HTML - Blue Swallow [v0.5F Hotfix 3] [Blue Swallow]

Well, this feels kind of like a Deja-Vu, but here goes.

The game has TONS of potential. The writing is solid, the developers seem to be very dedicated, and the premise of the game is still as fascinating as it was when "the game that shall not be named" was released 5/6? years ago.

Unfortunately playing the game has been mostly a frustrating experience for me. Apparently it is intentional that you play "blind", meaning stats are hidden and you just have to follow your gut. While I absolutely understand the intention and appeal behind this idea, the execution imo is really flawed.
I was utterly lost. I had absolutely no idea what kind of MC I was playing. You can try to play a certain type of character, but chances are you are going down a completely different path without even knowing. On top of that, many paths have VERY strict conditions that make it nearly impossible to find them without looking a the code (which should definitely not be something required of the player).
Combined with the plethora of choices, playing this game can turn in an absolute nightmare.
Also, there appear to be many bugs or the amount of choices is simply so overwhelming that it's impossible to represent them accordingly, but I had several immersion-breaking situations where I thought: "This can't be right."
Last but not least: We are still in the prologue part, how the actual game will play is still a mystery.

This game is basically basically a what if scenario where a project possesses all the great qualities that one looks for in a NSFW text based game. The writing quality is terrific, with the UI alone being a great indicator for the passion and effort put into this project.

Unlike other projects where the how well you progress in a story is mostly an illusion draped into the flavor text alone, in Blue Swallow your choices and actions truly bring fast and tangible results that reinforces your player agency.

The above mentioned factor greatly reduces the friction in creating a new character or starting a new play through as each runs feel fresh and unique, unlike the repetition and railroaded starts prone to this genre of games.

Seeing the Dev's posts gives me hope that they are grounded in the same reality of us players. They sharing the same frustrations and criticisms we all have experienced with other projects who guzzle funding with little nothing to show for it.

Interesting start. I wish there would be more games like this.. and if there are I have totally missed them... I personally would have wanted more "choices to advance moments" but this was really entertaining and enjoyable.

Game version reviewed: 0.4P Public

I like this game. The writing is believable and good, and the transition within and between scenes are fluid. Overall, the narrative could do more with developing side characters or at least introducing them with a bit more substance. It occasionally feels segmented.

This is the game that female agent once promised to be but has completely deviated from.

8/10 Writing, with solid update schedule and good content makes it a 10/10.

Can easily become a top 10 fav.

Choices seem to have actual different paths which is great, and developer is pretty on top of handling updates and bugs.

Much better than a certain other game that reset it self every 3 months, and only adds 10k words in a update, when a bloody webnovel will update 1-2k words a day straight for 3-4 years. SMH

Almost 6 months since posting and still no sign of the spy component of this story. This is already appearing to be one of those overly-bloated games which is going to take forever to reach any significant level of progress. There's also the plethora of choices given to the player which do seem to have impact (so far) which will likely slow the development down even further than it already is due to having to account for so many variables. On a less objective note, I don't understand and dislike the character development system. I made every choice to shape this character into a totally horny slut, yet she still refused some sex scenes in Africa, despite the implication that it's possible. It doesn't make sense to me at all, and just frustrating given how many choices I have to keep tweeking to try and get my desired result. Ultimate conclusion, game has too much going on and too little control. Based on the description and comments in the thread from the developer this might be what they're trying to convey with their game, but I don't see it having much appeal beyond a niche audience.

Nice game.The various possible routes and influences on the protagonist's personality make the game very interesting. I hope that soon it will be possible to use the skills acquired during the game and that more images will also be added.

This has great potential.

Pros:
- Good update schedule. It has made a lot of progress in a short time!
- Lots of choices. Can pursue a lot of routes. But it's unclear how many of them are truly meaningful.
- Good amount of text. Enough to build the scene but not a wall of text.

Points to improve:
- The avatar kind of sucks and malfunctions a lot. That needs fixing bc it breaks the immersion.
- Replay value is lower than it should be due to how clunky the start is. The opening is fun the first two times you play it. But it would be great to have an "accelerated start" option to just pick the key attributes and get going.

Keep up the good work!

For v0.3.2P
A text-based game with a female protagonist and some paperdoll and scene art. You set up some genetic factors and customize your character and story by selecting behavior and activities at certain milestones (i.e. childhood, highschool, college).

I liked the aesthetic, the *idea* of the mechanics, and the variety of character origin/personality/archetype customization.

The cons for me were that consequential choices were unclear about their outcomes (maybe I was playing it wrong, but I never ended up with the character I was specifically trying to make/be) and, this is primarily a "me issue," but I'm not into games that force hookups on me. All of my playthroughs had trysts either done as cut-to scenes or injected into my character history with no opting in on my part.

Giving it 3 stars, since 2 seems too low, even if I ultimately didn't care for it.

