Highway Blossoms: Next Exit DLC

Easy recommendation. If you liked Tess from the main story then you'll definitely enjoy this one. It's well worth it. More wholesome moments are always welcome! Poor Tess 💜

I was looking forward to this DLC. It was in my top 3 awaited releases for the year. I couldn't wait to return to this world. Why, then, did I only finish the DLC today? Two words: Tonal Shift. The majority of the DLC focuses on a character outside of the OTP, and the focus is both heavy, and tonally jarring if one is expecting the same feel-good experience of the original story. The first few times I sat down to marathon this, I was looking for that feel-good experience. Not finding it, I put it back down. Then it hit me... I was expecting the writers to stagnate: to deliver more of the same. To offer little-to-no character development. To keep our girls happily bouncing along like nothing ever changes. Instead, they've taken the opportunity to actually write something meaningful. To push the characters forward. To bring even more life to this universe. I'm thankful the writers care as much about this world as I do...and I'm definitely here for wherever they go next.

Next Exit does the best thing a sequel can do: it uses the ideas, characters, and relationships from the original work as a starting point to tell a different story, without sacrificing what was good about the original. In this case, it builds on the fun yet believable cast of characters while keeping things grounded in a very authentic American setting, and it asks, "what happens next?" The answers it finds are worth reading. Without spoiling, the subject matter is pretty serious, and I began to get worried that it would become painful to read, but thankfully the story balances out those bits with some silly fun, and keeps things short and sweet, so it never quite reaches that point. The art and music are still charming and the overall presentation is more polished than ever. A job well done and an inspiration!

[h1]While they did an most perfect job on the original story, they somehow made this one even better~[/h1] [b]Some minor spoilers in this review, proceed at your own risk!!![/b] [h1]So what's this story about then?[/h1] In this dlc, Highway Blossoms: Next Exit, Amber and Marina travels back to Las Vegas to visit an Alien themed convention and meet up with Tess, Joe and Mariah for a special occassion. They'll also happen to encounter Cassi again and new problems puts Ambers and Marinas relationship on thin ice. Instead of just reading from Ambers perspective you'll also get to read from Marina (Oh goodness, her thinking is just way too cute!) and the trio and at certain points you can choose to read it from either Ambers or Marina perspective, even more reason to read the story twice, wooo! There'll also be a lot more focus on the trio to get to know them better and about their problems, with a mostly stronger focus on Tess (omigosh she's just so so very adorable, SO ADORABLE!!!) making her much less of just a background character then before. [h1]So what does little me think of this?[/h1] It's perfect, simply breathtakingly amazing, there's not a single word, part or scene of the story that I don't love nor recommend. I found it very wonderful to be able to read it from the other characters perspective too, gives you a whole new way to see everything at. Having a bigger and deeper focus on every one was a giant plus as well, Tess really deserved some more screen time and some CGs of her own. Now you can easily see just how cute she really is! The new CGs are beyond gorgeous with an amazing depth of details, they really outdid themself at that! More cute and fun expressions for every one made it even better too. Amber with a :3 expression and Marina's math scenes is a sight to behold. The perfect balance between fun, tear dropping and sweet scenes was as great as always, you get to see Marinas and Ambers love blossom even better and there's even some touching moment among the Trio too, now that's so wonderful! [hr][/hr] If you actually read all that you can surely guess just how much I recommend this dlc by now. I give it a full score, not a single thing to mark as negative nor not recommend. Buy it, even without a sale you won't regret it, it's a must to read. 💜 [spoiler]The Marina and Tess scenes is just the cutest ever, it's dangerously cute!!! 💜💜💜💜💜[/spoiler]

