Reviewed on 2024/10/14, version: Update 1 demo
TL;DR:
"Fleeting Memories" leans more toward being story-first than porn-first, though it has no shortage of lewd scenes. With pretty renders, fluid and realistic animations, and a believable main story, it has a solid basis to continue developing on.
Not everything is perfect, though. I'm critical of the game's writing. While the story is still ramping up, most characters don't feel more than an archetype. Janice, our FWB for 9+ years, seems only driven by sex. And, for most of the current content, I wasn't even sure what David (the renamable MC) exactly does for a living. With the looming disruption that Sylvia can bring to David's relationship with Janice, I think it's important to have characters with depth, presenting players with actual reasons to pick one over the other.
Adult:
All current lewd content is very vanilla; hand job, blowjob, foot job, and vaginal intercourse.
Other mature themes are: violence, death, grief, and trauma.
Visual:
UI: "Fleeting Memories" features a custom UI that's minimalistic and intuitive to use. It already contains a gallery, though its coding isn't finished yet. According to the developer, the gallery will allow the replay of lewd scenes in an upcoming version.
The game's music player is fairly unique, it allows players to choose the background music for the entirety of the game. It's not yet possible to access the music player without saving and returning to the main menu, but this will get adjusted as well.
The game features a textbox, which I appreciate. It will be possible to adjust the transparency of this textbox in a future version as well. In-game, the textbox looks pretty, but I'm not convinced its decoration adds to the general atmosphere of the game. It's also my impression that renders weren't made with the textbox in mind, since it regularly obfuscates interesting visuals.
Characters: Character design is on-point, but, since there are only two main LI, there isn't much variety in body shapes. That said, all women are natural/realistic looking. Sylvia, an LI and driving force behind the main story, is bound to a wheelchair (for now).
Scenes/Renders: With "Fleeting Memories" being an HS2 game, it's relatively limited in assets. This is noticeable in details, like paintings hanging in the hallway of an apartment building, or Sylvia's wheelchair being too big for her. The renders themselves are great, with attention to detail, shadows and lighting. Most locations are also used to great effect, and fit their purpose in the story.
Similarly, posing and positioning of characters is done well, with believable body language. One nitpick I have is that characters don't emote often enough, or don't open their mouth when their lines display.
Animations: This game's animations are its main selling point. Bodies are positioned well, don't clip, and move fluidly. Breasts and other body parts will jiggle naturally, and later animations have sound effects that match the displayed action (moaning, skin slapping, etc.).
Sound:
If you put a lot of value to sound in an AVN, this game will leave you wanting. While it's possible to select the background track using the music player, this track will remain the same for the entire game, until you change it. Personally, I prefer a curated experience where developers pick tracks that enhance the atmosphere of a scene.
There are no sound effects or ambient noises to enhance the player's audiovisual experience, but there are sex sounds.
Novel:
The game starts with David (the renamable MC) waking up with Janice next to him. In the next few minutes we're introduced to their long-term (9+ years) FWB relationship, an optional lewd scene, and some choices. Soon after, we meet Sylvia, our new neighbor and wheelchair user, go about our life a little bit, until there's an attempt on Sylvia's life. This is when the main story starts, and the driving force behind David and Sylvia growing closer.
On paper, this game does everything right. Except, after introducing Janice, she more or less disappears for a few in-game days. And while we've been told that she can't go with her father on a trip because she has to travel for work, we're never told that she's leaving that evening. Or, we're told that Janice lives with David, but there's only one chair at the kitchen table. Luckily, all of these inconsistencies are relatively minor, and would only confuse the player, if that. But, I am worried about the long-term effect of the developers not getting their character backstories and storybook straight.
The game's writing itself is of decent quality. Some strange punctuation betray that the writer isn't a native English speaker, but their English is good.
"Fleeting Memories" feature choices that impact David's relationships. These choices have different weights. Ejaculating inside Janice would lower your score only slightly, but refusing sex with her entirely is a larger hit. After a while, bigger choices let players pick who to spend time with, which come with a larger bump or penalty.
Feedback, criticism & suggestions:
TL;DR:
"Fleeting Memories" leans more toward being story-first than porn-first, though it has no shortage of lewd scenes. With pretty renders, fluid and realistic animations, and a believable main story, it has a solid basis to continue developing on.
Not everything is perfect, though. I'm critical of the game's writing. While the story is still ramping up, most characters don't feel more than an archetype. Janice, our FWB for 9+ years, seems only driven by sex. And, for most of the current content, I wasn't even sure what David (the renamable MC) exactly does for a living. With the looming disruption that Sylvia can bring to David's relationship with Janice, I think it's important to have characters with depth, presenting players with actual reasons to pick one over the other.
Adult:
All current lewd content is very vanilla; hand job, blowjob, foot job, and vaginal intercourse.
Other mature themes are: violence, death, grief, and trauma.
Visual:
UI: "Fleeting Memories" features a custom UI that's minimalistic and intuitive to use. It already contains a gallery, though its coding isn't finished yet. According to the developer, the gallery will allow the replay of lewd scenes in an upcoming version.
The game's music player is fairly unique, it allows players to choose the background music for the entirety of the game. It's not yet possible to access the music player without saving and returning to the main menu, but this will get adjusted as well.
