It is genuinely shocking (and honestly pretty ironic) that one of the most well-written stories on f95 involves the topic of futas, generally one of the most poorly written genres on the site. All praise goes to MorriganRae, who certainly deserves more attention than they're currently getting.
If you are at all interested in futanari or lesbian AVNs, I don't think you'll find many (if any) better than this. I HIGHLY recommend supporting MorriganRae on their Patreon to continue their work on this game and encourage this level of quality output on here and in the AVN space in general, if you are able.
TL;DR section:
+ dialogue is natural and fluid
+characters are all well-defined unique (in-universe) despite sharing many archetypes with the genre
+ visually fantastic, with each scene (n/sfw) crafted splendidly
+/- the slow burn nature and lack of specific goal means a lot of the dialogue meanders, which helps build the tension and fleshes out each scene, but can leave some readers frustrated
- despite the character not being 'you', Ashe's largely submissive nature means that anyone who gets annoyed at reading a meek MC will be turned off
Overall score: 9.2/10
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Writing:
Initially, I wasn't particularly interested in the project, largely due to the aforementioned focus on futanari and the general poor quality it brings. To be fair, "girl with a penis" isn't really the type of concept that instills or invites nuance. The most I've really seen is a single futanari having more depth in a field of other women, or an already well-written girl where the player is given an option of her genitalia. However in Eruption Imminent, there are no men. There's only girls and futanari. In this way, MorriganRae has actually given themselves the ability to expand beyond the expected, because it's not forced to be in real-world genders. Despite that, they chose to actually make the main character hermaphroditic (or, in this story, a "duplo futanari"), meaning they can still write the expected "outcast futa" character, but in their own terms, which is quite smart.
This trend of reflection without imitation is seen throughout the story. The character of Cleo is the archetype of a male jock, Fiona is the archetype of a male punk, Ashe is quite similar to many of the "lonely pervs with a heart of gold" archetypes on here. But because they're not stuck in the same box, there's at least something unique, something new, that makes them stand out.
Despite how good the writing is, I don't think this game would be a 5 star AVN without the concept. I certainly think the writer could make a 5 star AVN with the majority or entirety of the cast being male/female alone, but for this story in particular, it works best with this female/futanari world. For example, if Ashe was a male, her abundant shyness wouldn't be nearly as acceptable as an MC. Her constant horniness paired with her adamant refusal to do anything about it would be irritating.
I'd also argue that the fact the story is so linear and the choices so sparse would also be seen more negatively. In the story you have 22 choices to make. I'd say 95% of them have little to no conceivable impact on the story. I appreciate that it seems like every choice is remembered, but it means that it feels like I'm playing a largely kinetic novel, which (while I dislike personally) lends itself to being able to separate yourself more from who you're playing.
Something that feels kinda frustrating is just how slow the story is. I fully appreciate the building of tension displayed in Eruption Imminent, there's maybe a handful of AVNs on here that I think measure up, however with the amount of characters present, sometimes it feels like I'm watching a turtle race. Although, there's a difference between something being slow and you wanting to quickly see more, and something where you want to cut out the middle to get to the good stuff. I'd say E.I. leans more to the former. There are some scenes that feel repetitive, but that's because most of them are emphasizing character traits or trying to create a slow build up into being more sexual.
The issue is that you're playing an MC that, as previously mentioned, is largely submissive, and as a result it generally feels like our choices don't matter. You couple this with the face Ashe has no REAL goal throughout all 3 chapters, and you will often find yourself just watching Ashe repeat the same feelings and thoughts ad nauseam, and so when you see an opportunity for her to change her situation or stand up for herself and you just have to sit there, there's an inherent frustration in that. I'd appreciate it if, eventually, you were able to decide whether Ashe becomes more dominant than submissive. At the moment she's almost entirely submissive, with the instances she stands up for herself being out of frustration rather than a decisive choice. There's a difference between choosing not to cower, and actually doing something, and right now the majority of her reactions to things are just to be a deer in headlights, to essentially be as much of a passenger to the things around her that we are. Almost every other character seems to have more initiative than we are able to have.
Visuals:
This section will be pretty short, cause there is basically zero wrong with the visuals in this game. They're fantastic. Each character is immediately identifiable and look fantastic, despite the ridiculous proportions of some (basically all the futanari). Lighting and posing are all natural, small changes are made between dialogue, it's great.
The only possible complaint I could see anyone having, is that the older women don't look AS different. Obviously though, everyone in the AVN is beautiful, so it's not surprising.
