I've just finished playing for the first time and thought I'd share my thoughts.
To start off with what drew me to the game - the art. This is one of the highlights for me personally. Throughout the entire game the art is done at such a high level. The setting, the characters, the map, the UI, everything. Every little detail has been added, absolutely no corners cut. Really great attention to detail, even down to little things in the UI such as achievement popups and so on, this sort of stuff really makes the game feel complete and polished.
Similar to what many others have said, the art brought me in but the story kept me coming back! This was some really great writing. There's evidently a lot of thought gone into the story, and it has a decent bit of humour sprinkled in, very engaging. I'm looking forward to the rest of the story you guys have to tell, and based on the numerous locations around the old capital which haven't been explored yet, as well as the new capital and a number of other larger locations I saw on the world map, I think we're in for quite the ride! The medieval setting is really well done, and the magical elements I think are quite fitting and not over the top. Realistic is not the right word, but perhaps given the setting believable would be the right one? Nevertheless, very well done!
The H-scenes were very good overall and I thought the animations were done very well. I read some comments saying the older content was of a lesser quality compared to the newer content, and coming from someone who never played the game previously, I couldn't tell one bit. It all seemed really high quality to me. My only critiques would be I personally would've preferred more anal content, and a character or two with a larger ass, maybe even a BBW? Also as some others shared, during the chastity belt reveal I did think there was a chance Simmone was going to turn out trans, which would've been welcomed from myself, but understand it's not for everyone. Perhaps this could be added as part of another character but remain as completely optional content, similar to how the Matchmaker's content remains optional after a certain point. I also noticed there's domination content planned, while I'm guessing that would be with the MC being the dom, I also wouldn't mind seeing domination content where he is the sub. In terms of specific kinks for the sub content, I'd say facesitting, worship and general obedience would be 'safe' ones to go with, with other kinks such as pegging, feet or other stuff being optional. Again, all personal preferences and completely understandable if some of these things are overlooked. It seems like you guys only plan on implementing stuff you personally like and I 100% support that!
Some little things I noticed/appreciated throughout:
- Achievements, while functionally irrelevant were fun and entertaining.
- Sheep easter egg photos were another fun addition.
- UI / UX, inventory, time cycling features were all really well implemented.
- The explorable area felt a lot larger than it was, I attribute this to the engaging storyline!
- Spelling and grammar was flawless throughout.
- The only bug I noticed were some dialogue animations would glitch at times (cycling too quickly or jumpy). Pretty impressive if you ask me!
- The 'think' feature was a good way off getting the MC to come up with solutions, and even when the first one or two attempts weren't the right thing to do, it never felt like filler content or rushed - it added to the story in some way.
To summarise, this game has probably become my favourite game I've ever played (and probably will play for some time). The art, story and attention to detail throughout is top quality. It's definitely one of those games that will become one of the greats in my opinion. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the game, and I'm sure there's plenty more to it. When I read the thread, I was surprised to see it's the work of a single artist and a single dev, bravo guys! I read about the testers wanting to remove/alter some scenes and I'm glad you kept them in, I think they worked really well. I'm unsure if you guys read this thread much but if I had one thing to say to you two, it would be to just keep doing your thing and tell the story how you want to. You guys are doing a great job, and while some community feedback/input may help, ultimately it should be you guys having fun and tell your story the way you want to. Personally I think some other games such as Summertime Saga have gone downhill after expanding the team, I'd hate to see that happen with this game, but I'm sure you guys know what you are doing.
The only other thing I have to say is that I think exploring those other larger areas should come sooner rather than later. If locations such as the new capital and others pictured on the world map are to be as heavily detailed as the old capital, that would truly make this game unique. Many games tend to get stale after a while, and personally I attribute that to becoming bored of the map/location/setting. Even when some games expand the map or introduce new locations to their current map, it just isn't enough. But with the way WAL is setup, expansions into those other larger areas would feel like entirely new maps or settings in their own right, which isn't something I've encountered before. It'd definitely be a massive undertaking and I don't think anyone would expect it to be done any time soon, but personally I think it'd really put this game in a league of its own.
