Ren'Py - A Town Uncovered [v0.51b Alpha] [GeeSeki]

After 7 years finally "finished" the main story. This game has always been a buggy mess, often with fanpatches to get rid of the bugs introduced and reintroduced in every update. Despite this huge flaw, the early story and art had its charm.

Art is simplistic but to the point. Animations are a few frames in length but hand drawn, it'd be a 4/5 if there weren't so many assets missing or buggy.

Story is a mess. It's at least a 1/5 due to the okay start and mini plot twist. Eventually the plot twists so much it strangles itself and the pacing is horendous.

Gameplay is awful. Really. Too many mechanics that eventually get forgotten completely to rush the stories and complete the game. The memory and clicking games re-introduced at the end just exacerbate the random "training". The non linear stories tend to repeat, crash or reset, so use the bug fixer/time fix in MC's computer to get passed them.

Sound and Music is generic and repeating at nauseam, sometimes stopping for no reason. There are attempts at a few points in the story for some tension and horror but often unsuccessfully executed.

Overall, the game is playable, if frustrating and the sex scenes are pretty okay, though mostly playing on fetishes such as incest, promiscuity and public exposure; a few times there's also funny "accidental" sex scenes, such as slipping and falling while conveniently naked. The fact that characters don't even reference such events is another downside, but I can't give the game less than a 2/5, since there's actually much worse games out there and this one simply failed in its lengthy... lengthy implementation.

It's just...not good. At all.

This game has been in development for 7 years! SEVEN YEARS! And it's still crap. How is that possible.

I was an early follower that left quickly due to all the bugs so when it pops I'm amazed.

I'm a masochist so I downloaded it again and the artwork...look at the hands...is the mom wearing old school hulk gloves? Does she have a condition? It's as bad as I remember.

The art of the game is ugly and when it looks like it's going to improve, it just doesn't (animations included), sometimes the characters look OK and then the proportions change without much sense looking quite disgusting.

Many situations build a good atmosphere but then are completely ruined by some comment or action from a character.

It's just a big NO.

Hell yeah a good incest game.

The art is... okay tho. So that's why I rate it a 3 out of 5.

The scenes with the mother at the end is pretty good, but unfortunately not all scenes are taboo and well driven like that.

The relationship evolution with the sister is quite good too but derail at some point.

The random special scenes are good but not enough happens in them.

Quite alright game, I'd play again.

I have to say, the game is as bad as the reviews say. The progression with some characters are unrealistic and their relationships are heavily plot-driven.
The build up towards the sex scenes are very poor (family exempted) which makes most scenes quite hollow. As for the art, I don't mind it, but don't take my word for it since I have very low standards for art (I enjoy Mr. Pinku games), hence the fappability is a meh (I could use if I'm really down bad).
But overall, it has huge potential, there is a plot (i guess?) and there are some characters and with loveable personalities. The dev just needs to finish the game and revise all the interactions and progression and brush up the sequence of events and the game could be a solid 4 stars.

A Town Uncovered is a Summertime Saga knockoff that is worse in basically every way. Worse art, writing, and characters make for a game that is just very mediocre.

The game isn't bad, yet it is lacking in almost every way compared to most adult dating sims. The art just isn't very good which makes the erotic scenes fall flat. The writing isn't bad but it isn't good. I think if at least the dialogue in erotic scenes were better this would be a much more fappable game even with the sub-par art. The characters are generic. All have a very similar body type and very shallow personalities. Another complaint that's worth mentioning that a lot of others have said is the bugs, which I personally haven't had that many terrible ones but it can be annoying and seems to happen to a lot of players.

The main reason I'll give this a three star rating and not a lower rating is because there isn't anything just awful about it. I appreciate the 2D art, which even if it isn't very good it's a nice change of pace from all the 3D games, and at least there's some enjoyable content here.

TLDR - Average and generic game. You might get some good faps out of it if the art style isn't off-putting to you.

I think, this is a game that is "suffering from success."

I have played this game since an iteration from before the "other world" was even a concrete thing. If you've never played before this is a great game, it's slow but not exclusive, it's mysterious it's determined.

9/10

I really like the style, the character design, how the quests develop and especially the scenes. But the game is full of bugs and sometimes it's not clear how to move within the scenarios. The quest where you have to collect 50 boxes is a bit boring and too long. Leaving that aside, the game is very nice, I hope in the future they will add new scenes to characters that have few.

