Review on v0.08
I
really wanted to give this game a higher rating, I really did. And it'll probably deserve it when it's all said and done. But the way in which the dev has chosen to approach their development of the game really ruined some aspects of it for me. So let's get into some of them.
Spoiler warning: I won't reveal any major story elements but there will necessarily be some minor spoilers regarding some characters and sexual content. So if you haven't played the game yet, just be aware of that.
Pros
First and foremost, this game is about a great story driving all of the action. The lore being explored here is pretty fascinating and I really like that this whole VN is plot-driven; so many games out there just focus solely on character exploration which inevitably will get dull after some time because it's mostly aimless. But here, the dev seems to have a clear plotline in mind and even though many of the underlying lore mysteries have been cleared up as of this release, I'm still very much interested to see where the story will take us. Well done.
All in all, this game is gorgeous. While a few of the background environments are clearly recycled DAZ assets (the park anyone? again?), most of what you see here looks very unique and the renders are just astonishing. The girls all look very hot and the one proper animation that we see is also very smooth and fluid. So props to the dev here again, I can't wait to see more of the girls.
I mostly really like the different characters. The main lack of diversity among them comes from them all being white which I really don't see a good reason for, but apart from that they all look pretty unique and also all have their own personalities. I also like that you have your mom, your sister, but that's it as far as incest is concerned and they otherwise don't get more screentime than other LI's. I'm not completely against incest per se, but I do like when it's balanced out with other LI's, so that's pretty cool. And as I said before, they are also all really hot.
This is mostly pretty well done too. The dialogue feels pretty natural and I like the general pace of it.
There are some grammar mistakes, the dev seems to have especial issues with irregular past tenses like writing "catched", "hanged" and "teached" which should of course be caught, hung and taught ("hanged" would be correct if they were talking about hanging a person which they are not). I don't know if the dev is a native English speaker, if they're not, then the writing is still pretty good overall, but to me, it reads as though a native speaker actually wrote it. At any rate, I'd probably hire a proofreader with a better grasp of English grammar.
Some typos as well although actually fewer than I'm used to.
Mehs
While always risky, the sandbox format here is... okay. This is one of these things that'll probably be better in later updates.
The first and last couple of chapters, which mostly further the main story but don't focus much on other story or character threads, are the ones where the sandbox format feels most superfluous. Especially later on, you are just skipping through days, waiting for the next story event which can be pretty annoying. At that point you could just get on with it instead of having to go the specific location to trigger the event.
But right about in the middle of the game, like chapters 3-5, the sandbox format does come into its own. You actually do have some liberty in which plot to continue first, more locations to explore and so on. I also like the implementation of the quest interface that, should you want to, basically tells you where to go to advance a specific plot line. Big relief from all of these games where you're at least at one point or another down to guessing.
I still think that the passage of time is super weird. One day, you do all this different stuff and time doesn't seem to pass at all, then the next day you wake up, give your mom a massage and then it's evening already, like wtf? There should be more consistency there.
Mostly the highlights in any given locations are clear enough although you do always wonder if you maybe missed something.
I do kinda like that the possible different routes you can go with a given character (love/submission, love/voyeur) are clearly marked so you pretty much know the impact of your decision. Unfortunately, this really only seems important for your relationship with Becky, otherwise you either don't have that choice or, as is the case with your mom, it basically doesn't matter for most of the game.
So at the moment, I'm not too thrilled in the way that the dev went about the gameplay but that'll probably be better in later updates when you are more able to take advantage of the format.
Some character threads are just left hanging and especially in later chapters, you're just skipping ahead until the next main story event. I mean, the main story is interesting, don't get me wrong, but then since Chapter 3 or something, the Becky story is just stuck in development? And what happened to Tyrone and Lil T? Lilly and JJ get way too little screentime as well. And whatever happened to the voyeur thing with your mom?
I get developing the main story but I actually think it wouldn't be that bad taking your time with that. It's cliff-hanging mystery at any rate. So going deeper into some character arcs could fill out more of the world, take some steam out of the break-neck pace of the main story, give more of a justification for the sandbox format and, possibly most importantly, help with another main issue of this game:
Slooooow burn. Finally, in chapter 7 you get the first scene that could be considered a sex scene with the MC. I mean, the most that you had up until then was a short dream sequence with characters you didn't know yet at the beginning, one half-seen blowjob that your mom gave to some guy Steve (and only if you went the voyeur route), and some dildo masturbating action from one of the women. Otherwise it was only really innocent teasing.
