VN - Ren'Py - Halfway House [Ep.10 - Bonus 7-8] [Az]

This visual novel game is an absolute masterpiece in every aspect. From the captivating storytelling and well-developed characters to the stunning artwork and immersive soundtrack, it surpasses all expectations. Every decision feels meaningful, leading to multiple riveting endings. A true gem in the world of interactive storytelling. 5/5 stars without a doubt!

Above average writing, graphics are fine, but there isn't really a plot and the paths are not fleshed out at all.

There is minimal difference in game play or plot if you choose corruption or friend points. Corruption points for two of the characters simply serve to whether you want to see content with them or not.

On the point of content: there is not much of it. Each chapter is very short and has 15 minutes or less of content. For a game thats 5 years old, it doesn't leave a lot of confidence. This game doesn't have that many characters, but there are still too many of them. Most characters are included in a single scene or two even though its implied they will be more involved in the story. Large chunks of most chapters are there for just the MC chatting up random NPCs who serve no purpose.

I am leaving 1 star because the plot starts out with the MC getting his butt kicked, and thats how it ends 10 chapters later, with really no plot advancement or character development. Relationships with every character move at a snail pace. Outside of a couple BJ scenes and one anal, there are zero sex scenes with any of the main characters, and only one with a side character.... in 10 chapters and 5 years of development. If the story had any reasoning to it, I would bump it up to 2 or 3 stars, the writing is solid - but there is no purpose. Just a dude living his life in a halfway house endlessly

After 10 chapters, Ashley is still… Ashley, the Queen Bitch who don’t show any compassion for anyone expect for Emily from time to time. She does nothing around the house to help Samantha and treats MC as a doggy. Don’t ask yourself why there is no love point for her, there is no love inside her, just ice. Maybe there is someone worth discovering behind her ugly shell but even the chapter 9 did not show this someone, she was still the usual bitch despite being insecure about the meeting with her grandad.

After 10 chapters, MC is still a wimp in front of women, even when treated like dogshit by Ashley or her lovely sister Lynn. I find it strange that he was introduced as someone with anger issues in chapter 1 and yet he goes silent when being talked nastily.

After 10 chapters, this VN would benefit from some changes in attitudes to show a real progression and evolution.

After 10 chapters, there are still a lot of choices with only one single option. Hmm what’s the point in doing this? It looks like a waste of time for both the developer and the player to me.

All in all, I quite enjoy this VN even if I deeply hate Ashley’s character, as you noticed, but it would be great if the MC was starting to grow some balls, just saying. I was glad to see some real animations for the first time in chapter 10, so that’s a plus and I look forward to the next chapters and hope for Ashley to calm her tits down or for the MC to put her in her place.

Review of Ep. 10….

I decided to try this game because I thought the premise was interesting and unique. It’s a slice of life slow burn, which I tend to like, that takes place over about 7 or 8 days with a time jump of about a few weeks in the middle.

I like the character models. Kudos to the dev for using good looking realistic models and not horribly proportioned ones with the giant fantasy tits.

The writing is good for the most part. Hardly any spelling or grammar errors. But as others have noted there is bloat at times.

There is no real overarching story. The plot is mainly getting to know the girls and helping them with their problems. There is very little sex so far. From what I’ve read in other reviews there are a few sex scenes, but they are very easy to miss given your choices. I didn’t get any in my playthrough. All I got was a BJ from Samantha then later I dry humped her, then finger banged Emily.

I’ve seen some reviewers put down the music, but it didn’t bother me. I quite liked a few of the scores used. What I didn’t really like was the sporadic use of voices for the occasional gasp, moan, or “HEY!”. There really should have been a setting to turn the voices off.

There are a lot of single option “choices” to click on throughout the story. I don’t understand the point of this. If the MC is going to do the thing anyway why make a single button appear to progress him forward? All it does is break the flow of the game.

I liked Emily for the most part, but she’s the cliched (and played out) 19 year old who acts like a shy 5 year old when it comes to anything regarding sex. She’s good when she’s not acting like a baby. The majority of the character development seems to be focused on Emily.

There seems to be some kind of writing inconsistency when it comes to Ashley. You spend almost an entire episode helping her with her family drama. She warms up more to the MC and is much friendlier to him, but in the very next episode she is right back to treating him like dogshit again. There is no explanation for this.

I like Samantha for the most part. She’s supposed to be around 40, but there are times when she acts like a teenager. She was supposedly some kind of movie star once, but she is adamant about never wanting anybody to see the film she was in. It’s never mentioned again after maybe episode 2. I’m guessing she was a porn star.

The MC was fine to begin with, but he starts to get annoying when he begins to constantly nag Emily for kisses, and Samantha to help get him off. You would think this was the thirstiest mother fucker to ever live. I get he was in an all-male juvenile detention center for 4 years, but damn. Stop being such a beta.

I’ve seen other reviewers state that the dev seems to be very liberal with his updates. Taking a full year between episodes 9 and 10. I’m interested enough to want to see this game finished, but if these long droughts between updates is going to be the norm for the dev I’m not optimistic for it’s completion.

