i'm not sure if this is applicable to your situation, but check your monitor's refresh rate. i've had games (specifically fishing minigames, ironically enough) mess up and become entirely impossible because something updated on frame times.
the reason why they would be so messed up is because i run my monitor at 240hz exclusively, but i have a second monitor that runs at 60hz. whenever i played that minigame, i always had to move the window over to the 60hz monitor to get the proper timings.
man. i uh, didn't expect to feel so much about a porn game, of all things.
let me begin by explaining my first playthrough. i got the Neutral Ending, and it hurt, i'm not gonna lie. especially because of one person.
!! spoilers incoming, if you care about them !!
Aurora's story fucks me up. I have an incredible fear of losing my memories, either naturally and as a result of both early-onset dementia and early-onset alzheimer's. and then, when she talks about herself as if she's happy with being nothing, that she doesn't need her memories, i was just as upset as the MC.
to me, memories are what makes a person who they are. i hold memories more sacred than many things, especially because i'm a forgetful person. memories of my childhood are blurry and inaccurate, and oftentimes i remember something from a dream rather than real life.
so when i finally got the true ending, i got a tad emotional when she was merged and talked like Lina for the first time. that she's happy to form memories for herself, and for others.
thank you, author, for making these games and sharing these stories.
Alright, so it's been just short of three months and I checked for updates - lo and behold! Theanthria has been updated!
As of the Uncensored Version (01-28-24):
- The stuttering disappears when I choose the correct display resolution (by default it was set to a much lower res, something like 640x480).
- I don't see any option to disable v-sync, though the menus are much much smoother. Much better experience when messing with settings.
- I also don't see the refresh rates in the resolution dropdown, but changing between the same resolution doesn't seem to change much.
Some better news - I was able to play the game! It reminds me of the recently released Chaos Express. As of writing this review, I've only done two orders, but I already have some things I wanna say.
- The swinging is a little odd, I kinda expect to fall down more due to gravity during swinging. I also think that swinging towards where the player is facing would make the swinging a bit more intuitive.
I haven't gotten to the spicy part yet, just wanted to give some immediate, right-off-the-dome feedback!
Okay so I just booted the game, and immediately I noticed that the game was stuttering really really bad. I tried all different kinds of settings but nothing worked - until I remembered I had the same issue on a different game. The culprit? V-Sync. It could just be because I have an adaptive refresh rate, but I'm not sure.
So, I go into the resolution and change to 60 Hz from 240 Hz. It could be a simulation thing? If Unity is running different parts of the simulation based on the time between frames, then that might be the cause of the stuttering. Speaking of which, it would be helpful if you could find a way to list out the refresh rates alongside the resolution, or give an option to disable V-Sync.
I am very surprised and impressed at the level of detail and faithfulness to Demon Slayer! First off, the eyes are the exact same as the anime. Second, the bodies aren't blown out of proportion, and are pretty close to the source material. Third, the mannerisms during dialogue are pretty accurate as well.
My biggest like is the animations; A custom rendered Zeniko 'ultimate'? Custom rendered scenes with accurate locations and poses? The H-Animations are pretty decent as well, but they're a little cut and dry.
The combat system has more dedication than I'd expected, too.
Biggest complaint? Tanjiro (or MC) looks pretty thin, and his clothes don't fit on him quite the same as the others. If I remember correctly, Tanjiro is relatively short with a more muscular build after his training.
The dialogue itself isn't cringe in my opinion, and the pacing isn't just a fantasy wish fulfillment (despite that being what this game is basically). The story isn't very far along at all, but I'm looking forward to future updates!
Okay, I'm very intrigued by this. Looking forward to future updates!
The art is very well done and fits the erotic horror theme to a t. Dialogue is written well and doesn't feel cringe or overdone. The text UI is a neat detail, and only missing the three dots when someone is typing. MalO's expressions are easily readable, and the tail wagging is very cute!
Honestly I thought the battery going wack was a bug to maybe have a random percentage display itself and it was looping through too quick, but that was actually intended! Pretty neat detail.
I was worried that there was gonna be jumpscares, but thankfully there wasn't (I can't handle them, they spike my heartrate so much it hurts). What horror is there is done well, very much a feeling of foreboding and anxiety from an entity you don't understand. The glowing red eyes in the far off pictures is really quite unsettling!
Ho-lee shit. Legitimately one of the best story-based visual novels I've ever played.
Witty and sarcastic humor is done tastefully, some DEVELOPER interactions (which I found absolutely hilarious btw), and by All That is Holy, the lewds.
There's not many right now, but by GOD do they make up for it in quality. Cadence's were quite honestly the best animated scenes I've seen for an AVN. Seriously. They're good.
Speaking of animations; You've outdone yourself with them, truly. Sure, they may feel slightly stiff but I have a feeling more experience (and perhaps hardware/software limitations) play a role in that. Despite that, they add so much to the storytelling, and fit really well both in the serious scenes and the not-so-serious.
From the bottom of my pants my cryptid life-producing organ, thank you. I am very excited for the future of Realm Invader.
PS forgot to mention the dialogue. If I were to rank every AVN I've played on a scale from one to ten in terms of believable and realistic (non-cringe) dialogue; I'd have to give this a ten with absolutely zero contest. There is one out of the probably dozens I've played that comes close (off the top of my head), but other than that, nothing comes close.
The bro talk, the teasing, the witty back and forth between Noelle and MC, the lowkey-but-not-really flirting between Grace (one of my two favorites) and MC, the list can honestly go on and on.
Character design. Hands down the best I've seen for an AVN. I personally am not particularly fond of overly large breasts, which most AVNs tend to have as a result of the 3D software they use, but also the face designs and body types truly vary instead of being just taller or shorter. The muscularity on Grace is delicious. The eyes feel like they belong to actual people (love the glowing effect too; especially on Cadence ;)) and not to 3D models.
The UI was nice and tidy, not many things to keep track of, LOVED the dialogue picking UI, and - after I got the hang of it - the vignette system was useful.
