My first review was for episode 2, but I feel like I should write is here too as it applies to the series as a whole.

Stop reading reviews and play the whole series already. The voice actors are awesome (really, they all worked on pretty big VNs and Anime) and the plot keeps getting more interesting on each game.

I also suggest to avoid skipping episodes, it's not just subtle references, they're meant to be played one after another. It's not a spoiler right? The title explicitly says Episode 1.

I am writing this before reading any further episodes of 9-Nine-. There are also a ton of other reviews and information out regarding this title, so I'm just going to make this short.

9-Nine- Episode 1 is unfortunately a victim of being episode 1 in a multi episode story. There's a whole lot of information presented here, and not much of it pays off in this episode. I can see where they're likely going with a lot of it, but it just drags this visual novel down quite a bit with it. It also ends in a very anticlimactic scene pre-credit roll, and post-credit roll has another scene that is just "To be continued" fodder.

I'm not a big fan of visual novels, even those in series like this, that can't stand by themselves very well, and 9-Nine- Episode 1 falls well into that mold. Because of that I can't recommend Episode 1 to anyone unless your intention is to read the further episodes. I am also hoping and assuming with that recommendation that there is payoff for some of the information and hints in a further episode.