9.5/10
I didn't thought that this AVN will be this good when I first download I just wanna find something to kill time
But this one is the best and kinda realistic in many way though!
Have a little bit slow burn vibes but have an action too so it's not boring and interesting too

This make me wanna go to juvie and having a home like this haha

Pro
- Render keep getting better and better in every update
- The background location is the most realistic compare to every AVN I have been play and the settings is really lively and look really like a home
- The character is really interesting and their model realistic. I really like Sam though and wish for a chance with Doc Shiho
- The story are really good though and better than some netflix series
- Another man in this game is loveable Luis is the best bro you can get in AVN and Uncle Monroe too even Eli is really nice guy and this come from me the guy that want to be only man and hate every male character other than MC in all AVN
- The little slowburn and teasing vibes are something I really like not too much and not straight too boring sex
- Dev are sure Director or DOP. I work in film industry and you nailed many stunning shot
- Cheat in this game are the best.
- MC smooth talker are the best. he always have his way of word.

Cons
- Lexington are perv I wish something bad coming too him soon.
- I kinda hate Ash backstory. she have many way to do the thing she want many better and cooler way than this with old guys. I love her character and she's smarter and cooler than that if dev see this I hope you can have a better comeback and fixing this with better story.
- MC are weak always get beat and can do nothing in the fight.
- Chinese gangster that act tough I hate chinese but It's okay than korean I guess hope you not add korean men in this avn

Thanks a lot for good work I can't wait for more

** I don't want bonus EP I just wish for more update instead

Just sad, it would have such good potential.

Yet AZ is not really into it anymore. Bringing out Bonus episodes wich have nothing to do with the game itself.

The girls look good, and the writing is also pretty good.

I would love to give this game a higher rating, I really would! There are a bunch of positives. The girls are all really cute and unique. The renders are usually really nice, although I'm not such a huge fan of trying to blend CG models with real life backdrops, which does occur in some outdoor scenes. The writing is very competent, with proper English.

Just based on the girls alone I would give this game 4.5 out of 5, but... there are 2 major things that drag this game down for me. First, and the less egregious of the issues, is the pacing of the story. There doesn't seem to be much plot, its more of a slice of life, character driven story, which is totally fine, if done well. Here it is not done well, as some scenes just drag on and on and on with useless extra dialog. Some newer updates have "stuff" happen during the day, which technically advances time, but it all feels mostly like filler. So the feeling of nothing really happening kinda hurts my desire to keep playing and seeing new updates.

My 2nd issue with the game however is what ultimately made me stop playing, and that was the MC. I get that people will say it's unrealistic that all these girls will like him and such cause he ugly and whatnot, and I understand that, but at the same time, it's a game, it's not so hard to take that. What I can't take is just how annoyingly insufferable the MC is. He drones on endlessly about everything and anything over and over and over. I get that this is connected to my first issue with the fact that there's a lot of filler, but the MC is just so dumb and naive. I get he was in juvy, but I can't read all the bullshit he just keeps saying, and I end up skipping most of it. If I'm skipping most of what the MC is saying, it's not worth playing.

Early in this games development I supported the dev for a few updates. I liked the girls, I liked the renders and I was hopeful that as the MC was exposed to life events outside juvy he would get a little more bearable, more reasonable. Unfortunately that didn't happen. There are good reasons to play this game, it has qualities that many people will like. For me though, I sadly have to stop trying to play this.

You'd think a game with such a lack of lewd scene would be carried by it's gripping narrative instead but nah that's not the case. So far there is only 2 scene where MC actually gets to have sex and even one of them is with an irrelevant character who appears for only a brief moment before in the game and that is after however many years of development. The story on the other hand doesn't make sense at all and neither does it have anything to do with MCs life.
How do you expect us players to get immersed in the game when the most gripping issues don't even have any consequences for MC, instead they are about a character that MC isn't even that attached to. Infact she is kind of a bitch towards MC for no reason at all.

Also the fact that all we got is 30 more minutes of gameplay after more than a year of development is leading me to beleive that this is another one of those money sucking patreon schemes.

The only good thing I can say about this game is that the renders, animations and models are extremely good looking. The female models are some of the best I've seen in the game , the male models on the other hand barely look human. MC himself looks like a 35 year old man despite being 18, a fact which is brought up multiple times in the game.

Models are cute with reasonable sized bodies. Good use of lighting and poses. Solid animations. Story is well written and not full of ludicrous stuff. Characters are interesting and their personalities and reactions match well with their backstories. Not very many of the choices are super meaningful in terms of branching, mostly you just miss some hot scenes if you choose wrong answers - but that's okay, I prefer not having to play a game several times just to see all the content.

Well well well did I just found the perfect mix between story and eroticism or what?

Jesus christ I can simply live in the universe knomsayin?You young ones are keeping it eroticas alive on this site and this thing proves it!
NOW, objectively speaking the update speed is on a snail pace, not just because I can't enough of it but also cuz each update's taking almost half a year or more to come out, my only gripe.

Good lord this made me come out of lurking to here- typing this review, great goddamn job, developer!

Gameplay:
VN, multiple paths.
Classic choice-driven story. Stats at the end of each episodes, so you can adjust depending on which girl you are after. Straightforward.

