A Player's Heart

It’s a pretty engaging premise. Finding fame and fortune on the all-women opera, and finding love as a female character, romancing other women. Unfortunately, there are considerable problems with the execution which prevent the good ideas from getting off the ground.

The setting is interesting and the prose is evocative, conveying the atmosphere and the elegance of the Opera world and the city. There is plenty of romance and flirting, and the sexual content is mostly tasteful and well done, offered in good doses throughout the story without feeling excessive. The writing and descriptions can be a little heavy for causal readers, but I was largely able to follow it.

However, this game has its weaknesses as well. A lot of the characters and ROs just do not feel very deep in terms of personality. Apart from their well… physical attributes… which the game is happy to tell you about, a lot of the female characters don’t feel very distinct in terms of personality, and I eventually picked the lady with the nicest sounding name, because what else? The romance is fairly well executed and quite easy, with flirty encounters with each potential RO before you decide whether you want to say yes. The game also acknowledges your previous relationships (potential or decided) which is another nice touch. However, it was often hard to see how the current romance candidate differed from the previous one, personality-wise.

In terms of the story, there are quite a few interesting encounters, ranging from an escape from the cops to dealing with a difficult Ambassador. However, the plot does not thread these scenes together well, so it often feels like I’m jumping from one place to another without knowing why.

I liked the idea behind this, but the weak plotting and character writing really hold the game back. The romance elements are good, but these really needed to be paired with stronger character personalities to work. But, if you’re just looking for some light erotica and romance, you’ll find it here.