This is a very difficult game to review, but I'm giving it a try, going through gameplay, story, and characters.
A sandbox VN
What I find laudable is the effort to blend sandbox elements into the visual novel without turning it into a sandbox altogether. I like this idea of an alinear VN that never plays out quite the same.
That being said, all the baggage that sandbox games have is evident in here: "Groundhog Day" level of repetition, especially in the beginning, grinding through the same scenes only to add minor flavour each time - progression in the shape of a hamster wheel. Leading to you, the player, at some point inevitably starting to skip and therefore miss some information.
Like, why does the MC have to greet his receptionists and say goodbye to them every single day? Why is he given the option to go out for a coffee every evening when you really only need to do it once to start that "sidequest".
Another sandbox sickness is the ugly UI that frames every shot in the game. If you implement all these things, then at least do something with them. At no point during play did I ever look at these stats and they were totally inconsequential. You're given money and it mounts up so fast, that the "you spend 30 dollars today" message at the end of the day really becomes comical when you're worth millions.
I don't mind having these systems, but they should be meaningful and lead to informed decisions. What I get is that whether you have your lust meter filled to a certain degree will enable some scenes or barr you from them. In theory, that's alright, but the way the game handles this lust meter is so arbitrary, I can't use it tactically and without the knowledge of hindsight.
Genetically convoluted story
All of the skipping in the earlier chapters made it difficult for me to make some sense of the story. But trying it again and reading more closely made it even worse for me. I'm no biologist, but I'm very sure the author isn't either, because none of it makes any sense.
I praise AVNs that just give me a "slice of life" story and focus on human interaction and drama, rather than dumping wonky story constructs onto me that add nothing to the characters and their relationships.
And again, if you introduce all of these narrative extras, then do something with them. Half-way through you encounter some kind of sex cult in the basement only for it to serve as a lore dump without any means of interaction. Imagine that you can't do the one thing you think a sex cult would be good for. Yeah. So why not leave it out?
This is also a VN where I had difficulty in figuring out what some of the choices meant and led to, even when they seemed blatantly obvious on first glance. I apparently missed a lot of content just by being indecisive once in the earlier chapters.
This is a harem game, alright, but it doesn't present itself as such in the earlier chapters. The dissonance between the earlier and later chapters is blatant. In the beginning, you feel like you have to earn your partners. Later in the game, there's no such thing anymore, all the dozens of interchangeable 3D models will just throw themselves at your feet.
It's okay if you like power fantasies. It's just incredibly boring to me.
The game currently gets some shit for its story transformation in the later chapters and the introduction of sharing (don't call it NTR when you don't know what that means) through the introduction of an ethically questionable sex club (judging by the fact that they drug the sex workers, "rape club" would be more appropriate).
I don't mind the sharing aspect and as far as I see it, you can decide whether to participate in any of it, but I get why players that liked the earler content are now baffled when they see what it has become.
Couples and coupling
The biggest let-down for me are the sex scenes. They are that much of a let-down because the build-up is usually good. The game frames its kinky scenarios well, the dirty language and banter is a bit on the nose, but it works for me. The sex scenes however, are monotonous and boring. In 9 out of 10 times, the MC will take the LI from behind, rut about for about 10 clicks and then inseminate. That's it. I don't remember any meaningful ways of interaction (I think that in some cases you can pull out or whatever) or making the experience yours instead of watching two 3D models coupling.
By the way, it would help if the MC didn't look like a complete muppet, with his cartoonishly big eyes and lips, his lanky and wispy physique... I know it's a matter of preference, but this is not what I want my alter ego to look like in a VN (and no, I don't prefer grotesque-looking Chads either). Now the game has to come up with all the nonsense "defective x-chromosome" background story (why x, by the way, isn't the y-chromosome the male one?) to justify why every female on earth wants to drop on their knees for this guy.
And the LIs... well, I do like the secretary, Lois, though naming her after an existing character from another franchise is just stupid and unnecessariy in my opinion. She's the only one with some kind of personality and character progression, though, whereas the other LIs are more or less wind-up sex dolls, especially Kari (and she practically is it turns out later in the story).
I might have been into some of the other characters if they were there for more than a minute. With most of its content, the game teases but doesn't deliver.
...
In the end, it's two stars from me, when it could easily be more. This game doesn't need any more embellishment, it needs substance.
