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

Excellent story, could be a movie. Maybe too many side characters that get brought back into the main storyline, which dilutes the main love interests, but the characters are all so different, and the MC can either be a romantic with some or after pure sex with others. The doc and rocker and magic girl are all wonderfully fleshed out characters despite having to share the space. The animations/scenes are magnificent. Great male side characters too

This is a masterpiece of a game. Excellent story, super sexy renders. Overall one of the best games I've ever played. An excellent mix of science fiction, sex, and violence.

If porn games had AAA publishers, Phillygames would be one them.

Hands down, the best story on the Fzone. I like the art, the musick, and the story. This is the pinnacle all other devs should be shooting for. All the characters are well made, and the art is perfect. Chandra, the little slut is eye candy while the rest of the hotties are gravy for the meat.

A high production quality and ambitious adult VN. Character art, animations, and environments are excellent.

There's an overarching damsel-in-distress plot in a cyberpunk setting. The story is good although the game could actually benefit from a full game studio to realize its vision, as sometimes it feels like the story jumps a bit skipping over transitions that would make it easier to follow. There's a variety of references and homages which are fun to spot, even though I'm sure I miss a lot of them.

Choices lead to significant variations in scenes and story, such as different characters accompanying the main character on a mission. Stats (some hidden) can lead to new scenes. Expect to play through several times and possibly use a guide to see everything.

There are several one-off sexual encounters, but also scenes and stats with main love interests. There's a variety from more romantic to more dominating.

Some significant animations actually just show off cool things in the world, rather than sex scenes, which make it clear this is more of an adult game than a porn game.

The battles are probably the worst part of the game (see Chapter 5). All the fighters look like hysterical little children, having no tactical thinking or battle experience.

Like Tex and Sonja, they wear casual clothes into battle, and they run into the room shooting automatic fire, one by one, so that the defender could take them out like practice targets. No flashbangs, no coordination, no using covers etc.

The MC does the same: lots of fuss and pointless drama (On the pedwalk, trying to run away? Brilliant idea, mwa-ha-ha...) instead of just using the person with super-powers when appropriate.

Other aspects of the game are not so bad. The characters are depicted with more emotional involvement than in "Depraved Awakening".

So it's interesting, not just flashy.

Girls are pretty, though some proportions (like breasts) are obviously deformed.

Considering the size of the game, attention to details and good choices management, it's 5 stars.

v1.08.1

Book 1 (Ch 1-7) is excellent.
Book 2 (Ch 8-14) is not.

The endings for a number of the girls are pretty poor, or nonexistent. The main narrative isn't bad, but if you're not on Gloria, Katie, Ellen, or Victoria's path, chances are very high you will be disappointed in the ending of this game. I am very appreciative for F95's existence as it saves me from buying games like this and wasting my money.

This game is excellent. And I mean, nevermind this is a porn game. This is the first time I’ve played one of these where I didn’t just click the dialogue away to get to the sex. In fact, it feels that the sex is a bit out of place and gratuitous. This reads as a AAA vide game plot, or a TV show.

Really wanted to like this game

Ladies and Gentz. This is much of the same as the previous game. A crap ton of hype but to my taste not much substance.

PROS
Awesome visuals and hscenes
Great Dialogue
Beautiful Models
Production quality
No grind
No bugs or glitches
Consistent update schedule

CONS
Takes itself too serious. Its a Porn game
Not interesting enough to prevent me from CTRL Skip
Same formula as the last game just in a different setting and even then it was basic and underwhelming
No significant sex scene yet to give it some replay or play value
No memorable scene or characters for that matter

Almost gave this game 2 stars but I have to be fair. The production, renders and animation demands this game at least 3 stars. This game suffers from the same illness as other games on this site. Fan boys and the like, like the renders and automatically forgive the flaws of the game. I'm still in the school of thought that a great porn game HAS to have great porn scenes. HOT scenes. Memorable scenes. This is an average at best porn game because it has average at best scenes. Not really into the whole Cyperpunk genre but at least its a different spin. A great porn game should also have memorable characters. Good buildup, teasing, exposition, and a fantastic payoff sex scene is how that is achieved. This, like the previous game, is really just a carbon copy of all the other boring games with none of the above, a ton of hype, and good looking "same-face" beauty queen models you'll fine in every other game. Its worth a playthrough and the dev is awesome but don't expect a lifechanging experience.

Visually stunning. This game has best graphic I've seen in VN so far. And I don't even mean characters only, but overall athmosphere, lightning, shading, backgrounds, everything. Really, hands down. Definitely worth playing.

Story is also very good. Waiting for the sequel, but I will not hold my breath.

I was not satisfied with some moments in game only, like certain characters just meet and they start having sex out of nowhere.

Easily one of the best VNs out there I would put it in the top 3 at least.
First off the graphics and animations are the best I’ve seen. Not just the lewd scene animations but the animations in game.
What I like most is the story, it’s almost like watching a movie and keeps you wanting to know more. The dev definitely stepped up from his first game and I can’t see where this goes.

One of the best VN I ever played . Great story, I'm genuinely interested in the story even without the lewed content. Outstanding and unique animation and renders. Those animations are custom made and you will not see any game that have animations of this quality. Dev is working hard and clearly a genius in lighting

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