City Of Broken Dreamers (by PhillyGames, 2019-2024)
Episode 4.3. The Hot Redhead Chronicles: Devil Edition
In this chapter, Biff reunites Gloria with Ellen Lane, whose devastation and disillusionment as she learns the truth about both her protegee and her Baynard employers require Biff to conduct a homebrewn therapy session.
City Of Broken Dreamers (by PhillyGames, 2019-2024)
Episode 4.2. Natural Redhead Seeks Virtual Redhead
In this chapter, Biff, Henry, and Gloria engage in a bit of bonding at a downtown diner, sharing stories of past adventures and mutual acquaintances, while Meredith and Victoria discuss the sinister plans of Baynard Industries over a joint sexy shower.
City Of Broken Dreamers (by PhillyGames, 2019-2024)
Episode 4.1. Rate Your Lust On A Scale From One To Ten
In this chapter, Biff dares to confront Gloria and her mighty bodyguard in their hiding place, but an attempt to knock out the big guy results in an unpredictable outcome that has all three of our heroes fleeing back to Katie's clinic.
City Of Broken Dreamers (by PhillyGames, 2019-2024)
Episode 3.2. Chandra Is Hungry For Daddy's Cock
In this chapter, after another short briefing with Meredith and Victoria, Biff gets sidetracked by Chandra, Meredith's spoiled brat of a daughter, and agrees to help her retrieve one of her wasted Milcher friends from a local den of iniquity.
City Of Broken Dreamers (by PhillyGames, 2019-2024)
Episode 3.1. Between A Princess And A Depraved Slut
In this chapter, Sonja leads Biff to Stairway To Heaven, a local bordello specializing in advanced sex-bots, whose owner provides the Ghost with some clues as to the whereabouts of Gloria's big friend...
City Of Broken Dreamers (by PhillyGames, 2019-2024)
Episode 2.3. Make You Cum Like You Never Have Before
In this chapter, we play out the third variation on Alexis and Shanlon's party, with Victoria replacing Katie and Ellen as the guest of honor - and giving Biff another unforgettable fuckfest upon returning home.
City Of Broken Dreamers (by PhillyGames, 2019-2024)
Episode 2.2. More Than One Way To Crash A Party
In this chapter, Biff makes good on the invitations to Alexis Conner's party, first using Dr. Hamilton as his female companion and next (in a different variation) offering the same honors to Ellen Lane.
City Of Broken Dreamers (by PhillyGames, 2019-2024)
Episode 2.1. The Prudes And The Sluts Of Los Angeles 2042
In this chapter, Biff takes Katie with him to a seedy area in Milcher-town where his former colleagues are stored, and gets a fairly nasty surprise when Dr. Hamilton examines the bodies.
City Of Broken Dreamers (by PhillyGames, 2019-2024)
Episode 1.2. The Temptation Of Victoria's Secrets
In this chapter, Biff is driven out of his abode by his old employer Meredith from Baynard Industries and finally coerced to accept the job of finding and bringing back Gloria Conner...
City Of Broken Dreamers (by PhillyGames, 2019-2024)
Episode 1.1. One Pussy For Distraction, One For Conviction
In the first episode of this cyberpunk epic by PhillyGames, we take on the role of Biff Barf, a "Ghost" mercenary in the futuristic version of Los Angeles in the year 2042, tasked with a seemingly simple quest - locate and retrieve a runaway rich girl who has apparently gotten involved in some deep shit.
DEPRAVED AWAKENING: The Official PatreonGamer Review
PhillyGames’ Depraved Awakening was one of the first AVNs I ever played from beginning to end, back when it was only very freshly finished and its creator was just starting work on its technically far more ambitious sequel, City Of Broken Dreamers. At the time, Depraved Awakening ranked very highly in various popularity charts, but its positions gradually eroded over time as bigger and technically more accomplished AVNs, one after another, began to take its place. Not in my mind, though. As far as I’m concerned — all of its time-honored weaknesses aside — Depraved Awakening still remains the single greatest Adult Visual Novel ever created by anybody in the business. Simply put, I believe that if you let it impact you in the right way, the best way possible, it can produce the strongest mix of sexual and spiritual reactions that any such game is even theoretically capable of. But this needs to be elucidated.
