Unity - Starmaker Story [v1.7] [Arvus Games]

This will be my first review ever, solely because there are things that need addressing and hopefully someone with the power to make changes actually reads this.
That being said, the game in it's current state is definitely one of my favourite ones. But it could be so much better still.
The art is quite nice.
The story is very good, there is a bit of everything for everybody although some improvements will be addressed a bit lower.
There is replayability in that you can only pick one route option per character and will need at least a few playthroughs to access all the content.

Those were some of the good points, following are some improvable points:
- Autosaves only is fine... but not if all the decisions made only show you the result the next day, after the decision has been locked in and there is no way to undo. It's already easy enough to miss content even when making the correct decisions because some scenes require specific days, or simply require you to go to the area several times because it only has a chance of showing.
This also forces you to restart quite a bit if you're not following a guide, which is very annoying because the start is very grindy. (Which I don't mind, but not if it's the 4th time....) So much could be avoided if you can take your unlocked perks into a NG+ or something.
- While on the topic, a gallery/replay option would be so nice because the autosaves don't allow for it. (And having 30 json files manually saved to swap out for certain scene triggers isn't exactly the greatest solution either)
- Routes need better signposts. Simply stating 'sharing route' when it doesn't tell you who you're sharing with and that actually sharing later isn't even required in some cases doesn't make sense. Also some options like randomly picking 'I don't want to fuck her' for Katarina once completely locks you out of ALL of the mayor routes, period. And since you don't find out until the next day with the autosaves your entire save file is now locked out.
- This brings me to my biggest potential improvement. Why is the non sharing route so neglected? If you don't want to share Anna you get so little content and all of that content is accessible in the sharing route as well. Why not make some great (potentially hidden or exposing) scenes for it? You can have Jacob pass out on the sofa, which allows you to have fun with Anna in the master bedroom (if you helped with depression). Why not have some fun in the living room where Jacob is passed out? Why not have fun during movie night next to Jacob while he is focussed on the movie? Maybe some fun behind the counter in the kitchen during breakfast or something? Anna chose you over Jacob for a reason, actually make some scenes reflect this maybe? You find out Adrian knows all about the starmaker page and the options are 'Anna, go seduce him' or 'He won't say anything'. Well if he won't say anything why not make some content where you simply decide to ignore he's in the room? If he's going to see it later anyway then what's stopping you from playing with Anna in front of him?
Scenes like those exist for other characters, why are they missing for Anna?
If those scenes existed then maybe the non sharing route would be viable.

That's why I can only give it a 4/5 in it's current state, despite me absolutely loving the game. There is so many 'easy wins' left and I really hope some of those changes/scenes get made because it would absolutely be a 6/5 at that point.

An overall good game, it has some issues, but I enjoyed my time with it.

Graphics
The graphics may be the biggest draw to get you to play the game, the characters are attractive, the backgrounds are good, there is a cohesive style, any problems are in the details. The most obvious one is that the AI art has problems with consistency, especially in the outfits, but there are also times where the faces can look different, such as suddenly having more pronounced cheekbones.
The problems with the clothes is most obvious in the maid outfit, where the clothes Anna wears in her portrait is way different from when you actually take the pictures, the AI art simply can't get stuff like that consistent enough. I will say though that my first thought was not that it was an issue with the AI, but more that Anna chose to wear less clothes for the pictures, so it's not immersion breaking, but it is still disappointing cause I liked the outfit in the portrait better.
Other issues with the art is with the animations of the mouths when talking, where they just look strange. This isn't too surprising, if there was some artist on the team with a better eye for that stuff then some of the inconsistencies in the AI art could also have been smoothed over.
And the last thing I will mention here is that some of the character's expressions, those that are clearly from the AI art and not the ones specifically changed, can be weird at times. It can feel like it says something about the characters, but in the same scene the face looks off model, so I'm not sure if I'm meant to understand it as intentional or just a limitation of the AI.
All in all, the art is good, despite my complaints.

