This review is for version 0.35.04
In Superpowered you play as Billy, a young man who dreams of becoming a superhero in a world where recent scientific advancements have resulted in injections that can give people super powers. Unfortunately his family is too poor to afford anything but the cheapest injection and each individual who undergoes the injection process comes out of it with a major personality flaw as a side effect: befitting an erotic game, Billy's flaw is lust.
Superpowered plays like a combination of a visual novel and an RPG. In order to achieve his goal of becoming a popular super hero Billy must advance his skills, improve his reputation and relationships, as well as earn money to purchase injections for super powers.
Short Review
Pros:
- Well thought out and entertaining dialogue
- Interesting plot that examines how politics and money can warp expectations and opportunities for "Super Heroes"
- Deep characters who have motivations, sexual preferences, and fetishes that are addressed both in conversation and in gameplay mechanics
- Super powers that have value and consequences in terms of both sexual content and core gameplay
- A wide variety sexual content available in game (Most of which is opitional) Examples include: oral vaginal and anal sex, Mind control, incest, bdsm, MtF transformation, lesbian, futanari, nymphomania, yandare, non-con, non-con roleplay, and exhibitionism,
- a dozen or more unique, fleshed out, characters available for sexual pursuit
- Deep advancement system with multiple subsystems of mechanics that allow for different ways of playing the game and expanding Billy's options
- Sex scenes are well written, well rendered, and arousing
Cons:
- Some mechanics aren't explained very well in game (I recommend checking out the external wiki if you get lost)
- U.I. is well organized, but has some issues
Long Review
Plot and Setting
This game is set in the modern world (or a world similar to it). A few years ago the Globex pharmaceutical company created a line of injections that can bring out superhuman abilities in the people who take them. Not everyone is compatible with the drug, and those that are have limits to how many injections their bodies can take. Billy is an exception to this, his tolerance for these drugs is so high that he could potentially gain every superpower. However Billy's family is poor, they can't afford anything but the cheapest power available and they can't afford The Initiative's Training Enrollment fees . . . The latter turns out to be a huge problem, because before you're allowed superpower injections you have to sign waivers that nullify a lot of your civil rights, make employment contingent on Logistics Division approval, and place you under the supervision of The Initiative. Naturally The Initiative isn't too pleased about keeping tabs on an outsider who refused to pay their steep training fees and Billy finds himself in a catch 22 scenario: He can't become the super hero he always dreamed of without gaining the public's trust. He can't gain the public's trust without working high profile jobs. The Logistics Division won't allow Billy to work any high profile or high paying jobs (e.g. helping the police), because those require Initiative Training. He can't afford Initiative training, because his family has a low income and his job prospects are very poor.
In essence this story is about an underdog who dreams of becoming the strongest superhero. He has the potential to do just that, but his lack of wealth and social clout make this an uphill battle.
Character Creation
You don't create an original character for this game, but you do get to choose which traits, AKA attributes, (Physical, Social, and Mental) are primary, secondary, and tertiary. You also choose 2 perks for your primary trait, and 1 perk for your secondary trait. These perks essentially come in 2 flavors:
A) Perks that give you a starting bonus to 1 talent that falls under that trait [e.g. "Leadership" falls under "Social"].
B) General parks (that you can pick with any trait) that modify the game in a major way (e.g. you don't have a sister in the game unless you take the "Sister" perk).
At the time of this review, the "Working Mom" perk has not been implemented.
Core Gameplay
Superpowered plays like a cross between a visual novel and a RPG. You perform tasks and interact with other characters to gain resources, improve your stats, as well as improve your relationships with classmates, family members, and authority figures. The gameplay is fairly open-ended, but at this time most of the content is focused around Billy's high school.
Each day is broken up into 4 time periods: Morning, Day (essentially early afternoon), Afternoon (essentially late afternoon/early evening), and Night. The actions you can take vary depending on your location, which characters are present, the day, and the time. Some actions advance time, others do not. Some actions can only be performed once per day (or once per day per character). Some actions expend resources, others restore them. Many actions increase stats, are gated by stats, or both. A failed action (due to either not meeting minimum stat requirements, or getting a poor RNG roll) might just be a simple failure, or might damage your relationships with other characters.
User Interface
The user interface is fairly well organized, but some information is missing. The top left of your screen has a box with the date and time info. To the right of that is a block of (mostly) fluctuating stats like health and money. To the right of that is a cluster of icons that either let you access submenus, perform actions, or change your location (clicking "Local Options" opens up a panel of actions you can perform specific to your current location). To the right of this is an info panel that describes the functions of actions and submenus. Below all this is the background image for your current location. If any other characters are present, they will stand in the background. If you click on a character, a panel of social interaction options will open up on the middle-to-bottom right.
It would helpful if hovering over a character with your mouse highlighted them, because it can be easy to click on the wrong character by accident when there 3 in the same room. The map is inconsistent in regards to which locations it displays: some are always displayed, but others are only shown if you have currently selected a method of travel that can reach that location. Finally, there are a few stats that don't seem to be shown in either the main user interface or any of the submenus. These include Book Smarts, Resistance, and Reputation.
