I really wish this game was better than it was. It's not bad. Solid C, maybe C+ if you want to be charitable, but it could be so much better.
The writing is okay, generally readable. Grammar mistakes are infrequent, but also noticeable when they occur. For the record, it is 'take a seat' not 'take a sit'. Even if that is perhaps a weird regional thing that maybe some people might say somewhere, maybe. But when talking about a board of directors for a company, one has 'a seat on the board', not 'a sit on the board'. Again, infrequent, but noticeable.
I like the story well enough, and I'm interested in seeing where the mystery is going. I generally like the characters, even if some of them are flat and one-note. There are even nice touches in the narrative so that I know the writer is both creative and trying. I liked the scene where Carol is visiting her gynecologists and when instructed to thing of something 'good' she thinks of the MC instead of her husband. It was one of those nice side scene that helps build up character motivation, and demonstrates that (again) the writer is putting some forethought into the narrative.
But the animation? I kinda hate it, because it is used so poorly. All of the custom animations are bad. Kira walking to and then driving away in her SUV in the garage? The movement is about as awkward as if a giant toddler had grabbed the car and moved it around as if they were playing with it. The pan into the neighborhood while the MC walks down the sidewalk? The pacing is so off that the characters are sliding on ice, cause they're moving at sprinting speed but with a walking gait. Maria washing the MC's back in the shower? Her elbow breaks in an unnatural way (you would get that range of motion by rotating your upper arm, not snapping your elbow unnaturally sideways), and otherwise everything else is creepily frozen and unmoving (e.g. no idle animation). They're all bad, the keyframing is off by orders of magnitude. Also every animation ends at a frame different from the final still frame that follows it, so every bespoke animation ends with a jerky transition to a still. It would have saved time and effort, and not be as distractingly bad, if they had just stuck with well shot still frames.
This is compounded in the sex scenes, where the writing largely takes a back seat to poorly framed loops of stock Honey Select animations (and the ones that aren't stock, are again, bad). For starters, it ruins the pace of the game, as the sex scenes are the most decision intensive parts of the game. Not only that, but it's a whole lot of pointless decision making. If you want to show off the same animation from 4 different angles, why do you need to stop and make the player choose every few frames? Why not just present all of them in a row in a way that makes sense, and spend that time actually writing something interesting? Instead of presenting it in a way that defeats any attempt to auto-play, cause the game constantly needs you to click on menu options to advance the scene? Also, why are some of the 'alternate views' just the exact same shot only zoomed in just a tiny bit or at a slightly more tilted camera angle? Like, why even bother to put that in? Every time I see the 'change angle' option, it just comes off as an obtrusive road-block that disrupts the flow of the experience (assuming it doesn't break and get stuck after changing, like the Ally scene in her room).
Which is the other big letdown, in that it seems like the animation is there for filler, cause the writing during the sex scenes is about as erotic as assembly instructions for IKEA furniture. It rarely rises above describing how the pieces fit together, and often in the most bland way possible. There is no spark, no eroticism. Often little more than 'I put my penis in her vagina, she enjoyed it'. Great. So, how does it actually feel? Is it tight, wet, hot, slippery, and how does that effect their enjoyment? How does the sex make either character feel, physically or emotionally? Are they even having a good time? Is this some culmination for the character's arc? Nothing. We get nothing. No view into their inner thoughts or feelings. Sometimes there isn't even any writing, but when there is, it amounts to little more than describing what the characters are doing, with no thought for how they are feeling. So again, like assembly instruction for flat-packed IKEA furniture; you get told where all the pieces are going, but not how anyone feels about it.
So yeah, the sex scenes are incredibly underwhelming. For example, making love to Maria for the first time, something the game takes along time to build up to. What lines are used to describe fucking her for the first time?
"You get completely undressed. And tell Maria to get on all four.
As she does so you position yourself behind her...
And push your cock into her pussy. She cries in pleasure as you enter her warm, wet vagina."
Sorry, but that's the best the writer could do given the situation? The culmination of their growing sexual tension finally being released? There's no two ways about it, but that's disappointing. Again, not bad. But It's C grade work at best. Everything described almost clinically from the third person, again describing what is happening but not how anyone is feeling. There is no look into the inner thoughts of either character. No 'Oh god, he's finally taking me!' thoughts from Maria. No 'I can't stop myself anymore!' thoughts from the MC. The narrative has gone into POV for both characters previously, and narrated their inner thoughts before (e.g. Maria masturbating to the MC's morning wood), but when it comes to the sex scenes? Nothing but silence.
Probably the best scene is the one with Sharon, because the dirty talk between the characters actually breathes some genuine life into the scene. It's a peek at how much better all of the other scenes could be with a little (or a lot) more effort. Compare that to the date night scene with Debbie? Where it is just a series of 'You did X to Y' descriptors, and lots of un-narrated animations? Yeah, the scene with Debbie is comparatively awful, and is little more than watching a boring lets-play of Honey Select (e.g. watching someone else direct two dolls to fuck with little setup and even less commentary). If all the scenes were up to the standard of the Sharon one, it would be a marked improvement; but even then I still think there is plenty of room for improvement. Again, I do like the game, but it's hardly the most competently written thing around here. C grade work, it would pass the class, but it's not making Honor Roll.
. The points requirement usually not very high for the LIs. I didn't try playing with no points at all with her, but as far as my normal playthrough, the option to cheat or not, first show up at Day 17 during the bathroom scene.