Gameplay
The gameplay is fine, gather money, buy upgrades to get more money, and then spend the money you've earned for more scenes during the weekend. I will say that the grind at the start is not as big a deal as some other reviews lead me to believe, but that is mostly because I think that the game is better when you put in minimal effort at the start of the game. There is almost no reason to go to work, you can get more money at the start but it takes a while and depending on luck in can be so easy that you just sit there for minutes at a time not doing anything, or you just don't earn money.
It does not help that money feels fairly meaningless at the start, you want enough for a couple upgrades, enough to get the studio, and then you can just use that. This also advances the story, and feels better than going to work each day.
The larger problem I have with the money in the game is that it is just kind of odd. If you do work each day, spending like five minutes or whatever, then the progression feels painfully slow. Each day is so long that the period of time you have only a couple thousand, saving up money for larger upgrades, just feels bad. Skipping that and just focusing on taking pictures at every opportunity, letting the days be quick, will quickly provide enough money that you end up with no use for it.
The period between first saving up around 150k to the 1 million needed to pay off the debt has very little to spend the money on, and by the time you have paid it off you are likely not even done with the game. I had 20 mil by the time I stopped playing my first save, and at that point all I did was wait for the weekend to actually get a chance to do something.
Which moves us to the next issue, that unless you play very effectively it really does just feel like waiting between events. If there is one character you're interested in then you're stuck just waiting each week, if you want to explore the scenes on the weekends and want to get the stars then you might have to go several times, which is more time wasted away. My character must have come off as depressed at the end, staying in his room and sleeping for weeks at a time. This is not a huge issue overall, I just wish there was more stuff to do each day, or that character schedules weren't stuck to only one chance at advancement each week.
The issue of time feeling wasted is amplified by traversing the map feeling slow and unresponsive. If all you're doing is going to one location on the map and back home in a single day then you have to press like ten buttons, each of which has a 2 second transition.
I do like the general flow of the game, though. I like the loop of making money, advancing character routes, and the reward for these routes are mostly all good. Which leads us to:

Sex Scenes
I will start off by saying that I'm not someone who needs animations in the games I play, I think it's totally fine to use stills to convey what is happening. I AM more particular about the pacing though, and these fall somewhere on the "too fast" end of the spectrum. It feels like everything is one or two dialogue boxes between 3 or 4 images. The scenes are good, but it kind of just feels like I'm skipping forward in a porn video, getting a few seconds of each part then jumping to the next.
For myself in particular, I'm not a huge fan of the dialogue in the sex scenes, but that may just be because I'm weird and think all dirty talk just straight up sucks. The images in the sex scenes are good, there are a handful of scenes I really like, overall good but not perfect.

Writing/Story
This is the part that surprised me the most, I was not really into the idea of the concept of the game, but upon playing it I found it to be very good actually. Like, it's not amazing or anything, there are not many characters in any media I like and this is not an exception, but the quality of what is here is high.
The characters feel real, not stereotypes meant to seve a power fantasy. They have their own personalities, they act in interesting ways, not everyone is madly in love with you and some even directly do not want anything serious. Anna surprised me the most because she can be just rude to other characters sometimes, which I found pretty funny.
There were some routes that didn't do much for me, but I think that's because they haven't been implemented fully yet, and I won't hold that against the game.

Despite my issues with the game I did enjoy my time with it, 4 stars. Do I think the game would be worth 5 stars if all the issues I had with it were fixed? No, probably not, this game is such a strong 4 stars that I have a hard time even imagining what it would need to be 5 stars.

Oh crap, almost forgot, the music was pretty good too. It was just kind of chillhop which has a pretty low ceiling of how good it can be, but it did give the game a pretty nice atmosphere.

Phenomenal management style game, I have sunk about 20 hours into it so far in different playthroughs and I am really enjoying myself. The characters are Thicc and the slut/purity route have something for everybody. If you have a few hours to burn this is a great game to do it.
Pros:
Best Pixel art I've seen in a game
Side Characters are engaging
The replayability
Pregnancy Content is planned hopefully more than one slide with a Preg character in one ending

Cons:
Save system, while you can still exit the game it will start you at your bed the previous day once you sleep after a decision you are locked in on your playthrough.

