Escape the Manor by Nargaflaga

 

Novels like Student Transfer and Press Switch offer a wide range of options in stories focused on a related thematic, TF, it is natural that some scenarios and spin-offs get born in offering their own anthology of stories and routes based on more specific topics or ideas. For example, as I said before, I wanted first Into the Janeverse to be an anthology of MTF transformations. For this scenario, Escape the Manor, we have an anthology of transformations based on Identity Death.

Now, I have said that I like long stories to even if they become linear most of the time due to how they are fleshed out, I have reviewed some linear scenarios in the past, but I haven't mentioned a scenario like this, that has a completely opposite approach.

Everything starts with a group of people who have to find refugee in a Manor when they get stranded in the middle of nowhere during a downpour; after that, the characters will realize that something inside there is going on and they will have to choose to try and escape or fight what it is within. In Escape the Manor we have a lot of choices, and by a lot I mean a lot, counting 43 endings (54 including placeholders) which offer a variety of events all across the presented story.

What kind of endings do we get? Oh boy, where do we start, since most endings show different characters and monster girl tropes all coming from High Fantasy standards. We have Bee Girls, Dark Elfs, Succubuses, Slime, Maid Servants, Immortal Wish Benders, Posession Demons, Mirror Demons, Weight Gain Fat Girls, Centaurs, Gyarus, Bimbos, Spider Girls, Isekai Girls, and so forth...

According to Narg, the ultimate goal was to provide a wide range of TF options with a large number of ways to achieve Identity Death, so, all these endings and routes, despite being so varied and different, are connected all together by this one theme, in particular, mind control and identity death, giving a somewhat consistent topic inside the scenario.

What is most discussed about this scenario however is the execution of these transformations, which might not be likable for some. While in Cold as Ice we have slow drama and introspection ending in two main events revolved about the death of an ego, most mind control and identity deaths in Escape the Manor happen quite fast actually. The implications of losing your identity and forget who you were or who other people were are not touched here, the drama there is involved and the implications of the transformations are limited to being mentioned that they happen. 

Since we are talking about content explicitly focused on a fetish, it is to be assumed that a lot of people might enjoy this due to its sexual appeal. In that way, Escape the Manor works, it showcases an Identity Death happening, if you can get sexual appeal of hearing the Identity Death alone, this scenario will work for you since this is what it does best, the characters get their memory erased in a lot of different kinds of beings, and it has variety even for everyone.

If what you are looking for is the mental and social implications about Ego Death, Escape the Manor is not really the scenario for you, all due to its fast pace and approach. Most "deaths" go in a similar way, somebody applies some magic, and the characters forget what they were doing, after the other person who is mind-controlling them tells them who they are now, they adopt a new identity rather quickly losing any hesitation and personality they could have had. Sometimes characters might struggle, sometimes characters might be aware they aren't who they used to be, but in the end, most of them end up engulfed by their own mind control.

Now, while Narg says this was not intentional, the truth is that Escape the Manor as a final product is something that has to be enjoyed right quickly or rather instinctively, without analyzing it too much. As I have said before, this scenario stands for its sexual appeal rather than anything else, if you think about it the more you need, or if you judge the scenario in a more serious way than what it should, it simply falls apart in its own logic: From the unremarkable personality of the protagonists, the lack of having a different cadence for each character, through the way the casually take everything that is happening, the vague magic that is used as a plot device only, the characters that sometimes morph to different bodies while being mind-controlled and sometimes not, to the villains that have such enormous power to use telepathy and mind control in anybody in the mansion at any time but don't do it just for the sake of the plot. 

With TF, there are people who enjoy the content for its mental, psychological implications, and there are people who enjoy it for the sexual appeal. It is something that I like about TF since it offers content and ideas for several kinds of audiences, Escape the Manor might be enjoyed more by the latter group in this case.

Yes, this scenario has a very characteristic stream of consciousness method, and just like in scenarios like Harem or John Sudden Lifechange, its appeal results polarizing. My recommendation is that if you like Mind Control and Identity Death you can check them out taking into account the quick and to-the-point approach it uses, it doesn't offer any further deconstruction upon identity itself but it gives a wide catalog of ideas with diversity and range.

