High School Life vs Katawa Shoujo
High School Life
High School Life is an interactive story game that might be a bit simplistic. Instead of having a deep and well-hashed-out story, the most you'll be doing in this game is dressing up to meet and flirt with boys, and hopefully, you'll get a date to the school dance, be it Homecoming, Sadie Hawkins, Winter Formal, Valentine’s Day or the actual Prom. You don't get to spend a lot of time in the actual high school setting though, despite being a game titled as "High School Life".The characters in the game aren't very well-designed either. The boys in the game seem to look especially flat-faced and honestly, a bit on the ugly side of things. The "texting a friend" feature is pretty interesting but it would have been nice to have some sort of interaction with your BFF at school, where again, being a high-schooler, you should be spending most of your time at.
High School Life is a pretty shallow version of an interactive story game and hence, is a poor alternative to games like Episodes or Choices, but it might still be enjoyable for some players who like something simple.
Katawa Shoujo
Katawa Shoujo is an anime-themed interactive novel which casts you into the role of a boy with a congenital heart defect, Hisao Nakai, who has been sent to the fictional Yamaku High School for disabled children when his health issues caused him to be hospitalized for extended periods of time. Despite struggling with his own problems and the common issues of growing up, you'll need to help Hisao find new friends and perhaps even a a girlfriend at school. The game features five main female characters who can be romanced by Hisao, each with their own storyline for you to explore.Katawa Shoujo is a heartwarming story-driven game that is mainly text-and-image-based. If this is the sort of game you like, you might want to check it out. Take note that the novel contains some adult materials.