Psy High

I'm a fan of text base adventure games and i really like the game. the bad part is that you cant really save progress or save scum like you can in dashingdon games.

unexpected Veronica Mars reference 10/10 in my books

Psy High claims to be a CYOA game, but it's very railroaded and the vast majority of your choices feel like they don't matter. Unless you play like an idiot, you're going to get the good ending, which only varies by what you choose to do at the very end.

In addition, the story isn't super interesting—its stereotypical highschool tropes first, and supernatural mystery second. As someone who is many years out of high school (I apparently bought this game 8 years ago and never got around to playing it), I found this game felt targeted towards preteens who fantasize about a idyllic highschool experience.

Big disappointment. The premise is solid. Magic school detective sounds cool, but its just too short. Maybe if it was 3 or 4 times as long it would be worth buying. Its a shame i wanted to like it but, its just not worth it.

This game just seemed a bit half-baked. Also it ended up being an unintentional period piece of the early 2010's. not terrible, but not for me.

very good interactive game. Every choice changes the outcome and in the end I was a bit sad the game was so short. Otherwhise really great game

I would recommend it, but ONLY if you can get it for $1.50 or less, which would be far more reflective of the total content.

It's fun, a good story, and the choices felt impactful, but a complete playthrough takes less than an hour, so I can't say that it's worth the $3 sale price. I know there's supposed to be a lot of replay value due to all the choices, but I'm not the sort who likes picking what I consider 'bad' decisions... and with this, there was usually a single clear good choice and an array of obviously poor ones.

The game is too predictable; it's hard to enjoy a mystery to solve when the mystery is solved very early. It's a shame since the world itself is rather interesting and could have been so much more; as it is, I don't want to replay it to explore other plotlines since the story was boring after all. It could have been saved if the characters you meet were interesting but no, they're just walking stereotypes.

Overall this felt like it was written by someone who has left high school in the 90's and tries to relate to teenagers nowadays by watching high school musical.

I bought this because I like similar games and there is a part 2 coming soon also. The plot is "surviving high school where some of the kids have powers" including YOU. You get to choose your clothes, friends, and the things that interest you. Typical high school stuff. Not surprisingly, there are romance options: your best friend, a crush, and the party kid/drug crowd. The author tried to simulate a "teenage crush" with one romance option and unfortunately its thrown in your face so much I had no interest in that. But you still have a choice to ignore it at least. Although there are multiple pathways for replay ability, I found myself only liking one of them so I dont see myself replaying this. But each person is different. One thing I liked is the main plot. The first time I played I chose to destroy the plot and the game got to the end with a satisfactory ending, but informed me that I couldn't save the game for Part 2 because it assumes you did NOT destroy things in Part 2. Ok so I had to replay it again with deciding NOT to destroy so that I could have a saved game for Part 2. I was impressed that the author lets you play things out, even when your choices screw up the overall plot. In summary, fun game but replay potential varies by Reader's tastes.

I was seriously disappointed by this game. I played Heart of the House many, many times, and absolutely loved it. The ability to name your character, choose your sexuality, and mold your talents was something I'd never really experienced before, but fell in love with regardless. Psy High has these features, but not to the extent I was expecting; that, however, was not my main quarrel with the game. My main issue was the lack of character depth and development. Psy High, like Heart of the House, has romancable characters that your character can enter into a relationship with. However, Psy High's characters don't even feel like they exist. They're just descriptions of a person, as opposed to an actual character. Taylor/Tyler is a perfect example. Early on, it's revealed that your character has a major crush on Taylor/Tyler, however, the only reason I could find for this crush existing was the fact that your character found them beautiful/gorgeous/handsome. That's all well and good, I've no qualms with attractive fictional characters, but there is more to a person than their looks. They have a personality. They have flaws. They have interests. They have goals. They have paradigms and philosophies. Almost none of these are present in the romance options in Psy High, at least for the straight male route that I played, that is. Sure, Alison is well described, and your character has known them for a long time, but you still know next to nothing about her personality. Carla, is somewhat different though. Her character and personality was decently described, but rather unlikeable, if you ask me. Come on, Choice of Games, I know you're better than that. Heart of the House was absolutely enthralling. I spent way too much time on that game. But that's how good it was. Psy High doesn't even come remotely close to Heart of the House's level of quality.

