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

While I assumed PhillyGames would step up his production (I mean, you gotta come out with something big to top DA, right?), I had no idea the step would be this big.

The production quality has skyrocketed, and City of Broken Dreamers has mind-blowing visuals, animations, and artwork. The UI is incredibly pleasing and practical -- it looks absolutely gorgeous.

Speaking of "looks," everything about this game is pleasing to the eyes. The direction, imagery, and effects are amazing.

Next, the story. It is addictive from the very first sequence. The world pulls you in and has a very "cyberpunk" feel to it, something that isn't easy to do right. I enjoy the writing style, even though it can feel a little bit dry at times, and as always I enjoy the humor. All that aside, you can tell right away that you're about to be absorbed into an enormous, complex plot, which is exactly what I look for.

Finally, some small critiques. The only criticism I can think of so far is:

1) While it fits, the music isn't the best, and can be rather annoying at times.
2) The pacing and transitions feel a little choppy, at times.
3) More sound effects couldn't hurt, such as ambiance, and uh, scifi noises and shit... but the current sound effects do sound great.
4) The personalities of the girls could stand out a tad more. Don't get me wrong, they're there... but they sometimes feel a bit watered down.
5) The sex animations could be a little less jerky/more fluid, but they still look fantastic in their current state.

Overall I give this game a 4.9 out of 5.0.

Version played: 0.3.1.1
This is a gem in the making. Philly says that he used all the money he got from his previous game on this, and judging from what I saw, I truly believe it.
The main menu background music has a mass effect trilogy vibes that puts you in a futuristic mood. When you start the game, the music does not stop abruptly but fades out slowly instead while the narrator starts talking. I feel this is a very nice touch. The title video is reminescent of an early '70s noir / thriller good enough to fit in a Charles Bronson movie. The story moves at a sedate pace without feeling neither slow or rushed, while the plot reads like a movie script and is engaging. After dozens of engrish games, it is refreshing to find a developer that has a firm grasp of language and expression. The plot feels deep but not heavy and as of this version ends with a cliffhanger (nice cutoff point btw). The final sequence really grabs your attention. Characters are well formed, each with his / her unique personality and the renderings are top notch. The sex animations are very good while the animations used for transitions in the story (i.e. view from the train) are rendered at a lower quality. sound effect are good and the background music is 100% spot on. It always ties with what you see and what you read and blends in nicely while enhancing the words, the expressions and even the feel of the city. All in all I feel that the developer has a great imagination and should really try his hand to write a book noir. This game, even in this early stage, easily takes place in my top 5 favorites and I will keep following it and waiting anxiously for more.
Highly recommended!!

MUSIC: 5/5
PLOT: 5/5
CONCEPT: 5/5
GRAPHICS: 5/5
OVERALL: 6/5

Hard to make a proper review of this without my my personal feelings of happiness playing this muddling things..but i will try..
this is without a doubt imho..the finest game ever created in the adult gaming format thus far.
Graphicsutstanding..the lighting..texture attention to detail is extreme without being sterile..the animations are fluid and enticing..they are not long but they are realistic and not just a couple images repeated over and over.
Story:the setting is a personal fav..a sort of dystopian future..but not completely gone over the edge into total Blade Runner rain soaked every seconds of every day.A proper mystery/thriller with action violence romance lust etc.
The Dames:holy crap..even the inconsequential dames are amazing to look at..Abby i'm talking to you..come back to me my horned goddess!! while some look like they may have originated as Daz assets..the alterations to originality makes the majority totally unique so you really have to look close to see the roots ..which is hard AF.
Sound:i turn off sound..Philly asked to try it with sound..so i did once..amazing sound..among the most well integrated soundtracks/effects in any game i've ever played..alas..i turned them off and went back to my prog-rock..LOL...ya..i'm an asshole..sorry Philly
In conclusion..there are a small handfull of games that push the adult gaming field into new realms of excellence..this is at the top of the heap of this new breed...and should be tried by all who want more out of a game.

Review as of 2.2

What is not to like in this feast of the senses

The story is quality set in a world that is Blade Runner meets Dark angel. The female characters are all done really well, no one dimensional bimbos in sight and each has own motivations and sexual interests which should make each playing totally unique. We have a fallen star wanting revenge on powerful ex that destroyed her, an idealistic doctor fighting against oppression of mutants and an enhanced human (possibly an android...yes very bladerunner) as possible love interests. Then there are the side characters. the sadistic new girl of man in power who has a masochistic streak, the mysterious daughter that has every corporation and government in a panic. The stage is set for an intriguing adventure.

