Buy Backstage Pass

(Even though I got this game when it was in early access, I intentionally didn't start playing until it was finally out of early access so my review will be a reflection of that.)

Backstage Pass is a visual novel/simulation game where you take on the role of Sian Goodin, a young makeup artist entering university and wanting a quiet life. However, when an unexpected life event happens, Sian is forced to use her professional makeup skills to make it through the year. Backstage Pass plays as a visual novel so there are choices that reflect how characters will react, and there are simulation elements as well where doing certain tasks or jobs will increase skills and/or earn money. Money can be used to purchase clothing items and just items in general which can be used to increase affection with certain characters or help Sian improve her skills. Also, there are several locations to explore and, of course, many characters to interact with. While some characters do not have either friendship or romance paths, many others do, including the four main guys that you will notice right away when you access the Extras option on the main menu. In addition, there are paths where Sian doesn't have to be paired with any character, and these are various career paths, provided that the right conditions are met to get their various endings. Of course, as a visual novel, there are tons of CGs and lots of music tracks so there's definitely a lot in this game. I almost forgot but the characters are fully voiced as well, except for Sian (but her voice will be added in a later patch).

Now I'll move on to my opinion of this game. When I played it initially, I completed a couple of paths but I encountered a Steam achievement bug. Fortunately, the dev was very good in fixing the bug right away so I was able to get this achievement (as indicated by my 100% achievement completion of this game). Since then, I've found the game to be relatively bug free although some paths were more difficult to complete than others. Also, there were minor bugs such as when one event would occur for three weekends in a row or when a line wouldn't be voiced correctly. Despite these minor bugs, I found myself to enjoy Backstage Pass very much and I was invested in completing all of the paths to see what they were like. It's difficult for me to say which path would be my favorite but I'll name a few. I did like Matthew's (one of the main guys) paths as well as Alvin's and Nicole's paths (both of them being more minor characters but they become more prominent if Sian gets on their path). I even liked the professional paths, as Sian could still interact with various characters despite not becoming friends or romancing any of them.

Overall, I did enjoy Backstage Pass and I would totally recommend it for those who like visual novels and simulation games. It is a bit expensive for the price (even though I believe it would be worth it because there are so many paths to complete; however, if you're the kind of person who only plays one path, then it would be a little pricey) so waiting for a sale would be the best thing to do. Still, Backstage Pass is a fantastic game and I'm happy I had the chance to play it and see it through to completion. (Also, seeing all those extras added outside of the game itself makes it worth playing.) ^^

After playing most of the game, my impression of this game is that it is simple.

That is to say, that the story itself is rather simple and feels lacking much depth at times. The characters deal with some problems, but tend to get over them pretty easily and the dramatic element just doesn't feel there. Not to say that all games have to have a complicated story, but when playing a visual novel type game where the focus is the story, it feels a little lacking. There are stat management elements to it to break up the story, but those end up feeling like quite a chore, with week after week ending up being more of the same, struggling to keep fatigue low (since it can only go to 30 before it causes issues, but a single week will put it up above 20) and to keep earning money all while keeping your grades high enough.

I do like this game even though it is simple, just because I do tend to like 'slice-of-life' games and I also enjoy the setting, but people should not be expecting a riveting experience from this game. It's unfortunate, but the stat management elements make the game tiring so unlike many visual novels that I like to play all the routes one after another, I'm finding myself having to pause from playing the game after each route for a week or two. Even the solo routes still feel like more work than they should be since you still have to manage the fatigue, money, and your GPA.

Other than like ~7 main events with each main male (spaced over an entire year, so they are somewhat far between), the main interaction is just going on dates with them which have just a few lines of light dialogue that repeats and that's about it.

In my opinion, if you are looking for a school-life dating game, games like Tokimeki where you follow the main character for all 3 years of her high school and manage her many stats while having quite a variety of options for datable characters (9) and many unique date spots and events (such as museum exhibits, movies, etc) are what I would expect for $30.

I bought this game because I was watching Dodger's Let's Play of it on Youtube and found their videos to be entertaining and didn't want to wait for more of them before seeing where the story went. In the end, I'm a little disappointed with this game, especially for the cost.