Listen, I wanted to like this game, especially because I paid $8 on it. But I didn't. I am convinced all the positive reviews didn't actually play the game, and the first one that appears as I am typing this received the product for free but convinces everyone else to pay "for everything." Note: I am a woman, who loves women, and find the relationship between Amber and Marina not to be healthy in the slightest. The pros: - I do find that expanding on Tess' depression that was apparent in the original game was interesting - Having Marina have more of a voice was wonderful as I was sick of listening to Amber's shit - Cassi is a cool character The cons: - Despite having some Marina insight, it is pretty focused on Amber's voice still, unless we are in the sections that talk about "The Trio" (Joe, Mariah, and Tess). - There were SO MANY TYPOS AND MISTAKES. The original game had them too, but it was much more apparent in this DLC. - The worst offender for a mistake was when it was supposed to be Marina's POV, and then after one minute, they switch to Amber's POV without acknowledging it was her POV. - A minor offender, but an annoying one: The Rainforest Cafe is not in the MGM Casino anymore. - Amber is borderline abusive to Marina, wondering why she gave money to her family and talks to them? Like girl. - The fight that happens, the whole buildup, it lasted 5 minutes. I don't like people fighting but they made this a much bigger deal with lackluster results. - The creators didn't seem to know how to end things or expand on stuff because every storyline seemed to end flatly. Another negative review (the only one at the time of this one) mentioned something similar. - Marina's inner thoughts just kept ragging on Amber yet she says she loves her. Like girl, that isn't love. Comparing her to the shitty Mariah means you need to RUN. - Mariah's viewpoint was terrible and I am not just saying that as an avid Mariah hater. Also, Mariah needs to be in jail and the only reason she's not is because of white privilege. - Amber was so fucking stupid and didn't learn from her mistakes. - Amber clearly wants to bone the other girl, Cassi. Marina kept saying that she wasn't upset about Cassi but she clearly was. - The game ends thinking we should support this relationship but we really, really shouldn't. I kind of thought this at the end of the original game after Amber lied about orgasming but I thought things would be different in this game. Nope, they really aren't. Overall, don't waste your time unless this game is like, $3 and you have nothing else to do.

[h1]The Adorkable Lesbians Return to Vegas…[/h1] but it is honestly Tess’ plotline that is the star of this DLC, and is in the top of my visual novels list because of it. I will go further into that when I discuss the different story and character elements bellow. Overall, much like the main game, it is a treat for those that like adorable romance stories with great music, cute anime characters with fitting voices and over the top expressions, and love to have those things combined in a relaxing linear format. This time you get to follow from the perspectives of multiple beloved characters from the first game, rather than just the protagonist all throughout. The game does have some interaction in letting you experience few sections from either Amber or Marina’s perspective… but just pick Marina. Because there aren’t really any “game” elements, most of the review will be in spoiler tags, as I will go into characters, story, and themes. [h2]The not quite so good Elements[/h2] [spoiler]First of all the [b]“chose Amber or Marina” choices[/b]. Setting aside the fact that it is most likely done for replay value, and just leads to you skipping through the game to see the stuff you missed the first time, it feels weird to have that stuff in a game with a set outcome, no influence on the story, and you through the majority of it switch back and forth anyway. It isn’t like you are in doubt about any of the characters motivations or where they miscommunicate. It literally just means there ends up being a worse option to pick, like with the first choice, Marina is clearly the better option and sadly the one I didn’t chose the first time, since hers gives the most foreshadowing and it makes a joke with the trio make sense, since you kinda miss the setup otherwise… [/spoiler] [spoiler][b]Amber and Marina’s plotline.[/b] I am not saying it was bad, because they are still cute and adorkable and all, and they act very much in character… In fact, they have had some positive growth from the first game, but why did we have to add some pseudo-jealousy stuff in there. It doesn’t go full love triangle, but close enough… the underlining theme of treating your girlfriend like an equal, and being afraid to ask for respect due to fears of driving the other away are both good themes, but with a third character caught in the middle. It just made me dread any section with Cassi in it, which is a shame because she’s a kind and well-meaning character, even if a bit boring, but I just disliked how Amber and Marina acted around her. And I was way more invested in Tess’ conflict, so basically just ended up being like GO MEET UP WITH TESS! DITCH AMBER, LET HER BE CRAPPY GIRLFRIEND OF THE MONTH AND GO HANG OUT WITH THE POOR GIRL![/spoiler] [h2]And the parts that deserve warm Mare Bear hugs[/h2] [spoiler][b]Tess[/b]… just… yeah, her entire plotline, and struggles through this story was damn good. There’s a lot of stories about being sad, and that it is okay to feel sad. But how about when you just feel broken inside? Not because of an event or any singular trauma you’ve experienced, but you just have too much trouble relating to certain people, or you never feel what you are supposed to feel when you feel it? Even to the point when you are unsure if you are at all capable of feeling the emotions in the way you are supposed to? She’s such a weird kid, and I find her to be incredibly relatable about her. And I was happy about every moment that I got with her, and the conclusion was satisfying and warm in its own way. ‘Next Exit’ on its own would probably be my favorite visual novel of all time if this was the main plot and Amber and Marina’s were exchanged for some filler fluff.[/spoiler] [spoiler][b]Our cuties have grown[/b] Obviously they still have their personalities, which leads to the same character strengths and weaknesses, from the first game, but they have toned them down just slightly to keep them in their adorable range. So Marina is still overly positive, excitable, and warm, but it comes off as less… oblivious than it did with forgiving someone instantly for chopping up her brother’s car. And if anything, she feels more like a warm child-like young adult or playful mamma bear type, who just happens to have a massive sweet tooth. If anything it kinda feels like Amber is the one that needs to do some growing up, because she doesn’t know how to treat her girlfriend like an equal, but compared to what she did near the climax of the first one, she doesn’t have her head nearly as far up her own… well, she’s working on her issues and not being so much a self-hating cynic.[/spoiler] [spoiler]Keeping up the high quality of beautiful background, fun dialogue, and adorkable over the top expressions at appropriate times keeps a journey full of emotions, from the joy, the cuteness, the creepiness, to the sadness on behalf of what poor Tess.[/spoiler]

