So the thing about From the Top that nobody mentions is how it completely fumbles its own mystery. You show up at this film studio because your bestie works there, right? Summer job, sun, maybe some poolside flirting. But then there's a dramatic event, the description says. Some dark secret. And suddenly you're supposed to be investigating suspects among these A-list celebrities and directors.
Except I spent three full routes barely remembering there was a crime at all.
What actually happens is you meet this producer guy, Marco, who has that perfectly trimmed beard that just screams daddy issues bait, and the game becomes a pretty standard dating sim. The corruption tag is doing some heavy lifting here because the "investigation" mostly means letting these powerful industry men slowly peel away your morals. One scene has you in a trailer during a shoot, and a famous actor literally locks the door behind you, and your inner monologue is like "this could be the suspect" but then his hand is on your thigh and suddenly we're not talking about evidence anymore.
The coming out storyline hits different though. There's this moment with your childhood friend where you're both standing by the craft services table, and she just asks. No drama, no swelling music. Just two people and some stale donuts. That felt real. Unlike the red carpet sex scene later which was hot but also, like, where did the plot go?
Multiple endings mean you can replay to see who's actually the villain, I guess. I got the romance ending with the director first try and honestly forgot to care about whodunit. The 2D art is clean, expressions are good, especially during the more explicit bits where faces actually show emotion instead of just looking like mannequins with dicks.
The game wants to be this glamorous noir thing about show business darkness but really it's a horny visual novel where you can blow a sound engineer in a recording booth and then never mention it again. Which, fine. That's what I'm here for. Just maybe don't pretend it's something deeper.