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

Wow. Just wow. This is hands down the best AVN I have ever played. I'm extremely sad I've finished what is currently available. I'm not super active on forums, I don't really post things or rate things, but this game is that good, I had to give some love. Let's break it down:

Writing 5/5:
This game hits so many beats. I felt all of the feelings (the music helped, see the music section). I was so invested in all the characters, and genuinely liked the MC, which is rare for me. The main story is compelling, and all the LIs are unique and have their own voice.

Music 5/5:
I had to lead with the first two categories that I think are the best. The music really takes this game to another level. No exaggeration, no figure of speech, this game has the best soundtrack of any AVN that I've ever played. I cried both happy, sad, and laughing tears from the combination of the writing and music.

Renders & Animations 4/5:
Now this is very much my own personal preference here. I docked a point just because there are some angles that I'm not a fan of, and moments where there is some sexy talk that I'd like to see over an active animation rather than a still image. Quality wise, everything is top notch.

General/Personal Notes: Just gonna put it all in a spoiler tag to be safe.

Story: ★★★
Dialogue: ★★★
3D Models: ★★★★
Sex scenes: ★★★★

Additional Comments: The music is 50/50 meaning some of
the music I really liked and some of it I'd mute. The models have
a more realistic look, and even if a woman in the game does
have large breast they are not the typical ginormous goofy
breasts often seen in porn games. The game does have sex
scene animation which I liked.

Some of the best scenes in the game were the snow
event with Athena, music fit perfectly for the scene.
Also the event where MC and Mora meet with her ex-bf
and the event reminded me of something from a soap
opera episode and the music fit perfectly. I can tell
that the developer put in a lot of work on the game.

Not good and not bad, but a masterpiece compared to 99% of DAZ VNs.

Writing is competent. I didn't notice any dodgy spelling or grammar. The story is boring. The characters are bland.

Renders are fine. There's a slight bump in quality from chapter 3.

3.5/5.0

Great graphics and great stories. First time i played, i was totally into the story. I just can't believe it the devs' first game.
They kept improving release after release and are active on their Discord
Keep going gents

Review of version 0.4

I have rather mixed feelings.

Choices - Only when it comes to girls/relationships, although with one girl the dev heavily ignores our choices, which leads to pointless consequences that I as a player eliminated (explanation in the spoiler section).

Story - Basically there is none here, we get some information about the MC's past and that's pretty much it, then we jump around events because the girls keep inviting us somewhere, you can refuse invitations, then we get a black screen with the day and the fact that I have nothing to do, then we wake up the next day.

Characters - They basically fall in love or want to seduce us the moment we meet them. We can meet several, but at some point we have to choose one.

Graphics - Very good.

Music - Very fitting.

MC - A cool guy, nothing to complain about, the big drawback is that the developer did not come up with the idea to give us the option to choose our last name, and we play our name Beck.... I had to dig through the code to name myself appropriately.

Choices that dev ignores which leads to consequences that I predicted, but happened anyway.
Spoiler alert.

I liked it!

The story is Great and god I love the chara design

Hell, there's even animation!
Render are great and Lightning is too !

The thing I wish this game had is jiggling, in the X scene, the animation seem stiff.

The things that I disliked are:

I couldn't get all the girls, god I worked hard and though I made sure I had a good path, (at some point I did, but then around the end of ep 4... all of that disapeared)... (its not a bad thing at all from the game tho, its me lol)

Anyway,
The game is going in a good direction, I really hope to see more of it, take your time, and I thank you for taking your time to show this and making this game

AlterWorlds delivers us a unique AVN, which honestly deserved a GOTY prize.
Bare Witness resonates with it's players, highly unlikely one who plays it won't feel connected with the MC or the LIs.
It's a rollercoaster ride of emotions and the perfect mix of drama and comedy that could make even the toughest person both laugh and cry in a single playthrough.

It deserves it's place on my top 3 AVN list
10/10 must play!!

Some lovely looking characters in this game. Mora, the ginger, is stunning.

Has an interesting background story that doesn't seem to actually have any relevance to the girls but doesn't detract from your aim of 'getting to know them.'

Pity 'cousin' was hard coded. Allowing the player to define that relationship would have made for a far more interesting interaction, I think.

One thing I really don't like is the way the game constantly forces you to let one of the girls down. Whenever you arrange to go out somewhere, you almost immediately get another invitation from another girl, nearly every bloody time, and have to choose between them. I know it's stated that this isn't your typical harem game but that method of choosing between them gets very old very fast.

Renders and animations are great, story is not the most engaging, below average/decent I guess. This VN has some scenes that are written really well on the different romance routes tho so its more about general plot.

Needs same love in the story as it has in the art. I may change my rating to 5 stars depending on ending.

Good adult VN, alot of different lewd content and scene variations.

Edited: last chapter is goated

The renderings are decent, though details like hand holding are sometimes awkward, and the facial expressions are more uncanny than the best. The animations are pretty stock and lack atmosphere after seeing 25 of them.

