Recommending TonyMurray's Favourite Games and Favourite Girls

[TonyMurray]

I wish this wasn't an NTR game simply because the FMC is in fact so different than most other character models out there. I really like her, but I hate NTR, so I'll just skip this even though I like the model.

Yeah, I agree on the character. Probably the closest I've found otherwise so far is Amber from Her Desire. Definitely good to see some devs going a different path, because even the "MILF" FMCs generally tend to follow a pattern most of the time.

 

[TonyMurray]

Mother Load by kyl-e

This is a game that looks pretty good, and has plenty of promise, but it was sadly abandoned before most of that potential could be reached. The story seems pretty decent, although once you get into the gameplay of it, there isn’t much story available. You go into a sandbox, and once you’ve levelled the three available women—Mary (mom), Anna (sister), and Ophelia (cousin)—there’s nothing left to do except to complete a couple of task-based scenes and randomly visit a prostitute for a back-alley blowjob.

The sex scenes are nothing special—partly for the lack of animation, partly because only one goes beyond hj/bj/tj—but the girls and situations can still be pretty hot. It’s a game that I wouldn’t mind seeing more of, especially as there are a bunch of potential LIs you can briefly interact with, only to be hit with a “come back for more content in a future update” sort of message.

With a bit more story, and a lot more content, this could have been a fun time, but because there is so little current content, and no future expansion likely, it’s just not worth most people checking it out.

 

[Lagunavii]

Mother Load by kyl-e

This was one of those I told you about that got struck off my list simply for being abandoned - I was always so conflicted by the comments. Most if not all praised the game, yet there is absolutely no sign of it ever getting picked back up. Shame really.

 

[TonyMurray]

This was one of those I told you about that got struck off my list simply for being abandoned - I was always so conflicted by the comments. Most if not all praised the game, yet there is absolutely no sign of it ever getting picked back up. Shame really.

Yeah, it could have done something, but to be honest, it was abandoned before it ever did.

 

[TonyMurray]

Sickimtrack! by Eccho Arts

This is a great-looking game. As well as generally good renders, the girls look great – with a good mix of “hot” and “cute” (while still being hot, I might add) potential LIs included. For me, that’s pretty much where the plus points end, though. The story was not very good, and the gameplay specifically poor, IMO.

So, right out of the box, there is no settings menu. You have to actually start the game before you can access the settings via the quickmenu. Then, there are quite a few choices in the game, but for many of them it’s difficult to see if there is any benefit in choosing one over the other, and for those who like to check out the differences, you can’t do so naturally, as the game prevents you from rolling back to a choice (you have to load from the autosaves if you want to check out the alternative selection).

There are a couple of free roams that are really poor for a couple of reasons. One, you have a tasklist on your phone, and you have to complete every item, and find every special render (at least in the first free roam – I think I did miss one in the second, first time round), before it allows you to end the free roam. This involves checking all rooms of a house, checking all apps on your phone (twice, if you happened to do this too early and a message from your housemate hadn’t yet triggered), and speaking to everyone available to be spoken to.

The second issue with the free roams is the same as in most games that try to emulate Being a DIK’s free roams: they are meaningless. Apart from meeting a couple of characters, there is no point in these free roams – and of course, you don’t need free roams to meet new characters. I also dislike that you have to find random magazines under the bed, down the side of the sofa, etc. in order to collect special renders. Is there really no creativity to be had in these games? The only benefit to this whole process is that the special renders are the only way (so far) of seeing half the girls nude, since only Milica and Chelsea (plus random cucking hookup Palmer) can be seen nude during gameplay, so far as I am aware.

Ending on the sex scenes then, and I found nothing special here either. You start with a bj from a drunken Amie, which doesn’t go anywhere as she throws up (not seen) after putting it in her mouth. Then there’s a hookup with Chelsea after you steal her panties while checking out her bedroom during a house party. And there’s the random sex with the coffee shop owner’s wife in the pub toilets, where he catches you in the act and then appears to offer you the job you’d asked him for earlier in the day… The scenes (not including the bj that was barely worth mentioning) were okay but didn’t really go beyond that.

So this was a real disappointment, with not much content for its two chapters so far (currently at Ch2, part 1), which is a double shame because the girls are so promising.

 

[TonyMurray]

I forgot to mention this in my review of Sickimtrack! above, but there was another stupid (IMO) bit of gameplay right at the start.

For a long time The Adventurous Couple took the biscuit for stupidest "game over" choice. There's a scene right at the start after finding the website with the weekly tasks, the wife gets home from work and the husband has the choice between asking how her day was, or diving straight in and talking about the website. The first is the correct choice, and they talk about the website not long after, but taking the second option pisses her off and it's game over.

