Don't Forget Our Esports Dream Reviews

A bitter-sweet story exploring twilight of Brood War era and struggles of two people trying to become pro-gamers in ever competitive South Korean reality. While I’m not a fan of VN genre, especially of kinetic variety (little to no choice whatsoever), I decided to buy it and give it a try since its predecessor (and chronological sequel) – SC2VN turned out to be a very pleasant and deep story. I had high hopes when I heard next instalment of the series is going commercial, I hoped for different paths, maybe some date sim elements, however authors, for better or worse, decided to stick to the same formula as before (not counting the minigame replacing decisions during actual matches). Don’t get me wrong, the story is still very engaging, however setting it as a prequel limited potential outcomes considerably and ended in kinetic writing. Music is ok, although I miss original SC music which I think was used in SC2VN. Oh, and don’t count on romancing in this game – while there are some hints or even open-ended scenes, nothing substantial will happen on that field, sorry. In the end DFOED was quite a trip with some real feels at the end although it’s a shame it didn’t live up to its true potential. I still recommend it and count on a sequel in a future – you won’t find anything like it on Steam.

Fun, interesting meditation on esports from the perspective of players. If you're currently competing in anything or did in the past, the intense feelings that arise from putting yourself on the line will be easy to feel in the characters. If you don't know anything about Starcraft (I didn't!), you might feel a little lost in the terminology occasionally, but it's insightful from a Fighting Game player's perspective to get a feeling for what skills must be honed in a completely different genre.

For people who were super into eSports when the scene was starting to really blossom, this will be a trip down the memory lane. For those who weren't, you will have a great "portal" to see how things were back then. As far as I can tell, this is a pretty accurate description of that environment and the types of stories that developed then. If you're into StarCraft, I think playing this is a must from an educational point of view; it really is super interesting.

A must play for every Esports fan! Story is engaging and the QTEs are a fun touch.

Too bad there's no such thing as "neutral reviews" on steam. Cuz unfortunately this VN is not as exciting as its predecessor. Although it offers some cool new features like QTE (in a visual novel, goddammit!) or the "star sense" dialog system, its plot and characters fall way back compared to those in SC2VN. First of all, I was looking forward to a sequel... but it turned out to be a PREQUEL! And I had to guess it by myself after approximately an hour of gameplay while this fact is nowhere to be stated in the description. It only says "The next chapter" - how can you not think about a sequel??? At first the plot was pretty good and intriguing. Alas, after a couple of hours it started to become a drag. The new characters just aren't good enough. It's sure nice to see Jett again, but even Bolt's story is pretty boring, while his mentor - Lock - is almost an empty character. Bolt's admiration and fear of him feels somewhat unnatural - like it's there only cuz the plot says so. "I miss the old roster with Stunt and Reva" - that's what I kept thinking while hoping to finish the game soon. Anyway, the game's not too bad. The gameplay and visuals are top notch. It's just the fact that I've been dying of boredom while forcing myself to play through the first half (which was tedious as fuck!) that bothers me. The second half is sure better as it offers at least some excitement. Although the whole first game was breathtaking. So if you still haven't played the SC2VN, then go ahead and do it instead of trying to dive into this "next-chapter-prequel". But if you've already done it and still want to give this one a try - just don't expect much.

This is more of a tentative Not Recommend, since there's a lot of good elements to this VN but they ultimately aren't brought together in a satisfying way. Don't Forget Our Esports Dream is a fun VN that serves as a prequel to SC2VN. The art is pretty, the UI looks snappy, I liked most of the character designs and dialogue, and the music was very good. As an aside, the minigame featured prominently while playing was also pretty fun. Despite this, I wasn't sold on the story. The protagonist, Bolt, is a pro-gamer trying to make it big in the South Korean Esports scene with help from his friend who he has "a latent crush" on, Jett. The premise is interesting, and I enjoyed playing SC2VN, so I figured I should give this game a shot. Unfortunately, the climb to the top story that made SC2VN so compelling did not translate well to the bigger scale of "Don't Forget Our Esports Dream." It seems like this VN tries to bite off more than it can chew. The plot deals with a pro-gamer's struggle to be the best, a hinted at but ultimately never-explored romance (for reasons that aren't really explained), and then tries to comment on issues ranging from the organizational mess that is international esports, female representation in gaming, the bureaucratic nature of esports in South Korea, and even the unhealthy amount of studying and CSAT prep that Korean students face. It's too much. The plot brings up these issues, has the characters discuss them, puts the issues to the side, and then suddenly realizes at the end that they need to resolve everything and just turns it into a massive infodump of dialogue between the two main characters. It felt like the story couldn't keep track of its own subplots, and it was a frustrating experience when things just ultimately weren't resolved beyond a simple 5 line conversation. If you enjoyed SC2VN I recommend playing this. Honestly, I'd probably recommend playing this even if you aren't familiar with SC2VN. But the ending and epilogue is frustratingly shallow and doesn't do the great premise of the VN justice.

