Skip to main content

Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
TagsGame Engines
(+1)

IN DEVELOPMENT. I do see potential here, but some fundamental design choices don't make sense to me. At its core this is a highly stylized linear story game, on that front the game performs pretty well. But at the start of each day there's a recurring point-and-click sandbox segment where you can scavenge for resources, maybe spot some secrets, complete tasks for money, and buy items from the shop. I don't get this sandbox segment at all, it doesn't make the game meaningfully better. And it even breaks immersion, since the following main story segment sometimes starts with you getting out of bed in the morning, even though you actually spent the first half of the day during the sandbox segment: traveling through the city, scavenging stuff, and completing jobs.

And on top of that, those jobs you're doing solely consist of a recurring repair minigame that you also sometimes encounter during the main story segments. And this minigame is really boring. It's not interesting, it's not deep, it's not rewarding, it barely even qualifies as a minigame. Though it looks a lot better than some of the improvised minigames in other AVNs, I'll give it that.

Really, what the game especially excels at is visuals and overall style. The biggest plus is a large number of well-made looping animations, some of which are lewd and some of which aren't. The characters look nice, and everything feels very polished overall.

Regarding the story, I'm a bit torn. On one hand, the game definitely has its moments here. On the other hand, it occasionally feels like there are not enough renders to properly represent a scene visually.

Minor complaints:

  • In some dialogue lines, the characters use the MC's default name instead of the custom one.
  • You can buy multiple upgrades of the same kind, but those additional copies don't do anything, leading to wasted money.
  • If the dev already knows that the title screen music is too loud, why doesn't he make it quieter or reduce the default music volume?
  • In Ren'Py games, the S key usually takes screenshots and even the controls screen lists this keybinding. However, it doesn't work, presumably because the S key is used for the minigame and when looking around. The dev should consider binding screenshots to another key.

To summarize: Visually and stylistically the game is amazing. The story has its moments, but the gameplay side of it is bad. If the dev works on the troublesome parts, this could turn out to be a really unique AVN!

Overall: 6/10
Visuals: 10/10
Animations & Lewd Content: 9/10
Characters: 8/10
Story: 7/10
Audio: 6/10

(+1)

Great write up!

I really appreciate the time you took to share your experience. For the most part, the sandbox segment is to split up the main story parts, which is something I personally prefer so I'm not stuck reading the whole time. I made the sandbox segments have locations that unlock passively through the main story, but currently it acts more like a foundation for the next update. As for the immersion breaking, I do agree that it can sometimes feel clunky switching from sandbox to main story, but that speaks more on my writing and planning ability than anything else and will likely get reworked. I tried to streamline the main story as much as possible, which is also why the sandbox segments might feel off, I just wanted to avoid the bumbling around the map and clicking everything to find the next story part. I'll look into making a good in-between of the two options.

Regarding the minigame, I made it simple on purpose for "one-handed" gaming, but that doesn't excuse it for being mundane. Even I think it's rather boring, so I'll figure something out to make it more interesting.

While I was developing the current version, I was worried about bloating the game with tons of renders where a body part shifts like two inches, so I kept it to a minimum in favor of animations. However, after updating to the current version, the size of the game didn't increase all that much, I've already planned on increasing the number of renders/animations in future updates.

I've fixed all your minor complaints; they will be applied in the next update. I also do lower the master and music volume, but if I forget to do so that's on me. The wording about the volume didn't come across as I intended.

Thanks for your review, it helps make the game better! 

(+1)

Thank you for considering my feedback! I have one counter-argument: As it is right now, the minigame can't be played with one hand. You need the mouse to click and the keyboard to type in the arrow sequences. You could have one hand switch between mouse and keyboard, but the arrow sequences are under time pressure, so that's a suboptimal way to play. You could mitigate by not starting the timer until the first key is pressed, if you decide to keep that mechanic at all.