VN - Ren'Py - By Justice or Mercy [v0.7] [TowerBoyGames]

I think that so far, v0.7, it's really good.

I know folks are banging on it for various reasons, and they aren't entirely wrong, but it's still a good production so far.

Yes the MC is kind of a douche and has sex w several women, but remember, you can also reject several of them. The first few you meet, like the uber driver, coffee shop girl, and girl on the train can all be skipped, I believe. Others can be skipped as well. Some you don't have a choice with but it seems a good balance. Besides, the MC's character is supposed to change over time.

The women are beautiful, but not like fake pretty.... Good job with the colors and lighting. Don't know about sounds..

Yes also this is supposed to have a revenge plot as well as a few other things and it's all there. We get reminded that these thing are happening/going to happen. I like the pacing so far...

Don't forget, this game has only been out 4 or 5 months...It's still very new so I'm glad they aren't rushing everything. Its still on a fast enough pace. The Developer is pushing updates out quicker than 'most' other games and seems to not bounce around too much like character to character or different parts of the story.

Certainly a great one to try.

This VN is supposedly revenge story well its not. MC isn't really that smart and resourceful he is useless. Story isn't moving at all mc isn't doing anything to look for clues to help him destroy his enemies. Also MC meets his childhood friend Emma who he hasn't seen in a long time and after 5 minutes he is in love with her ARE YOU SERIOUS she is also FORCED FL you can't refuse her. I forgot to mention one more thing MC has trained judo for a short period of time he is not a master but you would think that what he learned would be enough to defend himself well in this case you would be wrong since he is getting beaten up couple of times by people who don't know any martial art. What's a point of showing as that he trained judo if he can't even defend himself.

TBH not bad. It's basically the standard harem game where all the women are trying to smash and are really eager to ride the pole. However, this game also tries to push some type of revenge plot in the backround, but it's never fleshed out. This kinda floats it into an awkward middle. The game can basically be summed up by just saying that it's always go go go. The scenes and story just happen so fast there's no type of world building or plot exploration. All that being said, for what it is, a harem game, it's pretty good. Just don't expect any type of deep writing or plot.

For story or sex? I feel the developer needs to think through whether he wants to make a porn game or a plot heavy visual novel. This halfway house approach is just confusing and I doubt it will appeal to either camps successfully.

Story
MC's father was murdered and he got convicted by public opinion for perpetrating the deed. After university, the guy's back to investigate the murder. He needs to regain control of his family firm and decide whether to take a revengeful or righteous approach, hence the title.

Sounds interesting, but the actual implementation is abominable. One doesn't get the mysterious, sober and dangerous vibes playing as MC - the guy is literally fucking random females every five minutes without any explanation.

Within 3 minutes into the game, he's having a blowjob with some girl on a train home. He reaches his apartment and yet another blowjob with an unknown MILF. Then he visits his childhood friend's house and starts having sex with her and her sisters. Next morning he's pussy licking an Uber driver.

This sex every 5 minutes continues throughout the game. Sure doesn't sound like a guy back home to take revenge, play boardroom politics or unravel mysteries to me... Oh and don't get me started on the boardroom politics... Sure not many people get to experience an enterprise board meeting, but at least make it sombre with tension, not filled with juvenile dialogue and theatrics.

Game Mechanics
Choices to either choose to be loving or dominant with a main LI or whether you want to reject a side LI.

Background / Character Renders
Backgrounds are standard Daz3D assets that do their job.

Character designs are nice, most are distinguishable. From the character menu, the developer has planned for dozens of LI and this excludes many other once-off girls the MC has sex with. Looks like the game is going down the fuck fest route.

Character Development
The introduction makes it sound like there will be a moral dilemma facing the MC which players get to choose whether he goes down the light path (justice) or a dark one (revenge) based on choices made. In reality, the choices are just for you to add love or dominant points to a whole suite of LIs which makes some variations to the dialogue and sex.

As for the rest, there is essentially no character development - I cannot even recall their names now. It's a hazy blur of MC having sex with different people. Even the supposedly "main girlfriend / childhood friend" is a first day meet, second day declare love and third day sex mad rush.

Sex Scene
The lewd scenes are aplenty for sure, but only a minority of them are animated though. Overall, they are of average quality with some dialogue and music, but it happens so frequently it's all fuzz with hardly anything memorable.

BGM and Sound Effects
Decent complimentary generic BGMs with no sound effects.

Conclusion
The game has an unclear position: the game page sells the idea that this will be a plot heavy AVN with a serious story and well-developed characters, yet actual playthrough doesn't care much about the story and introduces sex scenes in a frequent and flimsy manner that even porn cliches like "housewife having sex with the plumber" have better build up.