TL;DR: Characters feel one-dimensional and lifeless. Romance almost feels impossible. Not worth the $3.89. If you want a good Choice of Games game, get Heart of the House.

I've been playing a lot of Choice of Games products lately and feel like this falls squarely in the middle of the pack. The story is a "coming of age" type set in a high school with you, as the main character, facing some basic and trope-heavy moral issues. There's charm to it and it gave enough opportunity to explore distinctly different moral alignments but I didn't play through it more than once to see what would happen if I did so. Reading through the other reviews, some seemed a little harsh. I do think this is a game suited for people who like shows like "Smallville" and are happy to stick in the straight middle between silly/hillarious and dark/edgy. My biggest criticism would be that I felt most of the side characters were a little hollow and didn't feel as attached to them as I have in other CoG games like Choice of Robots, Tin Star, and Ratings War.

Andrew is the best boyfriend. His confession towards the MC was so adorable that I fell inlove with him. It was so difficult when I had to replay the game again to get achievements because I couldn't be mean to Andrew.

Andrew, best character: 10/10

There is something I feel needs to be said about these, given the nature of some of the negative reviews. They are books. They are not games in the sense of playing with graphics and sound and such. CoG got its start on kindle, which is where I first found them, and since then, they have made quite the impressive library of chose your own adventure books in the style of old: Pure, immersive, branching narrative. If you like to read, and love a story that feels like you control it, then you will like Choice of Games in general (though some individual stories are duds.) but please understand that it takes a lot of work and effort to get a story that does allow this level of interactivity, and given the nature of the games, I think they generally do a tremendous job of it.

In addition, they tend to release a demo of the first few chapters, and sell each individual book at a very low price. I think that these games are a good buy, and enjoy them quite a bit. They have multiple authors, and each has their own unique style, so even if one of the game books does not catch your interest, download one of the other free demos, and don't let one of them being bad push you away from the company in general.

Everything was going nice until a scene kinda broke the whole experience.


I had just joined the Golden Crown Club, and my GF Taylor was happy about it. Then in the next scene she just walks up to me and says "Were done! I`m breaking up with you after THAT." Id didnt make any sense, and the game didnt said anything about "you were confuse about that" or "You didnt understand why that happend", it just went like "She broke up with you. Now what youre going to do?". Nothing against a break up (Oh it happend so many times IRL) but this is a crucial momment and it was poorly written. Ruined the experience for me.

Game says : "this is your crush, love her/him"
Me: "I don't give a fuck about her/him"
Game: "Sorry, that isn't an option."
...
What?

*edited to black out spoilers*

This story was short, predictable, and easy. Sad, because I liked a few other stories from Choice of Games and would usually want to replay them. But not this one.

First off, the characters' personalities barely had depth. No one was complex, which pretty much guaranteed my lack of attachments towards the characters. I didn't feel anything when making choices or reading because I couldn't relate to any of them. They were stereotypical to a fault.

There were also a few inconsistencies in the story. For example I was holding a job, yet the father of the protagonist said that he was the only one making money if the mom lost her job... and then the game suggested that I had too many things to do, so I had to drop something. I ended up dropping the job since it didn't seem like it had any real significance to the story. The cash I made didn't have any bearing to the game at all. What was the point of getting a job if it was barely acknowledged?

It also all just seemed so convenient to take down the villains, like how the protagonist just *happened* to find confidential tax information by doing some internet research, of all ways. Thing is, taxes aren't public unless the protagonist was some kind of elite hacker, but the game didn't make any mention of that. Also, students would not be normally suspicious about a teacher's salary and a nice house unless they had real reason to care or had it out for them. As for the villains, they barely had any chemistry at all. Their partnership was barely just a thread. People who commit tax fraud and brainwash people together would have a more familiar relationship, no?

Anyway this story has potential, but my impression is that it gave the bare minimum and it's still not complete. Even the endings could've been a bit more expanded upon to at least instill some satisfaction on the choices I've made, but it just lacked there.

