VN - Unity - Out of Touch! [v3.96.2] [Story Anon]

This is a tough one to review. Reviewed as of chapter 45 (near the end of current release - V3.91.1, chapter 56).

TL/DR:
It's not going to appeal to everybody. But if you're looking for a well thought out, well written, slow burn, well rendered but kind of not great animated visual novel with supernatural themes, this is a goodie.

Perspective:
The part that stood out to me is this isn't a strictly MC perspective. Many story chapters follow a particular character and everything is experienced from their POV. This is pretty unique in AVN's and is worth considering.

New Player Experience:
I wanted to put this here as the game... isn't great initially. It jumps from multiple perspectives, there's basically no adult scenes, the characters are confusing and yeah, if you don't engage your brain you're going to bounce off this one hard. It settles and it gets more grounded over time. But the first bunch of chapters are all over the place. It's worth it as you spend more time - but that could be a turn off.

Story:
Kind of anime. It's very formulaic in structure. The main story arc is told from a particular characters perspective (with some deviations - they don't strictly follow one character). They generally have some sort of hang up to overcome. Other characters also have hangups or want to tell them that their problem is not actually a problem. They then face off against a bad guy and with the power of friendship and the MC's unconditional love, they unlock their hidden power and beat up the bad guy. I found the story really engaging that being said, but there's a lot of it, and it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea.

Without giving too much away, there is a moderate time jump (8 months) at one point but after that, it seemed that while the characters grew in power slightly, they still had the same bag of hang ups they had 8 months prior. Suggesting growth over that period was minimal, which, considering the frantic pace of the prior story beats, seems out of step. Sort of like the time jump didn't really matter.

Animations:
There are only a few (literally about 10 tops), and less for the *adult* stuff. But when they're there, they are well done. But gosh darn it, this is not *animated*. Most of the scenes we're looking for are just slide shows. But when it is animated, it is great. The developer has talent but I wish they used this more on the adult scenes.

Adult Content:
Kind of as above. At least for me, animations are important. But good god, with the emotional payoff that some of these encounters have, I wish more were animated. This would have been peak if Story Anon did that. Instead, the majority of the scenes show lots of very carefully crafted single frames showing intimacy. They are well done and have great angles. There are lots of static image adult scenes later on. If you like slow burn and you think static image adult content is all g, bump this up to a solid 5 star 100% recommended. But it feels the Story Anon tried animated adult scenes in the mid game and thought yeah nah, and went back to static images. Boo.

Girls:
I wish there was more variety. Basically everyone has a massive butt/thighs. Boob size is variable but again, bias is towards massive. Story Anon presents an in-story reason for this (being unrealistic) but yeah, as it stands, majority of the girls are packing WMD's in the front and the back and that's fine but it's not subtle. There are a few petite characters who I will not name due to spoilers. They're not the focus though.

Pacing:
As a kinetic novel (mostly), pacing is really decent. There are a bunch of instances where the game offers you a selection of different locations to visit while you're acting from a particular characters person. There is a ton of (semi) hidden dialogue which can really help flesh out the game's story by just not going with the key path and selecting *talk* from the options in random locations. But that does slow down the pace. It's to this games credit that most of the time, I wanted to seek out this hidden dialogue to better understand the game's story.

Sounds:
Generic soundtrack of kind of 80's synth sort of stuff. Some of it sounds down pitched to create some discomfort which is kind of cool. Unique but given the length of the game, a few more songs would be nice. They reuse them a bunch though. Not a deal breaker for a AVN but like... man the 11th time you hear that emotional synth track it doesn't quite hit the same.

Mostly no sound in the adult stuff but there are some voice overs at certain parts that are voiced which stray into this territory. I think they were AI - but could be wrong - but well done overall.

General Presentation:
Story Anon has clearly taken time to convey individual expressions and shots per LINE of dialogue. It's kind of crazy TBH. But in a good way. The camera jumps all over the place showing each line characters vocalize. Honestly - this is incredible effort, slightly frenetic and a bit nuts. But it has a ton of character.

Overall Summary:
Recommend if you're in the mood to read a novel first, with a bit of static image adult stuff inter spliced. IMO, worth it if you're in the right mood. Not for everyone. I just wish more of the spicy scenes were animated.