I did a few playthroughs every year or so for last few years (since 2019 maybe?). It's a quite nice little VN, which is very replayable after you let it stew for a bit.
Good things:
- Writing is actually nice for a indie porn game. Not too pretentious, pretty simple, and, dunno, believable? Game scene feels somewhat solid. Not a lot of piano-in-the-shrubbery reveals, some DUN-DUN-DUUUN storyline turns should be expected, but overall - it feels like dev guy had a solid plan$
- Pretty much the same thing as above, but - game universe seems interesting.
Controversial things:
- Art. Personally - I like the style. Simplistic, yes, but nice. Certainly feels much better than yet another spin on Daz and same crappy models everywhere.
- Story content decisions. Okay, so NTR is a very fucking controversial stuff and everyone has their own stance - but I very much disliked when dev removed some events, which, even if they were controversial, should've been pretty much expected storywise. Next we're gonna see someone that doesn't like big-titted blondes - so what, is he going to remove Lashley from game?
Meh things:
- Code. Enough had been said about the amount of game-breaking bugs. Game systems feel like a big interwoven mess of crap, elements of which work purely by the grace of god. I've taken a look at a source code - some systems decisions spoiled the game from the start. Tying various events from different storylines to certain locations? That's a recipe to mess up continuity and event triggers. I dunno how dev is going to carry this game to the end - by a miracle?
Nonetheless, just because of art and story, I'm gonna put this one as excellent. Just hoping that dev is going to sort out his code troubles and deliver the whole story before we all die in a nuclear blast

It's a cute little game as it stands but it is definately not ready to be a playable game. Too many bugs to be playable and it seems like the game is at the same point it was 2 years ago with a couple added scenes and bugs.

Sex scenes take forever and you can't shorten them, plus the animation is not always the best. Also, some more "after-sex" scenes would be nice. Sound (breathing, moans) would also be nice, but probably that'd be asking too much.

The game has a lot of bugs, but playing on PC and using the patch for increasing stats/money solves it.

The art is pretty interesting, although sex scenes often come across as lazy drawn. The style is a good choice though.


But the best is the story - the writing is definitely good, the teacher and lanlady/mom routes are neatly written (except for one scene where the landlady doesn't make any sense) and the characters are fleshed out nicely, with relationships taking a realistic progression. The roommate/sister route takes the cake in a very good sense (and I generally hate this incest content), it really had some depth to it, there's something natural and relatable in this story that you wouldn't expect to find in a porn game whose sole purpose is to help you wank. I actually felt connected to these 2 characters after their storyline was over, which speaks wonders of the writer behind the project.

I remember playing this game ages ago. The story was interesting if not a bit convoluted and there was a lot of monotonous tasks.

Pros
-Intereresting story
-Decent sized map
-Variety of characters
-Has incest

Cons
-Art looks like it was made in clipart
-slideshow animations
-Dialogue can ramble on
-Gameplay loop can be repetitive
-Random click spam simulator in trying to figure out what to do next.

Writing is pretty good, just wish the new content wasn't so convoluted. The story pacing also gets too heavy at times without much gameplay in-between, at least it has for many updates since a couple of characters stories were completed. Overall though, this remains one of my favorite games on f95, and will remain so as long as GeeSeki focuses on pacing just a little more in the future. There's more I have to say about the game but, be honest, you don't really care, do you?

After playing this game for quite a few updates overall it's very disappointing. The amount of grind, unfinished assets/placeholders, and game-breaking bugs is a major turnoff. I don't understand how this game is getting 4 and 5 starts in its current state.

I like the simple artwork that's used, but that's about the only good thing. Too many plot holes still exist in this game even after years of development. Placeholders are everywhere that shouldn't be. If a location in the game that has no effect on the plot of the game, it shouldn't even be there. The wall of text that has to be either read or clicked through is pretty annoying. I know the dev wants to convey certain things for the storyline, but having a wall of text gets to be too much.

When I started playing this game a few years ago it showed real potential, but the last few updates seem to be getting worse with each release. Plus, not being able to go back to the "sex world" which was the selling point of the game is annoying.

Hopefully, if this game is being made in another year or two if there is still interest, the dev will be able to make a lot of improvements.

Version 0.39a

TLDR version : This game is frustrating. Not as the gameplay or anything. It's frustrating because you can see and feel a big potential to be really really good, but the problem is that, at this point, it's not even held back, it's fucking nailed down to the floor by however the dev is working in this.
There are placeholders everywhere after some point, bugs that range from slight annoyance to gamebreaking, and some stuff has no clarity whatesoever and forces you to fumble about until you somehow figure it out.
That is really sad because the game could easily become a real gem. Lots of interesting plot points going on, characters are each more interesting and lovable than the last, and the overall story is very intriguing (despite the MC being sometimes so fucking dense you'll want to dropkick him in the nearest well).
Truly sad to see the dev seemingly giving so little fuck about the quality of his game.
Also why the fuck can't we get it on with Dorothea, ffs...

Longer version : The art might seem weird, by it's simplistic nature, but give it a try and you'll get used to it very quickly. It can even become quite sexy when it wants.
Characters are varied and interesting, giving you quite a bit of choice to pick your favorite, while also not (so far at least) punishing you for pusruing absolutely everyone at the same time.
The overarching story is intriguing, if not a little frustrating at some plot twist you'll easily understand/see coming while the MC remain as oblivious and clueless as if he had been wearing a bucket on in his head like an early Skyrim merchant after the player decided to steal everything in the shop.

