Should be 2 stars, but the quality of the female 3D models is so good that it makes it 3 in my eyes.
To start, I don't know why RenPy developers on this site think it's cute to bloat their games with boring click-hell. The constant backtracking through the map/environment is not immersive and merely serves to stretch out the game artificially without adding anything to the experience. The biggest no-no is how the sex scenes suffer from this too, which is a shame since the animations and cgs are pretty well done. If the drudgery is this bad on Renpy I can only imagine it was worse in the RPGMaker version.
The plot is... alright for an NTR h-game I guess. It's not horrible for a gooner game considering the bar is set 100 feet below sea level. The inclusion of different types of NTR is a cool plus, but the perspective changes between the main character, female main character, and the antagonist weaken the tension since there's little mystery about what's happening. Even if you disregard that, there's little chemistry between the main couple so it's hard to feel any sense of conflict or tension for the main girl caught in between the protagonist and antagonist. This doesn't really feel like an NTR game at all, mostly just Netori or Netorase. And yes the distinction matters if you're into these kinds of games at all.
Shame really, I think there's a solid gooner VN somewhere in Shadows of Desire. Most of the problems have to do with its presentation and execution. I think changes that make the experience more streamlined and cohesive would go a long way, even if it comes at the cost of making the game shorter.
To start, I don't know why RenPy developers on this site think it's cute to bloat their games with boring click-hell. The constant backtracking through the map/environment is not immersive and merely serves to stretch out the game artificially without adding anything to the experience. The biggest no-no is how the sex scenes suffer from this too, which is a shame since the animations and cgs are pretty well done. If the drudgery is this bad on Renpy I can only imagine it was worse in the RPGMaker version.
The plot is... alright for an NTR h-game I guess. It's not horrible for a gooner game considering the bar is set 100 feet below sea level. The inclusion of different types of NTR is a cool plus, but the perspective changes between the main character, female main character, and the antagonist weaken the tension since there's little mystery about what's happening. Even if you disregard that, there's little chemistry between the main couple so it's hard to feel any sense of conflict or tension for the main girl caught in between the protagonist and antagonist. This doesn't really feel like an NTR game at all, mostly just Netori or Netorase. And yes the distinction matters if you're into these kinds of games at all.
Shame really, I think there's a solid gooner VN somewhere in Shadows of Desire. Most of the problems have to do with its presentation and execution. I think changes that make the experience more streamlined and cohesive would go a long way, even if it comes at the cost of making the game shorter.