3/5 stars. theres a lot to like here and not a lot to dislike
Really interesting main character i think, more believable than most protagonists. the world itself is likewise, a depressing pre-or-post apocalyptic society that's gradually declining, and everyone is just fiddling while rome burns.
Shattered is mostly about story and atmosphere. The fetish content is kind of...moderate. Not lightweight, but theres plenty of more extreme games. the lewd scenes in general are stills and text, its about average in that department.
I can't seem to get this game out of my head, so i suppose it's doing something right. but when i think about it, my thoughts are at least half memories of frustration at its pacing and branching narrative
There are some big problems though. This is a visual novel, but its tried to be more immersive by having a lot of choices. This is generally a good thing, but the problem is the exact implementation of it. Your Choices Have Consequences. Far too many consequences.
There's a ton of scenes here and you won't see half of it in one run, because its so easy to lock yourself out of scenes, characters, and entire storylines by accident. You're often asked to make seemingly mundane choices that permanantly decide how someone treats you. And if you try to roleplay your way through it, like i did my first time, you're not going to like the result.
To get blake to be the character you want, and to do the things you want to do, its utterly essential to use the walkthrough, which exposes what a labyrinthine mess all these branches and choices have created. One example that really stuck out to me, there's a scene with one of my favourite characters mentioned in the walkthrough that in order to unlock, you have to:
-Have sex with her on two possible previous encounters
-Not be dating either of two other specific characters (Who she never meets and afaik has no interaction with ???) Also your choice to date these is made extremely early in the game and afaik can't be changed
-Not wear an outfit during one specific scene (you probably did it because there seemed no reason not to)
-Score a certain middling margin on a personality test. Not the best score but not a fail either. An unrelated test given by an unrelated character she's also never met.
-Half ass a lewd scene with an antagonist nurse. Submit but only halfway. (why would you do this)
-Screw up a friend's homework by giving bad advice (you might do this by accident)
-And finally, refuse this character at the third of her lewd scenes, despite doing the first two.
If you magically fulfil all of the above conditions, none of which you could have known about in advance, most which concern interactions with unrelated people she's never met. Then and only then can you get the fourth and currently final scene with kushari, right at the end of the current content.
Many of these aren't consistently doing the best or the worst at certain activities, you have to accomplish certain things, fuck up others, and fuck up only a certain degree of a few.
Why would the developer do this? I don't know. Shattered isn't just a game you need the walkthrough for, its something you need to plan, from the start. You can't just relax and roleplay
Choices are unintuitive, there's the first problem.
Then there's suya. At a certain point in the game, you move in with her, and she becomes your bestest buddy. She constantly flirts with you, you constantly reciprocate. And yet you can't actually get close to her unless you're not dating anyone else.
This is bizarre because she clearly doesn't care much about monogamy, nor do most of the people you date, and nor for that matter does blake herself.
What's wierder is that the game never explains this to you. Regardless of your choices, suya is there no matter what. She's always with you and readily available. The game will never explain WHY two people who live together and clearly want each other aren't doing anything, blake will just mysteriously brush it off when things get too intimate. And then more options for flirting appear tomorrow. It was only after i checked the walkthrough that i found there were many lewd scenes with suya that are just being quietly skipped because i picked someone else
Suya is the most egregious example, but there are a bunch of other storylines that expect monogamy, bizarre in a world full of open relationships and casual hookups. When you get involved with any of these people, blake falls in love and refuses to get close to anyone else in this wierd monogamy club. But THEY don't mostly care, most of these people would be happy for you to sleep around.
The monogamy and locked "routes" system is irritating. it feels like an odd way to gate the content and force multiple playthroughs, its incongruous with the mentality of those people, and of the world they live in. It's never explained when you're making a significant choice that will lock you out of other options. And its rarely explained that you're even missing out on any. encounters with the others who have routes are bizarre exercises in sexual tension that suddenly gets defused without explanation
for all my complaints, there is a rich world here. Theres a lot of things and people to love. But i struggle to get over the frustration of being forever locked out of things due to choices that weren't explained. And of characters from locked routes still visiting, flirting, dangling the promise of more, without the game explaining that you're locked out
In short:
Pros:
-Rich, if depressing world
-Likeable MC, and a lot of interesting side characters
-Wonderful atmosphere and visuals
-Pretty good writing
Cons:
-Branching narrative structure is an unintuitive mess, and its impossible to really enjoy without having the walkthrough open.
-The difference between side characters you can court freely, and main ones who are all part of some exclusive monogamy club, is unclear. Very easy to get locked out of routes
-Unreasonable consequences for mundane choices
-Unreasonably long and complex requirements for some scenes
-Game does not tell you when you've been locked out of things, locked characters continue to dangle hope before you