yet more proof that i am furiously bisexual

I bought this game after seeing a YouTube video and hearing some friends talking about it. I don't normally like games like this, but this one just looked like fun. As a disabled gamer, it's often difficult for me to find games that are easy for me to play. Especially games that require a lot of dragging. So, I was so surprised and impressed that this game has an accessibility features that makes the process so much easier. I can't say this game will be for everybody, but I will say that if you're looking for some mindless fun, check this out. And also, thank you to the devs. You don't know how nice it is to feel included.

So I decided to play Indie roulette a few days ago and stumbled upon this.

Was honestly surprised by how fun it was. It's a business tycoon/management game, and I was VERY happy to see some uniquely stylized and attractive men (thank-you Lord, so tired of only seeing anime and neko-neko girls) mixed into the highly suggestive and sexual environment that the game presents-- however, I was somewhat disappointed.

This disappointment comes from the fact that this game is not nearly as "intense" as it lets on. From the trailer alone, there is an immediate expectation that there will be ANIMATED SEQUENCES throughout the game, but that is simply not the case. Should the player decide on a more intimate approach with the available business partners (because yes, there are options to keep everything low-key and strictly professional, meaning no bumping uglies)-- it's pretty meh. The intimate sequences you've been building up to for a few hours now is only a handful of lines (written text) describing your brief coital endeavor...and that's it.

There is no animation and no visual to go alongside it except for the (if the player has downloaded the uncensored dlc) singular picture afterwards which displays the business partner(s) completely bare. It's honestly kind of disappointing in that department. Not as much voice-acting as I thought either, which really has me scratching my head at the price.

You also can't (exclusively) bang your butler so about a thousand 'no-no, for shame points' for that too.

Other than being extremely guilty of false-advertising (speaking in terms of the trailers, and the over-the-top sexual suggestions throughout both those and the game itself, which can be very riveting [yet essentially yielding a fairly lame and dissatisfying outcome]), it is a well-written, humorous, captivating, and addictive game. Still playing it now as I type this up and it's almost four in the morning on my side of the world. Really should go to bed, since I have to get up early-- BUT I MUST DEFEAT MY RIVAL WHO IS PLOTTING TO DESTROY MY BUDDING EMPIRE!!!

Honest-to-God fun and engaging gameplay, great for distractions (procrastinating), lots of customization, lots of business partners, levels of censorship are available as well (for the faint of heart or those who want to play this at work/in public), and several hours of entertainment are thankfully included. I'm just disappointed at the surprisingly sparse amount of voice-acting (once again referencing the trailers), and the fact that I didn't even get some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ moaning or grunting sounds from Max while he was pounding me into high heaven. The game is just so well-developed and the gameplay is pretty top-notch (although maybe there could be a "speed-up" button because there can be a little bit of waiting around from time to time)-- and with a twenty-dollar price tag for essentially a tycoon/dating sim game, I wouldn't expect any less than what has been described/advertised.

So I guess I'm saying: Don't expect this game to be as "fulfilling" as some of the other popular games which lend themselves to the dating sim genre. Also don't pay full-price, which I'm loathe to say, but it's true. Thinly-spread voice-acting, no grand assortment of animations, ultimately no visual satisfaction except for the rather tame imagery with the paltry text hardly picking up the slack-- it kind of gave me blue-balls (can I say that?), if I'm being honest. I was really revved up for a night of craziness with my Maxi-poo and finished his date with mild confusion which soon turned to "Oh, that's it? Huh..."

Lots of people are also comparing this game to a mish-mash of HuniePop and AdVenture Capitalist, and I have to say that HuniePop is half the price (the basic version of AdVenture Capitalist is free) and HuniePot (HuniePop's developer) created an astounding puzzle/VN-style that has a lot more animations, full voice-acting, way more suggestive imagery, and actual intimate sequences which take place in partially animated and extremely stimulating visual/match-three environments (which is appropriate to that particular videogame). This game, unfortunately, does not tap into that level of depth as much as I and many others had hoped.

From the Max Gentleman's Sexy Business! "Mature Content Description", it states:

-Visually sexual content.
-Textual romance novel interactive smut.