Stats
There are numerous stats to keep track of: Some are vital for keeping Billy out of trouble (e.g. If your Willpower hits 0, Billy will lose control of his lust and masturbate in public, pissing off everyone around him and getting him in trouble with the Initiative). Others are primarily used to either access actions, or perform them better (the concentration talent increases the chances of doing well in class). Some are used as currency (You can buy superpower injections with money). Finally other characters have a variety of stats that represent how they feel about Billy (Usually you need high love and lust for characters to be interested in fucking you).
The sheer amount of stats can be a bit overwhelming, but the way they all interact allows for a lot of depth in how characters interactions work and multiple ways to pursue your goals. A fair chunk of this aren't explained in the in game tutorial, so I recommend checking the external wiki if you get lost.
Advancement
Advancement in this game is deep and satisfying. It mechanically underscores the underdog-to-hero theme of this game. In the beginning, it's a struggle to survive. You're barely passing classes, money is very hard to come by, and most of your classmates won't give you the time of day. It really feels like Billy's squandered his high school life up until this point. Like he assumed that all he needed to do was get his first super power injection to get a free ride, meanwhile everyone else wrote him off as a nerdy, daydreaming, super hero wannabe, slacker. You have to put in the work to raise your grades, build your relationships, and earn the chance to prove yourself . . . if not a hero, than at least a dude who can get things done.
As you progress in the game, what was once a struggle becomes easier, and eventually, a cakewalk. You gain access to new sources of income, new powers, and new interactions. You can also get laid, and depending on how you approach the game you might only find the bare bones stuff, or you might also come across some very interesting sexual encounters.
Sexual Content
Layered. That's how I'd describe the sexual content in one word. The process to get access to the basic stuff is pretty straightforward. Raise a lady's Favor to 40, then keep raising that while also raising her Love to 40, then keep raising both of those while cranking her Lust up to 80 plus. For most girl's this will unlock handjobs, blowjobs, quickies, and full blown sex scenes. The longer scenes consist of multiple choices where you can pick between generous (her pleasure) and selfish (your pleasure) actions. All of these require going to a private location, or hanging out after class to access.
Then you have the mind control actions, which of course require the relevant power and enable mind control versions of most of the above actions, plus additional possibilities in specific locations. If you're interested in sleeping with your mom or sister, you'll have to first use mind control to suppress their family ties.
Each Polymorphism injection gives you one permanent effect. This could be a permanent increase to talents and/or traits, but you can opt instead for enhancements to your penis and the ability to change your sex. These unlock sex options for huge penis, lesbian, futanari, and having sex with guys as a girl. There's one lesbian woman in the game; in order to get with her you have to either sex change into a woman or use mind control to rewrite her sexual orientation.
Fetishes aren't yet included for all characters. For those that are implemented you have to both raise their Corruption to a certain level and learn more about them. Each character's fetish is deeply woven into her personality and dialogue. It takes persistence and investigation to uncover, but the payoff is always engrossing. Even if the fetish in question isn't your thing, the process of each character opening up about their secret desires and eventually throwing herself into them is deeply nuanced and entertaining.
Finally you have the content gatelocked by unstable states. These require you to get certain stats to particular levels, stats that you might otherwise completely ignore (such as a lady's anger or willpower). Once a character enters an unstable state it unlocks some very interesting random encounters.
Aesthetics
This game has no music, voices, or animations. So, if you're dead set on having any of these in your porn, I suggest you look elsewhere.
Characters are rendered in individual CG images. There's a decent variety of body types in the ladies you can bone and while the majority are white, there is some variety in terms of race/ethnicity. There are some character's I'm very into, some I could take or leave, and others I'm not into at all, fortunately almost all the sexual content is optional, so you can pick and choose based on your own preferences.
Combat
This game also has a combat engine. At this time, it plays a very minor role in the game and is almost entirely optional. It plays like a deeply involved, one-on-one, turn-based RPG. You gain new attacks via powers. If you play your cards right and have the right super power you can fuck female opponents mid-battle.
Overall
This game is excellent. While it does have some issues with the U.I. and you might have to look at the external wiki to understand some of the mechanics, for me these are minor issues.
Many people say this game is too grindy for them. Fortunately I hear there are cheats and mods floating around to plug in the stats you want if you prefer to take this approach. I never felt the desire to use them myself.
The character progression is deep and meaningful, you have lots of options in terms of how you approach the game and what content you seek out, the art is very good, and the writing and world building are among the best I've ever seen in an erotic game. The sexual content is diverse: I found all of it entertaining and much of it very arousing.
This game has been updating consistently on a monthly basis since I first tried it out 2 years ago. At that time, there were only 2 or 3 super powers, 3 characters to pursue, and 0 plot quests. Now there are 9 super powers, over a dozen characters, and several actual in game quests. I look forward to seeing how Superpowered develops in the future.