Most people who praise or criticize Depraved Awakening understandably approach it from a somewhat former angle: it is PhillyGames’ projection of the classic noir style, the AVN equivalent of a Double Indemnity or, perhaps more accurately, of a Chinatown or any such classic movies dealing with disturbing sexual topics. (PhillyGames himself is obviously a classic movie buff: people have spotted multiple references in his games from films going all the way to Requiem For A Dream). Predictably, you play as a private eye who finds himself accidentally caught up in a murder mystery and eventually traces things back to a huge sex-trafficking network, run by the high and mighty — with the investigation inevitably putting yourself up to the proverbial moral test. Eventually, the bad guys are exposed and receive their just desserts, the good guys are saved and exonerated (with maybe one or two notable exceptions), but a bitter aftertaste still remains, as in every kind of noir experience. The plot is, therefore, rather generic, as some people observe — nothing much to write home about.
On the technical side, too, the game is far from perfect: not only was it produced in the infancy period of Daz 3D-model based AVNs, but PhillyGames himself was also learning his craft as things went along — which is most obviously noticeable in the quality of animations, consisting of 2-3 basic frames at first and then only very slowly improving in detail and smoothness by the end of the game (he only made a really big leap forward with City Of Broken Dreamers). Static renders also begin by being relatively simplistic, though eventually gaining in detalization. Large parts of the game (again, early on) are entirely without sound, and the selection of musical tracks (mostly by Russian instrumental composer Kai Engel) is very meager. These flaws are all very easy to detect and, unfortunately, they discourage many newer players from properly appreciating the game as their attentions are whisked away to more modern and Daz-zling (sorry) displays of brilliantly animated bouncing boobs and drilling dicks.
But even with all these flaws, Depraved Awakening can be an extremely rewarding experience if you choose to properly immerse yourself into it, rather than just quickly rush through the content in search for the best scenes and the much-coveted harem ending (spoiler: there isn’t one, although some outcomes do give you more ladies than others). Let me try to explain what is the underlying "philosophy" here, because my own response to the game heightened tremendously once my brain headed in that direction — regardless of whether Philly himself intended it to be that way, or just accidentally hit all the right buttons.
So Depraved Awakening is a "noir" experience — dark, disturbing, uncomfortable. The world in it is run by the bad guys, who apparently think that the best thing they can do with their money is acquire and exercise unlimited power over other human beings, preferably of the opposite sex. The game basically paints a universe in which hordes of Jeffrey Epsteins rule the day, immune and unpunishable because they have everybody on their payroll. (It doesn’t really make that much of a difference that all the women in the game are strictly over 18 — that’s just a genre convention). We do not see a whole lot of those scenes, but we do have a taste from time to time (especially if you stumble upon one of several "bad endings", where your character surrenders to the bad guys or even ends up becoming one), and it’s not pretty. One little scene in one of those endings, involving two of the game’s loveliest girls and a double dildo, is almost directly copied from the ending of Requiem For A Dream, for instance, which is all you really need to know about the intensity of the message.
As a lone private investigator with absolutely no one to trust in this world other than the victimized girls themselves, you spend all your time in this seemingly bleak, depressed, utterly hopeless world where evil is completely normalized. Worse, your own morality is hanging on a thread, as the bad guys have their eye on you and make attempts to corrupt you and make you one of "them" starting from the very first chapter. How do you survive and keep your sanity in a situation where the odds are so completely stacked against you? Well, the game has a shocking answer for you here — you keep your morality by formally sacrificing it. "The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it", as Oscar Wilde said.