This is not really "interactive smut", if you ask me. Sure, it has nudity and suggestive themes, but that does not make it "interactive smut". The most "smutty" thing we can read/experience is some of the four-page dirty magazines that are available for purchase with in-game currency, which are far more explicit than most of the sexual encounters with the characters themselves (and so the disappointment continues). Buy it for the business tycoon/management gameplay, not the promise of animations or true "interactive smut" of which there is little to none. There are options to go on dates with characters and interact with them sexually, but calling it "smut" is extremely misleading (false-advertising) in my opinion.

Again, I would not pay full price.
Thank-you.
Game on, my dirty-minded and intensely visual friends.

P.S.
Play HuniePop or Mirror if you're into the ladies. That'll fix ya right up.
For those of us who like men, however...*sigh*

P.P.S.
There is a decent three-way option with Battle Butler and Antoine Hardmeat which is pretty steamy (no, you still don't get to bang the butler by himself, although the two of you are double-teaming), but that's about as good as it gets. (Sadly, Antoine's scene is also very short, but not nearly as clipped as the scenario with Max Gentleman, who is my absolute favorite next to Battle Butler).

I got this game as a joke, low expectations of a Huniepop clone with a gimmick of running a business just to see lewd pics of animated stereotypes.

What I got is the perfect game for what I needed to escape the stress of the times. It's light-hearted, genuinely funny (REALLY funny), cleverly put together, and a great way to kick back and play a low-stress game with interesting characters. Highly recommended!

This is a mixed recommendation. Max Gentlemen is miles ahead of most games that center on erotic content, particularly in its writing and personality -- but the gameplay itself largely interfered with my enjoyment of the erotic content.

This isn't like most of the usual H-trash that's all over Steam, with generic airibrushed characters. The characters you seduce (your CEOs) are all over the map, from a "spinner" who plays detective to gay bear archetype modeled after Santa Clause to a voluptuous goth. These archetypes don't just manifest in superficial one-liners and outfits (though there is that), but through cleverly written "dates" that involve pursuing murder mysteries, seances and so on.

The game is also tasteful. The characters feel like three-dimensional adults. For example, Pipp, the detective/spinner, could have been played as a lolita fantasy, but through her off-the-wall detective work--which is quite juvenile--she demonstrates an adult's self awareness, responding to your innuendo with lines like "You can toss me around later ..." but let's catch the murderer now. She's aware of the game she's playing, in other words, and of the type of sexual appeal she exudes; she's not just a girl being taken advantage of.

As for the art ... it's mostly good with one glaring exception. The characters themselves are top-notch, though they could due with a bit of animation. However, the "fine art" illustrations used in the games nudie mags (an in-game item you can buy) and to illustrate some of the erotic scenes are busy to the point of being garish. They're certainly of professional quality, just in an unappetizing style, which, you know, is a problem when the entire point is yumminess.

Props, also, to the devs for allowing you to create and seduce male, female and trans characters.

The gameplay itself, however, is tepid and frankly gets in the way of enjoying the "Sexy Business." It's a clicker, but unfortunately it's not truly idle, as you have to complete certain goals by an in-game time limit, which means you can't actually take your attention off the screen. This game would benefit tremendously from an idle/no-timer mode.

Worse, the game isn't all that well balanced. Simply, you earn money, which you spend to make your characters more powerful and which you must ultimately convert to gold bars to extend your game's timer and pay for late-game items. The basic issue is that you pretty quickly earn way more money than you need, as the limiting factor on gold bars is actually production/conversion time, not the cost of the bars. This effectively makes about half the games upgrades/items (and systems for that matter) irrelevant, as they all effectively increase how much money you make/how little you spend.

On the other hand, earning affection with the character you want to seduce takes longer than it does for a typical game to resolve. By this I mean that you will be able to defeat your rival in business (the end goal) before you've fully seduced even one character, especially if you get unlucky in the largely luck-based dating games. Thus you'll reach a point where you're just farming gold to extend the game's timer while you slowly earn affection.

All of this would be OK if the game were truly idle or if there was a proper new game+, where you carried over affection with characters, but no. To add insult to injury the game wants you to complete it multiple times, both to advance the story and to date all characters. The developers need to be more honest with themselves about the game they've made, which is a mediocre clicker, not a challenging economy simulator.

