The card I pulled for Emilie was The Star, reversed. Albino girl, childhood friend, both of you orphaned. The game tells you this like it's a sad weather report, then immediately asks if you want to grope her in the kitchen. The pacing is like a party where someone spikes the punch before anyone's even taken off their coat. You're still learning the controls, still figuring out why the city has gone to shit with crime, and already the dialogue wheel is spinning with options that feel like they belong in a different, much filthier game. It's jarring, but maybe that's the point. The world is cold, so you grab warmth wherever, even if it's a handful of your grieving best friend's tit.

The art is pure CG hentai, the kind where every female character, from the original ones to the blatant Genshin and Naruto cosplayers, has breasts that defy physics and a waist that defies biology. There's a scene with a blonde, a clear Bayonetta knockoff, in a back alley. She's supposed to be this tough, criminal type, but five lines of dialogue later she's on her knees, and the lactation tag suddenly makes a messy, unexpected appearance. It's ridiculous. It's also the moment the game clicked for me. The writing doesn't try to be clever. It's a blunt instrument. You want to protect Emilie? Sure, there's a choice for that. You want to pimp her out to a group of your 'friends' to get ahead in this shitty world? There's a choice for that too, and the game doesn't flinch. It just shows you the scene, in that same glossy, unpolished CG style.

I got stuck for fifteen minutes on a dialogue option about dinner. Not a sex scene, dinner. The choice was between "We'll manage" and "I have a plan." The second one led to a prostitution route I didn't see coming at all. The game doesn't telegraph its branching. One minute you're having a romantic moment with a pale-skinned girl who trusts you, the next you're an exhibitionist criminal mastermind. I wish the group scenes had more buildup, more of that twisted relationship dynamic, but they just happen. Like a sudden downpour. You're just wet all of a sudden and wondering if you left a window open. The blowjob animations are looped a frame too short. It's a small thing, but it sticks in your head. A tiny, broken rhythm in the middle of all this deliberate, messy excess.