speaking of new teaser pictures.....
Basing any speculation off preview images without context is a dangerous and probably fruitless path. But, there are some concerns raised in the preview images. Specifically, the image where Steph is getting in the pool and the image where Tori is (apparently) explaining to Steph that you do not have to like someone to fuck them.
What has separated and elevated this visual novel from all the others so far has been sticking to the principles of a loving married couple. We have seen that if you push too hard or make over-the-top choices for Steph to sleep with someone, it ends poorly for the couple (the "train"/cuckold path).
Even in the game, Gina points out to the MC on the first night that choosing Donny as a partner is a poor decision, one that she would never make. He is the typical meathead, overzealous, aggressive asshole that can destroy the couple in a heartbeat. He and Steph do exactly that on the first night if you are not careful.
While pure NTR fans and BBC fans will certainly celebrate this type of content, it
could alienate everyone else that supports the game for the swinging, sharing, and romance features. More importantly, it erodes the confidence variable and dismantles the story of a couple who respect each other, their marriage, and the work to maintain an equal partnership. As players, we have put a lot into deciphering the choices to maximize the confidence choices and get a positive outcome for the couple.
Chances are, and the story has supported this so far, that choosing to go down the path where Steph fucks without concern for her husband, or choosing the "wrong" guy will end in a 'game-over.'
i can't say if that path gonna change or not but it has been like that since the first early access release up until now,
so safe to say that path will always end in a game over
EDIT: so i just remember i asked the dev about this option once and their answer is they will revisit that option in the future to make some sort of aftermath ending when the whole story is done but it will stay a dead end path.
The dangerous tightrope these visual novels are forced to walk is providing plenty of hot, sexual content and avoiding going down the path "Anne" would take; fucking everyone without discriminating destroys a great visual novel. Being highly selective in who a couple chooses to invite into their bed, and therefore into their relationship, is what keeps a swinging couple healthy and happy. In a visual novel, it is what keeps the content from getting mundane and downtrodden.
Perhaps the reason Jason "checks out" and leaves his wife to have sex with her latest victim while he sleeps is that she has an uncontrollable sex drive and lacks the ability to select partners who won't harm the relationship. A husband who gets bored watching his wife have sex cannot possibly be in a healthy relationship.
In my review and in most of my comments I talk about the fact that adding certain content can destroy a great visual novel. Specifically, when the authors choose to go down a beaten-to-death path to cater to a fetish...Like race play. This includes the "slut wife" path where sex is so common and repetitive that it becomes boring. Less is more. If Steph goes on the business trip and fucks anyone there is a real danger of her slipping into the "Anne trend" that destroyed that popular game. Not to mention the "business trip porn cliché" that is painfully overdone. Unfortunately, I do not think there is any way we are going to avoid that type of content in this visual novel.
I have previously discussed that I do not personally enjoy race play in my fantasies or in my "recreational porn," like visual novels. So, a scene where Steph goes on her work trip a makes a joke about it being a pleasure trip with a black guy in a pool is too "on the nose" porn trope for me. At the risk of starting a war with what constitutes cuckold content and its merits, I will take a hard stance and say that Steph having sex with someone on a business trip is not swinging or sharing, it is cuckold content. If the trend in the game has been to show that cuckold content ends poorly for the couple, I am not sure what benefit there could be from having Steph have sex without the MC being there on the trip.
The developers do broach this topic in the first part of the game. There is a discussion between Steph and the MC where she explains that there will likely be a time when they will have sex with someone and they are not together, directly setting up the business trip scenario. It is a Steph-driven conversation that plays into the fact I do not trust her and the character is already bordering on my ability to like her. I already trust Gina more than I trust Steph; eroding trust in a protagonist is a bit risky in a story. What's done is done. It's a porn game, after all. And sometimes, the masses want what they want.
The developers of this visual novel have shown great restraint and superior story-telling ability by restricting the type of content they show and by guiding the choices of the player to a healthier, relationship-sustaining, swinger mentality (versus the cuckold). The developers have shown that they like to flirt with dangerous ideas, like cheating content, when the intention is to avoid that content for the story to continue happily. They handled the "douche Donny" issue well by making it a possible 'game-over' path. I am interested in seeing how they handle the next set of slippery content!
, sorry in advance.
