Finished the game and reviewed it, saw all endings. Cut a chunk out of my review as was rambling so though of adding here. Basically, I had mixed feelings about the game - as I do with other more similar works, like Taco's Second Class. Basically, I like extreme femdom and I like visual novels - so theoretically this should be my thing. But I find that in many of the popular ones in this style I am put off by the nature of the femdom relationships between characters. Does anyone feel similar, or differently?
Basically with femdom VNs I’m often curious to see how the femdom is socially situated. Some games imagine a world in which basically all women are dommes and all men slaves, maybe because of magic or law. At the other end of the spectrum, you get games where it’s a loving couple and it’s the guy’s kink. I find this stuff matters – the former scenario often feels quite un-erotic to me because the female position is not actually a transgressive sex act but just worldbuilding. Also, in those settings the femdom is mainly presented one of aggression and the male is often unconsenting. It all starts to feel more like a game about oppression than kink to me. I find myself thinking about the need for a civil rights movement, and what’s worse the whole scene comes across as a bit sexless… The women primarily seem to be acting out of spite and the men out of fear – is this sexy? This isn’t unique to this game but more of an industry commentary.
A few other tropes include a cascade of unfortunate events: MC is mugged, then arrested for being mugged, then in jail brutalised, then punished at uni for being arrested, get in debt, forget to go to class, etc etc. On it goes. I think for some people the injustice of it is what gets them going? Also, in this case the MC seems to be some sort of turbo-sub, despite the odd witty comment, as confirmed by his psych tests and police files – to the extent that a police character even comments on his bizarre propensity to just fold to anyone. (This alongside normal MC braindeadedness.) Also, a lot of the femdom in some of these games is very immediate – a random woman marches up the MC and snarls at him to him to kneel and he just instantly collapses.
Personally I just don’t find this style of setup for femdom very compelling! But are any of the styles I mentioned above things that some people prefer? Matriarchy, pathetic MC, cruel stranger dommes? I know this seems to be turning into a rant, but I’d honestly like to hear from somebody one day about what is the appeal? Is preferring this style of femdom a cultural thing that varies in different countries? Is it a Russian dev thing? Like less of a ‘play’ and more just ‘women are evil’ fantasy. I can sort of understand the idea, ‘pathetic sub walked all over by cruel bitches’ type vibe, but in the absence of any real connection between the character it has all the erotic thrill of being knocked out in a road rage incident. To me. Generally speaking the relationships feature very little attraction and plenty of hatred. The MC is constantly trying to cheer himself up and dig himself out of misery and I feel the same! God. And I like these activities usually! But this is just one scene after another – he bumps into some characters and something bad happens. And some psycho attacks him. And again. And again.