Ren'Py - Big Brother: Another Story Rebuild [v0.09.00] [Aleksey90]

I love the slow pace, different scenes when spying, and lots of different things to do. Looking forward to upcoming updates. Love it when they try on clothes. When this game finishes, it will be one of the best VN's out there.

So, I've decided to review this game after trying it a few times. An important note: I never played the original BB, so take that as you will. This review is based on this game specifically, not how it compares to the original.

Pros:

- I like the renders. That is the best part of the game. All of the girls look good
- The few animations are solid.
- The story is good. The girls are all interesting, even if they do sort of follow standard tropes. Which I guess is understandable, considering they're based on one of the originators of those tropes. So no markdown for that.
- I actually think the Eric stuff is interesting, the ability to either beat him or work with him is pretty neat. I can see a lot of potential both ways. I'm not even upset the early stuff isn't avoidable.

Cons:

So, the game has good renders, a solid story and I even believe the most controversial aspect of the game (Eric) is interesting. So...why the 2 stars?

Simply put, this game is a pain in the ass to play. It's one of those grindy sandbox games. Even worse is you have to figure out how to advance via trial and error far too often. It isn't a "simple" sandbox game where you just do X thing 5 times to advance.

It often presents multiple dialog options, but only one of them will actually do anything. And then you have to do that option an unknown number of times until it advances. This can easily lead to a dead-end where you can't advance. You may do the "correct" option 10 times, and give up and start picking the other option...but little did you know you needed to do that first option 11 times.

Sometimes you need to buy things, which are also specific to a character, sometimes you need to do really specific things in order and sometimes it's random chance since Max's skills (or lack thereof) impact certain decisions. Sometimes it's even all three. You also have to keep the girls moods up, often at an unreasonably high level, or else you can't progress either. And lastly, this game has a lot of bugs. Lot's and lot's of bugs. Most releases get multiple bugfix patches. The version I'm reviewing got 7.

It does have an in-game guide, but it is too vague to be useful. Perhaps, if you've played the original, none of that stuff I mentioned would be an issue. You already more or less know what to do, when to do it and how to do it. But if you're like me, one of the rare few who have never played the original, it can be very frustrating. It's practically playing blind.

All that said, I'll give it another go. Perhaps when this game catches up to the original and the dev starts to do his own story, it'll be more new-player friendly.

is the copy of big brother? No is Another Story , good luck. The developer was able to recreate big brother like the original, giving more possibilities. The graphics too much is not "elegant and glittery" like the original, but it's more "hot" (I hope that those who played both can understand what I mean), but it's still very good.
The thing that impressed me the most is the code underneath it, it is very good both in the interface and in the way it works, even if maybe in some things it could be simplified especially in the functioning of the quests.

I also really appreciated the fact that every scene is made by assembling more images, I hope that in the future mods will be created, even if the developer has included a bit all the possibilities.

thanks Aleksey90

Great to see this game again in a new form. Renders and girls are beautiful. Story really fits with sandbox elements writing is also fun. Lewd scenes are really hot. I hope it will be finished once that would be great.

Yep, another "stick poking at BB's dead body", as written in one of the first posts on this thread. But this might turn out to be a magic one, which could bring that body back to life and improve it as well...

PROS:

-Renders are the same quality, if not superior, to Dark Silver's. Models used are exactly the same, which is unfortunately not the case in most fan art/mods/redoes of the original BB. You're back in exactly the same environment, but...

-...the body and facial posing is so much fucking better than Dark Silver's lazy signature work! I simply could not get my (not so) Big Max up in the original BB game (nor in Glamour) because of that. Those couch and bathtub sessions with Auntie Kira are very promising for future sex scenes.

-FINALLY that poor Kira has an artist doing her justice! Let's hope he will not dump her midgame like Dark SIlver did. Kira fans like myself would be bitterly disappointed...again.

-Game features seem to have improved, and are more logical (your chocolates + sun cream now do run out after a while).

-Thank God allmighty the dev stuck to Lisa's original haircut, and not opt for that atrocious crew-cut hairstyle, which completely screws up that character in Glamour.


CONS:

-Game updates seem to always come with dead-end bugs that force you to restart your game with bug fixes which need to be installed manually.

-The game is even more complicated than the original BB. Seriously, you need to wear a particular outfit as Max to unlock the memory of Alice jumping in your arms as she sees the spider during the outdoor massage session? I wouldn't mind it, if there was a reliable and detailed tracking system in-game (as in Glamour), telling you that you had x/3 footjobs so far by Alice, etc, to move on to the next step of an opportunity. But here you need to rummage through dozens of pages on this thread to try to understand what the hell you're supposed to do.

