Recent reviews by Kitty ♡

game gets repetitive and a boring grind fast tbh

Amazing game if you enjoy experiencing vast open worlds and love for details in gameplay. If you want a simple game with a good story look elsewhere. Also the game looks and runs really good

Mistbound Hearts shows a lot of promise and the fantasy setting is very interesting, but the current content is still very limited and its quite expensive for now.

Five Hearts Under One Roof is a pretty decent FMV and definitely one of the more well-known ones. I liked that it has a slightly different feel compared to many other FMVs, mainly because this one comes from Korea, while most others are from China.

Story-wise, it is fairly simple but well chosen. However, the execution is not the best, and there are some plot holes that could have been filled or fleshed out more. This is partly because the FMV is quite short while also being more expensive than many of the Chinese FMVs.

One thing it does better is the translation. For the most part it is decent. They do mix up pronouns quite often, which can be ignored, and some of the choices are translated a bit poorly, making it harder at times to understand which option leads to the outcome you want. I also want to positively mention the camera and recording quality, which is better than in many other FMVs.

Aside from that, it is mostly a fairly standard FMV that leans more into fanservice than some others.

Overall, it is still a fun experience, and I appreciate that it allows you to quickly and easily explore different routes, which can feel like a chore in other titles. I would say it is one of the better FMVs on Steam, though not one of the absolute best, especially considering the price. I would recommend picking it up on sale.

Out of the Ocean is a wholesome teenage romance story in which you play as a 16-year-old girl who meets two new friends she can form a relationship with. You are not limited to choosing just one, as the game also allows for a poly relationship between all three. It is a few hours long and has a cute and unique touch, since one of the two girls is an incredibly friendly mermaid.

The graphics are great, and I like that we get several different endings, even if most of the story is fairly linear apart from those endings. The calm and relaxing background music adds a lot to the atmosphere, and the few sound effects included are nice as well, especially one that is particularly fun.

It also has the same charm as other ebi-hime games, so if you enjoy her style, you will most likely enjoy this one too. I would even say this is one of her better titles.

Overall, a simple but lovely VN for anyone who enjoys cute girls falling in love with each other.

Life of Guy is a pretty interesting sandbox AVN with a large cast of women to interact with. The variety is one of its stronger points. Not just visually, thanks to the fantasy setting, but also in terms of age, personality, and behavior. The overarching story is not really the main focus, at least not in Episode 1, and it is also not presented particularly well at the start. Things make more sense as you progress, but even then, the main plot clearly takes a backseat to the girls and their content.

As a sandbox AVN, the game includes several gameplay systems. There is a money system with minigames to earn cash, an inventory, and a phone that acts as the central hub for quests, calling girls, and managing most interactions. These types of games often become grindy or confusing, and while that happens here to some extent, it is not too bad. Money grinding is manageable since there are ways to earn a lot fairly quickly. What was more of an issue at times was simply not being entirely sure what to do next, although the quest system on the phone usually helped point me in the right direction.

Visually, the game is nothing special overall, but because there are so many women, you do get a wide range of character models, most of which are decent to good. The weaker points are the general rendering quality, lighting, and especially resolution, as the game runs at a fairly low resolution. On the plus side, the sex scenes are animated, even if they are still pretty simple at this stage.

Content-wise, there is not a huge amount yet, but Episode 1 still kept me engaged for about three to four hours, so it is not overly short. Since this is only the first episode and future ones will be free, that is a nice bonus. Because of the large cast and limited current content, most girls do not have much to do yet, and the game largely feels like an introduction to the world and characters.

I am also not the biggest fan of the engine used, but in terms of features, the game checks most boxes. There is a skip function, a gallery, and even an option to get hints for choices. Overall, I did enjoy my time with it. There are definitely things that could be improved to make the experience smoother, but the bigger picture looks promising. A sandbox AVN centered around a lot of attractive characters and at least worth keeping an eye on.

Sophie: The Girl From The Zone is a very unique AVN that features some extremely dark content, so it’s definitely not for the squeamish. It’s also not for anyone who strongly dislikes games that make use of AI. Overall, the game feels rough around the edges, especially at the start. The first time I tried it, I stopped after about 1.5 hours because I really wasn’t impressed. After taking a break, I decided to give it another shot, and this time I stuck with it until the end. In the end, I can say that I enjoyed it overall.

The good:

• I really like how many choices there are and how interactive the entire experience feels
  
• The story is interesting, and especially unique compared to most AVNs
  
• There is a lot of content for the price
  
• The game is not silent and includes music and sound effects, even during sex scenes, although the audio mixing is not great at times

The not so good:

• The renders are inconsistent. They are noticeably worse at the beginning but become mostly decent later on. My bigger issue is with the animations. They are not very good, and the use of AI introduces inconsistencies that can make them feel uncanny, especially during talking scenes
  
• The writing, at least in the English version, can be quite rough at times. There are script issues such as questions not being answered, lines repeating, or scenes feeling disconnected. It’s obvious there was no proper proofreading and that the developer is not a native English speaker. That said, the writing improves noticeably as the story goes on. Chapter 1 is by far the weakest and unfortunately gives a bad first impression
  
• The overarching story can feel convoluted early on, with many characters and some plot holes. While this improves later, it does make the beginning harder to get into

Some additional notes: there is a hint system that shows which choices give points for different characters, which is very helpful and honestly much appreciated given the number of choices. The game also features a large amount of achievements, which significantly increases replay value, especially for completionists. There is a huge cast and a wide variety of sex scenes, so most players will likely find something they enjoy. However, the overall tone is very dark, and some scenes can be disturbing. I would only recommend this if you are comfortable with themes such as rape and gruesome deaths, which appear fairly often. These elements also make the game stand out from other AVNs and are part of what makes it so interesting to me.