Of all the different character arcs in the game, the one which some people might find superfluous is the story of Judy — because it’s kind of out there by itself, not directly tied into the main criminal storyline — but actually, it’s the most important part of the game. Judy is made out to be your stepdaughter (or somebody even closer to you, if you apply the lewd patch) — a sweet, caring, 100% innocent (if not tremendously bright) teenage blond beauty with career aspirations in the big city. Since this is a choice-based game, you can, of course, keep your relation with her completely platonic throughout the game, but that’s not really how it’s meant to be played. The «canon» variant is, of course, that through the bad guys’ interference, both of you gradually lose your inhibitions and become more and more interested in exploring the physical aspect of your relationship. Eventually, you realize what is going on — but by then it is too late: like some modern day Tristan and Isolde’s magic potion, the «extra stimulation» did its job, and now father and (step)daughter find out that not only can’t they live without doing all sorts of «depraved» things to each other — but that, in a way, that’s the only thing that supplies meanings to their lives, or, at least, helps them escape from the cruelty, heartlessness, and cynicism of their entire surroundings.
Judy, with her special relationship status and starting out +50 to pure angelic innocence, is simply the clearest example in the game — with all of its visuals, music, and dialog beautifully coordinated so that somehow that pure angelic innocence still remains as a true asset even during the «dirtiest» of her scenes. But the same rule applies to all your other love interests as well — Stella, the rich widow who’s willingly condemned herself to a lifetime of depravity; Carli, the Irish call girl who wants to save her friend even if she knows it’s impossible; Mi-do, the Korean trophy wife who simply wants to be used and degraded by the right guy, not the wrong ones; and Christina, the red-headed vixen of temptation who eventually goes from the dark side back to the light, but is perfectly willing to take the dark side’s sexual arsenal along with her for the ride. (Because, you know, even sweet angels of the light can find their life boring if nobody fucks their holy asses from time to time).
As ridiculous as it may sound, the base philosophy of Depraved Awakening can be easily formulated as follows: beat your evil enemies with their own weapon — in order to defeat their lust for power and humiliation of others, you have to learn to humiliate and degrade yourself (or be humiliated and degraded, in a loving and consensual way, if you are one of the protagonist’s love/lust interests). The game features a separate "depravity meter", meaning that it can be played in two modes — "softer" and more conventionally "romantic", if you stay away from certain actions, or "rougher" and "dirtier", if you embrace them from a get-go. But while this does give you some agency and add some points for replayability value, I’d say that going full-in with the "depravity" is the most realistic way here. Depraved Awakening somehow makes you clean by making you as dirty as possible, if you get what I mean.
I’ll just illustrate this with one example from the game, to make my point stand out clearer. (SPOILER ALERT). In one of the "bad endings", where the detective surrenders to the bad guys and lets them rule the world forever, we see Judy and Christina basically re-enact the "ass to ass" scene from the aforementioned Requiem For A Dream, with a large double dildo, in front of the gawking onlookers — a dark and painful scene, symbolizing their complete and utter spiritual defeat and moral (if not physical) demise. But then in one of the "good" endings, after the bad guys have been taken down (or at least temporarily pacified — remember, this world cannot ever be completely cured of its evils), after the celebratory dinner scene with Judy and Christina, they proceed to play sexy games with the MC — and Christina takes out that very same double dildo, doing more or less the same things with Judy as in the "bad ending", only this time, it’s a show of genuine sexual delight and happiness. This is how you tame and harness the Dark Side to work for the good of humanity, not for taking your own vicious power trips.
This is all very controversial, but that’s how the game works and this is why most of its sex scenes, even with all their technical deficiencies, are among the most intoxicating and hypnotic sex scenes in any 3D games I’ve ever seen. Probably the weakest link is the dialog — Philly is great at thinking up storylines, not so great at coming up with sex dialog that would be more stimulating than the usual "will you be my whore tonight?" and "now I want you to cum deep inside me" clichés — but I can tolerate that as long as I have this mental image of the gorgeous 18-year old (step)daughter deepthroating my cock for the greater good of humanity. It’s an absolutely insane feeling if you let yourself explore it to its depths. If you don’t, well, then, Depraved Awakening will probably just remain another visual novel for you — no better and no worse than the average fare.
