Ren'Py - At the Crossroads of Life: Lily [v0.03b] [Empress Games]

review v0.03b
horrible experience... not recommended
ugly characters and very simple renderings.
fake sandbox, I explain: it's a visual novel that tries to be sandbox at the same time and doesn't get it, once you do the dialogs of the main story, you go out to the map and supposedly you can do things (very limited)
since you don't have a trading system (you can try clothes in the mall but you don't buy them... you enter in places like the tattoo store but if you don't advance in the story you can't use it, and also without freedom)
you go to the park is empty, the same the restaurant or cafe, you can't do any interaction.... the only thing you can use is the gym and it doesn't help much.
to continue you have to use the button “continue with the main story” which is basically the only thing that works, and the only thing you do in the main story is make decisions.
the sounds, made with reluctance and it shows... they are very unnatural (lily's I mean) when there are certain reactions...
the story and dialogues, quite bad, honestly they are not very well written, I would say that they have even been supported with AI, because they are not realistic at all, it is either that or they have very little imagination.
little or no future, or potential has this game.

My experience has been short, reaching one of the endings (which in fact surprised me how short the game is, and how fast I got to the end) and deleting it.
in fact, the only thing that the protagonist has done is masturbate at home, I have not had sexual interaction with any other character... after this I proceeded to delete the game, I didn't feel like giving it another chance to try another ending.
and I add something else, I think the 5 star reviews are fake, because it is not normal that such a terrible game only has 5 star reviews (with one exception)... very suspicious sincerely.

I recently discovered the game, and I really like it.

Finally, a game where we can control a smart and very beautiful girl.

I especially enjoy the fact that many decisions can be made, and it’s not just about reading long texts for an extended period.

This game also has a lot of text and dialogue, but since we can decide what Lily says and earn personality points based on those choices, the gameplay becomes much more exciting.

I also like that Lily’s sexual orientation can change in the game, which makes it even more interesting.

Version 0.02a

As I see, many reviewers grant five stars to games just because of their potential – especially if they are at an early stage of development. And what if one sees no potential in a game? Should one star only be assigned?

This is my problem with ‘At the Crossroads of Life: Lily’. Sorry to the dev – I appreciate the effort but I do see very little hope that it would become a high quality, interesting game in the future. Why? Because it would have to be a completely different game.

First of all, the visuals. They are subpar, to put it in the most delicate way. While the FMC is ok, the rest of the cast is not. Gestures, face expressions of all characters are awful. Framing of the renders is bad. The characters float above the floor or, for instance, above the couch or bed. The map: it hurts my eyes… like one of the FMC's dresses.

Secondly, the dialogues / internal monologues of the MCs. People don’t talk like that, both in everyday life and in business. It’s difficult to read and sometimes to understand. Should be rewritten from scratch.

The story. I expected (based on the overview) a nice corruption plot, not very far from real life. However, the story is extremely naïve... and corruption is carried out in a clumsy and extremely unreliable way. As I see, there is no characters’ development, the characters simply declare if they are straight or not, if they want to love or fuck.

Reviewing games quite often I complain about lack of choices. Here my complaint is different: there are far too many choices, in almost every conversation, and they are far from finesse. Simply put, they are very clunky, as are the dialogues.

I know, tastes vary. Apparently this game is not for my taste. As I see from other reviews (all of them are perfect fives, as of today), I may be alone in my judgments. But to me, this emperor has no clothes. Or, to be more precise, the empress (pardon the pun).

Oh, sorry, I forgot to mention the final rating. Considering the above, I would give it one and a half stars. But let's round it up to two - there are a lot of really really bad games on F95, and this one is only pretty bad. I just don't see its potential.

An interesting toy and most importantly with great potential. Simple graphics can scare someone, but this has an undeniable advantage, the size of the game does not take up much space on your disk, especially since there is a compressed version. However, the author managed to build the process so that the game captivates and you stop paying attention to the details. If you are really interested in creating a character, going through several paths of its development, then this game is for you. In my opinion, this game is one of those that you periodically return to in order to implement your new idea. Thanks to the author for the work, I will wait for the continuation, all the most interesting is ahead, tattoos, piercings, transformation, I hope bimbofication .

I really like the characters, the story, and of course Lily
For me, the submissive route is the closest, and I like that the game offers the opportunity to explore multiple routes. There is so much potential in this game.

For me, it's definitely 5 stars. Lily is beautiful, but Rita, Dylan, and Donna are also great characters.
The story has huge potential, and so far, it’s a very well-put-together, meaningful narrative.
The optional map where you can explore is also a nice touch. I think it's great work so far.

I really like it from the start! It's especially great that many decisions can be made, which modify Lily's stats, making her 'customizable.' Lily's character is also very likable, a beautiful, intelligent woman. It looks exciting how she can slowly change. I also like the map system, I enjoy the sandbox nature, and it's present here, but if I want to focus on the main story, I just need to click once and don't have to get lost in the details. For me, it's 5 stars.

For now, the lore consists of 3 rich women and a guy who works as a secretary (trainee) for the FMC, the women are standing their ground for who is most dominant of them, you can make Lilly go for the route of sub or dom, straight or lesbian. The art is humble but charming, in this release there are 2 animations, showers, and masturbation, nothing fancy, but decent. By the many apparent routes offered, I see a big FMC corruption AVN on the horizon.