[Review] My Time With Dee Dee (Pc/Mac)
As you all know I am a big fan of visual novels. Recently I was given the opportunity to review “My Time with Dee Dee” a visual novel created by Matthew Sainsbury, founder of digitallydownloaded.net
Recently we recorded an episode with Matt, focusing on the creation of the game and the reason of its existence, so if that’s something you’d be interested in , stick around for that.
The visual novel introduces Dee Dee, a bubbly college student who is also a proper sweetheart. She is paired with you for a film studies project.
Dee Dee herself is actually the mascot for digitally downloaded, her name coming from the initials of the website D.D. , this blew my mind when I realised this, made me feel like an idiot for not noticing it sooner.
Personally for me it’s great seeing her being brought to life , with a great personality and a beautiful voice. (I especially like it when Dee Dee says f*ck off). Usually Dee Dee is used as a poster girl for digitally downloaded , being used to promote the podcast or reviews on the website. Her voice is spot on I must say her voice actor did a cracking job, she sounds just as I would of imagined.
As gameplay goes , this game isn’t very special, it’s a basic visual novel with 4 endings that can be easily completed in 2-6 hours. There is no difficultly as such which is no be expected for a visual novel , however there is no additional gameplay elements that we’ve seen in other visual novel type games such as VA-11 HALL-A , or anime visual novels like Toradora or Oreimo.
However what this game has is a truly complex and compelling story that will leave you wanting more , eagerly waiting for the next volume in the series.
More importantly the game has decent PLOT, in both the literally sense and in terms of fan service. There are times in the VN where you are given fan service uncensored making this game unsuitable for players under the age of 18. There are some scenes that may make some players uncomfortable, honestly at first I was a little bit, not because of the content but because I was caught off guard.
But upon replaying the game to get all the endings, that feeling went away as I started to treat the game as an Eroge with its partial nudity and erotic themes.
That being said the erotic content is tasteful fitting in with the theme and story of the game. After speaking with Matt, it was revealed that future entries may not have this level of sexualisation.
I don’t want to spoil the game for anyone but honestly the endings took me for a ride, some endings felt very abrupt but not in a rushed way, more like a lack of build up that caused the ending to be more dramatic akin to how the film “Joker” dealt with murder/dramatic scenes.
Of course this being a visual novel , you are bound to have your cheesy endings , but to me none of the endings were structured traditionally, there was no true , good or bad endings. Maybe this was done in an attempt to Continue the story from any point in a future instalment.
Let’s discuss the artwork , it’s simple but fantastic , the backgrounds aren’t too detailed but it works in the game’s favour , as it allows Dee Dee to be more noticeable. As great as the character art is , the CG’s are few but are simply superb. Especially the elevator CG, I’m looking forward to what we will get in the next instalment.
So here is the verdict , honestly this indie VN is up there with the best and if it wasn’t for Va11 HALL-A , this would be my favourite VN of all time. I feel that everyone should give this visual novel a go , especially those who are new to this style of game.
You can buy My Time With Dee Dee here , or Join Matt's Patreon Page for $1 a month to get new additions to the series at no extra cost