- Aug 30, 2017
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I agree with several others: play Melody before this one, and in fact it's a good first game before exploring other styles. It's finished, which is important (and not as common as it should be), and it's very professionally done. It's a good introduction to how one sub-genre of these games (multi-NPC semi-exclusive branching) works. It doesn't have any controversial edge fetishes. The writing's a bit simple and the characters don't have a ton of complexity, but that's not bad for a first game. It's also not so long that you'll lose interest; the pace of progression is entirely reasonable.
I'd recommend playing it without a walkthrough or mod the very first time (save often!), because you'll likely attempt something that you shouldn't. Then pick up one or both of those accompaniments and play it again — still saving often — to see how both the minor and major branches function. Play all the major branches that interest you. That should give you a good toolset for playing more complex and difficult games, whether that's with a walkthrough/mod or not.
After that, maybe give Treasure of Nadia a shot. It's long and it can be a grindy "walking simulator," which is another popular but somewhat controversial style of game, but it's also 1) finished and 2) extremely polished. There's a mod that can lend it one of the more popular fetishes, if you wish.
Or Love of Magic. Also finished (the first book, anyway), an entirely different approach to the field (gameplay- and story-heavy non-branching). Because it's finished-in-part, it'll give you a good feel for what it's like to play something that's satisfying on its own yet has more to come.
After that, decide if you want to pursue something genre-specific, different, or edgier and people can probably give you good recommendations based on whatever it is you're looking for: incest, sci-fi, BDSM, harem, sandbox, sharing, NTR, poker/Arthurian, hand-drawn...whatever it is.
I also agree that starting with something brilliant, like Depraved Awakening, will only lead to future disappointment.
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