I'm glad this isn't a sex first, story later type game but you gotta give us something. We do go into the game as an adult VN with some expectations after all, and at first the game impresses with loads of gorgeous models but then you just get nothing for such a long time and even the one sex scene you do get is essentially just foreplay.
So like I said, I'm glad that sex isn't instantaneous here and that it does have to make some sense story-wise but still, it's an adult VN, give me at least some fap material.
I felt like it was pretty obvious what was going on with the Baron family. I mean, I didn't know
exactly what sort of being they are, but then again Caitlyn basically revealed it in that pool scene. Combine that with no visible aging, a name like Baron, living in a huge mansion-like house and weird things happening in photos and I was guessing something akin to vampires long before the huge exposition scene that the MC just happened to stumble upon. Only then did he somewhat realize what was going on but throughout was still playing the idiot, during the explanations going like "What? What's going on? I don't understand
" Come on, dumbass, catch up already. Sure, maybe the MC missed a couple beats and we as players are of course more willing to accept supernatural explanations than characters inside the story, but still. Even if he didn't believe these things yet, he still should be thinking about them and considering them. It's just the trope of the typical dumb MC that can't figure out shit while the players are already way ahead of him. It just doesn't feel realistic. And especially
this MC who believes in some weird unproven pseudoscience things like the power of meditation and Chi should be more susceptible to these things than your average Joe. So it kinda breaks the immersion a bit when the MC is that clueless.
The whole thing with Lilly... ah it's not exactly handled gracefully here.
On the one hand, props to the dev for including an intersex character, the representation of whom remains almost non-existent in any sort of media.
On the other hand, basically everything else relating to her story is handled poorly. Things like the MC saying he would only date her if she were "normal" (good grief, she is normal, you asshole and why do you think she needs your approval?), only talking about her being intersex in the context of a "disorder" (which implies it's something that needs fixing) and the fact that the need for her to have surgery to remove her penis is pretty much a given in the story. Now I'm not saying intersex people shouldn't have the right to gender affirmation surgeries should they desire that, but the way it's treated here makes it seem like that's the only acceptable option for her, like she isn't a real woman until she got that surgery. And a surgery like this is not nothing, these are invasive and dangerous procedures that can potentially damage both a person's physical and mental health and so shouldn't be taken lightly, so to just presuppose the necessity for it here is kind of awful.
Not to mention that the fact that she is intersex is like the first and basically only thing we learn about her, like that is all that defines her. The first thing you hear about her is her being JJ's "sister" (come on, what's with the quotation marks, she is his sister, not his "sister"...) and then afterwards the MC and JJ talk about her in some pretty dehumanizing ways, I mean it's definitely not the brother's place to talk to his bro about his sister's genitals, like wtf.
I realize these are difficult issues to talk about and like I said, I commend the dev for including them in an at least somewhat compassionate way. But some of the ignorance and prejudice that's still so apparent here can potentially do more harm than good. So I'd advise the dev definitely keep the character but maybe do some more research on the topic of intersex people and their place in society precisely because these are delicate issues.
Holy fuck, the racism in the portrayal of the three black guys. Well especially Duke, the violent, rapist thug (literally being called monkey at one point) is the worst. But Tyrone isn't much better, he is portrayed more as the dumb black guy. Lil T seems fine but he's also basically a non-character with only like a handful of renders. Doesn't help that this group of thugs are the only POC in the whole game. And just generally the whole white saviour thing, our white hero stepping in and rescuing the pretty white girl about to get raped by the black guy. Ugh. Just stop it.
I saw the Becky reveal coming from a mile away... of course after two years the formerly fat girl will now have turned into a hot skinny chick. God forbid there would ever be a fat LI in one of these VNs. Come on devs, give fat girls some love, you could still have your pick of the ladies and reject the fat girl if you wanted to.
And after some heroic, sexist bullshit of the MC rescuing the damsel in distress, her story is just over? I mean, it's clear there's more to come in future updates but you can't just introduce this character this early and then completely ignore her for the latter half of the game.
Conclusion
My feeling throughout playing the game was just a semi-permanent groan, just thinking how much better the game
could be and how disappointed I was that it constantly seemed to
just miss the mark.
As I said in my intro, I wanted to give this game a higher rating, and maybe after a few updates I can but at the moment, 3 stars is as high as I feel with comfortable with.