I'm still recommending because there's something inherently fun about earning erotic rewards for repetitive gameplay, provided the rewards are high quality, which they are here. But the repetitive gameplay demands way too much of the player, both in terms of moment-to-moment attention and overall duration. These are both potentially easy fixes.

I was cautious about buying this game, because I've honestly gotten tired of dating games. They seem to always be about boobies and panties and sex. There is no heart. But I'm glad I gave this game a chance.

The characters are delightful and lovable, the dialogue is really funny, the voice-acting is great and the gameplay is entertaining. I love how there are no "wrong" answers, you can just relax and enjoy the game. And there's just so much polish and effort put to this game. If you want a straight up porn game, this probably isn't the game for you. But if you just wanna have fun with naughty elements, go for it. The game is very sex positive, which I didn't even know I needed in my life. I really appreciate the options to choose how much nudity you want, and also the possibility to create a trans or a non-binary character (which I did and I love them <3)

Seriously devs, thank you for restoring my faith in the possibilities of dating games. The only thing I'd personally love to see added would be a chubby female pc. While the big male body is beautifully thicc, I feel like the biggest female body is more of a wall of muscle (which is sexy too don't get me wrong, I'd just like to also be able to make a chubby boss).

I started playing this game because I found it in my bf's library one day, and was intrigued by the mix of some of my favorite gaming mechanics(dating sim, tycoon) and one of my hyperfixations is Victorian fashion. I got this game for myself and became enraptured in the campy and oddly endearing storytelling.

The gameplay to start off with is really well done. I am not the best at resource management type games and this game really lets you get used to the mechanics as it slowly adds more for you to do. Managing each of your executives on what task they should be doing is very fun and after a good few minutes you really get into the groove of it and it can be fun to try seeing which executives can be optimized for each task. I love that the game still throws hurdles at you when you think it might be going toooo smoothly to keep you on your toes.

Each character is so deeply compelling, and it'll make you want to keep engaging with them. When you aren't running your business tycoon you'll want to keep collecting those bouquets and going on those lunch outings so you can learn more about them when you go on those dates. Even though the characters story lines aren't that long, they don't need to be. Each executive will capture your heart over all three overarching campaigns.

The fact that this game lets you choose how much spicy content I want to see was truly the selling point for me(besides literally everything else this game is amazing), as sexual content usually makes me really uncomfortable, but with the characters being open about their sexuality and made sure you were comfortable too(and the fact that the game has respect for the characters) i found myself engaging in the more spicy content just to appreciate the artistry of it.

You wouldn't expect a silly sounding game to have as much of a impact on a person, but its really helped me even a little bit feel a bit more comfortable with sexuality, so this game has a dear spot in my heart. If you love a good campy romance business tycoon i highly recommend this game to you, and i wish the best for your business ventures, boss!

i put 181 hours into completing this game and had a great time only to remember that i bought it because it was labeled a dating sim. this is not a dating sim. had a blast anyway though thanks

This game is so much funnier than it has any right to be.

I once made the mistake of buying a "sexual content" labeled game on Steam and since then my recommendations have been flooded with anime melon tiddies with big sad eyes peering just over the rim and a greatest hits compilation of Laura Mulvey's psychosexual nightmares. I made the grave error of lumping this game in with those.

Right off the bat the developers want you to know that they have done their best to create a sex-positive game, and boy (or girl, or other, if that's what's in your heart) do they succeed. Your gentsona is of course a proper gentleman, but which sexual characteristics and sartorial choices that concept entails is left up to you. There are robust filters that let you customize on a character-by-character basis how much visual sexiness you would prefer, which came in handy for me when it came to a character who looked suspiciously underage, and Sinterklaas. Yes.

Also worth mentioning is that consent for sexy business is asked for and given very meticulously, and consent can be withdrawn at any point in the goings-on. And every character's story can be played through the platonic way, if that's what you prefer. The sex is NEVER mandatory to finish a character's plotline.

I think you can read pretty much any review to see how the sexiness levels are handled, and how the core gameplay loop progresses, (I liked it for what it's worth) but what really stood out for me was the way the "dating" portion of the game is designed.

