The Allure of Wanton Cove
The Allure of Wanton Cove is a dark tale of horror in the vein of HP Lovecraft and drawing from the same mythos.
You take on the part of a washed up former detective who could never let go of the last terrible case he worked. Content to drink himself to death, his former partner comes knocking, begging for help. Help he is loath to give, but when offered a tantalizing clue that could finally unravel the case that plagues his every waking thought, he accepts, having no idea that the truth he will find is infinitely more terrible than what already haunts him.
If you like the game, please click "Like this game" or make a small pledge over on Patreon, as it gives me some idea of how many people are actually interested in the project!
Patreons:
-Free version of the game includes ALL of the newest content.
-Get access to the Cheat Menu at just $1!
-Get access to WIP art and sketches at $5
-See finalized art, and get access to test builds of the game $10!
-AND you'll hear details about releases and future projects there before anywhere else!
This game includes two builds at any given time:
The Patreon build, which includes the same content as the public build with the exception of a cheat menu in the sidebar that allows you to adjust stats, add money, add taint/depravity/mutation/madness, for the sake of making it easier to explore the game's content.
The Public build which is the most recent content for the game in its entirity.
"Liking" a game is a great way to show an author support, and many of us use it as a way of guaging support for our games. If you enjoy someone's game, take a moment to show a little support for the author, and the game, but clicking "Like this game."
NOTE
Take a second to look at the downloads on the side. Each has a note attached to them. The Public version is free to the public. The Patreon version requires a pledge. Please stop reporting the Patreon version as broken just because you can't be troubled to read the note.
The Allure of Wanton Cove is a dark tale of horror in the vein of HP Lovecraft and drawing from the same mythos.
You take on the part of a washed up former detective who could never let go of the last terrible case he worked. Content to drink himself to death, his former partner comes knocking, begging for help. Help he is loath to give, but when offered a tantalizing clue that could finally unravel the case that plagues his every waking thought, he accepts, having no idea that the truth he will find is infinitely more terrible than what already haunts him.
Not an actual walkthrough, but more how to get the most out of this game:
-Turn the lights out and play this game at night when its dark outside.
-Play some scary music, like a soundtrack from Silent Hill, or let run the ambient sounds from a horror game. Set the music soft so that you can hear it just over the sound of your breathing.
This game features the following:
-Fully customizable character, and how you build him can have significant implications on the game as a whole.
-Playing different styles of characters is rewarded through unlocking different content as you play, meaning that no two playthroughs will ever be quite the same.
-Discover clues that you can follow as you explore side stories that often shed additional insights into the world you find yourself in.
-Explore a corruption ravaged island, experiencing hundreds of scenes, many of which evolve as you learn more about the island.
-Every character has a story. Talk to the people, learn about them, unravel their secrets.
-Not one, but TWO slow transformation mechanics that can over time can completely change your character.
-A system for tracking madness. The terrible things you see will fray your sanity, driving you mad bit by bit.
-A fully implemented combat system with several enemy types, and enemies who will sometimes behave differently each time you encounter them.
-Eighteen different endings to the game to find.
-More than 50 images that range from the erotic to the macabre.
-More than 475,000 words of content, making it a substantial sized project that will likely take you hours to play through.
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Changelog 1.15
*Added one new branching event to the trail. This one introduces a new horror to the island.
*Added the "Strange Plant" to the case notes for reference.
*One new prostitution scene added to the game.
*One new ending added to the game associated with the prostitution.
*Includes the usual assortment of bug fixes, spelling/grammar fixes, and all that fun stuff.
*Changelogs have been changed. We have blind players who play the game using a text reader and their text readers do not read dashes properly all the time, but WILL read asterisks. Short of this somehow breaking the game for other players, all future changelogs in all of our games will use asterisks instead of the dashes that have been used up to this point.
*It has been reported that sometimes Mr Morichi acts like you haven't met Azumi during the ending when you in fact have. I spent a couple of hours trying to find the source of this bug but was unable to locate it. In the end, I made some adjustments that will hopefully resolve the issue.
*Updated "Special Thanks" area with Patrons who pledged at the $10 and up levels. 1/8/19
*Added about 9k words of content to the game bringing the game's total size up to about 477k words of content.
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1.0 Marks the conclusion of the main story through the game. Keep watching though as there are additional tales to be told within the setting, and many improvements planned!
for the first 5 nights the game is ok enough to play, the text can get rather mind-numbing, and the transformation feels shallow and unimpactful, other than that it's pretty enjoyable.
afterward though? not so much. The game throws you from the middle of an investigation into an alternate reality in the span of a few pages, with little explanation as to why. the whole ending scene just seems pointless and drawn out, and the actual endings are jarring to the point of entertaining. for example: you are looking for Tanya, and the very next scene is the MC being a crazed murderer who not only speaks madness, but also wears and acts like a girl despite the MC not accepting their new body
6.5/10, the start is ok and even entertaining at times, but the second half of the game is rushed and unpolished
This game is exactly what it claims to be. It's definitely not disappointing.