The problem lies in the bugs and overall quality. After roughly the mid-point of the current content, placeholders become legion. Sometimes you have a rough sketch to give you an idea, somestimes there's just nothing but text. Nothing. Pure black screen.
And then, there are the bugs. Thankfully I was lucky enough to not get anything absolutely gamebreaking, somehow, but there are a lot of posts in the thread from people talking about them. Some other bugs are more annoying than anything, like purchasing multiple gifts and seeing them all dissapear when you offer only one, with seemingly no added benefit, or the game not going on after picking a choice (fixed by rolling back and then forward again, but still, that should have been corrected).
Quite a lot of typos and other errors after a while too, like a family meal with the mom saying "your son" while she's actually talking about the dad...

I can't honestly give more than 3 stars to this game.
What's there and working is actually really good, so I'll have the honesty to reward that, but overall, it seems like the dev is caring less and less about quality as time goes on. It might not be the case, but it doesn't change that, in the end, the game suffers a great deal about it. Which is very sad seeing it's potential...

Edit : Corrected a lot of typos. You can thank my potato non-native english speaking brain.
Also some people pointed out that the dev seems to be asking absurd amounts of money on his patreon. It's really sad to see greed get in the way of making the game actually as good as it could be...

Reviewing v0.39a 22/04/2022

Short Version: This game is a never-ending dump on fire. It had a good premise but it basically shot itself in the back with a machine-gun.

The Good (AKA "Things that you shouldn't change")

- The Art is simple and enjoyable, a bit odd but in a good way it gives a touch of originality
- Some dialogues are just soooo good (like MC and Jane talking naked under the stars, or Alloway and MC after doing a job for Jack the criminal-kid)

The Annoying (AKA "Why this stuff is still here?!")

- The bugs are mostly game breaking, and they have the bad habit to reappear over and over
- Some characters like MC's mom are complete bipolar-sociopaths. Like when She was so happy that MC took her to dinner and to the cinema and be super sweet and wholesome...only to go back fucking MC's dad the second he comes back and when MC tries to understand by questioning her CALMLY, she goes on a tantrum where she mocks MC for not being a real man like his father (the same man who abused and still abuse her and MC's sister and MC himself, both physically and verbally), only to get mad again when she learns that MC is having several sexual relationships, and her reason for being mad is...MC not spending time with her "is the proof that he isn't a real man". In this mass of bipolar syndrome(or maybe it's just lame writing) characters, i can throw in also Jane and another couple of characters but i'm stopping here because i would be repeating myself but just using different the names of other characters.

The Bad (AKA "Reasons why the potential killed itself and left you to deal with its own corpse")

- Placeholders...Oh My God...placeholders even from past updates! Seriously, if you're forced to use placeholders or incomplete sketches, it means that the release isn't ready, meaning that you should work on it a bit more before releasing it.
- The necessity of replaying the whole game over and over because of old save-files...sorry i would do it IF the game was worth it...but this is not the case and considering how many disappointing releases we got...it's clear that it never will be.
- The plot...is just wasted...left to rot for so many updates and releases and only recently is coming back...a little...but the updates are so short and the content is so forgettable that i barely noticed its return.

Conclusion: Guys...pulling the plug on this game would be an act of mercy. Just...let's end it here, please.

It's everything summertime saga is , but worse.
Main issue being the art. it's so simplistic and undetailed that many characters would look the same if it was not for their hairstyles.
Story is fine , but starts to drag .
Sex scenes are boring , most probably because of the art .

Out of all the games I have played, the story with this game is dragged out to the point it kills any excitement. Once you get into a good groove and you think it's actually picking up you hit a wall of mundane text.

0.37a

Good:
- art is ok, it is a bitch to have to hand draw everything so credit when due
- music is ok
- repeatable sex scenes
- lots of side stories
- writing is UNDERSTANDABLE and not completely broken english!!!
- hint system (sometimes is completely useless though)
- stat system
- map to fast travel

Bad:
- to progress main story you have to meet every character (certain place at certain time), which the hint system does not tell you specifically, so you spend an hour trying to figure out where to go and clicking everything.
- MAIN STORY, the premise of the game. is extremely short compared to the entirety of the game, probably like 5-10% of play time
- you have to wait a week for about every event, half of which dont lead to sex
- sex scenes are looped for way too long before you can progress
- music stops during sex scenes and there is no sound
- have to grind cash and skills with a chance to fail grinding skills so you spend twice as much time grinding skills
- multiple areas are accessible, but have no purpose
- can view parts of gallery only if you grind cash and buy an item

As of update 0.36a, released four years after the game started development; you only visit the sex world, the thing that's suppose to be the selling point of the game, one time and it's an incredibly railroaded experience that lasts about 5 minutes.

Should be made aware of.