Riveroaks feels like someone mashed up a messy family drama with Pornhub comments, then tried to make it emotional and kinda half-succeeded. You start as this broke kid tossed out of his home, who suddenly finds out his dad is basically a big shot in gay porn. Not soft romance stuff either, real studio-level, contracts, sets, dudes with oil on their abs doing things on camera while someone yells for better angles. One moment you’re whining about how your mother threw your clothes in the hallway, next moment you’re standing in a studio office looking at casting sheets deciding which hot guy should fuck who, and in what position, because it “fits the brand.” It sounds trashy and yeah, it is, but it also tries to talk serious about money, power and how people use sex to get out of shitty lives.

The visual novel side is most of what you do, clicking through scenes, choosing how your character reacts when some pretty boy model leans too close or when your older, way-too-confident dad explains ROI using scenes where guys are literally sucking each other off. Then the management stuff sneaks in. You’re handing out roles, tracking budgets, watching numbers go up while you’re also watching these actors put their tongues and cocks everywhere. One guy might be a nervous first-timer who needs you to talk him through his first on-camera blowjob, another is this smug pro who keeps pushing for rougher scenes, and the game lets you decide how far to go. Some choices feel hot, like pushing two rivals into doing a scene together and watching that fake “I hate you” turn into very real “I wanna ride you until I can’t stand.” Other choices feel slimy, like when you realise saying yes to more extreme stuff is great for profit but not so great when that shy twink looks up at you afterwards and asks if he did okay. I actually stopped clicking for a moment at one of those lines and stared at my phone like, why is this porn game giving me feelings while I’m also staring at a guy getting railed over a gym bench.

What surprised me is how often the dialogue sounds like something from queer Twitter, right in the middle of filthy scenes. One minute a character is making a joke about OnlyFans and thirst traps, next he’s on his knees, spit running down his chin while he takes another inch and the camera guy is yelling for more eye contact. It leans into gay stuff fully, no no-hetero-way-out, you’re managing guys, flirting with guys, fucking guys. Sometimes it’s goofy, like shooting this ridiculous “pizza delivery” style scene in a cheap apartment and arguing about who forgot to order actual pizza as a prop while one actor is already naked except for socks. Sometimes it hits harder, like dealing with an older star who knows his body won’t book top roles forever and he’s willing to swallow his pride and your dick just to keep his contract. The city around it all feels like a horny playground mixed with a bit of mid-life crisis energy. You take meetings in hipster lounges, then end up in a dirty gym bathroom listening to two dudes moan in the next stall, deciding if you should barge in or pretend you didn’t hear anything. It never fully decides if it wants to be sweet or cruel. That’s kind of why it works. Or doesn’t. I still can’t forgive the one scene where a character texts you with perfect grammar and then talks like a totally different person in the next conversation. It stuck in my head more than some of the actual sex scenes, which is stupid, because there’s literally a moment where two muscular guys are covered in lube on a couch, playing up a fake rivalry while you stand there trying to sound professional and your brain is just screaming “yes, make them kiss already.”