VN Ren'Py Bare Witness [v0.4b] [AlterWorlds]

4.50 star(s) 173 Votes
Discussion Reviews (173)
D

Dessolos

Forum Fanatic
Jul 25, 2017
4,655
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SerHawkes said:
So... What are the odds the game will get slapped with 'Abandoned' in the coming weeks?

I say 80-20 odds.

I mean honestly, haven't played this game since the last update and already I've kinda forgotten the characters and story of the game.
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Unless im mistaken I thought games only get the Abandoned tag if there is no communication for X amount of time on pateron / SS and as far as I can tell there is communication so id say 0% - 1%
 
SerHawkes

SerHawkes

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Oct 29, 2017
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Dessolos said:
Unless im mistaken I thought games only get the Abandoned tag if there is no communication for X amount of time on pateron and as far as I can tell there is communication so id say 0% - 1%
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Also applies if an update hasn't been put out in x amount of time as well. Unless they've changed that policy... again.
 
bebiho

bebiho

Member
Sep 16, 2016
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Uriel ☁ said:
These are all the confirmed girls in the new game Heaven's Door. It's not clear which are to be considered main LI.
I'll try to update this post going forward as new girls are introduced.

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Not really a fan of nose piercing but Patricia is my favorite looks wise from Heavens Door.

I will also say that I like the cast in Bare Witness better, more variation in the looks.

SO HYPED FOR THIS UPDATE!!!
 
SerHawkes

SerHawkes

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Oct 29, 2017
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Uriel ☁ said:
These are all the confirmed girls in the new game Heaven's Door. It's not clear which are to be considered main LI.
I'll try to update this post going forward as new girls are introduced.

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Nikki: Kinda on the generic side, look gives off possible yandere.
Maddie: Kinda a Nami in look, only stacked and more freckles. Not bad.
Aurora: Likely semi high class, looks refined. Probably has a CIM kink.
Kalli: Wooof... Probably has the libdo to last a week of snu snu.
Kennedy: Probably childhood bestie, super kinky likely.
Mika: Likes to cook, probably burns 90% of food, even though she tries hard.
Thora: Acts like a domme, but likely total bottom. Loves Anal.
Miranda: ... That ain't no kitten. More Cougar than anything. Don't like being lied to here.
Patricia: Secretly a domme, probably pegs, totally see leather and lace.
 
Discontented

Discontented

Member
Mar 19, 2018
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373
SerHawkes said:
So... What are the odds the game will get slapped with 'Abandoned' in the coming weeks?

I say 80-20 odds.

I mean honestly, haven't played this game since the last update and already I've kinda forgotten the characters and story of the game.
Click to expand...
Unlikely. Dev is active, even if the game isn't. Saying 'coming soon' over and over on Patreon seems to keep the abandoned tag at bay, I've seen it happen with a few other games/devs in the past. Not sure though, the rules about it seem to change a lot.
 
divingmedic

divingmedic

Well-Known Member
Aug 15, 2023
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Discontented said:
Unlikely. Dev is active, even if the game isn't. Saying 'coming soon' over and over on Patreon seems to keep the abandoned tag at bay, I've seen it happen with a few other games/devs in the past. Not sure though, the rules about it seem to change a lot.
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Dev is putting the final spit on polish on it so they can release it on Steam.
 
Elduriel

Elduriel

Engaged Member
Donor
Mar 28, 2021
2,278
3,490
Discontented said:
Unlikely. Dev is active, even if the game isn't. Saying 'coming soon' over and over on Patreon seems to keep the abandoned tag at bay, I've seen it happen with a few other games/devs in the past. Not sure though, the rules about it seem to change a lot.
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man, who gives a fuck about the zone rules? Game is alive, devs are alive, patreon is alive (more than 500 active supporters btw), who gives a shit that it takes some time to properly finish the game. It literally has like a dozen different paths they are trying to complete. My thinking is if you aren't paying for it, you shouldn't judge however long an update takes.
 
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Elhemeer

Elhemeer

Forum Fanatic
Jun 20, 2022
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Discontented said:
Unlikely. Dev is active, even if the game isn't. Saying 'coming soon' over and over on Patreon seems to keep the abandoned tag at bay, I've seen it happen with a few other games/devs in the past. Not sure though, the rules about it seem to change a lot.
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They're not just saying "coming soon" either, they're giving updates and explaining what's happening in production. It's still possible an admin here might jump the gun, but Alterworlds isn't doing anything to warrant it.
 
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botc76

botc76

The Crawling Chaos, Bringer of Strange Joy
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Oct 23, 2016
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fh321 said:
When I saw that the dev from 'Come Home' recommended this game, I immediately looked for it here to try it out. I played through what's available (up to ch.4), and... well, it certainly tries to travel the same path of deep characters, multiple relationships, vanilla romances, and high quality storytelling. Unfortunately, it misses the mark.

The story: Shelby's background was compelling, and definitely deserved more exploration. His relationship with his dad was so wholesome, and the witness protection angle was unique and could have been really, really engaging. Even the little bit the dev gave us (about masking an accent, moving a lot, 'learning' a new name) was fascinating. I wish this got more attention.