-The opportunities system is fairly useless. It indicates you're at the end of an update when there's plenty still to go through, and gives absolutely no hints...This feature taken from DS' original game is simply not optimised, it's a shame.

-WHY don't developpers who choose to redo BB actually not take it up FROM WHERE IT ENDED and finally, finally make this franchise the hottest, most mind-blowing, corrupted incest 3D porn game of the century???!!! We're yet again condemned to cross our fingers, hoping this game won't be abandoned mid-way...till the next redo, again, makes the game start from this now very tedious beginning... This is like a bad Twilight zone episode.

But all in all, five stars for the quality renders, for sticking to the original models and environment, and most of all for the promising future for my favourite character Auntie Kira. Long live Kira!

(As of version 4.5.0)

First, off full disclosure: I am the English translator for this game. However, I have had no influence over the development or direction of the project. My role has purely been the translation of text. I am not compensated monetarily, and I’m essentially a volunteer. I’m writing this review in my own free time and from my own volition. I’m obviously biased in favour of the game, but I will try to be as objective as possible. Keep that in mind while reading.


I’ll keep the intro short. Big Brother: Another Story (BB:AS) is a remake of Big Brother (BB) by Dark Silver (DS). A sandbox/RPG that was abandoned due to violating Patreon’s rules. If you want full context, play that. But really, it isn’t necessary. Aleksey’s remake can stand on its own. This review is going to assume you have a basic understanding of the what the game is, and that you have an idea of the history surrounding it.

In my opinion, the most important component of adult games are the aesthetics. The art in BB:AS is fantastic. While the original game by DS also, had great art, Aleksey has managed to capture a similar level of graphical fidelity while exceeding it in terms of aesthetics and posing. Every render in BB:AS is entirely original. The art in Aleksey’s remake is a substantial improvement compared to BB, with multiple unique variations of poses and angles, compared to the static and sometimes uninspired renders by DS. Aleksey’s art is always designed with pleasing the viewer in mind. A great example is the approach the creators took to the punishment scenes. In these scenes, the girls of the household are spanked in front of the player. In DS’s original, the viewer only witnesses a static, side-on angle of the girls being spanked. While in the remake, the viewer is graced with a fresh perspective, being able to see the girls fully exposed while standing and a rear view while being spanked. This difference in posing makes Aleksey’s renders far more appealing to the eyes. While the art in BB:AS can match the fidelity of the original, some may be disappointed that is does not match DS current work in Glamour. DS has improved their art over time, and BB: AS’s art simply does not hold up in comparison at the present moment, but the difference is very minor. Even so, Aleksey’s renders are still among the highest quality in the 3DCG adult gaming space and are clearly produced by a talented artist. While they may fall slightly short in terms of fidelity compared to other top-tier creators, they still deserve their place among the best of them. Once you realize that it’s not all about graphical fidelity, but posing, angles, and positioning, it’s easy to realize that this is the work of a talented artist, and that examining the art solely based on rendering power, in this instance, is wholly superficial.

Many would argue that the appeal of the original BB was its NTR storyline. While this did set it apart from its competitors, the story is still full of tropes. The family with a missing father. The sexually repressed mother. The naïve younger sister. The bitchy older sister. And the horny, perverted protagonist. The story is still, nonsensical. For those expecting a compelling narrative should, for now, look elsewhere. What both versions of the game offer, however, is a compelling challenge against the resident antagonist, Eric. Eric moves into the protagonist’s home and, like the player, has the goal of corrupting the family. It is the players choice to either fight this villain and keep the family to themselves, or ally with him, and reap the potential benefits. It is still too early to tell what developments will occur in the story, but one thing has been made certain. Unlike the original story-line, Aleksey is committed to developing the NTR path with Eric, far more significantly than DS ever did. Players that are fans of NTR gameplay will greatly appreciate this.

This final segment will discuss gameplay, which is mostly unchanged from the original. The game has the player navigating between different rooms of the household on a time system to interact with or spy on the girls. The player must generate money to buy the girls gifts, which at first is done by helping around the house with chores. Once enough money is saved, the player can buy spy cameras and plant them in different rooms of the house. Revenue is generated by attracting viewers to your website where, like the player, strangers can spy on the girls. Progressing the storyline involves making money to buy the girls gifts and other items, while helping with house chores to keep them happy. The player will sometimes compete with Eric (on the war path) to be the first one to buy the girls gifts, such as a fancy dress, resulting in the winner gaining a large relationship boost. The player will spend most of their time working out how to progress the storyline, as finding the right triggers are dependent on talking to the right girl, at the right time, while she is also in a good mood. This can sometimes feel frustrating, and a walkthrough might be needed to reach a specific outcome. Luckily, the games quest descriptions (opportunities) clearly state when the player has reached the end of the available content in their current version.

