SexNote

Man, was I excited to check out SexNote! It was the title that caught my eye, and I thought to myself, “I wonder if this is based on the anime,” and while it is not exactly a full-on lewd parody of that, you can tell that it is clearly inspired by it. I put a lot of time into this, and while I will admit that it does have a few quirks that may grind some people's gears, I ended up having a really fun time with this and think that with just a few quality of life improvements, this could go from being a good game to one that I would say is pretty darn great.

Give A Hoot, Read A Book

The title of SexNote made me think of Death Note, which is one of my favorite anime series of all time, by the way, remember when Jump Force made us think Ryuk and Light were going to be a major part of that? Anyway, the story here is about a normal young man who is shy around women, due to having two moms and a hot stepsister that he lives with. One day, a strange book lands in front of him, and it was sent by a demon called Brixxida, and this book gives him magical powers… magical powers that I am pretty sure by now you figured out he is going to use to have sex! The story has a great premise, but the translation is a tad off in some places. Still, I thought that it was pretty fun, and I did have a good time seeing it all unfold.

Any Chance I Could Borrow This Book?

Usually, here I would talk about the gameplay, but the visuals in SexNote are so awesome, I had to get to them right away. To say that the artwork in this game clicked with me is a massive understatement. They have gone for a kind of cartoon style here, and it looks awesome. I love how the ladies in this world are all thick with massive exaggerated boobs! I also love how even when they are clothed, they look very sexy. The artist here (even if they did have a helping hand from AI) did a great job with the ladies in this game. There is some animation in the game, too, and while it works and it is better than nothing, I do wish that the sex scenes had more frames of animation in them. To be fair, I do feel like I am nitpicking here a tad.

Making It All Work

When it comes to the gameplay of SexNote, what we have going on here is a mixture of a lewd sandbox adventure game and a lewd visual novel. I have heard some say that they feel this leans more on the side of being a lewd visual novel, but I strongly disagree with that, as there are actual tasks, clicking around different areas, and so on that you need to do. There is a lot of character interactions here as you get to know characters better, and I felt that there was a decent selection of characters, both good ones and even a few bad ones too. The game does progress at a rather slow rate, but I did manage to figure it out and work through it. To be honest, I think a huge part of the reason I was able to deal with the style of the game was that I loved the visuals so much, and I thought that the premise of the story was a ton of fun.

Hey Brixxada, Make It A Little Easier Would Ya!

I am more than familiar with lewd sandbox games and how some of them can be a tad on the cryptic side, and sadly, SexNote does fall into this category. Like many other games in this genre, you have to go to certain places at a certain time or speak to a certain character at a particular time. The thing is, this game gives you around three time zones to do stuff in a day, but sometimes, a morning task will take a whole day! It is also possible to lock yourself out of certain roots by doing something out of order. The game feels like it would be so much better if it were actually more linear and gave the player a nudge in the right direction. There is way too much hoping for the best here. I managed to get through it, but I can see why some would lose interest.

Pros:

• I loved the Death Note style of the story
• There are so many great-looking ladies
• The butt plug scene is epic!
• They have come up with an interesting idea here

Cons:

• The gameplay can be very frustrating
• It is hard to know what to do and when to do it

It wouldn't take a genius to get the gist of what SexNote is all about. It is an NSFW point-and-click adventure that does not so much tell a story as a visual novel would. But incorporates sandbox elements to leave it open to player interpretation. It goes without saying that SexNote is definitely an 18+ game, and for that reason - it's inaccessible on major platforms.

Reviewing these games needs to take a degree of impartiality given the immediate division of opinion from the player base. One would see it as a cheap porn game designed to be a simple cash cow. Others would dive into it as an art form offering critical analysis on the gameplay, visuals, and narrative. Our curious minds will be taking the latter view, no matter how to taboo the content.

Far From A Cinderella Story

Before you jump into the peculiar dating world of SexNote, there is somewhat of a narrative to get your head around. You are a player living with adoptive mothers and stepsisters, setting the scene already for sexual exploits. Why you got in this position, who knows - but players advocates of the genre wouldn't particularly care.

Here's the part where we get a kick out of - the gameplay. Your mission is to restore magic into the world by having lots of sex. Yep, that's right. It's up to the player to overcome shyness and bring the universe out of darkness by plowing every girl you meet and greet, wine and dine. No matter how trivial the premise, it does set up a fascinating set of mechanics.

You'll be blessed with a bunch of spells by the SexNote goddess to help woo your ladies into sexual congress. As you navigate the story, you'll be presented with the opportunity to upgrade those skills to overcome the more challenging dates, so to speak. It could play better than it does, but unfortunately, the lazy interface and bizarre visuals don't do the game much justice.

SexNote feels like a game derived from one of those infographic cartoons, only with a few buttons to make the 'magic' happen. It's not particularly creative and plays like just another adult game. However, we'll give it that the story does tend to have its captivating moments. If it's not the sex you're interested in, it's at least intriguing in the narrative.

Signed, Sucked, Delivered

SexNote is easiest described as another straightforward, mildly satisfying game that players would probably get a kick out of for about 45-minutes. It seemed like it had good ideas, but delivery only makes it come off as cheap and sleazy. If you're looking for a more complete adult game experience, you're better looking elsewhere.

Pros:

• An intriguing storyline that does maintain player interest
• Unique sandbox skill system for a point-and-click
• Some humorous moments, whether intended or not

Cons:

• Mechanics feel lazy in almost every aspect
• Players will lose interest fairly quickly
• Music gets annoying

If you even follow anime slightly and can only name the big hitters, you’ll probably know the concept of Death Note. Basically, a boy discovers a book that if he writes someone’s name in, causes them to die. Well, what if someone were to take that concept and loosely base an adult-themed game around the magic of an enchanted book. You’ll be happy to hear that someone already has, its called SexNote rather predictably and it’s a game that lets you live your sexual fantasies through the power of a hardback book.

Point and Flick

The gameplay featured in this title is mainly narrative-driven. The player will have a mini-map to navigate, various environments to explore through point and click mechanics and a number of characters to interact with. This will take up the main bulk of your time as you will need to develop relationships with these people, talk to them regularly, make hard decisions and when the time is right, make your move.

There are also some rather unconventional additions to this game that is seldom seen in other titles within the genre. The most obvious being the spell system that allows you to seal the deal with a number of characters. Then there is also a monetary aspect to the game, a refined dating system to the game and a day/night cycle. Though that last one is a little bit generous.

Incongruent Visuals

The art style is a real low point for this game. While it’s not exactly awful as an art direction, when compared to other titles, even the animated or cel-shaded counterparts, this one looks unfinished or rough around the edges. The character models look out of place against the more refined backgrounds, the proportions are off, and not just on the boobs, the textures are inconsistent and overall, the game looks like nothing more than a mid-2000’s flash game at best.

Generic UI

The overall design and user interface for this title also seems to be a little uninspired. Yes, the game is quite accessible for players to pick up and play and the controls are about as rudimentary as they come. I guess the real criticism is that the design feels like a carbon copy of its predecessors with similar point and click mechanics and minimap navigation. It feels lazy but on the plus side, it all functions fine.

More Like Sick Note

Cons

• However, thanks to a lack of cohesion with the art direction, the lazy UI and the lack of innovation, this one becomes just another mediocre point and click adult game for the pile

Pros

• For avid fans, you may get a kick out of the monetary mechanics, the decent storyline or the interesting spell system but otherwise, we would say that this one isn’t worth your time, so invest it elsewhere