Reviewed for ch 3.1
My first attempt at a review here, or rather some disjointed thoughts.
While it is still fairly early in development at ch 3.1 this game impressed me from the start. The game opens with a nice animation, giving us both a hint of the dev's skills and placing us in the story in an effective way. The dev sprinkles each update with a fair amount of nice animations, to mark a scene transition or an important moment, and not just for the sex. Overall, they are well done and fit well, and we are warned not to click through them just before they start. A nice little touch.
The characters are all very well designed visually, the women are very attractive, but badtimestales has clearly spent some time and thought on the men as well, something we don't always see. My only very slight criticism is that, while they are distinct enough not to confuse them, several of the women are 'of a type', cool, slim blondes.
In general though, we see a fairly wide type of people with some representation of minorities. I'm a middle-aged, straight white guy, so take that comment for what its worth.
Everyone seems to be pretty fit though, no obesity problem in this world.
One thing I especially noted, though, was that two characters who are closely related, actually resemble each other. I don't think we'll find a family with three sisters where one is a natural blonde, one is a brunette and one is a red-head here...
Central to the story is the mystery surrounding the death of the MC's girlfriend a few years ago (and how this may or may not be connected to other characters we meet), with new facts and details being revealed at a good pace each update. So far it doesn't feel either drawn out or as if we're rushed through things. It seems the dev is staying focused on the main story and mystery, with little in the way of side-stories so far.
The dialogue is over all good, with only an occasional choice of word that might feel a little off (English isn't my first language, I should note). Descriptive text is mostly the same, in this update there was one place where it felt a bit uninspired, but I'm probably picking at very small nits now.
There is some character development, and especially one character is dealing with their reactions to several events in the story, and an unfolding situation on a personal level. I think this was very well done, with small cues letting us know how they felt. In general, characters give the impression of being well-rounded with both flaws and strengths so far. As with the physical design of them, the dev seems to have put some serious thought into this too.
There was some talk early on in the thread about player agency and forced sex-scenes. It's a difficult balance to get right, and must vary depending on the type of story you are trying to tell. If you are making a harem-type of game, where every girl is a possible LI and there is very little backstory (your father is dead, you move back home to your Landlady and her three daughters...), but when the MC's past and old relationships matter, and the MC has a personality that isn't completely shaped by the player, it does make sense to remove some choices from the player. Different games aim for different playstyles, even under the VN umbrella, and for the most part Isabella - Dark Paths succeeds in this, imo.
There is an early sex-scene that isn't avoidable, but it makes sense to lay the foundation for the MC's relationships, after that one you always the option to decline.
As you have probably guessed by now, I am enjoying this game a lot, it's one of my favourites currently and for anyone looking for a mystery, with a bit of sexiness thrown in, and characters who are both believable and relatable - do give it a chance.
Edit: Removed comment about a second unavoidable (dependent on earlier choices) sex-scene that was quickly changed to be fully optional.
