Recommending TonyMurray's Favourite Games and Favourite Girls

[EscapeEvade]

My Husband’s Boss by SC Stories

This is a rarity for me for a couple of reasons—at the time of playing, it was within 24 hours of initial release, where I usually tend to wait a while with new games, and it’s a full kinetic novel. I don’t usually tend to play those, preferring some choices, and potentially a bunch of different paths. Here, the only option is right at the start, and it’s whether or not to rename the three central characters. As something else to make it a rarity, in more general terms, it’s an initial release comprising over 5,000 renders, which is pretty staggering, really.

I really enjoyed the story here, and thought some of the character reactions were really good. It’s not a situation that I personally go for—I can’t understand someone who won’t outwardly react, who won’t say something, who will allow their partner to continue with someone else, regardless of the circumstances. It’s just not me, but it is some people, and me not understanding that mindset for myself doesn’t mean it’s wrong, and it also doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the story unfolding in front of me—I just don’t have that self-insert immersion that I try to get with other games.

I like the renders here for the most part. The male characters look a little odd, but they’re not my focus, so that’s fine. The FMC is attractive (even if most of the time she’s nude she’s scowling—I promise that’s not how she always looks!) and I like how she’s different to most FMCs from other games I’ve played. The eyes are sometimes a little off though. You can see on the card for Addison the block pinkness when looking to the side, and it just looks a little weird. Other than that, I really like the look of the game.

The sex scenes are pretty good, although not heavily animated. At first, I thought they would be hidden from us, taking place out of the MC’s view, but scenes after the first are either in full view, or from the FMC’s perspective, so you can see the scene unhindered. Although you don’t get the full detail on the initial corruption, it’s not too difficult to work out what happened, you just don’t see it happening and get the dialogue (potentially a good move on the dev’s part). I found it really interesting to watch though, and to see the MC and FMC spiralling.

There are some preview renders at the end that tell us a bit of what to expect in the next update, and I’m excited to see how it all goes.
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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.

 

[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.