A sandbox VN
What I find laudable is the effort to blend sandbox elements into the visual novel without turning it into a sandbox altogether. I like this idea of an alinear VN that never plays out quite the same.
That being said, all the baggage that sandbox games have is evident in here: "Groundhog Day" level of repetition, especially in the beginning, grinding through the same scenes only to add minor flavour each time - progression in the shape of a hamster wheel. Leading to you, the player, at some point inevitably starting to skip and therefore miss some information.
Like, why does the MC have to greet his receptionists and say goodbye to them every single day? Why is he given the option to go out for a coffee every evening when you really only need to do it once to start that "sidequest".
Another sandbox sickness is the ugly UI that frames every shot in the game. If you implement all these things, then at least do something with them. At no point during play did I ever look at these stats and they were totally inconsequential. You're given money and it mounts up so fast, that the "you spend 30 dollars today" message at the end of the day really becomes comical when you're worth millions.
I don't mind having these systems, but they should be meaningful and lead to informed decisions. What I get is that whether you have your lust meter filled to a certain degree will enable some scenes or barr you from them. In theory, that's alright, but the way the game handles this lust meter is so arbitrary, I can't use it tactically and without the knowledge of hindsight.
Genetically convoluted story
All of the skipping in the earlier chapters made it difficult for me to make some sense of the story. But trying it again and reading more closely made it even worse for me. I'm no biologist, but I'm very sure the author isn't either, because none of it makes any sense.
I praise AVNs that just give me a "slice of life" story and focus on human interaction and drama, rather than dumping wonky story constructs onto me that add nothing to the characters and their relationships.
And again, if you introduce all of these narrative extras, then do something with them. Half-way through you encounter some kind of sex cult in the basement only for it to serve as a lore dump without any means of interaction. Imagine that you can't do the one thing you think a sex cult would be good for. Yeah. So why not leave it out?
This is also a VN where I had difficulty in figuring out what some of the choices meant and led to, even when they seemed blatantly obvious on first glance. I apparently missed a lot of content just by being indecisive once in the earlier chapters.
This is a harem game, alright, but it doesn't present itself as such in the earlier chapters. The dissonance between the earlier and later chapters is blatant. In the beginning, you feel like you have to earn your partners. Later in the game, there's no such thing anymore, all the dozens of interchangeable 3D models will just throw themselves at your feet.
It's okay if you like power fantasies. It's just incredibly boring to me.
The game currently gets some shit for its story transformation in the later chapters and the introduction of sharing (don't call it NTR when you don't know what that means) through the introduction of an ethically questionable sex club (judging by the fact that they drug the sex workers, "rape club" would be more appropriate).
I don't mind the sharing aspect and as far as I see it, you can decide whether to participate in any of it, but I get why players that liked the earler content are now baffled when they see what it has become.
Couples and coupling
The biggest let-down for me are the sex scenes. They are that much of a let-down because the build-up is usually good. The game frames its kinky scenarios well, the dirty language and banter is a bit on the nose, but it works for me. The sex scenes however, are monotonous and boring. In 9 out of 10 times, the MC will take the LI from behind, rut about for about 10 clicks and then inseminate. That's it. I don't remember any meaningful ways of interaction (I think that in some cases you can pull out or whatever) or making the experience yours instead of watching two 3D models coupling.
By the way, it would help if the MC didn't look like a complete muppet, with his cartoonishly big eyes and lips, his lanky and wispy physique... I know it's a matter of preference, but this is not what I want my alter ego to look like in a VN (and no, I don't prefer grotesque-looking Chads either). Now the game has to come up with all the nonsense "defective x-chromosome" background story (why x, by the way, isn't the y-chromosome the male one?) to justify why every female on earth wants to drop on their knees for this guy.
And the LIs... well, I do like the secretary, Lois, though naming her after an existing character from another franchise is just stupid and unnecessariy in my opinion. She's the only one with some kind of personality and character progression, though, whereas the other LIs are more or less wind-up sex dolls, especially Kari (and she practically is it turns out later in the story).
I might have been into some of the other characters if they were there for more than a minute. With most of its content, the game teases but doesn't deliver.
...
In the end, it's two stars from me, when it could easily be more. This game doesn't need any more embellishment, it needs substance.
