====== Citizen Makane ======

[[IFComp]] 2023

I'm not familiar with the game this is based on, but from a quick read it sounds... problematic. "Citizen Makane" twists that source material to say something healthier about sex. It's so relentlessly horny that it wraps around to absurd, and then manages to land a heartfelt moment. I couldn't recommend it to just anybody, but it's great if you have the appetite for it.

The player begins the game explicitly *bad* at sex - you're literally the last man on earth, and still your advances are rebuffed by the women in town until you can track down three "Big Deck Energy" cards. Over the course of the game you climb a power curve until you literally have sexual superpowers. The way you do this is by having lots of sex, via a push-your-luck minigame with a scoring system that prioritizes mutual pleasure. An unsatisfied partner is a major embarrassment to the character.

The writing doesn't shy away from describing these sex acts. In a great touch, it slowly grows more over-the-top throughout the game. So while I was skipping over much of this by the end of the game it was from sheer volume, rather than because it had gotten repetitive.

Elsewhere, the player character is constantly on the back foot - perpetually outmatched in a world full of women. I like the running joke he keeps *trying* to say quippy things and backing down. For all the sex, the game won't ever let you really be suave. Which is perfect.

**Overall** it manages to celebrate sex, and poke fun at it, and in the end ask a question about the role of sex in a healthy life.

{{tag>videogame played "interactive fiction" "played in 2023"}}