Ren'Py - Cabin Cruise [0.5.1] [Jolly Monk]

This is a temporary review for the current state of the game as of version 0.5.1. I am averaging between a 2 for playability and amount of content and a 5 for the art, humor, and general vibes. As I can't give a 3.5, I am taking into account that the current ratings are way too high at 5.0.

If it wasn't for the problem with playability, I would really love this game. But it has the typical problem of unfinished sandbox games. At some point, nothing changes any more. Every day you can talk to the same people and get the same answers, and you have no idea why the game isn't advancing despite so many open threads. Have you reached the end of content available in the current version? Did you make a wrong move somewhere and locked yourself out of content without being notified of the fact? Does the game expect you to spend hours and hours repeating the same action, and will finally reward you for this persistence? (Would be a very bad idea!) Do you need to click a hidden pixel somewhere, despite the game not having given any hint to that effect? Did you run into a bug in the current version? Did you run into a bug in a previous version that has been fixed, but not for old saves?

I ran into this kind of situation way too fast in the previous version. Then I downloaded 0.5.1, got one new dialog, and was stuck again. No walkthrough seems to be available, so I used unrpa to look at the game's assets. Turns out that (1) I did in fact miss some things and have no idea how to get there, and (2) even so, I have seen most of the content already.

Overall, as of 0.5.1 this isn't a game so much as a proof of concept or at best a demo. A 5 star demo, but not a 5 star game.

0.4.1
Picked this up when it first came out and seemed alright but lacking in content and relied a bit too much on ai.
Tried again now there's a new art direction and while theres still placeholders its looking pretty good. I like the style for the characters, the scenes(?) need to be made more consistent as it flips a bit in looks but overall looking forward to seeing more from it.

Will be keeping an eye on this as have a soft spot for the 2d styles

v0.4.0

I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I'm actually about to head out on a cruise so it's very timely I found this game when I did.

I personally like the art. If you just hate AI then no it won't be for you. Same with sandbox, if you just hate it then you won't like this. I didn't think there was too much grind but I did find myself not sure what to do next early on. With some games it's not clear that you just have to pass a few days doing the few things you have available before things open up. Similarly, it seems like I've reached the end of content in this version but it's not clear if I have.

I really like the girls. I'm especially hoping for more content with Serena and Sarah. Really liking Nadia's dom path as well. The other girls are certainly not bad by any means.

Just a few small things I thought of while playing:
-Would be nice to know how much the dog collar costs (and for future items in the shop)
-Maybe have the trash in different spots when cleaning the pool each day to make it more interesting. Or an option to complete it automatically.
-Not sure how I got a picture of Nadia when I don't have a camera (I thought I needed to do the Nadia quest with the guide book first in order to then teach the camera kid how to talk to girls and get his spare camera.)

Overall, I'm a fan and I hope the game does well!

At Version 0.20 it looks promising.
I love the style and the ship setting (as I work with cruise ships).
Really looking forward to updates and content as there are nice possibilities to be explored. Looking forward with new Ports of call if "land" quests will be implemented as well. Or Upgrades (engine) to modernize the ship and evolve with the story.