I've never really been into visual novels but somehow recently I got tricked into one. I started with a VN/dating game, which turned out to be a spinoff so naturally I went back to the original game.
Beyond Eden is pretty fucking dark but I was prepared for it. Sort of. However, there was something I did not see coming, though frankly I should have.
First off, BL is really not a good description of this game. There's no love in it. Also, 'romantic' is a very wrong way to decribe what goes on between most characters. It's mostly just rape and coercion. The only route that can be described as actually romantic is the Laurance one. That's basically the only good scenario there is. The other so-called good endings are throughly fucked-up. I started with Joshua route but it was sick and disturbing from the start and even though there's a so-called good ending, nothing good starts with rape and coercion. Eddy was willing but he's not a route, only a footnote to Oscar's.
The question may arise why I even bothered to play it? It looks like a pretty typical VN game but it caught me off guard how well-written it is, how complex the charatcers and their motives are. It's a real shame they had to make it so degrading.
And the thing is, they didn't have to use those rape scenes at all. Most routes were's even based on sex but on blackmail and manipulation. Some routes, like the doctor's one were really interesting overall and they really did not have to be romantic or sexual at all. But if they really had to be sexual, there were much better ways to to make a good wicked plot. For instance, Alex could have seduced all 3 of the of age brothers and then make a grand reveal. That would effectively shatter the family and destroy its reputation, not to mention devastate the father.
Apart from that, I am somewhat annoyed at the inconsistencies in different routes. I understand the different events were needed to create more variety but having Joshus sacrifice himself to save his family and in another agree to have his brothers poisoned didn't make any sense.
Overall though, it's still such an impressive work. Shame it had to rely on horrible BL dynamics.