Okay so this game caught me off guard in ways I wasn't expecting. Dawn Chorus starts simple enough - you're some guy moving to Norway for school, which honestly sounds boring as hell. But then you get to this science camp thing and suddenly there's all these furry dudes around and I'm like... wait, this is actually pretty cute? The writing doesn't try too hard to be funny but somehow manages to be charming without being cringe about it.

The romance stuff builds up naturally instead of just throwing you into horny situations right away. Actually that's kind of refreshing because most games like this just want to get to the sexy parts immediately. Here you're actually getting to know these characters first - there's this old friend from your hometown who shows up and creates all this tension about your past. Won't spoil it but that storyline gets surprisingly emotional. The other guys at camp each have their own thing going on too, though I kept getting distracted by how the dialogue system works because sometimes you can completely ignore certain characters if you want? Which seems weird for a dating sim but whatever.

What really got me though was how the game handles the whole "embracing your past vs moving forward" theme. Like yeah it's a furry dating game but it actually made me think about my own shit for a minute there. The sex scenes when they finally happen are pretty tame compared to other games - more romantic than explicit really. Sometimes I wished it would get a bit more intense but then again the slow burn approach works for what they're going for. Norway setting is cool too, gives everything this cozy winter vibe that matches the wholesome tone. Not gonna lie, by the end I was actually invested in whether my character would figure his life out or just keep running from problems.