As of V0.3, the game is pretty short and could probably be read through in like 20-30 minutes. The game so far is somewhat lacking. I get the impression that the story tries to have a coherent plot, but suffers the hurdle of trying to make the adult elements (eventually) work within that plot. The result is a mixture of weak, and sometimes immature dialogue, and a confusing story.
The dialogue is pretty stiff and, much like the overview, full of redundancy. I get the impression that English might not be the writer's first language, but is otherwise technically proficient. Despite being set in the Wild West, the vocabulary and sentence structure used are distinctly simple and modern, and could almost be described as formal. There are also no obvious speaking patterns to tell the characters apart. It's also hard to take the story seriously when the main character's response to someone being called "sugar tits" is "Does it really taste sugary or is that a figure of speech?" I didn't like the main character before, but I was pretty ready to close the game after reading that.
It's a mystery to me whether the main character is supposed to be new to town or not. He apparently knows Celine and grew up with her, but I can't tell if this is supposed to be their hometown or if they just happened to end up in the same town later in their lives. I also don't know why he was specifically chosen to be the sheriff or why he took the job. He's actually pretty bad at it, if I'm honest. He basically has no authority and no autonomy, makes no effort to learn the local law after being told it's different, obviously gives in to favoritism, and willingly enters a power struggle between warring criminal factions, with his first assignment being to open a brothel.
Anyhow, the story makes it obvious the guy is new in town, but no one ever elaborates on anything for some reasons. It's aggravating how he constantly has to ask "Who's that?" or "What's that?" every time a name pops up. I feel like I'm talking to a bunch of NPCs, except I'm missing a dialogue wheel and the option to simply walk away.
Which brings me to my next point. Despite the overview claiming "their lives will change forever depends on the decisions you make", your only choices boil down to "Be a creep and/or sexually harass this character" and "Act like a normal person." According to the official walkthrough, it's actually in your best interest to do so. You have no say in who you want to help or how you react in a given situation.
So the characters aren't very good, and the choices aren't very good, but what about the story? Unfortunately, it's very hard to follow. The premise of the town being built and run by a bunch of bandits sound promising, but has pretty mediocre execution. You're told that the town has its own laws and traditions, but they're never really expanded on. You learn that the person with the most resources and power generally becomes mayor, but that sounds pretty obvious. They claim that they don't vote, and that a mayor is chosen based on how many "warlords" they can get to side with them, but that's basically just voting, unless I'm understanding something wrong. Considering that warlords have the authority to put people in jail without going through you, the sheriff, I don't see a real point in you being here. You're not even a neutral party in this story.
The game is also riddled with grammatical issues, many of which that could have easily been fixed with a simple lookover. Within the first minute of playing, I've seen:
P.S. I have no idea what the first review means by "each character feels different (personality, motivation etc)." The characters are pretty undeveloped to be point of either being caricatures or background decorations. Nearly all the women trip over themselves at your character's hamfisted attempts at seduction. I've yet to see anything resembling a motivation and the game itself questions why anyone wants to live in that shithole. It's also very clearly in the territory of "life of crime."
The dialogue is pretty stiff and, much like the overview, full of redundancy. I get the impression that English might not be the writer's first language, but is otherwise technically proficient. Despite being set in the Wild West, the vocabulary and sentence structure used are distinctly simple and modern, and could almost be described as formal. There are also no obvious speaking patterns to tell the characters apart. It's also hard to take the story seriously when the main character's response to someone being called "sugar tits" is "Does it really taste sugary or is that a figure of speech?" I didn't like the main character before, but I was pretty ready to close the game after reading that.
It's a mystery to me whether the main character is supposed to be new to town or not. He apparently knows Celine and grew up with her, but I can't tell if this is supposed to be their hometown or if they just happened to end up in the same town later in their lives. I also don't know why he was specifically chosen to be the sheriff or why he took the job. He's actually pretty bad at it, if I'm honest. He basically has no authority and no autonomy, makes no effort to learn the local law after being told it's different, obviously gives in to favoritism, and willingly enters a power struggle between warring criminal factions, with his first assignment being to open a brothel.
Anyhow, the story makes it obvious the guy is new in town, but no one ever elaborates on anything for some reasons. It's aggravating how he constantly has to ask "Who's that?" or "What's that?" every time a name pops up. I feel like I'm talking to a bunch of NPCs, except I'm missing a dialogue wheel and the option to simply walk away.
Which brings me to my next point. Despite the overview claiming "their lives will change forever depends on the decisions you make", your only choices boil down to "Be a creep and/or sexually harass this character" and "Act like a normal person." According to the official walkthrough, it's actually in your best interest to do so. You have no say in who you want to help or how you react in a given situation.
So the characters aren't very good, and the choices aren't very good, but what about the story? Unfortunately, it's very hard to follow. The premise of the town being built and run by a bunch of bandits sound promising, but has pretty mediocre execution. You're told that the town has its own laws and traditions, but they're never really expanded on. You learn that the person with the most resources and power generally becomes mayor, but that sounds pretty obvious. They claim that they don't vote, and that a mayor is chosen based on how many "warlords" they can get to side with them, but that's basically just voting, unless I'm understanding something wrong. Considering that warlords have the authority to put people in jail without going through you, the sheriff, I don't see a real point in you being here. You're not even a neutral party in this story.
The game is also riddled with grammatical issues, many of which that could have easily been fixed with a simple lookover. Within the first minute of playing, I've seen:
- Several sentences missing a period or other punctuation.
- Fragment sentences such as "You just want to grope me. You stupid old pervert."
- Improper use of semicolon and ellipses, such as "Listen old man, if you don't want to get your head blown into pieces; get out of here..."
- An extra ( in one of the thought bubbles.
- Random Capitalization
P.S. I have no idea what the first review means by "each character feels different (personality, motivation etc)." The characters are pretty undeveloped to be point of either being caricatures or background decorations. Nearly all the women trip over themselves at your character's hamfisted attempts at seduction. I've yet to see anything resembling a motivation and the game itself questions why anyone wants to live in that shithole. It's also very clearly in the territory of "life of crime."