VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Bare Witness [Steam Build] [AlterWorlds]

Just finished the ch4 update at the time of this review.
Liking this one, characters look great and varied, there's even slight change in character aesthetic depending on player choice, sex scenes are decent to good. Story has multiple branches and is interesting enough to not make you skip straight to the next sex scene.
Unfortunately you can't have every girl in the game be a part of your harem but it works for the narrative.
If you're into the warm hearted romance type story I'd definitely recommend this one.

There's a pretty good game here. The writing isn't bad. It's not great, but it's serviceable. The characters are a bit interesting.

I think there's a limit to the amount of women in the harem to be a nudge towards - for lack of a better term - realism.

I'd recommend then, stronger reasons for the women to actually buy into the harem. Usually more extreme circumstances tie people together. Trauma, saving a family, things like that. Right now, as the game stands, I have a tough time buying that all these women are okay sharing one guy, especially when they're so attractive and can obviously select other men.

There are definitely choices one can make, at times. picking to spend time with one woman over another, either a few "to impregnate or not to impregnate" story points. I'd suggest more options. For instance, some may be into a harem, but not into girl-on-girl action. Perhaps we could have characters that are okay with sharing a dude without including an attraction to other girls.

I'd also suggest more variety in dialogue. It gets repetitive, and not just during the sex scenes.

The girls are pretty. We get to save them from some bad situations. Those parts are definitely fun.

I'd suggest a playthrough maybe avoiding a "harem" and maybe focusing on one girl. Multiple girls, in this setting, gets a bit implausible. Don't get me wrong, I love me a harem. But the more you push towards making things plausible, the more you have to work on why the women would be okay sharing one guy.

Another plus is the game makes an effort at showing the MC having fun with the girls, spending time doing things besides the lewds, and it's well done and fun.

Anyway that's a quick assessment of this game so far. Not bad .

I think what I like the most about this game -- aside from the fantastic story telling and amazing character development -- is that it's "Not a normal Harem" but still a polyamorous relationship.

And I say that, not because I have experience with such things (I don't), but because it doesn't FEEL like a harem. Bringing all the girls together doesn't feel inevitable, nor is it easy on the characters when it starts happening. But the result is beautiful.

There's only one more chapter left in this intentionally-short first endeavor from the Slockie and Storm, and I'm fully preparing myself for a not-so-perfect-but-fantastic ending.

But if, after everything else is done, they want to come back and tell more of this story, I'd be there in a heartbeat -- however it ends.

This has all the makings of a 5-star game but the execution is so poor and you wouldn't know it from looking at all these 5-star reviews praising the game. Apparently, all you need now is pretty renders and cameos of other popular games to get a massive fanbase.

The largest problem is the time skips. They are awkward, ruining the pace of the game and handwaving a lot of drama and relationship-building that is sorely needed. You've made a slice-of-life but basically cut out the meat and bones. I don't feel a connection with any girl in the game aside from the fact that they are really well-designed physically. Pretty to look at but have very little substance because the dev appears to be in a rush. The characters definitely needed way more fleshing out. It needed way more interactions where the characters aren't just making googly eyes at each other and whispering sweet nothings.

What is there is not interesting enough to keep me wanting to play. The characters are all in a relationship before I even know anything about them. The dialogue is quite cheesy. Every interaction feels like an extended pillow-talk scene, as if their entire character is defined by their relationship with the MC. The drama is not interesting because I don't care about any of the characters. Even Heidi and Athena, the characters living with the MC, are barely fleshed out at all. The harem is just mashed together with barely any effort to connect them. Father is murdered and I just laughed it off because the dev decided 'who cares?' and immediately skips 7 weeks ahead. Not that he was ever an important character, because once again, this game's characters are not fleshed out at all. It's all laughably shallow.

Overall, I had very high expectations for this game from the first update—it had incredible potential—but it just fell flat.

This game is spectacular. I honestly forgot about it given how long it had been from the last update (which I understand, not criticizing) , but holy shit am I glad I came back to it. The models are gorgeous, the premise, while extremely familiar, and mostly just an excuse for a harem game, it's still really nice. It's not choosing between being a douchebag asshole with anger issues at women, and being a reasonably balanced human being. No, you just play a dude, who likes women, likes pleasuring women, and gaining pleasure from taking care of his partner. Their is a massage scene midway through the content, that I've literally had with girlfriends before. So, yeah, that was choice content right there.

