I have played so many AVNs that at this point, you would think that I’d stop being surprised at the sight of good writing. Yet after playing EOFA, the demonic urge to write a review possessed my hands and levitated me over to my keyboard. The writing here is utterly genius. It may simply be because of the lack of good writing I’ve seen recently, but I genuinely think that this is one of the best written AVNs out there, especially out of those from the modern era.
In a world where AVNs with pretty renders and writing that reads like ChatGPT on xanax vie to become the next Eternum, this game says something. Still, that description feels off. It is rather not that EOFA says something but that it has something to say.
Sure the visuals… Leave room for improvement, and are frankly, dogshit. That doesn’t matter to me. Great writing is great writing no matter what medium it takes. One could even argue that great writing thrives precisely in the presence of Augean visuals, for authentic expression requires no packaging. You can not imagine the elation I felt when I jumped up from my seat and screamed “Finally, a game written by a human!”
With just the introduction, the absolute ART that is the writing in EOFA is nakedly apparent. The tone of the story is immediately apparent by the first black screen. With the almost poetic opening lines juxtaposed against the silly, comedic line before the flashback. The flashback is punchy, effective and gets to the point. I roast other AVNs for blathering incessantly in dialogue, especially the intro (AHEM MayFly, pretty good game in other aspects, but the damn intro, man).
D-San shows us how it’s done properly. The number of lines in the introduction are much much less compared to most other AVNs, where the intro is this huge, boring monologue delivered by the MC. Here, it’s a realistic internal dialogue which--also realistically to the character--gets interrupted upon the sight of Dora. But wait, there’s more! It is not only the reduction in the yapping that makes the intro stand out from the purgatory of mediocrity, but the lines themselves. Every single line, every single dialogue DRIPS with craft. A intimacy with the personality of the characters and the art of dialogue unparalleled in the AVN genre. The characters are HUMAN, and I, as the player, can empathise with them.
Even when Sam is just sitting inside of a car with Vic, getting the inner workings of a manual transmission car explained to him, the dialogue is never boring. Then again, it might just be my autistic obsession with the most random of things, but the tone in which it is set, the comedic internal thoughts of Sam, and the questions he asks somehow made me genuinely engaged in the story at that moment.
Now the plot. So far, we only have a little part of the plot given to us. Not enough to pass judgement on the wider structure, but even so, I love the postmodern narrative structure. No end goal, no real “tension” in the narrative sense. Instead it’s just chill, following the life of Sam, kind of game. And that is something that I don’t even think the classic legends of AVN writing could (or did) do well, or to this level.
Now, finally, the choices… Ohhh the choices. EOFA doesn’t hold your hand through choices, no. It EXPECTS you to make the right ones. To be emotionally mature, and be a good person. It is SOOOOOO rare to find an AVN game that does this, not only giving you choices that matter, but letting the story TELL you that it matters. The micro-inflections of Dora that change depending on your actions, the realistic portrayal of trust, and the lack of fear to humanise Sam or Dora (One could even say that perhaps, the game is even feminist in that sense). Your actions are not really punished in a narrative sense, for there is no plot here. Instead, you are punished for your crimes on an emotional level. EOFA doesn’t tell you that you are being a dick. No, it SHOWS you, and honestly, that is something more AVNs need to do.
Honestly, from the writing of choices alone, if some aliens came down from the stars and asked me to volunteer one person to become the omnipotent, omnipresent God of everything. I would nominate D-San. Somehow, they can give you free will, and still have that fit nicely into a fixed plot.
I could go on and on about sooo much more of what the game does right. How it actually gives the main character personality, the social commentary, the meta-awareness of character writing, etc. But honestly, I couldn’t say more, because I wouldn’t have anything to say. How does one go to critique writing that is THIS perfect?
I eagerly await future releases of EOFA, trusting that, as long as it is in the hands of someone with as competent of a writing ability as D-San, it will not disappoint.
Thank you D-San, for making something so authentic and expressive. The writing comes from somewhere real, and it shows. Thank you very much for what you’ve done so far, as well as all the great writing you will do in the future.
Also, comedy is PEAK. “Feed my hungry kitty~💘” Had me laughing so violently I almost died from choking on my own saliva. 10/10 would almost die again.
This is a very good game by basically all metrics. The story is compelling, the action is dope as hell, the visuals are beautiful and the worldbuilding is quite good. This is definitely one of the best newer AVNs and I'm excited to see the game realized to its full potential.
