The Door Opens with Your Key: Eccentric Circle (Free Adventure) - Introduction and Review

I played "The Door Opens with Your Key: Eccentric Circle," a game created with the WOLF RPG Editor.
This work is an enhanced version of "The Door Opens with Your Key: Concentric Circles," which won 4th place overall at the 2020 WoodyCon competition.
It's basically the same game, but the difficulty level has been lowered, making it easier to play.

Since I haven't played "Concentric Circles," this article is written based solely on my experience playing "Eccentric Circles."
The total playtime to reach the final ending was approximately four and a half hours.
(If you get stuck in the second half of the game)Strategy wiki(See reference)

Game Overview (No Spoilers)

The story begins with the protagonist (gender selectable) enrolling in the private Doshin-en High School and joining the "Volunteer Activities Club," where they work with their friends to solve various problems.

The main way to progress in the game is by interviewing people.
However, simply striking up a conversation will yield very little useful information.
You must use the "questioning" system, which is central to this game, to obtain meaningful information.

You need words to ask a question.
These words can sometimes be obtained through conversation, and sometimes you have to deduce them yourself before typing them in.
In the beginning, you can choose words from the "conversation history" based on what you learn in the conversation and ask questions using a brute-force method. It may take time, but you should eventually arrive at the correct answer.
If you can pinpoint a reasonably promising word, you can directly input that word manually to shortcut the scenario progression.
By asking questions to acquire new vocabulary, and then asking further questions using those words, you can acquire more words in a chain reaction and get closer to the truth.

In the beginning, we take requests one by one from the whiteboard in the volunteer club's room.
You'll interact with various people, dealing with trivial problems and solving small mysteries.

If you're unsure what to do next, hints will appear at the bottom of the screen, so use those as a guide.
You can also get hints by spending snack time with your friends in the club room.
Additionally, you can refer to the hints the protagonist is thinking about, making it easier to play compared to the "concentric circles" version.

Regarding movement on the map, you can either manually walk to your destination or select a destination on the map and travel there.
Since this game involves frequently traveling to various locations, being able to move around easily is extremely convenient.

Review (no spoilers)

I was able to see ending A and complete the game to the end.
As noted in the readme file, I will try to avoid spoilers (especially from episode 11 onwards) when writing my review.

First, regarding the difficulty level, it's not difficult up to episode 10.
It might have been difficult with "Concentric Circles," but this game has plenty of hint features, so even if you get stuck a few times, it shouldn't become impossible to complete.

However, the difficulty level increases from episode 11 onwards.
Reaching any kind of ending isn't difficult, but aiming for the best ending on your own might be challenging.
Nevertheless, thanks to the hint function available in "eccentric circles," it is likely easier to solve than "concentric circles."
I had a hard time reaching a good ending, so I ended up relying quite a bit on walkthrough wikis.
If you refer to the walkthrough page, you shouldn't get stuck, so even players who simply want to enjoy the story should be able to complete the game without any problems.

Now, regarding the story, the beginning is a mystery game based on "everyday mysteries," and I think you'll enjoy playing it.
The beginning is like a tutorial, and you can think of the main story as being in episode 11.
In addition to the main storyline, there are various sub-events, and although they are difficult, it was fun to delve into them.

As for the characters, every character with a character portrait was unique and had a strong presence.
Even though they seemed like nice people, many of them had dark secrets or were not simple creatures.
That aspect gave it a realistic, raw feel, which I think ultimately contributed to the unique atmosphere of the entire story.

In terms of functionality, I think it was quite comprehensive.
You can easily move around using the map, and the conversation history function is also convenient.
You can save anytime by opening the menu screen, but it would have been nice if there were more save slots available.
The words used in the questions are selected from a menu screen, but the ability to switch words with a single touch using the C key was very convenient.
I don't think this game encourages brute-force solving, but it was helpful when I did.

Since this review is spoiler-free, it ended up being rather vague overall.
However, as an adventure game, the story is interesting, and it feels very satisfying when you successfully solve the mystery and the pieces fit together like a puzzle.
For those who were somewhat curious about "concentric circles" but ended up overlooking them, I would recommend "eccentric circles."