I was first intrigued by this game when I saw the splash art. A poor method for finding new games to try, perhaps, but one that served me well in this case, as I am something of a sucker for cyberpunk titles. The initial tag list and description dampened my interest somewhat - a handful of sentences, references to a dating simulator, and less-than-polished English - but the art was pretty and the other reviews were mostly positive, so I figured it was at least worth some of my time.
This was absolutely the correct decision.
The non-RPGM art for the game is absolutely fantastic. Well-rendered, anatomically correct, and reasonably proportioned men and women, with expressive faces and a wide variety of scenes, poses, and costumes. The game is not limited to the standard "make a generic pose and overlay everything on top of that" syndrome that often turns up in games with limited artist time. The RPGM side of things is a little less impressive, although I must give credit to the level designer for making good use of the generic assets and laying things out in a way that makes the world feel "real," as opposed to what makes the world easy to script. Clutter and details are present but not blocking, so I don't feel like I need to pick my way through barely-visible doodads.
Gameplay-wise, this is essentially a visual novel. Very few of the choices the player makes are meaningful, at least in the content available, and the few times we do get choices, they're "pick the right option or game over." The frustration is dampened by the inclusion of a checkpointing system that's very forgiving, but it does make this into more of a story delivered via RPGM than a game proper, at least in the content available so far. There are a couple of systems in place to track progress, and while there's a little bit of grind, it's pretty easy to get through and the rewards are frequent enough that it doesn't feel frustrating.
The writing is both the greatest draw and my largest complaint about this game. On the upside, it has believable characters, a slow and steady corruption, and while many of the NPCs are caricatures, they're well-written ones, so it doesn't feel like I'm playing in a world of cardboard cutouts. The downside is that the writer is clearly a nonnative English speaker, as the writing is littered with atypical diction and incorrect article placement. The quality of the writing does shine through the mistakes, but the mistakes are still present.
While I normally play H-games with the sound off - there's only so many badly ripped moans and awkward splooge effects one can hear before getting sick of them - I strongly suggest people leave the sound on here, if for the atmosphere if nothing else. The combination of low ambient and background jazz that makes up the bulk of the soundtrack adds a dash of noir to the cyberpunk, and it's an excellent addition.
Overall, a pleasant experience, and one I look forward to continuing as development continues.
Recommended for: Story, writing, atmosphere.
Not recommended for: Quick faps.
Edit: Forgot to mention, there are a couple bugs - nothing showstopping, a couple repeated dialog lines, some sequence breaking, a few misplaced markers, and some missing bounding boxes the player can slip through - but bugs nonetheless. Hopefully they'll get fixed as development continues.
This was absolutely the correct decision.
The non-RPGM art for the game is absolutely fantastic. Well-rendered, anatomically correct, and reasonably proportioned men and women, with expressive faces and a wide variety of scenes, poses, and costumes. The game is not limited to the standard "make a generic pose and overlay everything on top of that" syndrome that often turns up in games with limited artist time. The RPGM side of things is a little less impressive, although I must give credit to the level designer for making good use of the generic assets and laying things out in a way that makes the world feel "real," as opposed to what makes the world easy to script. Clutter and details are present but not blocking, so I don't feel like I need to pick my way through barely-visible doodads.
Gameplay-wise, this is essentially a visual novel. Very few of the choices the player makes are meaningful, at least in the content available, and the few times we do get choices, they're "pick the right option or game over." The frustration is dampened by the inclusion of a checkpointing system that's very forgiving, but it does make this into more of a story delivered via RPGM than a game proper, at least in the content available so far. There are a couple of systems in place to track progress, and while there's a little bit of grind, it's pretty easy to get through and the rewards are frequent enough that it doesn't feel frustrating.
The writing is both the greatest draw and my largest complaint about this game. On the upside, it has believable characters, a slow and steady corruption, and while many of the NPCs are caricatures, they're well-written ones, so it doesn't feel like I'm playing in a world of cardboard cutouts. The downside is that the writer is clearly a nonnative English speaker, as the writing is littered with atypical diction and incorrect article placement. The quality of the writing does shine through the mistakes, but the mistakes are still present.
While I normally play H-games with the sound off - there's only so many badly ripped moans and awkward splooge effects one can hear before getting sick of them - I strongly suggest people leave the sound on here, if for the atmosphere if nothing else. The combination of low ambient and background jazz that makes up the bulk of the soundtrack adds a dash of noir to the cyberpunk, and it's an excellent addition.
Overall, a pleasant experience, and one I look forward to continuing as development continues.
Recommended for: Story, writing, atmosphere.
Not recommended for: Quick faps.
Edit: Forgot to mention, there are a couple bugs - nothing showstopping, a couple repeated dialog lines, some sequence breaking, a few misplaced markers, and some missing bounding boxes the player can slip through - but bugs nonetheless. Hopefully they'll get fixed as development continues.