Amazing Pixel Art, one of the best I've seen. Customizable Relationships and all the characters are right thiccness.

The only con is the grind in the beginning, but once you have the unlocks money is easy to come by.

Also you def need the walk through if you want all the scenes. It can hectic managing so many paths. I also wish we had skip to weekend button, sometimes I'm spamming bed just to get to vacation

very hot game with simple mechanics and graphic. The plot is linear but intrigant and characters (you know who i mean) is astonishing and very sexy.
the game is not yet copleted but, well, i am! Please keep on with the work! Very nice

Very well made game

Pros:

- Great Art
- Hot Characters with a decent amount of variety but mostly busty milfs
- Serviceable story
- Explores some kinks
- Has a Futa Gym girl

Cons

- No manual saves
- In the beginning the money grind is slow
- Possible to accidently lock yourself out of some content with bad dialogue choices, important choices could be better signposted
- Conditions to progress some characters sometimes unclear
- Lack of scenes with some side characters
- UI is sub par, especially navigation

Despite having some cons I would say this game is 100% worth playing. While the start is a bit slow burn for my liking, your patience is very much rewarded later in the game.

Without a doubt, one of the best porn games to ever come out. If I can choose another game of this type, it would be Aurelia. So if you liked that game, consider this the evolution of it. There may be things in this review that may be spoilers, but I try to not spoil anything. I also refer to the family as one. The family itself does the usual "stepfamily" shit, but you can change it to your liking.

I would usually criticize a game a lot and focus on its positive aspects first, but this time its gonna be mostly positive, there simply not much negative things to talk about here, most boils down to flaws in AI itself.

Its really small and compact, but it has a lot of content. Around a hundred sex scenes, each range from 1 image to around 3.

What makes Starmaker Story such a great game is the consistency of the plot and the corruption content. The game begins really innocent. Your family is in debt with around 1 million dollars. You and your mom begin part time jobs. Your mom comes up with the idea to make sexy photos. The family caretaker herself becomes more into her role too. You can dress her up once a day and make her pose. Theres a livestreaming feature where you can interact with your audience, but its in truth just 6 different types of CG per clothing type. The hottest thing the game does is that during late game, you can have people join while they watch you fucking and dominating your "stepmom" love interest.

There are issues, such as change of the genitals size and shape per CG, as AI has difficulties remembering that sort of things. Same goes with some of the body size and style consistencies. The art mostly stays consistent but the quality varies greatly.

Honestly, there isn't much to say here. There are no animated sex scenes, but the static CG look great. If you ask any question regarding at least most of the more generic fetishes, its most likely executed crazy well. The game does pretty much everything in the best way possible, given its size. The gradual increase in naughtiness and the whole slow burn approach is why I give this game 5 stars.

tl;dr:

The Best:

• Perfect blend of Minigames and gameplay
• MC has huge cock, love interests mostly have huge tits
• Huge 10+ hour game per playthrough full of lust and sex that branches out into many different things
• Lots of endings
• Story execution is phenomenal
• Characters aren't your usual cookie cutter tropes, for better or for worse
• A shitload of content. 120+ different sex scenes
• Most of the woman are thicc as fuck, I like that but tastes may vary.
• Tons of Tittyfuck, me likely

The Good:

• Fantastic presentation
• Great soundtrack
• Semi consistent CG
• A ton of fetishes are being catered too, most executes greatly

The Bad:

• Typos
• Theres no power fantasy wish fulfillment here. Sometimes the game becomes a bit too dark for its own good, but for some this may be the reason why this game is so good as well. I put it as a negative because I don't like it
• Some of the story based dialogue seems filler shit
• Sex scenes are all very very short and shallow
• No CG Gallery
• Everyone has a 10+ inch monstercock but you're the only one with a 12+ inch one. No average cocks to make yours really seem special. Same with the thiccness of any of the girls. A lot of girls you can fuck have a similar body type, which make them seem less special.

