Make no mistake, this is a furry porn game. There are several unskippable sex scenes, and characters are frequently in the nude. But this is the most well-written furry porn game I've come across. And a great visual novel overall, but yeah. You should know what you're getting here.

I've never been this invested in the politics of a fictional world. The worldbuilding centers around some really interesting concepts. Not all of it is even remotely realistic, but it doesn't need to be. It focuses on the "game" of politics, on social relations, information, blackmail... political drama.

The characters are really well-rounded and fleshed out. Was genuinely invested in the romance between the protagonist and Amicus. And it was interesting to see the other characters gradually reveal more and more of themselves.

I'm asexual, and as such found no appeal in the sexual content, unfortunately. If it appeals to you, or you can at least stomach it, I can highly recommend reading this. It's a great story.

Recommending this visual novel is hard. Doing so without spoiling anything is even harder. But I think I owe an attempt to try to write about the game that gave me the most intense emotional experiences I've ever had from any piece of media, ever.

Part of what makes recommending this difficult is that in order to have that experience, you kinda have to be, at least a little bit, parasocially and romantically attracted to the himbo space wolf. You will still probably have an enjoyable experience without said attraction to said himbo space wolf, but I believe you will be fundamentally missing part of the intended experience if you don't, because the game is built around that pretext.

But if you are? Adastra is a furry sci-fi space comedy drama political-thriller heartbreaker queer-romantic orbital-strike-to-the-heart. I cried multiple times, on one occasion having to stop and go weep into my boyfriend's arms. Even now, several months after touching the game, I am still occasionally and spontaneously struck by a wave of emotion, sometimes triggered by vivid recollections of scenes or lines, other times just characterized by pangs of grief of the knowledge that I won't get to experience it for the first time again.

I look forward to the completion of Adastra's side stories, Khemia and Interea.

am i the only one who thinks this is like cruelty squad but with all of its humor removed n placed within the context of a indie furry game about roman space wolves?

but ye, this actually moved me. the characters were fascinating and weren't onesided, the art was pretty gorgeous, and i can tell that the developers didn't set out to be some calarts grift.

wolven nick mullen: hey what about this amicus voice hey i'm anti-uplift amicus, i hate the khemians. also i'm a tail-raiser

Adastra is such a curious case. A project spearheaded by the writer of Echo, joined by Haps' wonderful art and Anthemics' utterly beautiful musical prowess, that somehow manages to fumble the ball over and over. Adastra is interesting in that it serves a fiery romance and a dramatic plot weaving between complex in-universe politics that are incredible as long as you don't look at it for more than 5 seconds.

I'm sure every furry has dreamed of a large, muscular, protective wolf man (or whatever species you fancy) whisking them away from their exhausting, monotonous life to shower them in unconditional love and care for your every need. Who wouldn't want that LMAO. It's all fun and games, however, until said wolf man is kidnapping you to make you his (sex) slave in an imperial colonial empire. I cannot understate how miserable this premise is to an Indigenous person playing this game, let alone a reasonable human being.

And interestingly enough, I find that this premise actually embodies the core of this visual novel's structural issues which are visible in every facet of its creation: Adastra wants wish fulfillment without actually thinking about the logistics required to create it.

You can easily look at every decision written and find that it was done for arousal first, coherence second. Adastra wants the reader to be surrounded by hot, half-naked furry men, so we're going to have a setting reminiscent of ancient Rome where men wear loincloths, communal nudity is common, and women's societal oppression allows them to be irrelevant in this story. To have this version of Rome, it'll be located in outer space where alien societies resemble human cultures. And to have that work, we'll say that every culture on Earth was actually the result of all these aliens colonizing humans at some point and teaching them how to be civilized. Yup, the aliens taught people how to make the pyramids; surely that's an interesting and not at all racially insensitive trope that's been historically used to diminish Black and Indigenous people's intelligence! The main character being designated as a slave (or, "pet," as it's referred to) is similarly just to indulge in a submissive vs dominant power fantasy.

I must give credit that the Roman-era setting, with all its societal misgivings and issues, makes for a fantastic drama that Howly makes excellent use of to keep you on your toes as you read. The political intrigue and tension throughout this story brought on by the issues in this world, issues that are far too great for any one person or group of people can even hope to stand a chance against, is downright enthralling. The interpersonal politics driving every character's actions are so powerful they would bring telenovelas on their knees. This is part of what made Echo so great and is honestly what makes Adastra memorable moreso than its romantic aspects. This sort of conflict between societal norms and personal desires is what Howly does best in my opinion. If Adastra weren't a romance, and instead solely a political drama around queer men in ancient Rome, then I think this story wouldn't have given me the distaste it did.

Now, to be honest, I think I could look past this story's many... many........... MANY misgivings if the romance was actually good. But it just isn't. I despise Amicus, and I'm not sure how I couldn't given how he's written! He's a selfish, entitled brat who can't think for himself, dodges any sort of responsibility, and is just a whiney baby that you're supposedly head over heels in love with because at the end of the day he's just a big dumb puppy :3. Your heckin' doggo is committing human rights violations and upholding the status quo, Johnathan.