Kwumpus Hunt by MechMage

 

Fan cover made by Clavietika

Absurd, surreal, and goofy. Based on a text adventure game from the 70s, Kwumpus Hunt offers a fantastic comedy wrapped up in puzzle-like gameplay that any Student Transfer fan should check at least once if they want to try out something different and refreshing.

The plot centers around Mel and her quest for the Kwumpus, an evil entity that has taken over the school changing everything and everybody to his liking. With the help of her friend and guide Flavia, Mel will have to find out what is happening and strike in the right moment to free the school of its perdition.

The gameplay is nonlinear and even randomized. Now, before you flip up about randomizer use, I have to say that this is randomizer use done right. There are several characters that appear in different rooms every time, the location of the villain is also randomized so you will never know where to actually attack. The rooms without characters offer to the player the possibility to watch pieces of the past to collect clues about the evil Kwumpus to make sense out of the situation.

The rooms with characters will not let you get any clues from that room, so, to get all clues, you will need to replay the scenario several times; even then, the scenario lets you get the right ending with a single playthrough. Replaying the game is very enjoyable anyway thanks to the 7 different endings you can get in total (9 countings some small variations according to Mech, but I didn't see them anywhere, to be honest).

Each room gives you a limited selection of other rooms to go to, if you find end up walking to a room with the wrong character, you will get a bad ending; you have to learn how to go through the right combination of rooms to navigate through the school without being found by the villain or one of the mind-controlled people before time. 

One thing I found a bit annoying is that the rooms do not follow a certain pattern, naturally. Being in the stairway doesn't give you the option to go to the roof, and being on the gate doesn't necessarily let you go to the courtyard, you have to go through several rooms until you find one that lets you access the room you are looking for. While some people might find this a small inconvenience that could increase gameplay without adding any actual content, I found it to be just a small nitpick in the otherwise interesting random mechanics of the game. Because yes, that's right, this is not just a visual novel, this is an actual puzzle game where you have to press the right buttons at the right time.

A lot of the TF events like gender-bending, possession, and twinning are used either just in small amounts or are relegated for comedic gags, so overall I would classify this as a Mind Control focused scenario since it is after all the main threat destroying the school.

While I would not recommend it to people who want a thought through serious TF narrative or to lewd and sex-oriented TF fans, I think Kwumpus Hunt is a great choice for anybody who is looking for come comedy-oriented TF content. It is not just very interactive but also very funny and one of its kind.

A New Life by BuggsB

 

Fan cover made by me

Probably the most recommendable Power Trip scenario. Now, what is Power Trip? When playing and reviewing scenarios, you usually find certain patterns or certain criteria that repeats in some releases, so naturally, for me, the idea of giving that pattern a tag becomes a necessity so these scenarios that share certain characteristic can be grouped together and recommended together. (Classification is just such a beautiful thing <3).

The term "Power Trip"  was coined by Student Transfer Developer Narg when we were discussing a way to classify this kind of scenario in TF fiction, and is a term a lot of people agreed with. What does Power Trip mean? A scenario in which the protagonist abuses power with impunity without negative repercussions, often so the reader can vicariously experience being powerful. In Power Trip scenarios, the ethics beyond the limit of the protagonist's powers are often ignored, letting the player experience the story without mental repercussions or remorse.

In this way, we can group scenarios like Harem, The Tale of the Loser, Body Switchers, and even new ones like John Sudden Lifechange. Now, the idea behind the Power Trip tag is having the protagonist being the one who has the power to change things, if another character has the power to change everything and the protagonist is part of the victims, that would fall into the label of masochism. Even then some people could argue that the obscure Takeover route of Student Transfer has a character that could be a way to achieve power for the writer even when the events are told from John's perspective. I accept that the tag is still a bit wonky and the concept is a work in progress, but by now I propose it to you to group certain scenarios that follow this format.

