HTML - Course of Temptation [v0.5.1f] [Anthaum]

  1. 5.00 star(s)

    Edhinor

    I agree with some points on the previous review, in particular the fact that the corruption escalates very fast with each stat, and that exhibitionism and disinhibition seem to work on different scales.

    However, I still think this game deserves a 4 at the very least (and, to be honest, it is very close to a 5 but it is not perfect).

    Why do I think so? first let me say that only text games are not my cup of tea, unless they are very well written, they do not increase my arousal, as opposed to games with images and text where, if the text is lacking, the image can still do its job or, if the images are not perfect, a good text will support it.

    Course of Temptation doesn't have fantastically written sex scenes, however it does have something even better... it lets your imagination do the work. It presents situations that are hot and sexy in themselves, and then provides you the tools to move the scene along and use your imagination in a very compelling way.

    The system allows you an incredible amount of agency and granularity, do you want to lift your shirt or take it off? push your panties aside or keep them on and grind against the guy? remove his pants? zip them off? lower them? tease the cock with your fingers? with lips? suck it? lick it? caress it? You can also choose positions, and each allows for different sexual behaviours, and, more important even.... your partners also have their preferences! do you want to go on your knees and suck that guy off? well, maybe he wants to keep you standing. Does he want to remove your panties? you can oppose it.

    All of this allows for your imagination to do the work and immerses you in the actions of this girl, you choose how far she goes and what exactly she does. Also, if you are getting to a point where due to drunkenness or arousal you will lose control, the game lets you know about it.

    The game has other strengths, the map is fantastic and helps to navigate this place in a very realistic way, the passing of time is well done and realistic, the eating, hygiene, resting, relaxing stats are all very well done and believable, you have to earn money and spend it also in a realistic way, I love the way other NPCs are implemented in the game, and how little by little you develop your relationships with them, from acquaintances to friendships, to possible romances... etc.

    The NPC relationships really help with the feeling of immersion in the game and I found myself checking different people, the system of memories with them, who was unfriendly, rough, caring, funny... etc and then roleplaying my character with them, hardly no game manages to do that!

    The classes, the system to study and do homework, the exams... all add to that immersion and roleplaying.

    So sure, the game needs maybe some polish on its implementation of the corruption mechanic. More granularity here wouldn't hurt (even though I like that you need to do a certain type of action a lot for it to increase, it is not like you go from disinhibition 1 to 2 in a moment either... which is good).

    I also would love to see a paper doll to go with the fantastic clothing and appearance system that the game implements (but I can live without one as I understand this would be a major undertaking given the huge amount of clothing options available).

    Still, all things considered, I am giving this game a 5/5 as I have had a great time playing it and I am looking forward to keeping exploring this place, this character and developing relationships with its inhabitants.
    Likes: Feyd
  2. 2.00 star(s)

    MarshmallowCasserole

    Very rough and sometimes nonsensical corruption slope; sex vignettes are pretty lacking.

    Basically, I played this game for the initial corruption journey of a female MC, not caring about "late game" content. If I had to sum it up I'd say I was very disappointed.

    As is de-facto standard in these life sims, the character has a bunch of stats; the ones I'm interested in are exhibitionism and disinhibition—which is really corruption by another name, so I'm calling it that. And my main criticism is that corruption 0 is an absolute virgin, unwilling to masturbate in relative privacy, and corruption 3 is a slut ready to prostitute herself for a measly $100. At 4 the price you can set goes down to $50. For reference, your hourly wage at that point should be $9 or $11 sans tips for milder lewd requests. Now, bearing this in mind, I want to emphasize that exhibitionism 3 is still not enough to flash tits for money (without sex), which makes no sense. Not only the progression steps are incredibly steep, but the stats don't correlate with each other in a sensible fashion.

