Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Brooktown High places the player at the center of a bustling high school social ecosystem, blending dating sim mechanics with light simulation elements. You start by creating a custom character—choosing gender, appearance, clothing, and even personality traits that directly influence how classmates respond to you. Each decision you make, from wardrobe choices to dialogue options, subtly shifts the dynamic with the various cliques on campus, be they nerds, jocks, preps, or outcasts.

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The core loop revolves around building friendships and romantic relationships over the course of a virtual senior year. Interaction is driven through a branching dialogue system where your responses can raise or lower an attraction gauge for each of the 20 potential partners. Success in conversations often requires balancing honesty, humor, and sensitivity to individual preferences. This creates stakes for every chat, since a poorly chosen answer can close off romance paths or friendship opportunities.

To break up the rhythm of talking heads, the game offers a variety of minigames tied to courting and social activities. From shopping sprees at the mall and dance-offs at parties to more risqué diversions like tongue wrestling and strip blackjack, each activity tests different skills—timing, pattern recognition, and sometimes even your sense of humor. These diversions are well-paced and inject energy into what could otherwise become a static sequence of menus and text.

Additionally, the game’s calendar system adds strategic depth. Planning your week involves allocating time to study, socialize, or date. Missing a study session can drop your grades, which then puts pressure on your social standing, reflecting the true balancing act of high school life. Overall, the gameplay loop is engaging, with enough variety to keep players invested in seeing each relationship arc through to graduation.

Graphics

Brooktown High uses a stylized, anime-inspired art direction that immediately sets a lighthearted and approachable tone. Character sprites are colorful and expressive, featuring a broad range of outfits and hairstyles that showcase the customization options. Facial expressions and body language shift fluidly during conversations, reinforcing the emotional weight behind each dialogue choice.

The backgrounds are similarly vibrant, depicting quintessential high school locales: bustling hallways, neon-lit arcade, sun-drenched beach, and more. While not hyper-realistic, the environments are detailed enough to feel lively and lived-in, with posters on classroom walls and students milling around between periods. Transitions between scenes are smooth, and animated cut-ins accompany key moments in relationships, adding cinematic flair to important story beats.

Minigames demonstrate a slightly higher graphical polish, with dynamic camera angles and visual effects—like confetti during a successful dance routine or neon lights during a night at the mall. Even the more racy activities maintain a cartoony charm, avoiding crassness while still feeling playful. The UI is clean and intuitive, with readable fonts and clear gauges indicating your standing with each social circle.

Overall, the graphics strike a pleasing balance between stylization and detail. They’re not pushing next-gen fidelity, but they don’t need to; the colorful aesthetic and character design are perfectly tuned to underscore the game’s social simulation focus.

Story

At its heart, Brooktown High tells a classic coming-of-age tale, framed around the quest for popularity and meaningful connections in the crucible of senior year. There is no overarching epic plot—rather, the narrative emerges from the tapestry of your interactions. Each NPC comes with their own backstory, interests, and emotional baggage, revealed gradually as you spend time with them.

The branching structure ensures that no two playthroughs feel identical. Pursuing the captain of the football team unlocks different scenes and side quests than forging a bond with the drama club’s leading actor. Dialogue choices can lead to comedic misunderstandings, heartfelt confessions, or even heartbreak, giving the story a dynamic quality that keeps you curious about untapped relationship paths.

While there is a main goal—to become the most popular student by graduation—the game peppers in smaller narrative arcs. Helping a shy classmate overcome stage fright, organizing a surprise birthday party, or resolving a feud between rival groups all add layers to the high school tapestry. These subplots are engaging on their own and contribute to a sense of real progression and achievement.

The ending you get depends entirely on your social exploits. Whether you graduate as a single popular icon or alongside a special someone, Brooktown High rewards multiple replays to uncover every story branch. This branching narrative keeps the experience fresh, ensuring that each friend or romantic interest feels like a genuine character rather than a simple quest objective.

Overall Experience

Brooktown High succeeds at recreating the excitement, awkwardness, and drama of senior year in a way that feels both nostalgic and novel. The blend of social simulation, branching dialogue, and minigames provides enough variety to appeal to fans of dating sims and light-life simulators alike. While the premise might seem narrowly focused on teenage romance, the game’s deeper social dynamics and subplots make it much more than a glossy veneer of high school clichés.

Replayability is one of the game’s strongest suits. With 20 distinct characters to romance, dozens of friendship arcs, and multiple mini-events, it’s easy to sink dozens of hours into trying out different personality builds and relationship strategies. The attraction gauge and calendar system add enough strategy to make each playthrough feel like a unique puzzle to solve.

The pacing is generally very good—conversations flow at a comfortable clip, with minigames and events breaking up longer dialogues. The UI remains intuitive throughout, and load times are minimal. While the lack of a central “score” may disappoint some players seeking numeric feedback, the in-game attraction and popularity metrics effectively fill that role, providing constant feedback on your progress.

For anyone who enjoys narrative-driven sims, character customization, and the thrill of social popularity contests, Brooktown High delivers an engaging, well-rounded experience. It’s easy to lose yourself in its halls, forging friendships (or rivalries) and uncovering every romantic possibility before the final bell rings on graduation day.

Retro Replay Score

5.1/10