I'll get this out of the way first - NLT's animation quality continues to set the bar for what an adult game can look like.
Now, with that said, I feel that The Genesis Order highlights that NLT continue to lack in nearly every other metric.
First off, the gameplay mechanics can feel tedious and sometimes even hostile to the player. The mind numbing grind for money, the hunt for keys and chests, and the many MANY times that a necessary item or path is deliberately hidden behind scenery - each of these feel less like gameplay and more like deliberate obstacles meant to be annoying or confusing. If not for the walkthrough, I would not have bothered completing the game.
Next - the story. Full disclosure: I did not play this game for this plot, I played it for the "plot." That said, I tried to give it a fair shake. It started out fine, a bit unrealistic (no, not the supernatural elements, obviously I'm not counting those against realism), but above average for a porn game. That quickly flew out the window when there were multiple layers of secrets with different people knowing different parts and the MC somehow managing to not keep his trap shut despite supposedly being a great detective. Once I got to the point with characters changing sides and loyalties back and forth multiple times I admit I checked out and started skipping through dialogue.
Third - VARIETY. There are 12 (13 if you count Arianna) love interests. Of these, 2 have blonde hair, 1 has ginger, 1 has dark auburn, 1 has pink, 1 has dark brown or black with red highlights and a whopping 6 have black or brown so dark it may as well be black. On top of that, nearly every LI has roughly the same body shape and there is almost no variation in skin tone. Clearly people at NLT have a preference but for the rest of us, some additional spice would be nice.
Speaking of variety, the H scenes could also use some of it. With nearly 150 scenes, it's inevitable that there be some repetition but it's almost impressive just how samey a lot of the scenes feel. It becomes hard to get very excited about a scene when it's the umpteenth time MC and a LI or two (or three) get into the most ridiculous positions imaginable and conclude with perfectly synchronized orgasms and the MC pulling out yet again. Maybe this is just a factor of there being so many H scenes and there isn't a good way to make them engaging without reducing the number, I honestly don't know. As for my personal preference, I was disappointed in abundance of anal, the low number of creampies, and the impreg teasing that ended up going nowhere other than for two LIs.
Now, with that said, I feel that The Genesis Order highlights that NLT continue to lack in nearly every other metric.
First off, the gameplay mechanics can feel tedious and sometimes even hostile to the player. The mind numbing grind for money, the hunt for keys and chests, and the many MANY times that a necessary item or path is deliberately hidden behind scenery - each of these feel less like gameplay and more like deliberate obstacles meant to be annoying or confusing. If not for the walkthrough, I would not have bothered completing the game.
Next - the story. Full disclosure: I did not play this game for this plot, I played it for the "plot." That said, I tried to give it a fair shake. It started out fine, a bit unrealistic (no, not the supernatural elements, obviously I'm not counting those against realism), but above average for a porn game. That quickly flew out the window when there were multiple layers of secrets with different people knowing different parts and the MC somehow managing to not keep his trap shut despite supposedly being a great detective. Once I got to the point with characters changing sides and loyalties back and forth multiple times I admit I checked out and started skipping through dialogue.
Third - VARIETY. There are 12 (13 if you count Arianna) love interests. Of these, 2 have blonde hair, 1 has ginger, 1 has dark auburn, 1 has pink, 1 has dark brown or black with red highlights and a whopping 6 have black or brown so dark it may as well be black. On top of that, nearly every LI has roughly the same body shape and there is almost no variation in skin tone. Clearly people at NLT have a preference but for the rest of us, some additional spice would be nice.
Speaking of variety, the H scenes could also use some of it. With nearly 150 scenes, it's inevitable that there be some repetition but it's almost impressive just how samey a lot of the scenes feel. It becomes hard to get very excited about a scene when it's the umpteenth time MC and a LI or two (or three) get into the most ridiculous positions imaginable and conclude with perfectly synchronized orgasms and the MC pulling out yet again. Maybe this is just a factor of there being so many H scenes and there isn't a good way to make them engaging without reducing the number, I honestly don't know. As for my personal preference, I was disappointed in abundance of anal, the low number of creampies, and the impreg teasing that ended up going nowhere other than for two LIs.