remember the first time I used the internet as a kid. We had a piece of shit computer and I connected to the internet explorer, the premier internet browser, a position that, of course, it has retained to this day. Anyway, I remember getting my mind blown away and thinking, “this is the future.” Our Red String is to Adult Video Games, what the internet was to technology.
Now, you may consider this to be somewhat of an exaggeration and that’s fair, it’s a bold statement to make but allow me to further illustrate my point. We’ll go through each of the categories one by one and I’ll give you my thoughts on the game, you know, the standard MO by now.
The premise:
You’re playing as Lena and Ian, two twenty-something individuals that seem to be in completely different circumstances at a glance but the deeper you look the more similar their situation seems to be. Both Lena and Ian are financially struggling, they both have just got out of a long-term relationship and both of them clearly have some unresolved feelings about their exes. The game doesn’t really have a gimmick and doesn’t really implicitly promise anything, something that is refreshingly new.
Let me explain, most AVGs, take Summertime Saga or Something Unlimited for instance, make an implicit promise in the beginning. In Summertime Saga, you’re promised that you’ll fuck literally every woman in the town by the time the game is finished. In Something Unlimited, you’ll fuck literally every woman in the Metropolis by the time the game is finished, only this time the women are superheroes. There’s no such promise in ORS and that makes the relationships that do end up developing turn out to be a pleasant surprise. All of this makes this game to be extremely grounded and believable, the biggest problem in this story, for instance, is not some world-ending catastrophe but whether our protagonist Ian would keep his job/internship or not. I’ll talk more about the promises and payoffs in the stories below to further illustrate my point.
The art:
Let’s start off with a big one. The art is pretty good, a huge improvement compared to good girl gone bad, EvaKiss’s previous game. But it’s traced. Eva went into detail about the art process in the interview we had here. If traced art is not your cup of tea, as I know that’s the case for some people, then this is not the game for you. Personally, I think the quality is clearly quite good, traced or not and there’s a good amount of CG even though we don’t even seem to be halfway there when it comes to the development progress. Plus, the dev clearly doesn’t shy away from poses that are difficult to draw, a huge plus in my personal opinion.
So my verdict is that art has both in terms of quality and quantity.
The gameplay:
Even though this game is a VN, there’s a decent amount of roleplay involved here as well. Aside from the more obvious plot-affecting choices, there are also 4 stats: charm, wit, athletics, and lust that can be increased the more you use them. There are also 2 special stats, money which is self-explanatory, and will which is an interesting stat that decreases or increases in very select situations. It opens or locks whole-ass routes so it’s possibly the most important stat when all is said and done.
The phone is an important mechanic in this game, texting and sexting are both crucial to the story and you often get nudes from your romantic interests. So if you’re not bisexual, you should be warned that you might get dick pics as Lena (the horror.) One more thing to note is that Ian has detailed reports on every friend he has which is cool and interesting and not at all, serial killery. I understand it’s a game mechanic but still, it’s a little creepy. Though, to be fair, Lena has them too and girls can’t be serial killers. Girls don’t fart or poop either, it’s basic science.
DON’T MISS OUR INTERVIEW WITH EVA
The music and sound effects:
I generally don’t have a lot to say about this section but this time it’s a little different. First of all, the background music is good. It’s not intrusive and it fits with the general mood of the game. There is one song that plays everytime a more saucy sex scene takes place and it’s a little grating to me but I honestly don’t think that’ll be the case for most people.
There are a bunch of sound effects too and they’re all pretty well done and do a good job of immersing you in the story where you’re essentially looking at just images which occasionally change expressions.
The plot:
Now this is hard to review especially since this ties into the thing with promises I talked earlier, long story short, since this game has very few promises, the expectation for payoffs is very murky. Nobody knows how this game is going to end. That being said, at no point during the story did I feel that things are getting boring. The writing is efficient and there are no plotholes to speak of. The choices are meaningful and plentiful and in general but I would like to wait and see how things end to give a final verdict. There’s a chance that she completely drops the ball on this and the ending is terrible but it’s far more likely the ending turns out to be even better than I expected.
The characters:
The cast of characters is quite wide, all of whom serve a specific purpose in the story and cannot be replaced. This is a huge compliment. It’s difficult to write a story with just four characters without either overusing or underusing some of them but writing with a plethora of characters is exponentially more difficult. And sticking to a strict development schedule on top of it makes it even harder, just ask George RR Martin.
My favorite character is Alison. She’s a smart, hardworking, and ambitious girl that makes a good foil for Ian. Holly and Emma are also two characters who stand out. It’s interesting because all the female characters stand out and are likable but all the main characters seem to fit into neat little stereotypes, Jeremy is the dumb party-bro, Axel is the jealous ex, Perry is the socially awkward loser, Stan is also a socially awkward loser, etc. I know at least a few of them will be developed as the story progresses but as things stand, they are pretty two-dimensional which is a shame.
Miscellaneous:
This is where you’d find things that don’t fit neatly into the other categories but need to be discussed nonetheless if you’re considering supporting the developer, firstly, the work ethic of the developer is great. It could’ve been excellent but ever since she has had her hand surgery, the development has slowed a little. It’s perfectly understandable but it should be noted.
And this is neither here nor there but ORS fan community is a lot more mature than the kind of fans that you’d fan in other games. Won’t be naming any names but you know which ones I’m talking about. Also, Lena is a songwriter
Conclusion:
ORS is a great game that has definitely broken a lot of conventions that were prevalent in the porn games and I’m really excited to see where it goes.
Pros:
- Great art
- Good storytelling
- Interesting and attractive characters
Cons:
- Since the game doesn’t fit into any specific genre, it’s not immediately appealing to most people.
- Unclear promises which means players can’t know what to expect. If you like character X, it’s entirely possible, he or she will either steal the show or relegated into the sidelines.
- The music selection does not hit the mark for everyone all the time.