I need to leave this here so I don't forget. This is it, the much awaited prequel to SC2VN. If you haven't read SC2VN, it's free and you can get it on steam. I strongly recommend it before this one as it sets the backdrop for a lot of things. I have a review for that game as well, but I won't steer you towards it. I have no intention of making this one as longwinded as that one was, but basically: it's worth it. Even if you've never played a day of Starcraft in your life, the game still manages to give you enough explanation and world building to involve every would-be reader. There is a great APM minigame that feels much more robust and engaging than the SC2VN "choose your answer", and can actually feel as engaging as trying to learn real Starcraft. And the Starsense system serves as a nice medium to read deeper into conversations and the reasonings that drive these characters. The writer has already done a lot of firefighting to remedy the inevitable typos and other errors that were present in the original script, as well as various bugs thanks to readers' attention and meticulous review on his part. You can tell the entire development team put a lot of love into it. What's left is a very polished product and a great legacy for English visual novels. This is a read that will probably span a spectrum of a couple days, but "short but sweet" doesn't even begin to do this work justice. If you care at all about e-sports, the struggles of competition, or are merely curious about the subject of Korean Starcraft and pro-gaming; this novel is for you.

Don't Forget Our Esports Dream is a sweet game and, actually, pretty deep. I wish it expanded on some of the events that were only hinted in the story, but keeping it more focused was a valid choice, too. I found the action portions exciting, even if the switches between action and VN sometimes caught me by surprise.

First thing's first - this is a prequel to SC2VN, which is short, free, and comes highly recommended if you ever took Starcraft the least bit seriously, or if you have a basic understanding of Starcraft and have ever competed in any esport. Don't Forget Our Esports Dream provides major insight into the backstory and motivations of some of its predecessor's characters, as well as some insight into a time when esports, as an industry, was still in its fledgling years outside of Korea. Bottom line up front: If you like SC2VN, you'll probably like this game. If you don't like SC2VN for reasons other than "Brood War was better," you probably won't like this game. As visual novels go, this one's also on the shorter end (though longer and broader in scope than its predecessor), but I mostly enjoyed the way it told its story, and there are only a few things that I felt would benefit from elaboration anyway. (Edit: my high playtime is from misinterpreting the "Asleep at the Wheel" achievement and leaving the game on for like 8 hours lol.) Pros: -The dev team took great pains to include some actual gameplay in this one, in the form of simulated production cycles, reaver micro, and 1-a-click-2-a-click-3-a-click-style army engagements. (With psionic storm hotkeys here and there, because you're playing as Bolt, the Protoss.) It's not the same as playing an RTS, but it does a great job of breaking up the monotony of a several-hour read. -The writing, for what it's worth, feels somehow authentic. I've lived in Korea before, and either someone on the writing team has too, or they have Korean contacts. The allusions to Korean daily life and history don't feel forced. The social pressure to get into a good school, for example - it's far heavier there than it is in the US. It goes without saying that the oldschool Brood War days are represented accurately, as well. -The story drops some Real Talk about esports here and there. It also managed to actually surprise me a few times. And the comic relief is mostly solid. (Didn't expect FGC memes about Smashers to pop up in a Brood War story.) -You don't actually NEED to understand Starcraft to understand this story. First and foremost, it's a story about what goes through the minds of people pursuing their passion at all costs. Cons: -If you played the original game, you kinda know how this prequel "ends" for its protagonist. And that makes it harder to stay attached to him at times. (Speaking of which, Mach is canonically a girl now? But, muh self-insert!) Minor complaint. -A few things felt like they could have been expanded upon. Again, this complaint is mostly minor, but some of the stuff I'd have liked to read more about is left to the player's imagination. -For the average person reading a VN about Starcraft, this is probably irrelevant. But I remember hearing about the codex feature being expanded on, and the initial idea for the battle system, and thinking that this game might address one of SC2VN's flaws - it might take the chance to indoctrinate newcomers into the complicated battlefield that serves as its backdrop early on, then allow them to apply that knowledge through the minigame sequences, so that they'd feel more invested and less out of place during match sequences. Using a few beginner/outsider perspectives, some of the surface level concepts and classic strategies do get covered, but there was potential for more.

As someone who had been following Starcraft since 2007 all the way until proleague got axed (rip), This vn really felt like a trip down memory lane. The guys at Team Eleven got everything right, the references, the dumb names, the gameplay. I don't know how accessible this vn is to people who weren't around to experience the old days, but as an OG, it really hits close to home. I'm very happy with my impulse purchase.