Missed potential.
Summary:
This mod started off with such promise and brought impressive new features whilst expanding Akbar's excellent base game with new art and characters. At some point though, the quality of the art took a nosedive. The new art truly drags down what would otherwise be a good game.
Art: 2/10 - It’s by far the weakest aspect of the game.
Writing: 5/10 - It's fine for this type of game.
Gameplay: 6/10 - Grindy and text heavy, but gives you the tools to reduce the grind.
Features: 9/10 - Loads of events and outfits. A robust wardrobe system. An impressive scope and feature set for this type of game.
Development: 8/10 - Relatively slow update cycle, but the updates are content heavy with a regularly updated devblog.
Overall: 3/10 - The art really drags down what would otherwise be a great game, which for a porn game is a deal breaker.
Full Review
Intro
I've been following this mod since about 2017. I eagerly watched its development, even supporting it directly at times. Unfortunately, what went from a game I eagerly awaited every update, went to a game where I can't even stomach completing the new content each update. It really is a disappointing fall from grace that, short of a complete overhaul of the art, I don't see the game recovering from. As an animator who has worked in TV and games for the better part of 15 years now, I believe I have the relevant experience to give an effective review, so I'm writing this so others can decide whether they might want to sink hours into quite a large game, at least by porn game standards.
Art
The art that's been added to and replaced Akabur's original game art is the main issue with this game. One of the first signs of trouble was when the devs thought it would be a good idea to rework Akabur's iconic original art for Hermione. They put a metal rod through her spine and replaced her pussy with a pink slot hole. When faced with criticism from members of their discord about this decision (I was just a lurker) one of the devs vehemently defended the decision, betraying a poor understanding of gesture drawing and basic anatomy. As a supporter at the time, I was quite disappointed to see this. The additional art up until this point wasn't great, but it had been good enough to support an otherwise good game. However, as best as memory serves, this was around the time the game entered into a steady decline.
With the exception of Cho's animated blowjob CG and some of her other assets, which had a style that didn't really fit with the original art but were still decently drawn, all the successive art has been poor and even repulsive at times. There are very basic anatomy errors in every drawing, perspective is often entirely missing, proportions are all over the place and shading is inconsistent at best. With the fundamentals being so poor, it’s no wonder that more challenging aspects of the art, like continuity, composition and tone are sorely lacking. Unfortunately, the art has seemed to have only gotten worse over time, with a continuous cycle of updates with very disappointing and poorly drawn CGs, the most recent one with Luna being a new low. The only areas of the game where the new art has even serviceable is when the art is based and built off of Akabur's drawings, other artists who have contributed in the past and new outfits. The girls are genuinely unappealing and unattractive in most of the CGs and some of their sprites have been downgraded. I’m worried they’re going to rework and ruin the last good sprite in the game, Cho.
The devs recently released a devblog post talking about the future of the art in the game, and it's largely what prompted me to write this review. It appears they're doubling down on their current art style, posting a picture of the main cast in what I assume is the intended style moving forward. To say it’s a let down is an understatement. I think they're right to pursue their stated goal of making the game look and feel more cohesive in its presentation and style. Having said that, it's being built on poor foundations, so I don't see much hope for the game's future.
I haven't mentioned the current artist by name, as It's not my intention to blast them personally. I take no pleasure in leaving such a scathing critique of their work. It's clear that they have passion for the project and have put a great deal of time and effort into it, and I admire and respect that dedication. Having said that, this being a porn game, the art is arguably the most important component of the game, and it just falls utterly short in this one. To be crass, it's un-fappable. I've gone from eagerly awaiting updates, to not being able to finish the content of new updates because it's so unappealing. With no improvement of future art being apparent, this is enough for me to drop support for the game. If you have a high tolerance for poorly drawn figures, you might still be able to enjoy the game, but I certainly can't.
Writing
I'm not as qualified to give commentary on writing as my experience in writing is relatively limited, and I wouldn't consider myself particularly great at it, so my view on it is more rooted in opinion and should be taken as such. The writing is hit and miss. It's fine for a porn game, but doesn’t really stand out.
At first they supplemented Akabur's original events in the game, and I thought that was a smart decision, but at some point they just flat out replaced all of it. That would be fine if it was up to the same standard, but honestly it falls short of the original, adds more grind to what was already a relatively grindy game and takes away some of the best events from the original and replaces them with ones which are very "meh". There are some moments where it shines, their take on the genie is often on point, but those moments are far and few between. I'm not as bothered with the writing as I am with the art, it's serviceable for the type of game it is. What I don't understand why they would remove the genuinely funny original writing of Akabur? I’m guessing it’s because of rights issues, which is a good reason, but they lost the spirit of Akabur’s narrative in translation. Good writing is rare in these types of games, it seems silly to divert so far from what I'd consider to be some of the best writing in its genre.
