Ren'Py - Bad Memories [v0.9.5.2] [recreation]

(Version 0.4)
Bad Memories has a lot of good points:

• Well-written characters
• Cute models
• Ellie
• Believable setting
• Ellie
• Hot scenes
• Male or female MC

The plot starts with the usual estranged guy (or gal) back to his hometown that he left because of some childhood trauma (could that be related to the title? Nah, that would be too much of a coincidence). Upon arrival, his brand new apartment is engulfed in flames and, by chance (?) he meets his father's old girlfriend, Rachel, who invites him to stay with her and her daughter, our MC's step-sister, Ellie. Little problem, though, Rachel's in great part responsible for said childhood trauma. Sexilarity ensues.

CHARACTERS
You can play either as a male MC or a female MC. Except for a few scenes (notably the lewd ones), this doesn't make a lot of difference. I count this as a good point, meaning you can just play as the gender you want and you won't be penalized by missing any action. Also, note that this is your choice, so don't come whining because there's a female MC.

The girls now:

• Rachel, the motherly figure, who should satisfy MILF and incest lovers altogether. She's acting suspiciously nice after having been an awful bitch for most of the MC's childhood.
• Ellie, the MC's step-sister who has a bit of a crush on him (read: "totally crazy about MC"). Some trauma in her own childhood left her... special. She doesn't talk and act like a child most of the time. Oh, and she's the cutest thing ever.
• Jada, Ellie's friend and a little minx oozing sex from every pore. She's playful but knows how to get what she wants.
• Katherine, Ellie's psychiatrist, seems at first to bear some grudge against the MC, but I've no doubt she will make you melt soon enough. Or vice versa... :3
• Hannah, a cute little barista who seems to have a bit of a crush on the MC... But she's not Ellie!

Each girl has something different to offer to the plot and you will be hard-pressed to find a favorite (Ellie).

SEX
The lewdness in this game is perfectly dosed out, with the v0.4 bringing some welcome "release". Sex scenes are animated (with great quality) and are better and better as the story progresses. They're also refreshing as I find that there's something realistic and a bit animalistic in the way the MC behaves in there. Special mention to the Katherine's scenes, I've rarely seen hotter.

Review after v.0.4



Seeing the votes and notes, someone would believe this is a great game. Well.... not even close.



I have no idea what the dev wants to do with ths story but it's such a mess right now.



The premise of the story is a guy who left his home when he was young because he was abused and many years later has to come back in town because he got promoted. And this big company somehow couldn't find him a house to live or even a hotel room (because convieniently all rooms were booked) which makes you wonder where is this town that has a big company office, but not a single house or apartment or even a room for rent, LOL.



But for the sake of the game, we need an excuse for the guy to return to his old house since the dev was too lazy to think of an actual believable reason. And guess what? This guy runs to his old "mother" (who's actually his dad's ex girlfriend) and she's soooooooo sowwwrrrrryyyy for what happened in the past and she wants to make amends and ask him to come live with her and her daughter, aka "sister". MC don't want to of course but since there're no rooms available he reluctantly agrees to go live back to the house that caused his so many Bad Memories (see what i did here) after 10 sec of gameplay.

Anyway, now the pieces are in place. We meet Ellie who's 18 and acts like 5 but she's horny like 40. She doesn't speak because she was traumatised after MC left. Apparently she loved him and he protected her from bullies and when he left she got depressed and stopped growing up i suppose. She has a best friend Jada who instantly flirts with MC and a therapist Katherine who instantly dislike MC
We also learn that the mother takes some pills that makes her not remember what she says or does for a few hours
Then we have Ellie who during the day acts like a toddler and in the night she crawls to your bed
We also have a few extra characters that MC will fuck in the future like the barrista, the coworker, the "aunt", Jada's mother, etc.

And to this story some people give 5/5 stars rating! 5 stars means perfect! This story to them is perfect! Like MJ dunk from the free throw line perfect! Sorry but i can't be one of them.

The game is mediocre at best. The storyline and writing childish and with no depth. MC is seriously a creepy rapist. I wouldn't want to be him, have him as a friend, i wouldn't even trust him to throw away my garbage.
Overall, i don't understand the praising reviews. Play the game or don't and have your own opinion. I played it and i regret every second of it.

p.s. Forgot to add that you can play as a guy or a girl so that's a plus. Not many differences tbh, but it's the reason i gave 2 stars instead of 1.

