Swirling through the gutters I find myself stumbling upon a rather interesting gem dredging itself from the depths. Is it truly worth the many 5 star reviews it has, or is it perhaps something that deserves a little more scrutiny under the hood?
Welp I hate to be the asshole that throws a three star review out there, but I'll try my best to say as to why I think that's the case. On top of that, I will state this as my main biases before I go into my review. I don't really like the combat in this game, on top of the management side. Not to say that they're particularly bad, but I mainly came for the lewd rather than having to fight off buzz squadrons trying to raid my station and/or managing said station on making it the new center of space Vegas. I mainly did just the bare minimum to skirt by those elements, so keep that in mind as I go through the rest of my review.
So, what is this game? The premise is simple. You're a higher up Commander with some ties to a high born family in this universe. You have your station, you're raided by sexy pirates, you activate a self destruct code cause you're a coomer with nothing to lose and pretty much give them an ultimatum on them being your harem or you all die in a fiery blaze. While it's not as overt as that, they overall opt for the latter, and in your sexy Space Captain whiles you start to realize that's pretty much the hand you're playing.
Now with the management and the combat, combat is mainly hiring fighters to then form squadrons that you then utilize in a turn based mode reminiscent of classic RPG combat. I didn't very much enjoy it considering that there's the gimme in just paying your raiders off which incurs a rep loss for your station, but, considering that on the other side with management, namely in building more facilities to make more revenue, I still was in the positives and could always afford the next raid and/or building even with said loss. That's pretty much what I observed on those ends, perhaps others enjoyed it more but I didn't find much there that wasn't just upgrading the next facility or hoping your numbers game was better than the enemies.
Aside from that, the lewd. This of course makes or breaks sandbox harem games and for the most part I can say that it's hot for what it is, if you're going just for what it is. That is is mainly both the beauty and the bane of this game, ENF alongside good ol' plain exhibitionism. The game features a mechanic in which you must balance the perverted wardrobe of your new harem cast as you start to further their questlines. Namely by selecting outfits they're comfortable wearing on the daily, while also adding a couple more that are risque, and depending on their whims and fancies, they might be daring and wear said provactive clothing that helps further their own perverted stats. This of course evolves to the point of them no longer wanting to wear tame clothing and instead opting into just wearing what might as well be just the bare minimum.
That's...pretty much it for the lewd. Don't get me wrong there's certain scenes that play out through the quests that are sex scenes all on their own, and those are pretty good. But for interactability throughout the station, there isn't much in the way of repeatable scenes save for elements that adhere themselves to the exhibition/ENF fetish. Such as telling your crewmembers to strip and/or flash here and there, but no options for banging out in the open (or even private), handies, or BJ's, just, nude fun and that's about it.
What I feel is perhaps the only real repeatable(ish) sex scene you get, you have to essentially wait for your crewmembers to be horny enough to come back to your room just to have a singular sex scene that never changes. And in that, actually having sex is almost a negative as when they do lust after you, and you give them the old Kirk(ette) special, they no longer wear their lewd uniforms. You have to bounce back on making them horny again to then get your stat modifiers that your lewd choice of clothes gives 'em, so if anything, you give them the Picard special to keep them pushing the envelope.
And to even consider what special you want to give, that in itself requires hours upon hours of grinding for points and navigating a rather horrific UI on getting around the station. And the dev knows this, he/she's locked what should be the main map for traversing the station behind a patreon wall. To me, this is completely asinine in the sense of knowing that the major part that players are going to engage in, the navigation menu, is literally lacking so much that you can essentially pay for a better means of getting around the ship.
You do eventually get used to it, but it is rather tedious having to get from point A to point B through a myriad of renpy menus when instead, you could subscribe to a patreon that gives you a way better navigation map that in itself is considered a "cheat".
And for grinding on the lewd, it's of the classical variety with a little bit of a twist. There is a unique mechanic in which as previously mentioned where you do get to play around with the wardrobe for the majority of your crew, which is interesting. That mechanic in itself then adds more exhibition points to their stats, and allows you to order them to undress elsewhere around the station which in turn contributes to obedience points. Alongside this, the classic "talk to them" choice normally helps influence their affection. This all of course is also time/schedule based, so depending on when and where they're at is crucial on even being able to influence these stats.
