Ren'Py - Another Chance [v1.42] [TimeWizardStudios]

There is a very important game design principal called conveyance. That is how well do you justify the steps the player will make, how intuitive is a required action. This game ruins a lot of the amazing work by completely ignoring the importance of setting up the logic it wants the player to make. The thing that makes it worse is not just that it employs a lot of moon logic (logic which requires you to have the mind of the designer to figure out without trial and error) but some of the triggers are contextual which can lead to the right solution being abandoned because of some other reason and never attempted again because the logic of using it was temped at best.

The game is in the early stages so I'm hopeful those aspects can be resolved. But as it is basically all of the puzzles need a complete overhaul in how they are presented to the player. The intuitive leaps need to be more clear and the locations you acquire should be streamlined. Getting a wrench out of a book doesnt make a lot of sense getting it off a janitors cart would make sense. Getting a pin out of an object you already interacted with wouldnt make sense, getting it off a cosplay costume in the art room or somewhere in your home would make more sense. The point is if you design the game without viewing the problem from someone without design knowledge you end up with problems which can only be resolved through tons of hours of trial and error, and requiring people to utilize guides.

Hopefully those issues can be resolved because as the game stands it would just be significantly improved as a pure visual novel and just remove the puzzle aspect entirely. Just a shame because the writing is amusing, the art is great the setting is unique its simply the gameplay and super obtuse puzzle design which completely ruins the experience hopefully those things are cleaned up at which point it would be a very easy recommend.

This game is awesome, it's worth to play. The art, joke, UI, different type of woman, different bath, time mechanic and more importantly you're new doesn't? It's just make it more perfect, more new dev come with good game, i love it. Ok prise aside, let's talk about bugs and clue, i spend hour for looking for flora phone and figuring out how to distract jo, i hope you give us clue like a note or something, and the time froze when you help flora and we can freely exploring and when flora coocking not started suddenly flora is in the bathroom floor in day 2. That's it for now, i cant wait for the next update

This game has excellent CGs and strong characterization, but I can only give it 2 stars because the gameplay is so poor. Every quest seems to involve solving a myriad of puzzles as you create a chain of increasingly-convoluted events. This would be fine were it not for the fact that puzzle solutions are based entirely in moon logic and the game makes absolutely no attempt to help you out.

Objects critical for quests are hidden in places that make no sense, like laundry detergent inside your lunch box in your locker, or a wrench hidden INSIDE A BOOK that you can lose during an unrelated earlier quest. The only way to learn solutions this is through trial and error by clicking on literally everything repeatedly, because the "hint" system basically only serves to remind you what the newest obstacle. The stat system is woefully undeveloped, as you can only increase stats by making choices in dialogue that are not indicated anywhere, but failing stat requirements can cause you to fail quests, with no option to retry. Even in events where neither of these elements are present, like the chili-cooking event, the game still ensures that you'll waste far too much time clicking on random crap. Here, the developer made the baffling decision to make it so that your character only knows what's inside drawers in the kitchen when he's not actively looking for something. As soon as he needs something, interacting with the shelf causes him to say "What's in here? No one knows." He should still be able to see what's in the drawer, he hasn't gone blind!

Fortunately, the game is clearly in an early state, so there's hope that these problems can be fixed in future releases. I'm confident that these issues can be resolved as the game matures, and I'm willing to change my review if that proves to be the case. Alternative solutions to quests would be a big step in the right direction, as would implementing failsafes to prevent lockouts (in the "wrench in the book" case, for example, the player could either not be able to give the book away until they interact with it, or the person they give it to could point out that there's a WRENCH inside the book). Playtesting new content would also help; everyone plays a little differently, so playtesters could pick up on things that the developer missed. With the game's premise of a "do-over" in mind, you could even use a "groundhog day"-type plot device to allow players to repeat game sections with higher stats or items they didn't have to get an alternative result. Despite the poor review, I'm hopeful that the game will improve in the future.

Great art, dialogue, and pretty much everything else except the most important aspect, the gameplay.

Absurdly tedious for absolutely no reason, many item combinations or methods for obtaining items are confusing beyond belief, in game "hints" might as well not even exist.

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Some portions of the game are practically broken. For example,

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If you're going to make the most cryptic porn game of all time the least you could do is have an actual walkthrough for the people who don't want to spend 20 hours figuring it out by randomly clicking things until they work.

Would be a 5/5 if gameplay was better, but its so infuriating I can't even stand to get through all the current content. By far the most frustrating porn game I've ever played, not worth bothering with unless there's a proper walkthrough added, and requiring a walkthrough for people to complete your game without wasting huge amounts of time is absurd.



Edit: Devs have now acknowledged the glaring problems and have quickly taken action to address them, so I've increased the rating.

Tons of potential, maybe might become one of the future favorites. The keyword is "future" because while it looks great and the systems aren't bad, there are tons of issues with the puzzles, and the sheer amount of ways you can frustrate yourself to no end is a killer in some sense.

Potential is 5/5,
Current state is 2.5/5
Dialogue is 4.5/5 (Tons of references, good jokes, etc, another part of why the potential is so high as well)
Art is 5/5, it stands out and is hot as hell.
Puzzles are 2/5(Insufficient hints, strange logic, you cannot complete certain tasks you were frustrated by, before completing some other missions, etc etc.. Tons of design flaws.)

The reason why the current result is 2.5/5 is due to the lack of content (The playtime is crazy extended due to the obscure hint system and you just having to click absolutely everything like 20 times), and the issues with the main gameloop (Puzzles and understanding what you are required to do).