In Sickimtrack!, there's an even earlier choice—it's literally after ten frames. The MC is going away to college, escaping some unknown awfulness, with everything he'll need packed in a... I can't even call it a suitcase, it's practically a briefcase. You are presented a choice between "It's Now Or Never!" and "Am I Really Ready?" (I've no idea why the random capitalisation, either.) The first is the correct choice, the second gives you a few lines of dialogue second guessing himself, and then kicks you to the main menu screen.

What is the point in having such a "game over" choice, right at the beginning of the game? Is it the dev trying to be a bit edgy? Do they think it's part of the challenge for the player, bearing in mind there are also no further "game over" choices to be navigated later in the game...?

Not that I'll want to play it if so, but is there a game with an even more stupid "game over" choice you can pick?

 

[Zorro#34]

What is the point in having such a "game over" choice, right at the beginning of the game? Is it the dev trying to be a bit edgy? Do they think it's part of the challenge for the player, bearing in mind there are also no further "game over" choices to be navigated later in the game...?

Can't say for any AVNs, but I've seen 'general' VN players complain about having no input over the MC's decisions early on, even if him doing something is the base for the entire plot. So, some devs create such early gameover decisions to mockingly address such complaints.
Like, "you want your choices? Here. But without the MC doing this and that, there's no plot and/or game, so gameover it is for you!"
I can only guess that the dev of Sickimtrack is familiar with such situations. Or maybe they just wanted to stick some morale about being decisive and confident in there.

 

[MiltonPowers]

I forgot to mention this in my review of Sickimtrack! above, but there was another stupid (IMO) bit of gameplay right at the start.

For a long time The Adventurous Couple took the biscuit for stupidest "game over" choice. There's a scene right at the start after finding the website with the weekly tasks, the wife gets home from work and the husband has the choice between asking how her day was, or diving straight in and talking about the website. The first is the correct choice, and they talk about the website not long after, but taking the second option pisses her off and it's game over.

In Sickimtrack!, there's an even earlier choice—it's literally after ten frames. The MC is going away to college, escaping some unknown awfulness, with everything he'll need packed in a... I can't even call it a suitcase, it's practically a briefcase. You are presented a choice between "It's Now Or Never!" and "Am I Really Ready?" (I've no idea why the random capitalisation, either.) The first is the correct choice, the second gives you a few lines of dialogue second guessing himself, and then kicks you to the main menu screen.

What is the point in having such a "game over" choice, right at the beginning of the game? Is it the dev trying to be a bit edgy? Do they think it's part of the challenge for the player, bearing in mind there are also no further "game over" choices to be navigated later in the game...?

Not that I'll want to play it if so, but is there a game with an even more stupid "game over" choice you can pick?

Name88's Triangle is the same. In the first couple of minutes, here's a girl - have sex - Yes or No. Choose no and it's game over. (And the same thing, it's the only game over in the game). It's like a flex from the Dev saying 'we're doing this my way or piss off'. (Not that I have a problem with devs saying that).

 

[TonyMurray]

Name88's Triangle is the same. In the first couple of minutes, here's a girl - have sex - Yes or No. Choose no and it's game over. (And the same thing, it's the only game over in the game). It's like a flex from the Dev saying 'we're doing this my way or piss off'. (Not that I have a problem with devs saying that).

That one's still on my list. I thought I'd played it and didn't know what all the fuss was about. It wasn't until I saw it in your thread that I realised I'd played a different game called "Triangle"!

 

[MiltonPowers]

That one's still on my list. I thought I'd played it and didn't know what all the fuss was about. It wasn't until I saw it in your thread that I realised I'd played a different game called "Triangle"!

Triangle was OK, nothing special, but a fun little story.
Name88's Triangle is very different. And definitely wins the worst AVN name award.

 

[TonyMurray]

Triangle was OK, nothing special, but a fun little story.
Name88's Triangle is very different. And definitely wins the worst AVN name award.

Agreed, on both parts. I can't remember if I tried the "Couples" game by the same dev or not, and I think there's another numbers-based title too, perhaps.

 

[TonyMurray]

Ms. Denvers by Pop Toc

This is a good-looking game with a reasonable storyline that’s mostly focused on the various love interests (both male and female) and the corruption required to follow their paths. For the most part, it’s not corruption in the normal AVN sense, it’s more a case of the FMC allowing her own thoughts and desires to corrupt her, although there is of course a fair bit of influence in that from some of the LIs.

I like the way most of the female characters look, although I admit to being a bit conflicted on the FMC, the titular Ms. Denvers – Wanda. She looks good, but there’s an inconsistency in her breasts, where sometimes they look great for being a big pair, but other times they look a little too large, potentially comically so. I like her character as well, and think the progress with the LIs, in particular her two daughters and her son, was well done. I don’t think anything moved too far too fast, and it mostly had as much of a natural feel to it as I suggest you’d get in a game.