Now the above sounds simple until you realize that you're going to have to essentially grind out a good chunk of time in getting +1's or 2's on obtaining these small stat gains per girl to get to say 30, 40 points per stat to then unlock their next quest. You repeat this ad nauseam until you basically have them all wanting to dress slooty.
That's why I wonder why so many have given this a 5 star review. This game feels old, like, mid 2010's harem game old. As that whole stat grind above just reminds me of a handful of titles from the ye olden times, and I'm sure many other vets could also see the writing on the wall in games that aged poorly due to rolling through stat grind hell just to get to the good stuff. As you have to be mindful of time, where these girls are at, whether you can even influence any of their stats, hope you have quest triggers already done from other girls, reset/pass time to grind again, all while navigating a rather jank mockup-esque menu to do so. It feels nostalgic in all the wrong ways. And with that, the ultimate reward is usually just more lewd uniforms, and/or them being more open to that as you climb up their quest ladder, no additions to anything lewder beyond that, save for the tailor made scenes in questlines and the occasional knock at your door for your single sex scene special.
I will say, the writing is good where it comes, many of the characters feel as though they are who they are. And there are stakes where possible on what you're having to look out for, alongside the universe itself feeling rather well established. Yet, as said with the grind, you're constantly being slapped with a myriad of repetitive actions rather than the actual juicy stuff that the quests give you, which in itself reveals a major tedium that this game holds. And this tedium unfortunately extends itself out into the lewd as well.
And for the most part, that is the game overall. Maybe it's for peeps that mainly just want the exhibitionist sim with a dash of sex but nothing more, and if that's the case then I guess I'm just not the mark. Looking at this through more of a harem, sandbox kind of lens shows that to me that there's just a lot lacking for it to be more enjoyable than what you essentially get, on top of it feeling rather aged.
So, 3/5 experience overall, I think it's worth a run but just keep in mind that this game is not focusing mainly on sex, more so naughty times, grind, and exhibitionism mainly, if you're looking for anything more than that then it's not here.
Welp I hate to be the asshole that throws a three star review out there, but I'll try my best to say as to why I think that's the case. On top of that, I will state this as my main biases before I go into my review. I don't really like the combat in this game, on top of the management side. Not to say that they're particularly bad, but I mainly came for the lewd rather than having to fight off buzz squadrons trying to raid my station and/or managing said station on making it the new center of space Vegas. I mainly did just the bare minimum to skirt by those elements, so keep that in mind as I go through the rest of my review.
So, what is this game? The premise is simple. You're a higher up Commander with some ties to a high born family in this universe. You have your station, you're raided by sexy pirates, you activate a self destruct code cause you're a coomer with nothing to lose and pretty much give them an ultimatum on them being your harem or you all die in a fiery blaze. While it's not as overt as that, they overall opt for the latter, and in your sexy Space Captain whiles you start to realize that's pretty much the hand you're playing.
Now with the management and the combat, combat is mainly hiring fighters to then form squadrons that you then utilize in a turn based mode reminiscent of classic RPG combat. I didn't very much enjoy it considering that there's the gimme in just paying your raiders off which incurs a rep loss for your station, but, considering that on the other side with management, namely in building more facilities to make more revenue, I still was in the positives and could always afford the next raid and/or building even with said loss. That's pretty much what I observed on those ends, perhaps others enjoyed it more but I didn't find much there that wasn't just upgrading the next facility or hoping your numbers game was better than the enemies.
Aside from that, the lewd. This of course makes or breaks sandbox harem games and for the most part I can say that it's hot for what it is, if you're going just for what it is. That is is mainly both the beauty and the bane of this game, ENF alongside good ol' plain exhibitionism. The game features a mechanic in which you must balance the perverted wardrobe of your new harem cast as you start to further their questlines. Namely by selecting outfits they're comfortable wearing on the daily, while also adding a couple more that are risque, and depending on their whims and fancies, they might be daring and wear said provactive clothing that helps further their own perverted stats. This of course evolves to the point of them no longer wanting to wear tame clothing and instead opting into just wearing what might as well be just the bare minimum.
