edit: i feel super bad that this ended up being the top review of this game. i'd rather people's first impressions of any game not be someone complaining about it.
I'm going to try to be nice to this game, especially considering I didn't beat it, but.... man, I don't have a lot of positive things to say.
The reason I ended up playing this indie porn platformer was cuz one of my friends found it while deep diving on Steam. She described it as "Ikaruga meets a metroidvania". I don't particularly like modern metroidvanias. This, however, sounded like an interesting combo. So I checked the Backloggd page and saw the high rating. Another sign that this was probably decent, if nothing else.
I really don't dig the NSFW aspect of this game. I love playing as girls and I have nothing against suggestive character designs! I LOVE Felicia from Darkstalkers. She's so cool. Yet not only are the girls in this game utterly swagless, they're all the exact same, migraine-inducing "fantasy characters but with big boobs". I excused it for the main character (I could go off about her outfits...) and her sensei (ok she has a little swag). It's like EVERY CHARACTER though. Whatever, I'll leave it be. I didn't come here for the porn.
So I'm gonna talk about the two aspects I like first. Although the artstyle itself isn't super unique, I don't think that's a dealbreaker. The game has lots of diverse areas with distinct themes that are all drawn with detailed pixel art! There wasn't a single area I saw that was boring. The UI is also a quite ornately detailed little thing, though i wish it was bigger. As far as music, the OST is decent and has cute midi instruments (PAN FLUTES!!!) that made me smile. That's everything I liked about the game.
I don't see where people are coming from when they call this a great metroidvania. Is it serviceable? Playable? A better vessel for the NSFW content than those shitty flash porn games I used to play as a kid? Yeah, sure. There was a level of effort put into the pacing of the areas and gamefeel. However, I can't think of a single reason to play this unless the only thing stopping you from playing Hollow Knight was the lack of sex.
The quest-givers and character interactions are the most boiler-plate post-ALTTP shit imaginable. The quests themselves are often tedious; not challenging, not fun either. I might enjoy the quests more if I was interested in the rewards (ie: porn). The flipping mechanic that is supposed to be the main draw of the game is the gimmickiest of gimmicks. It adds nothing to gameplay except a few extra inputs during platforming. Yes, I didn't finish the game, but if I get into the bulk of your game and I have not seen a single exciting use of your central mechanic, I think that's an issue to iron out. This is not an Ikaruga metroidvania. This is disappointing. And I'm now starting to understand why Alicesoft are such a huge deal. I often think of their games as "amazing game hindered by the constant porn". I realize now that they are porn that still manages to have interesting and fun gameplay.
This is (far as I'm aware) the developer's first game. I'm not writing them off or telling people not to support them. My point is that I thought FlipWitch was far from the fantastic game it was hyped up to be.
I'm going to try to be nice to this game, especially considering I didn't beat it, but.... man, I don't have a lot of positive things to say.
The reason I ended up playing this indie porn platformer was cuz one of my friends found it while deep diving on Steam. She described it as "Ikaruga meets a metroidvania". I don't particularly like modern metroidvanias. This, however, sounded like an interesting combo. So I checked the Backloggd page and saw the high rating. Another sign that this was probably decent, if nothing else.
I really don't dig the NSFW aspect of this game. I love playing as girls and I have nothing against suggestive character designs! I LOVE Felicia from Darkstalkers. She's so cool. Yet not only are the girls in this game utterly swagless, they're all the exact same, migraine-inducing "fantasy characters but with big boobs". I excused it for the main character (I could go off about her outfits...) and her sensei (ok she has a little swag). It's like EVERY CHARACTER though. Whatever, I'll leave it be. I didn't come here for the porn.
So I'm gonna talk about the two aspects I like first. Although the artstyle itself isn't super unique, I don't think that's a dealbreaker. The game has lots of diverse areas with distinct themes that are all drawn with detailed pixel art! There wasn't a single area I saw that was boring. The UI is also a quite ornately detailed little thing, though i wish it was bigger. As far as music, the OST is decent and has cute midi instruments (PAN FLUTES!!!) that made me smile. That's everything I liked about the game.
I don't see where people are coming from when they call this a great metroidvania. Is it serviceable? Playable? A better vessel for the NSFW content than those shitty flash porn games I used to play as a kid? Yeah, sure. There was a level of effort put into the pacing of the areas and gamefeel. However, I can't think of a single reason to play this unless the only thing stopping you from playing Hollow Knight was the lack of sex.
The quest-givers and character interactions are the most boiler-plate post-ALTTP shit imaginable. The quests themselves are often tedious; not challenging, not fun either. I might enjoy the quests more if I was interested in the rewards (ie: porn). The flipping mechanic that is supposed to be the main draw of the game is the gimmickiest of gimmicks. It adds nothing to gameplay except a few extra inputs during platforming. Yes, I didn't finish the game, but if I get into the bulk of your game and I have not seen a single exciting use of your central mechanic, I think that's an issue to iron out. This is not an Ikaruga metroidvania. This is disappointing. And I'm now starting to understand why Alicesoft are such a huge deal. I often think of their games as "amazing game hindered by the constant porn". I realize now that they are porn that still manages to have interesting and fun gameplay.
This is (far as I'm aware) the developer's first game. I'm not writing them off or telling people not to support them. My point is that I thought FlipWitch was far from the fantastic game it was hyped up to be.