Strange Flesh - Review

Some time ago I made a list of all the games I remembered playing.  Since then I have continued to add to it and I have just hit the seven-hundred mark.  There are highs and lows within that list, good games and bad.  But there are few games that so are so different they are in a league of their own, games like Catherine, Shadows of the Damned, Lollipop Chainsaw, Project Rub, and The Rub Rabbits.  Each of them is quite different from any other games I have played, and I'm now adding Strange Flesh to that list.


I love sausages, more so as I have gotten older, perhaps it is due to the huge variety of shapes, sizes, and flavors available.  They can be simple or diverse and can be a great snack or a meal.  I guess what I am saying is no matter what there is a sausage for everyone.  Playing Strange Flesh I found myself asking was this too much sausage for me?

Story


The focus of the story is Joe, a guy working in an office who is clearly unhappy with his life.  On one fateful night, he finds himself wandering the streets looking for a bar to drink in.  It seems like he won't find one but then out of nowhere a bar appears, the name reads 'Strange Flesh Bar'.  Joe enters and immediately feels uncomfortable as it turns out Strange Flesh is more than just a bar, it's a sex club for men.  Despite feeling perturbed he stays and is silently beckoned over by the bartender.  After receiving a drink on the house Joe starts to divulge his woes while enjoying the aroma of the bartender's cigar smoke.  Shortly after Joe blacks out and the bartender takes over.


The game has you play as the bartender whose role is to help free Joe's mind from all that is holding him back.  In the beginning, things are tame and depict a generally stressed and worn-out man, but as you delve deeper into his mind the true nature of his unhappiness becomes apparent - the repression of his true sexual self, as a gay man. While the deepest levels are inundated with sexually explicit imagery, this simply serves to illustrate how much his repression is negatively affecting Joe.


While it would be easy to dismiss the game as a being a purely sex-fueled game it is about more than that, it's about someone who is unhappy not only because of his job but also because he has repressed and denied himself happiness.


Overall a really interesting story, that isn't afraid to let it all hang out there and take risks.

Visuals


The artwork in Strange Flesh is really cool and it reminded me of Streets of Rage 3.  It's very colorful and over the top, but in a good way.  The bartender himself looks like a cross between The Hulk and the Terminator, which is an interesting look that works well. There are crazy-looking character designs including Columbian Joe, who is Joe crossed with a coffee pot, and fister who is mostly comprised of fists, one of which sticks out of its butt and is used to attack you.


Strange Flesh is never afraid of showing sex of a graphic nature, this is particularly notable in the Den of Lust section.  The background shows different versions of Joe carrying out a variety of sex acts.


Overall the visuals are impressive and while there is no shortage of sex both in the background and foreground it rarely felt overly crass.


Music 


The soundtrack is pretty awesome and has a very electronic sound.  The music is created and composed by Fann, unfortunately, I couldn't find any other information on this person so I am unsure as to what they may have worked on before.

The soundtrack runs a little over thirty minutes and is made up of fourteen tracks.  My favorite tracks included 'Six Six Sixty-Nine', 'Bartender Lure', and 'Coffee Break'.

Overall an awesome soundtrack that works really well with the game,  so much so that I download it from SoundCloud.

Gameplay

Strange Flesh was created by Greatest Bear Studios, which is comprised of a team of three, Blazing Cheeks, Ursa Maximus, and Fann.  The gameplay goes for an old school beat em' up style which is a lot of fun.  There are your basic attacks, you can jump, grab and then there are the special moves.


The bartender is able to use his cigar smoke in many interesting ways.  One way is to blow smoke at the figments and apparitions of Joe's mind which gets them to fight for you.  If you grab two of them and blow smoke in their mouth they become horny and will eventually get off with each other.  Once your gauge is high enough you can pull off an area attack that downs all enemies.  On occasion, it is possible to dominate the downed enemies and have sex with them.  Each of these actions gives you more submission points.


Joe's mind is filled with many different versions of himself, from simple Disinterested Joe to muscle-bound Fiery Joe.  Everything you encounter is another part of Joe's subconscious, some of them will be easier to defeat than others and the final boss is a little challenging.


Overall the game offers some really fun gameplay, while it is more intense than I would expect in a video game, I can appreciate its relevance and meaning within the context of the story.

Final Thoughts

So after nearly three hours of playing how did I feel?  Good, really good.  The story was interesting, and the artwork was awesome as was the music.  The gameplay was a lot of fun and as a whole, the game was not afraid to take risks and be unabashed.  This one gets a solid 4 out of 5