Roxanne - Almost Incredible

Roxanne is a--say it with me--a real-time 3D stealth exhibitionism game! Being in the same genre as the Secret Flasher games, I think Roxanne is pretty much better than all the other games in this "genre" other than the two Secret Flasher games; and that's high praise! I can honestly see some people preferring Roxanne for one reason or another, though I think objectively, it's hard to give this game the leg-up over either. There are a few good things, though, that help it stand out.

So let's start with what I think Roxanne does better than the Secret Flasher games. For one, you can be seen, and for quite some time, before you lose. This alone is a huge advantage in my opinion, and lets you create some really hot scenarios. You can also stream your antics for money, which I like a lot, though the streaming mechanics and controls are insanely bad and need a complete rework in my opinion. Just say "live" in the corner and let me play normally. Why am I rooted to the spot and unable to do any actions other than flashing, spinning, and crouching? Because of the streaming, I also feel that the game is more annoying when it comes to grinding for money, too.

I think the clothing system in Roxanne blows Manaka completely out of the water by...well...working the way it should. I think Roxanne plays and controls better than Seleka and a little worse than Manaka, which is to say it's fine. The character controller and animations feels a little weird, like they were taken from an action game, but that's not a big deal.

The mission design of both games is quite similar, though the Secret Flasher games allow you to repeat previously done missions for less RP, and I think the missions are more interesting in general. Most of Roxanne's missions aren't very difficult and don't really drive the gameplay. I think the fact that Seleka and Manaka are horny little gremlins who don't do their antics for content is great, but I also really like the streaming angle in Roxanne, so that's a wash I think. Both are fine. The levels themselves are similar in both games. Roxanne in general has bigger environments, but Manaka's feel more detailed and interactive to me.

Roxanne doesn't look as good or run as well. The mall level in Manaka and Roxanne are actually using the same asset, and the difference in quality, presentation, and functionality is vast, and not in Roxanne's favor. Roxanne presents a dead, poorly lit façade with escalators that suck you in and clip you into walls, all while stuttering when you pass certain areas, while Manaka presents a space that feels alive, is pleasantly lit, and runs totally fine, with escalators that feel like they act on your character's physics. Of course, Manaka also uses a smaller snippet of this level, but still, the comparison isn't ideal for Roxanne. I also think the character model, facial expressions, and clothes/accessories look better for the most part in the Secret Flasher games, even though Roxanne implements the clothes and cosmetics into the gameplay much better.

Roxanne has a few unique things though, that I think do help keep it above water. As I mentioned, you can be seen and not immediately have a run end, and some NPCs will also call the police. There's also items in the environment you can pick up, like cardboard boxes, to use to cover yourself, which I like a lot. There's also a collection of "postcards" you can find by putting yourself in very specific situations, like getting naked and crawling under a certain table. I love this idea! Lockout mode is also pretty fun, if a little too challenging in my opinion. Manaka seems to maybe have borrowed some of these ideas back and done them better, like the handcuffs and blindfolds, but Roxanne does them well and each game puts an interesting twist on each concept.

Finally, there's a few baffling choices that I want to call out. So the saves in Roxanne save directly to keys in the registry, rather than a save file you can easily transfer. I know Seleka had a single save file, so maybe that also used the registry, I don't know, but this is definitely not a good save system, and we should have multiple files.

I think the swimming pool and supermarket levels in Roxanne both are kind of bad. There's just not a lot to do in these levels, and they feel weirdly small. Manaka had an even smaller convenience store level, but it managed to make some interesting gameplay happen there, but in Roxanne, these levels felt like filler to me.

Finally, this is not something I'd knock the game for, but put in a futa mode! I loved the futanari mode in Manaka and I want more futanari exhibitionism games!

Anyway, I recommend Roxanne! While I think it's not as good as the Secret Flasher games, particularly Manaka, it's definitely the closest anyone else outside of Sheable Soft has gotten so far, and as development continues, I'm sure it'll shape up into an even better game. I really enjoyed what I played, and I think in a pre-Manaka world, this might have been the real-time 3D stealth exhibitionism game to beat, though I will admit I don't see it as a complete improvement over Seleka either. I think some additional polish, some improvements to the livestreaming mechanics, and the addition of some more interesting missions are all it'd really take to make this game so, so much better. Hence why I'm dubbing it "almost incredible." There is an all-time classic game buried in here, and I think the dev is well on the way to finding it; I can already see the shape of it, the dev just needs to carefully and precisely excavate it now.

I recommend Roxanne! Give it a try if you like this style of game, and, if you enjoy it, be sure to give the dev some support to help make this one even better!