The game features a textbox, which I appreciate. It will be possible to adjust the transparency of this textbox in a future version as well. In-game, the textbox looks pretty, but I'm not convinced its decoration adds to the general atmosphere of the game. It's also my impression that renders weren't made with the textbox in mind, since it regularly obfuscates interesting visuals.
Characters: Character design is on-point, but, since there are only two main LI, there isn't much variety in body shapes. That said, all women are natural/realistic looking. Sylvia, an LI and driving force behind the main story, is bound to a wheelchair (for now).
Scenes/Renders: With "Fleeting Memories" being an HS2 game, it's relatively limited in assets. This is noticeable in details, like paintings hanging in the hallway of an apartment building, or Sylvia's wheelchair being too big for her. The renders themselves are great, with attention to detail, shadows and lighting. Most locations are also used to great effect, and fit their purpose in the story.
Similarly, posing and positioning of characters is done well, with believable body language. One nitpick I have is that characters don't emote often enough, or don't open their mouth when their lines display.
Animations: This game's animations are its main selling point. Bodies are positioned well, don't clip, and move fluidly. Breasts and other body parts will jiggle naturally, and later animations have sound effects that match the displayed action (moaning, skin slapping, etc.).
Sound:
If you put a lot of value to sound in an AVN, this game will leave you wanting. While it's possible to select the background track using the music player, this track will remain the same for the entire game, until you change it. Personally, I prefer a curated experience where developers pick tracks that enhance the atmosphere of a scene.
There are no sound effects or ambient noises to enhance the player's audiovisual experience, but there are sex sounds.
Novel:
The game starts with David (the renamable MC) waking up with Janice next to him. In the next few minutes we're introduced to their long-term (9+ years) FWB relationship, an optional lewd scene, and some choices. Soon after, we meet Sylvia, our new neighbor and wheelchair user, go about our life a little bit, until there's an attempt on Sylvia's life. This is when the main story starts, and the driving force behind David and Sylvia growing closer.
On paper, this game does everything right. Except, after introducing Janice, she more or less disappears for a few in-game days. And while we've been told that she can't go with her father on a trip because she has to travel for work, we're never told that she's leaving that evening. Or, we're told that Janice lives with David, but there's only one chair at the kitchen table. Luckily, all of these inconsistencies are relatively minor, and would only confuse the player, if that. But, I am worried about the long-term effect of the developers not getting their character backstories and storybook straight.
The game's writing itself is of decent quality. Some strange punctuation betray that the writer isn't a native English speaker, but their English is good.
"Fleeting Memories" feature choices that impact David's relationships. These choices have different weights. Ejaculating inside Janice would lower your score only slightly, but refusing sex with her entirely is a larger hit. After a while, bigger choices let players pick who to spend time with, which come with a larger bump or penalty.
Feedback, criticism & suggestions:
- It's clear to me that Janice's main role in this demo is to provide sexual interactions. Because of this, she doesn't get a chance to show her personality. I suggest adding some dialog and exposition about Justine during the early game. David has known her for over a decade, so the player is at a considerable disadvantage here. Personally, I find it difficult to care about her because every interaction is just about sex.
- Get the character backstories straight, and seed this information in conversations, thoughts, and visual storytelling. An example: After David meets Sylvia, he's suddenly interested in literature. This is information about David's personality that could be telegraphed. Show books in his apartment, or have him set time apart for reading.
- David is a private detective, but this only becomes clear (through context!) near the end of the current content, unless you've read the overview. This also means that we don't see David actually do any PI stuff. There are multiple ways to leverage the noir genre to alleviate this, liking using its typical all-present narrator to provide exposition.
- The 3rd person narration doesn't match well with a 1st person and choice-based novel. I realize this type of narration is a staple of the noir genre, but it doesn't have the wanted effect. This isn't a movie or a kinetic AVN that we're just observing.
- More dialog, specially with Janice or about Janice. David and her are supposed to be lifelong friends who jump each other, but they seem incapable of communicating openly with each other. If you refuse Janice sex, she'll be passive-aggressive. And if you act against her wishes, lowering her score, she takes it on the chin. But, if her score is lowered, meaning she actually disliked David's choice, why wouldn't she talk it out, or at least voice her frustration?
- Update the overview. The game I played doesn't have the neighbor come to us with a request. Instead, David has yet to discover that Sylvia is Laura's sister, and he's self-driven to do right by her. The current A-story seems to be about the attempt on Sylvia's life, with Laura's death (likely) tying into this down the road.
- It stretches my suspension of disbelief that David and Janice live together, have been intimate for over 9 years, but are just friends. They could've been married for nine years and you wouldn't know it. Except, maybe, they have a lot more sex than a married couple. Personally, I think it's a mistake to have them live together. Why would a man, whose every need is met, ever even look at another woman romantically?
- Sylvia tells David that she's regained some feeling in her lower region, and that she hopes to walk again. It's my hope that -if- she regains use of her legs, that it will happen during the epilogue, after a long and difficult rehabilitation. I'm perfectly happy to admit I'm biased on this subject. I have a slight worry that Sylvia's disability is an excuse/explanation for why she's still 'pure', and I sincerely hope this isn't the case.