Guess its time to write a review for this one so lets go to the pro's and contra's

pro:

very good renders
unique character design
interesting story with plot twists and not a small amount of humor

con:

nothing to mention what is really negative

Overall its a game i'd recomment to people i know who enjoy a story and not play just to see sex scenes.

It seems I'm, with a review of less than 5 stars, in the minority here. I just cant get why everyone is so hype about this game. I played for ~30 minutes before I cringed so hard that I almost became a black hole.

So I was playing the male role (if that matters?) and it was the Android version 0.3.1 (again, I don't know if any of this matters, I'm just adopting some of the other reviews' layout).

Since this is a review (and since I don't remember reading any in other reviews), I'll not post any spoilers for the story. But what I will say is that there are far too many convenient events happening and far too little choices for me to enjoy the game. Which, I can kinda get - the author (dev?) wants to tell a story and you don't get a lot of say in it. But when the author (dev?) is trying to push the narrative that everything that happened in the house is bad, to then turn around and be like "okay i live here again now and now MC grabs some titties. Because reasons"*.
Sorry, that's just not good story telling to me. And that's actually where it lost me. I stopped playing (or rather, reading) and started writing this.

The models and background are all well done, so I can't find fault with the graphics. And I had all the sound muted, so cant comment on that.
I did have an issue with the text size, though. Can't remember if it was the speaking or thinking text, but it was miniscule. Especially compared to the giant "SOME TIME LATER" messages you get in the middle of the screen.

I'd recommend giving it a go, especially since the other reviews are one of the reasons I tried it, but I won't be playing/reading it again.

*if you've played it, you know which part I'm referring to, but don't want to spell it out since that might be considered a spoiler by some people. I know that isn't verbatim what happens, but it's near enough.

V.0.3.1

Definitely one of my favorites. I don't know why a review must be more than 200 characters long, but whatever... This game has been on, and will remain for, i assume a while to come, on my watch list. I love it. I really like the idea of the drug's memory effect. Never knew it was a kink of mine until I played this game, but wow, it really excites me Keep up the great work! Can hardly wait for more of the story to unfold with this memory game where you can, without consequence, do naughty things, and the risk of her possibly remembering something, but certainly if the effect of doing naughty things makes her more open to your advances when she is not under the influence is also a huge plus to me. Even if she can't remember anything, just subconsciously feeling desires to want more out of the arrangement... Or would she only be doing things extra to try and keep the MC from leaving? Either way, this story is incredibly interesting for me, and I can't wait to see it unfold! HOT 5/5 rating for finding this sleeping kinky desire within me... You naughty dev! I love it

So far so great! This is very much my style. I don't mind games with decisions that can greatly impact the game but mainly being along for the ride is great! I guess I just realized it's a vn... Either way I recommend checking it out!

Looking forward to seeing this game's ending(s?):

Pros:

- Amazing Visuals, especially the expressions and transitions of movements, nothing feels static or plastered and everything is put together to create scenes that make you feel the environement you're in

- Strong plot. Strong as in intriguing and mind boggling - there are mysteries that create mysteries and I could feel myself breaking into cold sweat at certain scenes, while quickly feeling glad that some things turned out the way they did.

- The characters are believable, and the backstory is unique to the game. (Unlike many other fuck-meet-greet family clones)

Cons:

- Bruh if this is another game with unpreventable NTR, Imma flip my shit fr though. (NTR vibes warning)

- Lack of music (But tbh I'd say this is a plus given the game's rather thriller-ish setting)

- NTR NTR NTR Please no.

- Still in the early development (as of 0.3) so if you're expecting fucking this early in then be disappointed. HOWEVER, I'd say give it a try first to see if you enjoy the plot, as, often, such games tug at your heart strings rather than your dick. (So do it for the plot )

Overall, a game worth your while if you're into a storyline that, while seemingly dark, gives you a strong desire to form relationships with the characters and empathise with them while trying to discover the backstories of unique individuals.

