It's a decent game but a pretty bad 'ntr' game. It gets a 5.5 out of 10 from me. Looking forward to your review :)
Pretty much what you said. Being a Blue series' game it really doesnt make sense, but since you asked for my opinion here it is.
Why is Dearest Blue's NTR bad?
Simple answer, because it could be infinitely better. Much like True Blue, there is a powerful organization behind a hunt that targets the MC's childhood friend and long time love interest. The difference are the rules:
- whoever takes her virginity first wins and gets ownership of the girl, but she must verbally consent to it
- customized smartphones are used for encrypted group calls between the players
- the MC accepts to gamble his life in the game to try to win and save her, but he cant hint anything about the hunt (his phone is wired)
- each player can request a 1 hour private session w/ her through their phone. All other players get a message and must not approach her during that time
- players can use pawns to do the seduction or dirty work, as long as the pawns are not made aware of what is really happening (the hunt's rules). Most players are wealthy man that dont want to be in the spotlights, so they will only use pawns.
Now, the consent clause could be an interesting plot device - except it's not, because it hangs on the word verbal. It doesn't matter if she is coerced, drugged or tortured to say it, all it matters is that she is recorded saying she wants it. Even if at first no player/pawn resorts to those (probably to make the game longer and more interesting) when they get close enough to smell (deflowering) blood they eventually do, and many routes end rather drily NTR-wise. In the 3 routes the MC gets to live through the aftermath of the hunt, only one of them will have her truly degenerate into NTR territory.
Other than that, the MC getting phone notifications when a player requests his private session could've really add to the suspense of knowing that something is about to happen to his love and set for interesting raging voyeur situations, but sadly they barely use it for this purpose. The male characters in the game too could be better used - are they someone's pawn or not? Should you focus your time guarding her against this guy or the other? - but... nope. Despite the game's many flaws, the scenario itself isnt completely bad, there was even one awesome case where a twist at the ending hit that NTR part of my brain really hard, but all in all it isnt worth your time if you are looking for good quality NTR.