The choices are generally well used, with no “useless” options that don’t make the blindest bit of difference. Almost everything is a yes/no choice towards progression with a given LI, although it might not be immediate progress, or immediately apparent what that progress would be. I would say the one downside of this is that the “good” choice for LI progression is not always obvious. I completely missed a path I thought I was on because I chose the wrong option at one point and I had to play the entire save again to “fix” that. Sometimes there’s also a choice where both options give you slightly different progression (e.g., option 1 gives you kissing, dry humping, and exposing her ass, while option 2 gives you exposing her breasts and sucking her nipples), so it’s unclear if one is “better” than the other, or if it’s just personal preference there as to what you see in the next scene.

I did find a few dialogue issues that point to a need for proofreading, and on my first run, I also found a coding error where I was skipped to another scene halfway through the previous one. I couldn’t see a trigger for that, and it didn’t happen the second time round, when I specifically played with a walkthrough mod to help me pick out a couple of scenes I had missed the first time. I’m not sure if the wincest patch had anything to do with my issue then, bearing in mind the WT mod has the same patch already included. To give the dev the benefit of the doubt, it’s also possible that the script has been proofread since release, but that it is not reflected in the patch.

Overall, I like the progression and most of the paths. I have a main “story” save with all the female LIs and the son, and a “just for the content” save with the remaining male LIs, since I don’t actually like most of the male LIs. Two of them in particular are two of the typical “corruption AVN” trope characters, and neither of them work for me. If the story were more realistic, both would have been shot down immediately IMO, regardless of the corruption levels, and so it was easy for me to make the choices that equated to that happening in the game.

 

[TonyMurray]

My Sisters and Me by CursedSavinkov

I’ll start out by saying this feels like a bit of a slow burn – not too much actually happens so far (Ep1.1) – but I quite like it all the same. The choices don’t feel too impactful, they are more for small changes to dialogue, but there are points involved, and certain scenes will play out differently based on the number of love points, or other variables from previous decisions. It sounds like the basic minimum for a game with choices, but it’s silly how often this gets overlooked and choices become completely meaningless.

The story definitely works for me, although some parts of it are not handled that well, perhaps. A key early element involves letters that were kept from the MC, and for some reason he decides not to bring this up with his mom and sisters upon being reunited with them. I feel it should have been one of the first major topics addressed after the initial “welcome home” and “how are you?” talks. Bearing in mind that he had said on the phone to his mom that he would explain all but not over the phone, it seems odd to then look to avoid this conversation – thankfully though, it wasn’t long before his hand was forced.

The visuals are good, and I have to say I really like the look of almost all the girls here. I’m not sure who is going to be an LI or otherwise lewdable character, but I am looking forward to seeing more of all of them. There isn’t much yet in terms of lewd content – there’s a random girl seen sleeping topless (but not seen again); a voyeuristic scene with a girl getting licked out in public; and a scene with each of the two sisters, one getting surprised after a shower, showing her ass (but not to the MC), and the other surprised in her underwear and a small top, showing some pokies. Only two of those scenes make it into the replay gallery, which isn’t really worth viewing at the moment. One of the hottest girls could potentially not be seen again, but I hope that isn’t the case, and she certainly feels like she has enough importance to show up again…

There are also (so far) three special render type rewards to find, which take the form of letters. They give an image and some text, and are found in the usual free-roam scenario (I admit, I only actually found one naturally, though I wasn’t really looking at the time as I didn’t know there was something to look for!).

Overall, I’m not really expecting too much from this game, but I hope it continues to entertain, continues to provide excellent eye candy, and hopefully has some good plot lines to come as well.

 

[TonyMurray]

Lost Freedom (previously titled Lost Daughter) by Verde

I’ve played a few games recently that have left me feeling the same about them as I do here – the story and dialogue feels a bit basic, the choices pretty straightforward, and the overall gameplay just “okay”, but then there is a good selection of really attractive LIs to feast the eyes upon, and they make me want to see more.

I feel that the writing in this one is maybe even a little juvenile, some stuff happens a bit too quickly, and other stuff just feels a bit too close to a young teen’s level of humour and characterisation. I’m also unsure what the main focus of the game is going to be as there are cuckquean, threesome, and sharing elements suggested but not in the current tags (as of 0.3), while the game is tagged with harem.

The end of this update then throws the story into potential disarray as well, as events are manipulated (I presume) to put MC and his daughter together, just a day or so after he learns of her existence. How long this will last before MC is able to return to his usual life could end up causing issues, but I would hope it will all be resolved during the next update.