Firstly, there's a game ... an adventure game where you have to put in a little bit of effort to get all the plot and exposition.
Secondly, there's Lovecraftian horror.
Thirdly, there's sex, and some kinky stuff ... mainly futa ... despite the Lovecraftian angle, not really much in the way of tentacle sex or weird transformation fetish. There is some, but not as much as you might expect. Whether that's a disappointment or a good thing depends on the player.
And finally, there is a proper ending. It doesn't just run out of content and leave you grinding pointlessly until you get bored and give up. There are also some premature bad ends, which are nicely detailed.
On the plus side, this has well crafted genre ambiance, and there are transformations and horror as promised. The existence of a proper ending is a standout rarity on tfgames. The sex scenes are well written, and overall the writing is of an excellent standard compared to many tfgames.
On the negative side, the sex scenes are surprisingly vanilla for a Lovecraftian horror game. There are many tempting opportunities for sexy bad endings that are passed over. It's short, and it's set up so you get to the end of the game in a very defined way, which can lead to you missing a lot of content if you don't seek it out carefully.
Unfortunately, there are other negatives too. There are plenty of typos, missing linefeeds that jam text together in ways that make you miss options, buggy ending detection, and ways to break mechanics. There are location descriptions or navigation exits that make no sense if you were already there, or came in via an unexpected route. The stat system isn't particularly well balanced and there are too many skills that aren't really needed. There's a combat system and fights, but they are boring and add little value. There are items to use, that have little real value - or none at all. There are inconsistently delivered puzzles.
It's a great as a first "full" release of a game (technically it's V1.15 but what I mean is that this is an unpolished release).
To reach its true potential, it needs to be taken to more of a 2.0 status.
If the bugs and typos were cleaned up, and the navigation and location descriptions fixed so they work properly whether you come from one direction or another... If the NPCs with tempting endings had them added... If the dangling plot threads were explained... If you could get all the NPCs with stuff they always refuse to divulge to actually divulge it... And if the play experience were just overall longer, with more days in the story, this could be a fantastic game.
As it is, it's in need of more polishing. There's a solid skeleton there, but there's a lack of details, balance, bug-fixing, extra choices and options, just a lot more polish is needed to raise it to greatness. Alas, the author has moved onto other things. It's a pity. I wish they'd come back and enrich this game.
Should you play this?
If you like the Lovecraft genre, definitely.
If you like mystery games, also definitely.
If you want really freaky transform sex scenes, it probably doesn't really deliver.
If you want a long slow game with a gradual transform and lots of detail about it, again, it doesn't deliver that.
Despite some flaws, I think this is a very good game, and worthy of attention - but it's not going to be for everyone.
I feel let down with the game, it is very well written, but it feels like no matter what choices i make, I always end up with the same ending, A walkthrough would be nice,
A game, that is really worth your time.
But there doesn't seem to be a changelog of the stuff altered after 1.0, which would be nice to know.
The last time I review this game it was V0.76b. It is now V1.07.
Lets talk about it in general. It is a game, instead of a CYOA or Linear Story, in the standing point of a retired private eye. You started off with zero knowledge of something and the story slowly unfolded. I haven't seen a game in this site putting so much effort into the vibe like this one. I would say that this is the best part of it.
The transformation was a bit mono-railed. Say PE, it went incest, dressing up, hypnosis, with a bit of everything. In TAoWC, it is a straight transformation in pure text and nothing else. There were some other status on the side of the game, but so far only one of them really did anything. That said, this one bit was done extemely well.
There were a lot of minor glitches. The choices were ill formated, missing a line break here or there or having two linebreaks instead of one. The close encounters were boring af. You clicked on the punch him link until someone went down. The author used the same passage going in and out a place. Say you could choice to go forward or go back... on the way in you "go forward" which makes sense. on the way out if you go forward you go back if you go back you go forward... confusing. when you met a lady in the house, you went out and went back in she never saw you before, repeat the whole conversation with you...
The worst part of the game, unlike PE, is that if you want to win the game, if have to try to avoid the erotic part of the game. You need to hold yourself off from the erotic encounters...
That said, the Allure of Wanton Cove is still one of the better made game in the house. Even with all the minor glitches it still shines. Check this one out if you have not already done so.