    This, in my opinion, is the bane of most text games, especially those with procedural generation. They don't focus on making sense of the lewd stats, and making them fine-grained. Or at least sensible. You can go as a corruption 0, exhibitionism 0 character, buy the shortest miniskirt, a g-string, and the largest buttplug the adult store has, and wear this... anywhere, from day 1, in perpetuity (yes, including the plug, 24x7, classes, workouts, sleep). What? Something wrong? Let's see, you've got outer wear and underwear, that means you formally pass all your modesty checks and so your character is okay with that! Occasionally you'll get one of three short vignettes for wearing the plug, and when I say short I mean it. They are literally two-sentence long. Then you can edge the main character so she constantly walks on the brink of orgasm, go to the bar, and hook up with a stranger, letting him fuck you in any way, before even asking for a name. And if you know what you're doing, and have some luck with the bar visitors, you can do it again. And again.

    But fucking god forbid you dare to go out without a bra with a modest top on. Exhibition 0! Not lewd enough! Shoo! Shoo! Go grind some lewd stats!

    Is this depth, or rather lack thereof, even appropriate for a text-only game? But hey, you can have said sex toys and a gazillion of clothing articles in over a dozen different colours! Now that is an important feature. This pond may seem large because of all these clothing options, but it is not even ankle deep.

    Just as another example, the game features an introductory sex event on day one, which in case of a bi female MC takes shape in the form of a stranger with a huge dick who jerks off onto the faces of MC and two other girls. Now's the important part: it happens on a campus bus, mid-tour, and with other people around! And the only choice you're given is what to do after MC's face is glazed (wipe, lick off, let dry). To add insult to injury, the event goes back to back with character creation, but plays out exactly the same regardless of the starting corruption stat, which can be as low as 0 and as high as 3 (remember, 0 is a chaste virgin uncomfortable with any sexuality, and 3 is the level at which MC is already willing to sell her body for just one Franklin). This instantly invalidates any weight corruption stat has, because it hasn't any! It's only a dumb gating switch, that works maybe for only half of event types!

    All this was to say that for a game that advertises corruption as one of its key features, the way corruption stats are (not) working is just unacceptable in my opinion. Add some really dry prose in sex scenes, incredibly so in procedurally generated parts, and it is not a good look at all.

    A lot of other reviews mention grind as a major flaw of the game, and I suppose that depends. Some aspects, like relationships with other NPCs are indeed incredibly grindy. You can hang out with a character for several hours and still not know their name. Ridiculously grindy. But you can skip them, and go for some other less grindy paths like burger joint slut, like I did.

    Okay... I need to say something nice, I guess. The general routine and UX are pretty good. Navigation is very good for a text game, having an actual map that you can click to fast travel does wonders for useability. The technical side of writing is also fine, no obvious typos or errors. The setting is realistic and boring, and that's a good thing, because the alternative is some seedy Rapetown. You won't need to engage in combat to defend yourself at every turn. The worst you'll face is occasional molestation on the crowded bus which you can shut down (or encourage).

    The score is not final, but for now (v0.4.27) it is what it is.
  3. 5.00 star(s)

    CeLezte

    Amazing start. So many options right off the bat. The NPCs have actual personality that you can interact with and they are all random generated. Such an amazing game so far. Can't wait to see more updates.
  4. 4.00 star(s)

    jferdi

    Life sim with refreshing take on the mechanics. Like Degrees of Lewdity, there's a schedule to follow with random events, options to explore and advance skills, and scripted story events that appear by passing time. Also like DoL, it seems like the "difficulty" is meant to increase over time.

    An interesting but simple new system of needs. Composure affects the generation of relaxation and attention. Short term affects like humiliation gets dumped into long-term needs.

    Navigation hotkeys need re-organizing. If I ever need to reach toward Shift for a repetitive maneuver, the hotkey doesn't help.

    I like to roleplay a goody-two-shoes, trying my best to stay out of trouble until the difficulty drags me down or forces me to make hard decisions. While playing that route, I had a hard time finding sources of composure. Other needs like food have a hard reset, the clinic stay, but composure does not, which can lead into a spiral that keeps attention and relaxation low too. This would be the time when my character is forced to consider consensual sex acts, but I think the game should leave some other avenue to get out.