From the start to the end, Amicus is downright unpleasant to be around at best and a literal manipulator at worst. The main character is less of a lover to Amicus and more a mother, having to care for his every need, comfort his every tantrum (and there are a lot of them), and clean up every one of his messes. In the story's biggest climax, it's the protagonist who takes the biggest fall for what is ultimately Amicus's problem and it's the protagonist who has to save himself while Amicus sits there and cries. Zero character development with zero redeeming traits. Genuinely what am I supposed to like about this guy. If Amicus broke into my home in the dead of night I'd have beat him with hammers I can tell you that much.

Shoutout to Neferu, though, he's a real one.

Now, with all that said, i think the background behind Adastra's development offers some explanation for why it is the way it is. I remember being a Patreon supporter back in 2018 and reading that the writer was experiencing difficulties and burnout with writing. Adastra was that oil to the rusting door, a place to let loose and get the rhythm going. In that regard, I'm thankful that Adastra had to take the bullet as Echo just got better and better from this point on. It's unfortunate, then, that Adastra became such a wild hit, dwarfing Echo in attention and becoming what Echo Project would be known for to most people for the next several years. The precedents set by Adastra's success would go on to irreparably change the furry visual novel scene, for better or for worse, and open up the wider furry community into its second big visual novel boom.

The last of the currently complete Echo Project VNs. It's still gay and still furry, but set in a different continuity and way more escapist in intent.

The art is nice, the presentation is more polished than Echo, and the writing is free of the weird phrasing/word choice problems that bring down a lot of the other Echo VNs. The final stretch of the story feels a bit filibustery, but that can probably be attributed to its patreon-based funding.

At its heart, it's a pretty standard romance novel. With all the books on smashwords/kindle unlimited called like "Claimed by the Shifter CEO," even the fact that it's a human/furry pairing doesn't place it that far out of the mainstream.

I was trying to figure out why I was having so much trouble attempting to review this game, until I realize it is a visual novel so I am writing a review of just a story more so than an actual game. So take this as a warning, I am no literary critic.

Adastra was a really great visual novel that I never felt bored or tired of reading. It tells a compelling story full of queer romance and brutal space politics. As an avid Mass Effect fan as well, I love myself some queer romance and space politics.

I was worried near the start of this game that it was going to be awfully predictable plot wise. A shortcoming of many stories, especially many visual novels, is how predictable they can be. Visual novels especially are often guilty of falling into the same line of tropes. I worry was luckily unfounded. Though there were some incredibly predictable plot twists, there were many that I was not expecting. Additionally, the predictable "twists" naturally felt as if they were supposed to be predictable near the end of the story almost as a way of testing the player before throwing them into another completely unexpected twist. This alone cemented my appreciation for this game. It successfully kept me interested, I always wanted to know what was going to happen next considering my expectations were often incorrect. I think this alone cements Adastra or any other story as something worthy of praise and worthy of your time.

The other massively powerful element in Adastra are the characters. Virtually all visual novels are character focused and Adastra is no exception. Adastra's gallery of quirky critters is not the largest, but they are all super fleshed out for the most part. No single character really fell into a solid archetype that I've seen elsewhere which made them all seem fresh and unique. Again, the uniqueness of these characters kept me interested in the story throughout which I believe is the sign of success in a visual novel. For the sake of length and keeping this spoiler free, I will no go into the specifics of characters. Though it must be said, some characters are much more fleshed out than others.

I believe this is a good place to move to talking about what I did not like so much, what keeps this story from being a 4.5 or 5 star. Though every character is incredibly well written, some of them are significantly weaker than others. Additionally, some characters, though good, stay quite stagnant throughout the story in concerns to development. Thinking about it now, very few characters develop much at all. Great, abundant character development is not something I believe is always necessary, but it does leave some characters feeling a little less concerned for writing wise than others.

A final critical thought I have, for the sake of time, is that I believe Adastra could have greatly benefited from more choice. Again, choice is not something a visual novel MUST have. Adastra is a linear experience and that is completely fine. I simply feel that Adastra is the perfect game to have more choice considering the political navigation that happens within the story. Lack of choice does not damage the story of Adastra, but I feel it does hinder the experience of Adastra as a game. Simply missed potential and something I would like to see more of in the sequel.

I loved Adastra because it hits the marks of what I believe a good visual novel should have. I had a great experience going through it with my partner, voice acting the characters, giving them silly voices that accidentally fit their personalities perfectly. Without a doubt, an experience that cannot be matched in the same way.

Oh yeah, can't forget the HOT FURRY SEX. I liked it, but definitely a secondary thought for me concerning the game. Adastra is not a porn game, it just acknowledges the importance of sexuality in the experience of being alive. It does so in a tasteful way and that's all you can ask for. Do not go into Adastra looking for specially the NSFW elements because you will find yourself quite bored as they are sparse. What Adastra does offer to the space, however, is well drawn and written. It is more cute than anything else.