It's a loving MC, who takes care of his ladies, and genuinely tries to make them happy. And one nice feature, that you actually don't see as often as you might think in a harem game but, this one actually lets the bisexual women, be into EACH OTHER. Too often, "bi" in these games means, "the girl is cool with you banging some other chick, but they're both totally focused on servicing you, and only you." Not this game! This game lets the ladies enjoy each other, and enjoy watching you enjoy someone else. The layered kinks of exhibitionism, voyeurism, and polyamory blend together into a great....Voltron-esque mix of enjoyment and fun. The amount of rotational pleasure going on with some of the combos of lovers, is just great.

Seriously, it's really damn good. No angry incel douchebaggery, no alpha/sigma male dudebro bullshit. Just people being empathetic and caring with each other...and also being kinky as fuck with each other, to their mutual and enthusiastic enjoyment. And I for one, really appreciate that.

So kudos developer! You've made a quality product, keep up the good work!

This might be one of the best, if not THE best, well rounded games I've ever played.
+ First off, it's fun. I think some of these games miss that aspect sometimes in that it's a slog to get through. Not this one.
+Fun girls: Unique and not cookie cutter. I get a kick out of each dialogue scene with them and they have distinct personalities that makes you interested in them all.
+Banger sound track
+Hot as fuck models for the girls (and not an ugly bastard for the MC ha!)
+Again, it's fun. I'm not skipping scenes to get to the next one. I'm genuinely invested in every conversation. For me, that's where true talent comes in. Well done

TL; DR

Good game with great characters, compelling story, and hot girls with a charming but beta MC. Little conflict and vanilla sex makes it a dull game in the long run but still good.

This is a good game. The characters are all nuanced and lifelike, they converse like proper human beings with feelings and unique motivations. In short, they're not one-dimensional and that's really a breath of fresh air here.

Not to mention they're all gorgeous, renders are top tier. Clothes and even food is well done, hats off to the dev. Story is engaging even though a good chunk of it is the unoriginal "boy goes to college" trope. I'll leave you to discover more.

HOWEVER! And this is a big one for me personally. The MC, while intelligent and otherwise charming, is a bit of a beta boy. He lets women do the seducing, ignoring even the most glaring of signals because... He's afraid of sex or something? It's super frustrating to see him so timid around these girls.

On the plus side, the music is great!

5/5

I rarely give 5 stars, as I'm a big believer that things can always be better.

However, this was just an enjoyable read.
Ya know those moments in a VN where you're like, ok he's totally about to wake up cuz it's going too well right now.
Well, that's pretty much this whole VN, except it's what is actually happening.

Is it realisitc? eh. Not really. Plausible though, so it works.

I was a little disappointed to see a lack of
The art was pretty good. Sex was hot. Dialogue was smooth. Characters developed well.
Conflict was nearly non existent, which is ok.

All in all, ya. I'd recommend it.

The game resembles reality in one way , you can fuck a lot of girls but you have to choose one at last . This choice is often uncomfortable, especially in games .
The overall quality of the game is good , but updates are surprisingly slow .
Other games have monthly and weekly update cycles , this game has a yearly update cycle . It's been updated three times in 1.5 year .

Game is pretty damn good, the renders are amazing and the writing is phenomenal, I also like how the girls all have unique personalities which makes certain scenarios in game quite interesting.
Overall enjoyable experience<33

First thing you´ll notice is that the girls are hot. Very. The sex scenes are hot (some have weird leg positions but whatever).
There are many sex scenes for a 0.3 version
Like a lot.
Like you go from one to another.
A lot.
Of.
You got the point.
The story itself is good but juggling the different paths is where this game falters. You cant say you love a girl then go out with another and love her too.. Unless you´re a dirtbag, but the MC is a nice guy. It just doesnt work. This needs fixing.
Oh and the MC was cucked. Doesnt matter if is was by a couple of girls still counts. F*ck that.
So yeah 4 stars i like it.

- The story is very interesting and well written
- The characters are interesting and believable
- The "art" (characters, background, animations, etc.) is very good
- The music is very well chosen
- Easter Eggs / Refferences from other VN's and Pop Culture.

Overall 5/5 stars

The other reviewer who mentioned the dialogue was kinda cringy piqued my interest so I gave it a shot myself.

aaaaaannnnd while it's not awful, it's enough to give the tab/ctrl keys a good workout.

So overall, artwork/renders are good, characters look unique, thats probably the main reason I kept plowing through it. Animations are hit or miss, some are great and capture subtle details, others feel phoned in.

