The Assistant is a pretty ambitious game. It's a game about a 32-year-old man who becomes the titular assistant of a wealthy family. His main task is to take care of Sarah, a high schooler with some problems at school, something the MC can help her with. But another, much bigger story, slowly unfolds over the course of the game, as the MC gets drawn into a world of crime and the Russian mob that is involved in a real estate scheme which directly involves the family he is working for.
In addition to all that the MC will meet a copious number of potential sex partners and love interests. Not all of them are equal of course. There are more major love interests and then there are flings.
But that's not all, because The Assistant allows you to play as either a good guy, a "bad" (more kinky/naughty) guy or as a mix between the two. Almost every love interest has different paths and you can choose to be the good or the more bad guy on a case by case basis.
So if you like variety, if you like choices that have an impact on how certain routes play out, then The Assistant will certainly not disappoint.
But of course not everything is perfect.
Depending on what women you pursue some of them do have unskippable kinks. I really wish things would always be optional. But they are only optional when you completely refuse the character.
For example one fling (not a major love interest) immediately wants to be the MC's "anal slut". And I am really not into that at all. The problem here is... you never know what you will get. I immediately reloaded and rejected her, especially since fooling around with that character will hurt a major love interest who is much more interesting and important anyway.
Another love interest will also result in unskippable anal sex scenes, no options for anything, and later you will even have sex with her in the kitchen while her husband is nearby in the living room. Now the route for that character more or less makes sense though, since she's one of the very kinky ones, she also has a bi-sexual fling with another of the potential love interests. So you know what you are getting into. I just checked out some bits of her route out of curiostity but quickly decided that she's nothing for me, reloaded and rejected her, which was very easy.
That scene between the two women early in the game is skippable btw., but it's in the game and unavoidable. You can merely decide if you want to see it or not. So several characters will be bi-curious by default. And there are strong hints that maybe Sarah and definitely her best friend Lisa also have these tendencies.
Anyway, if you don't like netori content or certain unavoidable kinks it's best you reject Elaine.
Unfortunately there is no option for a Sarah solo route, you will always get her in tandem with Lisa. Apparently the dev wanted to trim down some paths to reduce the complexity a bit, which is understandable. Yet I feel forced throuples are something that should always be avoidable. I'd rather have the character of Lisa be removed entirely from the game. Both she and Sarah are the schoolgirl archetypes, inexperienced... a bit naughty... so I feel Lisa is redundant. But you may feel different of course.
The good thing is that you won't miss out on too much if you reject flings or certain more major characters since there are SO many of them and there is a love interest for virtually everyone in this game.
Also, love interests often do have options for kinks. Piper likes watersports... you can tell her you are not into that at all. Another character would like to give the MC a rimjob, you can kindly tell her that you are not into that either. Which is commendable. I only wish that all characters had options to sklp or avoid certain things.
The game has several (somewhat longer) scenes without the involvement of the MC. Two women may share a scene and talk, you also cut to the Russian mob every now and then. You also get sex scenes between characters without the involvement of the MC. However, the one early lesbian scene can be skipped and the other lesbian scene is entirely optional as well, you merely need to tell one character that he shouldn't recount his sad past with his wife who has left him for another woman. So if you don't like sex scenes without the MC you can opt out. But they are not avoidable in the more stricter sense, these things do happen. But neither of them are love interests when it happens and one character is not even really in the game (yet).
As far as characters go... it's nothing new, you know the archetypes:
You get the inexperienced romantic virgins who have been in love with the MC for years. (Iris)
You get inexperienced but quite naughty virgins. But still in a sweet and loving way. (Sarah)
You get extremely kinky and naughty teens. (Piper, that one is a minx)
You get a literal catholic nun who is the embodiment of innocence and temptation. (Clarice, you won't be able to resist her)
You get very kinky married milfs. (Elaine)
You get more romantic and loving married milfs. (Beatriz, in a kind of subversion she's the one who loves to sleep molest the MC, well it's not really molesting since he likes it (when he eventually finds out), but she's the one with the nightly visits, but the MC is 100% into Beatriz anyway)
You get the idea. There are several more characters. So you can easily focus on the character types you prefer and with each character you also get the choice of how to approach them. The nun, for example, has a "corruption" and "love" route like virtually everyone else.
I cannot say anything about the corruption route since I don't like this approach, but on the love route everything is pretty sweet. And the same can be said for most characters. The love route or the more naughty route has an impact on how scenes unfold and develop.
With Iris, a major love interest, you can either give her a wonderful first night at home... or ravish her in the restroom of a disco, telling her that you don't even love her, which is of course cruel, but if you want to, you can be like that in this game. Again, I chose the love route and while things do get complicated if you also pursue Beatriz it's still overall a quite wholesome and romantic experience.
