This game had a rough start, but Chapter 5 is approaching the peak of the art form. Projects like Artemis are what make indie AVNs great.
I won't lie to you - despite the file size, the first four chapters don't look great on my 27" monitor (I'm sure it's probably fine on a tablet, or maybe even a laptop). Unfortunately it's not just in the one or two scenes that the disclaimer in the beginning of the game calls out. A lot of the texture detail got wiped out - everything just looks a bit 2D, washed out, and artificial, skin and hair especially.
I don't know if it was an overly-aggressive external compression technique or something done within Daz because of hardware limitations, but in any case, it's fixed now.
Chapter 5 looks gorgeous. Hopefully the same improvements can be drip-fed to earlier scenes as time goes on, without completely halting the development of new content to accomplish it.
Perhaps the best indicator of Artemis' potential is the dev's
demonstrated ability to listen to reasonable community feedback. On single-dev indie projects, there's a balance to strike. Sure, having a huge team of people all constantly checking each other's work can avoid major pitfalls, but it can also stifle unique and creative storytelling that not everyone is going to enjoy. That's the biggest part of why I love indie projects. The pitfall of single devs is when it's clear that they won't listen to anyone but themselves, have been looking at something most people would find weird every day for 3-6 months, have convinced themselves it's normal, and won't listen to the people who say it's weird - that's when it becomes a problem. Notably, an entire game just had to be remastered because of a supposed "rogue morph" causing the characters' eyes to look huge and weird across an entire year or more of development. Not a problem here.
A character arc spoiler -
I read a blurb recently that Cassie was no longer going to be considered a LI based on community feedback, and felt relieved (I hadn't made it to her most recent scene yet). I could tell her storyline was reaching towards her being a morally gray, redeemable character, but it fell a bit short of this. It happens. You can't have 99% of a character's personality be the most absolutely unhinged, amoral, manipulative, deceitful, conniving, thieving sociopath, and then throw in one or two scenes that are supposed to humanize them without most people hating that character forever and never wanting anything positive to do with them. That's the healthy response to people like that - cutting them out. Cassie makes for a GREAT villain though, absolutely perfect, actually - a bad person, surrounded by other bad people, made even worse by being stuck in a corner and desperate, someone who the other bad people find out dug their own grave, so they put the screws to her even harder. Awesome fucking villain. One of the best I've ever actually seen in any media, given how personal the relationship between her and the MC is. I actually look forward to more interactions with her, including those that humanize her, I just don't think it would be cool for the MC to not learn from his past mistakes of getting involved with her. I'm sure the dev might have been disheartened at the feedback they got because it wasn't their original intention for her, but they listened to it, and the latest scenes with her are extremely satisfying. The dev didn't stubbornly cling on to their original vision and force the game's audience to sit through a redemption arc they found distasteful just so they could see all the content. It's unfortunate that the character was written into a hole, but it's a great hole, that's just how things go sometimes, and it all worked out perfectly. It's just fine that the first few chapters are spent hinting at an ambiguous willingness from the MC to let her back in. It's just fine if he doesn't want to go scorched earth with her based on their history. But it's also fine if he does, you know?
Apparently there's been other changes as well, but that and the visual improvements stand out the most to me, so all respect to the dev.
It shows a level of professionalism, humility, maturity, and flexibility on the part of the dev that's extremely rare in projects like this.
I've got other minor complaints, like the MC looking weird and like he was the second character borrowed from a certain other game, this being the only Renpy game I've played that blocks the right click and escape keys from accessing the menu, some strange nipples floating around, some of the adult scenes so far being rather brusque and lacking any real eroticism (the most recent one is very good), the MC supposedly knowing about guns but confusing an H&K USP for a Beretta 92 when they look nothing alike (literally unplayable), and there's a conversation about grooming that's going to be had at some point (but lol it's a fictional robot and I'm sure it won't be intentional), but honestly if you can't look past minor stuff like that I don't know how you're supposed to enjoy games like this.
Because they're overwhelmed by the positives: Artemis (the character) is so fun, and so great. The animations, good god. The meme game goes a bit too hard sometimes (we'll bang, ok?) but is just right most other times (
it goes in the SQUARE hole! such a fucking deep cut
). But most importantly, the characters are all reasonably acting and looking people who are only weird when they're doing a bit for the most part - which is just a godsend,
especially on the part of the MC, who's just a normal, talented guy with his own goals, who deals with his baggage in a healthy way, has a quirky sense of humor, and who just wants to create cool things, be friends with people, and isn't looking to fuck people over or go behind their backs. Amazing. 10/10.
I can't stress enough how much of a relief it is that people are just fucking normal in this game. Finally, while there might be a
little too much money being thrown around, it's fine, and a welcome alternative to all the games where the characters are just scraping by. Doing things with money is fun, not every game has to staunchly reflect the crushing reality of most people's existence from 18-30+.
With unfinished projects, the potential is the most important consideration, and Artemis has it in bounds. I wish godspeed to @digi.B
As long as we get to fuck Kandace, that is. I've got a thing for older women who are well composed and put together, so I'll subtract a star if we can't. Just kidding! Maybe... but yeah,
the character designs are just getting better and better.
