HTML - Applicant [v0.26] [YellowArachnid]

Version 0.25

I never learn to check the review before playing a game if I like the idea. Bad decision.

I don't know if there are any scenes with the main characters as I haven't seen any but the scenes with the protagonist are random ones and non consistent, something pretty common for games with a female protag and real porn as image/video.

The game is extremely buggy. At least the parts I played. Dialogues that end in a check written (probably misspelled coding). Blank pages sometimes. You can get infinite energy if you just go to the park and spam sitting on a bench. There is no time of day, not sure if it was meant to be like that but some actions advance time while others do not and you don't really know what time it is except for what locations are available. You also don't know what will advance the time slot until you try it.
You can increase your intelligence by spamming chat with the few ladies you find as characters which makes no sense considering that doesn't have a cap. Why would you need to study when you can do that (less clicks).

I played until the end of the "good ending" : studying enough and not getting enough corruption to I am not sure what would happen.
I kind of spread my actions everywhere and got nowhere. I think the few times I could have progressed where the errors in game with the bad code and so I got stuck on the library path which I wanted to try.
The game is a little like a roguelite in the sense you get 100 points to spend when you start the game. After the first ending I can now spend 150 for the stats supposedly for a faster start. That is a plus if you want to explore more avenues. Unfortunately the game, in it's current state doesn't really deserve the wasted time for that.

Some minor spelling/English errors, nothing bad enough to really bother.

It feels like an Alpha version at best.
The second star was for the idea and for the rogue-lite part, if I had based it on the gameplay experience itself it would have been a 1 star.

Applicant v0.2a

In its current state, the game is far too buggy to be presented to an audience. Numbers decrease without reason, skill stats are missing, and much of the game logic is only partially implemented, leading to dead ends after certain choices.

It’s an HTML-based sandbox game about a woman cast into a harsh world, gradually corrupting herself as she struggles to pay the rent - starting with jobs like bar work and maid service, and eventually sliding into more depraved activities such as striptease and prostitution. It will be one of many already out there - so the format itself doesn’t bring anything new. The images, as is common in this type of game, are lackluster and lack consistency.

The translation is weak, and the distinction between narrative text and NPC dialogue is displayed inconsistently. Overall, there’s still a lot of work to be done.

That said, I haven’t given up hope. The theme is one I’ve always been interested in, so I’ll probably return to test it again once it has gone through a few more development cycles and maybe revise my rating.

Good potential with a decent theme. It's buggy and lacking in content, but has the potential to fill out and be a more standalone game rather than a proof of concept. Looking forward to seeing this develop!

I tried three paths, two of which ended in a dead end after less than five clicks because there's no link at the end.
Publishing something like this is a disgrace.

I took a look through the media folder.
There are some images and videos that haven't been seen in other games. Another major drawback: the lack of a reasonably consistent character model.

Edit:
Oh man, I tried again after someone messaged me to try again. Bad decision.

Unbalanced earnings/spending.
After a few days, I got my earnings over $100 for the first time. To be precise:

• But I earned a whole 109.69999999999999 dollars.

A coffee costs $50, a drink at the bar $100. Luckily, clothing items aren't included yet; they would probably cost around $500-$5,000 anyway. So, not easily accessible, even though clothing in most such games is a trigger for further actions.
The only way to get enough money is to cheat (step back, repeat action until the desired result occurs).

Finally, I had to stop counting the number of mistakes I made when I couldn't leave my bed in the hostel after sleeping because I didn't have a button.

According to the image folder, there are punishment scenes in the library. I've now ratted out the speedster 10 times in a row, with no effect other than a bonus payment. I've let her run 10 times in a row. No effect.
Only after I reset the work scene and ratted out a girl did I notice a slight difference. But maybe the script also specifies that a new scene only appears after 30 days of monotonous grinding.

Several conversation options with Jenny keep leading down dead ends.