This is the first time I write in a thread other than my own. This is because I really cared about the Subverse project, so I would like to share my thoughts with you.
I hope no one will be offended, both by my way of speaking about certain elements of the game, the fetishes and the way they have served this dish to us.
The initial premise, I’m on the side of all those players who don’t like tags like NTR/Sharing/Cuckold/Monster, and that I may repeat things that many of you have already discussed. I’ve known StudioFow since their prior works, since their Sophitia with Minotaur, and when I heard about the creation of Subverse, I was intrigued, but knowing their themes, I thought it just wouldn’t be a game for me.
Until the studio itself, in one of its announcements, said that the game would be vanilla compared to their work and that monsters would be optional.
This was the trigger that attracted many people, including me, to become interested in the project.
Given also the many promotional videos that always repeated: “Create your own harem of space waifu.”
So, I decided then that I would not support the Kickstarter campaign, but would buy the game on Day One, as the developers themselves said they would release it as a full game.
Given this promise, the famous date arrives, and consequently my purchase:
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Subverse amazed me but at the same time broke me, and I’ll explain why.
I’m going to talk separately about both the SFW and NSFW sides, with the addition of broken promises and improvements.
Graphically it is very nice, with fantastic voice acting and comic acting that you may or may not like.
I don’t even have any complaints about the bullet hell and strategy sections, also because they were not made by StudioFow, but by another independent studio; I know many people have complained about their simplicity, but guys, that’s normal. That wasn’t supposed to be the focus of the game. Pointless to say go play Xcom or Touhou Project.
The backgrounds are also well done.
The only flaws in this side I would like to point to are not being able to include waifu in battle and leaving xenos aside. Why can’t I go full girls in battle? Maybe it will be added later.
Secondary, the Mary Celeste is bare, there are monsters and crew members around, why not show them?
Now let’s talk about the sore spot, the NSFW zone.
A big mistake in my opinion was the implementation of the Pandora System, where pieces of video were cut out so that everyone’s fetishes could be respected.
The result? Disconnected scenes with no logical sense.
It’s a porn game, you can’t leave these scenes out, not connecting them to the story and without giving development of the relationships with the girls that led them to do that scene.
The devs themselves said, “The game will be more Vanilla than our works, the monster scenes will be optional”. I’m fine with them being there, people who aren’t interested like me don’t watch them or unlock them, not unlocked, never happened, but the way pandora is set up, is bad. As far as girls are concerned, the sense of optional has been misused, as optional in this case means lost content. There were plenty of ways to implement this, one of which was to create side quests or scenes that happened randomly in the ship. I give an example with Killision. Side event: Crew members ask you if they can fuck her, double choice, yeah sure, you unlocked the gangbang, second choice, touch Killision and I’ll chop your dicks off, cowgirl unlocked with killision. The same thing for her Chimerina too, no monster, then doggystyle with cap. This is optional and integrated with the story, not like they did the pandora system. They got their way of advertising the game wrong, and as a result, they attracted many people like me, also because as one goal said more scenes with xenos, another one implied more scenes without.
We have to say that most of the funds came not from those who wanted the monsters, but from the other side.
Then the Lily problem, okay she’s the one who likes alien dicks, but what if I don’t want that to happen in my gameplay? Simple, unlock nothing. The problem is that the scenes I’m interested in, the ones with the MC, are two. What do I do with the others? Give us an alternative.
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Also, these days on Discord they have said that Lily will receive many scenes with the Cap, we’ll see.
I understand that vanilla fans complain about the presence of monsters, but the blame also lies with how the game was advertised.
Want a simple solution? A button that removes/hides those scenes from the listings, so even the most “visually sensitive” will stop complaining.
Returning to Discord, there you will find a beautiful list of broken promises.
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Played them all, the old ones have more interactions and last much longer than a 5-second gif.
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We have the Early Access, there are three girls and none are romanceable.
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Are you confirming that the scenes were well placed at the beginning? Possibly, since the Pandora System went from a loyalty system to a skill tree to just buy scene and watch.
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This is more roleplay style than what we have, events of scenes that unlock other scenes.
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Should we expect them later or have you reconsidered? Since the models of the off-screen characters are distorted.
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This is the biggest change since the game was initially supposed to come out complete, but then why make an Early Access? I think I know why.
Little addition I make, but why not also put female Xenos? They are still alien monsters, you said we would be able to fuck all alien races, but does that only imply male ones? I think so.
Last thing to show:
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So, StudioFow, who is the game really for? In my opinion, you have made a mistake in trying to grab as much audience as possible in an attempt to increase profit, but in doing so you have given it to everyone but in a lazy and wrong way.
You've already stated that the Pandora System will not be changed, and that's fine, but I'm hoping for improvements for that at least.
In the end, they decided to release an Early Access to test the ground and see how the public would react. Well, they've broken it in two, Vanilla people who expected a different game and monster people who expected harder scenes. I hope they can understand all the criticism we're giving them, even if some people say they're taking out the negative reviews on Steam and saying that the game is a success.
Sorry for the long speech from someone who prefers vanilla and avoids other fetishes, but I really cared about Subverse, and I really hope they improve it, the potential is there, let's hope it doesn't go to waste.