Didn't particularly enjoy this one, the story didn't entice me at all. Feels very convoluted and jumps all over the place. I did appreciate a wide case of characters with good scenes (when you finally get there). Lacks a sense of cohesion and linear plotpoints.

This game (kinetic novel really) is not for everyone. It used to be one my favorites but I've dropped it for now, although I may return to it later.

It should be mentioned up front, the sex doesn't happen until very far (hours of game play) into the game. But once it starts happening, it snowballs. Lots of it and it's very well done too.

The models are really pretty, diverse in appearance, and have different personalities which for the most part are very well presented.

The story .... this is a mix of good and bad and the reason why I've left it for now. Further, what will be a negative to some, will appeal to others.

It's a fantasy, semi futuristic story which flirts with dystopian and horror themes but doesn't dip too deep into there (usually) so if those aren't your thing, don't worry about it.

It's long. It's feeling like Wheel of Time of long. One Piece long. The story that never ends long. That would be ok if it was consistently good and entertaining. And it is for a certain type of audience. For me though, too often now, it's just too much - although it it took quite a while to get to that point. There are long stretches of explanations that are hard to make sense of and/or are sometimes just tedious. The plot gets too complicated and hard to follow. Too many characters to the point it's hard to remember who people are. Too many interrelated sub plots to keep track of and to remember what in the heck is going on. Long, beautifully drawn and animated sequences, with a matching soundtrack, that are like an LSD trip and are hard to make sense of ....

This game is definitely a labor of love and the dev is talented. There is definitely an audience that will either follow along with this complex story or don't care about not knowing what's going on and will simply appreciate the art of it all on a surface level.

For me, it's gotten to the point I am lost as to what's happening too much of the time. It's too much effort and work to figure it all out and so I've lost interest despite the numerous good parts in it.

As I said in the beginning, for some audiences this is an amazing must play, can't get enough of it. For others ... not so much.

If you like:
well written, funny, silly, dramatic, epic stories
varied, unique, fleshed out and HOT characters
immersing yourself into other worlds
80s synth/cyberwave music
bright colours
infuriatingly funny 4th wall breaks(seriously StoryAnon I love you but FUCK YOU but I love you nonetheless)

you should play this game.

don't expect a wankfest, this game is 90% the above and 10% handsinyourpants. but it is SO worth it, I hope it continues like this

I'm only on chapter 17, but so far it's a really good story. I had imagined it would have an open map, so you'd have to complete quests. Nevertheless, the format is really well designed. I'm already looking forward to the next chapters.

It's clearly a well made game, but I have to major issues that are too difficult to ignore. The excessive dialogue and clicking practically doubles the playtime unnecessarily, and the MC is the least likable MC of any f95 game I've played. It's only getting 3 stars, because the creator is clearly very talented.

At the start is confusing, something odd, but the beauttiful art just make you go along. And at the end it just gets better, colors, arts, scenes, and the most important... history... but beig serius i´m Loving this DRAMA

It's really unique game. I'm skipping roughly 50% of all the lengthy graphomania - but its still just amazing.
Amazing characters, their interactions, the whole plot.
Oh and also visuals here are one of the best I've seen, dev truly mastered... what, koikatsu?.. and make it show us truly beautiful models. I just want to look at those girls forever.
I'm easily givin this game 5 stars and also plus one phantom star for bit of wlw content (wish there was more but ok).

I'm only on chapter 20 so far but here are my thoughts anyway. To me, kinetic novels always feel antithetical to what a visual novel should be. The only other KN I've ever enjoyed is Cosy Cafe because I just enjoy branching paths and choices with consequences so much.

This game, though? For years now, I've wanted to make my own adult game that's basically just Persona but boobs. Out of Touch does that, just without the gameplay. If they padded this game out with some consistent ARPG bits in between story beats, I genuinely believe that this would be my favorite game of all time. Even if the plot falls completely apart from the point I'm at right now, I'll at least say that it was the my favorite first season of an anime if it was instead put into that medium.

I was pretty sure I was hooked when the first part of the prologue pulled at my heart strings, but soon after the initial shock of heartbreak, this game stuck its claws in me and I don't think it's gonna let go.

Great art. Great premise. Great storytelling. Great worldbuilding. Great characters. The adult scenes are good but nothing too outstanding but they aren't gratuitous and overdone. This is story focused and character focused but you may at some point see some tits.