Astonishingly poor. Very lazy and formulaic writing. While the author is mechanically literate and capable of basic plot planning, it reads like a condescending impassionate account of a middle aged person who is struggling with both remembering what those wacky tasteless dumb teenagers are supposed to be like and not falling asleep from the lack of any genuine interest in the subject matter. Needless to say, anything anyone might consider exciting about being a teenager is presented clinically at best. Often it's, again, condescending to a degree that is irksome even to someone who isn't a teenager anymore simply by the virtue of empathy. Which just makes you wonder who exactly was supposed to be the target audience of this work. Who is supposed to enjoy this oversimplified mockery of teenage life and why? I can only imagine perhaps pre-teens actually getting excited over this glimpse simply due to the fact that they're the only ones who might not know better and not realize just how hilariously fake it is.

There is very little to enjoy in this from any perspective. Every plot element is sterile, predictable and pragmatic. The way it's delivered it could as well have been about financial bookkeeping rather than magic, friendship or romance. There is no feeling to anything. There is absolutely no subtlety. Certain events and scenes are absurdly blunt and cheesy, serving as the only real source of amusement together with some silly action choices here and there. There is even a blatantly obvious self-insert character. I honestly don't know how much mindnumbing is necessary to be able to take any of this seriously. I certainly couldn't.

... And then I got an ending where my character ended up being a permanently confused mentally impaired couch potato incapable of coherent thought or perception. Which has left me with very strange feelings. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm all for depressing endings that punish me for acting unwisely, which I absolutely have, but if you try to match this to the rest of the game which is absolutely impossible to take seriously... it just doesn't work. You can't just make me respect your story in one swift vindictive move. I mean, this ending is actually the most, or rather the only daring unexpected plot device in the whole story and how dark and depressing it is only makes it even more absurd and hilarious. It doesn't help that it's possibly a punishment only for my very last action and it's hard to say with certainity if that's the case. It's really hard to describe just how out of place and how big of a mismatch in tone this feels, but I certainly found it noteworthy so there you go anyway.


So yeah. This simply won't do. I can't recommend this to anyone for any reason. Especially not to fans of Veronica Mars, from which this work... tries to... take inspiration... sort of. Unless you want to see what a fanfiction of a cool drama series would look like if it was in the accounting book genre.

Quirky, awesome branching of storylines, multiple endings, decent writing, and engaging.

Psy High is really quite fun if you grew up with Choose Your Own Adventure novels growing up (like myself). In terms of a text adventure, it doesn't compare being that progression through the story is more linear than an open world of TAs of old. BUT, the writing draws you in, the characters are believable and interactions are fun. I found myself wanting to boot up another game or two just to see what happens if I had chosen my path differently. Which by the looks of it, and knowing how these sort of "games" work; there seems to be a good amount of variability in story if you make different choices. I failed my first attempt, in the sense that I didn't get a perfectly happy ending. But because it was just a whole lot of fun reading the story and playing the game, I'm plesantly surprised to say this game gets my stamp of approval.

8/10

"Solve the case, save your school, find a date for prom!"
Anyone remember Heroes? Save the cheerleader, save the world? Well, this game is nothing like Heroes, but for sure its something unique that you will probably enjoy playing/reading. Its an interactive story, like Telltale's Walking Dead game, but with nothing but the texts. Dont think that this game is cheesy or superfluous just becouse of the high school theme, the story can be simple and easy to understand, but will you face tons of hard choices to make, and you can take various different paths through the game. It kinda reminds me of my teenage high school times, and you will probably relate the game to your memories. I highly reccomend addint this title to your collection, its very cheap and it will be worth your time.

A very nice game! Some of the situations are predictable, but it still manages to get you into the story and makes you think about your choices. Choose to be love-erveryone-good or drug-selling-bad and deal with the consequences of your choices.
It's not really expensive and I think it gives you enough playtime and fun for your money and more. You should really try picking it up!

This game is not perfect. In fact, its story is quite predictable. If you can put aside that the mystery isn't REALLY a mystery and more of a puzzle, then you will enjoy this game.

If you, like me, love watching arbitrary sliders go up for acting like a Lannister, you will enjoy this game. If you had a good, or at least not-awful time in High School, chances are you will enjoy this game.

It's not amazing, it doesn't have tons of depth. But it does have a lot of replayability, and the story it tells is interesting no matter what angle you come at it with, even if you want your Player Character to be a delinquent to a Model Citizen.

Just don't click fast. The one bug is that clicking fast will cause text to not show up, or skip a scene entirely.

Honestly, sell some trading cards and pick it up for change. You definately have worse ways to spend your time.