As I was writing this, I felt like maybe calling this game average was unfair, because there's a decent amount that exceeds that, and I'll give my compliments where they're due. I could see this game deserving a higher rating if certain things are fleshed out, but I don't know what's to come.
This next paragraph will contain minor spoilers for the very beginning of the game, the kind of thing you'd see coming from the genre tags, but I'll hide it all the same.
So for starters, I'm fully into the idea of having a main character be completely humiliated and abused. Where narratives are written in the first person I'll still often think in my internal monologue "What can I make them do?". That is NOT my issue. My reluctance with this game is that I kind of hate the girlfriend our protagonist begins with. Minor early game spoiler:
For me to enjoy that kind of thing, I need some kind of stakes in the relationship, and our main character really has none other than, well, she's his girlfriend. There's no real love shown between them, or relationship established, so why would our character give a monkey's chuff about keeping her? Certainly not enough to do things he doesn't want to do.
I suppose the best way to clarify my issue is to compare this part of the game with its own other plotlines. The main "quest", saving your father by working to pay off your his mob debts, is one of reluctant necessity. It occurs
gradually allowing the character to be sucked into it, to meet each small step with the right hesitation before ploughing onward and realising he's now not really a he any more. The character is never quite forced, and never quite free. The fun is in the struggle.
This contrast feels out of place because most other relationships in the game are so much better. You work as a "waitress" by night, with a friend and supervisor of questionable motivation (in a good way), who is developed into a character I can get on board with. You have a male best friend at the gym who, inevitably for a game like this, is quite accommodating to the changes you're making in life. These characters that appear, and whether your foster a relationship with them, feels right. The girlfriend on the other hand, I see no reason why she'd be around other than as a side plot. I tried a run in which you resist her, but it essentially only serves to lock you out of plotlines which appear as though will be a significant part of the game.
I would love to see some rewriting of her, or at least expand so that there are alternative paths. So now I'll say the positives: the main plot is much, much better than that. The other romances are much, much better than that. I want the girlfriend's plot to be like that.
My other criticism of the game is there's not quite enough to do to fill time. You hit points in the game where there are quite limited choices. Morning is pretty much always go to the college just to make time move forward, and so you don't miss any events that might happen. You can't skip work because you need the money. Acquiring enough money is easy, but you need to go to work because you need to have ongoing expenses and need to trigger events, but you also can't simply work when you want. It has to be a night when your shift is. And you can't go to the gym when you want, only on the two times a week you have an appointment. It feels needlessly restrictive and makes the game feel far more repetitive than it should. Maybe let me pick when to do a shift, when to visit the gym and so on?
Those criticisms in mind, I do want to know where this story goes. I look forward to an ending and the possibilities. The game hits upon the kinks it aims to hit upon, and I like a good sissification story. When I call a game average, I do mean average and not bad. If you've played some other games of this genre and are on the lookout then this is worth your time.
