HTML - The Ember Institute [v0.0.2.1] [GlitchDoll]

From what I understand the game is dead as of writing (10/27/24).

The plot is your standard "pharma sees money in sissification/feminization" and you happen onto the drugs. Choices you make increase/decrease your path. It's more branching a VN/CYOA than a "game" to me, though.

Pros:

• The UI is pretty polished, probably one of the nicest I've seen out of a lot of HTML/Twine games.
• Has the skeleton for a number of fetishes, that seem geared towards opt-in exposure
• The creator made lots of variants/branches based on choices

Cons:

• The game is very much a CYOA style which always makes me feel limited in agency because I feel like I'm steering down preset paths rather than exploring or doing what's offered rather than what I want to do.
• The game utilizes a Crush system where each night you choose a person to have a Crush on, presumably with boosted lewds to their interactions, but it feels very unclear as to what those interactions will entail when you have to choose.
• Lots of characters, but at the same time, I'd rather spend more time with the ones I like than spend time on others for exposition. By which I mean, I'll have negative interest in a char, but I'll still have pages of talking to them because that's the part of the story you're in.
• It feels like there's more implications of content to be added than in-game content, and given it's dead, will be content never seen.

By far one of the best sexual exploration type games I have played so far. Super thrilled to see the continued development of the game. Unlike a lot of other porn games the choices you make actually matter, and there are a lot of branching story options because of that. One thing I would like to see added though is some sort of character image, maybe on the top part of the left panel in sugarcube, and if you clicked it you would get a character overview with stats like skin condition(rough, soft, silky smooth, etc), and of course the state of your pussy and or penis. Stats like size, virginity, and load size too. I think it would make for a cool immersion building feature giving feedback on your actions in game IMHO.

Awesome potential <3

One of my all time favorites on this website, if the dev keeps up on development i'm sure it'll become one of the highest rated HTML games on here.
Looking forward to future updates, keep up the awesome work!

A bit of a cliche but I would say this has a little something for everyone, or at the least a little something for most people. It manages to have wide appeal while also not staying completely vanilla or vanilla adjacent which many games don't do, or get lost in the effort. One of the most ambitious games on this site that seems to be delivering, slowly but surely. Thankfully the update times seem to be more frequent lately.

Great game so far. Ignore the haters. For what type of game this is you have a lot of choice and branches in story even with how early in the story it is.

As of this review the game is on version 0.0.2.1. <--Notice how low of a version number this is. For most games of this genre (story-based real-porn twine games) at this point it's bad dialogue with maybe three characters in the entire game (especially when they are this focused on using the same people (i.e. pornstars) for each character instead of using any image that fits the situation). Ember Institute, however, has great dialogue, a shit-ton of characters, and starting character choices that affect your characters strengths and weaknesses despite the game only going two and a half days into the story so far.

Are all paths there, fleshed out, and branch points perfect in how they represent previous choices at this point? No, but they won't be at this point. No game of this type would be. That is the nature of this type of game when it's still this early in its development and story and it has only one person working on it.

Great game so far. I can't wait to see how it develops further.

Gives the illusion of choice through a convoluted choice system which ultimately changes nothing, options during story are few and far between and only give you the option to skip a scene or watch it.

The game ultimately is very, very short with alot of smoke and mirrors to give the illusion that your traits and character creation matter.

Creator would have been better served fleshing out each path one at a time but has chosen to add 1 small scene to the 'main story' and more fluff.

The game is well written and is very optimistic in it's plans to what the game will ultimately be.
Most games get abandoned without a fraction of the effort attempted here.

However, I can only give 2 stars as the game is lacking in all areas and doesn't seem to have mucn going on. The creator - in a forum reply - has admitted that the 'paths' aren't implimented yet, which would explain why the choices during character creation don't lead anywhere.

More detail is visible on the thread if you want a more in depth explanation regarding my concerns.

There is supposedly a gay route in this game and the character creator allows you to create a gay character. Unfortunately the game at certain points doesn't take this into account and acts as if the main character is a straight man exploring his sexuality instead. It's also impossible to go through the game without getting a forced "+2 female attraction" for some scenes.. There's at least one occasion where there's three "+2 female attraction" in a row... It's frustrating. It just falls short of catering for M/M players. Maybe it's victim of scope/feature creep?

It's a shame because it's well designed and crafted otherwise and the proper M/M content that is in the game is rather hot though. The UX and GUI is impressive too.

If the M/M aspect was more polished and done properly with the same attention given to the other routes then I could easily give 4 or even 5 stars.

Very promising start. Well written and formatted, although some sections feel very rail-roaded, which makes looking for specific kinds of content somewhat difficult. Hopefully this will expand as it progresses.

I think the game has a lot of potential, but it has been in development for quite a while, and not much outside of the initial hospital scene and the night out has been added. Currently, there is an extra morning of content and then it's back to EOC.

Now, the game has a great variety of cast members who are themed after actual pornstars, and yes, the media is just porn, so if that's not your cup of tea, you might not enjoy this game. I personally did not have any issues with it.

I also enjoyed the setup, I just wish more was written. Now that AI chat models like pygmallion 6b are out there, writing erotica is just about writing a few sentences as a prompt, and since the media is porn, it should be easy to source relevant clips.

I followed the game over on TFG a year ago, and it hasn't changed much. So, conceptually strong, but lacks the depth of content that would really set it apart. Still, thank you and good luck to the author, I'll be following this one.

