The game is interesting. I'd give it a go. There really isn't that much to it in length of gameplay, but almost uniquely among many patreon backed adult games, there is actual effort put into the gameplay.(I haven't played 0.9, and the gameplay had thought put into it before that, and then they changed it. So it seems like they do actually care.)
The game looks good and feels decent, the VA work is pretty decent. Animations are nice.
I'd best describe it as a good core of a game that lacks content.
I'm going to rant for awhile here, as I see at least one of the devs is present in the thread occasionally.
I'll preface by repeating that I've only played 0.8. I'm curious to see what has changed since then, I intend to wait for whenever 0.10.3 becomes publicly available to catch up, I might consider supporting for 0.11 if what 0.11 has interests me enough. But I'm posting here and referring to some stuff on your patreon pretty much entirely because I hardly ever support anything on patreon(and thus can't be bothered digging up my account right now), I'm just really stingy.
So take whatever words I say as those of an impartial observer rather than a paying customer. There are probably a lot of paying customers who might disagree.
First off, just an observation that I've made:
0.9.1 is the most recent public version available, I believe?
Both the patreon main page and the "[Download] Itch access" patreon post linked in the main description refer to 0.8.10 being the most recent version. Which sounds like a miscommunication?
And on the itch.io, despite the actual download correctly citing 0.9.1, there's still 0.7 and 0.8 versions described as the patreon rewards. So that should probably be tidied up too.
You did post on patreon recently asking questions about patreon rewards and what might make people support the game and so on. And did re-explain the price of the expensive supporter brackets. You might want to re-do the description of especially the most expensive one. There's very little written there for the price.
Additionally, while the price of the supporter tiers tied to buying assets obviously can't change, it might be possible to make a cheaper tier just for requesting animations that some people might be interested in. Other than that, I'm not the best person to really talk about what incentives you could add or change. As I did say before, I'm only rarely going to be a paying customer.
I think you can tackle quantity more easily though.
Which is probably the main point that I want to make, and my biggest issue with the game as it appears in its demo form.
You have some adult scenes and some adult outfits. And you have a working core of gameplay. Those are your two hooks. But you seem to be presenting them both without either one standing out. This isn't unreasonable, you have a small world you want to slowly open up and that takes a lot of work. But I think you could punctuate your updates with big gestures on either side of that fence. And that might draw in more people to experience that content as quick as they can.
I'm not saying that you need to focus on big projects, but rather have some very specific projects.
On the side of adult content, consider catering to people's fetishes more directly. Like for example, you could add a new character and their house in an update. Not inherently much work, but you could design that content to very specifically appeal to some groups of people. Make the character male and very submissive. Specifically highlight "we have added new femdom content." That might catch the eye of people who previously had not paid attention. Then the next update, make some especially dominant character and do a relatively extreme female-submissive relationship.
Essentially, rather than saying "here is our adult game, our latest update adds sex scenes" you could put out a more eye catching "the highlight of this latest update is a new quest where Kalyskah can explore her dominant side." One introduced to the fact that the game features adult content, merely more adult content doesn't sound particularly exciting until you start slapping buzzwords around. A quick glance at the most successful adult games funded on patreon should highlight how many of those focus on very specific things like mind control, incest, monstergirls and other such stuff. I'm not saying to pursue those things specifically(some are clearly not options for everyone, and patreon's rules do play a major role these days), but they are talking points. And I think those are what wield the most power in a game's(or any creative work) ability to draw people in. Be they relatively basic and already somewhat represented in the game, like some sub/dom dynamics, or be they far more specific with foot stuff, mind control or bestiality. Pick and choose whatever fetishes, but make sure you reinforce the ones that you do have, because ultimately fetishes are what stand out.
On the side of gameplay, you bothered having a combat system of some quality, you should highlight that aspect of the game as well. Even if it's just a new basic type of enemy or a new weapon to use or to be used against the player, even if it's that simple of an addition, reading that an update has both [SEX THING] and [COMBAT THING] reinforces that the game is dedicated to both.
Just simply adding more things to fight outside of the initial dungeon would be good, regardless of the content. Something as simple as a bandit camp that doesn't have an explanation yet works. Or something far more complex, but still pretty light on work required might be to add a second underground area near the exit from the first dungeon. Reuse the dungeon and undead assets and make a little area for the player to engage in combat with.
If you create a combat encounter like this that you can say is a challenge, that itself is something to advertise. Regardless of how it might have no story yet.
Also, I'll just provide a quick anecdote of my first experience with the game late last year because it sort of fits the topic.
I installed it after downloading it from this site. Along with about half a dozen other games. I expected to have a short look at each of them and to discard them all after five minutes, because that's the quality you usually get with patreon funded adult games.
I launch the game and I appreciate the way it looks, that's one positive point at least. Nothing that makes me care about the game though.
I test out the controls, and I'm surprised that the gameplay appears to actually have thought put into it.
I loot the first room, find the collar and read the text. I'm now invested into potential representations of submission in the adult content I haven't yet reached.
And I kept playing after that. It was the only game of the bunch I didn't immediately drop. It would be wrong to say that the submissive stuff went anywhere, and I don't blame the game for lacking it early in development. But regardless, it was both something that drew me in, as well as a good example of something I didn't discover until I downloaded the game, so it could certainly be advertised more clearly. And if it is, I think that'll help a lot.
The bottom line is that I think Kalyskah has promise. Enough that I've been paying attention to it for the last few months and even despite not trying every update, I'm looking forward to playing the next public release.
I wouldn't have typed out this massive post on a subject I didn't at least care about a little bit.
I could write a whole lot more, especially if typed about what I'd specifically like from the game, But this was meant to be a relatively impartial observation of the game and its potential audience. Just ranting about what I'd like is a lot more selfish and less constructive. I'm still more than happy to talk about what I'd like. But giving somebody a chance to tell me to keep my opinions to myself first seems more polite. Let me know if that's something I should bother posting about or not.
Good luck with the game either way, and if anyone else reads this entire post for some reason and hasn't tried the game, at least do that. Even if there isn't that much there yet, what is there already is interesting.
