Still playing some side routes and discovering things, but the alpha overall gets a thumbs-up from me. We've been building towards the Ian/Lena/Holly threesome for quite a while, it was heavily teased that this would be the update where it happened, and there it is. I think it's handled extremely well in how it comes about: conversations leading towards it but in the end having good timing for the three of them to be alone on the beach, and the way it just seems to start under its own steam. I appreciate that Eva works a way for it to happen whether Ian is dating Lena or dating Holly, and that there are subtle but real dialogue and description shifts to account for that, while the content and images are the same. That the evening ends in a subdued way with them quietly making their way back to the others, and then drowsily sharing a bed for the night, is exactly right imo. Eva got the big thing right, not just in this chapter, but in what ostensibly the game has been building towards to this point.
That the rest of the update is in a bit of a lower key is just how things go. Someone already said the scene of slutty Holly making her move on Ian was the best other scene this update, and I'd agree. (Willing to add Ian punishing Lena to the shortlist also but that's not on a main playthrough for me and I haven't seen it yet.) As Turret helpfully explained, it will be very interesting to see where a slutty HollyxIan relationship can go from here. I personally would not have rewarded Perry with a night with Emma for any reason, but it's in there for the players who wanted that. Thanks to ffive for sharing the one screenshot associated with that turn of events, and now I never have to look at it again.
I thought the Never Have I Ever game was done well, perhaps a little more low-energy than I would have wanted, but good in that it doesn't affect anything for the characters, though it was a nice touch that Ian and others get progressively more amazed when a slutty Holly drinks at various points. I did enjoy Eva basically trolling all of us with Lena's little "oh, I had a sexy dream about my stepdad" bit. But finding out Lena had an abortion way back when was a record scratch for me, a little too jarring imo for a VN. The rest of the info was enjoyable without being particularly memorable. It turns out women fake orgasms sometimes and men sometimes have performance issues - gosh, who knew? I laughed at Wade never crying at a movie, which seems 100% in his character.
Speaking of Wade, various folks have made comments, joking and serious, about Wade "starting his redemption arc" with this update: pics with the girls, a little sunscreen for Lena, a little flirting with Lena in the ocean. Remember too he drinks along with everyone else when the question of "never have I ever fantasized about someone in this group" comes up, and Ian wonders who it might be but doesn't wonder too much. I'm all for a redemption arc for him, in fact I think it started last update with his post-freakout look in the mirror and becoming more convinced about next steps (stay together/break up) with Cindy. A thought which may get explored in Chapter 13: when a slutty Holly makes her move on Ian, the roommate situation is Holly with Lena and Ian with Wade. Ian worries briefly about Wade walking in on them, and Holly says "Don't worry, he won't interrupt us tonight..." Is that because Wade is passed-out drunk with Perry somewhere, because Emma has rejected Perry and Wade went to drink with him? Or is that because Wade is in Holly and Lena's room with Lena?...