[As of Episode 7]
Long story short:
'Nothing is Forever' is a very nice soap opera with some interesting, if not fully explored mechanics.
Long story long:
There are two interesting bits about this game: the story and the game mechanics.
I would say that the writing is quite good. It is a slow-burn type of story, although it is far from being THE slowest adult VN. It is, in general, a rewarding experience due to the pretty interesting and mostly sympathetic characters, mostly plausible events that do not break your immersion, and a variety of fetishes you can explore.
The game has two unusual mechanics:
- a list of kinks your character is comfortable with.
- an 'emotion' you feel toward certain girls, which stucks from your previous encounters and seems to close off certain interactions.
While the second one is mostly to spice things up a bit, it is the kinks mechanics where the game grabs my attention. Basically, it is an RPG-type system where you level up using something like an XP pool.
The way you talk, the choices you make don't just make the story go in a certain direction. They also give you points that you can spend on the kinks you're interested in. This, in turn, offers further story branching or at least different sex scenes.
It seems to me that the most important difference is whether you'd like to be a manly man or a more sensitive guy. But it has shades! You can be manly without having a humiliation kink, for instance, or you can be sensitive and caring without becoming submissive.
This is a great system, but sadly it may be overly complicated for the game as it is now. The girls are different, and they have different routes which are tied with the kinks you open. I'm not quite sure, but I suppose it IS possible to have a completely sexless life in this game if you're really unlucky with your choices. There is a hint system, so you know what the girls do or do not like, but that's it.
It doesn't help that certain love interests have more content than others. Two of the girls have a lot of possible scenes. And one girl in particular has almost nothing so far. There is a story justification for that, and it seems that the encounters will be more balanced in the future, but for now, the game is already too long and you may never become intimate with the girl you're interested in. And it is not a harem game, so it takes at least some dedication from the main character, cutting off other branches.
As you can see, the mechanics don't fully live up to the potential. It is also quite clear that the developed has changed some things as you go: for instance, there is a kink-discovery mini-game that I've played in the first two or three episodes, but then it simply fell into background. Or take the way you 'progress' from one scene to another: two times developer entertained 'a world map' of sorts, but it didn't stick.
To a certain extent the same goes for the narrative. Mostly it is quite consistent in tone, being a pretty serious story about non-sociopathic good-natured fellows (except for one bitch, which will be a real delight to any evil heart). They joke around, they have fun, so the underlying themes of depression, self-doubt and anxiety do not make this game depressing itself. That's certainly a win! Still, sometimes there are some weird parts.
Verdict
I suggest you try 'Nothing is forever' if you like slice-of-life stories. It is vastly superior to most of the similar VNs, and MrSilverLust seems to be a creative and talented person. I think this game already missed its chance to be perfect, but who wants perfect anyway? It is mostly fun, heartfelt, has something for different people, and surely shows great promise for the developer. I certainly enjoyed it and wait for the updates.
And holy fuck there is a lot of chess in the game. I love it. Especially the fact that you don't have to play it. You just have to watch a lot of matches (five? six? seven?). I enjoyed it, but yeah... Not for everyone.
Anyway, the review is getting too long. Cheers!