Still, it’s not all just about the plot and the careful steering of your sexual energy and emotional response into the same haven of heavenly bliss. On the visual front, Philly may be working with pretty limited assets — standard Daz models, generic backdrops, etc. — but he knows how to make them tick. Most of the girls are gorgeous in their own unique ways, with wonderful combinations of «noble» facial features and dizzying curves. Bodily proportions are exaggerated only for a select few characters (one thing I’ve noticed is that the more genuinely evil a female character gets, the bigger tits she is sporting — apparently, for Philly, the Devil is really in the cleavage). My personal favorites are Judy (who, as I said, is particularly wonderful for preserving that innocent expression on her face until the very final stages of her complex sexual education) and Christina (who is quite obviously modeled and named after Christina Hendricks — if you were a fan of her in Mad Men, this game’s VERY much for you!), but I know Carli, with her somewhat more dominant and mature features, is also very much a fan favorite. The only slight misfire, I think, is bad girl Kira, whose face is a bit too much plastic-doll for my tastes, but there’s plenty of renders that focus more on her tits and ass than facial features, and if that’s what her personality is most adequately represented by, well, that’s fine by me too.
All of this gorgeousness compensates for the sub-standard quality of the animations, and if not, then one more asset that puts things over the top are the music tracks, particularly those by Kai Engel — I almost feel a bit embarrassed for the guy, since, unlike the omnipresent Kevin McLeod, Engel is clearly an aspiring and ambitious composer (the "Modum" piano piece, playing through many of the gentler and more sensual sex scenes, is a modern minimalist masterpiece worthy of Philip Glass, which I never get tired of hearing). Even so, the seriousness of the music lends extra seriousness to the game — there’s this mix of beauty, sadness, hope, and hopelessness which presents a perfect blend to illustrate the "let us save our immortal souls through the cleansing of sexual damnation" overriding theme of the game. Sometimes it makes you cum, and sometimes... it makes you cry. I actually like it when you can’t quite separate the two.
As far as Depraved Awakening’s potential as a "game" is concerned, there’s nothing to write home about: Philly is all about writing stories, not setting up challenges. The simple choice-based system is really about two things only — which girls you are interested in romantically (there will still be 3-4 unskippable scenes with several of them, but mostly you’re free to choose) and whether you want or do not want to go the «fully depraved» route, which adds kinkier / dirtier options, but does not drastically deviate from the more «vanilla» route. Toward the end of the game, you will have to lock in your primary romantic interest — the waifu — which is where it is most advisable to have a permanent save slot (you’ll easily understand where). Other than that, no mini-games, no grinding, no secret renders or anything, very bare-bones, and there’s nothing wrong with that. You do have plenty of agency choices during the sex scenes, though.
Of course, this does not make the game any worse than hundreds of similarly-structured AVNs with weakly engineered player choices — what makes it better than most of them is that when you choose whether or not to enter a romantic / physical relationship with one of the girls, or whether to stick it up her ass or keep it vanilla, it feels as if you’re making an important decision (for yourself or for humanity). Of all the AVNs I’ve played that have some sort of artistic ambitions, Depraved Awakening is probably the only one that taught me something new, and actually made me think on issues of good and evil, moral and immoral, absolute and relative. Even its glorious final scene, which seems to be there only to present you with one final mega-fap session and nothing more, somehow reinforces the message — how, through understanding, unleashing, and harnessing your own "depravity", you can actually "awaken" the love, understanding, and selflessness within yourself. It’s a pretty complex message, and one which should be passed around with extreme care, but I think the game handles it very expertly.
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 19. The Grand Foursome Finale
In the grand finale of Depraved Awakening, our lucky protagonist is finally allowed to reap his final and sweetest rewards. First on the menu is a rough-and-tender scene with Judy at her new apartment, where the little girl gets to show off all of her newly acquired skills.
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 18. A Redhead On The Wild Side
In this chapter, the action largely switches over to the infatigable Christina, who has now been inspired to move on to a literary career...
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 17. Just Don't Know When To Quit
In this chapter, all the bad guys finally get their long overdue comeuppance, and once they all end up dead or safely behind bars and Stella has been put to rest, it is time for things get back to normal...
