Love it. It's just a simple game with simple mechanics, and apart from the story, it looks really low-quality, but honestly idfc. The story is great, the gameplay is bearable and that's all that matters to me.
One of the biggest reasons for me to play this game despite its goofiness is because it's PORTRAIT MODE. I CAN PLAY ON MY PHONE WITHOUT BEING SUSPICIOUS WOOOOOOHOOOO ヾ(✿゚▽゚)ノ
Not only that, but the waiting time for loading and connecting is really low and although it only sounds like a small issue, to me it's a really big deal because if you have to wait 2 min at the loading screen before you can play your game (which is the case for like every other gacha game), it's really hard to stay motivated to play the game. SINoALICE is just genuinely more accessible and that's why I keep coming back to it.
The story is phenomenal, I mean it's gotta be when the LITERAL CREATOR is built into the plot. Although I must say that because I'm not good at Japanese I might have misunderstood and/or not understood some stuff, the majority of the playerbase I've seen seems to agree with me. The (skippable) story is bite-sized-ly scattered across the main stages, not too much to bother you, just enough to keep you going, though it seems pretty abstract at first glance.
The main gameplay is weirdly basic and boring and all, but I seem to have fallen in love with the minigame for stamina farming. Idk, I think it's just a me thing, but just know that in this game there's no way your stamina is gonna run out.
Now, I really love the character sprites' artstyle and it also really fits with the atmosphere. But the chibi art is where it starts to get goofy. I mean, just look at it.
...and I assure you, you don't wanna see the animations. The UI and the navigation through, idk, inventory and stuff are also kinda scuffed.
The worst part is probably the gameplay, as I have mentioned above, and here's why. You don't have to do a damn thing to win a round. The NPCs around you just do the job. And if you want to do at least one attack to get the third star in the level, you either get blocked because an NPC is already planning to kill the enemy or you just one-hit them. This should already be enough to see that the gameplay is not worth playing. But it's good enough for me.
Oh, and the gacha is confusing af.
...yeah, that's all there is to it. It's a visual novel in disguise plus some very accessible but boring gameplay and I love it.
So apparently people are complaining about Kakao games being an a****** for giving too few rewards and deleting 1-star reviews on play store and stuff but I'm not gonna talk about that.
This game is literally just pinball with anime characters but gacha. Exactly how you would expect it to be. But somehow a lot more fun than you would imagine.
The best way to sum up how the game is, quote from a play store review because I love it, "disgustingly fun" (I think). The gameplay hardly has anything more than classical pinball game and I didn't have high hopes for this game when I started it, yet I found myself spending more and more time playing the game.....'s download screen BEST DOWNLOAD SCREEN EVER OMG IT'S SO FUN AAHHH- ok jokes aside, I really like the download screen because it's...normal pinball. It kinda feels like you get to play a "lite" of the game while you wait for the download, which I find really unique but also like a way to practice before playing the game.
Then there's the actual gameplay, the "full version", where the "balls" are replaced with the characters and the things you have to hit to get points are enemies that can also hit back. Like I said, it feels boring, but it's actually unexpectedly fun. It feels like playing pinball but also not. Additionally, there's a skill system and an outburst system (idk how to describe the fever gauge) like in other gacha games.
The other aspects aren't really worth mentioning, they're pretty much just like any other gacha game. Oh, one more thing: the story sucks. Just don't. Trust me, it's not worth reading, and this is coming from a story geek.
So all in all: Either the game has some kind of charm I can't explain or I have a hidden liking for pinball. Either way, try this game out. Even if you won't enjoy the game, hey, at least now you have had the chance to experience a download screen that's actually doesn't bore you to death.
I have come to like this game very much, especially because of its extremely fun gameplay, which, I'd say, is the best part of the game.
Not only is the game a 3d anime hack 'n' slash game, which makes it stand out from most of the gacha games (the usual low-quality 2d turn-based), but it has a unique skill mechanic that could literally be a mobile game on it's own (totally not making fun of a certain mobile game ㄟ( ▔, ▔ )ㄏ). Aside from the auto-attacks, there's a mechanic called the "ping" system, where you basically get different "skill orbs" from time to time, lining up in a row on the screen. You can tap an orb to use the corresponding skill, but if there's three orbs together, it will trigger a stronger skill. Feels familiar now?
