I've played through a couple of path, and overall I'd say it's a good foundation/short game, but I have criticisms and suggestion both to improve the feel of this game as it is now as a complete package, and to add replay value:
Overall game design:
I love games than spice up classical design.
The card game is a classic, only issue is: it's too limited in options for much replayability (meaning: you cannot add more card pairs)
the sexual vignettes that advance MC's recollections after each card rounds are pretty fine, they are good depiction of the essence of the chosen fetish, and the text could be tweeked to ensure each subsequent memory in a sequence is not at odds with previous ones character-wise (I think it might have been done in the "love" sequence, where the love interest is revealed not to have cheated? a critic of the game had an issue with her cheating before I think?)
Art:
I love the background art, it's got charm and personality imo.
the filters for the characters are a matter of taste I guess, but some contouring (black lineart around the character and some of the shading) might improve them by making them fit better with the background and feel less "blurry"
Ending:
The ending is unfortunately a cop-out with silly 4th wall break. Generally it's better to at least have one option that plays your story straight/ takes it seriously, because the players mostly will have taken it seriously so far.
This ending would be better as a "bonus" ending. That would require an alternate ending added at the close your eyes/don't branch:
you would have MC wake up at work with is colleague, then the colleague says something like "well, now that they figured what was wrong with your brain thanks to your weird reaction to your psychiatrist treatment, I hope the cure will fix your spacing out like that" then continue with the original dialogue.
After that, you get a "happy" ending with your partner(s) based on the path you chose (your partner could be Dr Lust in the paths where you original partner ditched you). you could cook up something by reusing renders from the paths/fetishes chosen, where we go through all/most of them as a kind of big happy fuck session. and Dr Lust can be invited or not if it's compatible with our path/fetishes.
Replay value:
2 suggestions:
1. a way to increase the difficulty (number of cards to uncover), maybe an accordion menu listing selectable difficulties, unlocked after unlocking a certain number of cards (finishing a game in less than 6 moves)
2. an "endless mode" where the interviews with Dr Lust are not sown after each victory, but only a random scene with you LI depending on the path selected (where you reuse the encounters/recollections from said path, but without choices: you choose your fetish and difficulty before the loop start, then it's card game --> random encounter from pool -->[...] in a loop).
I'm thinking of the "Game TF card battle"'s take on this as an inspiration, but it was easier to implement the way that game is set up. still, "endless mode" where the scenario is stripped-down is something to keep in mind for potential future project of this kind, where the gameplay loop invite endless replayability.
Verdict
I give 4 star to bump up the score, but given the limited options for now I'd be more of a 3, 3.5 star game. I do appreciate how "to the point" it is. No bloat, no waste of time, Yet the scenario (except for the ending) is engaging enough, and so are the characters mostly. Plus you got cuckqueaning in there. I love it and it's rare to see it depicted (let alone depicted between a loving couple, same for cuckolding here), so bonus.
Overall game design:
I love games than spice up classical design.
The card game is a classic, only issue is: it's too limited in options for much replayability (meaning: you cannot add more card pairs)
the sexual vignettes that advance MC's recollections after each card rounds are pretty fine, they are good depiction of the essence of the chosen fetish, and the text could be tweeked to ensure each subsequent memory in a sequence is not at odds with previous ones character-wise (I think it might have been done in the "love" sequence, where the love interest is revealed not to have cheated? a critic of the game had an issue with her cheating before I think?)
Art:
I love the background art, it's got charm and personality imo.
the filters for the characters are a matter of taste I guess, but some contouring (black lineart around the character and some of the shading) might improve them by making them fit better with the background and feel less "blurry"
Ending:
The ending is unfortunately a cop-out with silly 4th wall break. Generally it's better to at least have one option that plays your story straight/ takes it seriously, because the players mostly will have taken it seriously so far.
This ending would be better as a "bonus" ending. That would require an alternate ending added at the close your eyes/don't branch:
you would have MC wake up at work with is colleague, then the colleague says something like "well, now that they figured what was wrong with your brain thanks to your weird reaction to your psychiatrist treatment, I hope the cure will fix your spacing out like that" then continue with the original dialogue.
After that, you get a "happy" ending with your partner(s) based on the path you chose (your partner could be Dr Lust in the paths where you original partner ditched you). you could cook up something by reusing renders from the paths/fetishes chosen, where we go through all/most of them as a kind of big happy fuck session. and Dr Lust can be invited or not if it's compatible with our path/fetishes.
Replay value:
2 suggestions:
1. a way to increase the difficulty (number of cards to uncover), maybe an accordion menu listing selectable difficulties, unlocked after unlocking a certain number of cards (finishing a game in less than 6 moves)
2. an "endless mode" where the interviews with Dr Lust are not sown after each victory, but only a random scene with you LI depending on the path selected (where you reuse the encounters/recollections from said path, but without choices: you choose your fetish and difficulty before the loop start, then it's card game --> random encounter from pool -->[...] in a loop).
I'm thinking of the "Game TF card battle"'s take on this as an inspiration, but it was easier to implement the way that game is set up. still, "endless mode" where the scenario is stripped-down is something to keep in mind for potential future project of this kind, where the gameplay loop invite endless replayability.
Verdict
I give 4 star to bump up the score, but given the limited options for now I'd be more of a 3, 3.5 star game. I do appreciate how "to the point" it is. No bloat, no waste of time, Yet the scenario (except for the ending) is engaging enough, and so are the characters mostly. Plus you got cuckqueaning in there. I love it and it's rare to see it depicted (let alone depicted between a loving couple, same for cuckolding here), so bonus.