The main story about the russian mob is ok, but chances are that the interaction with the various love interests will keep you more interested.
Character design in this game is also pretty good. You won't get overly exaggerated proportions here, no super busty milfs, which I always appreciate. Other than that you get the petite and cute girls, somewhat bustier adult women, so it's almost guaranteed your preferred type is in this game.
The sheer number of love interests has the usual downsides though... depending on how many paths you follow things can feel a bit superficial and you will never get as many scenes as you'd like with any particular character.
And the MC declares his deep love for someone in one scene... only to fool around with someone else right after that. Which can feel a bit odd. But that is of course pure player choice. But people usually play these games to see as much content as possible, so chances are you will also pursue more than just 1 or 2 women, or else huge chunks of the game will be inaccessible. But pursuing so many love interests can result in a somewhat schizophrenic experience. But again, with so many love interests that's almost unavoidable.
The renders can look a bit rough, resolution is a bit low, and many times the renders have a very high compression resulting in some artifacts. So it's not the best looking game out there, but the quality is ok enough and won't distract too much from the experience.
Animations are ok, but for some reason they often have a very slow tempo. You also get a few story animations, especially early on. Later there are good looking animations of a car driving through the city, so even if the renders may look a bit rough here and there, still a lot of effort goes into the game.
The game has a mix of POV and third person perspective, you will see the MC's face in several scenes, and also during sexual encounters. The design of the MC is average at best, he looks a bit like a thug, but most men in this game look like thugs, well, most of them ARE thugs. I wish the MC would look a bit less like one though, but again, that's entirely subjective and down to preference. Otherwise the MC is a manly man who won't be pushed around by anyone, he's assertive... and he can be either sweet or naughty/bad depending on what path you choose. So the character is alright and you can, within limits, shape his character to your own liking.
The game is, in my opinion, somewhat obsessed with blowjobs. The number of bj's in this game is astounding. There's surprisingly little actual sex though. I think the number of blowjobs could be drastically reduced in favor of other things. But maybe you like it, as usual it's a matter of preference.
The game is otherwise also more of a slow burn. The MC will have actual sex only once or twice with several major love interests, and that only towards the end of the current build (2.02). So you have to wait quite some time before things speed up and become more intense with several major characters.
Clarice has zero actual sex scenes (at least on the love route), but she's the nun and there are of course major complications. Her route does progress quite nicely though and at least on the love route things become very heated and steamy towards the end of the current build to the point both her and the MC confess their feelings and make out at home. There also no scenes with Pamela yet on the love / good guy route.
There is some female domination in the game. You may not like that... however, the MC merely plays along and indulges the woman because he wants to help Sarah. So he's playacting and pretending and you can easily turn the table on the wannabe dominatrix and score a major victory for Sarah.
So don't let that keep you away if you don't like this kind of content (I usually don't and would avoid it in most cases). But helping Sarah is of prime importance and a few sacrifices have to be made... and as said, the MC is never really under the spell of the wannabe Mistress, he just waits for the right time to make his move. And when the tables are turned things turn out very well for the MC and Sarah.
So who will like this game? If you like to have many love interests, if you like variety, if you like a game that allows you to play a romantic good guy or a more kinky/naughty bad boy and a game that even allows you to mix and match these approaches depending on the love interest... then The Assistant will certainly be something you will enjoy playing.
Just be aware that certain routes and/or certain love interests may railroad you into unskippable kinks or flavors you don't care for at all and you don't really know what you are getting beforehand. Only with Elaine you can kind of suspect that. Other times not. And I wish there was a route for Sarah without Lisa... this is the biggest negative thing in this game in my opinion since ignoring Sarah doesn't make too much sense. If you don't like throuples or gated content where one love interest is only available through another.... you will either have to ignore Sarah as best as you can or accept it.
But on the whole The Assistant is a good game, despite some low res and too compressed renders. This game has something for everyone. You like wholesome romance? Check! You want naughty and kinky stuff? Check! And you can even have both at the same time! It's entirely up to you. And that is the biggest positive thing any game can have: actual player choice. The few instances were you are railroaded into certain things are forgivable, especially since you can still reject those characters and avoid anything you don't like. And you still get more than enough content with everyone else. I only outright rejected Elaine, avoided Zoe and later a bartender who makes advances on the MC while he's on his romantic date with Iris. And I am someone who usually only likes wholesome lovey-dovey vanilla stuff. Piper is a borderline case... she's just super kinky and nuts - but fun in her own way.
So... go ahead, download the game and check it out for yourself! Chances are very high you will really like it!
next time around. I'm really glad I came across this game. I love seeing all the different body types. there is something about a redhead biting her lower lip that drives me crazy.
