I’m not out to be mean, but personally for me, I purchased Brimstone Manor where I never touched the other two because I don’t like playing female characters - especially in romances. So that was an instant pass for me.
Just want to be clear I am not saying that women or people preferring to play female characters don’t deserve to have games that cater to them. I am completely fine with the idea that not all games were made for me lol. My favorite heart’s choice game so far has been all world pro wrestling so I’m definitely not wanting to try to make choice of games re-evaluate the types of stories they allow through their selection process. Just commenting on why I personally bought one and not the other two.
As for the other questions:
Paranormal/romance genre? This was a wash for me. I have passed on some that I didn’t like the writing or the descriptions of the romance options in the past. But its not a negative either, it was interesting enough to spark my interest.
Nanny? For the “point of purchase” decision I think this was a wash for me. Again not a negative, but not exactly “I must play this game” either. However, after getting into the story and being able to roleplay the character, I really enjoyed this aspect.
Gender-variable MC? previously answered.
Valentine’s Day? I think I did purchase this around that time, but I don’t think it mattered. I purchase these types of games literally year round.
No recent HC game? IDK. Part of me thinks this would have hurt the sales since it was getting to the point that I stopped bothering checking the website. It just so happens that I decided to check to see if anything new was there when it came out, but going off when I tended to check, i could have been late by a month and a half or so.
Something else entirely? I don’t want to make it sound like I purchase all the CoGs that have a male MC and male ROs. The attractiveness and personalities of the ROs was a big factor in the decision point to purchase. Some of the games I don’t purchase is because the RO isn’t really my type or comes across as really poorly during the opening and I just can’t bring myself to see if the character grows. So specifically I really liked Darien and when I replay it eventually I think I would enjoy playing through romancing the Chris and Michael as well.
Oh and this is an incredibly dumb reason to like the game and buy it, but it was also partially because of the dog. IDK if it was the writing or the fact that you can win him over or what, but I really wanted to roleplay with the dog.
As for cons that made me consider not buying the game (not asked but I imagine it may be helpful): This game tended to have the problems a lot of GV games have where it feels like it was written for one gender, and then just programed to gender flip as needed. It wasn’t as bad as other games can be, and ultimately, it didn’t keep me from purchasing where other games have; but I do think that there was some room for improvement in that department. Especially regarding the romance path with Darien and the dinner. Like I feel like the dialogue didn’t acknowledge Darien’s bisexuality (or even homosexuality would have been even more interesting). And a lot of the options of things to do felt very “female-typical” if that makes sense. I think at that point, I had already purchased the game and I was enjoying it enough, but I remember picking up on it earlier before buying and it was something I considered.