    Suggestion: Drunkness can negate the effects of low composure. When drunkness is high, relaxation and attention can be restored quickly even if composure is low.
  5. 5.00 star(s)

    VictorHayes

    + College Age DoL. No more skirting rule 7
    + Characters can be forceful depending on settings.
    + Monthly free updates
    + Lively discord presence for questions/bug reports/suggestions
    - money and skill grind but adjustable gain multiplier
    - some scenes are hard to save scum (like laundry scene or city random events)
  6. 4.00 star(s)

    ClaudiaMinx_01

    Very entertaining and complete sandbox even at this stage, although it's in serious need of some QoL adjustments, or more personalization regarding world generation.

    It has certain variety regarding sexual content and events, but maybe it can benefit from more verbose descriptions, and some more options, like disengaging during the act (or failing to do so).

    Definitely a game to keep an eye on.
  7. 3.00 star(s)

    chawuciren71

    + There are some story lines well designed.
    + Lewed encounters has much potential. Yes, detailed as it advertised.

    - Not much real story lines. Somewhat underdeveloped.
    - Very annoying RNG.
    - Endless daily loop to progress the story.
    - Status management.
    - All in all the game is playing you.
  8. 3.00 star(s)

    LittleSisterLover

    This is on version 0.4.12.

    There isn't really enough here at this point for a truly exhaustive review as it currently exists as a rather bare-bones experience.

    As others have pointed out, "Course of Temptation" largely seeks to implement many of the ideas found in "Degrees of Lewdity" with a stronger emphasis on player choice.

    It is somewhat odd then that the primary reason I'm rating this relatively low is due to the lack of player choice, mostly in orientation and representation. That is, the game forces every variety under the sun onto the player with limited ability to filter anything out. Having those options is great, forcing them is not.
  9. 5.00 star(s)

    Adama

    Incredible game. As others said, it's basically DoL without the rape. The writing is really good, the mechanics and unique characters are great, the random encounters feel really nice. It's really awesome.

    I think this along with BDCC will be my two main games here. It would benefit a ton from some cute art (paperdoll or high poly pixelart like DoLs beeesss mod) though. Just so you can see the character and who you are speaking to without the need to go through menus.

    Anyway, I really love it. Also, it's a life sim like Girl Life etc., so expect a lot of "chores" and daily actions. Nothing annoying though.
  10. 3.00 star(s)

    BRONKKNORB

    The actual stuff is pretty good, but theres waaaaaaaaaaaay too much filler and just travelling around doing things that don't actually matter. its an all text game, too, so its wild they try to pad this out so much considering its not like theyre stalling for artwork. If this game had more confidence in its meat and a lot less runaround it could be an easy 5
  11. 5.00 star(s)

    Deepblume63

    Finally something that is similar to Degrees of lewdity, and infairness the game is new and it has a lot of things to do, the Grind is respectable and the RNG needs alittle bit of adjusting, thank you dev for adding a XP multiplier to lessen the grind, this game is great if you want to roleplay

    5 Stars i hope it doesnt get abandoned
  12. 5.00 star(s)

    A Fox In a Dress Suit

    I downloaded it expecting nothing and i ending love it if you want a Degrees of Lewdity without the being the victim here it is. It has a lot of general costumization (MC, World population etc) you can be a female bi in a world with the mayority of woman is trans or vice versa some people say is really grindy in the default mode it is but you can go to the option an change the difficulty making it less grindy and the cheat option is there too.
    the only thing i did not like is that you cannot fully remove a gender of the game but I understand it because some characters are linked to quests.
  13. 4.00 star(s)

    Golden Twink

    Honestly surprisingly really good. I went into this expecting to be disappointed but came out with... Possibly new personal favourite HTML game.

    It has a pretty surprising amount of very high-quality content, decent customization of game-settings, and some unique quirks. It still has a bit of work to go admittedly but even at its current state it's a very well done piece of work that's very enjoyable and you can get a very hefty amount of playtime in.

