VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Chasing Sunsets [v1.01] [Stone Fox Studios]

Haha, I had to cringe at the couple 2 and 3 star reviews below mine. I'm sorry, but criticising the story as "predictible" is selling this game very short. The narrative is one of the most naturalistic I've seen in a VN. The dialogue is realistic and isn't rushing to creep into anyone's pants. So, if slow means "boring" to you then give this one a pass. But, it's set up as a slice of life tale with a playful atmosphere and dark moments. The writing is good enough to be published. So kudos to the author.

What immediately surprised me as I launched the game was the sleekness of the menu and graphics. The two devs know how to code and render and clearly aren't beginners. On the graphics side, I've seen a few devs who render more granular detail into the facial expressions and know better how to capture a fleeting emotion(Primal Instinct is a good example), but it's decent work.

I'm still on the prologue flashback so, I may extend or change my review after playing the rest. At this point I will be likely supporting this team on Patreon. Consider doing the same if you like the game. Good luck to the devs.

Good start but pretty predictable story. Anyone who has ever read any kind of literature would of saw that plot twist coming a mile away, its literally been done over and over again.

Renders are top notch but the animations could use some work, also the music leaves much to be desired, some of it was even off putting at times.

TLDR: Good start but its a mixed bag.

Great Start of a possible blockbuster VN. Loved the visuals and the overall visual mechanics of the game like the starburst while changing stats and the flashback handling.
Kudos to the story writing.
Although it is understandable that the events of the flashbacks were a little rushed, the engagement and story immersion have raised expectations from future updates.
Hope future updates maintain the level of content delivery in terms of storytelling blocks in a chapter or episodic format as it will enhance the anticipation and viewer interest even further.
Glad to see story progression taking precedence over random sexual situations cropping up which is very prevalent in VNs nowadays.

Reviewing: ver 0.02
Amazing game graphics, models, writing, and nice dialogue with a well handled story.
The stand out to me from other games are the good characterization with people acting reasonably and believably and the good introduction to the characters of the story, letting us see their relationships progress, see them live their lives, and thus have us care for the characters.

Story first introduces us to the parent's of the main character, two single parents working in a top tier research company, who fall in love and get together. Fast forward to the present, and the boy, a college graduate who comes home from leaving his family from an international trip, retells his life story to the bartender who is a family friend. He is in love with his step sister and so far she seems to be the ultimate goal or love interest for the game.

Incredibly good start and I'm giving it 5 stars to encourage people to play the game and the devs to keep working on the game

Every now and then there comes along a storyline that you just cannot put down, this is one such story. It's so well written and the artwork is top quality too. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good read and fancies spending a few hours at their computer.

First the good stuff:

Visuals are good. Solid work, thats what the second star is for.

So why only 2 stars? Storytelling, thats why. Backflashes have their time and place and that wasn't it. Everything in that giant backflash should've been told through the actual story. It's not just the time and place of the flashback also the way the flashback is structured is just boring.

When the devs finally decide to get to the actual story I will ajust my review accordingly.

Excellent start! The renders are really good, the character development on this intro was really well made, the story starts slowish but only gets better is really one of the games on my watch list now!

Top-notch first release.
It provokes emotions within you.
The story is engaging so far. It might not go the way you want 100% but it's moving.
The renders are good but I've seen better. From what I've seen so far the characters look a little bit too similar to some other titles. I would prefer more uniqueness.
The music is also really good.
Looking forward to the next update.

Holy shit that was an amazing start! Great renders are only the tip of the iceberg here. A truly great story in my opinion (although i'm sure some will bitch about something, they always do). But i've never had one of these vn's get my heart pounding like this one did, and add to that some literal Lol's. Well i had to jump on the band wagon and become a supporter of this team. Can't wait for a new chapter, amazing job and i can only hope the rest of the story meets some pretty high standards that they've set. Well done to the Devs.

