VN - Ren'Py - Between Duty and Love [v1.3.2] [DigitalJPlayground]

This one is a very clear miss in my book in every aspect. Let's start with the story. It's very hard to make a good spy story, it's complicated to make a good criminal story, it's more or less easy to make a high school story, it's so-so to make a good porn story... juggling all of those at the same time is nearly impossible. And this is proof of what happens when an inexperienced writer tries, starting with the mostly stupid opening intro into what is a clearly teenager fantasy of what a spy is. Add bland and boring characters, uninteresting developments in the story, some characters falling for MC for no particular reason (teacher specially) and so on and the story falls every way it could. Also, writing itself is rather bad, with characters speaking in a childish and stupid way a lot of the time. Choices don't seem to matter enough, mostly if you want to see or not some thing, but I didn't make it far enough to actually be sure about it. Just dropped it because my time is worth more elsewhere.

Render quality and charcaters are mediocre at best. Poses, light, etc. are pretty bad. I took out the music (always do) and don't remember sound effects or anything like it at all. At least don't remember any bugs either, but may have skipped through them without noticing.

All in all, this is a very bad game. Go play almost anything else and you'll be better off.

Two-and-a-half stars, really. Not sure how people are giving this four. Maybe they only made it through the prologue, which shows some promise. Unfortunately once you get past that this is completely generic wander around the house incest game. You know exactly what to expect.

Wow, I can't believe how good mom looks in that outfit. Oh shit, I'm getting a boner! The door is open, should I peek inside? Man, I can't believe my sister/mother/cat saw my boner when I was asleep. Someone's in the shower, should I look? Hi slutty Aunt, let's hang out and I'll walk in on you getting changed.

I couldn't get further in my playtime than that, but I have zero doubts whatsoever that there are (or are going to be) changing room scenes, yoga, mom gets drunk and falls asleep on the couch, etc etc... As predictable as a sweet sixteen party on Epstein island.

The game does try to differentiate itself somewhat with a side-plot where you mom is a secret agent or something. But the meat of the game is just the same shit you've seen over and over again. Spit, and you'll hit one of dozens of games with the same characters, same story beats, same scenarios. It's just cookie-cutter. And it's not like the models are fantastic or anything. They're... fine, for a few years ago. Certainly nothing special.

If all you want is the same formulaic wander-around-a-house incest stuff you've played a million times before, then you'll like this. If you were hoping for something that breaks the molds, this ain't it.

AVN has gotten far worse

Far too many unneeded transitions.

LI's or maybe LI's are mostly eh looking

I sense NTR is coming heavily

Landlady plot might as well just call in incest especially since no landlady checks on their tennant like that kissing their forehead but whatever

Flashback? makes little to no sense and right now doesn't fit the story

Its far from the worst AVN on this site but that doesn't make it good either

VERSION: v1.3
SUMMARY: Good quality AVN with potential
RATINGS: (out of 5): ⭐⭐⭐⭐

NOTE: The following categories and scoring method are my own criteria and may require more context. Additionally, scoring is based on the state, and what is in the current version and not what may or may not be introduced at a later point.

1. Character (Model) Visuals......... : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. General (World) Visuals........... : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Animation Quality................. : ⭐⭐⭐
4. Character Personality(Persona).... : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
5. Story & Dialogue.................. : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
6. Writing & Grammar................. : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
7. UX/UI, Game Type & Mechanics.......: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
8. Playtime & Pacing..................: ⭐⭐⭐
9. Music & Sounds.....................: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
10. Adult Content & Fetishes.......... : ⭐⭐⭐

Average: X of 50 possible points giving a X% rating i.e. X stars.

PROS: - See my opinions section for details.

1. Renders are pretty good, LIs and characters look unique (within game setting) MC looks decent for a young man.
2. Animations are generally not bad but there can be some work done to improve the natural movements.
3. Writing is pretty good, structured and reads well.
4. Dialogue itself is actually thoughtful and characters do not come across as empty shells. Dialogue also does not feel bloated despite slow burn.
5. Story seems fairly interesting, especially if we take what the mother does for a living.
6. Sounds are generally pretty good, the music is nice, fits actually well in the scenes and general sound FX are good.
7. Slow burn, but reasonable, has a good premise and is clearly building towards some juicy content, but does it at this stage still at a fair pace.

