Midnight Ride is a lewd visual novel about Serena’s hitchhikin’ plights.
At-a-glance
(Adult) Content?
(FxF, FxM) Sexual content.
Censorship?
No. Woot! Woot!
Hours of Gameplay?
Three or four hours.
Modding Support?
No.
Patch Available?
No, not necessary.
Foreword
Since writing a review for Midnight Ride, one or more updates have been applied to this game. I don’t believe any significant, content changing updates have been applied, however. This review should be mostly up-to-date as of June 2020.
Gameplay
. . . in a nutshell
Consult my article on visual novels.
out the shell. . .
There’s plenty o’ player options to choose from. The main character, Serena will be faced with many heavy decisions, often revolving around trusting (or not trusting) strangers. Navigating text requires use of the mouse button, and clicking through it feels slow. Re-e-eally slow. It’s painful. There is an auto button, which I would press and minimize the application (when forced to sit through the same scene again). Unfortunately, it only works until you come across a sex scene. Then it freezes. I would have liked to have been able to use the keyboard to advance text, and the ability to advance text significantly faster.
If players feel compelled to minimize your game, you’ve done something very wrong.
You can increase the speed of the “auto skip” function, but if you want to unlock every scene and ending, pushing through already-read text remains tedious. On the topic of endings, the “Road Map” records every encountered prompt and ending. It can be accessed from “Extras” (at the titlescreen), and it allows you to continue the game from any prompt. The Road Map makes seeing everything Midnight Ride easy-peezy, even if painfully slow.
If you’re a lazy gamer (like me), the Auto Skip and Road Map features can be used to auto-unlock the Gallery.
Yes! This is a game you can play one-handed!
Story
Two ex-lovers share an argument during a tense drive home. Serena is not a happy camper, and Melvin’s sick of her shenanigans. Every time they go to a party, Serena breaks up with him, and expects Melvin to be her boyfriend again and again (following the parties). After a heated argument, he ditches her on the side of the road. It’s dark outside, and she’s stranded. When Melvin kicked her out, she didn’t bring her purse. That means no cellphone, no nothin’. To be fair, she intentionally pushed Melvin over the edge, and he simply followed though on a very serious threat. So don’t feel bad for Serena. She’s forced to hitch a ride home, and that’s when the story enters the player’s hands. A handful of cars will pass by, some of which offering her a ride. Every car is another story, and will result in a different ending for Serena. If she refuses one too many cars, she’ll wind up in a cabin in the woods.
Honestly, there’s only driver I’d consider bunking with (personally). A real lust ball she was.
There’s a very high probability that Serena will be drugged and/or gang raped. There’s also a good chance that she’ll be convinced to sell her sexual services, resulting in a lil’ buck for her bang. One car will lead to steamy lesbian sex, and the rest male-on-female intercourse. It seems like everyone wants a piece of Serena’s ass (and I don’t blame them, but still). She picked the wrong road to get stranded on.
Don’t worry, most of the time she likes what comes to her. So again, don’t feel bad.
Visuals
The titlescreen and in-game interface made me nervous. It appeared amateurish, and failed to impress. Display and text preferences can be adjusted from the “Settings” menu. You can also reset your game progress from the same menu. Under “Extras”, you have the option to view achievements, the “Gallery”, and the “Road Map”. The Gallery will allow you to review nearly every CG, lewd or not. The interface is hidden by default, but a watermark of the game’s title will remain in the corner of screen. I get that’s it’s ‘sposed to be a signature. . .
. . . but I hate watermarks.
The 3D models generally looked good. They were well posed and put-together. They felt lively and didn’t make too many (if any) uncanny faces. However, many of the characters had samey faces. It was clear that most of the characters were based on the same model, with differences applied to the attire and body, rather than the shape of the face. I would have liked to have seen a much wider variety of face
The Goods
All of the CGs are created using 3D models, much like those of Daz Studio or Poser. There are quite a bit of CGs, making for engaging sex scenes and dialogue. About most of the sex scenes involve prostitution or rape (and only one occurred as natural and mutually consenting). In nearly every rapey scenario, she winds up liking what comes to her. You know what they say, it’s not rape if you like it.
. . . expect consensual female-on-female intercourse, and consensual/non-consensual male-on-female intercourse.
Verdict
I recommend this game if you enjoy (fictional) non-consensual intercourse and sexy-time with strangers. This is an adult game, and it shows. The majority of the gameplay is invested into large sex scenes, with heavy dialogue and plentiful CGs.