Just as you are prepared to write off the plot and just go with the sex, the game randomly forces you to take itself seriously with themes like politics, revenge, mystery, corruption etc. and then dumps them pronto when the next lewd scene arrives.

Folks who are going for a serious story will find the illogic irreconcilable, others who just want a quick fap will find these fleeting "plot interjections" distracting and a waste of time. A case of trying to please everyone and ending up pissing off everyone.

This game have a potential to be a great game,there is still lot needto be dopne.For ex lack of music is a choice but it seems author is more intrested in writing better scene and writing. Similarly character model are top notch with varied body design but the opverabundance of Li some wioth little to no reason to p[ounce on ML is a bit jarringh, so to is the reason that almost all the other males are antagonistsic.
There is nothing wrong with a male fantasy, but it undermines the premise of the novel. What this game need to be leaving dna and race of life is to have a develiopment in relationship, some baxckstory of relationship like with older sis or emma makes sense, but how almost all characetr just pounce cheapens the experience , even if given how regular sex with different li exists in thsi a\game. there is never a triggere or buildup , which is a shame. This is a game I will play agin just for its great dialogue andf choices which ared subtle yet diverge so widely which is some of the best choices in choice based game, but lack of development make it a bit stale.
4.1/5

So far I'm really enjoying the game, it's still in its early stages but updates are released frequently and that's good, it gives players more guarantees, the routes are good and the girls that appear so far are too, I just ask that the developer doesn't make the mistake that many harem game developers make, which is to keep adding new characters without developing the ones that already exist because from what I've seen this game already has enough girls so don't make that mistake and develop the ones that already exist, other than that I have nothing else to say so let's end it here.

A good start some things could be better but one of the game's strength is the variety of girls we can get and we can also reject girls we don't like.But the biggest quality the dev has is the frequent updates it's great to see someone who is putting out content at this pace.

It's honestly surprising how good the previews make this look, but it's actually terrible.

It has absolutely awful irritating UI which ruins an already subpar experience.

The LIs are the most grossly deformed models they could find. They absolutely throw themselves at the MC too, without thoughts. So they are not written nor designed well. Gotta have one or the other.

Rendering is done well, hence the good previews

This game has a fun premise and good presentation, but is dragged down by a massive oversaturation of LI's and incredibly uneven pacing.

The amount of LI's that get thrown at you is absurd. I don't even remember the names of half of them and I am writing this review minutes after finishing the game. In 20 mins the MC has banged more girls than most AVN protags do in their entire lives. I know we are all playing for the porn, but the point of playing an AVN versus watching a porno is because the story and character/relationship development makes the scenes better. Of course, scenes can be skipped w/ almost everyone, but without that the game is probably over way too fast. I think investing more time in relationship development and longer scenes is better than a bunch of quick mediocre ones.

I don't necessarily have anything against a harem fuck-em-all, but the scenes happen so fast. For some of these girls its literally 3-4 sentences and then they fuck. It's not just the sex scenes tho. The big plot moments are speedran too, whenever the MC isn't balls deep in random girl #12.

I think this game had a lot of potential with much tighter writing and pacing. As of now, it feels very unfocused. I am giving it a 3 star because I enjoyed the diversity of content and production value.

I liked the start of this one, but it went to shit pretty fast and starts ignoring your choices which is one of the most annoying things, MC meets hes old friend and your giving the choice to forgive her or not, i picked not since i wanted to know more and nothing about it was explained, next you bring her along to your new appartment and MC now has feelings for her? trows her onto the bed like hes going to rape her? then lets her go and starts thinking about having feelings for this girl......it feels idiotic the hole thing....

Emma the girl you wanted to rape will then be forced on you a short time later? kinda weird since game let you belive its choice driven but clearly that went out the window.....when your forced to fuck her you cant cum outside meaning shes proberly going to be pregnant which is the last thing i wanted since i wanted nothing to do with her.....so yeah game is way to kinetic in many ways and i simply just hate forced shit and yes theres more then just one forced so if you had any thoughts of playing a faithfull route forget it.

Renders are low quality and miss sharpness.

Girls are ok, the low quality ruins it a liittle but there are some diverisity in builds but stuff like big tit fetish is forced since you cant turn girls down as you want, so it just becomes a turn-off when you arent into that or the girls who are forced.
Most girls looks quite ugly and their tits are just freaking weird looking, its like saggy shit on young girls which just dosent fit them, then theres the completly idiotic extreem sizes where the woman wouldent be able to walk or stay up-right....

Most scenes arent animated and those that are, are pretty low quality as well.

Theres no music making it more boring.

Choices works for some, but girls are still forced and so is sex scenes that you might not want, that stuff can ruin any immersion and makes story boring when you dont controle relationships.

