HTML - Abandoned - The Nuclear Wife [WOQ Update] [mypphurtss]

Given 3 stars for the simple fact that the premise is really interesting, and it does have a noticable atmosphere. It's got a certain visual style, instead of the bog-standard blank background and buttons, as well as ambient sounds and music, which are a huge plus.

However, unfortunately this game definitely has some issues in terms of general quality, both when it comes to the actual writing and the pacing of the story. I'd say stuff happens too fast in the beginning. The wife seems to be entirely fine with the situation from the very first encounter, which feels quite shallow and under-developed. The way the game and the premise presents itself seems to be that both the wife and the husband would hate their current situation, and the things they have to do to survive, but that the husband over time will grow accustom to it, and eventually get turned on by it, while the wife should hate that she has to do this, but gradually start accepting that she finds it arousing. As of right now, the husband immediately finds the situation hot, and the wife seems to enjoy the experience as well. There is also absolutely no relationship-building between the husband and the wife in the beginning, which also takes away all of the impact from the first sexual encounter.

Secondly, there's also next-to-zero choices to be made, as well as no actual sandbox to interact with. Stats seems to not matter during the one chance encounter in the game. This game is really begging for a proper sandbox, with multiple ways to approach managing this motel and your wife, and all the dangers they face. To give an example of what I think would suit the game; the wife initially is entirely reluctant to do sexual acts for money, unless your food storage is critically low, where she then will do simple acts in the beginning. However, when her resistance diminishes and her lust increases, she'll be more willing to do stuff for money, while also doing increasingly more dirty acts.

There's also some technical problems here and there, such as the video player being way to small, and that some sexual encounters just throw 5-6 videos at you and auto-play them all at the same time, with sound. Also, certain actions can lead you to have two songs/atmosphere sounds playing at the same time. These are minor issues though, and can be easily fixed. I am more concerned about the more fundamental issues mentioned above.

Some may find it rich giving this game three stars, based on my critisisms, but I just genuinely find the premise extremely interesting, and I still urge the dev to give this game a proper chance. I do believe it will take a lot of work, though, as most of the game needs to be heavily reworked for it to become as good as it deserves.

I wish you all the best dev, and I'll keep a close eye on this one going forward!

Lack of player agency and linear gameplay really early on in game development. Stats seem arbitrary and irrelevant, and game play "choices" are unintuitive- picking a random card has monumental consequences like a game over, while buying say weapons and barricades have seemingly no impact on gameplay.

The writing is uninspired, as some random traveler is more developed than say your wife is- she's nothing but a bot. That's also true for the player character, as there is no real narrative control over his actions, no customization at all beyond names, and a lack of impact of the player's actions in the game.

Might be the developer's first game, but it feels like an shallow husk of a game. What seems like a management sim is really just a choose your own adventure story with random path determinators. The dialogue is pretty forgettable too.

Scripting and storyline wise it's simple premise that allows for developments to happen quickly. Id like to see more hesitance or corruption in the wife in the future.
Short and too the point. Not a grind, seems interesting but right now there's not a huge amount of content. Could be a fun game with a few more updates.