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 16. The Dragon Gets Her Due
In this chapter, Biff gets another delightful morning surprise from Christina and Judy (even including a bit of cum swapping). Soon afterwards, Christina goes and foolishly gets herself captured by The Dragon, revealing Biff's and Judy's location.
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 15. Long Night Of Non-Stop Passion
In this chapter, as night falls over the city, Biff pays a visit to each of his four protegees - Mi-do, Carli, Christina, and Judy - to bid them farewell before the next day's upcoming denouement.
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 14. Evil Woman, Cuckold Husband
In this chapter, Biff pays a visit to Eric Turner in order to procure a sample of the gang's sex drug. Unexpectedly, he finds himself assisted by Mrs. Turner, who not only gets him the sample but also, being high on the drug herself, fucks his brains out in the detective's most depraved sexual performance so far.
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 13. I Can Be Your Slut, Daddy
In this chapter, Biff and Carli show the compromising photos to Stella and get some important names - right before a bullet from the Dragon's sniper rifle interrupts their investigation and reunites Stella with her husband. Hurrying back to the hospital, Biff finds out that Christina has managed to smuggle Judy out of there just in time, and dashes to her apartment to find both girls safe and sound.
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 12. Sweet Little Angel Or Obedient Sex Toy?
In this chapter, Biff and Carli storm into Sun-woo's office and retrieve Biff's photos of Stella - his chief evidence against Matlock's sex cult.
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 11. This Will Be Burned In Your Memory
In this chapter, Biff narrowly escapes Matlock's hitman in the subway and returns to Carli, whose help he intends to secure for a raid on Sun-woo's office the next day. Before that, however, the detective and Carli have plenty of time to fuck each other like never before...
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 10. Nobody Fucks With The Dragon
In this chapter, while waiting for Judy to recover at the hospital, Biff is updated on the identity of the big-titted bomber - The Dragon, a murderous maniac with a long history of abuse and revenge.
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 9. More Confusing Than Finnegans Wake
In this chapter, Biff takes a depressed Christina out for drinks, where they have a run-in with Lynn, the beautiful sister of Detective Hollis. While the two ladies do not initially take much of a liking to each other, there is nothing a few drinks and a good fuck can't cure - and soon enough, both beauties end up pleasing each other and our MC in a hotter-than-hell threesome.
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 8. Mi-do Gets A New Master
In this chapter, Biff follows the kidnapped Mi-do to Patrick's hideout in the woods, where he finds the poor girl and rescues her from the dirty creep's humiliation and sexual torture. After a tense chase scene in the woods, during which Biff is wounded and Patrick ceases to be a problem for good, the two hole up in a remote motel...
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 7. Kira Goes All The Way
In this chapter, Kira continues to train Biff in the art of depravity by presenting him with the "foreign import" Natalya, a "submissive piece of meat", while at home he is treated to ever increasing affection from Judy.
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 6. Sick Of Being The Good Girl
In this chapter, our MC spies on the ominous "Patrick" as he continues to sexually exploit Sun-woo's gorgeous wife; eventually, Biff whisks Mi-do away from the creep, which makes Patrick go mad and kill Sun-woo.
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 5. Judy's Natural Talent Is Revealed
In this chapter, Biff decides to further grill Mi-do, the Masons' lovely Korean neighbor, on the issue of her husband's potential connections to Awakenings, and witnesses a bizarre scene of Sun-woo trading off his wife for favors.
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 4. Six Tokens For Stella By Starlight
In this chapter, Biff tracks the mysterious Stella to a creepy establishment in the slums, where rich pervy guys apparently congregate to satisfy their dirtiest kinks.
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 3. Kira's Corruption Scheme Starts To Bear Fruit
In this chapter, Judy prepares for her new job at Kira's spa, an odd place where clients seem to be allowed way much more than could be expected of such an establishment. Once there, Judy and Biff are greeted by the gorgeous redhead Christina, who immediately takes a liking to the new girl...