While Power Trip might be infamous among people who like TF due to the psychological implications and the possibilities of creating conflict around the struggle of an identity change, it is true that Power Trip has its own appeal, normally between people who like TF for lewd reasons more than for any psychological or dramatic reasons. I would define it as some sort of dark, freeform Wish Fulfillment that doesn't take care of real-world ethics.

Going back to A New Life, the scenario offers a new take of Claus, the most respected person in school due to his grades and his intelligence. Once a new student arrives, Michelle, Claus loses his spot as the number one student and looks for a ghost trying to make a wish so he can get revenge. The spirit, Faith, tricks him and steals his body, making Claus a ghost unattached to the shrine that needs to have a body to exist. If he stays without a body for too long, he will end up disappearing.

The scenario at the moment goes through a big amount of decisions and flairs but offers overall two main routes (with a big new Sandra route coming soon) and it has something that makes it stand over a lot of other scenarios, detailed animations all over the story to enhance the experience. For the most part, there is all sorts of boob bouncing, boob bouncing with dresses, with sports shirts, boob bouncing with all kinds of poses, if you love lewd content you will certainly enjoy all these animations that really make you submerge more into the story.

The main route starts when Claus possess Allison and due to her assets, decides to stay as her for the time being, Irene discovers the truth and after some time Claus discovers how to mind control her as well as Allison, making them both praise him and obey him as their master, Claus also concedes Cornelia her wish of being her friend Sayaka instead in exchange of having Irene take her place in her body so they all can live in her mansion. What the story points out now is that Claus is presenting his new self to school and is planning how to get to the top again and avenge Michelle, but Buggs writes the story as he imagines it so things are pretty much unpredictable, really.

The characters are very one-note, Allison is treated as some sort of dumb airhead that only knows about her boobs, Claus is very much a Mary-Sue with incredibly high levels of intelligence and no regards for the feelings of others, and Irene is treated as the tough girl of the group, but I have to admit she is the one that feels most natural of the tree so far.

Overall, what else you can ask for? It's an over-the-top, bizarre story where you as a protagonist have no limits, there is also (some sort of) plot, which makes it different from previous Power Trip scenarios where things just keep happening without reason. The descriptions about Allison's body and breasts are very detailed and that added to the superb animations Buggs has carefully crafted all over make this route a favorite for me and a solid recommendation for any Lewd scenario fans.

The other route focuses on a male-to-male possession where Claus enters the body of Stevie and some days after confronts Mel who is picking up on Stevie. Things happen, and Mel and Claus start to get closer to each other more and more while he is in Stevie's body. While it is interesting to see Mel feel intrigued and confused by this new Stevie as if she develops her feelings for him, I found it ironic that the whole route is based on fixing the relationship of these two while Mel is just talking with somebody that has possessed Stevie, not the real him. Claus overall acts the same as he does in the whole scenario, trying to show his superiority and being apathetic to her advances even when externally giving up to them until they have sex. If Claus stays in Stevie's body, he is probably going to get somebody to reach for, but Claus overall I felt he was the same until the placeholder, with little to no character growth, he wins them all, and he always has the reason.

This route is overall a mixed bag, it is one of the few or probably the only one with Male to Male possession in the Student Transfer scenario catalog, and thanks to Stevie's huge penis, it is probably a good option for guys who want some variety and want to feel who it is to be a more "gifted" person :P. But the thing is that Stevie overall looks too young and that might be a deal-breaker for some (the initial release had to be deleted since Stevie was described as underage). Buggs says that he can't really write about a boy who isn't girly enough since if he isn't then it isn't really different enough to Claus and therefore not interesting to write, which is a fair point as a writer, but still something I would mention to people who want to check the route out, Stevie is basically a girly boy with a really huge penis, which plays in the irony of his appearance.

Even when I do not usually enjoy lewd scenarios, I found the Allison route quite enjoyable and recommendable, all things considered, and I am waiting for an update soon.

Twisted Minds by Bladecutter

 

Twisted Minds is another 20-minute scenario that opens several paths for TF stories but that ends too soon before any of them can really develop.

