when huniecam studio came out i saw some youtuber play it and thought it looked fun and pirated it. i spent the next week engrossed in getting perfect runs over and over. i got every unlock, got the highest tier victory on hard mode and i loved it. then i deleted it and forgot about it for several years. then, last year, i saw this game on steam and it seemed like something similar. i thought i'd pirate it and play it for a week then move on. i ended up playing a while longer than a week, and actually buying the game too.
to start off with, as a management game its perfect. i loved management in huniecam studio, but this puts it to shame. great sounds, ui, and gameplay. if the game was just this, itd be amazing.
the narrative, at first glance, is what you'd expect. the kind of humor you'd expect from a game like this. lots of 2012 "epic gentleman" shit, the kind of stuff that feels like its there to make youtubers make react faces at, that kind of stuff.
the thing this game does that so few do that makes it genuinely one of the funniest games i've ever played is that it says "yes, and" to every dialogue choice it gives you. there's some exception, but usually only in service of some greater joke. i found myself actually getting really invested in the dialog choices (which all have no bearing on the actual story) just to find the funniest options available and see how the game would justify them.
i really like most of the characters. i found a couple of the guys kind of flat, but its a dating sim and i'm a lesbian so that was always going to be hit or miss. i like more of them than i thought i would which is something! my favorite character is probably pip. shes a funny little detective and her storyline probably made me laugh the most.
as far as the sex parts, i think the ones i read were pretty good. the game cares a lot about consent and giving content warnings for stuff that will show up. there was an option for police roleplay in the pip sex scene that you could opt out of and i thought that was a nice touch. it also makes every character openly bi or pan and queerness always feels like a part of the conversation surrounding sex in a way i think is done well. being a game about being a victorian aristocrat, the game has generally very good politics. it is aware of classism and racism but manages to keep things lighthearted still.
my biggest criticism of the game is that there is a lot more body type diversity among the male characters than the female ones. theres no fat women at all. theres smaller women and kind of muscular women and thats it. it felt like a trans character was missing too. theres so much conversation in this game about queerness and body positivity, so not having characters representing that makes it feel like something is missing.
all that being said, i think the game is good. i like going back and just doing runs of it with new characters and strategies. more than anything, i hope there's another game in this series.
to start off with, as a management game its perfect. i loved management in huniecam studio, but this puts it to shame. great sounds, ui, and gameplay. if the game was just this, itd be amazing.
the narrative, at first glance, is what you'd expect. the kind of humor you'd expect from a game like this. lots of 2012 "epic gentleman" shit, the kind of stuff that feels like its there to make youtubers make react faces at, that kind of stuff.
the thing this game does that so few do that makes it genuinely one of the funniest games i've ever played is that it says "yes, and" to every dialogue choice it gives you. there's some exception, but usually only in service of some greater joke. i found myself actually getting really invested in the dialog choices (which all have no bearing on the actual story) just to find the funniest options available and see how the game would justify them.
i really like most of the characters. i found a couple of the guys kind of flat, but its a dating sim and i'm a lesbian so that was always going to be hit or miss. i like more of them than i thought i would which is something! my favorite character is probably pip. shes a funny little detective and her storyline probably made me laugh the most.
as far as the sex parts, i think the ones i read were pretty good. the game cares a lot about consent and giving content warnings for stuff that will show up. there was an option for police roleplay in the pip sex scene that you could opt out of and i thought that was a nice touch. it also makes every character openly bi or pan and queerness always feels like a part of the conversation surrounding sex in a way i think is done well. being a game about being a victorian aristocrat, the game has generally very good politics. it is aware of classism and racism but manages to keep things lighthearted still.
my biggest criticism of the game is that there is a lot more body type diversity among the male characters than the female ones. theres no fat women at all. theres smaller women and kind of muscular women and thats it. it felt like a trans character was missing too. theres so much conversation in this game about queerness and body positivity, so not having characters representing that makes it feel like something is missing.
all that being said, i think the game is good. i like going back and just doing runs of it with new characters and strategies. more than anything, i hope there's another game in this series.