Yellow County, CA. The game opens with a title card that looks like it was made in Windows Movie Maker circa 2006 and I mean that as a genuine compliment. There's something about the unpolished 3DCG, the way the characters' mouths move slightly out of sync with the dialogue, that creates this uncanny valley effect perfect for a story about a serial killer. You're this young guy, parents dead, and everyone's whispering about whether it was really an accident. The whole town's got that fake glamour vibe, palm trees and celebrities, but underneath it's all paranoia and grief.

The first time you meet the neighbor, this older woman who keeps checking in on you, the game doesn't waste time pretending it's subtle. She's leaning against your doorframe, the animation loops her shifting weight from one hip to the other, and the dialogue options are basically "be sad" or "notice her tits." I picked the second one because why else are we here. The spanking scene caught me off guard though. Not because it was shocking but because the sound effect is so absurdly loud, like someone slapping a wet countertop, that I laughed and had to mute my phone. The groping mechanics are just clicking and dragging but there's something about the dead eyed character models that makes it feel more transgressive than it probably is.

The murder mystery plot keeps interrupting the porn in ways that are almost annoying except I started actually wanting to know what happened to the parents. There's this one scene where you're supposed to be grieving at the funeral and the game lets you peek up a relative's skirt during the eulogy. The tonal whiplash is severe. I kept playing though. The vaginal sex animations have this weird thing where the male protagonist's hands clip through the woman's thighs every single time and I don't know if it's a bug or a feature at this point. The oral scenes are better, more attention to the tongue movement, but then the camera will suddenly zoom in on a texture that looks like stretched plastic and the illusion shatters.

I forgot to mention the teasing. There's a lot of it. Maybe too much. The game seems to think edging is a personality trait.