By the end, the story comes together reasonably well and mostly makes sense as a whole, even if some parts feel poorly written or unnecessary. Overall, it felt like a real journey. One full playthrough took me around 10 hours, and there are two endings, with some variation depending on your choices, mainly affecting which scenes and characters you experience.

In the end I would probably rate it a 6.5/10 that could easily have been higher with some more polish. Its a rough star that shines at times.

LOVEPICAL-POPPY! is another romcom by SMEE, which is very much their bread and butter, and as expected, it’s a solid entry. This time the focus is strongly on being cute and wholesome. The story itself is simple: you play as the MC who needs a job and, through sheer luck, ends up working as the dorm mother at the academy his sister attends. Since it’s a dorm full of girls, this naturally leads to lots of fun interactions, which make up the majority of the common route. This was easily my favorite part of the game.

The common route is also quite long, taking around 10 hours to complete, and it’s where the game really shines. After that, the individual routes for each girl begin. These are much shorter, but they do what they’re supposed to. The first route I played was Tamaki’s, and since I installed the H-patch, I also experienced the H-scenes. This was actually the first game of this type where I ended up skipping some of them entirely because they felt wrong to me. Tamaki looks and behaves far too much like a child. That works fine in the common route and in most comedic contexts, but during the first H-scene it immediately made me uncomfortable, so I skipped the rest of hers. To be fair, I also didn’t find her route particularly good overall. Once again, the common route felt much more detailed, better paced, and better built up.

The writing, dialogue, and translation are all good, and I got a few genuine chuckles out of it, which is always nice in a romcom. Visually, though, the game is just alright. Only the main characters have sprites, while side characters don’t have any at all, and the game only runs at 720p, which honestly feels outdated. Still, it works well enough. On the plus side, the voice acting is really nice, and the audio quality is great across the board.

Overall, LOVEPICAL-POPPY! is a pretty good romcom with lots of cute and fun moments and a solid translation. That said, it’s not one of SMEE’s best works, and I personally enjoyed Making*Lovers quite a bit more.

This game is a bit of a mix. It features some light dating sim elements with the main love interest, combined with a small point-and-click sandbox. You can explore a few areas, scavenge resources, craft items to sell, and use the money to buy clothing and accessories for the main love interest for dates. On top of that, there’s a decent fantasy story with some choices that do have an impact, as well as sex scenes. Overall production quality is solid, but nothing particularly special.

One thing that does deserve a mention is the voice acting for the main girls, which isn’t very common in AVNs and is definitely a plus. The game also runs without any major technical issues, and I really liked the achievements. These aspects help make the experience smoother and more enjoyable.

That said, the game ends up being more average than good overall. While the story is okay and I enjoyed it enough, it’s nothing memorable, and the writing clearly isn’t from a native speaker. Quite a few sentences aren’t grammatically correct. The VN presentation also has some rough edges. For example, the hide button only removes the text instead of the entire textbox unless you use the “H” key. These are minor issues, but they show a lack of polish and attention to detail.

The sex scenes are another weak point. They’re very static and not particularly exciting, although the voice acting and sound effects do help a bit. Content-wise, it takes a few hours to see everything, and there are three love interests you can romance. They aren’t mutually exclusive, which is nice and gives you some flexibility.

All in all, this is a decent AVN with some basic additional gameplay that doesn’t get in the way, but it’s also very average in most areas and somewhat expensive for what it offers. If you like the art style and the premise looks interesting to you, it’s worth a try. If it doesn’t catch your interest at first glance, you won’t really miss much by skipping it.

The Starlit Oasis is a kinetic AVN that is very clearly made by a developer with little prior experience. Story-wise, it’s extremely simple: you play as a human male who gets enslaved and sold to a brothel, where he has sex with various women of different races. That’s essentially all there is to it.

The writing matches that simplicity. It’s basic, but at least grammatically correct, which already puts it above some other beginner projects. That said, since the premise makes it obvious that the focus is meant to be on sex, the actual sex scenes are disappointing. They’re very basic, lack erotic atmosphere, and don’t deliver on erotic writing. Most scenes also feel very similar to each other and oddly romance-like, despite the fact that the MC is having sex with people he literally just met and doesn`t know the preferences of. None of the scenes are animated either, and the renders are fairly low quality—which is understandable given that this is clearly a first project.

One small positive is that the developer did at least include background music, so the game isn’t completely silent. Other than that, there isn’t much more to say. The content is very short, with the first two chapters taking me about 30 minutes to complete.

Still, I don’t get the feeling that this is a cash grab. It’s priced accordingly, and it genuinely feels like someone’s first attempt at making a game rather than a quick money play. Because of that, I’m giving it a thumbs up. I mostly just wish the developer the best and hope they can use this project as a learning experience to improve in the future.

Would I recommend it to someone looking for a great game? Not really as it’s very amateurish. But as a first effort, it’s at least honest about what it is.

PS: It`s nice that there are already achievements added.