Ren'Py - Apocalypse Lovers [v1.26 Remake] [Awake]

VERSION: 1.26 (remake)
SUMMARY: REVIEW PENDING: Not bad, but not getting anywhere either
RATINGS: (out of 5):

1. Models: 4
2. Animations: X
3. General Visuals: 4
4. Characters: 4
5. Story: 4
6. Writing: 4
7. Pacing: 3
8. Content (amount): 2
9. UI & Sounds: X
10. Fetish & kinks: 3

Average: X of 50 possible points giving a X% rating i.e. X stars.

PROS:

1. Models look good
2. Written well and structured well.
3. Interesting way that the player interfaces with the world and the characters mental status as something to consider is nicely implemented.
4. Story is not unique, at least not totally, but the way its done and told is and there is a good amount of finesse needed to play the game and navigating it.
5. Potentially some kinks, depending on your choices, though some have simply just a game over effect if you try them.

CONS:

1. Pacing is slow, but you get some "action" even if its jy the MCs psyche creating some fictitious character. Other than that its slow...
2. Too little content to really give a good review on kinks and sexual content.
3. Sandbox, no matter who says what, 99.9% of the time sandbox games are shit, they slow the game/novel down to create busy work. That being said, this game falls in that very small category of tolerable sandbox due to not being the traditional sandbox type game, this VN actually has gameplay that requires some "detective" style work and interaction with the environment. On that level its a PRO.

FINAL THOUGHTS & SUGGESTIONS:

• Biggest gripe for me is really the time its taking to bring content out, the content that is there is also just not much really. In my opinion the game just has too little content for the time its been developed. Systems and all that notwithstanding its still not much for the player. 3
• Game over when you pick other options during your play-through, this to me is annoying bullshit, its much better to create two totally separate paths that could overlap on "general" scenes

I really strongly dislike this game. Feels like it was purpose built to waste the players time and to be as obtuse as possible. Filled with boring menial tasks, beginners trap dead ends, pointless mechanics and scores that the game actually doesn't track.

All in service of 5/10 renders.

Just flat sucks to play.

Having seen the remake, I have to question whether the next version will be complete within any sort of reasonable time, or of any acceptable level content with the changes that took place over the full year for this.

Game has good potential, I love the approach to the game and the atmosphere but the fact that a 20yo has legitimately almost no clue on what masturbation and rape entail is a tad... absurd to be honest. 18yo ojou-sama in a japanese VN coming from an all-girls high school? eh... maybe 5-10 years ago. 'murrrican in the 2020s? nah.


its funny how a few people below completely missed this very little detail, clearly hinting to a good ol playthrough done with a finger glued to ctrl, yet they still decided to write a review lol.

Oh and... I still cant figure out if we can do (real, not just with content cut out) swapped pure/sub and corruption/initiative ("dom" with many quotation marks) routes with jessica, probably not however since when you try to do the latter deborah still says that mc is keeping jessica submissive to do what he wants with her, which does make the variables feel less impactful. I could be wrong though.

note: the "original" routes are pure/initiative ("dom") and corruption/sub.

Long winded boring story with very basic writing, 90% of the game is an idiot talking to himself or hallucinating about very simple situations, looking at a house takes 8 minutes checking each window, of course the complete imbecile MC can't even break a window, but can use a crowbar to pry it open, which is harder to do than throw a rock at a glass panel, the graphics are good, but you can make choices that result in not seeing a single lewd scene, do yourself a favor and skip this if you like quality games

Incredible game with incredible potential. Art is great, the story is great, the characters (though few) are great. I also enjoy the sandbox aspect, it's not annoying like some games, and fairly straightforward.

Game has great potential. There are lots of path and ways to proceed forward with the plot. The scenes that already exist are very hot and are well made.

Influencing Jessica is such a good mechanic, you can turn her into anything you like : Submission, high initiative, corrupted, or innocent and more. Those directions are not binary, so you can still have a happy, and safe Jessica while making her a submissive and obedient.

The only thing I do not like is the hallucination scenes with the Imaginary girl that keeps propping up and ruining gameplay. The game should focus most of its content on influencing Jessica, not playing with imaginary friends.

An interesting experience. This is not an ordinary Renpy game that gives you a slideshow with text. Good story, interesting controls, mini games, great music. It's just great. 2 chapters were completed in one go

Well now after playing it I'm in, idk what took me more by surprise, the almost Lovecraftian tone or the stealth-undertone of the mc kind of starting to become a druid.. This went very Disciple of Virginia-type-game and not unpleasantly.. I was expecting pure post-apocalypse but it's subtly one of the better horror VNs (I should clarify Western horror cause Japan is saturated with erotic horror games and it's just a different tone).. Damn now I have to actually check back in on this

I appreciate the attempt to experiment.

This AVN's approach is more about psychology than about the world itself.

Going down this path, however, requires considerable writing ability. The author must be able to capture the reader's attention and make things interesting. I confess that many times I was bored reading the MC's ruminations.

