Alright so I've played
Lancaster Boarding House and it's time for a review.
I will preface this by saying that I'm not entirely finished with the game yet. Also, I'm decided on 4 instead of 3, but I'd probably have given it 3,5 if it was possible. In the end, the game is quite serviceable, and you don't have to play for hours before you see some actions.
I think the best description for this game is that it is a no-nonsense type of game. What do I mean by that? Well, the game doesn't beat around the bush when it comes to sex and the girls wanting you. It cuts to the hot-stuff very quickly, but it also loses out on story and character development by doing so. If you like the quick-to-action sort of game without many/any requirements about inter-character development, then this game is for you.
The story is rather lightweight and simple. Don't expect a whole lot from it, it's basically only there to keep things going, but it doesn't engage a lot. There isn't really an overarching mission or anything like that. You simply just play a guy at a boarding school and get to interact with the other people there. Though, I gotta admit that I would really have liked to not be in a relationship from the start of the game.
Decisions is arguably one of the most important parts of any VN, and this game does an alright job, although I will say that there are some times where an option was missing. Like when Jason asks if you're up for a three-some with one of the girls and the only two options are Yes or No and try to talk the girl out of it. But what if I really just wanted to say no and leave them for it? Likewise, when he asks you why you attempted to get out of it you can only answer "because you are a jerk" or "I have feelings for her". But really, I just wanted to leave them to it. Generally, having a third option would be really nice for most of the time.
In either case, you still have loads of decisions to take, although most of them are about sex - it is still nice that you get to choose.
The characters are visually beautifully made. However, it feels like the relationship between the characters develop astronomically fast to the point where you almost ask yourself if you somehow missed some context. I'm not entirely sure if I like that, as it seems as if the characters - even if they know about the relations of other characters don't really care about them - even when they're close friends with those other characters. It's the lack of reflection and that most of the characters express just about zero qualms that are strange.
I also find that some the characters are better developed and defined than others although they are all kinda shallow; for instance Eve is a rather wild girl that knows what she wants while Abigail's main trait is that she is a bully. Chloe is very sweet and Anna is.. I don't really know, but she is hot. For the most part, the characters are not very deep and you don't really know much about them. Neither does the game really do anything to deepen them.
The H scenes are not overly great. The most jarring part is that they are very, very wonky - sort of stuttering as if they only have two frames. A couple of the sex scenes are animated much better though, but its only few of them. The worst part about it is that you must look at it for a set amount loops which.. it's not nice. Although the visuals are nice, the hardcoded loop really ruins things.
The Good:
- Beautiful girls
- Nice with normally sized bodyparts: The girls have varying sized boobs and the MC not a human with a horse cock attached.
- Plenty of sex scenes
- A number of different girls to choose from.
The In-between:
- Little to no character development.
- Not really much of a story.
The Bad:
- Bad animations really ruins the sex scenes.
- The interaction is kinda lacking at times - I could've needed more dialogue options.
- Shallow characters makes them hard to relate to. They rarely have any reflect about their actions beyond "don't tell Chloe".
As you can see, the games scores mostly in the visual department. So play it for that, not for deep character development or an emotional story.