Subverse

The main issue is that the main attraction is obviously the lewd content, but they did not make the lewd content interactive in any significant way (most of it is just ten second loops, some of it gives you a button to bring things to completion), you don't even really have control over what angles to view despite it being 3D generated, so actually playing the game is in no way better than just watching a video of the scenes. The rest of the game just doesn't stand on its own. There's an average shoot'em'up which compares badly to any competently designed survivor game, a mediocre tactics game, and a lot of dialogue which you have to wait several seconds before you can skip to the next dialogue. There are zero choices in dialogue, outside of the story you can choose to talk about things with characters or not but it doesn't change anything, and no story branching, which makes it rather limited as a visual novel. They should have focused on making the main attraction interactive in a way that only a game can be, instead of just making them non-interactive carrots on a stick to reward trudging through the uninspired gameplay.

It's a little disappointing to see how many people are giving this game a free pass for what to date is a dramatically non-sexual game. I had planned on not reviewing until further updates but feel the need to balance out the reviews to make it clear that this is a mediocre schmup, laughingly bad grid based combat, and most importantly, a game with marginal sexual content and that's if we're being generous. The lackluster amount of sex content is disappointing enough but the fact that the story sections are clearly modeled after Mass Effect and then to silo off the sex content away from the storyline COMPLETELY is unforgivable. Even the main stream Mass Effect (and Dragon's Age) games were able to work in multiple sex scenes into the gameplay. I will be the first to update my review if these issues are addressed as promised but based on the current version, I cannot in good faith recommend the game if you were expecting a game along the lines of what Studio FOW made its reputation on.

Full disclosure: This is an early access review so the rating may, or may not, change in the future depending on how the development progresses. First and foremost, do not be frightened off by the fact this is a game with very adult themes (Read sex, lots of it, and little of it "vanilla"). All of the sex scenes can be skipped, and the bawdy humour of the game makes sense in the context of the universe and characters. If you are the sort of person who is easily offended by sex positivity, or women being portrayed with sexual empowerment, then this probably won't be a game you'll enjoy simply because of the quantity of it exhibited even early on. Secondly, this is Deadpool humour. It is adult, bawdy, and has zero regard for the integrity of the fourth wall. It is a game that is fully aware of what it is, and will mock itself without any hesitation. If Ryan Reynolds Deadpool, or Deadpool in general, appeals to you then so will the writing in this game. If it doesn't appeal to you then ignore the writing; chances are you're like most people and aren't paying attention to it anyway. Thirdly, the gameplay is on a solid foundation. The space combat is fun. I don't usually enjoy these kinds of elements because developers favour obscene screen flooding and twitch gameplay, but there's a solid mix of mechanics and enemies which means playing well guarantees you do well. The ship is also modular, changing its mechanics depending on which character you partner with. The ground combat is more rudimentary, but still enjoyable. Very prone to RNG, but after hundreds of hours of both generations of XCOM that doesn't upset me much. The tactical choices you have change based on which character you choose to command your generic genetic monstrosities, and you have reason to change out who you take on missions.

Whoever wrote the dialogue made this quite possibly as funny as it could be. Gameplay has a lot of nostalgia points in the space combat, Ground plays a bit like Into the Breach

If I could review this game in anyway, I can copy what I said in other reviews privately to my friends. This game tries to do everything, from being an RPG, to being a twin stick shooter. But with none of the depth of an actual RPG. I would just say to skip this game. There are much better experiences out there. I try not to bash games frequently, but I have come to realize that this game deserves a spotlight for how poorly executed every feature of the game is. Does it want to be an RPG, a visual novel, or an arcade game? Does it want to be Mass Effect or a turn based rpg? Not even mentioning the poor characterization, story, and world building this game has. StudioFOW has great animations but thats where that ends.