So I've read this visual novel twice now. This is a very conflicting story that I'm less mad about and more frustrated by.
Full disclosures since it's 2025 and it's clear this game leans in a certain direction. I'm a gay black man. And I'm quite fond of fictional works that incorporate anthropomorphism or talking animals in general. Needless to say, when I heard about a new adventure visual novel where you play as a hunky lion investigator I went "[i]HELLO![/i]" and bought it. So this review has nothing to do with it being about furries or being "woke trash" (I'm so tired of hearing that) or any of that crap. I was very fond of all the LGBTQ+ representation in fact. It's very clear the creators wanted to tell a personal story involving relevant themes, and there's no reason why anyone shouldn't do what they're passionate about.
That being said, you still need to tell the story [i]well[/i], and I can't recommend this given some character decisions, underutilized characters, how badly rushed the third act was, and its $25 price tag.
For positives, the world building is excellent. This is by far the best aspect of the game--arguably even better than the artstyle and the character designs. The creators spent loads of time fleshing out the world and making sure its lore makes sense in the grand scheme of things and is even plot relevant. The characters are not bipedal animals because "sexy furries" (maybe a little); they're bodies that people willingly chose to have their consciousness uploaded into because they wanted to, because the body modifications give them quality of life improvements. It's even noted that you can't really die as opposed to being "inconvenienced," and should that happen, you'll have your consciousness reuploaded into another body [strike]provided you have the right insurance[/strike]. I also love the setting. The music accompanied with each area is very cozy/fitting and the background visuals provided for Pavonis do make it seem like this is one of the somewhat decent cities to live in.
As for the plot/characters?
Little mixed here.
Plot's basic. Civil investigator Dax is assigned a by-the-book investigator to supervise him due to his previous reckless incidents. They stumble upon a murder that may involve the cops. [spoiler]The cops are involved and behind everything after the game keeps screaming at you that they are.[/spoiler]
Most of the characters are fine. Anaya is by far my favorite and I wished she was the lead protagonist, not Dax. Anaya is a fish out of water who has to learn the ropes of Mars and how the CIO works, even though she's a former Internal Affairs officer. She abides by [i]Earth[/i] customs, not [i]Mars[/i] customs. There's a very poignant scene in the game where Anaya is talking to Alex (another CIO officer) and she bluntly tells Anaya you don't just have a "normal conversation" with the police in Pavonis because of how they act and it makes her rethink the whole situation. She constantly butts heads with Dax, but gradually understands why he's so hot-headed and goes about his anti-cop methods: she wasn't much different from him when she was his age. She's not afraid to stand up for her own ideals, but at the same time is willing to [i]listen[/i] to other people who have more experience than she does in certain avenues and is willing to change her opinions on how to approach some conflicts while still sticking to said ideals. She has a character arc and growth.
Dax kinda starts [i]and ends[/i] the game in the same position that he was character-wise, largely because the plot itself made it happen. I'm gonna get into that later. >__>
The whole plot starts because Dax was desperate to prove cops were bad, so he talks to his informant about a lead and hijacks the case. Anaya calls him out on his behavior, and Dax ignores her. Every time Anaya tries to sympathize with Dax and point out she used to work in Internal Affairs investigating dirty cops like Dax is doing, he just scoffs and writes her off. They stumble upon a murder scene way out of their league and are almost caught by the police, but escape. Thing is, after all this happens, [i]Dax accepts responsibility for his actions[/i].
And it's here where the game actually started to grow on me!
Dax and Anaya both jab at each other with witty and sarcastic remarks here and there, but they learn to work together getting info from diverse characters (non-binary shark person, yay :D) and chasing down leads involving some bikers and [spoiler]mind control[/spoiler]. Dax keeps saying "ACAB" the entire time, even when Anaya points out there's evidence suggesting otherwise. Still, I was liking Dax, the plot's direction and the commentary about the police and characters' viewpoints of them.
And then the third act happened.
[spoiler]The third act is a stream of rushed conveniences. Dax is alone because he had a fight with Anaya, so he goes to multiple bars to find a lead. Because bikers always hang out at bars. [i]This is called profiling BTW[/i]. But it's okay; the biker he was looking for was there! Then a fight ensues, but his ex-lover, Hess Dietrich, the police captain, saves him. Then they have sex. But after snooping around Dietrich's apartment while he's in the shower, the door magically opens and he sees body mods on Dietrich and believes he's been mind controlled. He leaves the apartment to call Anaya, and it just so happens she's in a truck on the exact same highway Dax is walking on, and he manages to jump on the truck and reunite with her. He can potentially open the case to a bomb by randomly punching in the year in the keypad. [i]It works.[/i] Later on we find out Deitrich was the one mind controlling the bikers to become terrorists and [i]that[/i] was what Dax saw on his body. They stop him. Dietrich gets suspended pending investigations. Heroes celebrate. End. [i]What?[/i] There's so many gaps to fill here! How did Dax not see the body mods on Dietrich when they were having sex? How did his shower door open? How did Dietrich not notice the door was open? Did the developers force this to happen to try and throw a red herring for no reason? Dax calls Anaya and conveniently happens to be at the right place at the right time on the right highway? Why did Dietrich not change the password on his PC before bringing Dax home with him? Why did he leave him alone? Why didn't he mind control him sooner? Why didn't he mind control the bikers to kill Anaya while she was away? Why didn't he mind control the bikers to kill Dax, then lie about it later? He had a perfect cover for it too; he could've just said he got beaten to death in a bar fight! Even after Dax and Anaya find the first bit of tangible evidence the cops are involved, Dax's first instinct is to say "I told you so" and to try and expose the evidence immediately. Anaya, [i]not Dax[/i], has to yank back on his leash and tell him they need names and more evidence before they continue.[/spoiler]
I'm really frustrated. I was liking this game, but it's very clear the third act needed to rush everything and said "Damn the plot holes." There was a lot more that could've been explored too. For all of Dax's issues with the police, he's very friendly with Snifty, his informant and a police officer, and doesn't (openly) judge him for his profession. CIO officers Mira and Alex don't contribute much either. The villain is a vile, manipulative POS, but we don't see him much, and I'm more mad over the sheer amount of idiotic decisions he made than the atrocities he committed. We're constantly told how terrible the cops are, but outside of the main villain, there's Snifty (who stands around and gossips) and two other idiots. The cops come off as incompetent dumbasses, not some city-wide, lethal threatening paramilitary group.
There's more I could say--positive and negative--but I'll be here all day. Not a terrible vn, just disappointing and a little overpriced for how short it is and its crappy third act.