The storyline is full of VN tropes such as broken families, nympho mom-figures, hard-to-gets, and a weak non-sex plot. What dropped this from good for me is that the further I got in the story, the more rushed it felt. I sense the developer(s) bit off more branches than they could handle, and lines repeat or plot-points are dealt with in one screen. It all leads to a feeling of not caring about anyone by the time the end-version credits roll.

Quite a boring game, I don't know why the game is rated so high, there's literally nothing worth the hype here I went in with a few expectations looking at the posters and screenshots but it turned out to be a disappointment after all.

Story: 1/10.
There's no story at all. Its just teased at a few places that you're a witness for a murder and later shown in the newer chapters but that's it. There's no futher story or continuation to it. .it's just like a background thing . No one literally no one talks about MC's past or asks him so the story never progresses. As of now all you get is a typical teen mc that goes to college with a bunch of girls to explore and build relationships with that's pretty much it for the story all you do is talk to them and fuck, no seducing, no efforts in trying to win them over, girls just fall for you while talking about burgers and how mc almost peed himself in a situation.Nothing new. I figured story might progess as your relationship with characters improve but surprisingly story never progresses. Meet girls and fuck. That's it. But the writing sucks so the sex isn't worth in the game either.

Characters:6/10
I guess I'm being quite generous giving it a 6 considering most of the characters designs are just copied or too common. Athenas LI was in "being a dik" Todd the bartender guy is just CHAD without hairs from "being a dik" again. Most of the characters are written bad and annoyingly boring. And looks wise they're quite ugly and out of proportion at times. The renders improve in later updates but the writing still sucks.

Writing:1/10
Really disappointed here. Honestly i don't rate so low but i just can't bring myself to like any of it. The conversations between the characters was unbearabely dull. i wasn't invested in it at all, their humour and jokes didn't even effect me let alone make me chuckle. Idk how can the writing be so bad. Most of the times the conversations between characters are so boring and random idk how they lead the MC to sex. Its like literally everyone is throwing themselves at MC with little to no efforts from our side. Choices you make don't really affect the game much besides choosing a girls path. Story wise there's nothing to lose cause there's no story being told. Its just boring conversations with girls then straight up sex.

Sex scenes:4/10
They were too short, i don't really like sex scenes without a story or a plot to go with but i still gave it a shot. Out of proportions in few scenes and ass looks weird. Whoever decided zenda's pussy should be black did a really bad job, it looks like burnt or fried skin. There's like 1-2 sex positions and you'll see the same position in 3 different angles to make the scenes look longer. The writing at sex scenes was dull too. No foreplay no build up. Straight up sex. Typical"you're so big ,keep going" kind of writing at sex. Author really needs to start reading smut for better understanding of writing sex scenes.

Animations:7/10
Earlier in the game animations suck but they improve overtime and made them bearable for the most part but still bad writing couldnt save it. Animations are smooth but slow paced with just a few different angles.

Conclusion: i rate this game 1½/10. A lot of people here overestimate this game and it's story when there's little to nothing to be called a story. Storytelling needs a lot of work. Boring conversations between MC and girls needs to be fixed. Overall I don't recommend this game to anyone who's story driven like I am. If you like quick sex and girls that fall for you with little to no explanation or just cause they find you attractive for no reason at all just based off your looks or dick then this game is for you. However there's a lot more better games out there.

Ps:English isn't my first language but i understand it better than i can speak
Thank you.

A top notch game with a very good story and unique characters, you have a few different paths you can take for love interests and the renders are great, some of the female characters i have never seen in other games which is a plus.

Story. 9.5/10
Characters.8.5/10
Art/renders. 9/10
Sex. 8.5/10 needs more anal and some rimjobs.

Just beat the game 5/27/24

Ratings stays the same the game had some good endings and the only issue for me was needed more anal and a rimjob scene but that is me being picky.

I didnd't play until last chapter yet but 5 stars for my girl Heldi!!

PRO
-One of the best Character design AVN!
-My girl HELDI!!
-Choice do matter!
-Story are good
-Great Render
-Kissing scene are dammm
-Fap material

Cons
-Very short animation for one scene
-Too little teasing and too straight to sex for my taste
-A little more slowburn would be nice

Version 0.4b, 2023/10/24

My first impression of Bare Witness was immediately a good one. The game's renders are on-point, and the visual character design is good too.
On top of that, and something many AVN fail at, is that facial expressions are great!

A player who's new to the story might be confused about the MC's flip-flopping between being confident and introverted. He's also a bit of a nerd, but doesn't wear it on his sleeve. After learning about the MC's past, these things clicked a lot better. His situation and the lockdown have left a mark.

I adored the condom use, innovative! (Though it really shouldn't be. I wouldn't mind seeing more sexual health stuff in AVN.)
At the same time, it's sad that the MC doesn't practice safe sex with his other encounters. He could easily catch something from his other partners.

Besides the visuals, the story in this game manages to be intriguing without being overbearing or saddled with too much mystery. There are hints during the first part of the game, where it's made clear that not everything is as it seems. The MC is very hesitant when he's answering certain questions. Luckily, this mystery isn't dragged out, and the player is soon informed about what's been going on.

The story is assisted by a cast of unique and fleshed out love interests, each with their own personality and experiences. There are multiple paths that lead to a solo or harem ending, and choices actually matter in this regard. The overarching story is (so far) not influenced by any choices the player can make.

