Feels very polished in terms of gameplay but I don't like the aesthetics and presentation. It's a bit too bland and safe. So my opinion is subjective and if you like the looks and themes of the game you will find it a great experience probably.
I really wanted to enjoy Dustborn, but the gameplay and features left me deeply disappointed. For a game that focuses so much on narrative and road-trip camaraderie, the execution falls flat. The gameplay is overly simplistic, with shallow mechanics that offer little engagement or challenge. Combat feels repetitive and uninspired, and the "word-weapons" system, while unique in concept, becomes more of a gimmick than a meaningful feature. The choices you're presented with in the story often feel hollow, as their impact on the narrative is minimal at best. The characters, though charming in design, lack the depth needed to make me care about their journey, and the dialogue is awkward and forced, trying too hard to be quirky. On the technical side, the game feels unpolished. Performance issues like frame drops and bugs further hindered my experience. For a title with so much potential in its premise, Dustborn sadly ends up being a forgettable and frustrating experience. Save your money and time—this one isn’t worth it.
I hope everyone understand why this game wouldn't survive if it was made today. I always hear about devs afraid of expressing different artistic visions because they may get cancelled or shamed. Eidos was such a great company. GOG has many of their best games. I never played this game when younger, but I can totally admire what devs made here. They used the same engine as Hitman 1 but it lacks the proyectile physics of that game, which was similar to max payne 1. The story is nothing deep but it's brave in the political/ideological concepts involved. Or perhaps it's only brave for today's standards...
Cars don't handle as they really should. For simulation this game doesn't work well. The camera is very arcady and it doesn't help for measuring road irregularities. Cars slip too much as if the wheels were made of soap. Cars also seem to be heavier for the same reason. It's similar to cars in GTA 4, but I think even there cars had better grip. I'm top 10% in online rankings for group b in dirty rally 2, but here I can't even drive for a minute without having my car flying and rolling out of the road. Even with the oldest cars! I suspect people love this game because they play it with arcade settings enabled, like the ABS and other assists.
Porn games are always better with a good plot or gameplay. This game gives you OSU!/stepmania/guitar hero musical gameplay. The songs in the game are wonderful for the most part. If you like KPOP, you will probably like the game. If you liked the game, you will probably want this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb_JQa5Kjgk&list=PLIWvzcxOXv9kotPyPmllKcuaMPcBsMfu3&index=1 The gameplay can be challenging in terms of prompts bombarding you in certain songs. Don't worry, you can just spam every button and win anyway. Art style is wonderful. Often I see Korean cartoons like enhanced anime. More facial details and intense make up than in your average hentai illustration. Still, I love many Korean and Japanese art works. I love the visions of the artist of mature girls with developed bodies. Worthy of Seishoujo. Voiceovers are pretty good. I liked most of them. The quality is above amateur ASMR level even. For some. Animated sex scenes are a job well done for moving parts in a cohesive way, with a sense of body physics. The only negative aspect is how low res all illustrations look. Maybe the game was made when 720p was the standard?
It feels very cheap. Not necessarily clunky, but instead like a Unity asset flip. Non visceral? There are sound effect oddities (things that don't sound at times) and volume irregularities (high volume at times). The map looks as if made as a custom fortnite obstacle course. I mean by this that it's composed of random materials floating over insta kill water. For so long as I've played, I still have yet to see any NSFW content. I don't understand the difference between this game and the arcade version. This game doesn't seem to contain any nudity or sexual content. Is it marked as NSFW only because the girl has a skimpy outfit? If someone knows more than me about this, PM me and I change the review score. I recommend this to people interested in platforming challenges. Nobody else.
Some aspects of the game are average, some are bad and some are good. Good: -Art for static illustrations. This what attracted me in first place. Western goodness. -Character design. I like the type of characters the artist wished to express. -Ease for repeteaded replay for CG hunting. -Many sex endings to choose from. Average: -Story. Generic for the most part. It has plot twists and mysterious branching options. -Writting. Tolerable. Generic carachter archetypes and a bit cringy reactions, but I've read much worse. -Voice acting. I didn't like the voice acting in terms of pitch and tone for SOME of the girls and some of the dialogs. -Game over screens. Thankfully you can mostly cheat death through quicksave/load. During my first run, I reached an "impass" that I couldn't correct, so I had to restart the story. Bad: -Animated CG's. I've seen better 2D animations on flash games from 15 years ago. Maybe animations were an afterthought? -Not many static "higher quality" illustrations. -Forced replay. All content should be unlocked after the game is finished. Replaying should be optional. To unlock the rest of CGs, you have to memorize the steps that lead to the ending you think should happen. I don't regret experiencing this VN. It was cheap and it felt cheap. Still, it fitted my tastes in women. Except for Charlotte (in personality). It also enriched my mind for the simple fact of being a visual novel.
This game must have the best story of any game coming in the 2010s. It's full of reflections in philosophy and science. The characters are very well written. You know this because you can simpathize and care for them. The story at plot and writting level is at novel level. This means it's above movie and videogame level of writting quality. (This is how I measure the quality of writting, which has little to do with the concepts of the plot, but instead presentation of the story and character depth). If you don't know about frictional games, they ressurrected the horror genre in 2010 with The Dark Descent. It also sprouted the walking simulator subgenre and stealth based/no weapon horror mechanic. Comparing SOMA to other Frictional Games titles, I would say this is scarier than The Dark Descent, and at the same level as Amnesia Rebirth, if not scarier. This is due to enemies being more consistent and menacing, compared to TDD monsters that you can easily lose and tend to despawn. It's is worth checking Penumbra 1&2, and Amnesia TDD&Rebirth. In therms of writting (Story, characters) compared to other FG titles, SOMA is the best one, followed by The Dark Descent and then Penumbra 1&2. Rebirth's story made me really mad as I found plot holes that made me dislike the protagonist. A machine for pigs is not worth mentioning and I don't have Amnesia The Bunker. Please send gift.
