Developer: Artdecade
Publisher: Artdecade
Platform: PC – itch.io

As a fan of visual novels, I’m more than pleased to see how they’ve gained so much acceptance in the past few years. Even so, eroge titles tend to continue slipping under the radar instead of getting much recognition. However, it appears itch.io may become a method for indies to distribute them! The first I’ve seen on the platform is Willy Bear Beach Episode 1 by Artdecade. It’s cute, furry, and a nice bit of fluff between the more dramatic or dull visual novels out there.

Willy Bear Beach focuses on a bear named Willy who lives in a lovely coastal town. He runs a nice little shop, is friendly to tourists, and is friends with many of Cape Bottom Sail’s locals. Of course, he’s also a big flirt and is more than happy to chat up any handsome fellow who says hi. Oh, and for whatever reason, it seems this whole town is nothing but dudes!

In any case, players get to accompany Willy along for one day in his life. Of course, given the fantastical premise of this dreamy locale with incredibly flirtatious anthropomorphic animals things are likely to get steamy. For the most part, everyone’s discussions are lighthearted and keep players at ease. Basically all you ever have to worry about is which guy you’re interested in pursuing.

The first time through a route took me about half an hour, but subsequent ones were quicker. Unfortunately, despite running in Ren’Py, Willy Bear Beach doesn’t appear to offer typical visual novel features such as auto or skip text modes. Granted, it’s about a two-hour game at max, but I tend to use such modes heavily (as any seasoned visual novel player would), so it was a bit of a detractor.

Willy Bear Beach is very light fare, and that’s one reason why it’s enjoyable. The cute art for each character certainly helps too! Going through for each ending helps reveal more about each fellow, but beyond that there’s little reason to replay past completion. I’m hoping to see this game expand its horizons in future episodes. In any case, it’s lovely to see more English eroge making its way out to folks.

3 1/2 out of 5 alpacas

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