[SPOILERS AHEAD!]
I think this is one of the best games on this site and of this type. It has good amount of lewdness and erotisism yet also somewhat good charecter motivation and storytelling. I gave it 5 stars.
That being said, I don't think it should be immune from criticism. I'll concentrate on what I disliked in this game. Maybe the dev would see this and take this as a constructive criticism for his next project.
1. Locked Romance with Megan.
I'm sure this was discussed before, but here is my 2 cents: At the first few episodes before other characters were introduced, namly Melissia and Rena it's quite understandable why the plot should revolve around Megan. She's the gateway to the other characters. However after that I think the game should let the player choose whom they like most. As far as I can tell there is no way for the MC to be 'just friends' with Megan right up to the very end. Thus there is no way to get it on with one of the other characters without being a dick to Megan.
In a game that emphasizes player choice, it would be nice to give the player a choice of whom they want to pursue and change their mind right before the climax.
2. Locking Out Mellisa Romance Based On A Single Decision.
When Mellisa is first introduced, there is an option to have sex with her, or do nothing. If you do have sex with her, it is slizzy because it's behind Megan's back. If you do nothing, you are locked out of Mellisa being a romance option for the rest of the playthrough. And in the fire scene, there isn't even an option to save her over Megan. This feels forced and unnatural. Through the course of the game, your interactions with Melissa are pretty much the same no matter which option you chose at first(Have sex with her or not). You still offer her to move in with you, she still shares a bed with you and Megan, You still help her alot. So why shouldn't she develop feelings for you over the course of the game, and why can't you approve of those feelings? Bottom line, I think the MC should be able to pursue Melissa even if he initially turned her down.
3. Liam
I know that the male sidekick isn't the focus of the narrative in this sort of games, however Liam is a major character in this game, and to me he feels a little flat and mostly unrealistic. Narratively speaking I'm puzzled by the fact that Liam isn't attracted to any of the female characters in the game. Being impotent doesn't make you lose interest in women. It just makes you frustrated that you can't have sex with them. Liam's attraction to one of the girls could have been a great source of tension and drama.
Liam mostly used as a plot device instead of a full fledged character.
Also some of the unrealism of Liam stems from the fact that he's there to empower the MC. This is especially apparent from the art class scene where the MC draws a good drawing, but all Liam manages to do is a stick figure. Liam character is constant and experience no growth. He is present in most of the events in the game yet he doesn't seem to be affected by them.
Also, technically speaking I think the 'approval' rating threshold for Liam to help you in the last few episodes are pretty high. (I'm talking about him taking a call from you after you see Ana). I prefered Liam at every choice I got except that I went dancing with Rena at the party. Liam had 0.5 cake missing from a perfect rating, yet he still didn't pick up when I called. It seems really weird to me. In the course of the game, Liam doesn't show and signs of disappointment with you. You are his brother. Yet it seems like if you don't cater to his every whim he let's you down when you need him the most. This technical gameplay issue seems at odds with Liam's character so far.
4. Tone and Theme.
This is a writing issue.
It seems the game can't decide on it's tone. The last 3(or so) episodes seem like they belong in a different game all together.
The game starts as this light hearted romantic drama\typical male fantasy where every female character you meet is beautiful and wants to bone you despite themselves. While all the men are either assholes or impotent. And ends as a grim horror\thriller. I think the author wrote himself into a corner with fire sequence. Yes it's a good cliffhanger in terms of suspense, but a really cheap shot in terms of writing that force you to change the overall tone of the game.
There is nothing bad with typical male fantasy, this is why people look for games like this, however it's a bit tone deaf to kill one of the female leads in a male fantasy game.
Tone change in the middle of the game isn't necessarily bad, Doki Doki had a similar (Though a bit more extreme) tone change, yet there the tone change was the whole point of the game and it was supported by the narrative and gameplay mechanics. Here it isn't supported by either.
5. Ending
I feel like the ending was 'meh'. It has to do with the tone shift after the fire scene. The game switches from being a date sim ish game where your goal is to court a girl into liking you to a passive B horror/detective movie. I also wasn't a fan of the '
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' approach to Leah's villany. It feels like everything that happens after the fire is your choices unfolding their consequences which is fine. But the tonal shift really disappointed me. The ending also leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, because someone definitely dies. A lack of a 'happy ending' doesn't mean that the story is bad, however it seems that porn games should end with a 'happy ending'. At the very least maybe there should be one choice path that leads you to the best possible outcome.
P.S
6. Ana's Arrangement:
I feel this point lacks some options, for example you could discuss Ana's proposal with Megan. Or somehow verbally convince Ana to back off. Also it seems there are no negative repercussions to just flat out deny Ana's deal. That means that Ana bluffed when she said she will fuck up Megan's career. Maybe there should be an option to discuss this with Ana instead of just making her disappear.
Conclusion:
I don't want to sound like I shit on the dev's hard work, I still think this game is one of the best games in it's genre.
I also wanted to elaborate on why those issues aren't that bad:
Issues 1 & 2 about locking player choice:
Implementing a branching narrative is extremely hard. Or maybe even impossible. The number of branching paths you need to implement increases exponentially at each choice, so even if you have 2 options per choice. Just after 6 choices you will have to implement 126 paths. (At first you have 2 paths, each of these has another two paths. So you have 2 paths for the first level and 4 for the second. 6 overall, and so on.) Most AAA game developers who have huge teams and millions of dollars in budget, don't do real brunching choices, they just want to make the player feel like there are choices but really the plot is pretty much set in stone. One can't expect a single developer to do a better job at it than AAA developers.
Writing Issues 3 & 4 & 5 :
Even though I do have a problem with the ending, it does reference you choices and act accordingly. There are multiple endings just as you would expect. Writing can always be better, that's not to say it's isn't good. It just can do with some improvements, such as giving Liam a more serious impact on the game instead of him just being a gateway to certain activities.
