Subverse, one of the most popular and most well funded porn games ever put into development, arrived on Steam for early access purchase back on March 26th of this year, but I wanted to wait a few weeks to allow time for the community to put in some reviews before I hopped on the bandwagon with my wallet. As it turns out, it appears I was right to do so. Reviews from the game so far are somewhat mixed on Steam and other places. While the score is still pretty damn good (87% positive reviews on Steam), a good portion of the reviewers, as well as some from YouTube including Bricky and Jesse Cox, have noted the lack of technical depth in the sex scenes.
Before I explain further I want to make it clear why a sex game has an 87% score on Steam if people are complaining about the sex being weak. First, this is an early access title. The game is still being worked on so people have their expectations set respectively. Second, the graphics and gameplay are some of the best in the adult industry, if not THE best. The reviews overwhelmingly mentioned the crispy graphics and good production that the millions of dollars of Kickstarter money was able to achieve. It wasn’t simply the surface level stuff either. People praised the X-com style and dual stick space shooter elements of the game for being enjoyable experiences with more behind them than the regular porn title with gameplay. Third, many expressed their surprise with how good the voice acting is in the game. I’m no casting agency but I know my way around the NSFW VA landscape and it’s a pretty star-studded group they got. The comedy seems to be hit or miss with some people but it’s not a huge offender.
Man...I thought I was going to fuck my enemies literally, not on the battlefield...
So where is the criticism coming from? Well, someone had the idea “wait a fucking minute… the voice acting, the gameplay, the graphics… this shit is fucking awesome. But where’s the sex?”and thus we’ve fallen into the classic trap. One thing I would always HAMMER home when I was writing sex game reviews more often was that the developers needed to be careful to ensure the sex was one of the best parts of the game, cause that’s the selling point. I can’t tell you how many games I checked out that would throw sex in your face in advertising, sex in your face in the menus, and then when you play the fucking thing it takes an hour and a half to achieve a one minute sex scene. Making your audience earn the sex is fine, after all that’s where the “game” element comes in. However, if you make your audience work for the sex you better be prepared to deliver some quality sex. If a gamer spends two hours working on a relationship with a character in order to fuck, and after all that their reward is a set of 30 sec animation loops, it’s an issue. And that’s essentially what the unlocked sex so far in Subverse boils down to, a collection of short animation loops.
See, this is where the money is.
On the bright side, Studio Fow has already made it clear that they hear the feedback loud and clear and intend to polish up the sex as the game continues in development. What worries me is why anyone thought this was a good idea in the first place to not prioritize sex. For early access I expected the sex to be in pretty tip top shape while the gameplay and story could use some improvements, but it was somehow the other way around. That’s a pretty bold choice for, you know, a sex game. Are you planning on picking up Subverse? Have you played the Early Access yet? Should sex be the priority in a sex game? Come on Captain, sail into the depths of space sex in the comments below!