See, in literally every game I've ever played with a dating component, and I've played a few, there are "good" actions and "bad" actions. Everyone who has ever played a game where you stuff an NPC full of the exact right kind of presents until sex scenes fall out knows exactly what I mean. In those games, you're not picking the options that ring true or sound fun. You pick the one that most optimally lubricates their cartoon sex hole. It always feels manipulative and antagonistic. You give them a teddy bear instead of perfume? ♥♥♥♥ you, their vagina just made the Windows closing sound.

Max Gentleman: Sexy Business doesn't ♥♥♥♥ with that cynical sexist nonsense. Instead it operates on the improv concept of "yes, and..." Whichever dialog option you pick in conversation, the NPC always responds positively and more besides. Every option is the "good" option. I didn't know how much I needed that freedom until it was handed to me. No manipulative guessing at "correct" answers that make sex happen, no elaborate gift guides open in a separate tab, just pick the one you think sounds most fun and away we go. You want to start a tiny brothel for snails with sexy slug pinups on the walls? You can do that. You want to tell the Bishonen Prince that he doesn't HAVE to get spitroasted by a Battle Butler and your fine self if he doesn't want to? Awesome and godspeed. You want to have the gloomy goth gent strap you into an elaborate steampunk ♥♥♥♥ machine until pleasure gushes from every double-stuffed orifice? Then happy trails and smooth ass sailing, you beautiful pervert.

All these interactions take place purely in text form, with a few saucy illustrations if you want, which has apparently disappointed a few people but is a great design choice. The less labor intensive the paths, the more you can have. And it has a great many. I'd love to see the branching path design doc for this game. It must look like an entire forest.

And if you'll be so kind as to remember 26 paragraphs of gushing praise ago, you'll note I was amazed at how funny this game is. I don't think I've ever laughed out loud at a game's loading screen before. Or the character creation. Or an intro sequence. It does some very clever things with the standard VN popup character portraits there, and it's also very cleverly designed to inform you of that wonderful core philosophy: every option is the right option.

For context, I think the last time I laughed out loud while playing a video game was with Portal. So.

As for the most important question: can you jack and/or jill it to this game? Sure, I guess, if you've got a robust imagination. I did. But if you need a heavy dose of visual stimulation and above-mentioned anime melon tiddies to get a good groove going, then no. But good news, there's a solid million of games that cater to you already. This one is for the rest of us.

This is a silly and highly entertaining sex positive game that is mostly a managing-kind of game.

-Threesomes
-Outlandish answers/questions
-Choice on whether to stop or continue a friendship/romantic/sexual relationship at any time (just because you started someone's route flirting it doesn't mean you can't choose frienship in the end, etc)
-Choose the appearance of your main rival (have them naked if you want, that's a choice)
-Change your appearance or the appearance of your enemy at any time.
-Toggle how much nudity you see AND change it at any time.
Don't want to see them naked right now, but maybe tomorrow? You can. Want to see a censor bar instead of full-on nude? You can do that too!
-Toggle WHICH characters you want to see naked.
Want to see only certain characters nude and others fully clothed at all times? You can.

Things you can't have/do:
-Play around with the gentsona maker at any time.
You have to choose to modify either your gentsona or the rival's. And the "back" button only goes so far.
I end up having to re-do them. Wish there was a "Go back to your previous save" for this part.
-Directly date your maid/butler.
The only way is having them come along for the ride on certain routes. (At least as of the moment this review was written).
-You can't name your rival.
You can make them as hot, or as ugly, as you want. But you can't name them "♥♥♥♥" or anything really.
(Not that I actually mind).
-Kink-shame
-Have the promotional animations play in the game.
Most of the animations are just to promote the game; which I didn´t know. So I ended up disappointed, because I thought the dates would be more visual (like a little animation?) but they just show sprites.
(However you DO get to see different sprites in the mini-games).
-Have a character all for your gentsona
On the first two parts of the game it implies your character is special (hinting exclusivity on some routes), but on the later part (through the friendship stories) it is revealed they also have sexy business meetings themselves. Which shows inconsistencies with some stories shown previously.
-Have many great hair choices
Let's be honest. The selection for actually good looking hairstyles is limited.

With all that being said, this is a great game.

I also have to say one of my favorite things is they don't railroad you into continuing any route a certain way.
But more than anything the nudity/sexiness toggle. WHY isn't this a more common feature in games? It's so good!

Do I recommend this game? Look at how much I've played, come on.