In summary, Riley (named now Michael) gets a smartphone-like device from a being proclaiming to be an alien (Circe) laughing at him once he leaves due to his own ingenuity. After trying it once that night, Michael takes it with him to school and while trying to enter the chooses several paths to the class covered with bullies.

In the main entrance, there is Sarah (Sayaka), in the fields, there is Tony (Eric), in the garden, there is Valerie (Tori), depending on the actions of the user Michael can get to where his friend Kate (Katrina) is and show her the device. Choosing the wrong option will make each one of the bullies take control over the device, all of them go crazy in their own routes.

Since the Kate route starts with a placeholder, the only thing this scenario has to offer are the small routes where the bullies make Riley suffer in different ways. I would recommend it for fans of masochism, but please also take into account that the scenario has a bit of loose logic (even when not to the point of Harem) and some people will dislike the name changes as well.

Powers by royal422

 

After discovering his new ghost powers, John ends up getting discovered by his Mom who can see ghosts due to experience with John's Dad, John ends up possessing her and at school, he starts a possessing spree starting with Rita and Rachel, the scenario ends after 5 minutes.

This scenario is just another proposal of Serial TF (Serial Possession in this case) that ends before it even starts, John acts impulsively like Kiyoshi, without caring too much about what his Mom says, and using his powers led by his horny thoughts. If you like this kind of content, the scenario doesn't offer really anything aside the set up, so you can easily skip it.

The Tale of the Loser by Knightmare49

 

With a playtime of around 15 minutes, The Tale of the Loser offers a story similar in style to Harem where the player can swap and possess different people with no consequences in a sort of fetishistic wish-fulfillment without limits.

The small routes that this scenario shows have:

1. Dominic becoming a famous actress, Gwen, after copying her body from a show on the TV screen. Gwen coincidentally arrives at his house at that same time and sees Dominic morphed as her.

2. Dominic stealing Connie's life and make her continue his life as Dominic in his old body

3. Dominic swapping with Flavia, Allison, and Cassie, each one in different routes.

Overall, most characters act like normal human beings unlike in the dream world Harem shows, Dominic swaps with all kinds of people without taking care of their feelings, just like Kiyoshi, but he shows a little remorse for his actions that are completely taken care of by his own desires.

An interesting thing to note about this scenario is that it seems to point about Abbyswap route or a route related to Abby, some characters talk about an incident in school, making everybody taking the day off, apparently, Abby and John got in some sort of trouble that is never explicitly mentioned.

The narrator also talks directly to Dominic in several parts of the scenario, including the beginning where he apologizes to him for giving him such a bad story because he lost 900 lines of coding while working on the story, recommending also to other scenario authors to make backups.

The scenario is overall pretty short and already discontinued, aside from the Abby and John plotline, it is mostly focused on the sexual appeal of these stories for the reader, if you can get off in less than 15 minutes, well, check it out, I guess.

John Junior, El regreso (Spanish) by mrdonferri

 

This scenario is awful.

No, it's not just awful, it's incredibly putrid and bad.

No, it's not just putrid and bad, it's an insult to everybody who tries to read it.

Did you think Harem was bad? Think again. Basically, John gets a remote for his birthday from his Dad, shenanigans happen, shit happens, and overall, the writing is at the level of Harem but the difference is almost every single plot ends up containing either implicit AND explicit parts with underage characters. If you are the ones that like non-sensical and wacky TF like Harem, trust me, there is a lot of stuff that is infinitely better than this, thank God it has been removed so it doesn't see the light of the day, ever again.

Oh, and the characters were always changing size for no reason! Connie was half her size! And in the next scene, she was normal! The same with John! What was going on?

You, English-only speakers, you are lucky for once. God, what an abomination.

Body Switchers by mbrad

 

While Body Switchers' style will be disappointing for those who look TF for the psychological drama attached to it, people who like the physical part of the swaps would have enjoyed these frenzies where characters focus all the time in the bodies each time they enter to.