As well as the girls looking great, there are a few scenes to check out, with animations and (where applicable) cum choices. It seems there may be some magic sperm in the game, as any time you have the option to cum inside, the choice is tagged with “pregnancy”. I’m not sure how much of a part that would play, but some of the gui images do feature the girls holding pregnancy tests, or sporting baby bumps.

One thing I did find a bit annoying was the ability to rename characters. At the start of the game, it seemed like every character you meet can be renamed (fortunately they have default names displayed), so as well as MC and his girlfriend, there’s men and women at his office you get asked to confirm. Then, after maybe half a dozen, no other characters, including the daughter when she appears, are given the rename option.

I should mention as well that for the genre comments I made in the second paragraph, MC’s girlfriend (Claire), is not into men, only making an exception for MC. It’s noted that they have had threesomes previously and she seems actively interested in bringing in at least one of MC’s colleagues for bedroom shenanigans. She is also happy for MC to have solo events with the other girls, giving her blessing to either MC or the girl in question at a couple of points. The sharing side of things may not go anywhere, as it was initially turned down without player choice, although the offer wasn’t closed off, so it could come up again. Claire’s dislike of men as sexual partners would be a major hurdle in a typical sharing agreement, but you never know what might happen…

 

[TheRealOne-]

Wow, what an incredible thread!

I just went through all 16 pages and opened links to the games you recommended that I haven't played yet. I should probably create a to-do list myself, but I've been bookmarking pages for now >.<

Most of the lists align closely with how I would rank them—great taste! I will keep an eye on this thread!

EDIT: Figured ill throw a recommendation out there I haven't seen yet - Move the Chains.

 

[TonyMurray]

Wow, what an incredible thread!

I just went through all 16 pages and opened links to the games you recommended that I haven't played yet. I should probably create a to-do list myself, but I've been bookmarking pages for now >.<

Most of the lists align closely with how I would rank them—great taste! I will keep an eye on this thread!

EDIT: Figured ill throw a recommendation out there I haven't seen yet - Move the Chains.

Thanks! I downloaded Move the Chains the other day - I'd seen that there was a new update pending, so I was waiting for that. Just need to get round to playing it now!

 

[Semak34]

TonyMurray Wish more of the "official" reviews were as thorough and clear as yours. We share the same take on female MC stories, but you're way more adventurous than me. If I'm not sure I'm going to have player agency (at least to some extent), I won't even try it.

 

[TonyMurray]

TonyMurray Wish more of the "official" reviews were as thorough and clear as yours. We share the same take on female MC stories, but you're way more adventurous than me. If I'm not sure I'm going to have player agency (at least to some extent), I won't even try it.

Thanks, much appreciated! I get you on agency, it's an important aspect. I'm more willing to give a game a try based on graphics and content, but often that agency side of things might negatively impact a story if it's not there, so I might end up dropping out.

 

[TonyMurray]

Beyond Constraints by Mist Studios

Straight off the bat, I’m going to say there are some things I really like about this game and some I don’t really like, and it makes me quite conflicted. Some of the story is just a bit too much for me – most notably the office situation. A major part of the game is that you have a cuckquean wife who is actively trying to get you to fuck your mom and two sisters, who you live with, and yet that’s not the story part I have an issue with!

To be fair, I wouldn’t have an issue with this, because I have been looking for a good cuckquean game for a while, and though this isn’t it, it does at least focus on that element quite a bit, and unashamedly so. The office though, I just can’t detach myself from reality enough to be okay with. You and a buddy leave a job to start up a company together, and your buddy hires a bunch of girls based, from what we are told, largely on their lack of gag reflex. Oh, and he hires your ex-girlfriend to be your PA too.

Anyway, as far as the game itself goes, I don’t mind it for something that’s still finding its feet. Rose, the cuckquean wife, is a bit… extra… but I find her endearing as well. It’s clear that we start the game in the middle of things as far as her fetish goes, so there’s no real introduction to it – straight away it’s “go play with some other women… but make sure to get photos to show me!” I’m hoping that, with a few more updates, that will settle down a bit and start to feel a bit more natural, and that maybe Rose will have some more active involvement in the actual sexy times too.

There isn’t too much to note about the gameplay yet, there are some choices but nothing major enough to base an opinion on that goes beyond “they’re okay,” or “they cause no issues”. The visuals are good, although a couple of the girls are a bit odd looking. Ivelisse is a good example – she is a four, but the image I’ve used would probably see her as a three. Most of the time though, she just has an odd look to her. Rose too, often has a slightly crazy expression, which can be a bit off-putting.

Overall, I want to play some more of this to see where it goes. It’s very much a “watch and see” game for me though, rather than an “can’t wait to continue” one.

 

[Lagunavii]

Beyond Constraints by Mist Studios

Oh I have been waiting for this one since we talked about it last. Yours is a little nicer than what I wrote and discarded. I'll give it to the next update before casting judgement.