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 2. Daddy's Little Girl Needs Help
In this chapter, Biff discovers that Stella is actually a friend of Carli, the "Irish Slut", and makes an agreement with Carli to track Stella down and help her with her weird problems when the need arises.
Depraved Awakening (by PhillyGames, 2017-2018)
Episode 1. The Irish Slut And The Horny Widow
In the first chapter of Depraved Awakening, we are introduced to Biff Spiff, a private detective, as he is relaxing in the company of the gorgeous Irish escort girl Carli after having completed a case - submitting the photos of a cheating wife to her desperate husband.
DOUBLE HOMEWORK: The Official PatreonGamer Review
Double Homework was the second and last «epic» game from Palmer, the somewhat enigmatic and extraordinary game developer who apparently died before the game was officially completed (so his partners at Love-Joint had to put on the finishing touches before him). Keeping that in mind, my first and foremost recommendation for Double Homework is this — do NOT play it BEFORE having given a try to Palmer’s previous game, Daughter For Dessert. By almost any accounts, Daughter For Dessert is better — or, at least, should go down easier on the beginning player — and if you like it enough, you might want to proceed to its «spiritual sequel», Double Homework; but if you are already frustrated with DfD, I see absolutely no reason why you should ever bother with Double Homework. It is a game that does not at all learn on its creator’s mistakes; instead, it takes his weirdly warped vision to an extreme that only dedicated fans will want to follow.
On a purely technical basis, Double Homework shares all the same flaws as its predecessor. It runs on the same unique Love-Joint game engine, with a slightly embellished interface (for instance, hiding the game control hub now gives you a cutesy little «eye» button to click on rather than the original ugly word «show») but pretty much all of the clumsy features of the original in place — the unbearably lengthy screen transitions, the separate chapters which cannot be played continuously, the cumbersome save system and so on. Apparently, the game was designed to be only played online, so it constantly «uploads» new content which creates tediously unnecessary wait periods every once in a while. Of course, if the intended plan was to prevent piracy of the game, it failed rather miserably (plus, since eventually all of the episodes except for the kinetic epilogues go free anyway, I fail to see what this fuss with the independent game engine was all about).
In terms of visuals, Double Homework also follows the pattern of Daughter For Dessert: most of the action takes place against static backgrounds, with pretty, but predictable cut figures of the characters shifted around the screen. Actual renders, beautiful as they typically are, remain few and far in between, and no animations are provided. There will be long — VERY long — stretches of dialog during which your only visual stimulus will be those well-memorized sprites, and you WILL be tempted to abuse the skip button even if you manage to become engaged in the plot (which is not the easiest thing in the world). There is no voice acting, either, although that may be a good thing (Palmer tried to have stretches of voice acting for his ladies in Daughter For Dessert, but they usually came out flat and lifeless).
Finally, in terms of gameplay Double Homework is generally more like a kinetic novel than an actual choice-based game. In the first several episodes, about 90% of your choices will only result in slightly different dialog flavor, and the other 10% are there only to give you the option to lock yourself out of some sexy content (on the occasion that, for instance, you do not want to romantically pursue anybody other than the two main female characters — whom, on the other hand, you are OBLIGATED to pursue by the plot). Later on, occasional choices become more significant — there will be a couple or so different pathways you can take with your classmates — but never significant enough to let you make that much of an impact on the story. Basically, it’s a single, marginally coherent story here that Palmer wanted to tell, and he is simply taking you for a ride, not even bothering to properly set up any illusions of genuine agency.
Now the story itself. This is probably the main reason why I urge everybody to hold off playing and judging the game before you have given a proper chance to Daughter For Dessert. On a pure and simple level of judgement, next to his previous game — which had a pretty ridiculous story itself — Double Homework represents an even bolder step into the realm of facepalming. More precisely, the story is SO utterly inane that it is almost inconceivable an actual human being wrote it. Taking a bunch of clichés from psychological melodramas, mystery thrillers, and teen sex comedies, Palmer mixes them into a concoction that manages to be unrealistic, over-dramatic, illogical, unfunny, and boring all at the same time. His characters inhabit some sort of parallel universe where entities resembling human beings live according to their own laws, talk their own talk, walk their own walk, and, well, fuck their own fuck, which makes it pretty damn hard to relate to their issues.