Dialogue, as mentioned, is a low point. It wouldn't be so bad if like many other games on the site, it was just a translation/cultural issue. But this is clearly written by someone with a strong command of english, making it worse. Whats more, all the female characters speak quite normally and sound organic, which makes the MC's text so more out of place - I could understand a shy mc and shy girls, but the juxtaposition is so jarring...he's constantly whining and apologizing. A good vn shapes the mc based on choices, instead of forcing them into a specific personality.

Anyway, 2/5 - longer game and better dialogue could easily be 4star base on render artwork.

Everything about the game is great. Story & renders all really well done. Every girl so far is really interesting with cuteness overload and compelling backstories. Really difficult to choose between them all.

This game has some of the most gorgeous, straight-up sexy females put into a game. Just outstanding work.

And what makes it even better is they have awesome, unique personalities and quirks to match! The storylines on some of the girls actually showcase a good level of writing and character building which, maybe at this pointI shouldn't BE surprised when I find that in a porn game, but I still am.

When a harem game can make me actually forgo all other girls for fear of making my favorite jealous, you know it's damn good.

Played on Version 0.3
Really wanted to leave a Review because this gem right here exceeded all my expectations and is definitely one I'll be supporting whenever I can. First what's great about BareWitness :
+ Interesting and original plot, most things are tied well together and follow a more or less reasonable logic.
+ The characters, in both personality and design, are phenomenal for the most part ( Heidi is just ahh )
+ The music. Well placed, can be touching, and very appropriate for the different situations.
+ The choices actually feel impactful, and if I do something that upsets a certain girl, it succeeds ( perhaps too well ) at making me feel horrible.

As for the negatives, I honestly can't find any major flaw in the game for now, perhaps if I replay enough times I might notice something.
The game is the dev's first project, so I can't praise it enough and minor nitpicks aren't worth mentioning.

I want to like this game but the underlying tone of "men are scum but women are smart and can do no wrong" that keeps popping up coupled with how spineless the MC is just makes me think this was written by a feminist who really views the world like that. I mean there's even one instance he should've been rightfully upset at an accusation but brushes it off because "men are scum and goth girl is strong and scary".
Could honestly deal with the boring dialogue if not for that. I mean the first few times were fine but at some point I just felt like I was getting beat over the head with it.
I play these games to avoid that.
At a certain point, I couldn't even get into it anymore and just started clicking through then realized I might as well just close the game. The sex scenes were also kind of lackluster. It's not like I want a story that's the exact opposite of this with some creep MC because that'd be awful too. I just want ... normal people who touch grass occasionally. I can already feel like there's a good chance its' going to be revealed that the mom is going to be some absolute saint and it's all the dad's fault and he'll die off.
Renders are great though and I still like the overall plot. Played for Heidi and Mora who are great characters. Also, I feel like this might be more of a matter of personal taste than something objective. Which is why I'm giving it a "meh".

After playing a few Ren'Py games, I realize that it's not easy to finish a story properly. There are a lot of choices to make, and I think I need to start from the beginning. I may not have understood the dialogue well enough to make the right decisions, so I will take the time to understand it in my own language. Personally, I would have made it more challenging to have sex, but I understand that it requires more work. It's a good game, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

A very enjoyable game with a great set of characters and potential story paths.

The character models are fairly varied and well done.

Each of the characters is well written and although they more or less fall into some archetypes, I dont' think it's a detriment. The different personalities may push you into different choices and I think that's always interesting in a game.

The quality of animations is high as well.

Scenes and the environment are fairly detailed which is good.

The writing is also well done and I don't think there were any particularly jarring sections. Each character's story has good potential for expansion.

I almost never write reviews of games on this site, but this visual novel is a masterpiece. I started playing it in the latest version (chapter 3)
The stunning graphics make it a masterpiece, all the characters look almost natural, it's very nice to look at everyone (Athena is my favorite). What makes this game very different from others of this genre is a very good script. Yes, the hero here is super-strong again and gets everything with ease, the girls want him and all that. But the way it is served distinguishes this game from others - the emotions of the characters are visible. The characters themselves are well spelled out (for example, Mora), it was very nice to watch the plot. I especially want to mention the soundtrack - I think it's the best, it doesn't repeat itself hundreds of times, it sounds appropriate and therefore doesn't annoy (I even saved myself a couple of songs). Once again, this novel deserves the maximum number of points. Sorry for the cringe and my bad English