Under Control Review

 

Title: Under Control

Release date: 2021-09-28

Developer & publisher: Higurashika

It takes a very special game to be banned from the den of scum and villainy that is F95Zone, and any title that manages to achieve that should carry it as a badge of honour. "Under Control" is just such a title, which probably deserves to be checked out.

Unlike many games available on the crowdfunding platforms, UC does not use the rendered 3D imagery - instead the game is wholly composed of live images and videos taken from various porn sites and movies. When you decide to create your game piecemeal from various resources available on the internet, you invariably run into a continuity issue, where not every visual portrayal of your characters is consistent, due to possibly using multiple different actors and actresses to represent them. "Under Control" is certainly no exception, as the developer Higurashika didn't even try to keep the continuity intact, instead the dev did a different thing. They threw as many varied fetishistic acts into the cauldron as possible, in the hopes the readers won't even care about the visual continuity if they can experience so many different sex acts within the same story. Ultimately, it does work. I don't know of another visual novel with such a wide range of fetishes within the same package, which makes UC kinda unique. It is also for this reason that the game got its banhammer on F95.

Some anvils need to be dropped.

One of the rules the aforementioned site has in place is "No actual bestiality". It's okay if the bestiality is drawn or rendered, but the images of actual people having sex with animals, as is presented in this game, is a huge no no there. Higurashika had provided a sanitized version specifically for the F95, which removed the offending imagery, but they decided to ban them anyway. Oh, well, their loss.

So, what is this game about? Well, in essence UC is a pure nukige. It barely has a plot, though the initial setup is this: Our protagonist Vasilisa's mother Ekaterina has been fired from her teaching job after having been found sucking off one of her students. That naturally puts some strain on the large family, until they get an invitation to attend (and for Ekaterina to teach at) a mysterious St. Johnes college. Once there it becomes clear that the college runs a social experiment in order to make the students unlearn all the negative stigmas associated with sex and sexual behaviour. The college founders believe that there is nothing wrong and shameful with any kind of filthy and nasty sex, as long as everyone is consenting. So incest, BDSM, scat, bestiality and other kinds of sexual perversions are just around the corner, and the students do not need to search far to have some gay time. The experimentation with drugs, alcohol and smoking is also permitted, and the students are free to do whatever they want outside of their classes.

Let's race to raceplay.

It's obvious the game tries a bit of social messaging that shame regarding sex is learned, rather than innate, and the humanity would be much happier if the damaging stigma would be expunged from the society, however the message is somewhat lost, as ultimately the game is a nukige, and all the sex simply drowns any attempts at the plot. The game is basically 100 percent linear, and the only choices Vasilisa makes are if she wants to indulge in a certain fetish or not. There are no consequences to the said choices, and some scenes might simply get skipped if you decide not to indulge. It took me 13 hours to finish the game while indulging in every fetish, but I suppose it would end up shorter if you decide to say "no" to everything.

Just some girl bonding.

In my playthrough, my Vasilisa was extremely submissive, so I was curious if the story would change any, if I decide to make more assertive and dominant choices. To my disappointment there was literally no difference, except for maybe five or so sentences that somewhat differed. Moreover, Vasilisa can get pregnant from four different partners during the game, however that doesn't appear to have any difference regarding the plot either. As I said, the game is almost completely linear, and while usually I don't dislike linear games, in this case, I believe the developer missed the spot. As an extreme nukige, UC is just begging for different story branches, and the dominant vs submissive status, or the pregnancy partner could have influenced unique story branches, and made the game replayable, while now there is absolutely no reason to replay it once you have finished it. Sooth be told, the game does feature two different endings, as in the end Vasilisa can choose to either stay at the college or leave it, but can it even be considered a different ending, if the game ends immediately after making the choice?

All natural face cream.

You might have noticed I haven't mentioned a single thing about the protagonist or the characters, but that is because they do not really have a personality beyond "they are perverts" and "they like nasty filthy sex". Vasilisa, her extended family (mother, three sisters and a brother), and every character in the college think with their genitals and do not engage in any deeper procrastination. This is not that kind of game, which makes it a bit of a disappointment. UC is interesting as a veritable kitchen sink of sexual activities, but I must admit that by the end I was becoming bored with all the sex, and a lack of any meaningful plot.

Additionally, the game spends a lot of time depicting incestuous couplings, which is not my favourite fetish, and I was much more engaged when it veered into BDSM, scat, bestiality, and other much more wholesome fetishes.

The true meaning of "nailing the slut".

In the end, the game is interesting as an experimental piece that crams as many sexual acts as possible into a single game, but it lacks substance, and the ending is extremely rushed and unsatisfying. Moreover, there is absolutely no payoff for what we do during the story. Higurashika is currently making "Under Control 2", which is actually a prequel to UC, and from what I have seen it's slightly influenced by "Resident Evil VIII", though I'm not sure if the developer has learned from the mistakes made during the creation of the first game.

Finally, I want to mention that the developer is Russian, and while their English is certainly better than that of many other RU developer's on Patreon, it's still frequently pretty wonky, which results is surreal dialogues and strange turns of thought from the characters, thus giving the impression the scenario was written while the author was high. Actually, I don't discount the possibility the author was high while writing this; and the surreal dialogues actually add to the the game, rather than distracting from it... So, good job?

Links of Interest

Visual Novel Database

Developer's Patreon account

Get the game on Itch.io

Final Verdict: 59%