How many years has it been since I've been on this site? It's crazy and major respect for the people still running and keeping it going. At the moment of posting this, it's 16 years since I've joined this site. Over time, the accessibility of scanlation and the evolution of webtoons has changed the landscape of how we consume these stories.
Pick Me Up Infinite Gacha is great. For me, it gets a 10, because I enjoy it fully in its current form to see an expert at the game. We are introduced from the get go into a concept in which our Main Character is expected to be as typical OP, but the series is just as enjoyable for me as its popular webtoon contemporaries worthy of your time, such as Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (OVR payoff is much more emotional investment, and long-term goal there is a love letter to webnovels as a reader). Anyway, for my preferences, I read between everything available under the sun as long as a single aspect of my trifecta requirement is met with potential: storytelling, characterization, worldbuilding. I used to read everything in all genres when it was just manga, because I was content to consume. Nowadays, I'm slightly more selective with the garbage and the gems I consume (but I'm still easy to entice). The pile is for easy reading, or the pile is for things I cannot help but be invested in. But generally I know what I like.
PMUIG is what I like; it says it'll do a concept, it executes it, and it paces it well to boot. Each chapter even to my current 156 builds up enough that not only is it a worthy marathon—it is a great reread. It ofc never fails to remind you this is a game (with the game window popups and the character statuses at the end of each chapter). Its foreshadowing and reveals are well placed. PMUIG's story never goes beyond accessible or trackable because the main plot remains devoted to its focus: climb the tower, and develop the summoned "heroes", and our investment in the characters and the happenings of each level (much like if you were to play a game yourself, and if you like game webtoons where you can tell the author actually likes the type of game, I Really enjoy and recommend Nebula's Civilization). Anyway, our focus is on getting there. For PMUIG in particular, I appreciate so much we learn the grand reveal early of each Waiting Room being connected to a world that was doomed, and climbing the tower allows the rewriting history, so the reader is understanding of the larger goal from the beginning. I enjoy the cast because I can see their growth, they struggle in real time, and the very real possibility of their deaths hangs like stormclouds preparing to rain.
Much like the Master of Han's game, each stage of development is doing multiple things. There is so much bang for your buck to read. Each loss and gain, there is no denying the attachment we have for these characters, or the absolute loss and grief experienced for me, with Iolka's death that led me to decide to track this series. The design of the in-game is great: I can agree and it makes sense to me that this really would be a game that I could see people being majorly invested in. The art's great too: some sincerely kickass OP moments from Han, and a power fantasy that keeps its head.
I'm cutting myself off here because I could and have gotten into longwinded tangents before, but tl;dr PMUIG is phenomenal. When it came out, it was such a unique and original concept. I imagine by bow or soon it may have copycats in the future for its elements (as OVR's dungeon and constellation system has spread), by it will remain by and large, a great action recommendation for sure. Highly recommend.