VN - Ren'Py - Abyssal Lust [v0.1] [Novaporoid]

So I wanted to like this game, i really did, the intro was pretty interesting and the plot hooked me enough to want to see how it played out, if I was to rate that alone I'd give it a solid 8 for how good it was.
But all good things must come to an end, and slowly as the story progressed to the conclusion of the prologue it almost felt like the protagonist was devolving as an individual making me less interested as I continued to play, but the change in the way the mc thought was just the 1st issue and honestly the lesser one.
Where this game grinds my gears is the sandbox, generally I am not a fan of sandbox but it has never been an end all be all for me, even when skeptical I always give sandbox games a try before I quit because despite garbage being the majority I am actual aware that sandbox can be good, but dear god there is no saving this, this game has to have the most unintuitive, tedious and anti-fun sandbox I have ever come across, everything about the way it is made just seems so damn anti-consumer.
For one there are way too many pointless minigames, even if you wanted sandbox minigames the sheer amount of the stuff in what is an initial release for this game is mind boggling, second how these minigames are made, most if not all of the games are guessing games that have no actual relation to anything about the story and characters so it is literally just busiwork to force a sandbox system, worse too is the fact that the dev clearly knows how tedious this is and is trying to use it as a means of monetization by highlighting the fact that there are cheats available if you join the patreon, entire game design is literally made to bore you into open your wallet an it is intentional.

I really want to like this game the story was interesting and the renders are great but the free roam ruined it i like free roams when its done right but the free roam in the game is just annoying there is no real guidance to what you should be doing also something aren't explained at all like the chat function maybe i missed something but idk what I'm suppose to be doing with that also the girls in the app you used to get lust like idk how I'm suppose to know what to pick to gain affection ill give the game some time and come back later and maybe some of the stuff is flushed out more

The game was great during the visual novel portion. It had an intriguing storyline of being a detective solving this murder and some supernatural elements. But then it turned into the worst sandbox ever. The renders are good and I hope the dev takes criticism and ditches the sandbox they created. Would be a lot more enjoyable to read and watch the scenes rather than have to remember what choices are right or wrong.

This has good art and animations but its grindy as hell and you get more lust and other bonuses for subscribing...... just make the game enjoyable. We don't want random affection meters and some random sand box element that doesn't feel good to deal with. It just feels like the author is making it annoying to get people to go subscribe to skip the grind. If it got rid of the annoying grind I would like it but as of now the only decent thing is the character models and animations

Review for v0.1

A meaty hours long prologue setting up a sort of paranormal mystery detective story only to abruptly turn into a sandbox and completely drop the ball on it. I say this as someone who can really enjoy sandbox games: the way it has been designed, for the most part, sucks. That's where my rating was brought down on this.

I thought the dev's original game had a lot of potential, and admittedly was a bit sad to see it scrapped into something else. I kind of rolled my eyes at the generic name and thought something like "great another corruption game where you're influenced by a demon to have sex," which there are a lot of in the lewd game world. And really that kinda seems like what this is going for. But it would be dishonest to compare it to something like another fuckfest, because there IS a lot of work and writing going into it.

I think the prologue started good. The MC comes across sort of mature and rational which is a nice change of pace. Characters feel competent, the murder you start investigating is interesting enough, and the paranormal elements that begin to reveal themselves got me invested a bit. When you do meet the demons, I like just how demonic they feel in the sense that yeah they're a real danger. There are parts during it I can pick apart, like where we have to follow the whims of two annoying schoolgirls because our seasoned detective can't seem to figure anything out, but I digress there.

The twist here is that we do in fact get cursed by a demon who wants us to die a slow and painful death over the course of an estimated 30 days. Thankfully another demon offers a way to help. We must collect lust energy for her and in turn she prolongs our life. How would we do this? Well, would you be surprised to hear that you have to have sex with a bunch of women?!?! I'm obviously hyperbolizing this up a bit, but it's just a premise I've seen too often to say it interests me. To be fair it adds a couple other elements that makes this a little more unique, but nothing significant enough for me to buy into it thus far.

I wouldn't mind it so much, but my real problem is what comes after. As the MC is battling with this new reality he is facing, he's approached by another demon at a bar to reveal there's actually a secret society of demons and they all use this sex app to feed off energy and not lose control of their desires. His mysterious boss can give you more info, but in order to do that you need to get involved and pimp out girls to earn his trust? Ok time for the sandbox.

I would not believe a single person if they told me they enjoyed the mechanics present in it. The flirting mechanic is awful. The "event" minigame is a chore. Having to spam gifts to further raise affection is so bland. The only way to earn money being pimping out girls (not love interests to be fair) is something I am just not interested in. You're gated by energy, and the UI feels very clunky. It's like the soul got sucked out of the game. Not only for what I just listed, but it's like the whole plot of this detective stuff I just spent hours reading about has been abandoned or something. Like the game lost it's sense of identity to just be another corruption sandbox. It's strange.

Now not all hope is lost either. For all those very annoying mechanics, I do like the dating app stuff. Being able to call up girls and chat with them is neat. There are actual events with the main love interests that continue there stories and such. The dev clearly has a talent for renders and animations, and the models have a nice style to them. It's not like this is just complete slop being pushed out or something. But for a dev with so much talent, it feels wasted to have the game go the route it's currently going. If all the girls turn into me having to spam flirting, minigames, and gifts to do stuff with them I will not being playing this.

I'm likely being overly critical and it's only the first version so hopefully this surprises me. I could see this both turning into something really good or something uninspired that fails to leave me captured.