Material Girl is a Simulation/Management game in where we play as Sakura, a schoolgirl whose funds have been cut off by her parents and must now make money any way she can. Whether that be via working in a bakery, performing odd jobs that people may need done, or prostitution is solely up to you. Being a schoolgirl, she also has a duty to attend class every day, though that too is up to you if you want to be making more cash during that time. You are free to explore the open world map at your leisure as walking does not make time progress, the only time it passes is from accepting a job or class, meaning you’ll never be in a rush. It is a pretty relaxed game all things considered, minus the fact that being female in this world is akin to being a lamb in the lion’s den.
Straight from the tutorial, you’ll get a taste of what you can expect as a teacher feels you up in front of your classmates. Near everyone in this world is a degenerate and will either sexually harass or rape you if you so much as talk to them. It’s best to keep your head down and go directly to where you need to if you plan to get out of this game as a virgin. That is the extent to which you can protect yourself. Being sexually harassed is still inevitable and will happen whether you are on the job or do something as simple as talking to a kid on the playground. If on the other hand, you plan to make money the easy way or simply want to see the lewd scenes in this hentai game, this can be to your advantage. Sakura starts off innocent but getting groped or worse enough times will increase your lewdness stat which opens up new possibilities.
If abuse hentai is not your cup of tea, you would do well to stay far away from this title. There is very little in the way of consensual sex and will be treated as a mere object throughout. Like many of these types of titles on Steam, you will need to download a free uncensor patch which removes the mosaics that are covering the genitals. Exploring the town and finding new opportunities is fun at first until you see everything there is then realize things never change. Everyone will say the same exact things the next day you go to talk to them, nothing new will pop up in the world, and no events will expire so you can take all the time you want. It is important to remember that this is a two dollar title before expecting a breathing, changing world. Way of the Samurai or Shenmue this is not.
To its credit, the streets do change once the sun sets and new NPCs come lurking out. In the cover of darkness is where you can find the highest paying jobs and indulge yourself with more money than you need. How much cash do you need you may be thinking? I have absolutely no idea. It will only alert you that a bill needs to be paid on the day its due and doesn’t even give you an estimate. The management in this is extremely weak, as not knowing how much is due or when completely destroys that aspect of the game. Your only real strategy here is to gather up cash and hope for the best. If you take up a good paying job, you’ve essentially already won since you can spend however many carefree days you need to discover one of the three endings.
A “big” feature of this title is the ability to change your clothes and people treat you accordingly. Well at least in theory, and if “people” means a single character who will lock you out of a job if his preferred costume is not worn. Even walking around naked won’t get a new reaction out of any of the NPCs. What it ultimately comes down to is having to go in the backroom to change before you start your shift, which is immersive I suppose, but not something that improves it in any way. Most jobs do not require any input on your part and plays out a small cutscene before multiple hours suddenly pass. The only gig that demands your attention is as a VR tester where you must avoid being touched by zombies and reach the exit before you get raped by them.
In fact, most of the jobs start off with minor sexual harassment which eventually leads to full on rape. Working is the one place where you can escape the monotony after having fully explored the map and feel like you are living in a Groundhog Day scenario since the same things happen day in day out. Your workplace will be your one escape as things actually progress and new events will occur despite none of them being good for you. Well at least for some time, their plot-lines are rather short and they will eventually reuse the same scenario every day.
As much as I tried to remind myself how cheap this title was, I couldn’t escape the mind-numbing boredom before the first week was almost up. Not helping matters was the terrible English translations that while understandable, do make the sex scenes into something you are more likely to chuckle at than take seriously. Sakura is the only one with a voice actor and she does a pretty good job at getting her emotions across even if you do not speak Japanese. The lewd bits are clearly where they spent most of their effort on and it shows as there are quite a bit of them to see here. They can go on for quite some time with some even being animated. Funny they would undo all of that effort with the terrible translation. Once you see someone say “bubbies,” it’ll be hard not to grin or start to question what you are doing with your life which is unlikely the intended mood they were going for.
Its poor translation into English gives it a comedic effect in some instances and that actually turns out to be a good thing since this game is a bit too serious with its rapey premise most of the time. There are some things to work towards such as buying a million Yen dress to finally be let into a host club or finding some way to get into a fancy mansion. As long as you don’t stumble into one of the three game-ending scenarios, you will have all the time you need to discover all there is to this title. Material Girl is ultimately a title meant for those seeking hentai more so than a game to play. There is fun to be had initially but that soon dissipates with the only motivation to trek forward being more lewd scenes. If that sounds up your alley Material Girl does pack quite a bit of content in that department as long as you can put up with the boredom in between.
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