To be honest, I'm very disappointed in this game. I expected a lot, based on the overall review score and the looks, but this isn't really that great of a game.
Now that I revisited the game again, to make sure the review is right, I've remembered I actually played it already in the past, long ago. I also remembered abandoning this game, since I didn't enjoy it that much, and now I understand why. It's a beautiful game with a lot of incredible things that can happen, made unenjoyable with it's writing.
I regret that the F95zone.to® only lets you rate a game overall, without any sub-category like story and graphics, since that would really come in handy with a game as pretty and flawed as this one. But I'll work with what I have, hoping that people will actually read this review, understanding how I actually feel about this game. And it's a kind of love-hate relationship. And I hate it right now, but I'm sure I'll come back to it in a couple of days, loving it until I read some of its text and hate it again. Pretty graphics won't win me over.
- Writing is a deal-breaker for me.
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- Technicalities are a pain. What is the point of work? Like, why should I make money in the morning, since I can't use it? Is there any point for money to even be in the game? Is there any way to use it? And why does the "skip time" function only works sometimes? It always works on the map, but inside the Melanie house it only works until night, then you have to get out, and only then can you skip until late night, click "go home" button, and sleep. It could easily be one, continuously working "skip time button", that would force you out of the home if you shouldn't be able to access it (like late at night), and then, when clicked again, it would just become the morning of the next day. Same for the office. There's quite a bit of click fatigue, that feels pointless to me. This isn't a Paradox grand strategy game, it doesn't need so many sub-menus. It's such a chore to click on so many buttons just to get to the scene you want. When you wake up, you have to click on the tiny "street" button to get to the map. Then you have to click "work" to get into your office, where you have to click "workplace", since by default you're brought to a place where you can't o anything (it's not even a place you can access in any way, only by going to work, once inside you can't access "the entrance"). Then there's a small icon to work, that someone might not even see at first, you again have to click "work", except in a different menu, and skip some pointless text that no one is going to read, since it's absolutely pointless. You can also just skip time, since you don't actually need money, making the whole "work" thing even more pointless. With better design, you'd just be able to wake up, click on a big, handy "map" button, click "office" and just click "work", without this pointless room-to-room wandering. I'm just so used to the fact that it's how these games work, that seeing it be so different here made me a bit annoyed.
- This game looks fantastic. I think that visuals are this game's biggest strength. It looks incredible, with renders so pretty, that I could call them the best I've seen on this website, and I have seen A LOT on this website. The UI, even if a bit cumbersome, looks amazing and the visuals are easily capable of fooling anyone into believing that this is an AA visual novel title with some serious budget behind it. [I have now actually checked, and the dev gets 1,272 USD per month as I'm writing this, so I guess you could call it a serious budget, at least in porn games world]. The characters look very good, and they're responsible for getting my interest in this game in the first place. Even now, after playing it, I still can't get enough of the way it looks, I just adore it so much. Despite that, it sometimes feels like some renders are missing. Like during the Mark birthday party, where wine plays an important role in the story, but there isn't a single render where you can see it. In general, there could be more renders. They look wonderful, but seeing the same exact image a couple of times with different text doesn't work that well for me. The player has to really rely on his imagination to fill in the blanks, that most games fill with more, albeit lower quality renders.
- Is this even a true porn game? Simply put, there isn't much of it. I believe I've spent about 8 hours in game now, with a couple of breaks and trying a few different routes (which makes no difference, the choices only matter for a few clicks) and there was no sex at all. There were a few scenes with pussy touching (but you can't see the pussy), and one almost-sex with Tiffany, but all in all, these scenes are rare. I appreciate a slow-burner, which takes time to develop relationships between characters, to make the actual sex much more important and satisfying to the player, knowing there's some meaning behind it. But this isn't a slow burner, it's just a slog. The scenes that you get don't feel that impactful, since they feel more like an accidental success, rather than a result of your work and thoughtfulness. Almost-sex with Tiffany wasn't a result of MC actually understanding how she feels and trying to bond with her. It was him getting lucky, after saying nonsense while completely drunk and Tiffany acting more like a doll you can do anything with, rather than a rational human being. She wasn't even acting dumb because she was horny, she was JUST dumb. I don't understand how someone so assertive and unapproachable suddenly became pacified, as if shot with a taser
by a colorblind policeman in the night. But I'm getting sidetracked by the writing again, so back to porn. Not only the quality of the renders matters, but amount too. And there's not enough of them here. There isn't even a gallery with random spicy images to escape to for a quick fap, nor any secrets to find, so you just have to force your way through a ton (2000 pounds for you uncivilized swine) of text of very questionable quality. All of this makes it feel like a chore to play this game, and lose interest over time, before you even reach actual porn.
Now that I revisited the game again, to make sure the review is right, I've remembered I actually played it already in the past, long ago. I also remembered abandoning this game, since I didn't enjoy it that much, and now I understand why. It's a beautiful game with a lot of incredible things that can happen, made unenjoyable with it's writing.
I regret that the F95zone.to® only lets you rate a game overall, without any sub-category like story and graphics, since that would really come in handy with a game as pretty and flawed as this one. But I'll work with what I have, hoping that people will actually read this review, understanding how I actually feel about this game. And it's a kind of love-hate relationship. And I hate it right now, but I'm sure I'll come back to it in a couple of days, loving it until I read some of its text and hate it again. Pretty graphics won't win me over.