Maybe I'm just crazy, but I would really recommend giving this a shot if you want an over the top shonen harem romp that'll make you cry. I'd recommend this game to people who don't even like visual novels as long as they like cute girls.

Man, what a trip!

This game is not perfect, and it's not for every one either.

But if you enjoy reading, if you value good storytelling more than 3-d realistic graphics or sex scenes every minute, if you're willing to accept that you won't understand every thing (for that, you would need to take the same amount of drugs as the dev), you're going to tremendously enjoy this game.

You will laugh quite often, you will be misty-eyed a couple of times, you will be awed by the author's imagination throughout, and you will definitely want to know what's going to happen down the road.

I have no idea how I missed this until now, but I know that I will be on the lookout for further chapters!

i think tropicali is much better from same creator, dialogues in this game is pretty long and so boring, for the sex scenes they are mid and doesnt worth the wait


i have played 20+ hours and after playing side stories i decided this game is not worth playing

It's probably the most unique AVN i've ever played, nothing really compares to it, storywise, setting, and general vibes.

I know it may lose some of you early on, with how it first presents itself in one way, only to then quickly amp up to 100mph with all the supernatural shit, the god stuff, and the random ass "quirky" humour. (at least it did for me) But if you stick with it, and really just give it a chance. It's actually a really really fucking good AVN, with some really lovely LI's, some great writing and wonderful story telling.

One of the few AVNs I am now actively waiting on for updates, to play instantly.

While i"m not caught up yet, as of writing this review I'm 44 chapters in.
EDIT: I'm now caught up. Everything I wrote before stands, and even is more so the truth now. I have absolutely *LOVED* this VN. I can't recommend it enough to those who are looking for a genuinely good story with a side of porn. rather than just a porn focused game.

I've loved the character writing, all of the characters feel like they have a real depth to them. Even CJ who I've seen other reviewers leave comments about.

I want to make it clear. He's a Himbo yes, but he's not stupid. He's disproportionately beaten down by the narrator early on as being stupid, when the reality is, he's shown helping Tee with calculus later on. and his emotional intelligence is top notch.

The rest of the cast too, they start as caricatures of what they really are before you get to know them better. For better and for worse, this gives the writer a much better chance to show the growth of everyone involved. Both as an outside party or from the side of the character. Jamie is a great example of this.

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On the topic of the porn of the game? honestly, my experience with that is, the game cares about it's story more than it cares about shitting out as many porn scenes as possible. Porn scenes are earned by the plot. Someone mentioned chapter 26 as an example of one of the better scenes for porn, and I'd agree, but that scene was earned. the connections to characters didn't just suddenly let CJ fuck everyone right out of the gate.

I have found the story of the game to be *addictive* as i've knocked out 44 chapters in the last 3 days. Seeing the suffering and growth of all these characters, the perfect sound track for what the game. The fights while not animated, are amazingly well thought out. The emotional moments well timed and well deserved. and as someone else mentioned,

Lastly, I just want to say, this game is definitely not for everyone.Especially not for everyone who frequents this site. This is a game that's unappologetically a good VN first and will put the porn to the side when it's not needed to serve the story. but that's what makes it so damn good.

After spending 20+ hours I've had to fast forward way too much unnecessary dialogue to think it was worth playing. The world building is good, there are diverse characters and basically logically structured. The problem is that the game feels like it was created by someone who studied a little too much art and watched Inception way too many times. There is history for the sake of history, not to drive dialogue further or to create greater depth. It may be worth it if you are very, very interested in world building.

this game gave me every single feeling at the same time. including horror and confusion. especially horror and confusion



seriously what the fuck, story anon, this is 50 fucked up hours of my life i will never get back or recover from

Great and captivating story. Characters are well made, each with clear identity while still going through some development, keeping them interesting as the relationships progress.

Visually appealing. Some moments get bit confusing because of the contrast and color scheme changes, however within the context of the scenes it make dramatical sense. H-scenes are also well managed.

Sadly, while having lot to offer in terms of content, lack of meaningful player input it gets bit boring to rely on autoplay and pressing space while reading and enjoying the renders.

Boring, full-time job And Impressively Non-Engaging.

Oh, man. Where do I start? I usually play the full game before reviewing, but for this one I couldn't keep slogging through one more minute after surviving 5 hours of playtime.

This game has to be one of the most sleep inducing, cringe and throw a 'barrel of niceness' in your face kinda game I've played.