Story:
There is an actual story with various characters, and the pitch and the development ideas are interesting. The english is ok. But it's waaaay too much boring dialogues. IOW, it's not really well written. And the story develop very slowly... Also, it's not hardcore sex everywhere (actually, there isn't much in 9 episodes). The story is more focused on relations.

Graphics/Animation:
Pretty good.

Overall impression:
One of the first renpy game I've played with. So, I was really curious and I took the time to read the story. Even if I'll probably won't follow this game (too slow), I think It worth a try as it is quite well made. Especially if you prefer soft-porn.

Really well written VN.
Thought through characters with nice quirks and treats - and way "deeper" than one would have thought.
And those beautiful renders are a sight to behold - so all in all this is real fun to read and play!

This game really surprised me in a positive way!

I'm not usually that into games that aren't to some level fetish focused, but this one has such a interesting story and fun characters that I really got hooked. Also, found the renders and animation to be pretty good (especially with the facial expressions).

One of "the good ones", really recommend it!

renders are pretty decent and unique as no one else has copied the one yet and the story and not so bad either . and the pacing is not as bad either it is just a shame it is still in its early going and not very far along other than that great AVN

Gave this one 3 stars primarily because the developer has a COMPLETELY unreasonable time frame for updates, EP10 came a year or more out after EP9.

That being said, even after a year and comparing this game to what is currently out there, it still rates high on my list in terms of quality and story. Models are realistic and not everyone model or character is a overly inflated boob bimbo.

This game does make me want to see what happens next which I feel is critical to enjoy the lewd scenes when they happen.

I highly recommend this game for your bucket list of adult novels and can only hope the developer will be more active and produce timely, quality and (hopefully) quantity updates.

I thought this was actually going to be a big ass update considering it took 15 months but guess what its not. I played this like very long ago considering it was one of the most trending and the reviews were also nice. But its just bad when you go further into the VN.
The graphics were really good and the characters looked alright but in some renders they looked odd.
The story doesn't make sense at all. The character development of the girls is just terrible. They just keep going back and forth all the time if they are in love or not with the MC especially Emily. And guess what still nothing much with Emily in this update.
The sex scenes were all in MCs dream so far but in this update you get to fk the nurse that i dont give a fk about. Atlast we are getting somewhere with the sex scenes i guess. But there's nothing much of a progress in the characters still. Animations are mediocre to me. This game is just terrible. The dev is milking the patrons and giving just bullshit updates.
I just don't see myself coming back for this garbage again. This might be the last time. Because the content here is laughable with the time it took.
Maybe if it gets a tag showing complete then I might check but I will be a fuckin gramps by then.

shit dev, poor game overall
3/10

Very Big Minus:
For forcing me to watch the protagonist beat his horse and how he pees, you literally watch his penis more often than the girls' tits/pussy.

Graphically it's fine.
Girls - Overall nothing to complain about except for one, I can't believe anyone would want anything to do with that whore in purple hair, she's so annoying I just started skipping interactions with her.
The music is
Sounds occur at times, but are completely unnecessary in my opinion.
Story - Basically there is none, we go from girl to girl and either get annoyed at the girl or at that douchebag MC, well sometimes there is interaction with the guy who lives with us, but it basically boils down to us watching porn with him or listening to what a cunt he is.

And then it's time for the protagonist himself
If it wasn't for Emily, who is super interesting I would have stopped playing the game very quickly, the MC here is a complete retard, several times I had to turn off the game and go for a walk to cool off, he acts like a total loser, I would insult the beta-male by calling him a beta-male, the girls treat him like the victim of fate that he is, a character that there is no chance of liking.
I would give the game 3 stars, for the graphics and one Li, but that would be unfair to the other rated games, simply don't deserve this game a better rating in my opinion.



Minus for his thoughts on how the girls are beautiful and gorgeous despite the fact that I only scored any points with one.
Dozens of single choices "go inside", "take shower" for what?

Conclusion:
I have very mixed feelings about this production, there are more minuses than pluses in it, in my opinion on this forum you will find dozens of more interesting productions where you will not have to play a complete loser MC.

For an adult game, this has surprisingly sparse amount of actual adult content. The story is rather boring, and the development time-to-content is way too high to keep my interest. I would not recommend this game based on all of this.

Writing is subpar. It is not engaging. I don't think the dev knows how middle aged people speak. When the woman of the house constantly "hehe"s every few sentences - You know the game is cringe.

Renders have got a lot better since the first couple of episodes - Still a lot to be desired.

When I first played I couldn't even get through the second episode it was so bad. Decided to, eventually, soldier on. Played ep 10 - 15 month wait for not a lot of content.

Not much to say what is good about it. Really does feel like the bare minimum has been put into it and it shows.

The only word that comes to mind about rating this game is "Poor".

Pretty solid game. The story is pretty decent with some nice spin on the usually landlady story. Models are hot and even though they are low in numbers they have unique look to them. I especially enjoy the milf, balance body proportions slutty face just perfect! Fetishes wise the game is also arousing at least for me. Visually the game is also in the upper end of what at least I have played, good example is the night scene with the milf the lighting was just perfect.