Another problem is that the gaming experience is very cumbersome: there are mini games, countdowns and small clicks to do everywhere. Not exactly the simplest of interactions.

To date, there are essentially two paths that the MC can take with those he interacts with: one more "good" path, the other more "bad" one. As someone has pointed out in previous reviews, the two routes are not at the same level and one is inevitably more fun than the other.

I hope that in the future both the gaming experience and the writing become more streamlined and rhythmic. If that were to happen, this AVN has the potential to become one of the best out there.

Needs a LOT of proofreading. It's the kind of broken English where it looks like the guy can't figure out correct verb tenses or subject-verb agreement.

I just can't do it, man. Looks like a great game but I barely made it past the intro. You expect people to essentially pay for that through Patreon? Even going as far as to block content without an exclusive subscriber code? Nah. Come on, now.

The game could be really good and it's just the script that's rough. Or it could be another bug fest with shitty writing that attracts people like moths to a flame with its high quality renders.

All I know is that from my experience, that level of grammar is usually like a warning signal that it's going to be the latter rather than the former. I'm going to play it safe and save myself from the stress.

This is very good game
I really like it The choice the insanity thing and self control against your courrupt nature with dystopian settings
It's really sad story but not depressing for me

I hope the render could get better
Thank you for the great game!

Apocalypse Lovers [v1.21 Fixed]

I´m pretty torn on this game tbh. I think it has potential and good ideas to make this one a good ,or even a great game.
I like the setting and the premise is really interesting.
But there are some things that rub me the wrong way. My biggest issue for now is the gameplay.
It consist way too much of hunting pixels and that can get really annoying after a while.
The Story hasn´t really grabbed my attention yet, but it´s pretty early and there is more content to come.
I can only give the current version 3* but will follow the progress, change the review if needed, and wish the Dev all the best in his development of the game.

I really like this game and yes there are some issues with it but the soundtrack alone that he uses just makes me love this game more with westworld,dexter and others just makes me smile while playing the game.

version 1.21 (Edited)

Here are some of my thoughts on the game so far:
1. The story is not that good. And I'm a little disappointed, I thought the story would have things related to survival, such as looking for foods and drinks, fighting some scary creatures, finding other survivors, or looking for a safe place to survive, but instead it focuses more on things about the main character's lust, and focuses more on
main player treatment to Jessica.
2. I like pictures of cityscapes that really look like city ruins due to the apocalypse, even though I don't like the rendering of the characters.
3. Sometimes I see the expressions of the characters that are made look funny.
4. It's actually nice and interesting with some interactions and minigames, but if you have too many of them too often it can be annoying.
5. Why does the main character go out just to find clothes for Jessica? What about foods, drinks or other essentials? Or was it because main character was afraid that Jessica would get plague from items taken from outside? Then how can Jessica survive without eating and only drinking alcohol?

Sorry for my bad English, and thanks for the game.

Definitely a cut above the usual VN fare. There is a certain subtlety and ambiguity in the relationships between the MC and his adopted family, along with ambivalence about his own sexual desires. This depth is interesting, and as an American, reads as very "French" (in a good way!) to me.

The art is mostly well done, though Jessica's face looks a little strange sometimes. On the other hand, Deborah's character, and in particular, facial features, are excellent. The music also works well, being appropriately creepy when it needs to be.

The writing for the Deborah is very well done - it's clearly trying to toe the line as to how "real" she is; it's certainly plausible the MC does all the things he does without her being anything more than a figment of his imagination. That said, it seems like .

Overall, a great experience, and I look forward to the future of this game!

While the game is a little wonky since you can't always tell how your decisions will pan out, the storyline and graphics are damned fine. I look forward to seeing how this game progresses with each update.

This game is something outside the box. It has a very good story, well round mechanic that ties skills to choices and story, the sound and music nail almost all the aspect of the game to keep you playing.

("english is not may first languange so pardon me.")
RATED it 4stars cause i believed there's no such thing as perfect 5stars .
I liked the game i really think it's Great . now my issue which is just an opinion is i am not into Druggies or schizo but then it is fitting because yeah it's apocalyptic settings , i really think this game have a lot of potential , while the Renders are not on par with the top Dogs out there ,the story and writing s are great which is a strong point of the game.

I know it is still in early stage of development , but i wish there's more in each chapters , but i also understand that it's hard to create more output("Content") Since there's a lot of Branching paths, and that's Brutal for a single developer("if the dev is single.") I also enjoyed the slow build up of corruption, or making her fall (romantic route.) The world(universe) was believeable because the writings is not Half-Hearted.

Overall i really enjoyed the game.
i think it can definitely fly.

Cheers and More Power to the dev.

mmm i really like this game, i think its worth playing and yeah i do like the fact the game makes you care for a female character who is stuck in a basement, all dirty and you gotta make the right decisions and the fact you got some hot side chick who is 100% naughty, (LOVE IT) and yeah she always there to have your back and everything, i already beat both chapters, so now im just gonna wait until more content is added.

P.s - BEST GAME EVER!!!!