Beautiful women, lovely art, competent if uninspired animations, and a nice-guy MC come together to make "Bare Witness" a solidly fun, sexy experience--at least as of version .3. The lewd content is well done and plentiful, yet there are also some love interests who want to take their time, which keeps patient players salivating as they progress through the story.
The story itself is compelling enough, if more than a little contrived. The MC is
There are a couple of hints that the drama will intensify and the last version ends on a cliffhanger, so I expect the next update will dive more deeply into that aspect of the plot.
The models and artwork are well done and look really good. Lighting, environments, and just about all of the visuals are really top tier. There are some nice details in the art, too. For example, the Sadie character has ample, almost pendulous breasts. As you would expect, her breasts bear some stretch marks and cellulite, which we can just make out on the model. I love it.
As noted earlier, the MC is a good guy, which I find refreshing. Players are presented with occasional choices, generally limited to whether or not to go on a date, return a kiss, etc. There's no angel/asshole point system to track or anything like that. Nonetheless, there appear to be at least two paths, depending on who you agree to date on nights in which more than one woman wants to go out with you. "Bare Witness" is looking like a harem game, but so far it appears one must choose between harems rather than have one giant harem. Most games aren't really worth playing more than once in order to pursue different branches, but "Bare Witness" manages to be strong enough that I will certainly do another playthrough with different choices.
I like that some LIs are willing and eager to hop into the sack with the MC right away, while others wait. "Bare Witness" strikes a good balance between offering up lewd content early and providing rewards to players who are more patient. With at least one character this felt somewhat contrived, but with Mora, for example, what happens seems in line with what we see of her character.
I feel compelled to add that the writing is above average, and it's clear that the dev is either a native speaker of English or has a very competent editor. Apart from a few minor typos, the game is free from any jarring (or even mildly annoying) grammar or usage oddities.
In fact, I have only two criticisms of the game. One is that this title seems to want to appeal to those players who get into jealous rages if they are not the center of every woman's universe. There are virtually no male characters in the game at all and those who are, are irrelevant as sexual rivals. I realize AVNs are fantasies, but some game storylines conform to a level of sexual jealousy that is just so petty and immature that I find it off putting. "Bare Witness" is not in that category, yet.
My second criticism is linked to the first and it is that most of the dialogue and action are just vehicles for the MC to showcase how awesome and desired he is. We get occasional flashes of insight into these women's lives that have nothing to do with the MC, but they are few and far between.
I was also going to complain that the MC attracts women too easily, but I think that criticism would miss the mark. After all, the MC is nice looking, has a great physique, and is hung like a horse. Even in real life, such a man would no doubt have tons of women throwing themselves at him. The harem configuration is unrealistic, of course, but this is a suspension of disbelief I'll happily engage in for this type of game.
