The sound of silence
I'm not the biggest sci-fi fan on earth, but I like a well written story.
After reading the overview and the raving reviews I was intrigued enough to give Color of My Sound a try.
Visuals
The renders are pretty (good) and atmospheric, some even animated (eyes).
They aren't super high res, but that's actually a plus because in my opinion the slight grain only adds to the (dystopian) feel.
Also nice use of depth of field effects.
There are no animations - which is fine by me.
Sound
There is no sound at all - which is a big shame.
Color of My Sound would be(come) so much more immersive by adding accenting music (for example in the Red Velvet) and sound effects (beeping devices, hissing airlocks, echoing gunshots, etc.).
It would be nice if the dev considered adding sound in future updates.
Characters
I like the looks of the MC, he's very unique (although he seems to be in desperate need of a haircut).
However, I really don't like how he gets portrayed as this glorious hero of the empire who won countless battles.
He constantly gets treated like a celebrity - everyone recognises and admires him, everyone says what an awesome guy he is.
I never liked it when games depicted the MC like that.
It's especially odd since he looks like he only just graduated - way too young for having achieved all the merits he gets credited for.
The LIs have interesting and distinguishable personalities.
They are also good looking, but not really my type. Okay, Mireille is kinda cute...
Unfortunately, some of the female characters are wasted in poorly written lewd scenes (more on that in the next paragraph).
Writing
The English is really good - there are only few typos and grammar mistakes.
Definitely a pleasant surprise since my first impression wasn't that favourable (there's a grammatical error already in the adult content disclaimer).
Now, on to the story.
I absolutely didn't like the opening scene. Here's why:
The MC performs a single gig at a club and - of course - the whole female audience is fangirling over him. *sigh*
One of them - a groupie named June - is already awaiting him outside, only to tell him how she's head over heels into him and would like to accompany him back home, but - of course - she's totally not like "those other girls". Eh, sure.
Our MC takes her home and while she's busy in the bathroom he thinks about how "nice and innocent" she is.
Nice? Maybe. Innocent? Hardly.
I'm not sure what kind of girls the MC usually deals with, but her asking a complete stranger to fuck is hardly "innocent" in my book.
Anyways. Next thing we learn is she's indeed "innocent", literally: She admits she's a virgin and wants him to be her first.
Just a reminder: June is a full grown woman who looks like she's in her late 20s, wears raunchy makeup and asks a complete stranger to take her home to have sex. Virgin? My ass.
But we're not done yet. The "climax" is yet to come.
The MC starts fingering her and when she's about to cum, she asks him to stop because she doesn't want her "first orgasm to be like that".
Wait, what? First orgasm? Like... ever?
I'm not entirely sure, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the writer actually meant it that way.
Of course our MC is more than happy to assist in the deflowering process (quoting June: "Fuck my virgin pussy. It's yours forever" - yup, totally sounds like something a virgin girl would scream).
Is the person who wrote this even hearing (reading) themself?
I wonder if this is what incel fantasies look like. For me it was just incredibly painful to read.
At that point I was close to quitting Color of My Sound, but curiosity got the better of me.
I continued reading - and I'm glad I did because once the writer leaves the lands of lewd behind Color of My Sound does a 180° spin and turns into an actually well written sci-fi story with interesting characters set in a coherent universe.
I had almost reconciled with Color of My Sound and was willing to forget that gruesome opening scene - until...
...the next explicit scene occurred (this time involving Lana).
Out of thin air Lana - a respected veteran and recent member of his squad - starts to give the MC a hand job because... I guess that's what people do 24 hours after they first met: "Handing" out cheer-up hand jobs to colleagues who feel a bit down.
Oh, we also learn she (a grown woman) has never done anything like that before. Yeah, sure.
At that point I was so annoyed that the writer is obviously willing to sacrifice well established characters for a quick fap (crowd-pleasing at its finest) that I finally quit Color of My Sound. Just too much stupid "porn logic" for my taste.
By the way: The explicit scenes aren't even particularly arousing - they lack emotion, empathy and eroticism.
Choices
There are only few choices so far and they don't seem to impact the story that much (mostly if you are interested in an LI or not.
You can't avoid June, though - she's a given).
Minor bug:
At one point Color of My Sound asks if you want to keep your MC's name or like to enter a new one, but regardless of what you choose there's an "enter your name" prompt coming up afterwards.
User Interface
The UI is clean and stylish. Some elements (quick save, etc.) are hoverable, which is a nice idea.
The text box offers excellent readability. You can even adjust its opaqueness in the preferences.
There's also an integrated codex with further infos about the characters and a glossary.
Conclusion
Well, this was quite a roller coaster ride.
My first impression of Color of My Sound was rather negative - the opening scene with June was so underwhelming that I almost quit.
I continued reading and was surprised to find an actually interesting story of much better quality than the explicit opening scene.
Kudos for that.
Unfortunately, the enjoyment came to a crashing halt with the next lewd scene which was just as implausible as the first one (and made me quit for good).
TLDR: Interesting sci-fi story and characters set in a coherent universe ruined by poorly written "porn logic" scenes - if it wasn't for them, I would have easily awarded 4 stars.
