Summary (Ch.4Up2):
Multilayered and engaging plot, beautiful characters, great story, and some of the hottest sex with HS models around. Play it and surprise yourself with the characters you end up feeling connected with. Very highly recommended.
Story:
Takes place in a small modern city, where you find yourself rapidly dragged into the seedy underbelly. The story is simple but not basic, and ties the various threads of the past and present together to form a rather compelling tale. While this is a VN, the player’s choices are meaningful from both a storytelling and gameplay point of view: choices don’t have strange, unforeseeable outcomes, and their impact is mainly immediate. Also, many of the choices steer the player’s inclinations as opposed to simply opening or closing paths.
While the main premise is straightforward, the stories of almost all of the characters in the game play a key role in adding depth and emotion to the game. Moreover, the main character’s own story grows out of the larger story and builds a compelling vision of him…and the choices possible can drive the direction of that growth. Memories, tales of past situations, and casual conversations have images and context to them. There are almost no walls of exposition or cringe-inducing dialogues to tell the player what to think.
Characters:
The cast is relatively small, but very deep. There are no ‘throw away’ characters, including the males in the story. Every one of them contributes to both the environment and the sense of urgency or despair that drives the game.
The girls are, almost uniformly, the best-looking HS models out there. Not a wide range of body types or styles, but that’s more in keeping with the nature of the story than the limitations of the developers. A lot of care went into facial expressions and having enough scenes to convey emotions without having to tell the player what the emotions are – extremely well-done.
The MC is a pretty typical HS male visually, a bit of a magic dick but not a raging chad, and very developed in terms of back story and outlook. He’s not a generic self-insert nor a witless dweeb, so playing the game really gives a sense of not only pushing but of establishing his boundaries. His interactions with the other characters, including his best friend, feel genuine and realistic.
Speaking of best friends, his is one of the few done really properly. The interactions and dialogue they share, the way they relate, and the progress of their relationship makes his friend truly a part of the game and not comedy relief nor a simple foil for the story. Choices involving his friend are significant because he’s important.
Sex:
The sex. Oh, the sex. It starts at pretty hot and gets better from there. It’s frankly ridiculous how much is in the game, but in the best way. While having a strong BDSM theme, the game nonetheless explores a number of other kinks in a very organic way (none of them seem out-of-place in the story). Some of the scenes are pretty rough, but the player can frequently effect those to some extent. Nonetheless, the story, animations, and images aren’t for the weak of heart.
Having said that, it was a delight to see actual aftercare and some sense of people dealing with each other as people in many of the scenes. More than a cherry on top, it expanded the emotional range of the various characters. None of the scenes are re-skins or recycles (new characters, old actions), so all of them are directed and individualized. The variety of scenes is excellent, the animations smooth and involved, and the replay mechanism very accessible.
My only criticism is that some of the scenes are simply too long. Heresy, I know, but some of them seem to drag on and become more expository than erotic. Sometimes less is more.
Environment:
The game environment is beautiful, with gorgeous opening screens and cinematic fades at strategic spots. While it plays as a VN, at times it enters a sandbox mode (for variety, one assumes). Both play very clearly, with no unexpected surprises: if an option will end free-roam, the option warns the player in the text.
The music fits the scenes very well, while not very memorable otherwise. That is exactly the goal of background music, and the developers hit the target squarely.
Scenes are directed and not simply rendered. The backgrounds, lighting, positions, and camera angles are carefully and not distractingly chosen. Special pan and zoom effects are used sparingly and intentionally.
tl;dr: sorry, you read everything to get here. Go play Pale Carnations.