The writing is on about the same level as the original story, but it tends to hit different because the focus is less on Amber and more on everyone else this time. Amber's arc of personal development hasn't concluded yet, but this time around we get more of a glimpse into the perspectives of people like Marina and Tess who were a bit more opaque before. The expansion of Cassi's character is a welcome addition and helps the narrative flow in new directions (The original cast of five characters was a teensy bit anemic, even if it was used very well). Music, expressive sprites, and beautiful CGs are still used to great effect to set the tone and help you dive into the plot. Given the shorter length the DLC's story, I'd actually say you get a higher density of unique and interesting moments overall. It is a *little* buggy and unpolished, however; there are more typos than in the original story, and I encountered at least one instance of the game failing to retrieve a scene (this was pretty easily remedied, however). None of it is really deal-breaking, though, and I'd still give the DLC high marks when taken all together. Of course, if you liked Highway Blossoms, you'll probably already be interested in playing Next Exit; still, for those of you who for whatever reason are on the fence, I can personally say that I recommend checking it out. It's more of what you love while still being fresh enough to feel like a worthy new installment to the story.

This is merely a review of the Next Exit expansion content. The base game content is reviewed [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/Ceaseless_Duality/recommended/451760/] here [/url]. [u]Information[/u] [list][*] About 3 hours long. [*] Covers relationship problems between Amber and Marina. Addresses Tess's depression and Mariah's secret worries. [*] Gives all the characters full names. [*] Read from different perspectives: Amber, Marina, & Mariah's group. [*] Cassi (candy shop lady) returns with a larger part. [*] Several CGs added.[/list] I liked it! Very emotional and well-written. It's definitely a nice addition to the base game. I feel like $10 is a bit much, but that might be because the CGs are just that damn good. Art isn't cheap.

Good God i Have been waiting a while for this. I binged the whole thing and all the points of views in less than 4-5 hours of time and it did not disappoint at all. The brilliantly written and voiced characters are just like the base game as before. Spending more time with Cassi was nice but the main point of focus is on the relationships between the 3 stooges (Tess,Joseph,Mariah) and the 2 love birds (Amber,Marina). If there is anything specific to praise. The conversation which Tess and Joseph have about being happy is the best conversation in the DLC. Overall I can certainly say it was MORE than worth it and I Hope to god this encourages them to make a Proper sequel and or more DLC in the future. (Just hope it doesn't take another 2 years before then, but a man can dream) Abetery Score that means absolutely nothing 9/10 (Because nothing is perfect)

Well what can I say Highway Blossoms will always be one of my favorites. The way the devs are able to get the feelings of the characters across is something I rarely get to enjoy. You also get to see the ups and downs of the relationship between Amber and Marina, rather than everything being perfect all the time. Its nice to see their anxieties and jealousy, it makes this so much more real. I also have to say that the Voice Acting is amazing as always. English Voice Acting in VNs is rare as it is, but here it is also just really good and the Voice Actors really are able to get the feelings across pretty good. I also really love the art in both the backgrounds and the sprites. Plus the Music always fits nicely. Storywise this is also a nice addition, but it really is just some additional extra content rather than like a real sequel or anything. If you liked the main game and want to see more of the characters however than I can easily recommend checking this out. Only slight sad part is that there is no extra adult content in this dlc :c and only one kissing scene. Check out my Curator Page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34401214/