Speakeasy Tonight Review and Impressions

First, the comments that apply to all the routes in Speakeasy Tonight:

• has a great historical setting
• has authentic slang
• has an art style that doesn’t make me want to gouge out my eyes
• has adorable secondary characters – Uncle Charlie and Cleo are great
• has a lot more smut than I was expecting. Frankly, I want a toggle that lets me skip the physical encounters. I already know how sex works, and reading about it is boring. Get back to the plot please.  At least there’s a fast-forward option…

Now, for the individual routes:

Neil: Review found here

Donovan POV: Review found here

Julius POV: Review found here

Vince POV: Review found here

Cliff POV: Review found here

Neil POV: Review found here

Elliot: Review found here

Vince: Open, fun, reckless, and deeply caring. I like him and how active the MC is in the plot. The story itself has a couple of knocks against it though. The “will X admit their feelings” thread felt really padded; I would have been happy to have it two chapters shorter to keep a better flow. Also, the author employs different metaphors for each of the many times the couple is sleeping together. By the third one, I was howling with laughter – not what was intended, I’m sure.

Donovan: Hard, calculating, protective. Again, I like him and enjoyed the MC and how involved she is in the story. The dialog can be over-the-top in spots – “You chew that scenery, MC” – but can also be moving.

Julius: Sweet, stubborn, artistic. The portrayal of interracial interactions is handled surprisingly delicately, and the scenes where he and the MC play duets are adorable. His story feels the most forced though, again like it was padded to get to the needed chapter count. It messed up the emotional arc for me.

Cliff: Considerate, kind, steadfast. He’s my favorite guy, but not my favorite route for one simple reason: The MC explicitly decides she doesn’t care WHAT he does as long as he’s kind to her. Not acceptable. Using that reasoning, she could see him light kittens on fire and slap kids all day long and still stay with him. And Cliff IS a moral guy; I don’t think he’d approve of that justification. The second time I played it I fast-forwarded through that section and pretended it didn’t exist.

Donovan and Cliff Epilogues: really short and felt more like advertisements for the sequels than a proper coda; not recommended.

All in all, a fun game. Elliot doesn’t appeal to me so don’t expect a review for his route, but I will check out Neil when his story is released.

Voltage Entertainment USA’s Speakeasy Tonight is available on iOS.

In Your Arms Tonight Review and Impressions

In Your Arms Tonight was the first Voltage game I tried – and I very nearly didn’t. After nearly a week of trying to get over the presentation (super-pink, covered in hearts, cheesy taglines), I bought it as a distraction from a long illness. And have been reading their stories every since.

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Like all Voltage games, the individual stories are very different. Therefore each route in In Your Arms Tonight will get its own little review. But first, the comments that apply to all the routes: I enjoyed playing an MC who’s over 25 and has real-world problems. I also liked having so many fleshed-out secondary characters; it’s not just the MC and her potential beaus.

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Now, on to the individual routes.

• *update* Ritsu Main Story: one of my favorites; full review found here.
• *update* Koichi Sequel: good; full review found here.
• *update* Koichi POV: good; full review found here.
• *update* Ginnosuke Sequel: not recommended; full review found here.
• *update* Shohei Sequel: not recommended; full review found here.
• Kippei Main Story: good; he felt like a believable person, not an archetype.
• Kiyoto Main Story: interesting, but not for the sensitive; Kiyoto makes many unwanted physical advances, and while the MC always defends herself well, it made me nervous.
• Shohei Main Story: I’m conflicted on this one; I like Shohei himself, but the story itself makes me want to scream; the MC has no backbone, and the antagonist characters act so dastardly I expected mustaches to appear just so they could twirl them.
• Genji Main Story: ugh; I PAID to watch this presumptuous, conceited jerk insult the MC while she spends all her time falling apart? He calls her too fat, too skinny, and stupid all within five minutes. Screw you, Genji, and not in the fun way.
• Soji Main Story: one of my favorites; the MC has initiative and brains, and Soji himself is more complex than most of the other guys; Genji is more attractive here than in his main story.
• Ginnosuke Main Story: oddly enough, I like this story more for how Koichi’s portrayed and his interactions with the MC than Ginnosuke himself; the back-story you gain on Kippei is also good; unfortunately, the MC has some nearly unbearable stupid moments.
• Kiyoto Another Story: love it; Kiyoto’s personality is the same as his main story, but the undercurrent of anger is gone; the MC is a whole lot of fun too.
• Kiyoto Sequel: like it; the MC’s father is over-the-top, but other than that it’s really good.
• Koichi Another Story: I really like this one; both he and the MC feel like distinct, realistic individuals.
• Shohei Another Story: meh; the scenes with Koichi’s mother were very good but the rest bored me.
• Kippei Another Story: meh.
• A Day with Him: zzzzzz; no secondary characters, no choices, no real narrative

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Before writing this post, I downloaded the app to be sure I didn’t forget any routes and saw two new characters listed.  I’ll update the review as they are released.

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Voltage’s In Your Arms Tonight is available on iOS and Android.