My Rating of [v0.3] is:

Pros:
+ Great Renders
+ Active Play
+ Good Opening
+ Long Game Play

Cons:
- Nothing

Conclusion:

The Game is Just great.
The updates are long, no senseless walking around,game controlls are great,
the writing is also good...
Also the Story is new, doesn't give you the feeling that you heard it before.

My Advisory:
Damn worth the Download

Wow, this is a fantastic story. It is 2am soon, while I'm writing this and I didn't feel the time rushing so fast.

Ok, not really much decisions, but I don't like games much which do need replaying to see everything.

The few adult scenes are very short, but good animated. So I have high hope / expectations on later scenes.

I don't think Ellie looks to young, like 14 years. Maybe one reason people thinking this is, because of 20-30 year old actresses in US TV series or movies who play often much younger people for their age. Or so many porn actresses far over 20 telling that they are still 18.

Ellie is little petite and cute, what makes her looking often maybe barely legal. I like it that she has no huge breasts. I really hope she has a hairy venus mound. Or only partly shaved.

For some reason I had not yet written a review of this game, while it is in the top region of my watch list. It’s about time to correct this.

I will start with a warning. While writing this, the game is in early development (0.2), so don’t expect much explicit content in it yet. The style is very European, so don’t play it if small framed girls with average to small boobs turn you off. I recommend you to play this game if you like a suspenseful story that hasn’t unfolded yet, so you can speculate about what has happened and what is about to happen. And play it to enjoy the stunning artwork.

A very special thing about this VN is that you can choose whether to play as a male or a female MC. The female route will have only lesbian content, which is a rare and pleasant choice if that is your inclination or if you are just curious to look at things from a different point of view. At least until now, the story in both paths is virtually identical, but of course sex scenes will look different. So, when I refer to the MC in this review as a male, she can also be female.

Bad Memories is a visual novel with, so far, very few choices. You play a man or woman in his/her mid-to-end-twenties. You have accepted a job in the town where you grew up, but which you left long ago. Just as you arrive, your new apartment burns down. Then you meet someone you did not want to meet: Rachel, the common law wife of your late father. This brings back bad memories. Your father was a violent bastard who abused Rachel and Rachel took revenge by constantly picking on you. You fled the house as soon as you could and you had no intentions to ever come back.

But Rachel is nice and seems to regret what has happened. Her offer to come and live in your old room would be a neat temporary solution for the situation you’re in. Is she really sorry or is she acting? She is sometimes acting weird, that’s for sure.

Then you meet Ellie, Rachels daughter, and she is so happy to see you again. You call her your sister. It is, however, not made clear if she really is. She is a beautiful petite redhead, but there’s something off with her. She doesn’t talk. Now that could be every man’s dream, but sadly her silence is caused by yet undisclosed traumatic events in the past. Again, bad memories.

Now picture this. Ellie walks around half naked. She wants to sleep in your bed and humps your leg not wearing panties. She peeps at your genitals and enjoys watching 3d porn. On top of that she has a hot BFF, Jada, who might have benefits for her (and for you, for that matter). Yet, a large part of her fan base on F95 zone only wants to pat her head. That’s how cute she is. You can’t get any cuter than Ellie.

I won’t spoil anything more. Play this game if your interest is piqued and support the dev on Patreon.

Just a few things about the artwork. In my opinion, Rachel is how a Milf should look. She looks her age, but still she is very attractive. No need to exaggerate the size of her boobs, they look natural. Look at Ellie’s skin. That is how a redhead looks. Notice how the dev uses mirrors and reflections in almost every scene. Enjoy this world where bras only exist in the mind of a bullying hotel manager.

Review of Version 0.2:

Though still early in development, it's easy to say, that this game will be a masterpiece!

It has everything, you can ask for:

- great art/renders
- beautiful girls/women
- an interesting story (which will evolve much over time)
- 1st-class writing
- you can play as male OR female (->pure lesbian route)

Biggest brownie point is the dev, who is really passionate about his work, communicative and btw simply a nice guy (who deserves your money, throw it at him!!!)