With the gameplay, of course, comes the graphics. I really like the combat animations, they look really flashy. Although I'm not a big fan of the art style, I still do like the characters' designs. The chibi figures of the characters in the dorm are really cute as well (=^▽^=).
Now, we can't forget that this game has a gacha system and is therefore, duh, a gacha game. And for every gacha game you probably want to ask this one question: Is it F2P-friendly?
Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: Yeeeeeeeeeeee- ok not funny. Seriously though, since I started playing the game, I've been solo-ing the game with the literal first character you get - the "worst" character according to tier lists. And I don't seem to be struggling at all?!
And even if you do want to gacha for another character, there's a path system to literally guarantee an A-rank character you want within the next 10 rolls. (not 100%, but 80% but tbh you have to be very unlucky to lose). The S-Ranks are a little harder to get, but luckily, there's a pity system that guarantees an S-Rank within 60 rolls. So I can say for sure that this game is very F2P-friendly.
A little more painful is the stamina =_=. If you play regularly, you get to play around 15 easy stages a day, which is ok for casual players like me, but it might not be enough for other players...? The reason I think that might be the case is because usually in gacha games, since I'm a really casual player, I usually just have like 10 times more stamina than the cap (1000/100). But in this game I actually used up all my stamina once! And no, this was not because the game was so amazing I played more than my usual amount (altough it is amazing).
I think other than that, there's not really something worth mentioning anymore. If there's an aspect I didn't mention in this review, then it means that it's "decent": not bad, but not outstanding.
That pretty much sums up my opinion on PGR. If you're tired of the usual turn-based gacha games like I am, I really recommend you to try this game out. (*^ω^*)
I first got this game recommended to me by my friend saying I should definitely try this out, and I must say, I do not regret playing this.
The main selling point of this game is, in my opinion, the music. The OST is really beautiful and really fits the cutscenes they're played in, making the scenes so much more captivating, although it's just pixel art. It also adds the fantasy-like atmosphere to the game.
The combat gameplay is decent, it's pretty basic and easy to understand. That's why it might be a little repetitive and boring for some people, but I, to my own surprise, quite enjoy it.
Outside of combat, you get to explore and find chests, which is one of my favorite aspects, I just love exploring and doing puzzles to get extra rewards. I also find it unique that technically, the stages are also like a second main lobby, and that you're actually staying in the world of the stages (the 'stages' are actually connected and are like another system like a tower or a world) when going into the next stage.
The bad part of the game would be the storyline...well, I can't really say it's bad, it's just not that good (imo). The story starts like any other RPG, during the stages the main story feels completely disintegrated and when there is some, it's as predictable as it can get, the villains have no personality, aren't given any reason to why they act like they do and we just kill them because they are villains. I might have exaggerated a little, but that's just how I felt reading the story. But well, nobody other than me reads the story of a game anyway lol
Personally, I don't care about gacha because I'm just a casual player, but I think others might. So I'll say something about that too:
The first thing worth noting is that the game has a built-in reroll mechanic. For the first time you roll, you get to reroll a maximum of 100-times for free. Within these 100 rolls, you can confirm a roll you think is good and get it as your 'first roll'. After you've confirmed, the 'first roll' is set, you ge the stuff and you have to invest to roll again, like other gacha. If the rates on the reroll-roll are the same as the normal gacha, then I gotta say it looks really painful wth.
Now there's probably still one question you want to ask: Is the game F2P-friendly?
Well...yesn't. To answer this question, I actually got myself to ONLY play with the characters that are guaranteed for every player/first ones you get and see how far I could go. I got stuck on a stage in chapter 2 (it wasn't even the boss battle), although my characters' levels far exceeded the recommended level. When I switched one of the characters to the UR character I got in the gacha however, the battle went like nothing happened. So, what we can conclude is that the game is a little meta-based, seeing how much of a difference a single character switch makes, but since there's the reroll mechanic, anyone should be able to have a good character.
Overall, I do think this game is enjoyable if you don't mind the gacha aspect (and the storyline but leths be honest, nobody cares). I hope you'll have a good time playing the game as well.
The graphics are ok.
The UI looks a little basic and outdated imo but that's not a huge issue. The character illustrations look great, the characters are more on the "cute/kawaii" side. In combat, they turn into decent looking 3D chibis, which I'm not a big fan of, but you might be.
The BGM is amazing.