For many players, the appeal of BB by DS was the high graphical fidelity and NTR elements. Aleksey’s remake delivers on both qualities with a much higher level of artistic flair. While the game is still early in development, it is shaping up to easily surpass the DS original.

Verdict: Highly Recommend

Aww man.... what do I even say.

In terms of clones of the original, this is actually pretty solid. The visuals still hold up and all in it's a fun game to play.

My main issue however is the objectives and their progression seems incredibly weak. There's very little in the way to tell the user what is needed to progress a particular objective. Couple that with the fact some objectives require particular flags to be set it sometimes feels like you're going in a loop. Could be good going forward, I'm actually unsure just how far along this game is. I ultimately stopped because it felt like I wasn't getting anywhere with any of the objectives so was just repeating the same actions every day for weeks on end.

The objective log could do with some tightening. Maybe even tweak the money earned as more often than not I find it easier to just cheat on that note simply so I don't need to worry about getting enough money at the same time as everything else I need to meet to progress the plot.

What I love:

• Smooth, tidy layout. It's easy to navigate and find stats and options.
• Game mechanics are engaging, though a bit grindy at times.

What I like:

• Renders are good.
• Models are very pretty.
• Dialogue choices give it a RPG appealing.

What I don't like:

• It isn't easy to read character emotions, they talk quite robotic and shallow.
• There's a few typos.
• NTR not optional. That other guy is a douche. No way to get rid of him.

What I'd wish to see:

• More female characters.
• Outside scenarios.

Disregarding all the DJ Khalid memes... Big Brother: Another Story is comparatively a better game than the original.
It has, while still featuring much less story content than it's predecessor due to it's infancy, the game still manages to feel full thanks to it's variety. Every repeatable scene in the game has multiple different possible poses and clothing states to keep things feeling new. This includes sex scenes.
The real potential however is how deep into the rabbit hole the dev can go if he chooses to. The original game lacked any real depth in any story path. Aleksey90 is in the position where he can fix that here by really fleshing out each individual story path, instead of just implementing a path and then dropping it because people complained. You all know what i'm talking about.

The UI is clean and nice to look at, CG's are high quality and have no artifacting(at least for me at 1440p), and best of all is that Renpy's notorious jankyness is not very noticable. Some people have complained about code, but I don't know enough about that to comment on it. It plays well and thats enough for me.

Big Brother: Another Story is in a good place. It's future is dependent on how much work Aleskey want's to put into the project. If he continues as is, then it will wind up being a Good Game ™

Many have tried to revive this game but failed to, except this developer. They actually made the game fun and with a great story. Yes it is grindy but i actually dont mind i love the grind. The graphics are great and the mechanics are great too. I encountered a very small amount of bugs but they did not affect my game play.

update Jan 2024: For reasons only visible to him, DEV decided to change some stuff and re-do his own game (so: BB Another Story, Another Story). That means you have the legacy version up to the departure of Eric, and the "new" version, which is in its first days of game play. So do not be fooled believing that the many years of development time corresponds to a game with many hours playtime, the game is at its early stage. Again.

My original comment below works for both versions.

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Let me start with my biggest grievance first: it is NOT another story, it is the SAME story, simply told one more time with better renders:

• Same characters in the exact same clothing, often same room backgrounds
• same opportunities, same "mini-riddles" (like Alice smoking or find spiders and hide them)
• same story progression, same dialogues, often to the very last word.
• Same timing within the day: who is when, where?

The very few times the dev adds his own ideas to the game (like alternating clothing), he immediately makes it better, and of course I want to see a lot of similarities to the original, but as it stands it is too close to the original for (my) comfort.

IF you have never played the original game, or you are in a nostalgic mood: this is very good adaptation of the original game, give it a go. I felt a lot of nostalgia roaming through the very familiar house trying every angle to hit on the girls. Renders are top notch.

But if you are like me: hooked in the BB universe and in love with the characters, looking, well... for ANOTHER story, you will be - as of now - disappointed. I dearly wish the Dev deviates from the blueprint soon, and I will immediately then give the well deserved 5 stars, if he truly tells 'another story', and does this well.

