VN - Ren'Py - Completed - City of Broken Dreamers [v1.15.0 Ch. 15] [PhillyGames]

Best adult game I've ever tried, fantastic story, amazing render quality and THE ANIMATIONS even better, the dev keeps updating it pretty quickly despite the quality of the product. Can't wait to see this game finished to see the complete masterpiece.

Outstanding game! I love the setting, the writing, and the models. I hope PhillyGames keeps working on this game because I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes. Definitely one to watch, especially if you like sci-fi or cyberpunk settings.

Review for the version : v1.08.1

Full disclaimer : I jumped in this game after discovering & playing what became my favorite game on this forum, which made me much more critical of other games, since it's so good (can't name it, forum rules). I also jumped in not knowing anything about the game other than that it was pretty popular on the forum. I usually stick with games that have a few specific tags / fetishes, and this game has none of them, but I figured I'd give it a try anyway.

Graphics : 9.5/10
The visuals in this game are probably it's strong suit, especially on the animations side. City of Broken Dreamers has the best and longest animations I've seen in any VN. You can't play the game and deny the sheer amount of work that went into these animations, and I'm not talking about XXX scenes, I'm talking full blown plot-related action sequences. It's to the point where I think this game is using the wrong medium, and suffers from having a budget that's way too small. To me, this should be a movie, or a real AAA game. It certainly feels like it has that potential, visually, and it also feels like it's what the dev is trying to do, seeing the amount of focus around the non-sexual animations. Other than that, the models of the girls are all great, and every character feels visually unique.

Sound & Music : 7/10
The music in the game feels like it's somewhat futuristic, but it also feels cheap and average. I think I came across one song that I truly enjoyed listening to, the others were mostly for background ambience and never really helped conveying the emotions of the scene. Still, since so many VNs don't even bother using music, you can't fault the dev for at least trying here, using multiple titles.

I also don't recall any notable sound, to the point where I wonder if there was any. It doesn't bother me too much, though, since most sound libraries online are of extremely poor quality, and not having any sound is still much better than having shitty sounds, which can break the mood of a scene, in opposition to the music that will almost always at least add a little something to the scene.

Story : 8.5/10
This is the trickiest part, since City of Broken Dreamers is so different from most VNs. The game is mostly story-focused and the more you play, the thicker the story becomes. Once again, I feel like the game suffers from being a small scale project compared to AAA titles. The lore of the game seems diverse and deep, but you end up discovering it way too slowly. The same applies to most of the characters of the game, and even the MC. You end up navigating a story you barely understand, because much of it haven't been told to you yet. It wasn't before the last 2 chapters that I really felt hooked to the story. Once you're hooked, though, you really want to know what's gonna happen next, but I wanted to stop playing so many times before I reached that point; I simply kept going on out of respect for the dev, who visibly put a lot of love into this project, and for the community, that seems to love this game.

Gameplay : 6.5/10
This is the saddest part. City of Broken dreamer has one of the most polished interface I've ever seen in a VN, but that's it. It's a VN as straight as an arrow, without much on the interaction side. You have a few choices during the game, way too few, and it seems like none of them make a huge impact on the story, it's mostly about « Are you going to unlock this next scene or not », but once it's done, it's done, and everything will end up pretty much being the same in the end. I know that in most games, your choices rarely affect the main plot of the story, but they at least have to make you FEEL like they're important. In City of Broken dreamers, I never got the feeling that any of my choices were important; the VN is too linear from start to finish, so much that it's barely a « game » at all, it's mostly a linear VN.

So, in conclusion, I think this game, despite having this many fans, has only reached a fraction of it's potential. The renders are good, the animations are great, the story is great, the lore is great, but the storytelling is lacking, the pace of the game is off, the interactions are too far in between and the choices don't look like they carry as much weight as they should.

I still recommend you give it a try, though; because if the story can hook you faster than it hooked me, you're in for a nice ride.

Outstanding. I cannot give this game enough superlatives.
It really is amazingly well done.
The graphics are excellent, the story is huge and deep, the girls are stunning and there is a whole lot of fun to be had.
There is no grind and there is a really good story being told, which is captivating. I cannot wait to play the next episode.
Massive thanks to the dev for this, it's definitely one of my favourite games on this site.
Highly recommended. If you want a strong story with hot girls, plenty of sex and characters that make you care about what happens to them, not just the MC, then give this a run - you will not regret it.