There are a lot of what seem like choices, but if you go against what the base storyline seems to be, eventually you'll just get railroaded into the same final plot point.


A kinetic novel is fine, a kinetic novel with some options is also fine, a kinetic novel pretending to be fully choice driven while constantly trying to railroad you (and eventually, just taking away your choice in the matter and doing it anyway)--- not so fine. Why make me choose 100 different things, if the end result is basically the same narrative?

Just go kinetic and spend less effort on adding superfluous layers to the onion, and more on focusing on the linear story you truly want to tell. This was, in fact, the same exact flaw in the other game that's like this. A bunch of fluff choices that didn't actually change the narrative whatsoever a few pages later.

Well, shamelessly stolen idea, but since it brings back just the part of the original game that was lost there, it fills a long-lost gap brilliantly.

I'm just curious if they'll continue to just steal the ideas or if it will develop into an independent game.
That's also what makes it so hard to give a reasonable rating here. In the end, however, I decided on 4 stars.

As some have already said, it's a robust character creator at this point. And when I say robust I mean the most detailed and intricate i've ever seen. Giving you as many as ten options to describe things like personality traits and background. Will it all mean something down the line? I respect the devs mad dedication to be so thorough but did find myself just clicking through. hoping to arrive at something that felt like a game.

Beyond that, the paper doll avatar is a nice amenity. In the actual game though, there needs to be more pics and gifs. If you love detective, spy games though you probably want to support this.

very good game, highly recommend. Can't help but feel it was inspired by female agent. If thats the case, i genuinely hope the creator has the discipline to keep a consistent update schedule and stick to the original vision

The game is still in its early release. The quality is top-notch, from the customization, to the "lore", to the graphics. I hope it will be continued. It has the vibe of the early "Female Agent", but so far I'm actually preferring this version.

I really appreciate the amount of effort the dev has put into the storytelling, but something about it just feels off. Most of the time I have to read a line more than twice to know what that line is saying. It just seems that perhaps the writing is not as clever as it was in the writer's mind. Other than that, so far I enjoy the premise and the core mechanics of the game.

Another game design that shows some promise but starts in the wrong place and ends up being just a soap opera about a girl growing up and doing nothing at all interesting. The fact that saves don't carry over just means that a player will have to re-live the entire boring life over and over with each iteration, never getting (yet) to anything interesting.

The problem here is the problem that 90+% of devs make: they want to create an action game, but decide to start it in the most boring place possible, hoping that fans don't drop below critical mass before the devs ever get to the game they actually wanted to make.

The devs would be better off if they just dropped the whole life story part until the meat of the game - the spying - was established and player had a reason to care about the choices in the life story. It's not too late, but I am not hopeful.

Its a bit hard to make a review about an unfinished project (0.3B), thats why i wont give any points to different aspects, instead try to word it, but anyway, here we go

i think the grammar is more than fine compared to some or most games, but still understandable even for not a native english speaker, and because its a text based game i think this is an important point (they also try make it as much enjoyable for not fans of this genre as possible, with choiches, pictures and kinetic text flow, instead just reading walls of text)
sex scenes are well written as well, there are some quit different, however you can find reused scenes with different persons

the character creation is uniqe enough, with quit a lot of option, even playing with genetics and how some stuff or aspect in life can determine others... however, its far from clear sometimes (even if i understand the narrative aspect, i hope later the stat system will be visible, because it can be frustrating if u want to reach something, and no matter how many times you try it, still cant reach it, because its not clear what you should change) but it surely gives you an oppurtunity to replay

about the story, lets say its decent or interesting so far, with great possibilities ... i mean we get the instructions for now, the past...but how the actual story will look, the present... its hard to say
with 0.3 you will get some ideas, how the stats will influence things further, but there are still some question marks, because its still part of the character creation

about kinks... so far, its not much what i found... there are more like hints, what can come in the future

visually... well its a text based game, you get a pixel image about you character, and nearly thats all, its still more then in same other, but not much to tell about yet, but they planning to add more stuff, as i read

i really think, this is already a really good experience, with possibilities to become a really really good game, lets hope it stays on the right path

Very intriguing storytelling. It is clear the developer has serious writing talents. Though the graphics are lacking, dialogue is interesting and complex. Great to see more games in this genre now that the update frequency of Female Agent is moving at a glacial pace.

Ridiculously rich story, and while it doesn't have all that much in the way of art yet, what art it does have through the paperdoll system fits perfectly.

Sex is (relatively) limited in this set up phase, but there's a good amount of tillation and at least a few distinct scenes.

Hidden Gem in the making
Version v0.2

Has a great potential hopefully it won't get abandoned.
Absolutely love the ammount of decisions hopefully most of them are meaningful. (It seems that way so far.)

The UI can be a bit schizo at times. Switching between three different decision making systems. (buttons, rotating options on-click, dropdown menus)
However I shan't complain because it still kind of works.

I can happily say that I am looking forward to future updates.