House Party Preview

When you look at adventure games that claim to give you real choice, it generally comes down to a single choice made in a variety of ways, or maybe two choices tops. For a game that has lots of endings, you’re going to be looking at a roguelike. After all, some of those don’t even have endings.

However, if you want an example of a narrative-driven game with multiple choices, you’ll definitely want to look at House Party. Currently in Early Access, House Party is a first person exploration game which sees you attending a party and trying to get laid.

Quite unusually for a game on Steam, you’re not limited to only seeing some nipple and ample bosom. You can censor it, but there is full nudity on by default. Admittedly there are only a few reasons one might want this game, and naked girls is high on that list, but there is a list. A short list which has ‘naked girls’ on three times… come on, it’s a niche game.

Don't worry, streamers, you won't get told off by Twitch (in theory)!

The developer Eek! Games have opened up the game to stories from the playerbase alongside their own growing stories. You simply download Unity and load in the game files, and you can craft your own stories to share with others. Hopefully Steam Workshop support is coming, as currently you need to visit their forums, create an account and browse the threads to find something to download. That’s extra steps the majority of players won’t bother with.

The stories created by Eek! are all interwoven, meaning that you are pretty much stuffed if you want to woo Ashley, but did that little task for Madison, for example. There are six women to convince to undress, and two guys who are unwooable, but everyone has a storyline of their own. Bedding the guys is down as a feature that the devs want to implement, but it’s a while away. You’re also locked in for playing as a man, though playing as a woman is also on the development list.

To get some alone time with someone you will need to say all the right things, do them favours, and complete their story. For four of them you will get sexual favours, the others you might get to see topless. It is possible to seduce more than one in a single playthrough, but as with a roguelike you will want to start from the beginning with your knowledge intact, to experience more outcomes. Maybe you can get the coffee before you need it, for instance.

This is Ashley, perhaps the easiest to get fully undressed

The graphics are pretty good, with some time put into the character models to make them look distinct. Each body is as distinct as the personalities, and it manages to straddle the line between realism and unrealistic. Except the penis -- that looks kinda silly. Hmm, maybe more realistic than I thought…

There are a few issues to be aware of, the main one being that the game requires an internet connection. When you load the game, it downloads the latest stories -- even if it’s the same file as it was half an hour ago. You also can’t load straight into a save game, meaning that you have to load a new game, then load your save game.

The final one is sound. The music is repetitive -- especially if you’re playing it for five hours. I imagine it’s royalty-free, and Eek! doesn’t want to bog the game down with more than placeholder music at the moment, but it can be annoying. However, the voices used for the characters are pretty good. They really add to the personalities.

This is Frank, he's straight edge, which means no alcohol for anyone

Depending on how lucky you are with your choices, whether or not you remember to check if someone is within earshot, and if you can spot things hidden behind doors (HINT!) there is currently about five hours worth of playtime before you have seen everything. It has only just entered Early Access, after being in development since November 2015, so expect updates to come a bit faster.

I’d like to finish by congratulating Eek! for getting an uncensored 3D game on Steam that doesn’t require a patch to unlock. I’ll certainly be interested in watching this game as it develops. In a voyeuristic way, of course.