You can get an ending pretty fast by giving up on "justice" which feels like the best option since you wont have to deal with all the shitty fake choices and forced stuff.

Review for By Justice or Mercy [v0.4]

I really loved the game. The game plot is interesting. The characters have their own unique personalities. The sex scenes are really well made. Overall a really enjoyable experience.

Reall enjoyed this, many of the characters are well-designed and the scenes are hot and frequent. I enjoy that many of the "red" choices aren't cartoonishly evil (though some are getting there), while the blue choices don't make you into a total pushover. Looking forward to future updates.

I thoroughly enjoyed this game! The storyline had me hooked from start to finish, especially because the characters were so compelling. All the girls stood out in their own way—they were not only beautifully designed but also full of personality.

The visuals in the game are impressive. The character designs are detailed and the skin textures are realistic. Although the animations are limited, it doesn't make the overall experience any worse.

Renderings: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Storyline: 10/10

Overall, By Justice or Mercy is an incredible game! The characters are captivating, the story is deeply engaging, and the gameplay is seamless. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for an unforgettable experience.

Rating: 10/10

Great fucking game, the fact that you can select the fetishes that you would like its a plus, and of course the story i must say that it is engaging, and the art its pretty good, i would love better animations but its ok, the females characters models are good, this game has so much potential

so far i really like the game even though its still in its early stages but it has a lot of the elements for a great game plus the fetishes election is really good and diverse the models look good the story is interesting and the game as a whole is really enjoyable and it has a lot of choices to make hopefully those choices will have impact on the game and give it more replicability value .

Idk why people are giving this 5 stars. The MC has huge mood swings like he has bipolar disorder due to bad writing, some of the girls are kind of attractive but the majority of them are ugly and low res and have bizarre looking bodies especially the tits.

The story doesn't make sense and is often all over the place with certain characters hating the MC due to him being accused of murder 3 years before the start of the main story but yet some characters instantly jump on him like nothing happened, the majority of this game just feels unrealistic and most of the time just confusing.

By justice or Mercy [v0.3]

Enjoyed it so far good visuals, variety of girls, different paths love, domination, light submission etc. also good writing. I enjoyed the pace of the game there is plenty of scenes so far but I didn't felt like scenes are rushed so that's plus in my book. There is a relationship ui to track what paths are available for different girls and you can check the score there.

+ Visuals
+ Kinks
+ Variety of girls
+ Writing
+ Fair amount of content
+ Faster release

Overall i enjoyed this one. Keep up the good work dev looking forward to next updates

Very good game so far, great renders, characters for everyone's taste, somewhat interesting story, but not perfect…

I've test-played the version [v0.2] and here are my thoughts so far:

[+]

Great render quality: (no grainy textures, high resolution textures, decent lighting, no extreme clipping of clothes or body parts).

Diverse set of characters: (no matter if u like petite woman, girls with some muscles, or some woman with big badonkers, this game got it).

Nice scenery/backgrounds: (got some depth, high resolution, feel dynamic, doesn't feel “soulless”)

Good sexual scenes: (no sounds, and not a lot of animations, but still looks hot)

[-]

MC: (although he doesn't look completely terrible, his eyes are creepy, they don't really fit, can't say too much about his “core” personality for now)

Story: (Story feels a bit chewed trough, but to be fair, It's hard to come up with something completely undone in the “revenge” genre. Now it's important how the story will be executed, from my playtest it feels like the MC is too obsessed with the revenge part, let's see how that plays out for him…)

I will get back into the game either when a substantial amount of content/updates dropped or it was finished.

I wish only the best to the game dev/team

TDU.

This is Harem game with some potential. It has decent renders and plenty of optional fetishes. Unfortunately, the MC is very unlikable. As of now he seems a like a brat trying to be “alpha” expecting everything to bend to his will (with how often he gets his ass handed to him I'm surprised he acts like this). Worse still he talks about justice, but realistically what he wants is revenge, and as of now, it’s very unclear what the mercy path will look like. I also think that for the amount of content this looks more like a 0.1 game.

Based on v0.2
It's a power fantasy harem cliche.
Poor lil' wrongdo-ed you "grew up" into a big scary you and now it's time for them to pay their dues. Might not be that bad if MC wasn't highly unlikable. Ghoul consumed by bitterness steaming all around. He almost made me cheer for the "opponents". With this attitude, he's going to die by heart attack before the game ends. Serve revenge with a smile, don't lose dignity in the process. I like good revenge stories, but this is not that - a good story.
From the "artistic" side, the game is much better. Renders and most of the models are nice looking. Except, again, MC.
When it comes to choices and mechanics - back to square one. It's dreadful. Forced sexual content involving MC, forced "love interests" and what not.
Would not recommend it to others, unless you like a mandatory fuckfest.