Ren'Py - Camp [Ep. 2.01] [RedeemedRooster]

I didn't hate it. Story seems to be okay, pretty predictable. I will say that I am on board and support the LGBTQ+ community but the non binary folks throw me for a loop. Not because of what they stand for but the grammar for their pronouns is so dumb. I say that because Mary in this game is non binary and sometimes the dialogue gets confusing. Still gonna smash though when the opportunity comes around.

So far, I like this story and characters very much.

The female characters are all visually diverse. Each girl has a distinctly different figure and personality. Both dialogue and story flow well. The background scenery is well composed and all of the characters feel really well suited to their environment and what they are about. To me, at least they comfortably conform to my admittedly stereotypical expectations of the kind of people I would expect to find working at a summer camp for kids.

I find the lighter, more easy-going, relatively non-confrontational atmosphere between everyone makes for a pleasant change from a lot of visual novels. It’s pleasant to have a break from the usually excessive "perving" and melodrama written into so many of these stories nowadays.

The lack of creeping (peeking) and excessive sexism by the mc also sits well with my already good feeling about the potential of this story going forward and is thus much appreciated.

Refreshingly, I actually like the mc I am playing. He seems to be a nice, open, level-headed guy who, for a change, is going to attract any girl's attention in the most positive of ways; by being appreciated for his efforts and his individual attentiveness to each girl’s needs both emotional and sexual.

From what I have seen so far, I have hopes that the creator is going to be skilled enough and generously inclined to allow us, as mc, a romantically satisfying level of intimacy in our “liaisons”, and not just have us conducting a series of Jane-style “romps”.

For me, and I obviously realise and accept that this is just one reviewer’s own personal preference, adding an erotically romantic warmth between a couple in the lead up to a steamy conclusion, if done sensitively, can really elevate the quality of this type of novel to the next level and set it head and shoulders above the vast majority, which sadly so often neglect this, for me, quite integral aspect.

In this connection, being distinctly younger in age, I’m going to be particularly interested and, yes, excited, to see how “we”, (as I sincerely hope we are going to be able to do) are going to inveigle our way into the lovely Fiona’s bed.

Incidentally, regarding the “hands-on” debris/litter mini game, unlike one of the previous reviewers, I personally found nothing even remotely frustrating or annoying in the activity.

Anyway, this is a great start to this novel and I’m very keen to see how the next few episodes unfold.

I’m giving this 5-star rating based purely on my enjoyment of the first two chapters as presented and will adjust that, if absolutely necessary, as the story moves forward.

VERSION: EP2
SUMMARY: Fair start, nothing earth shattering or of remarkable quality, but decent and has good potential.
RATINGS: (out of 5):

NOTE: The following categories and scoring method are my own criteria and may require more context.

1. Model Visuals.................... : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. General Visuals.................. : ⭐⭐⭐
3. Animation Quality................ : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
4. Character (Persona).............. : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
5. Story Quality & Pacing........... : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
6. Writing Quality & Dialogue....... : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
7. UI & Game-play Mechanics......... : ⭐⭐
8. Playtime & General Quality....... : ⭐⭐⭐
9. Sounds & Music................... : ⭐⭐
10. H-Content & Fetishes............. : ⭐⭐⭐

Average: 33 of 50 possible points giving a 66% rating i.e. 3 stars.

PROS:

1. Writing seems fairly decent, structured and reads well. Well enough anyway and far better than many other VNs
2. Dialogue is generally not bad, conversations are pretty straight forward, normal character are interesting and reasonably developed.
3. Renders are decent, not overly high quality but not bad.
4. Same with animations, they pretty good and have some angles.
5. LIs look decent enough, the MC looks a little bit too "pretty" IMO.
6. Music is nice, even if it doesn't always suit the scene.
7. Choices do have consequences which is a good thing.
8. Decent amount of content and play-time, though navigating the SNBX does not count a good play-time.

CONS:

1. Music is all good and well, but its a bit hyped and doesn't always fit the scene, its like a playlist that just keeps going and loops.
2. UI is nice that its got a unique look, a book, but honestly the little page flags are not practical, the user now has to hover over them to see what they are and hopefully they end up at the correct menu or page. Rather just keep the marker/flag active and screw the animation for pulling out the flag/marker. I don't need to waste time in the menu looking for tab names...
3. Regarding renders, I am not a fan of the fuzziness/dullness that they have. I believe its intended to keep focus on a particular area of the render, however I am not a big fan of that style.
4. While there is music, there are not many sounds, I think I heard the alarm clock but there is no ambient/environmental sounds, more interactive sounds and no lewd scene sounds either, which as always is a pity as it creates good immersion.
5. I am not a fan of the navigation and mini games, though the mini games here to collect stuff is passable, I enjoyed "Where's Wally"
6. Same with arrows for navigation, quick links/buttons or maps are also good to have so maybe include that? Its shit to need to go from one arrow to the other, quick links please.
7. Some reference errors with at least one place where the player is referred to as MC and not their name.
8. Some content only available if bonus is complete, I am not overly fond of this mechanic because it also blocks content. See comments below

FINAL REMARKS, OPINIONS & SUGGESTIONS:

NOTE: The following remarks are my personal opinions and thoughts, which may provide more context which could be useful to the developer.

• Id like if the developer would stick to one tune per scene or maybe a variation of maximum two songs per scene type, but they must fit the scene.
• The mini games like collecting rubbish, it was not very hard to do, but it can cause issue as the items are "missable" due to not being easily seen, this is not an "dynamic" type game its more story, so if you need to have it, just highlight the items so players can quickly click it. else it will lead to player frustration.
• Just let me state, I AM NOT A FAN OF SANDBOX, it slows the game down with boring fetch quest bullshit that does not add to the game story or anything else that most players play this for. That being said navigation should not be a chore and effort on the players behalf, it should be quick and easy to get where needed. Quick nav bar should be implemented IMO and quests need to be have more instruction or tracking to indicate where to go, which screen, how many clickable items there are at that screen etc. The game should not be a challenge, its for the story, visuals and eroticism.
• A bit of a concern is that it seems decent content, at least lewds are locked in bonus sections if the player finds all items during free-roam. This blocks players from seeing that content unless they found the bonuses. I also am not fond of a scene like the MC and the doctor at the tent, having a sex scene in the "extra" section but not during the playing. The extra has better content than the actual game scene has? Makes no sense and I would rather have the scenes actually play out than some "dream scene" or extras from the menu.

TLDR:

Fair start and could be interesting, it has a different story, not brand new but one that is not overly exploited. Has potential and characters look decent and have solid dialogue and basic plot. Not brilliant in terms of lewd scenes but could change still, its only starting out. I will check in on this one later again, but with a bit more effort and polish, it wont be hard to get 4 stars for this game.

LI's are not terrible. Jane is meh looking.

Free ROam & trash Pickup is annoying, unnecessary, & a waste of my time. Stuck on free roam in chapter 2 can only find 9/10 pieces of trash and no tasks other than that.

Can't find interest in playing further with the free roam aspect of this AVN