Really promising. It seems like story will be amazing and it has fantastic characters. The most important part is boobs, yeah they are more realistic in this game. Though it's really short right now and I'd wait if I knew it. I hope it will be completed soon.

review for version 0.1.6

I'm really impressed with this Visual Novel so far. The story is great, nothing amazingly unrealistic. The characters feel like real people and not mindless bimbos... although the therapist chick is a bit of a mystery. The renders are awesome. The author even has in-between renders to make the scenes feel more fluid and alive, rather than a simple emotion gauge at the bottom.

Fantastic premise, and great presentation. I love the psychology of the setup, and the ladies are attractive on the realistic side of the coin. Not seeing much value to free-roam yet, but it's super easy to move from scene to scene. Added to my watch list!

Awesome game, I'm pledging!
Despite looking like a cookie cutter incest game at first glance, this game has it all! A great story, great renders, really nice animations and some hot models, although I would have preferred the sister look a bit older but I know some people will love the younger look.
Also a decent amount of content for a first release so I went to pledge!

great models, interesting story. I love everything as is. absolutely great start!

maybe if Ellie had just a bit more up top it might quell some of the other critics. I personally have no complaints. Too many of our devs like tits so big its had to figure how the models stand up straight. This is a refreshing change.

stories of domination without all the slut name calling sounds like an intriguing story line as well

(v0.1.5)

Rachel is gorgeous, but Ellie looks to be no more than fourteen years old at the most. So that's super gross. Ellie would be fine if she weren't heavily sexualized, but there's already an unavoidable scene where she crawls into your bed and gets off by grinding against you. She's even underage when she does it according to the game.

The story is interesting, but there's only a handful of very minor choices to be made, so it's not much of a game so far. It also has one of those annoying free roaming maps in the house where there is only one correct room to go to and all the others are a waste of your time. Those sections are short and they don't happen often, but they're still pointless.

Version 0.1.5:

Very promising game, good graphics, a story that is grounded and well executed so far.
The characters are engaging and i look forward to see how they develop.

The only reason i didn't give 5 stars is for personal taste, this game give you some choice from time to time like, do you barge in or do you knock on the door? at first i beleived it would steer you in a classic 2 path story, a gentle type and a more forcefull one.
However that doesn't seem to be the case as the MC in version 0.1.5 start to interact with some character by exploiting them with little remorse and no choice to act differently, not my style unfortunatly.

So far i am in love with this game. Not alot sexually or anything like that which is great cause its so new. Its all about setting up the story and so far i love it. I hope to see Great things from this game in the future. And As it is now its among my top fave games alongside of Melody and Mify city and quite a few others. Great job and im looking forward to more. Above all i love how the women in this game so far are Proportionate. They dont seem to have that Super Balloon Tits Syndrome lmfao. The women in this game are just perfect <3 If you have not played this yet Do it. It is short but so worth it.

First impressions, as of v0.1.5 this game has the potential to become one of my favorites! The artwork is top-notch, shading and textures are fantastic and even the lighting on the lights-out scenes is good, which is one area most artists mess up.



(Minor spoilers ahead)

*******

Character introductions are also good. So far we have the suburbanite mom that you don’t want to like, but kinda do. The minxy chick you know you should avoid but don’t want to. That sophomoric young professional you want to hate because she’s had her degree for a whole day and already knows more than everyone else. (I secretly hope Kathrine gets arrested at some protest and ends up shouting from the back of a squad car “Respect my authority!”) My personal favorite that cute “spinner” of a redhead that’s a little broken and needs a white-knight to love her. Ellie is fantastic!



On my personal check-list of adult games, I absolutely hate big giant back-breaking boobs. Bad Memories, has realistic proportions which is great. Brunettes are better than blonds, red heads are better than either, and gingers rule them all. Given that, Bad Memories is right up my ally. The final item on my personal check-list we haven’t seen at all in v0.1.5, and that’s pubes. I understand trimming, but totally shaved is a real turn-off for me. A “vag” that looks like it belongs on an 8 y.o. is cringe-worthy. So far (which from a story aspect is a good thing) in Bad Memories the MC hasn’t encountered “3rd base” yet. I am curious to see how that develops. After all, part of the attraction to red heads and especially gingers is learning whether or not the curtains match the carpet.



Great job so far! I’ll be watching this one closely, and will certainly consider patreon after a bit more development. Keep up the great work!