The characters: Shelby(MC) aside, I felt as though everyone other than Sadie and Mora were so flat you could slide them beneath a closed door. Let's run through them -
Heidi offers MC a room because she thinks he is attractive? Reverse that, and it's creepy AF. The casual way she opines about walking in on him in the shower, or deciding to leave the bedroom door open *the first night he moves in* WITHOUT giving Athena the choice to opt out of being spied on during sex is just gross. I disliked her enough to 'nope' her from the start - a first, for games of this genre.

Athena didn't bother me as much, but following her romantic arc was so confusing and poorly paced. It felt like she went from playing video games with her cousin and MC, to confessing her love for him the next time they hung out (get used to that, it happens a lot). Uh... what? Shouldn't there be some steps in between? No buildup at all, no reason for the player to be invested in choosing her.

Valeria was who I chose for MC by the end, but it was more out of pity than because I thought the romance was set up well. I liked the way she could relate to MC's tragic past with her own, but.... again, just like with Heidi, wtf was that introduction??? As a recap, she's sitting in a bar and decides *at first sight* that MC is going to be her FWB for the next 4 years until he finishes college. She's 42 years old and beautiful and wealthy, but needs only a single glance and a beer order to decide that? No concern about personality, or background, or beliefs? Just "oh, you're the first college freshman I met this semester, let's fuck and btw, go get a STD test bc I don't like condoms, but feel free to screw anyone else you'd like." Because of all this, Valeria made no sense to me.

Sadie was one of the two bright spots. At least her instantaneous attraction to the MC was justified. I did sort of wish she stayed chunky, though. Even with her, however, there's very little in the way of romance shown. They meet one or two times, then "7 WEEKS GO BY" and he's finger-banging his cousin in the gym. Weird. Nonetheless, she was one of the best relationship choices in the game, despite a pretty weird continuity error after the Halloween party.

Zenda was another woman with just absolutely zero pacing. MC meets her on the way to college and they chat on the train (nice! relatable!). Naturally, she instantaneously decides to invest her time molding him into a proper boyfriend (for unknown reasons) and investing huge sums of $$ into said project. It's Heidi all over again. Why does Zenda like Shelby? What makes him worth her - a beautiful, cosmopolitan heiress - time? Because the game demands she does, of course! Quit asking questions!

And lastly, we have Mora, who was the shining diamond in a box of gravel, character-wise. She had a sympathetic backstory (like Valeria), a completely understandable reason to be interested in the MC (that's explored in a realistic manner), and the romance progresses at a sane pace. She's well-written, to the point that you (as the player) want her life to improve and for her to be happy. She even acts like a virgin, with... what, 4 or 5 months of in-game time passing before she goes 'all the way'. Two thumbs up, there.

Again, I want to emphasize that as a run-of-the-mill, vanilla porn game, Bare Witness is perfectly fine. The renders are solid, there are choices and options, there's frequent sex. But - and maybe I'm completely off-base here - I don't think that was the dev's aim. Based on the story, the amount of dialogue and character background info, the thematic narrative that revolves around relationships rather than sex, I feel like that's a fair assumption to make. But when the pacing is set at a rate you'd find in a Brazzer's clip, the characters don't fit with the story. Why try to make a 'serious' story if that's the foundation of reality you're building on? Just make a straight up 'Grandma's House' VN, where there's no story and just 100% porn.
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Wow. I like Come Home, but don't feel that the romances there come even close to those in Bare Witness.
For one, way too many love interests, to go anywhere near that deep.
Due to the whole "phone to set up a date thing" and the sandbox it seems way more like a Dating Sim than a Visual Novel. Again, I like it, but if anything it is way more shallow than Bare Witness, like you can basically date EVERY single love interest despite them knowing about it. It's just weird how things look completely opposite to me.
 
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fh321

New Member
Nov 15, 2023
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35
botc76 said:
Wow. I like Come Home, but don't feel that the romances there come even close to those in Bare Witness.
For one, way too many love interests, to go anywhere near that deep.
Due to the whole "phone to set up a date thing" and the sandbox it seems way more like a Dating Sim than a Visual Novel. Again, I like it, but if anything it is way more shallow than Bare Witness, like you can basically date EVERY single love interest despite them knowing about it. It's just weird how things look completely opposite to me.
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Loved hearing your perspective! I'd def agree it (Come Home) is like a dating sim. I think so is Bare Witness, though! The thing I liked more about Come Home, was that the characters make more sense [to me]. The writing allows their motivations, interests, and personalities to shine through. And while there are 20(!!) characters, several of them are relatively minor (I'm thinking specifically of the teacher that has the MC sleep with her in front of her hubby). The dozen or so 'main' LIs, though, get a lot of room to breathe. There's never any sense of rushing through the story, and several times the narrative arcs intersect (like Reba with Mari).

I think that's what made me enjoy it so much. Despite the A-plot being sci-fi and dimension hopping, it felt much more realistic than Bare Witness.
 
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4.50 star(s) 173 Votes