It all starts right from the original premise. At least in Daughter For Dessert, the initial setup was clear — you were the owner of a diner and a widowed father living with your daughter, a situation not wholly unimaginable. In Double Homework, you are seemingly a college-aged guy, a professional athlete and skiier training for the Olympics (!), living in an apartment with two of your «friends»... well, obviously the game implies that they are your sisters, otherwise nothing makes any sense at all — the default definition of «friends» (which you can luckily change in the settings) is really only there to sidetrack Patreon censorship. But if you are their brother and they are your cute redheaded sisters, where are your parents? The nature and circumstances of this relationship are never explained; we know absolutely nothing of the MC’s background other than that he is sort of an introverted jock type — a walking contradiction if there ever was one, but there are plenty more like that all over the game.
All three siblings are studying (unclear what) at their local school/college, and two out of three have to take special summer classes because they failed the previous year (it is clear why the MC failed, but never really made clear why Johanna, the brightest of the three, has followed him on the same path). What are these classes? What are they studying? Why do they only have one assigned professor? Palmer never explains any of these details properly; instead, he is too busy channelling us into the inner world of his main character’s thoughts and worries, which, in order of magnitude, seem to be lodged somewhere in between Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Dostoyevsky’s Raskolnikov. That’s not a crime in itself, there is nothing wrong trying to inject a little world-weariness and deep psychology into a porn game. The crime is that deep psychology needs at least some fundamental basis in surrounding reality. At the very least, Raskolnikov did commit a terrible crime; in Double Homework, the author tries to generate psychological tension around the fact that a classmate is trying to blackmail the hero for having wasted hours of his precious time playing video games, instead of saving kittens and caring for little old ladies. And no, it does not get any more serious as things go on.
Sure, there is the issue of some terribly tragic incident that did take place during our hero’s last bout of Olympic training, allegedly ruining his life, inadvertently turning him into an object of other people’s manipulation and ultimately driving him to do unimaginable things with his sexy sisters. But we don’t get to learn the exact details of this drama at the beginning — we just have to accept that it happened and now our protagonist is suffering a mental breakdown — and when we DO learn them, much later in the game... well, let’s just say, pretty much EVERY unexpected plot twist in Double Homework is usually unexpected because we cannot expect a plot twist to be SO utterly moronic. The drama in this game works better as unintentional comedy, except that the humor in the game does not really work, either. There is too much pretense to spectacular psychological writing, and it always fails.
That said, by the end of the game, when logic and sense proceed from getting permanently abused to becoming dismembered and drowned in vats of acid, I found myself strangely resigned, almost willing to give in to Palmer’s new laws of literary gravity. When one of the MC’s potential love interests, the reclusive Twitch-streaming girl Amy, turns out to be the princess daughter of the local royalty, I discovered that I was no longer surprised, just willing to go with the frickin’ flow. After all, every single porn game ever made is absurdist fantasy, it’s just that some, like Double Homework, pretend to be more realistic than others by embracing elements of 19th century literature style. Why not simply admit that Double Homework places you inside an alternate reality after all and just take it as it comes? A reality in which an antagonist such as Dennis is really a threat, not just a sorry spoiled whiner coming up with the most ridiculous schemes ever to spoil your life which, in the real world, could only work on those who have even less intellect than the antagonist?
Thus, if you remember to rewire your brain in accordance with the new rules of «Palmer reality», the story will have an element of intrigue — although no rewiring will be able to excuse the fact that pretty long stretches of the game still have nothing happening, and that it would have been easy to condense it in half and not lose anything of major importance. (Then again, I guess we could press the same charges for a lot of classic literature, especially all those novels originally written on a pay-per-word basis). At the very least, you might get yourself interested enough in playing each new episode just to see where the crazy story is going to take you this time. Also, on a side note, the «last episode recap» sequences by Tamara and Johanna at the beginning of each new chapter are usually quite hilarious.
