Review of Patreon version 0.1.23.0
I played pretty extensively last night, playing all the way to Night 0 twice over! (Once trying to honor Helena's wishes of staying a good person by pursuing journalism, and the other throwing all caution out and going hard down the Prostitution path).
Your writing is very nice, really creating a connection with what Vesper is feeling and her general personality. I felt myself drawing myself toward what I knew were her preferred hobbies because she was so likable.
And the Vampire genre is a treat. I picked up on a few Vampire the Masquerade (or Vampire the Requiem) influences in the general dark and grimy tone, with a lovely general sense of dread.
The following might feel a bit like a barrage of negativity, since I back-loaded every recommendation and bug report, but nonetheless I'm signed up for the Patreon and will be sure to follow development!
Bug Reports:
Bug 1: Reloaded save, blood bag gone but hunger not fixed.
Further proof that players will optimize the fun out of a game, I got into the habit of spacing out my feedings as far as possible. So I would buy a blood bag from the witch, and drink it only when my Hunger was at 100% and Sanity at 80%. After drinking the blood bag, I would save. Bringing both down to reasonable levels.
Later, when I tried reloading those saves, the blood bag was consumed and gone, but the Hunger and Sanity were still as if blood hadn't been consumed, making the save salvageable.
Bug 2: Possibly just unreleased content, but Journalist and Bartender experience don't increase no matter how much those jobs are worked.
Bug 3: Ever Sleepy. Sometimes I would be forced to take the first activity Sleeping even when Rested. This typically followed several days of not resting, but Energy was kept by regularly using Study and Relax. I would also sometimes not be required to sleep despite having 100% exhaustion.
Bug 4: Missing pictures. CG gallery is completely blank.
Recommendation:
I noticed there weren't any stat checks or activities associated with Strength. The one check that seems like it might be relevant (disarming the mugger) used Speed, as well. It might be easier to consolidate Strength and Speed into a single stat, calling it Physical or Athletics or Prowess.
The barrier of entry to a lot of activities (prostitution, seducing the guard, getting drunk) seems a bit high and ensures the first 10 days or so will be spent grinding up Lust points in order to pursue those routes. Removing the minimum lust requirement for the first stages (and reducing the cost of alcohol) would probably make the early game more enjoyable.
It's a little unclear of what (if any) stats affect job performance, or what decides how much money is earned from Journalism/Bartending. Transparency would help with planning.
A lot of the grind is pretty tiring. Every scene is exciting the first time you see it, but once you're required to see it 5 to 10 times in order to raise the stats enough to unlock the next scene, it gets tiring. Lowering stat requirements would help a lot with this, like having the Lust state increase on every 5th interval instead of every 10th, or having Alcoholic increase every time you max out drunkenness instead of every 5th time.
And can gun make a return? Gun was such a fun character, with an explosive personality!