I'm no reviewer, my grammar is atrocious but I had to get some thoughts down somewhere.

This game was in my wishlist for a quite a while. When it came out, the reviews for it were quite poor so I told myself I'd get it at a discount because I couldn't shake my interest in in it despite the poor critic/fan reception. Fast foward to 2023 where I played Master Detective Archives: Raincode and coined it to be one of my favourite games, if not my favouite this year. After that I decided to grab the Danganronpa Decedance collection because I loved Raincode, but Danganronpa? I hated it, it felt so immature and over the top with cliche' tropes, and that's coming from someone who enjoys fanservce-y games. The deaths in that game never shocked me, and never illicited any kind of emotion from me, because I just didn't care about anyone, or what happened to them because the characters are all so unlikeable. Anyway, i traded in that collection and I thought that the creator of Raincode simply was immature in their older works and questioned if Raincode was just a one hit wonder sort of deal, then Worlds end club went on sale again. I decided to completely ignore my better judgement and pick it up physically second hand. That was a mistake. It was a mistake not to buy it new and support this amazing and criminally underated game.

Let me get this straight. I love phycological horror, I love tragic and deeply disturbing stories about ones psyche, I even like pushing people to that point in fiction (see Needy streamer overload) and when the game started, I was sure that was what I was going to get, but it wasn't and I'm so glad it wasn't. What I got instead what a game that yanked on my heartstrings and pulled tears out of my eyes constantly. I hated these characters to start with, they were all a bunch of brats, and I can't stand children at the best of times, but as the game went on I warmed up to every single one of these dweebs, I love them all and I would give anything to be a part of their club, and you know what? I kinda was, I even found myself mimicking their little greeting at the tv, and I felt like an idiot, but I can't remember the time I've done something like that since I was a child. The character growth in this game is phenomenal, their stories, all the trauma that these guys have dealt with, I felt it with them, I just didn't expect this game to ellict so many emotions from me, and that is so funny when you think emotions are one of the key themes in this game. I was rooting for them all, I didn't want anything bad to happen to any one of them, which is far cry from the types of VN's I usually enjoy.

And the twists in the game? absolutely constant. I'm not very quick when it comes to catching on to things in media so it might be just me but everything that happened shocked me to my core and I never saw it coming, every time I thought I had grasped what was happening I was humbled with a slap in the face with a new reality. Rarely does a game make me want to keep playing like this one did, and I loved every moment of it.

It is just so wholesome, it made me feel like a kid again and it gave me hope that even if kids have to go through hell they can still keep that raw, pure positivity that is only ever found in children.

I quite liked the non-VN gameplay as well it was simple sure, and a little annoying at times but it helped me feel more connected to the world and the cast at the same time, I'd rather have it in then it be taken out. The music was banging as well, and now the go-getters theme will live rent free in my head for the rest of my life.

I'm temped to play this again right now, I found it to be that good. I'm so glad I didn't listen to reviews and made my own judgement, I like messed up VN's and this may have made me change my mind. That's not to say there isn't heavy themes in the game, but I have finished it feeling more soft inside than I though possible for a jaded 31 year old.

How anyone couldn't like this game is beyond me, would play a sequel/spiritual successor in a heartbeat I hope this IP isn't dead. So yeah, I love it, if you are even midly curious give it a chance!