I will give it 4/5 stars (Instead of the 2.5) because of the sheer potential and, and I really want this game to hit off. Especially considering that this dev really seems to be consistent in his releases currently.
If you hate puzzles, I recommend waiting until there's a good walkthrough, or you will go through hell.

Great art, good writing, and the code base looks solid for a renpy game.

The gameplay sucks a lot though. Like, A LOT, a lot. At some point early on it unravels into an itemhunt without any (useful) hints. I just had to click every interactable object in the game, several times - and still ended up getting stuck less than halfway through. The "puzzles" are just not intuitive, or even logical.

4 stars is really generous, and I would give 3 or 2 if it was a later update.

The problem is easily fixed, either with an ingame walkthrough, a lot more, solid hints, or even an external, official pdf walkthrough. If we get that, I'll raise it to 5 stars. If we get more of what it is now instead, 2 stars it will be. Its just too frustrating.

Art = awesome
Story = better than other horse s***s
only problem in my eyes is hints are actually quest log... there is next to no hints.
If the devoloper makes hints alot better all my one hand player (like wise) can enjoy the game with out trying to solve riddles.
may be i am thinking to much over it...
but Game is really good

Great drawing
Horrible gameplay, it is way to convoluted and confusing, hint menu is 100% useless, crafting is horrible terrible and doesnt make sense half the time. To play this game you need a walkthrough with diagrams to show you where each item is hiding and what you need it for.

Hands down my pick for most promising game of 2020. It takes a special kind of game to keep me from the CTRL key on my keyboard--this is that game. Shocking amount of content for a first true release. Lots of great art. Beautiful, varied women, drawn in an appealing art-style that doesn't cater to the typical "giant tits, giant areolas, baloney nipples" fetish many artists seem to have. Legitimately beautiful women, with a great variety.

The writing rivals or exceeds any writing of any game I've played, with the only close contenders being Acting Lessons, BADik, and The Headmaster. Even beats out Summertime Saga, in my opinion. Characters are written to have individual voices and traits, which is reflected in the art. Immense amounts of flavor text. VERY funny. One of the few games that has actually made me laugh out loud at some of the lines. The writing when describing the bodies of the women is sexy while remaining tasteful. Minimal typos (haven't found a single one in 2 hours of playtime).

Large amount of content, especially for only a little over 4 months of work. Quests are fun, well-written, and rewarding to those who explore around and get their traits high.

Not a single complaint or recommendation. Keep up the work. You've earned yourself a dedicated Patron.
EDIT: There is ONE complaint--the game is in a pretty broken state. Softlocks can occur with no knowledge of triggering one until you realize that time is no longer moving. No ability to get Flora's phone being one side-effect of some unknown softlock I've triggered. Regardless, I stand by my rating because of the reasons stated above, and the fact that the current release has been out less than 2 days.

The introduction to the story is great, love the art style, game play and dialogue. although it's still the demo the game has potential.
it's definitely worth giving this game a shot and trying it out

Really good art style, characters are good, Point system is good too bad that demo was so short. The game has really good potential and I can't wait for more updates. But how time advances is not good in my opinion like when you talk with somebody that was kinda annoying still great game and so sorry for bad English.

So the demo isn't very long, but I'm all in on this game! At first I wasn't sure if I'd like the artwork enough; there are plenty of places to get hentai after all. But it won me over pretty quickly. The people on screen shift, smile, blush, look at you in abject horror, etc. as you talk with them instead of standing stagnant like in other games. Some people are complaining about the noses but I think its an interesting art style choice.

Besides, we know you aren't looking at their noses anyways...

The dialogue was very good and had me laughing out loud at many of the responses the MC could give. Only caught one spelling error and one dropped word, so that was refreshing as well. I liked that interactive objects highlight as you mouse over them. I'm tired of the games that force me to hunt for objects with the tip of my mouse pointer.

Time Wizards, keep up the great work! Eagerly awaiting more!

Great art, great premise, great potential.
The writing is smart but not too chunky, and the characters are just rounded (lul) enough to hold your attention without being distracted. Can't wait for more, just hope the updates can keep the dream alive.

Looks promising, dialog is there the art style and layout of the game are fantastic. All tho the demo is short, there is a lot of potential here to expand on dialog and new contented wise.
It is definitely worth giving it a chance to progress and to try it out.

the game has potential, a shame that the demo will last shortly but I see a good future, I like the type of game and art and sister hahahaha
I hope you have a good afloat and go well and complete the game

Not a lot of content yet but extremely promising. Beautiful and unique art style, funny/sharp writing, and straightforward gameplay. Lot's of different characters introduced in the demo so lots to look forward to.

Short intro, but very well done. The sister is adorable, and the characters all seem likeable (and hot). There is a mainstream quality to the appearane and UI, and the descriptions are very well done. Can't wait to see where this goes.

legendary game !!!
every thing is perfect it just need time .. you can tell from the first 3min of the game it going to be good
give it 1 year and you will find it in top 10
story: awesome
art: awesome
dialogue: 100%

I love the Intro, Mysteries, Lovely ladies, The plot of the story, Dating sims, & Nice ending credits. So now I have a wonderful feeling that I would love to looking forward to your future project! >W<

At the time of the review there game is only at the demonstration phase, but the attention to detail and quality of the game are already apparent.

The game has an enjoyable soundtrack and also has proper sound effects and atmospheric sounds already in place. The game has plenty of humor in the descriptive text. There is no broken quests or dead end interactions until after the current location of the credits.

And the best for last: The game has a wonderful 2D art style that fits the setting and characters like a glove. I normally prefer 3D characters, but the 2D art is so well done here that I would actually be saddened if the 2D characters were replaced with 3D characters.