This is a solid visual novel carried by having a very endearing star character, the titular Lucy. It explores the idea of when the borders between man and machine start to blur. The VA providing Lucy's voice does a great job, providing her with a monotone robotic voice at first and then becoming very vibrant and alive once Lucy is properly reactivated. If you're looking for a solid visual novel, you don't need to hesitate about getting this one. As always, I do have some chaotic thoughts and complaints about the story, which I will share below (spoilers):
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The main character's father setting Lucy ON FIRE is totally deranged. And he decides to do that after his unnamed, unseen wife suggests it? I don't know about you, but it feels too sudden and too extreme, even if rising tension between the characters is established. There's an attempt at reconciliation in the true ending but he never even apologizes to Lucy over what he did. There needs to be more regret to make this work. At the very least, the main character doesn't just forgive him on-screen.
The big question of how Lucy came to be at the garbage dump is explained with a short lore episode you can unlock in the extras. It turns out to not be especially significant, even though Lucy expresses a lot of affection for this doctor who created her.
No one but Lucy is voiced. I guess that saves on budget but it can still feel strange.
None of your choice really matter, aside from the final one ("do you regret it") which determines your ending. The rest is all just flavor, it seems.
In the true ending the main character spends 15 years fixing Lucy but we only get to see small fragments of it. It gets resolved rather quickly if you get the true ending, even if the way the true ending reveals itself is very cool. I just think it might've been interesting to join our main character on that arduous and seemingly hopeless journey. Or have it be less than 15 years, I guess.
The story shows Asimov's laws of robotics before every chapter. There is a cool payoff for it near the end of the story (Lucy refuses to run away from harm so she can keep a promise with the main character). But whether you find the payoff worth the amount of times the laws are repeated will be up to you.
The "bad ending" gave me this strange uncomfortable feeling because it's presented as much worse emotionally, but... the main character gets a loving wife, kids and a prestigious job, with the sad note that he's forgotten about Lucy. Instead of using 15 years of his life to restore a robot. Since this story is about Lucy, the ending is undoubtedly worse in context, yet is it really worse when you zoom out? Could there be a middle ground where he cherishes Lucy but still starts a family?
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That's about it. Don't take my ramblings to be a dismissal of the game, it's a short, solid and endearing VN that everyone should at least give a try.