Version [v0.06.5.000]
Many developers try resurrect this game, but Aleksey do it. For me its better then original ressurection in concurent game. Developer have similar start but add many new things. Its promising and i pray Aleksey have balls to change game more for its own picture. In future i looking for heavy clash between MC and Eric becouse its funny defeated enemy Many people hate Eric but if you hate it, its good writen character which make emotions... bad or good.... and this is purpose
+ inovations (new angles, new activities - ladder spying good idea XD
+ make animations great think and promising in later game
+ acitivity of develeper - have bugs but fast soluted it
+ this star depend on future content with Eric, and also other content not only copying old
+ simply for nostalgy and good overal work in this type sandbox game not only visual novel
Best wishes in hard times which have Aleksey with healt! Make this game great!

PS: for people some grinding its essential for games - diablo II was popular and also was grinding If you hate "grinding", play visual novels or simple open porn canal and you have content without effort.

PPS: If you whant in early stage super sexual porn events you didnt understand MC character... first he must evolve, its not alpha male, in first step must simple spying... and make its own position to attack on girl later in game.... Game must evolve lol! In real life you met 3 casual girl and after 1 hour you ... them??? Use brain not balls

PPPS: Yes, i see good way 0.06.5.00

Will focus this review mostly on the game quality and what's new, seeing as how so far it is staying pretty faithful to the original in terms of story and gameplay.

The renders are great, and navigation is more convenient now that it is in ren'py. The renders are all new, with some additional scenes/poses/clothes etc. All improvements to the original.

Navigation is improved by being able to backtrack in certain dialogues and more flexible saving than the original. There are indications to mood improvement. The game overall is pretty polished, not too many bugs/spelling errors or anything like that. Pretty excited to see the progress and the prospect of a a completed game. This is a very well made remake of a classic.

I had my hopes up for this game as the first updates were promising; however as the times passed the updates got delayed and delayed (2 update in a year for a monthly paid game is absurd), other than that, the idea that were there at the beginning to differentiate from the original story got shafted, probably because of patrons who pressured the author into doing what they wanted because they spend big money.
As of now the game has rarely updates, the branching path that was there at the beginning got scrapped for one linear story without any choices, and it has less content than the original Big Brother.

I can't recommand this game to anyone in this state

It would be called 'Big Brother: Another Big Brother'.
Improved rendering - 5*
Ren'Py based (sandboxie) - 5*
Diferent Interactions, Animation - 3*
Old history so-so - ...
Eric - ...

I hope I could change my mind as long as this game rolls, going to be a 5* ^^

This game looks and feels like big brother. Same UI, same characters. The updated look and feel is nice. I am looking forward to see how they diverge from the original plot line (ideally the diverge earlier to give us something interesting to look forward to.)

One pet peeve of mine is the lack of sound or music. Hopefully atmospheric music/sounds get added in, since that really does elevate a game.

*note*: will update this review on further releases.

To give a sum up of this game so far:

Pros:

1. Renders are an improvement from the original
2. If you liked the original so much that you want to replay it, this is for you

Cons:

1. All the text is basically identical (so if you didn't like the original so much you want to play it a second time it's dull)
2. No option to remove Eric right off the bat (I know this is personal preference, but you innately hate the guy from the original)
3. Same boring grind as the original

While giving this game 3 stars almost purely for the improved renders, I cannot recommend this game yet. I would recommend waiting to see if the story makes it further in before getting invested, it may be abandoned like many of its predecesors.

better than original they change they cloth now this really nice touch for me.
Big sis not so nasty personality in beginning .
a lot of scene had nicer render not just same picture
for same scene all the time even in this early development
it show good future hope this will kept going for a long game.

A very promising start. Be aware that there are bugs, there's some grinding (but it is tolerable) and there's little content. I would say in the first week, you've more or less seen all there is at this time (if you cheat for money).

This game IMO improves on the Big Brother. The images are more erotic and the game is less grindy.
Another benefit this has over the original is that there's variety in the images! There's a large selection of images you could get from the same action. I.e. if you peep ann or Alice at the shower you may see a different pose.

Still, I would cheat for money to fast-forward a few things (using renpy save editor).
And if I knew how to cheat for stealth I would, but I haven't found the stat in the save.

At the time, I don't think the game would need a walkthrough but if it moves and branches I think it would benefit from a walktrhough or at least a gallery or something so that you would know when you've found everything there is in the build.

This game, as a remake of the original, starts with a very good notion: fixing the OG's problems and building upon the story. So far, as of version 0.02, it's clear that the developer is in the right track. The CGs are improved, the storyline is improved, new features are being added. Still very early to tell if all promises will be kept, but 5 stars for effort.