Machine Child

Machine Child is a raising sim visual novel that features a cast of cute daughters that readers are given the opportunity to dote on as they accompany them through a critical year of personal growth. The game, through its simplistic gameplay and easy-to-understand mechanics, offers a relaxing time should you give it a try. Although I find the narrative too segmented to properly appreciate its implied continuity, the mini-episodes that lead to any of the heroine’s seven possible endings were concise and weirdly emotional despite the very limited format in which the text is implemented. But for most of the game, the text feels too shallow in its progression that it’s a little bit hard to enjoy, despite the relatively interesting social dynamics it tries to discuss. ​When it comes to visual presentation, however, the game is well supplied with beautiful art from Ooyari Ashito housed within an adorable UI layout that just oozes cute. There’s also a healthy mix of fashionable and skimpy outfits for each heroine that are exciting yet equally frustrating to try to collect until completion. This pretty image does come at a cost, however, as many of the cute screen transitions related to the gameplay loop do artificially increase the length of every playthrough. It makes it a little bit unappealing to continuously replay, especially considering that missing items might be gated behind unpredictable RNG mechanics. ​If you like grindy raising sims that mainly revolve around cute girls doing cute things regardless of whether or not there’s an overarching storyline, then Machine Child might be a game for you. The in-game achievement list and available outfits make for a good challenge, whether it be to figure out the most efficient way to unlock everything or simply help you to stay sane as a minor mistake costs you your entire run. Just be careful about its lack of a save system; it’s pretty easy to lose hours of progress by misclicking important buttons. Not all button prompts are created equal, after all!