Time for a review of Mad Island by E-made+
A quick foreword: I played the v0.05 version for about 3.5 hours. Admittedly this is very early in the development of the game, so it will probably get better. However, at this point I cannot rate it more than an average experience.
This review is separated into:
- Game play
- Controls
- Character / activities
- Porn
- Summary
Story
I prefer a good story in the games I play. The story is not always in focus, and that is fine if the game has strong elements in game play, mechanics and porn. Mad Island should not be played for its story. There is basically no story and you can’t really talk with anybody.
Game play
The core game play of Mad Island is exploration followed by survival. There is also quite some area to explore, as the map is quite large. This is sometimes a good thing because it allows you to experience different stuff on the island. That is, if there is different stuff to experience.
That is not currently the case for Mad Island. Different environments exist; forests, pine forests, swamp and desert. But they *feel* similar. The MC didn’t become thirstier in the desert, and the enemies behaved the same as everywhere else. Essentially, the different areas didn’t convey a different theme or feeling.
The survival aspect of the game is not well developed yet and you’d be forgiven if you missed it completely. The MC don’t need any sleep which means that sleeping is only used for healing. You do need to craft stuff like a stone axe, but it is kept fairly minimal. You can build stuff like walls, but it wasn’t all that well implemented with it clipping through the ground. More importantly, there is no point in crafting a base.
The leveling system is also too slow. The system is split into skill points and level up points. Level up points are used to develop either strength, health or speed. My recommendation is to only put 2-3 points in speed, you don’t need more. Put the majority in strength and maybe enough in health to reach 50 or 60 hp. For skill points you need 5 points to buy one 1 skill, which then raises the cost of said skill. This makes it very slow to progress in skill points.
You can take different actions, like raiding the tribal camps for resources, but it doesn’t really carry any repercussions. I often snuck into their tents, killed the sleeping tribal people or just stole the food. I was also discovered doing this, but it never really led to them really going after me, which it should.
Controls
The controls are convoluted. The game doesn’t tell you what to do or how to do it. For example; there are abilities called ‘grapple’ and ‘heavy strike’, what are they used for? No idea. How to use them? No idea.
Character / activities
Unfortunately, the game is quite empty in terms of activities. There are some areas with missions/quests, but they are far between. I would also have loved to get some agency in them. Just because I talk with somebody doesn’t mean I want to do a scripted mission. Alternatively, I’d like to not fight them.
Other than that you basically run around and explore, but this grows fairly old as most of the island quickly feels samey.
Porn
The porn part of the game is unfortunately quite underdeveloped and boring. The only way to get sex is if you lose. At that point you’ll be raped and then discarded. Afterwards you simply stand up and move about like nothing happened. I like that it isn’t a game over, but it would be fun if there were more to it. Like being captured in a raid: now you’re held captive, and you must either try to escape or accept your new life as the fucktoy of the tribe. Maybe the chieftain’s son is disabled and none of the tribal women wants him, now you’re given to him etc. Or perhaps you manage to turn your situation around and become a functioning member of the tribe. Perhaps this will be added in time.
It's also only a few monsters - primarily bosses, that have porn content. All other monsters will simply kill you and nothing else. I like that every single piece of wild life will fuck you - a wolf should hunt you, not mate with you. But certain should have stuff going with them; like the worm-like parasites at the swamp or the monstrous degenerate people of hellish underground.
All in all, I wouldn’t recommend playing this game for the porn content.
For quick reading:
The Good
- Decently looking MC
- Can create fast-travel points
- Graphics are pretty
The In-between
- Half-baked crafting system. No real point in crafting beyond the very basic axe/pickaxe and leaf bed.
- The events you can find is a bit too scripted. Would’ve been nice with a choice.
- There is a detailed skill system. It would be nice if they showed more about her personality and tenacity than them only being pure survival skills or create a skill tree for that too.
The Bad
- No real progression
- No point in base building
- No way to either submit to or build relations with people
- Kinda feels like a missed opportunity to not create sexual encounters with the more ordinary monsters.