In this story, John and Kiyoshi are given the power to switch bodies by will, which they do start with their two best friends, afterward, they start swapping with the bodies of every person they see at school for one reason or another, swapping Brad and Zoey to give Brad a lesson, swap with Tori and Vanessa to give them a lesson, swap Sayaka with Cornelia to give her a lesson, swap Mina with Eric for an experiment, or swap with Kiyoshi and John's mom out of pure lust and curiosity.

Aside from the loose notion characters have from their canon personalities, all of them are left to their barebones acting mostly by the gender stereotype they are part on, characters usually have the same cadence and overall they all point out the basic gender roles every time they get swapped, boys are stronger, bigger, girls are more attractive and weak, this could have gotten repetitive for some but the people who do not want to look too deep into the logic of the situation to get a quickie done would have enjoyed it without issues, and in the way the scenario is written, they could have gotten a quickie one after the other.

The swaps come and go rapidly, showing a similar approach to scenarios like John's Sudden Lifechange but with relatively better results and a relatively more logical plotline, the logic doesn't work the same as in real life, but it is comparable to TV sitcom logic.

What we start to see here is a certain division on the Student Transfer audience, people who are into TF for the psychological, nonsexual aspects of it, and people who like the sexual and physical aspects of it; in that sense, Body Switchers pointed to the latter group a lot more, logic is a secondary aspect of the plot since the characters are there only to acknowledge the body differences they perceive with each swap, overall, the scenario didn't look to take itself too seriously, and what has proposed it was fun if you were part of the demographic is targeted. 

This scenario would have been recommended, but because John and Kiyoshi are tagged as underage people at the end of one of the routes, and as well the existence of one Natsumi scene, this scenario had to be removed for violating TFGS rules due to depicting kids in sexual situations. People who want to read something of this same style can still check its reboot available with the name of The Gift of Switching for Student Transfer v4.

Sister Swap by Tgsquirtle

 

Fan cover made by Clavietika

Following the example of the main game, some authors started creating some scenarios with several stories and lore, and Sister Swap had big ambitions for what its story was going to be.

Based on the scenario thread, Sister Swap was one of the first scenarios to ever be made after Stuck and even had a general outline and even a big twist planned before the author dropped it completely.

There are several routes in this scenario raging a variety of concepts, not just a Sister Swap, which is only the event that starts things out. In this world, the protagonist is Riley and the swap starts with his sister Allison in a discussion Riley started while being picked up by his sister, it's easier being a girl.

Turns out that Riley comes from a family of mages that can change reality and saying "I wish" out loud triggered the first manifestation of his powers, a body swap with his sister.

The summary of the routes goes more or less like this:

-In one of the routes, Riley goes to his house neighbor Marty and due to their sexual desires they end up having sex, Marty and Riley (in Allison's body) swap again due to Riley's still unconscious powers, and they have to act like they other while they figure out what is happening.

In another route, is Allison (in Riley's body) that ends up having sex with her friend Cassie due to their own sexual desires, after that, Cassie and Allison go back to Riley's house and ask Riley to swap them so Cassie can fuck herself, they believe Riley has he power since when they try to swap between themselves, it does not work, Riley accepts with the condition of borrowing Allison's body for a little longer, Allison accepts saying that she wouldn't mind having Riley's body permanently.

In another route (ditto), Riley (in Allison's body) asks Yuuna, one of her Mom's friends to swap with him out of curiosity, Riley goes to her home and has sex with her husband Greg, the next day after waking up in her bed Riley goes back to his home to ask Yuuna to swap back, Yuuna doesn't remember anything, neither Allison in his body, he tries saying I wish out loud, it doesn't work, what happened? According to Tgsquirtle, what was planned for the route was revealing that Riley liked Yuuna's life so much that he unconsciously wished to stay as her and he affected the memories of other people as nothing had happened.

This is one of the first interesting ideas the scenario shows, an interesting approach in Reality Change based on a subconscious wish.

Another swap that happens is Riley (In Allison's body) swapping with his mom out of curiosity, her mother tells him about his power and she accepts, afterwards, her little sister, Olivia, asks her to get bathed together since she's used to it since she is still a kid, Riley first refuses but due to his sister's cries he accepts and does her hair showing the first glances of maternal instincts.