Overall, the stat/fatigue system makes this game a bit annoying and I still want to finish all of the routes for sake of being a completionist, but I don't think this is a game that I will be returning to beyond that. It's a relatively fun game for what it is, but be aware of what you're getting.

This is an early access review, so my opinion will likely change once the game moves out of beta.

Having only played a couple routes so far, I'm quite excited for the finished product. Backstage Pass is your standard otome (girl main character) dating sim/visual novel; perform tasks to skill up attributes which open up options for you as you target each guy to romance. There's a little more to it than that, but for the most part that's the game. If that doesn't really sound like your thing, you may want to pass on this one.

Yes, the game is still littered with bugs, but those are being actively rooted out and squashed as the devs move through beta. If you can get past the issues, though, the game has a TON of promise. The artwork is beautiful, drawing inspiration from Japanese sources while adding a nice touch of western flavor, and some of the CG's are simply gorgeous. The UI is one of the better ones I've seen for this type of game, especially since there are some pretty horrendous ones out there; you'd be surprised at just how distracting a bad UI can be.

I've played quite a few translated Japanese language otoge before, and it always feels like something is slightly off with them (some more than others). Perhaps it's the cultural differences, but I find well written English Visual Novels to be a much easier/more enjoyable read, and Backstage Pass is no exception. The characters feel real with their own distinct personalities that somewhat fall into standard archetypes, but are more fleshed out and human than in other games. Our protagonist, Sian, is a believable young woman who has her faults but isn't a meek little lamb waiting for one of the guys to sweep her away. Outside of a lull in events further into the story (which is being addressed with some added scenes) the plot moves along nicely. The writing is fluffy - meet guy, become friends, fall in love, etc. I haven't come across anything that's overly dramatic or deep, but that's okay, sometimes I want a little less drama and a little more romance in my games. On a final note about the writing, I haven't come across any completely unbelievable situations nor have any of the characters done anything so stupidly groan worthy that I'm facepalming out of incredulity. These characters are written like human beings, and they are placed in believable situations that make sense for the story. That is a HUGE plus for me.

As a slower reader, each of the two routes I played took me between 3 to 4 hours to complete, and I didn't get the endings I was aiming for, so replaying to complete CGs and aiming for achievements will likely double the play time per route. I would estimate that with the 4 main romanceable guys and 3-4 hidden routes, total play time for completing everything in the game could easily bring you well over the 20 hour mark, especially once the voice overs are added which will slow down gameplay a bit. A completionist by nature, I can see myself logging at least that much play time into this game.

I realize there's a sentiment that the price of the game is too hefty for what it is, and to a certain extent I understand that complaint. However, Backstage Pass offers much more than your standard Renpy EVN, the quality is better, more CG's, and the overall high polish even in this state of development is evident compared to what most other genre games are offering with a $20+ price tag (and believe me, I've played some that I felt completely ripped me off, but that's totally not the case here). It plays smoother and is closer to what you might get out of a Japanese dating sim, which is pretty remarkable considering this game is made by a small group of dedicated fans.

If Backstage Pass were to be released finished in its current state, it would be better than 90% of the EVN out there right now, but the devs are determined to continue adding to and fleshing out the game. With full voice acting and additional hidden routes on the way (including a couple of yuri for those who are interested in them), Backstage Pass may very well become my favorite EVN. Keep an eye out for this one once it moves from Early Access to Official Release.

Honestly, I don't know what to say. It's a game of good quality but the waiting for the game to get past beta stage got me weary. I was honestly very enthusiastic, preordered the game the moment it was possible because I couldn't wait to see how the system worked.

I was dazzled by the pretty art and the GUI. However, I also noted the story didn't have enough backing to get past the famous RE:Alistair stage. Pretty art, short story and few small scenes. They share the same basis. But I feel like it lacks a little more story and dating considering this one is no freebie. This game should have more story line which is why I quickly told myself to replay it once it was complete... but then again, considering the last news our dear dev made, this is basically the storyline which I find a little lacking.

If all I'm waiting for right now is the voice, I can tell you I'm not going to play again.

Besides, I have been waiting for over a year now to see more of this and I am tired. I am very, very tired to see that the game is not finished.

Finally, I can date boys without having to leave my house.

The characters are interesting but frankly not that charming. The art is very good. The dialogue is okay. I looked up all the information I could on the internet, made all the right choices, and ended up alone at the end.