But, of course, the main point of Double Homework is not the story by itself — it only matters inasmuch as it influences your sexy encounters. And here is the most important thing: this game will probably be endearing to you only if you ever found yourself in a situation somewhat mirroring the protagonist’s — namely, feeling depressed, miserable, guilt-ridden for whatever reasons and fantasizing about one, or two, or a multitude of beautiful, intelligent, quirky, sympathetic girls (maybe even starting with your own sister/s/, if you got ’em) coming along and saving you from your miserable existence. Be it through pleasant conversation, mild flirting, or hot, reckless sex going all the way from a timid handjob to wild anal rides.
This is the one and only thing that Double Homework does really, really well. All of your potential love interests are introduced early on in the game and you are perfectly free to select any number of them, based on your preferences, to slowly deepen (figuratively and literally) your relationship as the game limps along. There is plenty of diversity here — all the girls have different, if rather predictably clichéd, personalities: the Barbie (Lauren), the Rebel (Megan), the Twitch Geek (Amy), the Sports Achiever (Rachel), and, of course, your two sisters are direct opposites in terms of personality as well — gentle and sympathetic Johanna vs. cynical and manipulative Tamara (though deep down inside, naturally, she is just as loving and caring as her younger sibling). And yes, if I were a melancholic, depressed student in some faraway college in some provincial shithole, being surrounded by such an outstanding pack of understanding ladies would definitely be the ultimate blissful fantasy. Particularly since Palmer goes to great lengths to shape their personalities — in the usual manner: first introducing them as stereotypes, then showing us how there’s so much more to them than meets the eye and everything. (I think that poor sweet Johanna is pretty much the only one in the pack who doesn’t really have any noticeable character development).
Unfortunately, while all the girls are good, sweet, nicely rendered and
everything, they still do not reach the same lovable (or fappable, for that
matter) standards as the ones in Daughter
For Dessert. The sex scenes, once you finally get to them, tend to be
shorter than before, and usually represented by smaller numbers of renders, as
if so much of Palmer and Love-Joint’s energy went into crafting their inane
story and long-winded dialog, they just didn’t have any left to give us more
than 4–5 steamy pictures per sex scene. And somehow, while at its best DfD really made me fall in love with
the characters (almost dying for a possible Amanda / Kathy / Heidi / Lily harem
ending), the ladies in Double Homework
are nowhere near as magnetic. Even the spicy, freckled, red-headed sisters feel
a bit lifeless and perfunctory, not to mention everyone else. Maybe it’s the
effect of so much drama — the sex scenes in DfD were often light-hearted and giddy, whereas here the
«seriousness» of the plot presses down so heavily all the time. But maybe it’s
just the relative laziness of the art designers. (Relative, mind you. There is still enough content in the game to
bring you to ecstasy multiple times, if you just let it.)
Still, despite all the badmouthing, I do not regret for one second about playing the game to the end. It helps that my own introverted nature (then again, aren’t most people who play these games probably introverted as heck?) allowed me to at least occasionally identify with the MC, and the fantasy of being brought back to life from near-emotional death by a squad of cute, quirky college girls lining up at your door is a nice one, not to mention that Palmer has (had) his own unique manner of presenting it. It could have been so much better, but so could just about everything. Give it a try — but only, as I already said, if you got your kicks out of Daughter For Dessert first. (Or you can just watch my complete playthrough — there is so little agency in the game that it doesn’t really make much difference whether you press any keys yourself or not, and you’ll save yourself the annoying trouble of «downloading assets» for eternity).
Double Homework (by Palmer, 2019-2022)
Episode 20.3. A Tough Balancing Act For The Rest Of My Lucky Life
In the final episode of Double Homework, our story comes to a close when Alvin understands that, after all that he's been through, the Olympic games are quite far out of his reach - and comes to peace with this realization. In the end, who needs all that sweaty paranoia after having been blessed with the love and devotion of not one, but two gorgeous red-headed sisters, ready to go all the way at their brother's beck and call?