A surprising, hidden gem, which mighj be, for all it matters, not an adult game at all. I'm not surprised it has a "safe" version. Narrative >> Sexy bits. The game certainly uses a good amount of the usual tropes, but BoringInvincibleHero is surely NOT one of them. Luckily SaveScumming comes to the rescue!. Quite replayable, with many nooks and crannies to explore. The "completionist" estimate time is way too low. I'm about 3h in, with the "good" ending unlocked, and still have only about half of the achievements. This might have up to 6 to 8 hours, depending on your reading speed (I'm very fast). And definitely DO NOT SKIP reading! I was surprised to find, not only hidden clues and hints on "filler" conversations which were not, in fact, filler at all, but also a good amount (for what this is) of character development. The main critique one might have is, in fact, the adult part. The animations are quite basic, even though images are fine.
First things first, this game is highly erotic, and this is fine. You can get quite a lot of... play out of it. But that's not even half of it. Second, this is a GAME. Not a graphical novel, not a clicker, or a scroller. It's part puzzle, part old-school "find what to do", part minigame collection. If you dare to rise to the challenge of not using the in-game tips, it's even hard. What it mean, it's FUN. Provided, of course, it's your style of play. But if you want casual play, there are tips to hold your hand at any moment. Third, animations are very good and high quality, and there are a lot of them. Music is fine. It has an "old times" feel about it, except with great graphics when it matters. A polished and professional experience. I'm not very given to pay for erotic games (you know what the Internet is for), but I tasted a demo for this and then I saw it on GOG, where I can be sure it will last (almost) forever, and ponied up. I don't regret it. And that's a lot. Four, though sometimes the power-fantasy, harem-all-available-at-all-times, this-is-too good to be true elements may trip your suspension of disbelief, it even has a STORY. A rare thing to see in such a genre. You may activate the NSFW filter, skip the sexies, and you'll STILL have an interesting storytelling game. All in all, an excellent purchase, even at full price.
First I played the boardgame. Loved it. Then I bought the game (on Epic, but it seems to be the same, v2.0 update). It's a gem. It's a flawed gem. You may want to occasionally throw the computer at the wall. Most of the time you'll enjoy it. Because the base game is good, and the adaptation (once you climb the first wall of interface learning) is good too. If you're prepared for the glitches, you may be less frustrated. I would give a round 5-star rating if not for the glitches. The game: It's a resource management / strategy game with a little luck involved. The "hard" AIs are easy, the easy ones are very easy, and they all commit laughable mistakes every time. So, fun to play solo, but don't search for deep challenges. It's quite light. A game can be from 20 min (on max. speed, no animations, 2 players), to a good 100 minutes (normal speed, 5 players), or more. The "standard" way of playing, by Word of God (the author on BoardGameGeek) is Corporate Era without drafting. Drafting is cool, in a way, but it also makes the game much longer, and does not really increase or decrease randomness. "Standard" games, on the contrary, where you have a starting production of everything, are much too short, and have less strategical depth. The glitches: The Unity engine crashes frequently. That's the main one. Most of the time, you can continue your previous game (there's auto-save built-in), but even that, first, takes time (I don't understand why loading takes soo long), and second, even that may fail! (happened just last night, the save files are even there, with the actions recorded, but the game stubbornly refuses to load them). So, frustrating. But since it's not a campaign, you can always start anew. And the fun is in the playing. All in all, a recommended buy, specially at a discount. Cannot comment on the expansions, since I don't have them (yet) but since I've already played dozens of games, that is probably a matter of time.
