I went in this game with some apprehension, but ended up liking it more than I expected. It also ended up having some issues I worried about, but not quite in a way I anticipated and I left kinda frustrated cause by the end I got to expect more than what the game gave us.
I see a lot of people complain this VN is "just porn", but I have a different issue. It wasn't good sex, or at least I wanted better sex from it! Commit to being a true cumbrain, a true maker! But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
While I do have my issues with both the story, writing and art, I also enjoyed a lot of things about them. The art style is quite pretty and it reminds me of older flash games, the wolves are easy on the eyes and have some pretty cute design details, and the story was pretty chill and fun if you're in the right mindset for it. The crumb of folklore we got was also kinda interesting, but it was doing less than the bare minimum lip service to the jam theme.
The game had some really neat tricks, like the little animated cutscenes and main menu, the pretty effect when clicking the start button, the constant animated fluff, the pretty (but strangely solemn) portraits... I also enjoyed the build up to the uhh grand climax, the truth of dare scene being my favourite part of the game.
Now, for the issues...
I'll start with the first obvious thing, the four wolves (and kinda Pepper). While I do like how it looks, all four characters look like they're made in a Picrew template. They are all handsome and I love how ridiculously fluffy they are, but they're just four times the same dude with the same body type and features. I spent way too much trying to latch onto SOMETHING, and I do appreciate that despite them looking like a lazy palette swap, they do have a bunch of different little details. They all have unique tails, accessories, eyebrows, nips etc etc. It makes me thing where we got the worst of both worlds, where some genuine effort went into making them all look unique, but in the end it still looks lazy. What we got makes me think of the infamous production of the Ctrl+alt+delete webcomic (there's a dated reference for you all) where the author would churn out strips by mixing and matching premade face elements. One neat detail that was missed was that initially I thought all wolves would have the same matching ring, one on each different finger, with Milo's not being visible on the little finger all the way in the back. I was hoping we would go somewhere with those, hoping maybe Pepper would get a fifth ring as well but... nothing comes of that neat little visual detail.
The wolves being way too similar isn't just an art issue either. They all have very little character or anything that makes them interesting. Bruno is definitely the winner when it comes to personality, but even with him it's very slim pickings. He's funny with his idiocy, and is the one who pushes the "plot" forward by being a cumbrained instigator of chaos. Other than that I really struggle to say anything about the rest. Rex is the basic bitch one, Milo is the... small careful one? He's at least often the most considerate to Pepper I guess. And Damien is the... smart one? He seems to be the only one listening to tour guides.
The real shame is not only that the boys have very slim personality, but them not having dynamics, a history or relationships does make me question why there's four of them. There are glimpses of that, especially during the truth or dare game. I like how Bruno is needy and gets uppity in order to be included, or that everyone seems to ship Rex and Milo (those two have the most similar faces and are often placed next to each other, leading to my reading group often saying "never talk to me or my son ever again"). More of such neat little moments, and more of their history together! I did like how it was very obvious that yeah, these guys all fuckin, but I was hoping for a bit more of a concrete reveal. I was just waiting for the reveal that they're all a polycule with matching rings, but nah, they're just a group of friends who travel together and breed together. And you know what, fair. It makes for a fun dynamic with poor timid closeted Pepper.
Lastly when it comes to the tragic lack of variety and flavour when it comes to the four wolves... the sex scenes at the end. We get some oral and escalate to them all breeding Pepper one by one in orderly fashion. After he gets fucked first, Pepper presents himself to Damien and goes "wanna have a taste, big boy?". Imagine my disappointment when he didn't mean literally, and we don't get a rimming scene but a repeat of the same missionary with lights off like with Rex. We have five bodies, all possible combinations of them intermingling, but they all do the same thing 4 times in a row. They could have had any combination of partners, to flip flop with Pepper topping, or at least breed him in different positions. I am probably too greedy, but this with visuals of the bodies visible instead of the internal shots would have made this way more interesting. What we got was four basically identical anal scenes with an internal shot. I can't believe someone managed to make getting bred by four hot guys feel boring and like going through the motions.
The truth or dare scene, and the skinny dipping scene were much better. I think the teasing and slow build up of expectations was done much better than the payoff in the end.
My last barrage of complaints is the UI, or the lack there of. This engine made me realise that we should never take Ren'Py for granted, even with all of its flaws. A lot of basic features like saving, loading, going a line back or reading the text history, adjusting the text speed or music volume, saving or loading your game, BEING ABLE TO QUIT THE GAME OUTISDE OF THE MAIN MENU are things I sorely miss. I have some understanding for a small game made in a month for a game jam. I've seen such cases in fully priced furry Vns sold on Steam, or even in official remakes of the same game.
All in all, all the other reviewers are all wrong, screw the haters! The problem isn't that it's "just porn", the problem is that the porn felt like the dev was giving us an apathetic handjob. Put your entire pussy into it! Give us four hot lads that are memorable and interesting! Make five guys having horny adventures on an island be a spectacle worth remembering! And god make those fat wolf knots be worth it and not feel like a chore!