Curtain Call
Dramatis Personae Games · 2022 · Dating Sim, Visual Novel, Interactive Fiction, LGBTQ+, Cute
PC
This game is free to play. Get it on Steam →
Screenshots
About Curtain Call
A wholesome, lighthearted visual novel where you play as a college student that meets students and helps them become their true selves. Who you are and the kinds of people you vibe with are completely up to you in this cute, choice-heavy experience.
We all have issues or insecurities that weigh us down. To fit in with the rest of the world, we hide them from others. But what if the best way to connect with people, while simultaneously overcoming these challenges, was to help each other through them?
"Curtain Call" is about discovering who we really are and sharing it with the world. Chill out with new friends in this low stakes, stress-free environment. At the same time, help them through their daily struggles so they can get the most out of life. It's an experience that's full of whimsical charm and emotional moments with a focus on engaging, relatable lived experiences. Combined with a unique day/night mechanic, trust meter, and locations system, the fun to be had in this college experience is completely up to you!
You have a gift: the ability to see the social masks people hide their real personalities behind. As you grow closer, they start to crack, eventually shattering to reveal the beautiful person underneath each one.
You've just arrived to college as a transfer student. Since many people made friends during freshman year, you're having a hard time socializing with others. Barely making it to the end of your first class, you find a seat next to JODIE (she/her, 20). She acknowledges your presence, but that's about it. It seems she has a tough shell, but you can tell that there's a softer person underneath it all. On the way out of class, you (literally) run into a frazzled ARJUN (he/him, 20) who is rushing to office hours. He seems sweet, though caught up in his own head. Finally, you make it back to your dorm, where you meet BILLIE (they/them, 21). They excitedly knock on your door to meet the new neighbor, talking at about 1,000 words per second. Its a lot to handle, but you can tell that they mean well and would be a ton of fun to hang out with.
The best part: on your first day, you've been invited to hang out by all three of them! What these interactions turn into depends on the choices you make. Any which way, you'll come out of this experience with meaningful relationships.
We all have issues or insecurities that weigh us down. To fit in with the rest of the world, we hide them from others. But what if the best way to connect with people, while simultaneously overcoming these challenges, was to help each other through them?
"Curtain Call" is about discovering who we really are and sharing it with the world. Chill out with new friends in this low stakes, stress-free environment. At the same time, help them through their daily struggles so they can get the most out of life. It's an experience that's full of whimsical charm and emotional moments with a focus on engaging, relatable lived experiences. Combined with a unique day/night mechanic, trust meter, and locations system, the fun to be had in this college experience is completely up to you!
- 5 different endings across 4 characters (including 1 secret ending/character).
- Replay to discover tons of branching narratives and unlock new art in the gallery menu. 6 save slots are available to make replayability a breeze. 1 to 1.5 hours per playthrough.
- Be your genuine self: choose your name/major and imagine yourself to be whatever gender, orientation, or personality you want. The main character has been designed for you to fill in.
- 3 distinct characters, with personalities ranging from infectious positivity to quirky social awkwardness. Some of them might even be open to something more romantic...
- Featuring a cast with relatable struggles, from dealing with academic burnout to trust issues from past bullying experiences.
- Build relationships using layered choices (how often/where/when to hang out with who) and conversation skills to improve your trust meter with characters. The higher it is, the closer you are to cracking through their mask.
- Novel gameplay mechanics: trust meter, day/night cycle, locations system.
- LGBTQ+, BIPOC representation included!
You have a gift: the ability to see the social masks people hide their real personalities behind. As you grow closer, they start to crack, eventually shattering to reveal the beautiful person underneath each one.You've just arrived to college as a transfer student. Since many people made friends during freshman year, you're having a hard time socializing with others. Barely making it to the end of your first class, you find a seat next to JODIE (she/her, 20). She acknowledges your presence, but that's about it. It seems she has a tough shell, but you can tell that there's a softer person underneath it all. On the way out of class, you (literally) run into a frazzled ARJUN (he/him, 20) who is rushing to office hours. He seems sweet, though caught up in his own head. Finally, you make it back to your dorm, where you meet BILLIE (they/them, 21). They excitedly knock on your door to meet the new neighbor, talking at about 1,000 words per second. Its a lot to handle, but you can tell that they mean well and would be a ton of fun to hang out with.
The best part: on your first day, you've been invited to hang out by all three of them! What these interactions turn into depends on the choices you make. Any which way, you'll come out of this experience with meaningful relationships.
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
This game/VN is terrible in technical standpoint - It has wrong labels, like whatever character says appears like commentary, what should be narration can be labelled as character's words. You cannot save at all times, only certain points. You cannot press Space or Enter to progress, you cannot make choices with arrows. You have to use mouse for all. Even then, your choice might get stuck. There are also too many meaningless options. Or why do I have to select and click only one option? That's dragging needlessly time. While concept is fine, I got used to some standards when it comes to VN games and this one does not meet them making it chore to play. Characters are not interesting enough. It's all about their vision of problems. Also, there is bug, when talking with person with mask, they can appear without mask, if you had to choose person from the location, because at that day they shared it. And there are typos.3 found this helpful
i wish this had an actual ending and didnt get all buggy when you start a new save file :(
Very pretty art style with a deep story for all the characters. It was very intriguing and nice to relax too
Only went with Jodie so far so i'll probably replay it in the future but yeah a fun small indie VN.
"Curtain Call" is not a game, it's an e-book that's been dumped on Steam masquerading as a game. As a visual/interactive novel, this doesn't feature any notable gameplay, it's just a lot of clicking through badly written dialogue that would never have been accepted or published in print, which poses the question, "How did something this badly written end up on Steam?". When someone hoping to become an author is unable to get published in print, they spend $100 and dump their high school fan-fiction onto Steam, under the guise of a game. While the typical "anime fantasy" theme is absent from this e-book, the high school anime club dropout fan-fiction writing is there in full force in this LGBTQIA+ friendly e-book about, you guessed it, the authors various girlfriends and boyfriends. Ugh. This time the author writes about all the imaginary people that date them at college, because they're really popular. Cringe. What's troubling here is the presence of a large number of fake/paid reviews from the Russian review farm uncovered by Sentinels of the Store. It's bad enough to write garbage fan-fictions about imaginary boyfriends, it's another thing entirely to pay Russians to writ…
Short, interesting, good character development. The only con of the game for me was that there wasn't really an "end." You get to know the characters, work them through the issues in their lives, and then it's just over. Other than that though, it's a calming, nice game.
Community reviews
—
0 reviews
Sign in to write a review.
No reviews yet. Be the first to review this game.
