For a short snippet/demo, this is pretty okay.
Animations are good, the 2.5D mechanics work fairly well and the spooky atmosphere works a bit. Sound design is actually pretty neat, with distance and the wet slaps of bare feet being a neat giveaway for zombies, pistol feels punchy and reloading sounds nice.
The JIGGLE PHYSICS are great, even the zombies on getting hit have a bit of jiggle. It's quite an impressive thing, least to me. Same goes for the outfit modularity and the physics therein.
BUT
I do have some issues for it *as a GAME*
because it's a game, not a scene-viewer:
1. Recoil:
Specifically in the animation and the abrupt, downward motion the screen takes when shooting. I get its trying to simulate screen-shake but this ain't working. It's outright making me motion sick shooting . What makes it weirder is that it doesn't really even need to be there:
There's no actual recoil or inaccuracy when you shoot.
Where you point, bullet goes without any bloom or real effect (afaik) on accuracy when spam firing beyond the screenshake to disorient the player.
I don't think its needed, or if its a necessary creative decision, needs to be toned down or incorporated into gameplay.
2. Mashing-For-Fuck-Speed:
Something I noticed is that, unlike Syahata, Cradle doesn't seem to have a clear way of escaping H-Attacks post-initial grab. Now that wouldn't be an issue if the on-screen prompt was mainly to progress through the animation sections or maybe even as some "squeeze mechanic" to slow down thrust speed to prevent the enemy from cumming after a set amount of time, lessening damage.
Nope, what the "E" prompt is there for, from what I can see, is to speed up the animation if you mash it.
Now lets compare with something like Siren of the Dead and Vampire's Knight. In those games, they at one point had a mechanic post-H-Attack Grab:
Hit E-in-Rhythm to escape.
If Cradle HAS this mechanic and I missed it, it's not properly conveyed.
If Cradle DOESNT have this mechanic, then it actively detracts from the H-Attacks animations by forcing a mash of the E-Button for a desired speed to enemy H-Animations and doesn't need to be there.
I do like the idea of controlling the speed, or having a possible battle-fuck derived from this that can impact the various gauges (like how much they actually cum inside/if at all based on how rough they get to get, etc. Allowing possibly for unique enemy behaviours in said mechanic)
But this current iteration gets in the way, is confusing as to WHY its there, and I genuinely feel it can either be reworked or removed.
3. Tanky Main Character / Lack of Threat
Now I imagine this is a weird one but compared to Syahata, the impact of H-Attacks and general Damage feels toned down here. The player feels tanky in spite of their light frame and generally H-Attacks feel like scene-players and the pleasure/cum gauges rise far too slowly given the metric ton of cum enemies inject into said player character.
And afaik, no discernable impact is had for said cum levels unless (maybe) they're near or at max. Same for the pleasure gauge. But getting to that point is grindier than desired, arguably harder than completing the main area.
Another reason as to the lack of threat is resource control. See, this game gives you a pistol early on. That's fairly normal,sure. But unlike systems like Bioasshard or the like is that:
Hit placement doesn't matter as much. Hit the head? 4 shots. Hit the body? 4 shots. Whilethe consistency is nice, there's no incentive to aim nor for the majority of enemies is there really an incentive to fight (the only reasonbeingfor the mosquitosis that their hurt-box reaches out more than the typical zombie, and the twin-dicked brute at the end can run faster than 99% of enemies in the rest of the map.
Additionally, ammo placement everywhere. Which certainly doesn't incentivize accuracy either.
If I had to rely on the scalpel more, and a dodge/dash mechanic (ala RE4 Remake), with only a few shots at any time, at most one magazine or two(with headshots being way more valuable), I could see this game working really well.
4. Slow Slow Slow
Player moves real slow at base, sprinting while running doesn't zoom out or give any idea of space. Can't zoom out on command or get a sense of where my character is looking. Gets even worse in areas like the bathroom with odd camera angles and no player control (even with just a zoom out/zoom back in button)
I don't mind the ability being nerfed to provide suspense if we could only zoom out when sprinting/running and if we get grabbed while zoomed out & sprinting, it could even insta-H-Attack or make it harder to avoid/do the QTE.
But as it is, it feels claustrophobic and not in a good way.
I think the reason why it was fine in Syahata was because it had way more explorable, confined classroom spaces, sewers, and forests that incentivized this compacted, tight and close CQC spaces with sparing use of long hallways without a room to enter.
THere's hints of that here, but i feel for this beta, its too many long combat hallways at too slow of a speed.
Combined with how tanky and powerful we are, and each arena of sorts feels more like a lackadaisical trudge than it is a scared tiptoe.
5.Enemy H and Game Overs
Less of a serious critique, but one I feel should be mentioned since it IS here.
Some game overs aren't present, like the futa nurse and the twin-dicked brute. Not bad in and of themselves but would be nice if the enemies could do a "instant loss" version of their standard H-Attack before it just fades to black.
Frequency and WHEN an enemy will H-Attack is also unclear, and I feel there's a ripe oppurtunity to use the 3D models and the jiggly physics to convey it in a non-intrusive way:
Show the Enemies being aroused.
FOR EXAMPLE:
If the Futa-Nurse sees the player, have the dick start twitching and getting semi-hard, throbbing and the like up and down.
But if the Futa-Nurse is going to GRAB the player for an H-Attack, the dick should be fully erect and a unique enemy growl/snarl should play, maybe even just a pitched up/down variant of their usual attack snarl to convey they're gonna try something.
It can also vary between typesof enemies:
For the Tongue-Nurse, could show her dripping more and more as she notices the player, then on H-Attack, show her thighs shaking and gushing out like she's squirtin' at the thought of rubbing scissors or something. Voice should be pitched much higher in her H-Attack Grab-Growl Sound Thing than the other enemies.
For the Mosquito, show the dick poking out and peeping once it notices the player character. Then, for H-Attack, show it fully sliding out & throbbin like crazy.
For the Brute, do the same as the futa but to convey how gnarly the H-Damage (should) be, have him shoot ropes of jizz out or the lack just before he lunges from the excitement.
Little telegraphs like that fit the lewd aesthetic, enemy design, and even give players a non HUD-dependent way of noticing if an enemy's noticed them, and/or is winding up for something lewd.
Even bridges a bit of that player/character gap so it can immerse us into the erotic-survival-horror fantasy this game (and its predecessors) want to convey.
Anyway, that's all I got atm.
I do think this game has potential, just like Syahata did at matching parasite-in-city and Anthophobia, maybe even filling that niche with its 3D animations to set it apart.
But I do feel atm its a bit incomplete and lacking as a game, let alone an H-Game.
It's a good alpha/vertical slice, but just an okay Beta.I wish the developer the best and I'm looking forward to what he does with this
*Edit:
And I almost forgot,the inventory bug.Idk exactly what causes it, but after acertain point, I couldn't access any inventory boxes beyond the first one to get ammo and a bandage.That definitely needs a fix before it enters 1.0, let alone another stage
