I just finished the most recent version of Ken's route and wanted to share some thoughts on this visual novel as I can't stop thinking about it.
Before I begin I just want to note that I first downloaded this game about a year ago, tried Ken's route, got traumatized and put off by his abrasive personality, and since the game was at such an early stage I kind of left it in the dust.
For some reason the game popped into my head again recently and I saw it had received quite a few updates. I sighed, braced myself and gave it another go. And thank fuck I did.
Although I've only played Ken's route so far (as he is by far the most intriguing character to me as a new player) I am already impressed by the themes, genres, art and writing styles, and the clever use of simple techniques to make the experience more interesting. I just want to break down my thoughts here before I try any of the other characters.
1. Overall narrative and writing style
I think a lot of people gravitate to this VN because it blends horror, romance, trauma, humour and what appear to be genuine, human struggles. I am actually impressed by how well the different themes and genres mix together, even if the game leaves me traumatized and thoughtful at times.
One thing I particularly like is the pacing and the "show, not tell" philosophy. I like that the writing takes its time to not only establish characters and scenes, but also spend just the right amount of time on them - many VNs tend to either rush through their story, or linger on certain moments for no good reason.
Another thing I really like is how the story always keeps me on my toes and while some scenes and characters are distracting, others are disorienting in a very satisfying way, implying there's a greater mystery and horror to the narrative. The mystery and supernatural aspects elevate the story and I'm genuinely curious where it's gonna go.
What I don't like about the story is how side characters from Grey's past seem thrust into it - it feels jarring, even if it starts to make sense down the line. I totally understand that the story is meant to make sense after playing all routes, but taken in isolation the experience can be disorienting. For that matter I'd say the story could have been a bit more concise and some of the extra characters feel a little unnecessary or superfluous (at this stage anyway). I totally get this is a big, sprawling story across time and space, but I feel like the cast and the writing could have been a bit tighter for more impact (sorry but I mostly don't care about the New Orleans characters :( )
Nevertheless, I think this is probably one of the best furry/BL VNs I've read, ever. I'm so pleasantly surprised to see such mature and interesting narrative choices, at times I'm genuinely hooked and can't wait to see what happens next. Good job!
2. Characters and choices
As I've said I only ever played Ken's route (for now) but I think I've a good understanding of the quality of the character writing.
First of all, Grey is probably one of the most interesting VN protagonists, at times a bit too interesting perhaps. I love that he has his own baggage, his own mistakes, his own flaws, virtues and vices - I really feel like I'm "roleplaying" as a Possum with a fleshed out personality. Unfortunately at times I feel like his own backstory interrupts the flow of the romance/dating route and it feels like we are forced to interact with story content that doesn't feel very relevant, even if it becomes moreso as we play along. I think this is just a personal preference, but again: character count could be tighter.
I also like the choice of making Grey bisexual (did not expect that, I think it's cool) and allowing him to befriend his romance options. I swear, between Ken's two scenes in the last update I genuinely think the friend choice is so much sweeter and more heartfelt, and leaves the door open for romance developing in the future. It somehow feels more appropriate for Ken, even if I absolutely think Grey loves him as more than a friend.
The friend choice also deeply resonated with me as I have a similar relationship with my best friend - we are intensely intimate and trust each other, and we've even fooled around, even if he's straight. It's a very strange but ultimately pure relationship in its honesty, simplicity and intimacy. In this regard, you completely nailed how one becomes best friends with a bicurious straight guy.
The other characters are all very well-written and I like how layered they are - especially the love interests. I've already skimmed some of the other comments and am happy to see that Ken's not the only "fucked up" and multi-faceted character. I genuinely think your sense of character depth is really good, without overwhelming the player/reader in the early parts of the routes.
The last thing I want to mention is choices. VNs often run into a problem here: you want to give the player some choices, but they often feel superfluous and obvious. This isn't entirely the case with Burrows, but let's just say that while some choices were very impactful, others felt very "meh". I know writing branching storylines is very hard so this is honestly not a big issue for me, but I wanted to mention it. I play VNs primarily as linear stories, just because I know that they're often designed with "good choice vs bad/stupid choice" in mind, and if there is ever a branching path it's easy to experience both branches with a quick replay. So I'm not super bothered, but wanted to mention it.
Also a quick side note: I feel like Grey should have more dramatic reactions to technologies and lifestyles in the different routes. He's literally a time traveler (in a way) so I'd definitely emphasize his shock at seeing certaint things!
3. Art style
I love your art style. I really do. It's very dreamlike and painterly while still remaining defined and readable enough. I like the colours, I like the choice of scenes for the art, I like the variety of angles and aesthetic choices. Visual novels live and die by the art they present so this is obviously a critical point for many players - and in your case the art is just superb! I am always excited when a new CG appears, whether it's a story scene, a sex scene, or a horror piece. All work really well, though I've a particular weakness for the dream sequences.
