garage:VAMP
If you were to ask every person you met what their idea of a happy life meant you’d probably get a pretty wide variety of answers. To some the ideal life is filled with vacations and parties and lots of spontaneity. Others might say that stability is where it’s at, with a cushy job, a quiet home, and a loving family. And then there’s people who might want some combination of those things, or none of those things at all! And the life people want today might not be the life they want tomorrow.
Jonathan thought he had a good grasp on what he wanted out of life. He had a loving wife, a good job, and a quaint home in a small town. Life was perfect. Or at least it was until one fateful night he brought home a mysterious crate due to be delivered to the church the very next morning. That’s when things went sideways, but not necessarily for the worse. garage:VAMP by Hyanmaru Games is a short visual novel all about giving in to deep hidden desires and finding out what fulfillment really means.
This is fairly short as far as visual novels go, but that’s not to say it isn’t packed full to the brim with all manner of kinks, fetishes, and sloppy monster sex. Which is why we landed on a Level 3 for the amount of Adult content you can expect to encounter. Since it’s a VN there is no interactivity or mechanics, but there is still full nudity, full visibility of all sex acts, and sex is the main theme over all. As for the type of adult content in this game we ended up rating it rather high at 75%, not because there is anything violent or intense, but for sheer volume and variety. There are a few instances of dubious or non-enthusiastic consent where the character then has to be brainwashed into (further) agreeing to sex, but for the most part everything is consensual between all parties and no one ever appears to be under duress. There is also NTR (cheating), domination, humiliation, body stretching, monster/half animal/incorporeal partners, and tentacle/tongue use.
Overall the artwork in garage:VAMP was good, and the art style was unique and enjoyable, but it did suffer from inconsistencies from one scene to the next. Everything was drawn very simply without a lot of shading or detail, but it conveyed emotion and intensity very well. With that in mind, I can’t say all of the sex scenes did it for me but of course that’s just personal taste. Though when it came to the music, it was definitely on the lower end of the spectrum of “good but not great”. There were only a few tracks and they unfortunately got repetitive pretty quickly.
While you play the game there are a decent amount of scene changes, especially as the story progresses. Vlad was typically found in a different room of the house every day and then eventually you’ll leave and explore different locals. So there was a nice amount of variety there. As for the sex scenes themselves, they probably take up a solid 80% of what you see in the game, making it more prominent than everything else combined. Meaning if you’re here for the sex, you won’t be disappointed because it's certainly not lacking in that department. There was no voice acting or animations during each of the scenes, but motion was depicted nicely without it by quickly switching between stills. Plus, I really appreciated that Vlad would essentially change forms every single day so it wasn't just the same repeated sex pairing each time. The devs really did a great job of keeping it fresh and interesting.
The dialogue and story is really where garage:VAMP shined the brightest in my opinion. Typically when a story immediately flows into the naughty bits I’m left feeling disappointed because the situation feels forced or cringe, but in this case it was an easy progression that happened because Mina already had these types of desires and Vlad offered the perfect outlet. Sure she was resistant at first because she loved Jonathan and didn’t want to betray him, but once Vlad shows her what he can do she doesn’t hesitate at all. I guess it just all felt more natural, for lack of a better word, and I really appreciated that.
Unfortunately however, this is a completely linear story with no dialogue choices or branching storylines. I say unfortunately because of course more story would be welcome. Vlad really opened up the characters and it would be really fun to be able to see them change in different ways. Also because the story was a straight shot there was no real reason to replay it either.
The only complaint I have would be there is one instance where Jonathan is suddenly referred to as Joseph and until I figured out that it was a spelling error (I’m assuming) I was wildly confused as to what was going on. It’s not really a big deal or anything, but we did have a laugh over it once we finally put two and two together.
You can revisit any of the sex scenes from an unlockable gallery, which is always a welcome feature, especially for us reviewers. And since the story can be completed in just a little over an hour it’s nice to be able to go back through the whirlwind of sexual activity that was jam packed into this short little VN.
The asking price is a paltry five bucks and I think that’s certainly worth it regardless of the length and linear nature of this visual novel. The story is sexy and compelling and well worth the time and money to experience it.
If you would like to unleash your hidden desires with garage:VAMP you can pick it up on Steam.
Have a curiosity for adult themed games, but are wary of what type and level of content they may contain? Use our at-a-glance After Dark Gauges, to quickly see if a game is for you! Check out the After Dark Gauges Primer page, for more information!
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