The Ugly:

• Absolutely nothing

excellent, great mechanic and graphism, nice update, a lot of choice possible to play as you like, with a good story. One clearly one of my favorite game. I hope it will still be going that way, the only thing that annoys me is the way to navigate through the map and the minigame is original, but may be a bit long

The game is great. One of the best games i have played in this whole website. Even though there is quite a bit of a grind in the beginning, once you are past that it's all worth it. Story and Art is amazing and it is written much more believable than many other games of a similar genre.

Very stunning figures and the story is interesting. Unlike those traditional management games which you get bored easily, this one can make you play continuously for a really long time with many side events.

one of the best games, original plot, style of narration, HUGE variability and finally the most gorgeous models, I hope the developer will continue to develop his work, I really hope that fully animated scenes will appear in the game, in general, good luck to you in your difficult creative craft, friend

This game is absolutely awesome! The models look stunning, the kinks are super exciting, and there are so many paths to choose from. The pacing is spot on—it takes its time building up the relationships instead of rushing things. There's plenty of teasing, and it’s done in such a smart way that it doesn’t feel grindy or dragged out. Instead, it focuses on really developing the characters. It’s 100% worth playing. Easy 5/5!

Need a manual save system and better UI since it takes way too many click to navigate around which I find really annoying. Would be a solid 4/5 game if that aspect is better.

Overall a pretty good game with actual gameplay hindered by terrible UI.

3.5/5

This is probably the amalgamation of the most of the things I love in a video game, and i am not even talking about porn.

Well-made Pixel Art? Check. (Even if it is AI CG)
Synthwave/Chillwave Music and Athmosphere? Check.
Many different paths to progress with interesting characters and storylines? Check.
Even idler with money boosters are included so you can play it on background and make money if you don't want to grind with all money making minigames and events.

I am definitely buying this when Steam Version comes out. One of the best games on this site.

Downloaded this game for the first time, version 1.4A.

This game is phenomenal. Gorgeous art of thick women, quick dialogue and story that lets you get to the good parts without bogging down with too much story, very sexy dialogue and sex scenes, slow burn progression with Anna, i really can't say enough good things about this game.

If you love the art, absolutely give this game a try!

Starmaker Story is an amazing game that captivates you from start to finish. Even if developed with AI, it has an addictive charm that keeps you glued to your desk, striving to complete every aspect 100%. A must-play for those who love immersive, detail-oriented experiences.

So, first review cause strange rules for review, but i really want give a score for this game, maybe the best at least what i play. Really good progression and a lot of content, art style also good with good quality, unique characters with curve shapes

I was pretty hesitant going into a 6 month old game that relies almost entirely on AI art but man, this game is a homerun.
The art style, backgrounds, character designs, everything is just fantastic. I appreciate that you can go a lot of routes between solo, sharing or straight up stealing girls from other characters. It also has a shocking amount of content for only being 6 months old, but I guess that's where the AI becomes super handy.

Only reasons I wouldn't give it 5 out of 5. Sometimes navigating is a nightmare. Way too many button clicks to just move one room over especially if you misclick. The save system also kind of sucks. It consists of super fast autosaves in a single save slot, so if you make a mistake, you can't go back, you're now locked in for that playthrough to whatever you decided, and that caused me to miss out on certain paths or at one point a specific girl entirely. Also, I personally love the Futa girl at the gym, but maybe make her optional as you need to spend a bit of time with her to continue Amelia's story I believe and that will likely upset those with inferior taste.

this game has so much content and hook it doesn't even matter them tiddies weren't animated.
bet.

almost banged river til i realized it was a dude.
wish there was a gallery for the non Anna photos, but also Anna is the best girl.

wish i could save whenever i wanted to instead of the automatic save hidden behind the best part of the day but also where all the choice matters.

but the game is easy enough that its chill

Top notch 2d pixel art, amazing writing, a slow and steady buildup that leads to such an explosive finish, and lots of girls to "romance" and fuck. This game is very fun, the visuals are gorgeous, the paths you can choose allow for a wide range of player expression, this is just one of the top incest games out with a fantastic develloper that you can support right now.