VN - Ren'Py - Completed - A Promise Best Left Unkept [Bonus S2 Ep 9-11] [Hangover Cat]

A Promise Best Left Unkept [v0.1.5] - Review -
Starting of with positives the writing is one of the best among NTR games that I have played and the story corrupting female protagonist is good . But all the art and H scenes are still images which becomes boring after sometime . And there is no choices at the moment , only that it will be implemented in the future, I don't know why it isn't tagged as kinetic novel . In the end apart from excellent writing and amazing story the lack of visual part with still pictures and art is a huge letdown and boring . I hope that the still art and animations improve in the future updates .

Woah, what a gem. So far I have not seen any other game around here dealing with different perspectives so well. Without spoilering the game, I'll just say that each perspective is quite unique and that there are events that are shared between them, but the writing is so good you might miss clues of the different perspective if you just stick to the main character.

Art an animations are among the best between 2D games here. Really a great find and one I'm looking forward to playing more.

As of now, i'm giving this 4/5 stars. This is my Brief spoiler free review.

The story has a pretty engaging storyline, even though many of the elements in it are Cliche at times. It's refreshing to have a Main Female lead have a bit of backbone.

The Main art is amazing, and I really wish that was repeated throughout the game, as the CG art is in my opinion the weakest element of the game. (it really looks like someone threw something together in MS paint compared to the title art).

Besides the Cliche at times story and Lackluster CG art, it's a great game and i look forward to seeing more updates.

As of 0.1.0, this looks like it's shaping up to be one of the best novels in the NTR genre, I was on the verge of dismissing it when it was going for the predictable "lose to big dick and blackmail approach" but the premise and characters are somewhat believable, and also really engaged me when the rules system was introduced. That looks like it might give it an edge over other VNs by having more meaningful choices outside of "choose this for the good end/bad end" and maybe have some nuance.

The FMC will (obviously) lose some of her rules, but maybe you can manage to keep one throughout like the no kissing or condom only one, and have it be reflected in dialogue later. I'm cautiously hopeful the dev will build on this system, but I realize it would take a lot more work for a branching story like that, and western games notoriously get abandoned mid-development because of over-ambition.

Great work on the art and story, I will keep a close watch on this project and hope the dev realizes his vision.

Really interesting start to the game and a lengthy introduction. Lots of positives so far and an MC that is much more tolerable than previous entries

Pros:

• Believable Blackmailing Scenario (Something so rare for NTR. So glad it is not a "got a picture of myself forcing you to kiss me so now we fuck or I send it to your SO" rendition
• Strong Female Lead - Still need to see more from this one but the best NTR is when the woman is headstrong and hard to break but is broken none the less
• Cleared up that a lot of the tropes of NTR will not be visited
• Mystery NTR is the best and I love playing through the Main POV before having another run with all of them included
• Rules are going to be a really interesting mechanic if implemented correctly and give the author lots of possibilities
• The no PDA between main characters is begging to be exploited

Cons:

• Not tons of content to tell us how well the NTR will progress. It needs to be slow enough to be believable but needs some content
• Actual CGs are not too high right now. Not letting this affect my rating though as this is what you sign up for with a 0.1 release and there is much content for a prologue

The setup of this game is really well thought out. Laura is very intelligent and capable and i am looking very much forward to updates. I hope she can hold her ground for quite some time (depending on players choices. really need meaningful choices here). Having a game within the game is a unique concept. Keep up the good writing and this will turn into a real gem.

The art is not the best, but i like the style. I definitely prefer this to some uncanny valley 3D gobbo stuff so please don't think that it's bad. Art is okay here but the writing really makes this game shine.

Content is ok for a first release. Hope the author takes their time and doesn't rush this. There's a lot of potential here.

The game is well-written, it has a simple premise, and it executes it very well, really, it's one of the best games of its genre out there and the art is fine, even if a bit inconsistent (and I'm really not a fan of the liquify animations). It's just a shame that the latter half of the game turns into a generic fuckfest after it tries so hard to make the plot and interactions between characters believable.