As of v0.1

Pretty good start. Story is pretty grounded to realism. Characters have believable personality and dialogues.

Lewd scenes: if you're looking for insta fap. this is not the game for you. Its a slowburn. a couple of lewd scenes here for v0.1.

Renders are good, could be a bit better. Some of the screenshopts shown on the game page are not on the game yet.

There is music in the game, it's meh. tbh, not vibing with it when it comes to the scene. wasn't matching the tone per se.

all in all it's great. And can't wait for the next update! AND TO BE FAIR i SAW THE CLIFFHANGER COMING A MILES AWAY!

This is off to a fantastic start, and I can't wait to see more.
This rating is based on the game as it currently exists (v0.01), not on potential, or downrating because it's early in development.
Renders are quite good. Not the best I've seen, but I've certainly seen worse.
The story (so far) is among the best I have read in this type of game.
Dialogue is natural and fluid.
If I had to find a flaw, I guess I would say the animations are not the best, but I am picking nits when I say this.

If you're the type to just click through a VN looking for the naughty bits, don't do it with this one, you'll be cheating yourself.

v 0.1

Well, that was one of the best "intros" I have ever seen.
For "only" 4 month work there is a lot to enjoy:

- very good renders
- very good figures
- very good story & story building
- very long playtime for a first version

Pro
All said above.
This VN rocks in all areas.

Cons
None.
Some may complain about too much to read, but it's worth it.

Thank you, good luck and keep up your fantastic work!

update as of v0.3

Can't give more than 5*, but let me just say:

This is one of the best story building in the last year.

Holy shit.This..This has the future to be one of the best VN's here..The renders are bonkers..The story so far was amazing and captivating.A rollercoaster of emotions..The characters stick out so much so far.They feel so close.You get a glimpse of what are they as persons.The whole art of this i just wow..It really got me emotional which is an amazing plus for me.I hope the developers keep at it cause they have an amazing gem here.Its my very first time i really thinking of donating to something.Overall it ticks all the boxes of making a legend VN.

Realy liking the game so far. It is quite original with realy nice story. Models are also beautiful and natural looking.. no attributes out of proportion, Looking forward to play continuation of the story if this is just a prologue...i cant wait for next update

This new game overcame my usual laziness about voting and commenting, great renders, perfect narratives, models are good looking.
It's just perfectly done, very very very promissing, it's not often that you really wanna know what's next like this in this kind of game.
Impressive, you should all go for it.

Dan

Play the demo! Seriously, I rarely check out first releases, but this one simply blew me away. The characters are interesting and individual. The storyline is fantastic. I also never support first releases, but this one I will be supporting.

Good:
Story
Characters
graphics

Most minor of nitpicks would be on the animations as they lack the polish of what I am sure will come in the future.

The Prologue visits the MC's past and how his family came together, and ends with the news of his parents' passing. This initial offering is fairly long - I really enjoyed it; however, it could have been the basis for its own VN - but that is probably due to the need to create a believable back story that would peak interest for future chapters / episodes.
The story and the characters are well-crafted - the dialogue and thoughts of the characters are easy to follow and put you right there. The renderings and art concepts are overall extremely well done. (CS is not one of the those VNs that are supposed to take place in the USA, but doesn't come off well because the dialogue is wrong or the locations don't make sense.)
The story has a strong beginning and I am looking forward to future updates!

High quality, high production. Story has depth, makes sense, is well structured, well paced. Characters have a lot to them, they were built up well, their growth was clear, their dialogues were fun to read. I haven't skip anything, it was engaging and it wasn't as predictable as I thought it would. I really had fun and the most importantly I got invested into it.

It's really great. Max score.

The game is brilliant. The story is very well written, the renders are very clean, a very good amount of content too on the first release would recommend it. There are very few games that would have been a better first release than this game

Story is fantastic, this game is really in my top 5. This asks for more. Start is not too short. Music is good enough to set the mood to continue playing. You immediately feel emotionally involved with the main character.