This game has a very engaging plot, and all the characters have a surprised amount of character in them. Visuals are very good and the background music makes the setting very believable. Would recommend.

Easily one of the best games on the website, reminds me a lot of deus ex mankind divided but sexy and has compelling characters.
Everything from the characters to the renders to the story was fucking beautiful, i dont think they could have made a better game

Top notch game undoubtedly, probably a master piece of a visual novel. So this is not your typical fap game. The renders are top of class, with a variety of assets, not the same ones that you can see on every other Ren'py game. The story is really profound, with a deep universe and a mood à la Blade Runner, brought both visually and in the way the story is told. This is typically for this kind of work that I would give some money support.

Amazing time to play this one.
Top Notch sophisticated game, by far the best sci fi one.
Very appealing story, never really predictable at this point.
The models are just awesome and extremely appealing (Victoria Oh my...).
And what can I say about the lewd scene, so well made and I do think those are maybe the best I see in a game from a global aspect, for the quality of the renders, the executions of the animation
( love the google eyes's face when the girl's got orgasm x) ).

Of course I have some expectation 'cause I played Depraved Awakening which I really enjoyed and this one have clearly exceeded everything I could ask for.
I thought the game was finished when I start so that's only the disappointement I have but that's on me lol

Kudo to PhillyGames who totally proved to be at one of the very best of the industry.

Forgot to leave a review before so here I am.

The other reviews already explained things better than me so I will just say that this game do so much things right, even if it isn't your cup of tea it's obviously one of the few "must try" on this site.
Go ahead and do it! XD

i played this magnificent game 2 days ago and loved it
story is fucking great , models are sexy
choices is important (at least most of them)
one of the greatest game i ever played
so fucking good

PhillyGames is that dev on who you can bet and he will deliver.

There are not so many games that you care about text and script, most of them are SKIP...oh nice render...SKIP. Not this one. Quality of this game is just awesome. Long story short this is not another incest game.

Look,this is type of game which can actually push this porn/novel genre to main streamOne of best this site can offer.Girls are good,story is good.Hidden things are weird concept to me but nothing game changing.

Lewdness or no lewdness, this is quite simply the best looking and best executed game here. The graphics are excellent, the writing is thoroughly natural and believable and the story quite compelling.

I'd certainly follow this game even without the excellent sex scenes, but as it is they're the scrumptious strawberry topping on an already delicious cake.

Very, very impressive work.

The ambiance, the story, the music, everything is well executed. The sex scenes are great as well, but it's mainly the characters and the story that will keep your interest for the game.
One of the best lewd games so far.

one of, if not the best games on here. an absolute master of this art, with his other game depraved awakening being amazing as well. i only wish he made 200 games with updates every other day but that's just the millennial in me speaking

This is what a VN should be.
Well written all around, easy to progress, choices that actually matter and some of the highest quality renders ever seen.
Definitely among the best VNs ever made.
Also the whole futuristic theme is well executed.
Solid 5 stars

Amazing plot lines, incredibly detailed sub character storiesand to top it all off, absolutely great quality renders.

Really looking forward to further development and well done Dev team, probably the best VN I have played on this site!

Perfect.
Great story that really steps out of the usual stuff. The universe is really interesting in the line of Blade Runner. The sex sxene are beautiful with great animations . A game you must play

Contrary to the well-known city of broken dreams, the context "broken dreamers" sounds somewhat strange to me! Porn fiction, whatever: I think a game title is not that unimportant for research and stuff, not to mention my first impression. Maybe this is one reason why I didn't take their storytelling too serious. The H-scene right at the beginning might have been another one. But eventually, some updates later, the plot (supported by phenomenal soundtracks and FX) took me up to the point of no return! The creator knows how to impress with styling and details. I remember some animated city train passing the POV for a station stop - surprisingly well done! Just like in the movies for the big screen. The story itself is kinda jigsaw puzzle around the protagonist - a faceless hitman who doesn't want to be the bad guy no more - where pieces (a bunch of pussycats) are falling into place sooner or later. There's a dark SiFi not as outstanding as season 1 of Altered Carbon, to tell the truth, but I've seen much worse! Recommended to follow.

This game is fucking good , one of the best games i have ever played , the script the characters the storyline everything is very well build. No matter how many times i played there's always a new scene with every different choices we make so it never get bored by repeating same gameplay.