Review for Ep. 2 P1
Seems like I'm going to be a bit controversial here, but I am incredibly conflicted with this game. Generally speaking, AVNs are at their best for me when they can get me immersed within them. If I can get captured and locked into your game, you're probably doing something right. What is probably my biggest problem with Realm Invader is that despite my genuine effort to get into it, it is NOT an immersive game. Why is that? The comedy. If you're like me and the comedic parts of this game don't 100% work for you, getting through this becomes a chore.
Now the game starts well enough with the intro. We are a sort of aimless post-highschool graduate that the game puts as "a total fucking loser." Suddenly some magical hoopla happens and we find ourselves transported to a sort of alternate reality where things like magic and fantasy races exist. We still live with the same family in the same house and all that, but now the world has a new history to it along with everything else. I have no issues with the premise, it genuinely was an interesting enough hook with how it played out.
But then our life resumes in this new world, and here is where I'll elaborate on the comedy stuff. This game takes the comedy dial, turns it up to eleven, and then fucking smashes it so you can never turn it down. The MC, for like the first two hours of the game, feels like a comedian who never stops telling jokes and trying to be funny. It's not only him though, but it's quite literally baked into almost every single scene. A lot of it is fourth wall/immersion breaking too, which is why it's so hard to be immersed in the first place. Every single moment has to be sandwiched by jokes and it just never stops man. Some of it is honestly funny or made me smile at the least, but then for every one of those times I laughed there was another five I clicked past as fast as possible because my patience ran out.
Now of course the comedy is something very subjective and everyone will feel different about it. So now I'll try to get to the more objective parts of this.
I don't think the game knew what it wanted to be until around a couple hours in where we acquire the slave girl. Ignoring the comedy really does cut out a huge chunk of this, but when I'm taking a look solely at the more "normal' events that start to characterize the love interests I realize the game almost never spends enough time on them. I think each of the main girls so far do exhibit some endearing personality traits, but there was only one girl I felt actually somewhat invested in. That was our youngest sister, the scruffy gamer girl shut in. She's great and very cute, but the entire reason I feel this way is because the game gave her more focus than anyone. In hours of playing, I feel like I got absolutely nothing from the mom, barely anything from the athletic sister, and maybe just under what I needed to start really liking the older sister.
It's the same way with a lot of the plot moving events. The game just blows by them so fast man. It's missing fluff, it's missing transitions, and ultimately felt lacking in direction. I felt like shit was happening almost at random sometimes. But then we get to the slave girl and it felt like the game finally had some semblance of where it wanted to go. The MC suddenly flips a switch to turn off comedian mode and actually displays... intelligence maybe? And it feels like relevant shit is actually happening without delving into spoilers.
So those are my key issues, and my review probably reads like I hate this. Honestly though, I really don't. There is something good here with the plot. Some of the characters are genuinely endearing in ways that make me want to see more of them. The renders are phenomenal and it is especially rare to have a 4K version (which I used and appreciated). The animations are very solid. Despite the "average" rating I give this, it's not an average game.
I can genuinely feel that a lot of effort going into Realm Invader, and I think the dev has a certain talent you don't see often. However upon reaching as far as the end of the first episode, I just couldn't find a desire to keep going and play the next one. Some day I probably will try the next episode to see if my opinion shifts, but I'd be forcing myself if I did so now. Still, if you do find yourself enjoying the comedy this is probably a game you'll love.
Seems like I'm going to be a bit controversial here, but I am incredibly conflicted with this game. Generally speaking, AVNs are at their best for me when they can get me immersed within them. If I can get captured and locked into your game, you're probably doing something right. What is probably my biggest problem with Realm Invader is that despite my genuine effort to get into it, it is NOT an immersive game. Why is that? The comedy. If you're like me and the comedic parts of this game don't 100% work for you, getting through this becomes a chore.
Now the game starts well enough with the intro. We are a sort of aimless post-highschool graduate that the game puts as "a total fucking loser." Suddenly some magical hoopla happens and we find ourselves transported to a sort of alternate reality where things like magic and fantasy races exist. We still live with the same family in the same house and all that, but now the world has a new history to it along with everything else. I have no issues with the premise, it genuinely was an interesting enough hook with how it played out.
But then our life resumes in this new world, and here is where I'll elaborate on the comedy stuff. This game takes the comedy dial, turns it up to eleven, and then fucking smashes it so you can never turn it down. The MC, for like the first two hours of the game, feels like a comedian who never stops telling jokes and trying to be funny. It's not only him though, but it's quite literally baked into almost every single scene. A lot of it is fourth wall/immersion breaking too, which is why it's so hard to be immersed in the first place. Every single moment has to be sandwiched by jokes and it just never stops man. Some of it is honestly funny or made me smile at the least, but then for every one of those times I laughed there was another five I clicked past as fast as possible because my patience ran out.
Now of course the comedy is something very subjective and everyone will feel different about it. So now I'll try to get to the more objective parts of this.
I don't think the game knew what it wanted to be until around a couple hours in where we acquire the slave girl. Ignoring the comedy really does cut out a huge chunk of this, but when I'm taking a look solely at the more "normal' events that start to characterize the love interests I realize the game almost never spends enough time on them. I think each of the main girls so far do exhibit some endearing personality traits, but there was only one girl I felt actually somewhat invested in. That was our youngest sister, the scruffy gamer girl shut in. She's great and very cute, but the entire reason I feel this way is because the game gave her more focus than anyone. In hours of playing, I feel like I got absolutely nothing from the mom, barely anything from the athletic sister, and maybe just under what I needed to start really liking the older sister.
It's the same way with a lot of the plot moving events. The game just blows by them so fast man. It's missing fluff, it's missing transitions, and ultimately felt lacking in direction. I felt like shit was happening almost at random sometimes. But then we get to the slave girl and it felt like the game finally had some semblance of where it wanted to go. The MC suddenly flips a switch to turn off comedian mode and actually displays... intelligence maybe? And it feels like relevant shit is actually happening without delving into spoilers.
So those are my key issues, and my review probably reads like I hate this. Honestly though, I really don't. There is something good here with the plot. Some of the characters are genuinely endearing in ways that make me want to see more of them. The renders are phenomenal and it is especially rare to have a 4K version (which I used and appreciated). The animations are very solid. Despite the "average" rating I give this, it's not an average game.
I can genuinely feel that a lot of effort going into Realm Invader, and I think the dev has a certain talent you don't see often. However upon reaching as far as the end of the first episode, I just couldn't find a desire to keep going and play the next one. Some day I probably will try the next episode to see if my opinion shifts, but I'd be forcing myself if I did so now. Still, if you do find yourself enjoying the comedy this is probably a game you'll love.