Let's School Review (Solantis)
Let's School is such a well thought out game. I'm so obsessed with it. I literally sat here for 8+ hours. This is the kind of game I've been looking for for a long while!
The game has many layers and the difficulty is what keeps me rooted in my seat. It also rewards you pretty well, which gets addicting.
There's so many things to think about. From solving admission, staffing, architecture, and prioritization, to developing teachers, your technology, your facilities, and most importantly, having a great balancing act with money. Understanding the kind of students you will admit, disciplining them and investing in communities, which really has big changes for you in the game! There's also really rewarding moments for you... such as, rooting for your school team and having them win competitions!
It was also fun going on excursions trips, doing research, and writing letters to rival schools. I liked making sure the students have recreational play, but also making sure that the staff has a break room... and aren't so stressed! There were even mini games, from giving Halloween candy, finding a lost wallet to composing a song!
What I liked most was observing the teaching role as part of the strategy. I liked how the game defined a teacher not just by the ability to teach, but also through their managing or research skill. Seeing them gain their own certificates made it feel like they were developing like a person would. There's actually development in career options, which expands the strategy.
Since there's so many layers, there's many different kinds of problem solving that satisfy me.
There are many different kinds of success you can have as well! It doesn't have to be all academics. I really liked how meticulous you could be, right down to the uniform, which adds a lot to the roleplay! It really made me feel accountable for my school.
I was so annoyed by one of the other reviews on here saying that this was not fun to "micromanage"... I completely disagree. There are ways to optimize it so you don't have to "micromanage." If they wanted a simulator, they definitely got it with Let's School! I definitely didn't feel like this was too much-- it was all very well blended and the on-boarding tutorial was very helpful. (Maybe that person craved a simpler game?) But anyway, I really recommend this because of the layers of intricacy on what you can do in the school.
I really love the fact that I clearly see the developers working with the comments of the community and really improving the game with meaningful updates and patches. I've seen so many great scenarios I haven't even gotten to try! (I've only been playing for 2 days, but I literally couldn't stop.)
The only things I can say that's for improvement is:
- I wish that the old traditional Japanese school aesthetic wasn't a downgrade or earthquake prone in career mode! I felt I had to sacrifice the aesthetics I want in order to progress the game well.
- When we have the graduation picture, I feel weird with the chairs behind us while the kids sit on the floor really awkwardly. Perhaps it's preparing space for a full batch pic, but when you're starting out (and you always have to) it looks very awkward. I suggest an extra arrangement for smaller classes.
- Maybe I'm still in early game, but the speech drafts are pretty repetitive. (Though I did read that they expand with the auditorium.)
But anyway those are nitpicks, the game is great! Totally worth the price, and more, even! I hope you all sim lovers get to try it out :)
Thank you for the game!
P.S. I do have a very important question for the developers though, and that is... can the headmaster ever lose weight from all that moon cakes she ate? LOL