The OSTs are mostly EDM/J-Pop, but there's also chill instrumental tracks. I can say for sure that this game has some of the best OSTs. The game isn't fully voiced, but the existing voice-overs are very good.
I haven't progressed much through the story, but from what I've seen, it's pretty enjoyable. You play as a teacher with, I should've guessed it, amnesia, you wake up in Kivotos, a futuristic city full of different academies and students, and now you have to help the city with it's various problems and cases.
The teacher is undoubtedly a pervert (like me hehehe), but hey! Unlike in other games, where the MC is just the typical "omg I have amnesia I'm so clueless I need plot armor QAQ", the MC has CHARACTER. The other characters we encounter in the story aren't uninteresting either, some of them (especially Aru omg ily aru) can be extremely funny as well. Lorewise, it has a LOT. You can literally deduce the backstory of BA with the name itself and the first two sentences. And I also heard that the story gets better later on...
Now, my main problem with this game is that the gameplay is extremely repetitive amd boring. Basically, the characters fight by themselves and you have no control over their position and movements whatsoever. The only thing you can do is use their respective skills, which deal extra damage, give buffs/debuffs or heals etc., but that's it. You could even say the game plays itself. That also causes the game to be very meta-based and the performance only depends on whether your characters are good or not. And since it's a gacha game, getting a good one might not be that easy...
Although the gameplay is so boring and repetitive, I still keep coming back to this game mainly because of its amazing soundtracks and immersive storyline.
Overall, if you don't mind auto-battling and appreciate good BGM and game stories, I think this game is worth giving a try.
Further topics:
Gacha:
Tbh I can't really say. I haven't done any gacha at all (except for the one they force you to do), so I can't tell if the rates are good or bad. But I do think that the game is pretty generous when it comes to gems (currency you use to gacha). Within the first 3 weeks of playing, I even got 50 rolls for free, even though I only play like 25 min per day.
Farming:
There's auto-farming for stages you've perfected. You click a button, and then you get the drops as if you were doing the stage again. So don't worry about investing too much time into farming.
Stamina:
I used to be worried about the stamina running out, but it's actually the opposite. For a while, I couldn't even get rid of the stamina I had (I was on 999 stamina which is the system max, it's impossible to get more). As for now I still have around 800. Let's see how it goes for the future...
SINoALICE | Japanese
4.0Love it. It's just a simple game with simple mechanics, and apart from the story, it looks really low-quality, but honestly idfc. The story is great, the gameplay is bearable and that's all that matters to me.
One of the biggest reasons for me to play this game despite its goofiness is because it's PORTRAIT MODE. I CAN PLAY ON MY PHONE WITHOUT BEING SUSPICIOUS WOOOOOOHOOOO ヾ(✿゚▽゚)ノ
Not only that, but the waiting time for loading and connecting is really low and although it only sounds like a small issue, to me it's a really big deal because if you have to wait 2 min at the loading screen before you can play your game (which is the case for like every other gacha game), it's really hard to stay motivated to play the game. SINoALICE is just genuinely more accessible and that's why I keep coming back to it.
The story is phenomenal, I mean it's gotta be when the LITERAL CREATOR is built into the plot. Although I must say that because I'm not good at Japanese I might have misunderstood and/or not understood some stuff, the majority of the playerbase I've seen seems to agree with me. The (skippable) story is bite-sized-ly scattered across the main stages, not too much to bother you, just enough to keep you going, though it seems pretty abstract at first glance.
The main gameplay is weirdly basic and boring and all, but I seem to have fallen in love with the minigame for stamina farming. Idk, I think it's just a me thing, but just know that in this game there's no way your stamina is gonna run out.
Now, I really love the character sprites' artstyle and it also really fits with the atmosphere. But the chibi art is where it starts to get goofy. I mean, just look at it.
...and I assure you, you don't wanna see the animations. The UI and the navigation through, idk, inventory and stuff are also kinda scuffed.
The worst part is probably the gameplay, as I have mentioned above, and here's why. You don't have to do a damn thing to win a round. The NPCs around you just do the job. And if you want to do at least one attack to get the third star in the level, you either get blocked because an NPC is already planning to kill the enemy or you just one-hit them. This should already be enough to see that the gameplay is not worth playing. But it's good enough for me.
Oh, and the gacha is confusing af.
...yeah, that's all there is to it. It's a visual novel in disguise plus some very accessible but boring gameplay and I love it.