm putting it in the complicated section due to the fact that his backstory becomes quite interesting the further you get into the route, and it might've become on of my favorites had it not also contained so many instances of violence and sexual assault.
• if you're like me, the extent of what you'd heard about this game before playing it was "aoba fucks the dog", and that likely put you off of it for years. thankfully i can now elaborate on this and maybe help other people decide whether to bother with dmmd or not! tagged for final route spoilers: if you want to be really precious about it, aoba does fuck the dog, but the "dog" is actually a manifestation of part of his subconscious (his ego as per jung's theory) which was split from him when he was younger and stored inside a mechanical pet. the "dog" also has a physical human form whenever the characters are inside a virtual reality, and this is where romantic and sexual things happen between him and the main character. basically i'd be more put off by aoba being attracted to a part of his own self than about him being attracted to a dog, since the former is what effectively happens, and if that's not your thing then it likely kills the magic.

the bad

• the intro is so, so fucking long. like persona level long. i might've given up getting through it had i not been playing with a friend tbh. it's just unnecessary and contains too many pointless scenes.
• aside from the main route, which is a bit more interesting and worthy of a decent sci-fi anime, the individual stories for each romance option are likely nothing you haven't seen before. i do still think they were fun to play through (particularly because i really like the main character and it was interesting to be inside his head), but don't expect anything mindblowing — just lots of regular blowing.

this game is effectively a solid 3.5 stars to me, and even though i'm not really into sexual content most of the time, i have no regrets about playing it. if you decide to pick it up as well and don't mind/are interested in the sex scenes (which are the only way to play the game's story in its fully finished state as of right now), don't forget to either purchase it directly from jast or apply the 18+ patch to the steam version. happy murdering!

Description from VNDB:

A time far in the future. In Midorijima, an island to the southwest of the Japanese islands. People and nature once coexisted on this plentiful island.

However, due to being purchased by the leading company of Japan "Toue Company", one third of the island has been changed into the extravagant amusement facility "Platinum Jail". Equipped with the latest cutting edge technology, Platinum Jail has gathered attention. On the other side, the islanders who became victims of forceful development are forced into the "Former Residents District", and have no choice but to carry out their lives in a place that is by no means prosperous.

The protagonist Aoba spends his days working part-time at the junk shop "Heibon" inside the Former Residents District, living together with his grandmother Tae.

Among the young people of the Former Residents District, a certain game has become popular. In "Liebstiez", teams are created and days of human-bullet turf wars unfold. On the other hand, "Rhyme" is an electronic brain online game using a virtual world as its setting which "Rhymers" are going crazy over. Aoba shows no interest in either one, thinking that it would be nice to just live peacefully with his grandmother.

But the disaster that will shake up those peaceful days has already begun...