BUT, I do have one small criticism, and that is that the pacing of the story is just a bit too fast. The player barely has time to realize what is happening before they're thrust into a completely new situation. So I'm a retired soldier? Great! Wait, now I'm looking for my allegedly dead wife? Ok then! There's a spaceship now? Okkkaayy? I'm on a another planet?????? See what I mean? Just slow down man. You've clearly spent a lot of time making these absolutely stunning renders so can you please just give them each a little tiny bit more screen time, pweeese?
Honestly, it's rare these days to find an AVN game in which the pacing is too fast because to be frank, there are more devs which pill pad the game's runtime with needless incessant yapping because they just have nothing else to do. They don't have the *juice* you know? But YOU do. There is so much stuff in the story, so much background, so much LORE, so can you please just take one or two more lines of dialogue more in each scene to let the player catch their breath or explain what's going on? But otherwise, great game and good work! I cannot overstate how much potential I see in this game and it's story. For now, I eagerly await chapter 2.
Alright bois, I have a genius strat:
1. Move forwards, then
2. Move back (play around with the timing, I personally press back the moment that the goose (duck?) touches the white pieces.
3. Allow the goose (duck??) to settle, the end goal is to get the goose (duck???) on its side, with the gun side facing downwards.
(Play around with the timing of 1 and 2 to get 3 as fast as possible)
4. Spam shoot, the recoil will cause the goose (duck????) to spin around in a circle, slowly taking out all the pieces.
5. Readjust as necessary.
Ahem.
I like this game, but not because of the gameplay, nor the story, nor the girls. No. I like this game because of its deeper philosophical ideas about morality, scientific research and humanity.
Initially, the player is thrown into this absurd and almost comical situation, where the headmaster’s techniques seem absurd and quite insane. However, as the game progresses, the player gains further insight into his techniques and begins to wonder if, in reality, it is really as insane as we first thought. Although the headmaster’s punishments—pleasure, pain and humiliation—are quite morally questionable, they seem to exhibit quite remarkable results when applied properly (in the universe of the game at least), which makes the player question the contrast of morality versus necessity. In urgent times, is it permissible to disregard moral principles and resort to extreme measures to avert a crisis? When is it acceptable to set aside ethical considerations for the greater good? At what point does something which we consider to be torture become justified if it promises to prevent a greater harm?
Later in the game, the headmaster seems to realize the immorality of his actions and begins to rethink his actions. However, there is a dialogue option here which the player can choose to reassert his belief that his actions are the only way to prevent the imminent disaster of a malformed education system. This shows that, at this point, the headmaster does not consciously feel remorse for his actions, although he realizes the unethical nature of his practices. He feels that this is for the good of the girls, that he is creating a short term problem, to solve a long term crisis. In fact, here, the headmaster has done nothing wrong, he is merely following the steps of the scientific process (Observation: The education system is failing. Research: Testing various forms of punishment. Hypothesis: Balancing pain, humiliation, and pleasure causes the best results. Test: Testing at previous schools. Analysis and conclusion: The hypothesis holds.). The real immoral party who is acting solely for their own gain is the owners of the school. This underscores that some individuals often fund and promote scientific research not for the advancement of humanity or the pursuit of knowledge, but for their own vested interests. In the real world, these vested interests and the potential for affluent individuals to manipulate and be the sole supporter of some very important fields causes a dilemma for the researcher: Do they carry on their research knowing that it is being abused by these individuals, or forgo the wishes of these immoral funders and be unable to continue their research?
Last, there is Ruth, a character which embodies the headmaster’s unconscious self, reminding him of the immoral nature of his research. He promptly chooses to ignore these ideas, as he himself is even blinded by the pursuit of the end goal, and not the immediate moral ramifications of his actions. Perchance the existence of Ruth as a character completes this contrast between morality and necessity. The headmaster directly represents scientific research which disregards moral and ethical boundaries, Ruth is juxtaposed against this idea and is an antithesis of the character of the headmaster, promoting excessive morality while sacrificing scientific progression, and possibly causing a major problem in the future. Thus the parallelism of the two highlights the two extremes of the moral spectrum, from the utilitarian ideal, to the overly self righteous.
Through the comedy of the game, exaggerated nature, and by hiding deep philosophical ideas under a highly unlikely premise and backstory, “The Headmaster” is a well crafted masterpiece which delves into the ideas and contrasts of ethics versus rationality, and the very real abuse of scientific research by selfish individuals. The creators, by highlighting both extremes, excessive morality, and a complete disregard for morality, demonstrate that both are unsustainable long term solutions to real world problems, and that a balance needs to be struck in order to address the urgency of societal problems, whilst ensuring moral guidelines are adhered to.
Written with love at 3am by a high mofo. (I could go on and on, but me tired)
