I decided to wait till the second update to rate this one, just to make sure it remained consistent. I'm tempted to just slap 5 stars on this and call it a day, no explanations needed.
Updates:
Before saying anything else, I have to congratulate the dev on the quality of the updates. I'd go as far as saying that he raised the bar on what is considered a "good update". Ep2p1 has sizeable content considering how long it was in development, extremely polished, without bugs or grammar/spelling mistakes.
Gameplay:
It's a fairly straightforward VN. You mostly choose your attitude towards the love interests and gain relationship points with them. The dev has implemented a system that flashes color to let the player know if a choice is important for the future, or if the current scene is a result of a previous choice.
There is a currency system that allows you to buy things which may unlock scenes or be relevant to the plot at a later point.
There also exist choice driven games/events, where you try to navigate through a problem and make the best out of it, with various results depending on how well you read the situation. They aren't really distinct from the rest of the choices and they seemingly don't have any special mehanics though so don't expect something ultra specific. I expect to see more of them in later updates.
Setting:
While it's too early to understand the scope and the prologue is a bit confusing, this is a modern world with high fantasy elements, including magic, fantasy races like elves and anthropomorphic animals.
A significant percentage of the population is magic users, magic itself is a scientific discipline taught at universities, with well documented history, types, effects and limitations.
There also exists slavery, or indentured servitude, which is enforced by magic, binding a willing recipient to the caster.
The mythology is expansive, with many races, a lot of detail concerning magic and mysteries yet uncovered.
Story/Dialogue/Writing:
The story follows a young adult fresh out of high school, who is talented and fairly easygoing, but has no defined goals in life. He lives in a mundane modern world, similar to real life. While out to buy some medicine, something happens to him which makes him see a vision and seemingly transports him to a magical parallel world.
From there on he pretty much finds a new purpose understanding magic, tries to understand his new condition, explore this new strange world and get in some peculiar trouble seemingly related to the event that started this whole mess.
There is a lot of humor here with tasteful use of memes. My highlight has to be when a girl is lying on her bed using her phone, and the phone drops on her head. I'm ashamed to admit how often this happens to me and that scene was a shock.
There's also a fair ammount of commentary. I appreciate that the MC is mature enough to at least think of some issues before sticking his dick in the hole, it adds to the fantasy if anything. There exists some hyperbole and big words thrown around, mostly for comedic purposes.
There exists drama but it's on the backburner currently. I expect that it will progressively become heavier as it's obvious that a lot of characters have emotional baggage and will eventually have to face their demons.
Visuals:
Exceptionally high quality HS renders and the sex animations are a whole new class. While the game still doesn't have much sexual content yet, and what it has is mostly foreplay, I guarantee that you will never see a better titjob animation anywhere and I don't even care about titjobs. These tits are alive. I know you are skeptical right now, but the experience will humble you.
The backgrounds are detailed and the characters are beautiful and proportional. Don't be quick to judge the looks of the girls from the first scenes. The dev constantly changes hairstyles, make-up and clothing depending on the occasion. The differences between the various versions of the characters are profound.
Audio:
A lot of whoosh sounds, meme sounds, comedic ambience, mystery ambience, epic ambience, metal. The sounds are mostly used for dramatic effects and impact. You will find a lot of switches between dramatic and comedic music that attempt to create a semi-horror/gotcha moment, to various effects.
Generally speaking, a lot of care has been given for the audio to have a clear and important role in the game. Hearing the intro of "The only thing they fear is you" can leave a lasting impression.
The only feedback I have to give is that the stronger scenes could use some stronger music. Right now they are mostly forgettable. I can't really recall the music during sex scenes, or the Leliana scene, training segments and the few action scenes the game has. I had to replay the scenes just to confirm that they had music for this review.
The Girls:
The foundation is built on the common incest family trope. Absent father no one talks about, repressed mother and quirky sisters. MC doesn't really have friends of his own to pursue but he makes a few along the way.
MC's relationship with the various characters is well founded and organic. Certainly some characters are harder to approach romantically, others are still in the "getting to know them" stage. The incestuous desires kind of.. exist. There is no good way to explain this but you won't really find the classic "but he is my brother I shouldn't think about him that way" monologue. I can't tell if this is a design choice or it's just too early, but at least one sister doesn't seem to care much.
Currently the cast contains 7 girls with confirmed romance routes and a femboy that you can increase your relationship points with. I expect at least double that by the time all the characters are introduced.
It doesn't seem like any relationship is mandatory. As far as I'm aware you can opt out from all of them if you want to. I'm not sure how it affects the content though as this type of playthrough doesn't interest me, so I never tested it.
The MC:
MC is an odd fellow. At first he sounds like he is going to be a directionless loser, but almost immediately we see that he is actually fairly competent, goal oriented, a quick learner and surprisingly savvy. He feels like a much older person in the skin of a younger one. Pair him with a generally good disposition and enough power to outshine any conventional magician and you get a semi-righteous and well-intentioned beast that doesn't take shit from anyone.
I wouldn't call him very realistic, but he is relatable in the aspects that matter I guess. It feels like he is going to completely dominate whatever competition he enters which can be a bit boring. Hopefully I will be proven wrong and the stakes will be enough to give him pause and drama.
Closing Comments:
Don't be fooled by the lack of tags or how new this game is. There is a ton of high quality content to go through relative to it's development time. If you enjoy Harem games with a formidable protagonist, great banter, great visuals and a splash of supernatural/fantasy, this game is for you.
