STORY
While the story was a pretty strong suit in the first two games, in ‘Long Road Home’ Emi seems to change her behavior little by little. Remember the cute, blonde girl who came home from college and crashed by her former best friend to have new adventures? A landlady is mentioned who never shows up in game and pretty soon, you realize landlady means mother. Their mother, which makes Jamie and Emi siblings having fun together. Long gone are the days of the ‘childhood friend’, Emi is now Jamie’s sister - egging him on about pregnancy after getting funny with him.
The plot revolves around Emi & Jamie leaving town to go see their mother, but not before having a road trip adventure. They stop by clothing stores, diners, gas stations and such while getting themselves into different kinds of situations. That’s actually not the weird part, because Emi repeatedly eggs Jamie for all kinds of sexual defiance and gets naggy when he doesn’t comply. It borders on grooming him to tag along for her own fetishized pleasures. It’s never out of tone, but Emi just isn’t the woman we knew her to be anymore.
Besides Emi, the game offers a few moments to have fun - but the main character of this game will claim up her right to abuse Jamie. She even openly discusses Jamie’s interest for older women and if that doesn’t translate back to their mother. Before the end of the game, they reconcile in their own special way before setting Emi off to the cabin her mother is in.
Claims have been made that Emi is set to show up in ‘The Cabin’, a different game by this developer, where she will become a love interest. This would set up a curious story, because Emi told Jamie she saved herself for him after all those years. Make of that what you will.
PRESENTATION
‘Long Road Home’ looks as good as all of the games do. Emi looks great and most of the renders have a comical, but detailed look to them. You can clearly tell Emi’s grown by the way she dresses now. All the locations look believable and well-furnished, even the car scenes have their specific charm.
There are two major intimate scenes with Emi and an additional one which I won’t spoil, and all look pretty good with animations and sound. The outfits looks good and while most of the game plays out in small rooms, there is enough variety to enjoy throughout the game’s length.
GAMEPLAY
The game is a Kinetic VN, but does allow you several choices that impact how scenes play out. You can input custom titles for Emi and Landlady - just fill in ‘sister’ and ‘mother’ to make the story make sense again. There’s a small game in the middle which you have to play with Emi in order to win from her - that just relies on trial and error. Make sure to save often before you head into the car.
OVERALL
Long Road Home is an okay game with good graphics, but the writing definitely took a hit from the previous two installments. Emi’s changed behavior doesn’t bode well for the series, but could still prove to be interesting if she actually develops a public play kink. The story gives the feeling that Emi is manipulating her brother James and that directly destroys the illusion of the first game. It’s an unexpected turn, but is it better than having Emi by your side? I doubt it.
Rating: 6/10
Developer: Cellstudios