This game has been in Early Access for over a year now, with no updates to the game, and no word from the creators. Their "weekly updates" on their blog stopped in May 2014, and after that there are just a handful of tweets and tumbles about voice recording in April 2015. Frankly I would consider calling it abandoned: they've suckered $30 out of enough people in Early Access and their work is done.

This game does not feel at all like it would be worth $30 even after completion, much less at early access. Consider waiting until the alleged "release" before picking up this one.

Just viewing the trailer, it's easy to tell that the game is high quality and a step up from Sakevisual's old game Re:Alistair...but when I played it, Backstage Pass was way better than expected. The characters are lovely, the art is beautiful, and what I've heard of the voice acting so far is fantastic. Sian, the heroine, is also a very believable character who is better than most other vn/dating sim protagonists I've come across. There's also a huge amount of represenation of difference races, sexualities in this game and multiple characters with ranging disabilities.

My only complaint is that there may just be little too many possible endings. In my game, Sian and John were dating and I merely was half a heart away from having full hearts with him..and absolutely nothing happened in the end. It was a little disappointing since I wasn't sure where I had gone wrong and it's tough to find guides online.

It could be helpful for Sakevisual to include a walkthrough for each character online. I realize that many people enjoy finding out on their own, but if someone wants to unlock every CG and is just missing one or two they don't know how to get...an official walkthrough could be very beneficial.

So far I've played Backstage Pass for about 12-13 hours trying to get my hands on all the paths that are currently available. So far the only bugs I found was when Lloyd was going to meet Sian at Pho 24 to discuss what to do about Benito's magic production. The background was Sian's dorm room. Even though its not really a big scene, just thought I would point it out.

Now onto my real review. Personally, I LOVE this game. Sure it's a bit short now, but once the game is completed, it will be longer with more dialogue, more routes, and more endings. The game is actually really realistic. You're given many different types of people with many different types of personalities. Plus, the original soundtrack goes perfectly with every scene. Also, everything is set up nicely and runs pretty smoothly. The storyline is also pretty good, sometimes it can be a tad sad. Other times it just makes you wanna giggle.

I've played other otome, stat-raising, dating sims, and visual novels before. Backstage Pass has amazing originality, creativity and art. If you're wondering to buy this game or not, I recommend playing some free stat-raising/otome/dating sims before buying this game. A good free one is Re Alistair ++ (by Sakevisual). You can also play demos such as Always Remember Me, The Flower Shop: Winter in Fairbrook and more (both from from Winter Wolves). (EDIT!) I forgot! There is also another free amazing stat raising game you should try out. It's called 'Heartstring Bugs' and it's by Unbroken Hours. It's long, has 5 main guys and is over the course of 3 years. AND ITS FREE. ERMAHGERD. Go check it out! (End of edit. 6/14/14)

So far I've focused on Adam x2 and Benito x1. I'm going to start John and Matthew after I'm done writing this xD. But this game will truly come out to be something special. I can't wait for the voice acting to be done.MICAH SOLUSOD (voice of Soul Eater Evans from Soul Eater) WILL BE VOICING ADAM. I literally had a spazz attack when I first found out!!!... *cough cough* Ehem.

The price for the game is amazing at just $30 with all that's going to be included when the product is officially done. And replay is going to be high trying to get all the CG's, scenes, Steam achievements, Steam trading cards, items in game, unlocking new places to shop/hang out, and try any and all possible routes.

Right now my current rating for Backstage Pass is 8/10. Which is stunning because this is only the Beta version! I've played a few finished games, and their no where near as good as Backstage Pass. If you want to follow Sakevisual about new updates on the game, visit their official website weekly. You can also sign up for mail updates, follow them on Twitter, Like their page on Facebook, view their Tumblr and more xD

I wouldn't reccomend this game to anyone until the final verson of it is released. It's not very fun, the voices aren't complete, you need a guide before you can even begin to understand how to jump onto a character path. Honestly, I regret buying it. Worst part? Since buying it last year, I've heard nothing about the development, or any predictions on when the game will be released in it's full version. Stay away from this game, hold on to your money for something better.

I spent $100 making cupcakes. Gave one called The King, with banana cake batter, peanut butter, and bacon to a love interested. Turns out he was allergic to peanuts. 10/10