It gets hard to objectively look at a game if after starting two times, you still can’t push yourself to finish it. Tried a third time and finally plowed through, finding all the endings and capturing the psychological profile of both Melissa and her stepdad.
This game is in a weird spot because it’s mostly talk, little show. What is shown are well-crafted renders that show Melissa cares about how she looks. But when you’re this text-heavy, you absolutely have to properly line out psychological profiles, mental changes due to context and character development. It’s in there and for the most part, it works. But in the end, Melissa feels written like she’s struggling with some kind of underlying mental handicap aside from her daddy complex. Her responses don’t always make sense and while I think that’s deliberate, that also means she couldn’t be the ‘master strategist’ the story makes her out to be.
The stepdad is an idiot and hastily written. Again, I think it’s deliberate but it doesn’t make for a powerful dynamic. He’s not in control nor does he actually lose control (unless it’s ending 2), so it basically feels like two awkward people flirting - aside from the taboo situation. Kudos for writing mom in here and there, but in the end a missed chance for emotional manipulation to further hurt the main character.
What could have been a masterclass in jailbaiting stepdads and walking the hellish fine line between satisfying a young woman who you care over lusting over you and a man’s primal desires to satisfy the urge of dominating situations and people, ends up being a somewhat flat fantasy with little to no psychological development. That said, I do think the developer is massively talented and that in time, this format could grow to something special where the text grasps you before the images come in. I'll look into his other work to see what else he came up with.
Melissa’s secret, for now, is that she’s a mentally instable basic girl trying to hard to pose as a hot slut fantasy.
This game is in a weird spot because it’s mostly talk, little show. What is shown are well-crafted renders that show Melissa cares about how she looks. But when you’re this text-heavy, you absolutely have to properly line out psychological profiles, mental changes due to context and character development. It’s in there and for the most part, it works. But in the end, Melissa feels written like she’s struggling with some kind of underlying mental handicap aside from her daddy complex. Her responses don’t always make sense and while I think that’s deliberate, that also means she couldn’t be the ‘master strategist’ the story makes her out to be.
The stepdad is an idiot and hastily written. Again, I think it’s deliberate but it doesn’t make for a powerful dynamic. He’s not in control nor does he actually lose control (unless it’s ending 2), so it basically feels like two awkward people flirting - aside from the taboo situation. Kudos for writing mom in here and there, but in the end a missed chance for emotional manipulation to further hurt the main character.
What could have been a masterclass in jailbaiting stepdads and walking the hellish fine line between satisfying a young woman who you care over lusting over you and a man’s primal desires to satisfy the urge of dominating situations and people, ends up being a somewhat flat fantasy with little to no psychological development. That said, I do think the developer is massively talented and that in time, this format could grow to something special where the text grasps you before the images come in. I'll look into his other work to see what else he came up with.
Melissa’s secret, for now, is that she’s a mentally instable basic girl trying to hard to pose as a hot slut fantasy.