Excellent build-up, characters are cute and organic and cgs aren't as cute as the drawings but excellent nonethless. It has been a long time since such a good "amateur" "non-koikatsu/honeyselect/ai NTR-focused game was posted here in my opinion, REALLY looking forward to this game

Wow! Hangover cat does it again! Amazing start to this NTR game! *I played [V0.1.0]* I played hangover cats other game "The Edge of" and I liked it but found the way the MC was written was a bit too conflicted for me, it gave the cheating justification since the MC was such a dick. This game escapes from that by having a fairly bland MC (not a bad thing) and a pretty evil antagonist! Not to mention the main girl Laura is very capable and not a "straw man" ready to fall to corruption at the first chance. (not to mention TWO girls to corrupt! Lovely!). ok some quick good and bad...

*GOOD*
- Story: If you like NTR then this seems to be a great build up (and maybe beginning) to some wonderful corruption and NTR. Setting this in an office environment is pretty par for the course but the fact Laura is the "boss" kinda makes her fall into corruption all the more hotter. I really appreciated Laura and Aya's iron clad defense versus Luca (the antagonist); Laura literally swats aside Luca's plots, some plots that would have brought other girls to their knees (literally and figuratively hehe). And although not entirely original, the "deal with the devil" Aya makes with Luca is a great set up for Ayas own downfall. This is to say the writing is very good so far.
- Characters: The characters are so important in any story but especially in the NTR fetish because it deals with such extreme emotions and situations. Hangover cat really strikes a great balance of promotion obsessed (but loving) Harry (MC) with his "promise" to Laura driving him at work to succeed (and setting high stakes for his job hehe). Laura is his beautiful but serious girlfriend, who might seem a bit cold and focused but totally loves Harry and smartly takes Harry's word on Luca right away. Luca is the antagonist and Harry's bully from high school, returning as a mob associated equal to help on a project for the company they work at (but really the project is to fuck Laura). Aya is Harry's work underling and also totally in love with him, even though Harry is protesting her advances, their chemistry is pretty funny and Aya brings a good amount of comic relief while not distracting the dark tones at play here. This section got way too long but like I said above, the set up is key and shows how the NTR and corruption might play out, and its great so far!
- Look and graphics: Good! I do definitely feel like the drawings have improved a bit since hangover cats last game (not that they were bad last game just not great). Theres animation here in the form of some moving scenes and that's pretty hot, the animation and movement for sex was a great pace, not too distracting but made it feel real. Plus the graphic on the front F95 page looks awesome. More on graphics below.
- overall feel: Very good! nice little touches of animated reactions during conversations like happy or sad animations appear on the sprites (which are very good looking by the way).

*BAD*
- Graphics: I'm not taking a star off for this but the look of the graphics are not top notch to me, most are actually great but, for example, the scene towards the end with Luca looked a little awkward (whether its the perspective and face of Laura or what I don't know).

So in conclusion give this a try if your not afraid of NTR! Great story, great look and feel and I cant wait to see how this unravels! I didn't say this above because my review has gotten so fucking long but I love the fact that Aya has a thicc ass, I cant wait to see it!

Only a couple of scenes thus far, but the writing is very well thought out and the drawings are very high quality. The story revolves around the player interacting with his girlfriend, a coworker, and his highschool bully. Unbeknownst to him his highschool bully is seducing those around him. There are two perspective playthroughs, the first is only the mc's view, and the second is the view of both the mc and the other characters. Great potential.

Version: V0.1.0 -- INITIAL RELEASE
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Summary:

Wow - just wow. This is one of the best NTR games I have played in quite some time. The story is very well-thought and narrated in perfect english. The corruptive and manipulative schemes (something very important in every NTR game) are designed in a very intelligent way. The characters have great personalities and backgrounds and the CGs are very beautifully done. On the technical side of things everything runs fluently in this state of the art VN. Congrats to the devs, I am very eager to see this game develop and the story to unfold. I am totally hooked!
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Taking a closer look:

Gameplay
The game uses the RENPY engine which is the perfect solution IMO for visual novels. This way there are absolutely no compatibility problems or technical errors. The game runs just absolutely fluently and you can enjoy the story without any interruptions.
So far there is one choice at the beginning of the game. You can decide whether to play the mystery route (story unfolds only out of the POV of the protagonist) or whether you want to see all perspectives. This way you have two totally different game experiences. I persoanlly prefer less but meaningful choices, rather then lots of choices that dont have any impact at all. Whether there are going to be more choices implemented is something we have to see as the game grows. Though my personal opinion is that there are not going to be a lot of choices in this game, as this is a novel in the first place. But we will see.
This section will be rated positively (+).

