Picture Perfect

Midplayz
Aug 8, 2022
4 min read

Updated: Feb 15

Nobody is perfect

I have played and reviewed a few VNs before. This one doesn’t stand out. I don’t know why but most of the indie NSFW VNs are scarily similar. Similar UIs, plots, and sometimes even similar characters. The only VN which stood out in particular was Being a DIK, since it was pretty long and had unique elements in the gameplay that the other games in the same genre don’t offer. I recommend checking that game out. I reviewed Season 1 & Season 2 of that game!

About This Game

Storyline

As I always mention, the storyline of a VN is one of the two main pillars the game has. If it’s shitty, then the game is pretty pointless to play. So, does this game have the perfect storyline that makes it worthwhile for at least one playthrough? Well, all I can say is that the plot is decent. It’s not unique in any way and has a lot of cliche moments.

Right now, the game allows you to choose the relationship between the main protagonist and the main females involved. But this feature wasn’t available when the game first came out. The Protagonist was the Father and the two main females are his daughters. But incest isn’t morally okay and that’s why they now allow you to choose the relationship. By default, the MC is the landlord, and the girls are his tenants.

So, what’s the issue with the change in the relationship between the characters? The story was initially tailored with the family relationship in mind. So, when they introduced the feature where you are given the freedom to choose the relationship, the plotline remained the same. I mean, I understand that remaking the plot is a tedious and time-consuming job, but they could’ve tried at least.

The game’s story goes something like this:

The main character is allegedly a photographer. He shares a house with 2 other females, a 20-year old named Sasha and a 22-year old named Paris. Their mother abandoned them and it was always up to you to look after them. You’re now facing the danger of losing your house. It’s up to you to make major decisions to reverse this ill-fate of the MC while having some fun on the way. ;)

So yeah, the story doesn’t sound very sex-centered. I mean, the actual sexual scenes come way later in the game. I think they wanted to focus on the base story rather than the lewdness the game is expected to showcase. This is a pretty bold move since it requires the game’s plot to be actually good so that the players actually stay. I guess the story barely fits the requirements. At least it piqued my interest a bit.

The final major thing left in this game are the choices you get to make. Yes, your choices have a huge impact that affects your intimate relationships with the characters. You can either choose to be a pervy and carefree person or a serious and strict one. The choices you make directly affect the ending you will get! This basically adds to the replayability rate since you can replay the game to choose the other choice and see how the game progresses.

Gameplay Mechanics

Gameplay Mechanics? Well, there’s not a lot. The overall gameplay is similar to watching a slideshow. Just click a key to proceed to the next slide & if you want to revisit a scene, you can easily "scroll" back. It literally has the same mechanics that almost every game in this genre possesses.

Yes, you can save the game. But it would be pretty cool if there was an Auto-Save feature that automatically (duhh) saves the game every few seconds/minutes in one of the save slots. I find it quite annoying to manually save the game whenever I remember that I didn’t save it yet.

Instead of making a separate segment for the DLC this game has, I decided to mention it here since the game offers only one downloadable content. So, this DLC is labelled "Picture Perfect - The Walkthrough 0.9". No, I don’t know what the 0.9 stands for. As the name states, it’s nothing but a walkthrough for the entire game. I didn’t try it out but from what I’ve seen and heard, it gives you access to a pdf file that contains information on the consequences of the choices you make. I don’t know if it’s really useful unless you’re an achievement hunter/farmer.

Visuals & Audio

This segment is the second most important aspect of VNs. Yes, I love how detailed the characters were and they looked really good. Every intimate scene was well made. It would’ve been cooler if they threw in a few animated scenes like most of the VNs do.

Onto the aural part of the game. The background soundtracks they used were pretty good. But I felt they were sudden. Basically, the game would be quiet for a while, then, all of a sudden, loud music starts playing. The transition between songs and when the song ends aren’t smooth either. They could make it so that they fade in and out rather than suddenly jump in. It would be pretty cool if there was actual narration by a person instead of using a "Text-to-Speech" thing to read out the text. Well, an AI narration is better than no narration at all.

Pros

A decent storyline.
The character models are really well made. They are very detailed.
You get to make choices that actually have an impact.
The type of relationship between the main characters is left up to you.
Since the game has choices, this means that the game comprises multiple endings which adds to the re-playability factor.

Cons

I was not a big fan of the sound design.
Would be cool if there was an auto-save feature.
The game lacks animated scenes.

Conclusion

Exploring different genres has always been something that I find amusing. VNs are really not my cup of tea but I play them anyways. Picture Perfect doesn’t stand out from most of its competition as it comprises the most generic VN elements. I mean, it is worth giving the game a shot if you’re into similar games. Is it worth its base price? I wouldn’t pay 12.5 euros for a VN. I recommend waiting for a sale.

Rating: 8/10

Sasha is pretty attractive. 0.0