Updated Review for v0.4.2
Having been over a year since my initial review of a very early version of the game, now felt like a good time to take another crack at this and see if my opinion of it improved. While I'd say it has overall, I still think the three star rating fits.
Midnight Sin, for the most part, is playing it safe. It's a style of game I've played many times before and in a way almost feels nostalgic. It reminds me of those old harem sandbox games I first came across when checking out games on the site. My question going in was, especially for a dev with two completed games under their belt, how was this going to make itself stand out from the rest. Stand out from both it's predecessors and other harem sandboxes. The answer, and my real issue with this game, is that it really does almost nothing to do so.
The game plays exactly like you'd expect if you've played any other sandbox. You have your map, girls moving to different spots based on their schedule, lots of time skipping, boring minigames (that you can skip thankfully), stat grinds that events get locked behind, and money you have to earn to buy items and clothes from the mall. This isn't that big of a deal to me truth be told, but because the game is still relatively empty it just isn't that engaging.
Though I enjoyed Mystwood Manor for what it was, my biggest problem with that game was the lack of complex characters and general character development. I was worried the same thing was going to happen here, and while it isn't quite as bad, I feel Midnight Sin is only a few small steps up from Mystwood Manor in that regard. I think the characters are just boring. Most of them are based off very clear tropes I've seen done many times. While each do have aspects that branch them out a bit more from the usual, they still are very small branches. They just aren't very compelling? Though to be fair they have their cute moments as well, and I do find myself partial to the shy gamer sister. That might also be because she's the most attractive IMO.
This brings me to the MC, another character I just find boring more than anything. This doubly sucks considering we play as him. I feel the decision to make him 36 years old was purely a stylistic choice, because honest to god you could make him 10 years younger and nothing would change. He lacks a certain competence and maturity that just makes it feel like you're playing a teenager in a mans body. I initially had a much harsher critique of him truth be told, but it seems like his pervy dialogue has been dialed back a bit which is nice.
Plot wise It seems the focus is more on the girls themselves, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It is painfully obvious who is blackmailing us (though if I am wrong on this one, I'll take the egg on my face). Considering the MC was supposed to be running a security business, it feels comical how he is immediately made helpless. The best comparison I can make is that he feels like the jobber bodyguard who gets taken out by the main character of an action movie. Besides that each girl thus far has had their own small plotline that really only pushes you along the very standard lewd scene pipeline. Events themselves aren't very played out maybe is the word? For example: you beat up this dickhead who is harassing one of the girls you're protecting at the gym. Instead of giving me a render of a nice punch to the jaw, it throws up the fighting minigame and then cuts to him just bruised on the floor. That is not satisfying.
The lewd scenes aren't doing much for me. Yeah most of the girls are attractive (I couldn't care less about the maids tbh) but there really hasn't been any good writing going into them. You mostly just watch the animation play out, maybe get a horny comment from the MC, and that's that. Which again is kinda boring.
There is one single aspect of this that feels a bit different from your usual harem incest sandbox. You'll learn at some point that the mother has a punishment room where she takes her daughters when they misbehave. BDSM gear, spanking, a mother daughter kiss on the lips, etc. Truth be told I'm not into BDSM and sub/dom stuff, but I do think mother daughter stuff is hot. So I'm mixed? I have no doubt the MC will take over the punishment role at some point which again I don't really care about, but I do wonder if there will be a decent chunk of lesbian content down the road.
At the end of the day it's a pretty standard incest sandbox game, just with a few more bells and whistles going into it. It's a genre that's been tried and tested, and I can get the appeal of wanting something more mindless like I believe this game is. If you want a game with more complexity in its writing though, I'd say look elsewhere. I don't think I'll ever love this game but I can see myself potentially playing it on a rainy day in the future. Maybe the game will surprise me once it fills itself out more.