CONS: - See my opinions section for details.

1. Some renders of character faces need some work, expressions look sometimes like the characters face is mad of clay and does not look natural.
2. Some animations need more work, movement is not natural and often characters look awkward in movements. Applies to normal renders also on occasion.
3. The idea the MC is this almost Adonis to woman in the family and outside is a little odd? He is not unattractive, but he does not look very manly, he is not broad of chest or physique to really warrant the attraction from older woman, though this is minor and can be seen as a detail to preserve the story.
4. No lewd scene sounds e.g. moans, gasps etc.
5. Missing sounds for vehicles, doors opening, and other that add to immersion and quality.
6. Playtime is not really much all things considered, I am hoping that development time will increase as long as quality is maintained of course.
7. As for lewd and kinks, there are very little at this point, however the biggest kink is probably the family dynamic, but still there is little "action" at this point. I still prefer the pace here, simply because its more realistic yet does clearly progress, a fine line to walk but the developer does well.

OPINIONS, SUGGESTIONS & FINAL REMARKS:

NOTE: The following remarks are my personal opinions and thoughts, which may provide more context and could be useful to the developer. (Read them or don't)

• More sounds like character sounds, lewd scenes and the like can be better or a bit more and the dev could even use these in MCs day to day minor events to be suggestive? Even surprise, laugh, scare, shock etc sounds, not many but sometimes could be nice.
• While pacing is steady and is especially sensitive within the family dynamic and for characters that are seemingly "normal", the developer will need to add more content outside the family to keep players content with lewd/adult content while the family dynamic develops.

TLDR:

Generally a good AVN and does most things quite well, the story is interesting enough, the characters feel natural albeit don't always look it all renders or animations. The characters themselves look good and realistic including the MC, dialogue and writing are also good and the pacing is slow but progression is clear enough. Development speed is still a ? as its early days, there isn't much content but hopefully we will get more regularly.

I would recommend supporting this developers work!

Great start for first release. Fun story, Good looking and Normal MC. Interesting LIs. Great pacing. Honestly you should give a game chance. My only complaint would be faces next to dialogue, Wish there was a option to disable. Wish dev good luck. And hope we can see game on steam

Hello there.

This game is better than i thought, the story is engaging, the Li's are really hot, i like how we change pov from one protagonist and other.

Another great point is how organic the dialogue is, one can see the familiarity and afection between the characters without being forced, and man, i havent seen sign of affection like this since the most popular games, so i have great hopes in this one.

Then why it doesnt get 5 stars? Well, if you are looking for sex scenes, this is the wrong game, this one is a slow burn, so be patience.

This review is for v1.2

Pros:
Great renders (facial expressions are a bit off but still better than the average).
Pretty decent story so far, not much to complain about.

Cons:
The main character's model is off putting.
Characters keep referring to the MC as Michael even though I renamed him which is annoying.

Omg, that was amazing. The story is intriguing and well written. I absolutely love the models, they are all stunning in their own way; especially mom. Thanks for all the hard work guys, keep up the great work!

For an adult sexual game, there is no real female sex/nudity so far. The the only sexual activity is the main male character wanking. Developer is focusing on the wrong aspects if this is to be a male on female sexual type game...

Promising! I'm really curious to see where it goes and I will follow this little project, I hope it will keep going.
Characters are nice, same for the story and writting.

Renders are splendid, animation and characters too.

I normally don't write reviews but this story is so good

Pros:
- Great Renders
- Good Story
- The pacing is steady and there are many memorable moments.
- Interesting Characters

Cons:
- Too little content

This is the third game of this dev. While the other 2 were short stories, this one is looking to be a little longer.

Amazing renders, good writing and unique looking characters is - especially for a first release - good for a 5/5 rating. I will come back in the future and adjust accordingly.

Well just finished the release. Below are my pros and cons and some feedback.

Pros:
- Well written story with thought out dialog ( just some warning, explaining what is already in the image a bit much )
- Each person so far has there own little style and persona and that is always a positive
- The MC so far does not seem to be a pushover or weakling

Cons:
- Although I named the MC something different the teacher would switch back to Michael all the time
- - Little short for a first release but the file size is already 1.3 gigs