On to the nitpicks, in the literal sense of the word.

• Nothing dates media as much as referencing current events. Someone playing this game in 10 years might not be able to place Joss Whedon or the pandemic. The game will be dating itself. Even Firefly and Monthy Python are being forgotten.
• That said, I like that this AVN uses actual names, and not names like Ponthy Mython.
• Val reminds me of how petty I can be. I love everything about her. Her personality, her story... Except for how she calls the MC 'baby' every other line. It just gets on my nerves.
• Somehow I wasn't convinced by Zenda's sincerity at first. Sometimes she'll be very insecure, other times overconfident. ("you know where your priorities are"). She's very submissive towards the MC, even allowing a rival in her bed if he wants to. But she's also proactive and generous, taking the initiative to ask the MC out.
• In chapter 3, when talking with Athena (after the Mora meeting), suddenly being in a relationship with her seems weird, if MC went on the date with Zenda in chapter 2 and chapter 3. I would feel different about this if she appeared in the "7 weeks"-cutscene, because as it is, MC hasn't spent a lot of time with Athena at all.
• I expected a bit more self-reflection out of Val, when she asked MC not to sleep with Nicole again. If Val hadn't talked MC up to Nicole, probably nothing would've happened. Val might say that Nicole is competitive, but in my view, Val instigated it.
• The MC could be a bit more inquisitive, though I suspect this was a conscious choice by the writers. Why does Val have a Panic Room and guns in the house? Who is Zenda's father, that she can travel by private plane on a whim? Of course, these questions are eventually answered, but the MC never even inquires.

I've played through a few of the paths that were available through the initial choices I made. My next playthrough is reserved for the Steam release, if/when achievements are added.

Writing is very realistic and has great humor, and well developed characters with heartwarming (and heartbreaking) backstories, coupled with the stunning models of all the ladies, hard to miss this game.

Bare Witness is wish fulfillment done well. (v0.4b)

Want a perfect thruple to fall into your lap? Done instantly. Want to impregnate one or more characters with no repercussions (yet)? You don't have to wait long. Prefer a monogamous relationship with someone who really deserves it? You've got options. Your character never has to really earn money and relationships.

Yet in spite of things falling in your lap, the author balances it out in a few ways. There's a pretty dramatic plot in the background and some trauma on the MC. Moreover, it is actually possible to break some hearts and see some consequences for your actions. So, even though you can fulfill fantasies quickly in this game, it's not like Chasing Sunsets or some other game where the MC is perfect or without conflict.

The only bad thing I can say about this game, if you can even take it as a bad thing, is that the setting, tone, and even some characters in the story remind me so much of Being A DIK, and yet it lacks the layers that some people love or hate from BAD. This game is right to the point with no minigames, Easter eggs, open world exploring, etc. If you hated that stuff anyway: this game is perfect for you. If you loved that stuff: I still think you'll love this game, but you might also walk away with more appreciation for BAD.

I'm loving this game and can't wait to see more.

Play this game. I feel like I need not say more, but I will. It has it all! Outstanding models. I mean... damn. It's so fucking hot and detailed. And the characters have personality! The writing in this game is absolutely terrific, and funny as fuck! There are even two sex scenes available in the first several minutes if you care more about a quicky than an emotional ride. These developers really know how to make an adult visual novel. So many interesting and attractive women. The game isn't too fast paced, nor is it slow. It doesn't railroad you at all, giving you the option to be a fuckboy and suffer the consequence or find true love (not that you can't do both, just choose carefully!). The graphics and music and story all surpass my old favorites. This game has captivated me and become my one of new favorite visual novels, despite it's small flaws. I didn't even meet one of the girls on the opening screen my first playthrough. (Though I am glad... She's not worth it boys and gals!). Playing through all the choices... there is some heart wrenching and also some very sexy stuff. Very hard choices to make in this game. All of the paths are nice and follow the plot, yet I find myself inextricably drawn to the "harem" ending (which I went for my first try). IT'S SO WHOLESOME AND SEXY AS FUCK! I want my girls! But watch out... you may get a twist at the end if you pursue one too many... As I said in the outset, play this game. This game will indeed "set your soul on fire."

Played through this for the first time, excited to hear the 5th and final chapter is coming soon which is great to hear

I tend to go for harem games cause I like the group dynamics and hate missing content. This game still has a lot of the former but you do sacrifice the latter.

For harem fans, if you just accept that 2 of the girls are basically seperate games and get the other 4, you're set pretty much. MC and those 4 form a polycule that is pretty cute and wholesome.

Overall game is pretty great, great renders, well written, and characters actually have emotions.

Excellent story, very good writing, interesting characters with some added depth that you discover during the storyline and make those characters even more interesting.
Nice sound atmosphere that fit the story, and visually it's also really good , Bare Witness is a top quality AVN deserving of 5 stars!

Excellent game so far. Well above average. Would like to give it a 4.5 or so. The music adds a lot here, but the characters and the story are good on their own. Quality of renders/animation starts fine but continues to improve.. The final chapter looks great.