"Milk Bound" Anal(ysis)

Game: Milk Bound
By: Sponge Teitoku (すぽんじ帝国)

Completion:
2/3 endings unlocked (Endings A and B)

Acknowledgements

Thank you to user mellonxcollie for the recommendation! I'm seriously curious how you came across this game. (Only 8 Westerners have purchased this game ever...)
---
I understood fuck-all about this game, because it was in Japanese. However, with the help of user evanescence_death4ever and Visual Novel Reader, I was able to piece parts of it together. Thank you eva!

Synopsis

The player stars as Yousuke (Yo-kun), a kid who lives with his parents in an apartment complex. However, it is Golden Week, so his parents are out of town. He is visited by his neighbor, Midori-san, whose husband is also out of town for Golden Week.

They're both lonely and decide to keep each other company. (That's a euphemism for "they fucked a lot.")

Assorted Thoughts

The Developers

Sponge Teitoku is a doujin circle with, as far as I know, three other games. I was going to check them out and apply similar treatment to them, but they seem kind of rape-y, so I'm gonna stay away.

Unfortunately, Sponge Teitoku does not seem to be in business, which is a shame. Not because this game is actually good, but because I strongly support doujin/indie development endeavors. Rest in peace, すぽんじ帝国.

Game Design

One playthrough takes around 2-3 hours of reading, without skipping text. If you fast-forward, one playthrough takes around 3-4 minutes.

There are around 6-9 choices, each with 2-3 options.

As you probably have reasoned thus far, this game contains three endings. I am not totally sure what leads to each ending, but here is what I gleaned about the structure of the game:

* There are choices which have "local consequences": that is, choices which diverge only to provide different H-scenes, but do not have long-term consequences. For example, one of the last choices contains two options: the first option results in a blowjob H-scene, whereas the second option results in a reverse cowgirl H-scene.
* There are choices which do not have short-term consequences, but result in different scenes playing in the long run. For example, if you choose to hold Midori-san's hand during the movie at the beginning, she asks you if you love her towards the end of the game.
* The third ending, Ending C, is extremely difficult to find. I was unable to reach it after several dozen attempts. (I called this the "Steins;Gate" ending --- perfectly straddling the A and B attractor fields)

Three endings gives a bit of variation, but it's not immediately clear to me what choices affect what outcomes. (That is, I don't know what choices lead to Endings A, B, or C). This reduces my sense of agency over the game. However, I am not in a position to criticize the game over this point, since it might have made more sense if I was able to read Japanese.

Regarding reading and config settings, it's pretty par for the course: you can adjust voice, sound effect, and BGM sound settings; you can adjust the text appear speed. One feature which I appreciated, and one which is often missing in doujin games, is the ability to fast-forward through previously read text. This feature is important for games with divergent narratives, since it lets the player know when their choices have resulted in different outcomes, while skipping every scene they have previously seen.

(For example, if I perform one playthrough and then perform an identical playthrough and fast-forward, I skip through the entire game. If I perform one playthrough where I make one different choice, and that choice results in a different scene, the fast-forward stops, indicating that my choice actually mattered.)

Like all eroges, this game contains a CG gallery, so you can walk through memory lane and reminisce about all the different times Midori-san gave you a blowjob.

One thing I appreciated(?) was the option to revisit previously viewed H-scenes from the main menu. I'm not sure if this is a common feature, but it will surely resonate with nukige fans.

So, regarding game design, Milk Bound generally hits all the right notes for an indie eroge production.

Art

Well, Midori-san has huge tits.

It's important to note that while Midori-san actually is a MILF, she is not drawn like a MILF. Instead, she's drawn like an onee-san, which provides a different feeling for the game. (Whether or not that's a good thing depends on your boner type.)

Characters

I can't tell you anything about the protagonist besides the fact that he doesn't know what beef stroganoff is.

Midori-san seems to have the amount of complexity required for a heroine of a cheating game, so I can't really complain. Her husband is away, and she's horny lonely. She seems to have a kind of cute personality though. (I can only partially tell because, you know, I can't totally understand what she's saying.)

The relationship between them is kind of charming, which is not something I would normally expect from a game like this. I can't quite place my finger on it, but I could imagine almost liking this game if the characters were placed in a different scenario.

Sound

The BGM and sound design of this game is pretty standard for a low-budget eroge, except for a few startling exceptions.

The song that plays during the H-scenes feels really... sad and depressing. If that is intentional, kudos to the developers --- I felt it. (This could potentially be intentional, considering that Midori-san is literally cheating on her husband this entire time. It serves well to inspire cognitive dissonance: it's fucking awesome that she's blowing me, but is this really right?)

I don't think it was intentional though.

The other significant scene is where Midori-san gives you a blowjob while Greensleeves (yes, that Greensleeves) plays in the background. Even further, this song actually plays within the storyworld of the game itself, so she is literally giving head while listening to fucking Christmas music.

It's one of the most memorable blowjob scenes I've ever seen. Fucking kudos, Sponge Teitoku.

---

Now, let us turn to the character voices.

Only Midori-san is voiced, which is customary for eroges (that is, the protagonist is usually not voiced).

I don't really know what to say besides she pulls off the onee-san role pretty well. And she put her, uh, all into the H-scene voicing.

Let us discuss the H-scene voice acting.

JESUS FUCK, is she into it. She fucks like a madman. I want to give particular attention to her blowjob acting.

It's revolutionary. It's paradigm-shifting. It's transcendental.

"Slurp slurp, slurp slurp."
--Midori-san, 2008

Midori-san slurps like a starving African child at a watering hole.

This actually raised my standards for what a blowjob could be. If I'm ever being slurped on without vacuum-cleaner-like energy, I will be sorely disappointed.

Conclusions

This game is exactly what you think it is.

If you want a quick fap, go for it, but otherwise this game is not going to be leaving any real lasting impression on you.

Verdict

Pants-off rating: 7/10
Pants-on rating: 3.5/10