My only criticism is I wish I had a way of "sorting" the CGs in the album, at the very least between SW and NSW, or in other categories.
4. Presentation and creative direction
What makes Burrows so memorable for me is really two things: the great UI and the small animations.
I really can't stress enough how the UI can elevate a visual novel (I'm a UI designer myself and really value people putting effort into that). It's really cool that we can see a timeline of all the events in the story (implying all routes are interconnected/important), and that we get auxiliary content in the form of notes or photographs. I like the overall aesthetic, usability and content in the UI/systems and I'm looking forward to you polishing them further.
The animations and sounds are what makes this VN such an engaging experience. I'm not gonna lie: I sometimes get bored playing VNs as sprites cycle through the same set of poses and I read individual text lines as opposed to blocks of text (which would be more comfortable as a reading experience). So forgive me if I get super excited when I see the developers taking the time to actually time text responses and animate them based on the dialogue. So. Fucking. COOL.
It's something so simple yet so effective. Make certain words/characters bounce or tremble. Make the game delay a line delivery to show a real pause in the conversation (btw at first I thought I had to click, but then I learned these are intended pauses). Pan the camera sideways or upwards on a CG, creating movement and dynamism. Fuck, add poetry and music as well while you're at it!
(also the sound effects are fire, especially in the horror scenes)
I'm genuinely delighted and entertained by all the small touches both in regular dialogue lines and special CG moments - something as small as camera movement/panning and text animation can make the experience just so much more engaging. When things on my screen are moving and conveying something my brain is instantly rewarded with a hit of dopamine and I'm instantly refocused on the content. This means I generally don't rush through any dialogues and actually enjoy the intended pace of the delivery, like a play. I love this, I wish more visual novels would do this. It's something so small, yet so impactful.
Also, how dare you guys put actually good music and even a real performance in the game?!
Final verdict:
Yeah this is good. I can't wait to play more and goddamit Ken is my baby and all the trauma and abuse I suffered through were 100% vindicated and justified. The payoff was worth it. He's my kitty and I'd do anything for him!
10/10 I can't wait to also get traumatized by the other love interests.
Dobyk
Recent community posts
I just finished the demo and just wanted to share my impressions and feedback:
1. Art and music
As always the art is top notch and I really like the new artist you're working with. As much as I love the art of Robin Morningwood, it's still nice to see something new and fresh and I think you picked the right artist for this game. I especially like the camera movements and simple animations during the sexy scenes!
The music is a little basic, but I like the futuristic, electronic vibe. Though, I have to say, none of the tracks really stood out to me (unlike Robin Morningwood where the main track became memorable over time).
I also want to note that the backtround art is absolutely phenomenal and I frequently hid the UI just to marvel at the amazing attention to detail. I don't know if animating the background art is feasible, but it would (of course) be amazing if you can pull this off!
2. Story
Not much to say here, the story is very straightforward and I don't think we expect anything groundbreaking from a bara game. With that said, I do like that the setting is clearly sci-fi and that we get to travel around the different zones. All in all, I think the story does what it needs to so far.
3. Gameplay
I haven't played tower defender games so take my opinion with a grain of salt. All in all I thought the gameplay has a lot of potential, though at times I was a little bored by waiting for battles to resolve. I assume this is only going to improve as you create more and more interesting units and enemies. One thing that does concern me, though, is that because this is the main gameplay if for some reason it doesn't click with the players it would be to the detriment to the game (unlike Robin where you had a variety of minigames).
I'm trying to think of any useful recommendations for you guys, but because I've no experience with the genre I can't give concrete feedback. What I'm trying to say is: playtest the tower defender levels, think of as many interesting mechanics and gimmicks as you can, because unlike Robin the game's appeal will rest entirely on this gameplay alone, and I really want this to be the best bara game ever!
Speaking of the best gameplay ever, I felt like the secret base gameplay was a little lackluster. I initally thought we would have the crew living in the base (which would have been so cool!) but then I realized that it's actually just some of the grunts we saw during the tower defense gameplay. Generally I'm not too excited about the secret base, even though I spent quite a bit of time playing around with it. I know it's has that mobile game "set and forget" gameplay to it, but I just feel like it's gonna get very repetitive very quickly.
And last but not least, I just want to mention that the "Delete" (or OK) ability during tower defense is very confusing: I often can't tell who I'm actually clicking on. The icon is way too big and I often think the lower left corner of the box is where the cursor is pointing, only to discover this is not the case. Maybe decrease the size and make it clearer where we're clicking?
