The Weekly Twitch Recap: July 15th

Welcome back to another edition of our weekly Twitch recap, where I give my thoughts on the game I played last week over on the VN Game Den Twitch channel. Last week, I played yet another Otome Jam entry. This time, I played the demo of Mary Sue Games’ Impolite Society!

Impolite Society (Prologue)

• Developer: Mary Sue Games
• Genre: Comedy, Drama, Historical, Otome, Regency, Romance
• Price: Free (Windows, Mac, and Linux on itch.io)

The game follows Isabelle, who after a failed engagement and the passing of her father, has happily spent her days inside her home at Dorset Park breaking the status quo. Well, that is, until reality comes crashing down on top of her. She receives a letter from her brother saying he’s been married and that he will be arriving within the coming months. Not only that, but Isabelle’s little sister Eleanor’s first season (a period in which it is customary for the elite to attend parties and such) is coming up. However, with Eleanor dealing with depression and Aunt Emmeline threatening to send her to an asylum, Isabelle must step up to the plate to help her little sister prepare for the world of “polite society.” Within that world are some eligible men who could sweep Isabelle off her feet and might have her reconsider her stance on marriage.

Although the game’s prologue is only 10,000 words long, the writer uses every single bit of text effectively. Within the first few minutes, I found myself completely engaged in the game’s story and was laughing out loud at the dialogue, which is a tough feat to accomplish.

For the most part, I loved the entire cast outside of Aunt Emmeline, who I will get into in a second. Isabelle and Eleanor—the main character and the main character’s little sister—are the two female characters most present in the demo, so they’re the most fleshed out. Isabelle is snarky and intelligent. She knows when someone is trying to get something out of her, meaning she’s used to the mind games that high society people play, which would explain why she prefers to stay indoors and away from those kinds of people. However, at the same time, she’s sympathetic to her friends. For example, Harry, who is of high standing, has a gambling problem and is in massive debt. The man proposes marrying her to get rid of his debt but says she’ll be free to do whatever she wants. She declines but says she’ll just give him the money instead, even though that may cause rumors.

Her sister Eleanor is also a snarky and happy-go-lucky kind of person. Or, at least, that’s what it seems like on the surface. It’s later revealed that Eleanor suffers from depression and would often stay in her bed, saying how she’ll never get better. It’s really sad and I just want to give the girl a hug. It gets worse when you have characters like Aunt Emmeline, who says awful things behind Eleanor’s back, which only makes things worse for the poor girl.

Speaking of her, I hated Aunt Emmeline; she’s a realistic product of the times. She doesn’t understand Eleanor or what she’s going through. So the easiest solution for Aunt Emmeline would be to send Eleanor off to an asylum rather than have to deal with her niece. Otherwise, she would have to reap the social repercussions of having a family member who has a mental illness. It’s terrible, but that’s high society for ya!

Moving on from Aunt Emmeline, let’s talk about the romance interests. Honestly? I love them all. There are four, although only three are present in the demo: Charles, Harry, and Parker. I love Harry the most, but Parker comes in a close second. The reason why I love Harry so much is that he has a great dynamic with Isabelle. They bounce off each other very well and he had me laughing the most, which is a good sign for any man out there.

My only suggestion to the developer would be to include a glossary, which they plan on doing! There is one line in particular that comes off a lot more suggestive than intended. But aside from that line, also just knowing what a season is and such would be excellent information to have in-game.

Overall, I absolutely loved Impolite Society! Everything about this game is pure perfection, from the art right down to the writing, which is always the biggest component for me. The full game is set to be released during this year’s SuNoFes!