I reluctantly tried this out a couple of hours ago, since the premise didn't seem that interesting to me. But I have to say, this is amazing. I couldn't put it down. Until I was forced to (end of content, for now).

I noticed a couple of typos here and there, but nothing that made me confused as to what's being said. A recurring typo seems to be 'effected' where it should've said 'affected'.

Anyway, awesome game. Can't wait to see more.
...actually, I can. I don't exactly have the means to put myself in a temporal stasis until an update is released, nor am I literally dying because of this. But I digress.

very excellent start I must say, looking forward to updates. Thanks dev

The writing is good , with each character feeling distinct and fully-realized. , and I found myself eagerly clicking through each conversation to see what would happen next.

Also there being so many path really increases the replayability

One of the few HTML games where choices do matter.

Your initial choices impact what sexual interactions you may experience and the initial impression many characters have of you.

However, do note this game is focused on male submission and sissification content. As of right now, you can become a more confident and dominant male character, but I think there's no escaping some humiliating situations, because the game is built that way.

On the other hand, there seems to be too few gay interactions, so going down that path is boring.

Overall, sex scenes could improve. There are no gifs or videos, only still pictures, and some are not that hot. No problem with the descriptions, but English is not my first language, so I may not be noticing something.

At this point, I've run into a few progress-killing bugs, along with visual glitches. Nothing too bad, though.

I will be following this game, because I'm very interested in what will become of it.

Many options but the game scene is unavoidable. The gay path is only imagination, they will keep forcing you to be interested in females. Strange choice of picture. Some of the UI/buttons are not in the right place I think.

Had written out a lengthy piece, agreeing with my predecessor, while reasoning for my harsher sentence with concrete, locked-in examples, no matter which build or which choice (-s), but Chrome had the last laugh.

To summarize: While design and story-telling (not interrupted by unenjoyable click-fests, go to this location, at this time etc.) are far better executed than in most similar games, the lie peddled with a dominant build is outrageous. The aptitude system, while nice at first glance, functions entirely without player input or agency, open to, and victim of, meddling by the writer, so might as well be abolished, as it is meaningless.

Some examples: You don't shower on the first morning, get cucked, you think about Casey, seemingly the least slutty (with the others an assortment of all sexual diseases) and you get cucked during the Ember Institute fantasy.
You also inevitably get sissifed in a dream, somehow specifically medically induced by a rogue doctor.
Not to mention bodily harm and intrusion befalling you, seemingly illegally, as you seem to sign only an NDA , which is about as bad as it gets, in a realistic setting.
If you leave the institute you get your first shot at sex at a bus stop, but no matter any of the preceding decisions, you cum pre-maturely and embarrass yourself.
Same seems to happen later in a Hostel, though I had, understandably, as I hope to have outlined, only taken my Non-Ember build that far.

Edit:
After trying out a more enjoyable female path, I have revised my rating up a star.
It's a shame this sems abandoned, though, the UI was perhaps the most pleasing I've experienced, it already provided a wide breadth of options (though badly in need of a walkthrough) and is more accessible than many other big titles with branching/non-linear stories and gameplay.

To (probably needlessly, but who knows, perhaps someone might pick it up) hark back to a previous point however, transparency and QoL would greatly benefit the game.

Are the porn preference choices in the beginning laden with finality and exclusivity, or can you choose lesbian porn and later express interest in pegging and porn relating to the experience you suffered at the hands of the siblings?
The same thing with the three newly introduced people when you don't shower and drop her off at college early enough to meet her friends, where only one of them might be added to the relationship screen.
Maybe list all available traits and quest and hints, to be activated, listing how one might go about acquiring them.

This is a weird one to review. "Objectively" speaking, it's made well and there's a lot of porn mixed into the story. It's a CYOA style "game" and should be flagged as a VN, but at least it doesn't try to blend in grindy half-baked gameplay to pad out the story beats.

Personally, however, I couldn't stand it. I put it down after ~45 minutes because even going as hardcore "dominant+confident" as possible, the game is a non-stop barrage of women teasing you, your character making clueless decisions, and being unable to refrain from making a fool of themselves. I can get into playing a sub character, but what I cannot stand is this style of submission-through-idiocy. Someone with basic social skills and more willpower than a wet piece of a paper would completely roll over the majority of events put forward. I want to RP as someone that submits because it's hot, not because I'm fucking retarded.

Rant.

If you're really into forced submission stuff, this'll probably appeal to you. There seems to be a variety of different paths you can play, but at least the most obvious "dominant" path... isn't. The UI design is visually pleasant and the game is almost playable with one hand. The real porn used isn't grating either, which is a nice change of pace. I'd give it a 3.5, but it doesn't deserve a 3 , so 4 it is.

Plenty of potential, but already very good. I've played quite a few games incorporating real porn but this has good paced immersive writing that hits the spot. Something to enjoy even if some of the kinks aren't your usual go-tos.

Really enjoyed this game! The writing and plot is a notch above typical games. This also comes with many visually stimulating images, which adds to the enjoyment of the game. Can't wait for more updates

Oh my - absolutely great game so far. It feels like the corruption may be happening a smidge too fast (its possible to just crash and burn and seems like it continues automatically) but aside from that love the feel so far. Then again, I like this genre in general. But the art is good, dialog is good, and I'm very curious as to where it will go!

I find the idea of the game really interesting and having multiple paths with multiple choices and possibilities poses the problem of getting more content on any specific route which ever you want to pursue.
Still, i tried out multiple paths and i have to say that this has alot of potential and just hoping for continuation on each path and that the dev doesn't make the people wait for a specific path.