This is it! I wish you all the best with the development of the game!
Gotcha! Thanks a lot for taking the time to reply, now I understand I shouldn't be worried I missed out on anything due to my choices! I completely understand the challenges of producing high quality CGs for visual novels, but hopefully in time you'll be able to populate the older routes (it would certainly make replaying them more fun!).
Thanks for the response, I look forward to the rest of the content that's coming up!
I've been eyeing this game for a very long time and after I got hooked on WolfBite's other content (Engaging Destiny, Endless Bounty, Eternal Endeavour) I finally decided to give Extracurricular Activities a shot.
So first of all: this is a great visual novel and I love how wholesome and overall positive the story is. It's just the right amount of cozy and horny in a way that distinguishes it from other games.
So far I've played on Spencer's and Richard's routes up to day 20, and while I'm planning to eventually play and finish all routes, I do have a question:
Is the CG content roughly equal for all love interests? So far I noticed Richard's route feels a lot longer, and has just so much CG content/scenes that I feel like I'm spoiled. Spencer in comparison is very lacking, though I like the character a lot. To give you an idea, I've had about 15 CG scenes (including the selfies) with Richard, and about 4 scenes with Spencer.
Now I know that Spencer is a lot tamer and less sexual than Richard, but I'm just wondering if I'm the one who's not unlocking the CGs along the way, or if there are simply less CGs to be found across Spencer's playthrough. Like there were a couple of times where I noticed an erotic (but non-sexual) scene was perfect for a CG, but there was none.
Is it generally that the characters have an unequal amount of CGs between them, or am I simply missing somethign?
I have to admit I just learned about this game today and I'm very curious to try it out, I like how it reminds me of Andromeda Six. But I'm also a little bit confused about exclusive and NSFW content. So the Itch and Steam versions are the public access ones, and only Patreon supporters get the full uncut versions, correct?
Thanks! I hope you've had the time to polish some of the controls and UI elements because otherwise the game is fun :) My final piece of feedback (just on the top of my head) would be to polish the items system and make sure it's easy to switch between held items, since this is a core gameplay feature. Are you planning to do a full release anytime soon?
Hey there! I just finished the demo and I have to say: this is such a lovely pixel bara/furry game, the art style and vibes are very heartwarming. The sexy scenes are also top notch! I played on PC and apart from one freeze (when exiting the forest) I didn't have any issues with the demo. With that said, I do have some feedback for the gameplay:
- the "platforms" which allow us to go up and down/change scene level in the overworld are sometimes hard to see. Even if we get a small notification above Calen's head I still think they could be made more prominent.
- ladders feel a little clunky and they also interrupt jumping, sometimes it's hard to get off a ladder and onto ground without jumping (the ladder on the mountain)
- it's very nice that the overworld has several layers we can navigate, but in areas without noticeable landmarks (like the forest) this can quickly become very confusing. I would love some kind of a map notification or other system which tells me which "level" I'm on so I don't get lost, or perhaps some kind of a rudimentary mini map.
- interactable objects are sometimes not clear, it would be nice if they could be highlighted
Overall I enjoyed myself and I think it's a fun game, I like that it has platforming potential and hopefully you will make use of it. The characters are cute, the vibes are heartwarming, the NSFW scenes are hot, the art style is beautiful. Overall I'm very psyched for this but I hope you look into some of the above feedback.
Hey, I have a question regarding one of the quests. So, I decided to not stick with Galiano and then I paid off Rylan's debt. Now I'm left with 10,000 credits with no way of repairing the ship. Is this intended? Is there a way to both not betray Galiano and pay off Rylan's debt? I don't know what to do now because I don't have a way of earning more money except through earning 20 credits from Skru'Vaks....
Honestly, I thought the prices on the scrolls were fine and the scroll of wealth already increased coin rewards pretty significantly. If anything, instead of changing the scroll of wealth I would look at optimizing some of the other scrolls like scroll of accuracy/speed.
I'm happy that the black ore resource gain was increased though - it's really a pain to farm 200 of it if you wanna create The One Ring and Buttplug.
One major annoying thing though is how my save file doesn't recognize the huge purchases I've made with Selim in regards to his affinity scene: I purchased the Dragon Sword already and his affinity is like, tiny.
Hello! Recently I played through all of the content in the latest build (0.5.5) in 16:9 screen size - had no issues. Today I was playing around with the settings and I clicked on a smaller screen resolution and suddenly the option to play in 16:9 completely disappeared - now the screen is very small with a terrible quality no matter what I pick, the maximum size is 640x480. I'm playing on Windows 10. Can you advise what the issue could be? So far I've never had a problem with this.