Release Date: 05/04/2016
Played On: Win
Available On: Lin / Mac / Win
Time Played: 5h 35m
Progress: 2 playthroughs
Developer: Huniepot
Publisher: Huniepot
Why has our society evolved to a state where sexual themes are feared more than violence? The other night I started watching The Revenant, which is a good movie, but there's a scene near the beginning (minor spoilers ahoy) where Leonardo DiCaprio's character gets mauled by a bear. The scene was shot really well and with subtle effects and camera trickery, it really looks like this massive bear is tearing into the man. Bones are broken, flesh ripped open, and it's altogether a brutal depiction of violence.
As I watched this visceral scene unfold, I was a little taken back by how confronting it was, which came as a surprise to me, and stands as a credit to an effective bit of film making. However, I'm usually not that bothered by fictional violence, as I'm a grown human being that understands the difference between what I see on the news and what actors portray on screen.
The same can be said for books and video games, which are often full of violence that I can easily work my way through, because I know it's simply not real. Thus, as I'm feeling a bit confronted by the realism of the bear attack in a movie, I once again found myself wondering why our society accepts violence over sex, more often than not.
In a way, thinking about this debate is the best result of playing a game like Hunicam Studio, which has little to offer, but is ultimately a game that leans on sex for its theme, instead of violence. However, this is a game that will get you banned if you stream it on Twitch, despite the fact that it remains to be as far from pornography as a sexually themed experience can be.
Sure it's a game about running a business that involves cam-girls doing adult shows online, but you never see anything, no matter how much it's talked about. The closest the game actually gets to being pornographic is through the cartoon loading screens that feature characters scantily clad, and in suggestive poses.
Perhaps Huniecam Studio shows how powerful words can be, as most of the sexual content of the game is delivered through text on the screen. To build your empire and earn money, you must hire girls to perform in cam shows and photo shoots. Each girl has vital statistics like their age, weight, and ethnicity; as well as some sexy stuff like boob size and viewer fetishes they satisfy. Want to appeal to a demographic that likes mum's with big butts? Better hire that girl who ticks the boxes on her character sheet.
When it comes to sexual content, this game is about as tame as it can get, while still remaining a little naughty because you can buy vibrators at the store. In fact, you can buy more than vibrators, as each girl can be equipped with a few tools to help her earn more money or combat negative conditions. Maybe your high earning bondage specialist is addicted to cigarettes, so get her some nicotine patches to help her out. Maybe you hired a girl who doesn't fit a niche your fanbase are interested in, so get her a shopping a basket so she can carry more drinks and smokes when she goes to stock up at the convenience store.
Feeling sexy yet?
If you haven't already figured it out, there's not a lot about Huniecam Studio to really tantalise anyone looking for some sexy times in their games. What actually happens is that there's a lot of talk about professional sexual activity, to obfuscate the core mechanics that are little more than those of a basic clicker. At best it could be considered a management game, as there are goals to aim for, which take a little bit of thought and planning to achieve. However, there's little more to this game than statistics and clicking.
Everything happens on the city map, with each building representing an activity that your girls can undertake. They can do a photoshoot to gather more fans, do a cam show to earn money based on how many fans they have, train their traits by stripping or shopping, which allows them to earn more money and fans; and when it's all over, they rest up at the day spa to get their energy back.
Along the way you need to manage your money and allocate each girl to whatever activities you deem to be appropriate at the time. Everyone needs to get paid at the end of the day, so you better earn that money, but you can earn more if you attract fans. Although, you attract more fans and earn more if your girls have better skills, but they will need to be paid more if they have better skills. Hence, the management aspect of Huniecam Studio, which accounts for about 99% of the entire game experience.
Don't get too hasty though, I'm not complaining about the boring gameplay wrapped in suggestive sexy talk. The game itself is pretty compelling for a couple of attempts, but it quickly gets stale and I doubt it will have a lot of legs for anyone. I played from the start twice, which let me see everything that was available, and suck all the entertainment I could get out of the game. So if you like a simple clicker/management game and you can get this one for cheap, get on into it and have a few hours of fun.
The big upside to Huniecam Studio is that it's been made with a bit of care and features a level of quality that similar games often lack. The cartoon-like art is well rendered and the aesthetic theme carries through every aspect of the game and ties it all together in a colourful and interesting palette. It's clear that the quality that made Huniepop a success has been repeated here to provide a solid game that plays well and looks great.
It's unfortunate then that unlike Huniepop, Huniecam Studio's core gameplay loop of managing your clicker empire of cam-girls is drastically less compelling than the match three puzzling of its predecessor. To this day I would be happy firing up Huniepop for a few rounds of quality match three gaming, but after two runs at Huniecam Studio I've already uninstalled it and won't be going back.
So the game is fine for a few hours and of a high enough quality to be considered well-made and worth a few bucks, but I still don't know why it's going to get you banned if you stream it on Twitch. Hell there's even less sexual content than Huniepop, which at least had some nude cartoon ladies for people to be scared of.
I'm not having a go at Twitch in particular, as they're just doing their responsible thing in society and reflecting the popular view on sexual content. However, I do wonder why we continue to encourage and accept a society that will let me broadcast violent experiences in any number of games that feature gore and realistic killing, but stop me even talking about sex in a cartoon management game.
I don't know about you, but I'd much rather have people learning about sex and sexual health, instead of gun models and shooting people in the head.
Oh, and I mention sexual health because Huniecam Studio has a mechanic where your girls can contract STDs if they have unprotected sex with clients. You can either purchase them condoms before the act to protect them, or buy them medicines to treat their infections if they pick up something along the way.
Ultimately, I'm all for violence, sex, and whatever else being involved in fictional media, because it's fictional. I love a high action game full of violence and gore, but I also like romancing sexy cartoon characters, or giving them condoms so they can have protected sex. It doesn't matter what the theme is, so long as we can all appreciate the difference between fiction and reality.
I hope that eventually we evolve as a society to accept sex more than violence, because I know which one I'd rather have around me in life. To begin with we can start accepting games like Huniecam Studio as a sexy game, but not one that needs a warning before you view the store page because (shock horror) there might be a cartoon of a sexy girl on the page.
Perhaps stick to restricting the games that celebrate a mix between sex and violence, instead of vilifying sexual content in general. I don't know how many times I can say that sex is much more favourable than violence, so what the hell are we all so scared of?
Anyway, go get Huniepop and play that instead of this game if you want a top quality match three with some boobs on the side. Huniecam Studio's worst crime is nothing more than being a bit of a boring video game.