Finally got around to finishing the release, my mini review since I don't want to rate a first release:
The Good
Holy shit, Atem is still amazing at the technical side of RenPy game making. He legit should learn Daz and make a camgirl mod simulator or something and put it on Steam. Not sure how well it would do, but the sequence where Mila makes you a mod and you can mod the chat was pretty well done. This is just a reminder of how well Atem knows how to use RenPy. The same for the technical aspects of HS2 (i.e., rigging, movement, etc). Further his interfacing with the game is amazingly well done (e.g., the phone). A lot of it is just "flavor" but still extremely well done. Also, a shout out to his writing skills. The substance of the script aside, he knows how to write; this includes a lot of little things, like the text messages with the boss indicating he didn't get the apartment he wanted and was wanting to move. A lot of these little things do a great job at world building.
The Bad
The HS2 assets looked a little washed out and tad bit dated, especially when compared with newer made titles, Atem probably should have looked at all of the new mods like Next Gen Skin textures, there's been some amazing stuff that's come out since he first released Stormside that he could have included in Studio Hearts.
The Ugly
The story ... it's interesting, I guess? But to echo what a lot of people have said, the MC's kind of a total loser. And he's probably the stereotypical definition of a camgirl moderator, the only difference being he's (probably) going to get the girl. Atem did have a warning about parasocial relationships, but this game tries to straddle the line of "realism" and "fantasy" and it ends up falling into "stupid" territory a few times. Given the current story, I'm guessing MC's going to help Mila and her cam friends setup a place for them to live and stream since she brought up the moving stuff multiple times and with the ending showing she got a stalker who found where she lives. Further, the main LI's being sex workers is going to be a huge detractor for folks. Imo, Atem shouldn't have said this was a harem game, especially since it's clear the ladies will be keeping their jobs which means they will be having private sex shows with random dudes. At the least, this would be considered netorase (sharing, e.g., MC encouraging her to set a goal for the dildo deepthroatl). One example is the boyfriend who took her in private to talk to her. Atem made it a point to have Mila indicate that he just wanted to talk, but if she keeps working, private sex shows is inevitable, it's literally a part of the job. Definitely interested to see how Atem decides to move this story forward, but given the direction and his history, I'm not expecting great things
The Good
Holy shit, Atem is still amazing at the technical side of RenPy game making. He legit should learn Daz and make a camgirl mod simulator or something and put it on Steam. Not sure how well it would do, but the sequence where Mila makes you a mod and you can mod the chat was pretty well done. This is just a reminder of how well Atem knows how to use RenPy. The same for the technical aspects of HS2 (i.e., rigging, movement, etc). Further his interfacing with the game is amazingly well done (e.g., the phone). A lot of it is just "flavor" but still extremely well done. Also, a shout out to his writing skills. The substance of the script aside, he knows how to write; this includes a lot of little things, like the text messages with the boss indicating he didn't get the apartment he wanted and was wanting to move. A lot of these little things do a great job at world building.
The Bad
The HS2 assets looked a little washed out and tad bit dated, especially when compared with newer made titles, Atem probably should have looked at all of the new mods like Next Gen Skin textures, there's been some amazing stuff that's come out since he first released Stormside that he could have included in Studio Hearts.
The Ugly
The story ... it's interesting, I guess? But to echo what a lot of people have said, the MC's kind of a total loser. And he's probably the stereotypical definition of a camgirl moderator, the only difference being he's (probably) going to get the girl. Atem did have a warning about parasocial relationships, but this game tries to straddle the line of "realism" and "fantasy" and it ends up falling into "stupid" territory a few times. Given the current story, I'm guessing MC's going to help Mila and her cam friends setup a place for them to live and stream since she brought up the moving stuff multiple times and with the ending showing she got a stalker who found where she lives. Further, the main LI's being sex workers is going to be a huge detractor for folks. Imo, Atem shouldn't have said this was a harem game, especially since it's clear the ladies will be keeping their jobs which means they will be having private sex shows with random dudes. At the least, this would be considered netorase (sharing, e.g., MC encouraging her to set a goal for the dildo deepthroatl). One example is the boyfriend who took her in private to talk to her. Atem made it a point to have Mila indicate that he just wanted to talk, but if she keeps working, private sex shows is inevitable, it's literally a part of the job. Definitely interested to see how Atem decides to move this story forward, but given the direction and his history, I'm not expecting great things