    The only things that I found semi-negative about this game is;
    • The customization of generated NPCs is annoyingly limited. I'm not bi, so I want only one gender of NPCs to be running around the town to interact with. This game limits the lowest you can set it to be as 5%... despite easily being able to go into HTML dev console and setting it to 0%
    • The inclusion of "genderless" NPCs and Trans characters with no way to turn it off. While some might find this enticing, I personally found it just to be an annoyance. The amount of times I would get stuck in a sex scene with no way to exit (you can't leave a scene until you both finish) with the thought of the person having a dick to suddenly find a pussy instead... is super high. It can just end up with you getting excited for a scene just to leave with a bad taste in your mouth (pun intended) and disappointment.
    • Story Content seems to be mainly Female PC based, as well as some of the regular interactions.

    I WILL ALSO NOTE FOR GAY PLAYERS; if you're interested in playing a Male PC with Male NPCs, while it's still enjoyable, it is a bit buggy as well as lacking some content currently..
    • The main story with the best friend focuses on a party that happens with drinks that are given out to females. In a game with no females... It makes that content impossible to proceed.
    • As well as Sex Interactions with Dominate Male NPCs will never result in anything more than a HJ. The game fails to register that, while a Female PC can get penetrated in the regular standing position, a Male PC can not and so instead, the NPC will refuse to let you move positions (intended) but will also not change positions themselves (not intended).
    • As well as Rimming isn't in the game at all. This is less of a gripe and more of an observation instead as, I noticed on a Female PC that Male NPCs seemed to love to go down, but as a Male PC with a Male NPC the only oral option is a regular BJ.

    Regardless, a very well and refreshing HTML game that knows an HTML game's strong point; The writing and availability of a sandbox. Will definitely be keeping my eye on this one and definitely recommend anyone that enjoys HTML games to try this out.
  14. 5.00 star(s)

    Vvsttannat

    It's always refreshing to see someone doing something different.

    Among all the subpar HTML games centered around the same 500 gifs you've seen time and time again, those like this one always manage to shine through.

    If you've played Degrees of Lewdity, it's the same kind of gist:

    • Pretty expansive and detailed sandbox world (not as big for the moment, though)
    • Lots of characters and pretty much ALL are customizable. I believe there's about a hundred different characters and they're all randomly generated in one way or another. Persistent characters have set paths, but their appearance can be different, while the rest are all randomized based on your preferences
    • A ton of different activities to pursue
    • Very varied content in terms of diversity. I love that you can differentiate between various gender identities and sexual configurations for both your character and others, kudos for that. Also, a big plus for not falling into racial stereotypes either.
    • Different types of relationships with pure friendships, romances, fuckbuddies, fuckenemies and more based on various sliders
    • Lack of explicit imagery and heavy reliance on text and your own imagination (thank god for that)
    It's not exactly as Degrees of Lewdity, mind you, this one feels a lot more realistic even with its most outlandish stuff. Also has way less stuff overall (then again, DoL has been around for a long while now).

    Honestly, I can't wait to see where this goes. My only pet peeves are that the sandbox aspect while entertaining gets a bit tiresome after a while with all the grind and that there's sadly there's a lot less to do if you're not an absolute slut that aims to fuck everyone; plus, I'd like more special content for the persistent characters, but that will also come later on, I assume.

    I'm sure in the future there will be more content overall for a better chance to roleplay, but even for the moment (v.04.12) it's a solid, original game worth spending an afternoon binging.
  15. 5.00 star(s)

    J_Bunny

    Very nice and fresh! Lack of pictures suits the game.
    Little grindy by my opinion and progress is slow.
    Hate slow phone interface, but other than that looks very nice and polished.
    After 8 hours, still trying to unlock everything.
  16. 5.00 star(s)

    soytupapiperra

    Insane... the mechanics are easy to understand, the grind is insanely fun to play, the job (burger shop) as a twist i didn't see coming GREAT way to progress, good writing... but i'm really hook on the gameplay is really fun.

