VN - Ren'Py - Ashes of the Sun [v0.30] [Pandarinka]

Review for v0.25

It's not a horrible game or anything, but outside of the premise itself, this isn't really doing anything new or noteworthy enough to have really gotten me invested so far.

A strange asteroid crashed into the sun, causes it to go dark, and then fragments of said asteroid crash into the earth. These fragments have microorganisms on them that are causing some sort of zombie virus. So, an apocalyptic tale. An interesting start to one anyway. But I'd advise you to not really think about the details of it all, because I don't think the game is really doing that either.

Right away the game splits into two paths, where you can either run home with your best friend or run into the school. I chose the home path, but a skim through the school path seems that while it is different, they still converge after a point. If I had to guess the only real consequence is what sex scenes you see. There exists a sort of paragon and renegade system as well, but I also don't know how much those choices really matter right now. It seems like it boils down to whether you avoid killing or not, but you get railroaded into killing anyway when some tropey bandits are about to assault your best friend. I also got presented with an option to peek on your friend in the shower, which I chose not to since that's creepy, and then the game took that as me not being interested in the character at all since it didn't give me any romance scenes after that despite selecting romance options.

Most of the characters just don't do much to get me interested in them, and the few tense moments kind of felt fabricated for the sake of having some violence and such when unhinged bandits show up day one of the apocalypse. Like everyone has seemingly vanished, but some rapey bandits are already running around apparently uninhibited by alien zombies? I think I'm just not interested in basic bandits given everything else but the girl inside the safe caught me off guard. I almost felt the game time skipped at some point with how quick everything collapsed as well. Even the sex scenes themselves feel out of place when you think about the world falling apart around them. Suppose I'm thinking too much though.

Animations and renders fall a bit more on the average side as well, but one thing the game is good at is creating that dark atmosphere. Which makes sense considering the sun itself went dark. It's still early so maybe the game will surprise me a bit more down the line. If you're into apocalypse stories maybe this would catch your interest but otherwise not a ton currently keeping me here. I think alien influenced apocalypse is kind of neat though, so I hope the game does more with that.

Off the bat, a very good start to a hopefully very compelling visual novel. It becomes quite clear at first glance that this game is going to have a lot of branching paths, thus allowing for great replayability.

The premise is also very well done. Post-Apocalypse as a genre has always been a popular one, yet one that can easily be messed up if not done right. So far the developer has done an excellent job, especially in regards to the mood and setting. You can feel the despair and uncertainty in the lightning and the way the developer crafts the world.

Horror, when done expertly, is already scary even when you can see everything, but the lightning makes both player and MC feel anxious. You can't even see what you should be looking out for. It could be even be standing right in front of you and you would have no idea. It makes for excellent ambiance.

That said, the ambiance works a little too well. It's hard sometimes to see the characters. Perhaps a lighter shade of dark would be appropriate. Such as when one of the women attacked the MC, it was a little hard to tell what was happening (unless that was intentional.)

The trait system is nice, and I hope to see how that evolves throughout the story. Some of the writing could use a little work, but nothing I would call a detriment to the game. The scenes were nice and hot. You can tell the dev cares about the characters of the girls other than just making them accessories to the MC.

As for the MC, obviously you get to shape his personality which I quite like. Every trait as a positive and a negative as it should. Here's hoping that all these branching narratives won't frustrate the dev.

All in all, good game! Great first impression and premise! 10/10!

I like the story; it's quite interesting for a beginning. I like that the main character can make strong or calmer decisions, shaping his personality. For now, I see a lot of potential. Keep it up. It was missing more steamy scenes, but I always appreciate a good story over meaningless sex scenes, so I'm not complaining. For now, I only played the school route. Now I'll go the other way, which is the home route.