There is a lot about this game I love, and its hard not to, I get to play as a rabbit protagonist and there's hypnosis? Talk about target audience here. I only have two main gripes; The Tape Recorder, I was given little hint as to how I was meant to use this even when I found the gate and was under the impression I had to find a hyena to record a specific passphrase but there's none of them to talk to in the alleyway (I was expecting an NPC like in the second entertainment district who gives you a small quest to fetch anklet pieces), this might just be an issue for the current version because I rarely talk to NPCs twice thinking I've heard all they had to say. I did eventually figure it out. A lesser complaint is I struggled to find where I was meant to go with the hotel and to scratch, I managed to completely miss the bar sign even though I had read that Mezz wanted a drink. This did lead me to the homeless who explained you can read graffiti, so I can't complain too much about it as I was rewarded for my exploration.
The other is the stealth segment or 'catch and release' as it could be called. It is fantastic, and it was entertaining learning enemy patrol patterns; my only issue is that it is impossible to evade them, and its only available in the 'lust mode' of the game. I'd love to see it be a bit more prevalent, it took me back to the days of playing MGS1. I know Mezz wants to carve a path of wanton destruction through the gangs, I'd just like to pick and choose or sneak by the patrols I want.
There really is so much I like about this game, that I'm struggling to nail down what I'd even want to say first. That if you chose to not fight Mahir, he sends you to the porn shop. That scene and how you handled it, by fading to black and then picking up the horrifying details of what happened? Masterful. It really did sell me on it and convinced me the game was worth the ten dollars just for that alone. Everything else was just extra icing, especially the sheer amount of varied dialogue the hyenas have. They seemed to always have something new to say. There's also the variety in hypnosis themes from petrification and public humiliation in one tight package, to the harder naunces of having that Jerkyl and Hyde personalities complete with Ego Death. I love that you gave it the weight to it as a bad end, with description to the inner turmoil as Mezz's sense of self deteriorates. It's not for everyone, people I've learnt get a bit leary around hypnosis as a kink, especially squickened by the harder themes. But its so cool seeing something like this so brazenly and unapologetically out there. Cruel Serenade is a treasure trove to me.
Currently, my only real wish is for more enemy variety, like hyenas that dress even more obnoxiously or have other basic attacks besides double swipe. For the first half of the game, combat does feel repetitive at the moment where the only difference is the number of hyenas you face and having to adjust tactics accordingly.