Content
Atm this game does not have a lot of content to offer. There is some verbal harassment, one groping and two H-scenes happening, but thats it for now. Still, for a first release this is quite something as action really starts to roll already and I am left behind with the feeling that I want more! Actually I rather hope that the corruption process wont be happening to fast, so that the game will stick around for quite some time and will be filled with loads and loas of content and we get to see a very nice corruption arc (one of the most important things in a NTR game IMO). The last scene somewhat proofed to me that we might be lucky and the devs really want to take their time to squeeze the fruit. And it also proofed that the devs are quite smart about the development process. A first release needs some H scenes, they delivered those but on the other hand showed that its not going to be that easy and fast. Wondering what I am talking about? Go have a look for yourself!
This section will be rated positively (+).

Art
The art in this game is absolutely stunning and beautiful. The CGs are done very well and I love the character design. Thats of course something rather subjective, but both female MCs are exactly what I want to see. They got beautiful curves, their CGs feature some nice physical properties and the lightening is done very well.
Though I have to say that I really would like to see more CGs. Especially in scenes where the female MCs get verbally harassed by the antagonist (in the bar for example) or where they get groped or within the H scenes. I will give you an example: When the blue haired female MC gets her ass groped by the antagonist we only get to see her ass beeing fondled. I would really want to see a long shot/wide-angle of both characters as in such groping scenes it is very arousing and interesting to see the facial expressions of the characters. Also in general I would like to see one, two CGs more and one, two different shots/angles more. Otherwise its already perfect.
This section will be rated positively (+).

Story
The story is exactly what I as a long time NTR fan waited for. It features an awesome base for a great corruption/NTR story. Of course the story is very much a subjective matter, so lets start with the more objective points of interest.
Firstly, its very good english! I didnt find any repeating or greater mistakes, apart from some minor spelling errors. The devs are actually quite eloquent and the story progresses very fluently.
Also the story is narrated with a very nice pace; you get introduced to the background of the different MCs, get some sweet bonding and relationship moments and story input. Then the antagonist appears and slowly crawls into the life of the MC and starts to unfold his schemes. The game doesnt fall to common mistakes many NTR games make, such as instant corruption, sex and so on and rather takes its time with a slow corruption (featuring harassment and groping) whitout beeing boring or too slow (not AWAM-style).
Concerning the genre, this is a NTR Type B game (non-consensual at the beginning, but later on the heroines fall for pleasure and succumb, resulting in consensual affairs). Both female main characters are very strong-willed and intelligent and dont like the male antagonist at all. He tries to make them fall for him by plotting an evil scheme that he wants to use to blackmail and manipulate both female MCs into having sexual intercourse with him. His superior skills and phisiques in bed then arouse and slowly corrupt both female characters. At least this is somewhat the antagonists plan. See for yourself how he is going to put this off without using any magic, potions or mind control (like in 80% of all NTR games) and whether he will succeed.
This aspect will be rated very positively (++).

Adult and pornographical aspects
The scenes are very hot from different perspectives. The dialogues are very hot, the build-up and setting of the scenes is very hot and the CGs are fucking hot. So every aspect is complementing each other with one minor downside beeing that there are a little too less CGs and camera angles for each scene. That said, I do hope that the devs improve the number of CGs and angles but nevertheless think that especially for lovers of the genre this game is higly fappable.
This topic will be rated positive (+).

Development progress
Cant say a lot here. The game got released today here on f95zone. We will have to see. The dev seems to have an account here on f95zone, lets see whether he communicates with his community and whether they are reacting to feedback and critics or not..
This section is rated neutral.
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Final conclusion:
The size of the different sections represents its impact. The colors represent wether the impact is positive, negative or neutral.
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Gameplay (+)
Content (+)
Art (+)
Story (++)
Adult (+)
Development (+/-)
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Recommendation?
LETS FUCKING DO THIS! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN WAITING FOR?! GET THE FUCKING GAME, GO, GET IT!

Fap you very much?
Not a whole lot of content yet, but the content is good and if you are a connoisseur of the genre you might already be at fap-a-lot.

Future sight:
This game has huge potential. People are craving for good NTR games as there are far to few. I hope the corruption arc keeps a nice pace and there are going to be some unexpected turns twistes in the plot's future but apart from that I have high hopes for this game. Maybe a little more CGs, pretty, pretty please...

Last words:
This game had a great start and set the bar very high. Lets hope the devs can keep the bar up there and this game will be bonkers. It might earn its seat next to the biggest titles of this genre, the potential is at hand!