Gameplay
Akabur’s original game was already pretty grindy, and the additions this game makes have added to that bloat. However, the devs have provided the player with different difficulty modes along with cheats that make that grind a lot more tolerable. In first playthroughs I normally don’t mind some grind, as it can help build up anticipation, but I know not everyone shares that viewpoint. I thought Akabur’s original game hit that balance very well, and whilst this game’s rewrites and reworking of the base events haven’t hit that balance as well, the game still flows well enough. The new progression system is much more transparent than the original’s, but it’s hard to tell whether you’re missing content, leading to more grinding to ensure you saw everything at each level.
You do have to progress through a significant chunk of the game before you start unlocking CGs, and those CGs are largely disappointing. Part of that is due to the art, but some is also due to the content of the CGs themselves. They aren’t particularly memorable and the pacing is often off.
There’s a great deal of content to go through. Most of it is dialogue events, but coupled with a robust sprite and wardrobe system, and the occasional CG, there’s plenty to do and see in this game. The dialogue events aren’t for everyone, myself included. They rely heavily on the quality of script and our own imagination, so for the more visually inclined they don’t do much.The public quests for instance are a slog, and an accompanying visual element (maybe like in Akabur’s Star Channel 34) would go a long way to improving them.
Features
The Wardrobe system is definitely the most impressive feature in this game. It’s very content rich, and gives a lot of freedom to the player, allowing them to customize outfits and even when those outfits are worn. The frequent addition of new outfits, as well as mod support for additional outfits from the community make this the best wardrobe system I’ve encountered in any porn game by a mile. This feature alone is worth giving the game a try.
There’s also many subsystems at play in this game, which go unnoticed but serve to support the game as a whole. The list is exhaustive, but some include merchants to buy special items from, multiple questlines, a legacy/alternative story mode (room of requirements), and a relationship system. Some are better and more fleshed out than others, but it’s all the systems working as one that makes the whole work so well.
Development
I see a lot of people complain about slow dev cycles on this site, and this game is not free from that. As someone who has over a decade of experience working in this space, I can attest to the fact that there’s a huge amount of time, work and effort required to push out updates. A lot of people on this site seem to think updates should take a couple weeks, or at most a couple months, but that’s just not even remotely realistic, especially for a game with drawn assets. To be blunt, those people just don’t understand the space and are flat out wrong, there’s no two ways about it. I’d challenge them to try and do the same work in the time frames they seem to think are reasonable.
This game does have a slower dev cycle than most in its genre, but those updates are densely packed with content, which justify and merits the longer cycle. Frankly, I’m often impressed with just how much they’re able to get done in the time it takes to release updates, especially considering that for many, if not all the devs, this project is something they do on top of regular jobs. Very few of these types of games ever bring in enough revenue to support the entire team working on the project full time. They deserve praise for the amount of content they’re able to put out in the time they do.
The devs are also very good about interacting with and informing fans of the game. They release regular devblogs open to the public, as well as more spoiler heavy updates to their supporters. Honestly, from the outside looking in, the project seems to be managed very well. This is a bitter pill to swallow though, as their directive and creative choices, especially in regards to art, come up far short of their ability to consistently put out content, tragically meaning there's a great deal of unrealized potential on this project.
Conclusion
So yeah, this is the end of what ended up being a review that is way too long. If you’ve made it this far, I’m impressed and appreciate your attention. Hopefully it might help some decide whether they’ll give this game a go, and maybe even serve as feedback that the devs can use. I want to emphasize that I only want to see success for this game. I was a supporter of this game during multiple stages of its development and overall think quite highly of its team. Unfortunately, that's been sullied as of late with the path the game’s development has taken, and with current direction they're going with for the art, I’ve largely lost confidence in the project's ability to put out good content. I’d be happy to be proven wrong, and if I ever am I’ll happily revise this review. However, In spite of my negative opinion of the game, if you have a high tolerance for dodgy art, this game is worth checking out, just be prepared for disappointment.
I wish the devs the best of luck on their project and hope this review serves as constructive criticism, and not received as a personal slight, especially to the artist, to whom I have no ill-will towards, mean no disrespect, and I genuinely hope they improve or find additional support to improve the art.