Nice is... not nice.

If you play this game, you'll understand what I mean. The game suffers from being toxically nice. It comes off so pretentious. Like who made this game? No one is that nice; if they claim to be, they either never had to make a hard choice, or might just be hypocrites.
I will elaborate more on why this gets in the way so much.

Story-telling at it's lowest.

The first hour of the game is an acid trip, but believe it or not, it's also the best hour of the game. The Chad meme on clouds giving the MC mentorship was fucking hilarious. Only goes downhill from there, though. The story was nothing special; just slice-of-life drama. And since you're given no option in how the story unfolds, you'd expect the developers to be cooking up a really gripping masterpiece.... No.. no, that was just a foolish dream.

The narrative often switches between the MC and one of his harem girls and boy did that get OLD. It always kicks you out of a moment to show you - what the harem girl was/is thinking. As if you constantly need to read what goes on in that mind of theirs. You'll read far more thoughts of characters back-and-forth than actual dialogue and action. Is as though hours keep passing by, kids get older, but nothing really progresses in the game. God, if overthinking wasn't real.

I was fighting demons trying to keep myself from holding CTRL through out most of this game.

But, I gotta admit. The MC was the saving grace of this story. (sarcasm)

Chad Johnson Thundercock Junior, aka the MC, is one of the worst aspects of the game. He has a 'nice guy' complex. Goes on to easily forgive the girl who forced herself on to him when they were young and even shoulders the blame. Talk about reverse gaslighting. I wouldn't be surprised if he vomits fairy dust out of his mouth because it would be inconsiderate to mess up someone's carpet.
And not to mention how fucking dumb he is. If you haven't gotten tired of the 'Dumb but nice guy MC' trope yet, you will after this. Even the narrator got tired of his shi, and kept hitting us with lines like these:


Exciting plot ❌ Engagement ❌

When you make a slice-of-life game, you should especially try to make the game as engaging as possible. Fun minigames, kick ass QTEs, strong decision making. But instead what they offer are - point&click, snooze friendly, no decision making.

This completely kills any drama in the story. Conflict gets created automatically and then, few chapters and apologizes later, conflict gets resolved automatically; with absolutely no player involvement. Like what am I doing here? You expect me to sit through 50 hours of this? No, thanks!

Writing this review was more engaging than anything this game had to offer.

Love Interests, no company is making waifu pillows about.

The cast of main girls in this game is really nothing special. All of them easily acquired and no effort was made to try and make the player naturally grow to like the love interests, instead of being told to do so.
The MC has years of history with them and I'm sure he has his reasons that make him like them that much. But as the player, that is not the case.

A writer should never forget that the MC is not the player. Conscious effort must be made to ensure the players have gotten ample opportunity to grow with the characters, and not just the MC. So both the MC and the Player can be in unison with how they feel about the LIs.

The girl who raped forced herself onto the MC was the most interesting one, but not being able to express how I felt about the situation with choices, but instead being forced to go along with the MC's foolishly 'nice guy' complex, completely killed that plot point for me. Even she was angry about being forgiven wayy too easily.

Right... so. Final thoughts?

If I have to give credit to anything in this game, it would be the music selection. It is suspiciously good. Don't know if they licensed everything or not.
Otherwise don't bother. I am lucky to have survived 5 hours of this without falling asleep. If you wanna cling on to the hope that the other 45 hours of this game might make it all worth it?! Then you're alone. I never expected that kind of delayed gratification ability from a gooner. I must say. Good luck!

I played this game so you don't have to!

The authors warn: "This game is really long and story focused. If you don't like really long games, don't play it." and it couldn't be more accurate

apart from one great scene in chapter 26, all the other scenes are pretty basic, short and mostly not even animated, so if you're not interested in a creepy plot (I'm not), there's basically nothing else here

I really like this VN, I love how expressive the characters feel, how good it is written.
My personal LI assessment: 1. Leah, 2. Sara & Cro
I just finished the 52nd chapter update, and I went reminiscing about some scene in the gallery.
Thank you for this game, and for Tropicali, I had a blast playing it too

Overall one of the best that I have played on here.
If you are looking for something with a good story that keeps you hooked, enjoyable characters, solid visuals, and will take you quite a long time to get all the way through (Well over 20 hours)
Some memes and 4th wall stuff here and there that I'm not a huge fan of, but nothing that I would lower my score for.