Description:
You are Minoru Sasazuka, a would-be college student. You and your family go on a ski trip for the winter holidays. But when you get to the lodge, your parents suddenly announce that this is their second honeymoon and promptly lock themselves up in their room. Left to your own devices, you join your younger sister Honami and next-door neighbors Kyoka and Keika on the slopes. But something about the lodge and the snowy landscape strikes you... unknown to you, memories buried deep inside your mind are now trying to surface. To top it off, a mysterious voice seems to call out to you when you're alone. What is the secret of the lodge and its inhabitants? And how does it connect to you? You just have to find out before your 5-day vacation is over.

Review:
Set amidst an enchanting winter wonderland, Snow Drop can be likened to a beautifully written romance novel. The moment I started playing I was captivated by the gorgeous artwork and intriguing plot. Since it is based on a popular Japanese Snow Lady legend, supernatural elements are also woven into the storyline.

Snow Drop features multiple endings, depending on the paths you take and choices you make. I sincerely doubt you could get any of the real endings on your first run (if you play bad enough you can actually finish the game without ever seeing anything erotic). Not to worry though -- re-playing is a breeze as you can save anywhere and use the fast-forward feature. Fast-forwarding skips dialogues and other background text you don't want to read, taking you directly to the next decision-making part. This feature actually makes Snow Drop playable for people with short attention spans, or for the hormonal set who just want to see erotic scenes faster than you can say "voila!". I recommend reading through the game at least once though as not to waste such a great story.

The game interface is user-friendly and the texts are easy on the eyes. There are also a lot of neat in-game extras such as event collection, CG collection, and sound collection. Once you access certain scenes, they are recorded on the event and CG collection so you can get an eyeful (or earful) whenever you please. The original Japanese voices have also been retained, which makes the overall experience similar to watching a subtitled anime. You can toggle the voices on or off, but personally I liked keeping them on. The lovely theme songs are also worth mentioning.

For all its good points though, Snow Drop is not without its shortcomings. For one thing, the game is very short. You can get most of the endings and CGs in a few hours. Those who are used to a more in-depth style of PC or console gaming may feel a bit short-changed. Snow Drop is also a "click and click" game, as most English bishoujo game releases are. Game interaction is limited to clicking on where you want to go, or what you can do (for example - a. comfort Keika, b. don't comfort Keika). I felt that it would have been more interesting if you could pick up and use items, and generally have more freedom to explore other things.

Miscellanies:
Snow Drop includes an mp3 of the theme songs, lyrics, and liner notes which also contain the original Japanese Snow Lady legend this game is based on.

Screenshots:

Shopping - click on title to purchase:

J-List Snow Drop (PC Game)

Publisher: Will / Peach Princess (English version)

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