The last route shows Olivia growing up to an adult by accident due to Riley's words and ends up in Olivia morphing her mother into a kid while trying to trade places of mother and daughter so she doesn't have to be told to go to bed or being bossed around by her again, Olivia seems to have the same powers as Riley and be simply saying it, she can morph people, control their actions, and also their memories, this plants an interesting villain that has basically the mind of a child but also unlimited power. Unfortunately, morphs done in this route violates the TFGS rules due to the depiction of minors in sexual situations, which led to ST developers removing it. The option for the author to rerelease the scenario edited is still there, or even continuing it, but according to Tgsquirtle the project is now completely dead.

The main plot also depicts Yoshinori as a wise grandfather that Riley calls in for help, Yoshinori teaches him about how he will be able to control time and space in the future and how he will teach him to control his powers, he uses magic to make one of Riley's Mom's friends go into a vacation and he morphs into her so he can take care of the family in secret due to issues that happened with her mother.

All the routes end up there until I explained them, the scenario is no more than 30 minutes long so far, but Tgsquirtle mentioned a whole outline they had for the story in which (spoilers) it's explained that Riley's dad is actually Olivia, morphed by his brother, Riley's uncle, in undefined events, apparently, Riley's uncle had the same abilities as his father and developed a God complex, even then, his whereabouts were unknown in the final state of the scenario.

Riley's dad, Claus, lost all his memories and he would be able to recover them only as an adult, once he grows up as Olivia, making his own wife take care of after him.

Tgsquirtle mentioned being reading a lot of fictionmania stories at the time which inspired the routes in the scenario, even the story "where someone gets turned into a baby and loses their memories until they reach adulthood". 

In general, the execution of all these concepts was no better than your average TF doujin, characters act rapidly, nonsensically, thinking only about sex, the animation was very limited and poor, with static characters across the screen even in sex scenes, but bringing up all those TF concepts and ideas into a visual novel narrative was an interesting idea that was getting known at the time thanks to PS and ST, the whole family magic and lore of the scenario was vivid and interesting. Overall, even when not playable anymore, this scenario shows an important step for the ST community and TF in general.

Harem by AmneLeGrand3

 

In the story of the Student Transfer community, Harem has become one of the most well-known scenarios although the reasons why are rather unfortunate, and Harem has become for a lot of people to what not to do with a scenario.

The story follows Kiyoshi in a rampage of actions that in the end do not make too much sense and confuse the reader. The scenario is written as if no second thoughts were given about each plot element, the concept is so primitive that most people will be able to identify with it due to its dream-like logic throughout the whole story.

What makes Harem bad for a lot of readers is how things are developed, Kiyoshi ends up mind controlling every person he encounters without giving anybody the opportunity to react so he can create his own "Harem" dream, including his relatives like his Sister and Mom. No empathy is given to anybody without any feelings of remorse or thoughtfulness to the people who are mind-controlled. For those fans of TF that like to explore the psychological and social aspects of TF, this makes the scenario null in worth since it does not do any work to explore any of these aspects and goes straight into some sort of wish-fulfillment fantasy that end ups being boring for most people since everything ends up being "perfect" for the protagonist, and asks more suspension of disbelief that any story is allowed to ask for.

The protagonist does not suffer any consequences (in almost all of the routes), nobody can't react to his new powers for too long, since everybody ends up being mind-controlled, the protagonist is happy, the people are happy, but underneath we have a psychopathic-like character that has no limits and a cast disposed of their own identity and opinions, giving the scene a very dark and "macabre" feeling.

The sexual scenes are mostly lackluster as well since they consist mostly of the time in repetitive blowjobs with not too much describing of the situation. Even then, the scenario has gained a certain cult following due to its ironic appeal, the scenario is so erratic that can it even be considered funny for some, it is absurd and surreal in an unintentional way, comedic in the same way The Room is; there are also people who are able to ignore all of these issues if they do not take the scenario seriously either, going straight to the point merely to jack off.