This game might be the most disappointing one I've seen on F95. Not because it's the worst, quite the opposite, there's a lot of potential here between an interesting premise and beautiful artwork. The idea of becoming a headmaster and slowly corrupting the girls and the promise of lewd shenanigans leading up to the sex all sound interesting in a genre that's often rushing to the fucking and giving little else. The idea of there being a story, and context leading up to the scenes is something I rather like. Sex out of context bores me after a while. In a way it sort of made me think of Missy, but in a fantasy setting, but with really nice art. What could possibly go wrong?
The game starts out interesting. Your character is in prison for crimes currently not clear. You try to escape by distracting the guard and pulling down her top, and while you're subdued, it sets a nice precedent for a playful, story driven lewd misadventure between you and the various girls at Hogwarts.
Unfortunately that's where this game struggles the most: the writing. When making a visual novel based off an existing IP, I feel it's really important to understand how the characters in that universe act. I fully understand some artistic license to allow for these characters to end up in lewd situations, but some of the deviations from the characters crosses into bad porno territory. Hagrid and Mcgonagall are the worst offenders for as far as I got, but everyone feels like a caricature at best and that's really disappointing.
The other problem is the pacing. And I don't mean just the wait to get to the sexy stuff--that's a problem, too, but if the story and worldbuilding was interesting maybe I could give it a pass, but the story gets really dull once you become the headmaster. The first real scene after that is, I shit you not, a long exposition dialog with a talking portrait you make of yourself, while you drink and feel sorry for yourself because you're confined to the headmaster's chambers with no power and no influence. And even with the option to skip dialog, there's still. So. Much. Of. It. Little tip for the developer, when people play a game like this and they do give a rat's ass about the story, they want to see more of the world and the girls they're trying to get in bed with, or maybe the person who's getting in their way. What they don't care about is a random self insert OC's backstory going on for god knows how long, portrayed in the most pathetic, pitiful way possible. The next scene that jumps to mind for me there is when you the headmaster are expected to address the students. Finally! A chance to get into some of the shenanigans that the game promised! Only...all you really do is insult the girls like a pretentious douchebag. You try to punish them by subtracting points from their house, only to be overruled at every turn by Mcgonagall. Nothing else happens in that scene, and certainly none of the tantalizing fun that feels like ages ago in the first chapter.
A lot of people complain about how the main girls aren't the focus at all compared to side characters and OCs, but shit, I would even take that over the slog of the MC's constant pity parties. He is constantly shoved down my throat, and I'm not interested. He's not *likeable*, and that's a problem as well when you're trying to portray a prominent character for a story.
I appreciate a game's efforts to not get into the sex right away. I appreciate a buildup. But the dev needs to focus on the characters people will actually give a shit about, and it wouldn't hurt to tease now and then leading up to the bigger moments. Those little nuggets can keep engagement as you lay down the story, and that might even be some people's jam.
Maybe I'm missing something, and maybe it picks up later, but I feel there are better ways to be spending your time than trying to get some enjoyment out of this one without a massive overhaul on the entire narrative. And it's a shame.
There's a ton of potential in this game to be great, but updating issues aside, it's not focusing on the things it needs to focus on.
