The game began as an ambitious project where you take on the role of a male MC, although a female option has since been added. In this role, you interview various characters about their sex lives and eventually become personally involved in some of the interactions.
One of the main challenges with this approach is finding the right balance between being too involved and too detached. Additionally, the content is now divided between two protagonists, which dilutes dev time, and I wonder if it was ever needed. As a result, if you choose to play as only one character, you might feel that something is either missing or too short between updates. Triggering scenes that involve the MCs can also be quite difficult and often frustrating. Many scenes are easily missable because they require very specific actions or conditions, even with the provided walkthrough. Furthermore, the guide does not detail how to unlock secret scenes. The in-game tips range from somewhat helpful to completely useless, making navigation within the 'sandbox' environment cumbersome and potentially wasting hours of your playtime. The UI, navigation and hint system either need a serious overhaul, and/or the requirements for triggering the MC scenes should be made less strict. An alternative could be to completely remove the 'sandbox' and shift to a traditional visual novel.
As a consolation prize, you can unlock Lady Moonshine to access any scenes that you may have missed. However, it is important to note that she only unlocks the scenes themselves and does not provide any context for them, offering only a brief explanation of what may have occurred based on certain actions you did not take. While this feature is helpful, it may not feel as rewarding as it seems. Overall, good premise, flawed execution.
One of the main challenges with this approach is finding the right balance between being too involved and too detached. Additionally, the content is now divided between two protagonists, which dilutes dev time, and I wonder if it was ever needed. As a result, if you choose to play as only one character, you might feel that something is either missing or too short between updates. Triggering scenes that involve the MCs can also be quite difficult and often frustrating. Many scenes are easily missable because they require very specific actions or conditions, even with the provided walkthrough. Furthermore, the guide does not detail how to unlock secret scenes. The in-game tips range from somewhat helpful to completely useless, making navigation within the 'sandbox' environment cumbersome and potentially wasting hours of your playtime. The UI, navigation and hint system either need a serious overhaul, and/or the requirements for triggering the MC scenes should be made less strict. An alternative could be to completely remove the 'sandbox' and shift to a traditional visual novel.
As a consolation prize, you can unlock Lady Moonshine to access any scenes that you may have missed. However, it is important to note that she only unlocks the scenes themselves and does not provide any context for them, offering only a brief explanation of what may have occurred based on certain actions you did not take. While this feature is helpful, it may not feel as rewarding as it seems. Overall, good premise, flawed execution.