    Hope to see more visuals, would be an amazing addition to the game and a better, idk how to put it, fucking bottoms/UI for the sex scenes, it gets a little messy when you don't know what you doing.
  17. 5.00 star(s)

    DrDerpington

    TL;DR = College life simulator. Very engaging gameplay.

    Story: 5/5
    + This game is kind of sandbox. You have a lot of freedom of actions. The game world is full of activies.
    + Main point of the game is for the MC to prosper somehow. You can choose your gender. (female, male, trans)
    + There is a lot of freedom to your gameplay:
    1.) You can decide for her to be proper A student.
    2.) Or you can make her into kinky student who makes money for her college life by doing some sexy stuff (webcamming, etc.).
    3.) Or she can turn turn into full slut.
    + There are so many possibilities.

    Art: ?
    - This is text based game. If you dont mind lack of pictures, then it is great game.

    Sex stuff: 5/5
    + Sex scenes are very well done.
    + There are many possibilities in this game:
    Masturbation at different locations. Kinky exhibitionism. Seduction of other characters (or teachers). Straight up sex. Hooks up. Drunk party dares. Forfeits for a minigames. Fun with sex toys. Webcamming. So much stuff to do.

    Gameplay: 4/5
    + This game is sandbox. So you make your story here.
    + You have a minimap of area that you use to move around. Different locations offer different activies.
    + There is also a difference between times of a day. For example during night the girl can go streaking around campus. Heh.
    - Only downside of the game is the fact, that it is still in development and many things are only partially completed.
    + So far this game gave me around 10 hours of playtime before I discovered majority of events.
    - Another not so great thing about the game is amount of grind. You need to grind certain stats in order to unlock certain events. But the game gives you an option to skip grinding by using cheats. So no big harm.

    To sum it up:
    I really enjoyed this game. It is funny and exciting game. I will recommend this.
  18. 1.00 star(s)

    nackedsnake

    Course of Temptation [v0.4.12]: Questionable Starting Position:
    The ideas are very interesting, but there are 2 glaring issues:
    1. It's super grindy. We play Video game to have fun / satiated Horniness. NOT to mimic our IRL Mundane Daily grind.
      • Click buttons repeatably is Not fun
      • Grind without gameplay is Not fun
      • "The sim" games are fun cuz there're gameplay associated to fullfill your daily needs. This game doesn't offer those.
    2. Most contents are Procedurally Generated. These only create Banal Fillers that get old super quick, leading to a game that's "Wide as an ocean but deep as a puddle".
    • Other Things:
      • Too Much Clicks to do anything, UI is messy
      • Porn Menu is OK, But the writing is meh
    Wish the dev could find good stands, balance and implementations to realise their ideas.
    And Good Luck
  19. 2.00 star(s)

    jewtube

    Steeped in DoL-esque design to the point where one might wonder why they'd bother with it when the former exists.

    Has basically all the same issues but none of the charm:
    - mind-numbing stat-grinding the pay off to which doesn't feel worth it
    - you're supposed to care about automatically generated NPCs with no personality
    - truly deranged world navigation
    - EXTREMELY tedious clothing system

    There's clearly potential here but whether it's going to be utilized bolstering the narrative instead of feature creeping the game to death like usual remains to be seen.
  20. 3.00 star(s)

    teddidiah

    It's another life sim game, where you play a character of various appearance traits built together interacting with other automatically generated character traits built together. Run around and do the usual monotonous tasks like visiting class and pressing pay attention eight times or go to work to pay for clothes so you can successfully talk with people. Don't forget to raise your skills! You get cap per day so just do boosts once or twice. Also tend to all your needs, like spending an ingame-five minutes to go to the bathroom, which is never significant enough to matter! All this so you can get a high enough relationship value with a collection of appearance traits so you can hook up, go to the sex scene menu and remove clothes, remove clothes, press genitalia to genitalia, then press the sex button ten times.

    It's a tired genre. Still, the unique, pre-written events and other content that comes up is pretty good, and as far as Lifesims goes this has production value and actually looks nice. It's the best in show, but the show is still kind of lame. It's just tedious.