Review of ep. 1-6 v.0.6.0
First I'd like to give an alternate opinion with regard to another review here by Kukothemadhatter. Their review almost scared me off from this game and, while I respect their opinion, I wanted to express my own so other empathetic softies like me are not similarly scared off and can enjoy this game. While certain elements in this game are most definitely disturbing, I found none of them even 1/100th as personally upsetting as a certain event in [a certain other game redacted due to reviewing rules 2019-02-26] (an otherwise amazing game). You can see my question about this in the discussion thread for this game for other people's thoughts on the same matter. Please don't reply about it, however, as a moderator has asked such discussion to stop.
That done, let's talk about Retrieving the Past. It was a tough decision for me to choose between 4 and 5 stars on this one, but I finally decided on 5. I'm fairly certain that by its completion it will be a clear 5 stars. The developers seem quite dedicated not only to continuing the project but also to improving their own skills as they continue.
It starts out a little rough, but I recommend sticking with it. Some of the early renders were not great, particularly Nicky. But, by the end, the renders are generally quite good with a lovely female cast. The personalities are varied and interesting. And I cared about them and their stories. I really applaud the writing for this last element.
The star of the show, however, is the main character, Jensen. While I'm disappointed (as always) at the lack of the ability to rename - in this case surname, given name, and nickname should have been sufficient - I was otherwise very happy with Jensen. He has all the characteristics I like in a MC: adult, experienced, intelligent, good looking, fit, and hung like a horse (although this last one is a bit variable throughout which I found a little disturbing #BiggerIsBetter). He's also "good" to the point of caricature, but I like that except for the fact that I want him to be sleeping with allll the girls and seriously romancing more than one, which is hard to anticipate from such a stand up guy.
The story is really very interesting and, unfortunately to me, tends to overwhelm the porn somewhat. The writing is good although I do have some constructive criticism. There is so much story trying to be told that the scenes often feel rushed and then blip to another condensed scene and then blip to another. Every once in a while (and not often enough for me) a sex scene is inserted and they tend to be very short. This left me both feeling that the pacing of the non-sex side of things is rushed and information dense (needing a little more light conversation, humor and such for decompression) and the amount of content in the sex side of things is underdeveloped.
Additionally, I'd like to see more choices even if they just change a little bit of dialogue but don't change anything long term, just to add a little more agency. It does feel a bit like a kinetic novel at times.
That said, I'm very much looking forward to more and the developers are doing a great job weaving an interesting and sexy story.
First I'd like to give an alternate opinion with regard to another review here by Kukothemadhatter. Their review almost scared me off from this game and, while I respect their opinion, I wanted to express my own so other empathetic softies like me are not similarly scared off and can enjoy this game. While certain elements in this game are most definitely disturbing, I found none of them even 1/100th as personally upsetting as a certain event in [a certain other game redacted due to reviewing rules 2019-02-26] (an otherwise amazing game). You can see my question about this in the discussion thread for this game for other people's thoughts on the same matter. Please don't reply about it, however, as a moderator has asked such discussion to stop.
That done, let's talk about Retrieving the Past. It was a tough decision for me to choose between 4 and 5 stars on this one, but I finally decided on 5. I'm fairly certain that by its completion it will be a clear 5 stars. The developers seem quite dedicated not only to continuing the project but also to improving their own skills as they continue.
It starts out a little rough, but I recommend sticking with it. Some of the early renders were not great, particularly Nicky. But, by the end, the renders are generally quite good with a lovely female cast. The personalities are varied and interesting. And I cared about them and their stories. I really applaud the writing for this last element.
The star of the show, however, is the main character, Jensen. While I'm disappointed (as always) at the lack of the ability to rename - in this case surname, given name, and nickname should have been sufficient - I was otherwise very happy with Jensen. He has all the characteristics I like in a MC: adult, experienced, intelligent, good looking, fit, and hung like a horse (although this last one is a bit variable throughout which I found a little disturbing #BiggerIsBetter). He's also "good" to the point of caricature, but I like that except for the fact that I want him to be sleeping with allll the girls and seriously romancing more than one, which is hard to anticipate from such a stand up guy.
The story is really very interesting and, unfortunately to me, tends to overwhelm the porn somewhat. The writing is good although I do have some constructive criticism. There is so much story trying to be told that the scenes often feel rushed and then blip to another condensed scene and then blip to another. Every once in a while (and not often enough for me) a sex scene is inserted and they tend to be very short. This left me both feeling that the pacing of the non-sex side of things is rushed and information dense (needing a little more light conversation, humor and such for decompression) and the amount of content in the sex side of things is underdeveloped.
Additionally, I'd like to see more choices even if they just change a little bit of dialogue but don't change anything long term, just to add a little more agency. It does feel a bit like a kinetic novel at times.
That said, I'm very much looking forward to more and the developers are doing a great job weaving an interesting and sexy story.
