i only found out about this game recently by browsing the google play store and seeing the plethora of positive reviews. i played through the prologue and was really intrigued by the story, characters, and beautiful visuals, but also disheartened by all the premium scenes that require in-game currency to access. in the "free" prologue there are many scenes that are offered as premium without giving you enough starter coins to watch them. it seemed odd to me that even in their initial way to hook you into the game they would include these. i imagine this trend continues throughout the rest of the game in even more brazen fashion.
following the prologue, i wound up checking out some of the game merch through a link in the app, and noticed a note mentioning their kickstarter campaign. i went to find the kickstarter page just to read about the game development and saw that there was also a desktop version that was mentioned. seeing this, i was thrilled to play on a larger screen and got on itch.io looking to purchase the game for around $30-35 for mac/pc, as this would be my preferred method of playing. even if the mobile version content is completely free (sans premium scenes), i would rather pay a reasonable one-time amount to unlock all scenes. unfortunately, i found that nix hydra wasn't able to deliver on a pc version as promised in the kickstarter campaign, despite being more than fully funded.
reading through this thread, it appears that in order to enjoy all the content the game has to offer would cost in the hundreds of dollars. i know it's becoming increasingly popular (thanks, FarmVille) for companies to do a "freemium" model, or micro-transactions, primarily in the mobile game world (but not always.. EA, looking at you). i know games cost money to make, and companies need steady revenue to support their existing games and create new ones, however, this is an extremely unfortunate trend that, as a lifelong gamer, really breaks my heart.
in my life i've owned around 10 consoles - some handheld, some not, in addition to mac/pc. mobile gaming is really sort of a last resort for me, but i understand it is likely the most accessible to everyone. taken directly from the kickstarter page "Nix Hydra is a female-founded mobile game company making magical, colorful, bold products for young women and anyone else traditionally ignored by the gaming industry." i really feel like nix hydra has good intentions and i can tell this game is created with care. however, it doesn't sit right with me that this smaller, female-founded company is taking cues from detested, greedy media-conglomerates like EA. the "freemium" mobile model may be more accessible in some respects, however, it feels kind of.. classist. it's basically saying "yes everyone can enjoy this, but if you have more to spend you'll be able to enjoy it more". and therein lies the rub.
i'm not trying to call out nix hydra because they're doing something unusual (sadly, they are not) but i feel like they can be better than this. again, this game seems to be a labor of love, but after EA and others have left such a bad taste in my mouth from micro-transactions, i can not bring myself to play this game any further. i have family and friends who are genderqueer and would love to play a game like this. however i don't feel comfortable recommending it to them. if there were a one-time payment, full purchase option, i would happily change my mind and be likely share it with others.