I found this game pretty early on when it had little content – I enjoyed it quite a bit and decided to keep an eye on it. Life got in the way and when I returned the game was tagged as abandoned. The latest update encouraged me to replay it, so I took the opportunity to write a review.
So – first off – what content there is, is great – beautiful and interesting characters, an interesting plot, well written sex scenes (even if the creator is obviously still experimenting), the character interaction is great and I love the options of dominating nicely or being harsh and a bit abusive,
but…
The main and pretty big weakness of the game is that it is extremely skeletal. What do I mean with that – it feels incredibly incomplete. The meta plot (what is going on in the city, what are the major factions, etc.) gets developed continuously, but all the side plots (the girls) have mostly one story arc, after which you can’t really interact with them anymore.
For example, you recruit beatrice, but afterwards she has zero content or interactions. You seduce Sage and she disappears completely afterwards. Even Catherine has very few free interactions (She does show up a lot more though during other girl’s storylines and Interludes, though). I think the only girl that has two story arcs is sophie and they are pretty short.
Even Mia and Sophie who are obviously main girls have very little interaction after their (short) storyarcs are completed.
Instead the creator keeps introducing new girls – an example: the blue oyster arc advances the meta plot by introducing the criminal arm of Ryan’s family and showing us what mace is and how it works – great, but it also adds two girls (Gem and Carina) and an entire story arc with the lingerie store. Sure I loved Carina and am really, really looking forward to giving Gem her well deserved comeuppance, but were they really necessary for the story? It also introduces two barkeeper-girls and maybe Jinx (not sure whether she will be a reoccurring character).
So rather than a handful well developed storylines we have a bunch of short storyarcs that don’t really lead anywhere.
Similarly the game tries to be a sandbox game, but if you try to interact with the characters outside of their storylines they have no to very little content. The point of sandbox games is that you can play the character’s stories in the order you want to, and you generally can always find something to do with the characters if another is busy – be it talking, going on dates or short scenes. This game doesn’t really have that.
Game elements only exist in an incomplete state - Only Sophie and Mia show up in the Heart-diary, raising their stats does nothing, there is karma, submission, affection – but they don’t really do anything aside from unlocking at best one mini-scene per character.
Also – a scene gallery would be really cool and would help collecting all the scenes.
Other people have also mentioned that scenes can play very anachronistically – for me that happened several times, for example – I went to Atlantis with Carina before Moon introduced me to it.
To give some constructive criticism – the game would have been a lot better if
MoolahMilk had developed it as a visual novel rather than a sandbox, because that is where they shine - the Catherine interludes with her family flowed beautifully and the game wouldn’t feel so empty and incomplete if the author guided you through the story instead of the player constantly running into incomplete or missing content or trying to interact with characters only to end up at empty screens.
It’d probably also help with characters showing up where they should not (Sage and Mia at the Cafe after Sage disappears and Mia is in her pregnant phase) and having some planned interactions (for example: phone calls, short interactions,..) with them would help making it feel like they don't disappear off the face of earth once you complete their content.
It would also help streamline the story so you don’t run into continuity errors. The game really shines at the character interactions so I hope the creator capitalizes on their strengths in the future.
As it is I’d rate the game as 3/5 for a game with a lot of potential, that it doesn’t realize. As for now I’m waiting for the end of season one to make my final judgement. (Just posting this in the thread for now)
Edit: might as well post this here too:
My shorter review for Andrash’s bdsm thread:
Sandbox game that should have been a visual novel – characters are great and beautiful, interactions with and between characters are a gem, sex scenes are hot and well written even if the creator is experimenting (not always a good thing – some mechanics drag on to the point of tediousness) and the story is pretty interesting too. Emotion hits pretty well, both humor and creepiness.
Sadly rather incomplete when it comes to the sandbox elements with you constantly running into empty screens or little content. Grab the walkthrough and just follow the major storylines.
Bdsm wise you can generally choose between being a nice dom or an abusive creep – but even the evil routes are hot and well written. Pretty much all characters are into powerplay. Small amount of femdom but mostly maledom – is mostly domination, humiliation and some spanking but the psychological parts are really well done.
