Currently reviewing up through Chapter 2. I've played many games on here and this is the first I felt compelled to write a review for. This review won't contain direct spoilers, but if you want to go in completely blind as to the experience, then it will spoil some of that 'feeling', as I am attempting to sell it.
This review is long, because that's my style. If it's TL;DR for you, then there are plenty of good reviews below this one (and likely will be more above) that are more succinct. I'm trying to give a full picture!
EDIT: I have now played through Avalon (one path), and can definitively say that this game is starting out much better. If you were a fan of Avalon (Dev's first game), you will love this, particularly if some of the Avalon attempts to be funny were hit and miss for you: the dialogue in this game is done much better. It is not nearly as "heavy" as Avalon, either. At least not as of the end of chapter 2.
I do want to be clear, this game will not appeal to everyone, but everything about it hit home for me. If I could give it 6 stars, I would, and I imagine on average it will sit comfortably around 4.25-4.5 stars because of a few stylistic choices the devs made. See below for a non-exhaustive list of these. But those that are looking for this style of game will
absolutely love it, and the lower score will instead likely come from people who disagree with the
style, not the actual quality.
This story tries to set itself apart from other F/D VNs and games by actually having a mature, intelligent daughter who knows what's going on. She is sexually inexperienced, not sexually oblivious, in other words.
The conversation in this game is witty, snarky, quirky, and cute. If there was a single strength this has over others of this genre, it would absolutely be the dialogue between the characters, and just how big their personalities are. A lot of love is going into the writing. It hasn't let up in chapter 2, either, it's still just as fresh and fun.
There are a few potential turn offs for certain users, though. As with anything in life, the dev(s) cannot please everyone. These are what I see people potentially complaining about:
- Slow Burn. This will be a longer work.
- Barbie Anime Eyes. Lockheart seems to do this for all his works, and it can be a huge turn off for people. I've always been attracted to beautiful eyes, so this hasn't been an issue for me.
- Romance. This isn't a quick fap. There is a sensual, romantic tone to the entire story, and while the sexy stuff is surely coming, that is not the main theme of the work. The sex will always come secondary to the story.
- Linear VN style story. It gives a few choices here and there, but so far they've had zero real impact on the story.
- Some dialogue will be seen as cheesy or expositional. The only reason I include this is that the story attempts to be very real, with cute dialogue and dramatic turns here and there. Because of that, the 'mistakes' will stick out a bit more than in a work you're not required to take as seriously.
- It seems to be strictly Male Dom, Fem Sub. Not in a heavy way, but the daughter definitely takes a submissive role, at least in the first 2 chapters, and I don't see that letting up unless it's done through "role play" in the story. To many this is a positive, but to some it will be a deterrent.
With that said, I'd also like to talk about the great aspects of this VN that should appeal to almost everyone:
- The music and sounds. There are a few sound effects that play ONCE to get your attention, and then there is very romanticized, soft music that plays in the background of most scenes. The music and SFX actually enhances the experience, rather than just being included so they can say they included "sound".
- The dialogue. I can't stress enough how well the personalities are written. Exposition exists but so far it's been kept mostly to a minimum.
- Petal (the daughter). She's adorable. Even if you disagree with the physical aspects (the anime eyes), I don't think anyone will complain about her personality. She's so damn cute.
- The renders. You can see that in the pic examples. It's not just the models, either, though, the background and objects are also rendered pretty well.
- A wide array of customizable fetishes. We haven't even gotten to the meat of the story, and the devs have already teased some fetishes in a VERY creative way (I won't spoil it).
- Customizable "titles" for each other. If you want her to call you "poo face" during sexy times (which is a different title than normal times), you can absolutely have her do that. And you can set up her 'sexy times' title as well.
- My only complaint with this is that it'd be nice if the devs added a 'nickname' as well as a 'relationship title' for the MC. That way if you want to use "Father" for the relationship, you could also have her call you "Daddy" or whatever else when she's talking to you, rather than 'about' you. Or if you run with "Guardian" you can have her call you by name, instead of awkwardly calling you "Guardian" at times.
- I personally had "Daddy" set as mine, and while it usually worked fine, she refers to "my Daddy" to someone a few times and it comes off awkward. I'd like to see her referring to me as "Dad" or "Father" and calling me "Daddy" instead.
- It would require an extra tag to call out in the story (and some of the current dialogue tags would need to be modified), but overall I feel like it would be a huge addition to the story and wouldn't require much more programming. Lockheart if you read this: please consider adding this in!
- From Xianne's Quirky Intro, changing it to (in bold): "Your name is [first name] [last name], Petal is your [relationship], you are her [MCRelationship], she calls you [title]..."
- It doesn't make you feel "icky" while playing it. This is the story that other F/D wincest games and VNs, I think, were trying to tell, but failed because the author lacked the creative juices to build a story that felt believable.
- You're not banging a harem of supermodels behind your "she's definitely 18 years old I promise" daughter's back that magically happen to all be bisexual and turned on by your relationship with your daughter, while also being written as "the good guy" despite objectively being a creep at best, and a lying, cheating sexual predator at worst.
The buildup and feeling is more "We really, really, really, REALLY want to fuck each other's brains out because we're intensely attracted to each other, but that's fucked up because incest is bad. How far are we willing to go, while also being able to maintain a safe moral high ground if this all falls apart?" This game is truly "not like the other girls", so to speak.
And it's so refreshing. With a second chapter having been released that's just as good as the first, from an apparently trusted developer in Lockheart, I highly recommend giving this a try. If it's not for you, then it's not for you, but this story left a profound impact on me, and I wanted to share my experience in the hopes that someone on the fence reads this and decides to check it out.
