Overall, it’s an excellent premise for a game. After all, a lot of people want a lewd PMD. It’s executed decently too. It appears a lot of time and care was put into the game, and that’s admirable. However, while most will gawk and praise it due to the niche it provides, I’m going to point out some potential issues that could do with addressing. This won’t be all-encompassing, but it won’t be entirely negative. After all, there is some gold here.
NOTE: I am aware the game is still in development and that not everything is implemented yet. However, I hope to use this to address things that might not have been thought of and provide (potentially constructive) criticism.
First off, the game is rather repetitive. Even though there are many different levels to explore, they all feel similar apart from difficulty. The combat & h-scene (Pokémon-Amie) content are both monotonous after you’ve done them enough times. In the end, the game feels like a grind to get anywhere.
Let’s start with the combat. It’s PMD with 2 moves skinned with different typings and (occasionally) effects. That’s not a bad thing, but the combat becomes annoying to the point where I personally avoid it most of the time unless I see a Pokémon I might want to turn into or if I need a level potentially. The controls for it are simple enough but aggravating at the same time. The targeting aspect is probably the worst part of the combat experience. It’s easy to miss, and though combat is forgiving with a heal option, constantly running around trying to hit a moving enemy becomes tedious. Especially when there is also a chance to miss upon landing a “hit.” There shouldn’t be two types of miss mechanics in the game. If the goal is to reward players for timing their attacks against enemies that have never heard the concept of a chill-pill, don’t then disregard their skill by having an opportunity for their attack not to do anything. I’ve personally not encountered any range of attacks in the game, so I assume (correct me if I’m wrong) there are none at the moment. I certainly hope this changes in the future to accommodate more diversity in moves. The “hold ctrl for AOE” idea is also not very intuitive. Aoe could potentially be moved to another key or even turned into a type of move instead. There seems to be a get-out-of-jail card for getting mobbed by enemies, but the SPACE attack works just as well, is easier to hit, and grants the ability to change positioning. It just always seems like the better option when surrounded, in my opinion.
H-Scene time, or the Pokémon-Amie mechanic for those who prefer. Frankly, it is nice to see Monster Mind had some influence. There are not many Amie-style h-games anymore, especially ones with males and Pokémon ones. They are always a welcome sight. However, the relationship-building mechanic relies a lot on the grind (which will be covered later). The includes grinding through the combat and the h-scenes. I’ve noticed that throughout playing, every character only has one pose for their scene, doesn’t talk much during it, and has the same conditions every time. I believe all of the jess elements need addressing. Never have I ever seen porn so repetitive. Don’t get me wrong, the Amie scenes are very well animated, and the characters look amazing but doing the same thing every time gets boring. My suggestion would be that there are multiple different poses/positions for each character's Amie (maybe 3 or 4 to be a bit more ambitious). These would obviously be unlocked by progressing the characters' relationship if there could be 2 or 3 randomly set conditions for the character's preferences. The example being, maybe the character wants to have their head rubbed more than usual during this mini-game, or maybe they want to try something new instead. The most vital thing to make these scenes feel less relative, however, is the dialogue. Monster Mind excelled at its dialogue. Though this game’s dialogue is not bad in the slightest (I will cover that later), it should have dialogue during the scenes. For instance, upon the mini-game starts, they should say something (that could potentially hint at the above-mentioned mechanics for them having randomized preferences for where/how they are touched). This will make the scene feel more intimate. This also applies to the characters' idea of saying things during the scene aside from “F***,” moan, or “More.” Lines that could potentially add more character and uniqueness to them would be nice. Lastly, Monster Mind was rather inclusive with the option to change the sex of every character with an options menu. I think this game would benefit greatly from such a mechanic in the future. They can even keep their preferred genders; it would only change their genitalia. Such a thing doesn’t have to be mentioned via dialogue; characters being transgender can easily be normal in the game setting that doesn’t need to be announcing. So long as the options for changing the character's sex are clear and easy to find.
Now let’s cover the grind overall. This game turns into a slog really quickly. The combat makes leveling up feel tedious. Even having to grind for gold becomes annoying due to the combat and prices. If the combat had more varied options and the enemies weren’t constantly whipping around the map, the prices might not be that big of an issue. Sure, gold becomes easier to obtain in more difficult levels, but obtaining it is less than optimal. The combat is the core issue with the grind. It even makes the fights with the pre-h-scene bosses feel like a trudge with their large health pools. Until combat is adjusted, perhaps temporarily lowering gold requirements (and/or increasing gold’s drop rate) and slightly increasing the relationship gained via Amie would help wrap things up nicely.
Now let’s drown out some of this negativity with some positive things about the game. The pixel art is fantastically done, and the characters overall are a joy to see. Even the w.i.p emotes manage to be adorable enough to keep me excited for the potential as to what they might become. Overall, the characters have interesting personalities and certainly, make me want to spend more time with them platonically. The shop has many options and seems like a good backbone for something more; I certainly look forward to what will come of it. I look forward to what will come of this game in general. I think, barring its flaws, it’s fantastic and has great potential. I truly hope that this will be completed to what you fully envision, if not even reaching a little higher.