STORY
While The Keymaster has an interesting promise and the moment-to-moment writing is good, the overall storyline Ptypoe made is questionable. You start off learning you inherited a special artefact from your grandmother and that it grants your certain powers. Over time, these powers are no longer unique to you, which makes the game lose a bit of its appeal. Meanwhile you're world hopping, trying to please women everywhere and preventing egotistical magicians from doing harm to less empowered individuals. If it sounds confusing, that's because it is in the end. After 12 chapters, I am still not clear on what the keystone truly is and what it means.
The characters are written well enough and the game does spend time with a multitude of characters over the chapters. The interactions just don't seem to stand out enough from each other, making meetings with similar characters seem samey and even predictable. Also, we can't skip the Lucy debate - one of the main love interests has an issue where she has trouble attaching to your character. That isn't properly explained until the end of the arc, which feels like needlessly stretching out time just to have extra gameplay. Lucy is also from Ptypoe's other game, The Carnalorean, which you should read about. That piece of lore comes back into this game and it expands on things quite a bit.
As Keymaster, you spend an ungodly amount of time on diplomacy. The game might as well have been called The Diplomaster since our main character really likes to visit places, people and meddle with things. There's a lot to explore and over a dozen characters to meet, so the world Ptypoe has created is very dense and rich. Each world has its own style and cultural uses, which is easily the best part about The Keymaster. If you like traveling to worlds, this is a game you will enjoy.
Each chapter is structured like a full week. Weekdays, Tom goes to school. During the weekend, sister Jessica comes by. Little by little, the schedule changes and other activities are swapped in and added. The game won't often remind you on what day you're on, so it's story-building for the most part. It's a nice addition to balance out the magical stories with the family ones.
Here's something you should absolutely know - while playing this game, I felt the family interactions were cut short. Upon investigating, it turns out there's an 'taboo' patch for this game that unlocks a second mode - family mode. It doesn't change the overall story for the game, but it does impact what you get to see. More on that under 'gameplay'.
By the end of 0.7, you will have completed the Null Stone Arc as Tom figures out his place in the universe and how the people around him relate to that. It gets a bit confusing, but eventually the group manages to handle the storyline without too many repercussions. That too gives off the feeling of little weight to the decisions, sadly. The Keymaster has some great elements in it, but its overall arching story isn't one of them. It's introduced with a lot of fanfare, only to fizzle out and slowly go into a new arc. You might be the keymaster, but that really doesn't matter that much in the end
PRESENTATION
Honestly, the first chapters aren't that stellar to look at. The style seems outdated, but still does a job in conveying a cartoonish reality. Later the renders become a bit more styled, but safe to say you should be a fan of the low detail, cartoon style. For me personally, it worked fine as the developer kept focus on displaying foreign worlds, which kept the game from looking boring. You'll often end up in the same bed though, so there's also a bit of repetition happening within the game. That never bothered me, as the game always keeps its base roots on Earth.
Character designs are good. The doll aesthetic didn't hold developer Ptypoe back from creating memorable human characters like Mallory, Eleanor, Lucy. Not to mention the alien characters - each world has its own aesthetic and the game isn't afraid to mix up characters from different worlds. As human, you often frequent other worlds. But things get really interesting when Tom starts bringing characters to Earth or into different alien realms. The visuals that go with the storytelling are easily the best part of that journey and a highlight of the game.
The Keymaster also doesn't hold back on sexual scenes. Intimate scenes in this game are fairly dry and there are no animations, which didn't bother me at all. While the intimate talk isn't great, some of the scenes display genuine affection between characters, which does give extra value to the intimacy. There are semen shots and a little rough play, so that's a bonus. Love interest Mallory seems to get left out of those mostly, which does give off the feeling that Lucy had most of the developer's interest.
One of the best parts about alien characters is that they interact with each other and if desirable, eventually your family members. Forgetting the story for a minute, there's room for felines, fairies, forest nymphs - all kinds of fun characters to interact with. Sadly it doesn't change the way of having sex much, but it does offer a different visual stimulus. There's also an option for women to go Futanari with a magic spell, which opens a different path of fun for them. Tom isn't allowed to be a part of that fun, however.
Presentation is a bit rough, but overall pretty fun. Places like Aerium and Kariway have distinct aesthetics to them that makes the events stand out. Tolnissa is probably my favorite, although keeping Ce'fora, Ce'dara and Ce'vale can be tough to keep apart if you don't see them often. Luckily, that changed after the Null Stone arc.
GAMEPLAY
Again, there's two versions of the game - 'Travel mode' and 'Family mode'. Make sure you install any taboo modifications so you get the choice at the start of the game. They both open up different scenes in the storyline and lock out other content. That means you'll have to play both versions in order to see all the content.
Family mode will give you the full story between Tom and his family members and is probably the way it's meant to be played. The other mode, 'Travel mode', will let you have extra sexual interactions with alien characters and explore their characters a bit more. While the travel mode had me more interested, this game should just present all the scenes intact. The reason for this forced split is how payment processors handle games, so we won't hold that against the developer. Just know both versions of the game deserve a playthrough.
OVERALL
The first arc of The Keymaster is flawed, but also very promising. A big step up from The Carnaloreon in terms of characters, worldbuilding and visuals. Storywise the theme is handled well, but the pacing and climax ultimately fail to reach heights. You will enjoy The Keymaster if you like seeing different worlds, new races and a lot of dialogue with pleasantries in order to please high-placed people. In the end, it was a fun experience for me.
Rating: 7.5/10
Developer: Ptypoe
