Skull Gear
https://dandyboyoni.itch.io/dandyboyadventures
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3324580/Planet_Lust/
TLDR: Skull Gear was behind one of the first adult RPG style games I ever played. More "recently", they released Planet Lust on Steam, and while its first few days were rough, the patches improved the gameplat allot. As for DBA, the fact that it has an incomplete project bothered me at first when I found it. However, when I actually played it, that feeling quickly faded because of how captivating the game was. Now, after what felt like an almost certain cancellation after sooo much time of waiting, I'm genuinely excited to see that the project is finally getting closer to release in 2027, no idea if the game is getting launch fully complete but still! Such amazing Project still kicking.
In 2023, when I had only recently started discovering the appeal of adult games, I came across DBA. At first, it was a little uncomfortable to play because of the controls (I played the mobile version) but over time I realized that they were much less complicated than they initially seemed. What surprised me most was the certain amount of freedom the game gives you in the open world. Some of your choices feel almost insignificant at first, but once you start noticing that they actually change something in the history it feels funny, When a game gives you the time to experiment different possibilities the game (At least for me) becomes surprisingly fun. On top of that, the game can actually be challenging, which made the experience more engaging for me.
The story is genuinely captivating and doesn't feel like it's only there to connect the adult scenes like most of some games. The characters have their own personalities and development, which helped me become more invested in the world and what was happening around there.
I don't think my criticisms with DBA will be particularly harsh, but I do believe that some aspects of the game can become problematic depending on the player. The difficulty and the time pressure in some minigames, for example, might be frustrating for certain players. It wasn't a major issue for me, although playing on mobile did make some things more complicated due to the controls. Still, nothing that a little persistence couldn't solve. Another issue is the amount of freedom the game gives you. While I personally enjoy that freedom, it can also leave you without much direction if you lose track of what you were doing. This also applies to the game's fragmented focus because of that same freedom, you can interrupt a main quest to start a side quest, which can pull you away from the more linear progression of the story and well you end lost.
The reuse of poses, camera angles, and voice lines can also become repetitive and eventually monotonous, especially after playing for a longer period of time. The game's pacing was never really a problem for me, but I can imagine that players who are only looking for something quick might find the amount of grinding somewhat inconvenient for such a short visual reward. After all, the animations are looped
It's one of the few adult games that genuinely made me want to explore the entire map and test as many of the available possibilities as I could.
A few months ago, Skull Gear also released Planet Lust directly on Steam. Honestly, the first few days were a bit tiring, and I can understand why some of the early Steam reviews were critical. I honestly think some people who had a negative first impression never returned to see how much the experience improved. However, after some REALLY quickly patches that came barely within 24h, Anyone who came back to the game afterward probably had a completely different experience, since the developers added a faster-paced system to existing saves, and you can now choose how you want to experience the game with new save files if you're going to try some bad ending.
That's why I'm personally really happy to see DBA project getting another chance. Considering how it seemed to by near the discontinuation, seeing even a small teaser with an actual release date feels genuinely exciting to me. I obviously can't guarantee that the final game will be perfect, but based on my experiences with their previous games, I'm definitely interested, and I hope it gets the attention it deserves. Since there are barely any developers who make me feel like they genuinely love the games they're creating and the work they put into them.