[h2]Short and to the point, with a powerful message behind it.[/h2]
Let me begin this review with a prelude.
I am not into futanari. I am not into porn games. I am not even into hentai. But I have opened Pandora's box and now I am unable to close it. Earlier this year I thought it would be funny to gift a porn game with a wacky premise I had seen on a meme to a friend. Unknown to me, this poorly thought decision led me down a path of suffering that I am advising you not to follow. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, but this IS in fact killing me, on the inside.
But let's go to the matter at hand: My Landlord is a Futanari.
A very short game, or maybe it would be more adequate to call it a very short story, as all inputs the player (or in this case the reader) may have are introducing the name of the protagonist, who I decided to call Sisyphus, and advance or go backwards through the text. It must be noted the target audience will likely appreciate this simplicity, allowing them to play with only one hand.
The story itself is simple. It revolves around something hard, ever growing, and ready to ♥♥♥♥ us all in the ass: the insidious terror of capitalism.
Our protagonist begins this tale being recently fired from his job. Mirroring the current situation in many countries in these days, finding a new job presents itself a difficult task for him, like rolling a boulder up a hill just for it to fall down again. This situation has led him to miss the monthly payment of his rent, and it's not likely to be resolved in time for the next one either.
Here is when our antagonist enters the story. Vanessa, the Landlord, appears at first as a sympathetic character. She shows compassion for our hero with his predicament, or it could be said it's pity for a person she considers to be below her standing, even. Though instead of using her position of power and privilege to help those in need, in typical capitalist fashion she offers a false choice: an arrangement, voluntary in principle, but not so much if accounting for the consequences of refusing. She presents herself as the solution to the problem her very existence as a hoarder of land used by someone else posed in the first place, and despite the initial sympathy we might have for her we learn through the story that her real purpose was to obtain her own private profit.
Naturally, the protagonist accepts (a decision masterfully accompanied by the player's inability to make decisions in the story, stregthening the message of nonexisent choice), but it might appear strange to the reader how easily our hero accepts his exploitation, even with admiration for her oppressor, and even thinking himself lucky. This is the perfect depiction of the alienation of the proletariat, of a working class so oppressed and overwhelmed that the bare minimum seems like everything for them, and anything over that is seen as utopian, even. This is a theme that we later see again when Vanessa ♥♥♥♥♥ our hero in the ass (literally this time) while apparently worrying for his pleasure and safety. These things should be a given in this situation, but she presents them practically as gifts from above. And the whole time, her real objective was her own gain.
Despite the short duration of the game (and this may vary depending on several factors, like the time you decide to spend uh, analyzing the art, or the fact that you might be writing a review during your playthrough) the message is clear and ever reinforced in the subtext, with clear references to the imbalance of power between exploited and exploiters ("Suck it like your life depends on it") and the neglect for the worries of the lower classes ("Sisyphus: I'm not sure it will..." "Vanessa: Will?" "Sisyphus: ... Fit..." [...] "Vanessa: Don't worry, Honey. We'll make it fit...").
Apart from the length, the only other criticism I can offer about this game is the presence of some ludonarrative dissonance. There is a point in the story when the protagonist shows surprise that Vanessa has a long ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥ and wonders how she manages to hide it, while from the very beginning the art notably shows a huge bulge in her pants. Issues like this one may easily break the immersion of the player.
Finally there's the matter of the art. There are only 10 scenes, collected in a gallery as the player unlocks them. Some of them are variations of the same composition. Regarding the compositions themselves, I'd rather not talk about them.
All in all, the small price of this game is well earned by a powerful and concise message about the horrible situation of the working class in a capitalist society. Mao was so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ right. If only he didn't hate sparrows so much.
Fully recommended game. Now if you excuse me I'll go think about my life choices.