That's...pretty much it for the lewd. Don't get me wrong there's certain scenes that play out through the quests that are sex scenes all on their own, and those are pretty good. But for interactability throughout the station, there isn't much in the way of repeatable scenes save for elements that adhere themselves to the exhibition/ENF fetish. Such as telling your crewmembers to strip and/or flash here and there, but no options for banging out in the open (or even private), handies, or BJ's, just, nude fun and that's about it.
What I feel is perhaps the only real repeatable(ish) sex scene you get, you have to essentially wait for your crewmembers to be horny enough to come back to your room just to have a singular sex scene that never changes. And in that, actually having sex is almost a negative as when they do lust after you, and you give them the old Kirk(ette) special, they no longer wear their lewd uniforms. You have to bounce back on making them horny again to then get your stat modifiers that your lewd choice of clothes gives 'em, so if anything, you give them the Picard special to keep them pushing the envelope.
And to even consider what special you want to give, that in itself requires hours upon hours of grinding for points and navigating a rather horrific UI on getting around the station. And the dev knows this, he/she's locked what should be the main map for traversing the station behind a patreon wall. To me, this is completely asinine in the sense of knowing that the major part that players are going to engage in, the navigation menu, is literally lacking so much that you can essentially pay for a better means of getting around the ship.
You do eventually get used to it, but it is rather tedious having to get from point A to point B through a myriad of renpy menus when instead, you could subscribe to a patreon that gives you a way better navigation map that in itself is considered a "cheat".
And for grinding on the lewd, it's of the classical variety with a little bit of a twist. There is a unique mechanic in which as previously mentioned where you do get to play around with the wardrobe for the majority of your crew, which is interesting. That mechanic in itself then adds more exhibition points to their stats, and allows you to order them to undress elsewhere around the station which in turn contributes to obedience points. Alongside this, the classic "talk to them" choice normally helps influence their affection. This all of course is also time/schedule based, so depending on when and where they're at is crucial on even being able to influence these stats.
Now the above sounds simple until you realize that you're going to have to essentially grind out a good chunk of time in getting +1's or 2's on obtaining these small stat gains per girl to get to say 30, 40 points per stat to then unlock their next quest. You repeat this ad nauseam until you basically have them all wanting to dress slooty.
That's why I wonder why so many have given this a 5 star review. This game feels old, like, mid 2010's harem game old. As that whole stat grind above just reminds me of a handful of titles from the ye olden times, and I'm sure many other vets could also see the writing on the wall in games that aged poorly due to rolling through stat grind hell just to get to the good stuff. As you have to be mindful of time, where these girls are at, whether you can even influence any of their stats, hope you have quest triggers already done from other girls, reset/pass time to grind again, all while navigating a rather jank mockup-esque menu to do so. It feels nostalgic in all the wrong ways. And with that, the ultimate reward is usually just more lewd uniforms, and/or them being more open to that as you climb up their quest ladder, no additions to anything lewder beyond that, save for the tailor made scenes in questlines and the occasional knock at your door for your single sex scene special.
I will say, the writing is good where it comes, many of the characters feel as though they are who they are. And there are stakes where possible on what you're having to look out for, alongside the universe itself feeling rather well established. Yet, as said with the grind, you're constantly being slapped with a myriad of repetitive actions rather than the actual juicy stuff that the quests give you, which in itself reveals a major tedium that this game holds. And this tedium unfortunately extends itself out into the lewd as well.
And for the most part, that is the game overall. Maybe it's for peeps that mainly just want the exhibitionist sim with a dash of sex but nothing more, and if that's the case then I guess I'm just not the mark. Looking at this through more of a harem, sandbox kind of lens shows that to me that there's just a lot lacking for it to be more enjoyable than what you essentially get, on top of it feeling rather aged.
So, 3/5 experience overall, I think it's worth a run but just keep in mind that this game is not focusing mainly on sex, more so naughty times, grind, and exhibitionism mainly, if you're looking for anything more than that then it's not here.
