v0.08c Reviewed.
This is definitely an ambitious take on a popular genre I've never found particularly appealing. That's not a critique of the effort in and of itself, however...In fact, it's a stroke of genius, really. Writers of adult games are often faced with two choices: Either pick a mainstream story and ask the reader to suspend disbelief about the girls' unlikely behavior, or pick a fantastic story and apply a different set of social rules to make the behavior feel less contrived.
Desert Stalker is a better story than it is a porn game, but many of the top-rated games fall into this category. The problem to my admittedly amateur eye is that Desert Stalker may have been too ambitious to leave much room for any erotica with any weight to it.
I would echo what others have said...The sex scenes often feel bolted on and lack heat or buildup, or are over so quickly they leave you legitimately wondering if you should roll back and replay them more slowly.
Add to that art that is somewhat hit and miss from a quality perspective and you end up with an experience that's entertaining, but somehow less than the sum of its parts. In short, the composition and expressions may be on point while the lighting feels flat and lifeless. I do try to give leeway here for the dystopian setting.
Having dabbled in 3D art, I will say that I understand the challenge any developer who chooses to work outside of a contemporary setting takes on to build and consistent and cohesive world, and that is certainly present within the limits of the available art assets here.
That aside, the game is interesting, if not riveting, and more than competently made, and simultaneously somehow leaves me wanting.
I'm doing my best to avoid letting the kink focus taint my assessment here, but I can't say with any certainty that I didn't find some of the dominance themes offputting. Even given the change of rules the setting of the game offers, it does make much of the sex feel completely unearned, which for me often diminished any sense of reward for consistent play.
I agree with others who say the character development and writing is really solid, which only reinforces my initial sentiment that this is a great visual novel that almost feels held back by it's lackluster lewd scenes.
To summarize, there's a lot here, and I don't want to penalize the dev unduly for simply creating content that runs afoul of my personal tastes. There certainly seems to be no lack of people gobsmacked by this effort, and I need to take that into account when I formulate my own score.
Desert Stalker feels like a solid 3.5 effort to me, but given how many have rounded up, I'm going to round down with the caveat that I will revisit this when it's completed and revise my score accordingly.
