At fujocon back in May not only did I hear about the The Divine Speaker (that I recently wrote a review of here on this blog, you can see it via the main page), but also about this other BL game by Trill Switch Games. Unfortunately *sobs* I did not get this game for free, so I had to buy it in a steam Sale a number of weeks after the con like a dirty pleb. It's normally 30 USD, I got it for just under 20 which I think is a very reasonable price considering the length of the game and how awesome it is (more on that later).
The Divine Speaker is, as said, a BL visual novel/game by Two and a Half Studios . It is available for 30 USD on steam, which is a very reasonable price given the significant length of the game and it's qualities, which we will discuss in the rest of this review. I will try to keep this review spoiler-free so as not to ruin anyone's future playthrough, except for very general information like names of the main characters and such that one would normally expect to find in a review of this kind anyway. Talking about main characters, our MC is called Raen. At the very start of the game, just after coming of age, he is tricked into doing something strictly forbidden and exiled from his home, after which he discovers that the whole spiel about it being the only inhabited place in the world surrounded by an endless forest is a lie. From there he embarks on a massive quest throughout the whole wide world, meeting many interesting characters along the way (and f*cking some of them depending on the players choices, ofcourse!). On that latter note, this is definitely very much an 18+ game. While there is no non-con or other elements that would normally fall under "trigger warning content", there is definitely some explicit smut and as such it is most certainly not a game that is suitable for anyone illegal. Having said that, I want to make it very clear that the focus off the game is very much on the story, characters, world, etc, and NOT on the smut. It's there, it's delicious, but don't make it the reason for playing the game or think that you won't get a story as well. This is definitely a case of "plot with porn", not "porn without plot". The game is available for windows, linux, and (cr)apple, and as with most visual novels, will run on pretty much a toaster in terms of (lack of) system requirements. If it has a screen and a processor, it will run it, basically :)
The game has a diverse cast of characters, though only two are romancable. They are both very hot, and will certainly appear to both fangirls and fanboys alike :3 They are often drawn in a very striking and colorfull way which I find quite enjoyable. It adds to the cyberpunk aesthetic of the game. Also, I don't think there is a single non-LGBT character in the whole game LOL. Just like in The Divine Speaker , it seems as if every character is gay. I personally quite like this since it means I can imagine diving into bed with all of them and they're all hot as heck, but I guess some people would find it a bit unrealistic xD. Apart from their sexualities, all the characters are well balanced, developed and fleshed out, though some naturally get more screen time then others. They all feel like real people and you end up feeling for all of them, even the ones you can't romance, for example the cute Plant Nerd© (no more spoilers here). I would have enjoyed more romance routes, mostly for more smut, but what is on offer is more then enough. There is also plenty of incredibly hot filth to enjoy in the game. And the diversity goes further then just them (almost) all being LGBT in some way, for example there is also a black nerd girl who is really sweet~ Overall the characters are nice, the artstyle they're drawn is very cyberpunk and colorfull and vibrant, and they function well in their role as the meat of a story driven game like this.
The art in this visual novel is good!! As I said before it's a cyberpunk novel, so it has that vibrant neon aesthetic. This I think is also why I saw some people compare it to DRAMAtical murder , my all time favorite BL game. To be honest though, it's quite different from me, also in terms of artstyle. There aren't exactly many cyberpunk
BL games though, so I totally get why people make the comparison. I just feel like the art in DMMD is often a bit less detailed/more abstract and also a bit less bright in colors. And the story is different - there the one f*cking up the world is a giant corporation (the cyberpunk classic), here it is a drug-problem that was created by an organisation
which inadvertently (I think?) did more harm then good. Anyway, the game looks beautifull and quite vibrant. Go experience it for yourself! Also, as we can see below, the pr0n is quite good too! Look at these two deliciously juicy examples:
The sound and music are okay. Nothing too special, not intrusive, and more then servicable. I just wished there was a bit more voice acting, it was only used in a very small number of important scenes. Though to be honest, I often end up skipping it anyway in games that do feature more of it, so it is debatable how much I really lost lol.
The final part of the game I want to talk about before getting to the conclusion is the plot. Obviously I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't go into details. Like the last game I played (and also like DMMD) the story is quite addictive and made me want to keep playing. It had many twists and turns. Unlike the last game I played, it was not too long and I felt it ended after a decent length - not too long to get boring, not to short to feel I didn't get my money's worth. I do have to say it ended quite abruptly though. I didn't expect it when it suddenly struck, I wouldn't have mind if it had taken say 30 minutes more to wrap things up nicely and transition into the ending credits with a bit more... grace. But overall, fun story, I like cyberpunk and cool sci-fi stuff, and lots of action. You can play this game for both the porn and the plot and you won't be dissapointed with either!
Another winner! Quite enjoyable. The art, music, characters, smut, and story are all quite good, and you can really see the developers really saw this as their passion project and tried to make the best game they possibly could. And by and large, they succeeded! Overall, I would rate Night/Shade: You're The Drug an 8/10, and I recommend anyone who is into BL games to play it, especially if you're also into cyberpunk stories. It's available on steam for not that-much-money and runs even on linux, so go try it out!
That's it for today! I hope you enjoyed reading it and I will write another page sometime depending on how busy I am with life and when I think of another fun subject to write about! Let's hope it doesn't take another year this time! XD Till then! ;)