So I Tried... Endless Monday: Dreams and Deadlines

Each edition of So I Tried… sees me trying a game that I have never played before. Will I find something new to love? Will I find something new to despise? I’ll take a full half hour, no matter how bad it gets or how badly I do, to see if this is the game for me. At my last game night, my friend recommended that I check out Endless Monday: Dreams and Deadlines, and I couldn’t wait to see what it was like.

What I thought it was

From the look of it, Endless Monday: Dreams and Deadlines seemed like a typical visual novel featuring cute characters, which followed a corporate employee named Penny as she goes through her everyday work life. I figured that most of the time I would be sitting back, watching the events of the story unfold, and clicking to advance it.

What it actually is

Endless Monday: Dreams and Deadlines is far more interactive than I was expecting. This visual novel has numerous branching paths that have you selecting what you want to do next, making it feel like the choose-your-own-adventure books from my youth.
The story focuses on Penny, who is a huge procrastinator who needs to get a work project completed. She has known about the deadline for weeks, but she is easily distracted by the games on her phone, random things she notices around the office, or simply daydreaming. Since her job is creative, she doesn’t feel inspired to create what’s required for this project, so she basically finds any excuse she can to delay it. It’s amazing how relatable this story is!
There are a variety of choices to make, but depending on the situation, if you make the wrong one, you’ll score an ending that isn’t the one that you intend. You’ll then need to go back and make better choices.

Will I keep playing?

I will definitely keep playing Endless Monday: Dreams and Deadlines. The story is interesting and relatable, and I genuinely feel like I can influence how the game plays out. It manages to be relaxing to play despite the stressful situations the character is going through.

I’ve also learned from the game that drinking cold coffee that’s a few days old might not always be the best choice, when it’s late at night, and your character needs a caffeine boost. There is also DLC available, called Extra Chapter — Overtime, which I can’t wait to check out once I’ve completed the base story.