The soundtrack is great, a great mixture with many scenes very Bladerunner again with score adding to atmosphere.

The renders and animations are great and you actually have choices that depend on your scores with ladies and depravity. Do you submit to the sadist or do you break her and make her your pet? Do you let the enhanced beguile you or do you retain your independence? The doctor of course is a truer romance so not reached H scenes but my guess is do yo romance or corrupt her?

The script is great and dialogue matches the characters, even the side characters like the spoilt rich girl chasing a bit of fun with the infamous spook are given life.

Can't wait to see where they take this as so far it is a perfect start.

Now this is how you do Visual Novels folks. Not your tipical "you are a schoolboy with superpowers living with your mom and sister and your ultimate goal is to fuck your mom and sister(s). The end."... Nicely written engaging story, interesting characters, well designed realistic cyberpunk setting. Animations could be better though.

Great script, great animations (erotic ones and not) and rendering, characters have their own personalities that grow while playing the game. So much attention at every aspect. Never seen something similar, really. Keep up with the great work. Here there is some talent. Bravo!

6 stars and more... (v0.7).
A CyberPunk Masterpiece.

---- Characters :
---- Renders/Graphisms :
The quality of renders is high. The characters are good looking and have an interesting personality. I have seen better in term of cuteness and sexyness, but in this adult dark cyberpunk background, they are a pretty good fit. They look realistic too. The graphims, especially on the backgrounds and environnements are top notch. Not often that a VN game cares that much about that aspect.

---- Story/Writing :
---- Background/Atmosphere :
Being a fan of Deus EX games and background, I am necessarly interested by the cyberpunk background of the city of broken dreamers, and the feeling is there. There is a real effort to fit and keep the game in accordance to a cyberpunk world : the music, the technology, the IA....
The story is interesting and the writting is professional. Which is pretty impressive for those kind of games with low budget/ressource.

---- Animations :
---- Sex scenes :
On the short side, but of high quality. I like also the little scenes when you can check the girl rotating to you, probably happens only during first meeting. Fun.


---- Gameplay :
---- Contents/Updates :
I love how the choices really matters and make your game different, for example as you can choose which girl to go that party with, and which will lead to kinda different scenes and interactions after,
Also if you just answer randomly, you might not get the points/lust necessary to unlock some possible choices later on, and therefore some routes will be blocked for you. The process is similar to depraved awakening and it works well. The chapters have reasonnable contents and you will probably want to reload the game to try other routes.

==== A masterpiece, what else ? ====

This Review is based with my personal experience with the actual Version 0.2.2 of the game with my specific opinions and feelings .

There are many writers in our world , famous for their creations , the writing style , the characterization of the protagonist , the setting. To write a review about City of Broken Dreamers , you have to remember all great authors that made big the Noir/Detective theme and I don't have any kind of doubt , Philly is one of them. This Author is trying to put is personal taste in all these Noir themes and is not only able to make this , but he is incredible good to make his ideas in words and images.
In the game immediately you can find , you can feel , you can smell the perfume of the Author , his unmistakable Signature . This is a Philly Opera and this is the best compliment that I can make to him.
This game is the normal continuation of his previous work , Depraved Awakening , every players here will find immediately similar atmosphere ; but this is not just a “ second episode “ it's a huge improvement , in everything , writing , plot , graphics , renders , animations. The game doesn't disappoint the player in all its aspect and immediately he is catapulted in a cyberpunk world in the future in a Los Angeles of 2042 . All graphics are in the right place , you can really have the sensation to smell the stink that there is outside in some part of the city . This is a story and the visualization of how it could be a possible future , a dark future where division between rich and poor people are at the maximum , a world where technology are taking the place of feelings , of physical body , of sex ; I don't want to be trivial , but how not connect this game at some setting references like Blade Runner or to some ideas that William Gibson wrote in his trilogy.
If Everybody want to remain astonished I suggest to watch one part in the second episode , to understand in which way Philly was so able to render the Sky Video of the city : personally I was for 5 Minutes with my open mouth , thinking that I was looking a Film , not playing to a adult game.

Pros
-Write : Basic , Concise , Essential , Innovative way of writing. Every words make sense and are always in the right place. Dev is able to create his world with new terms , new specific terminology. Really fantastic the idea to insert in the game a Glossary , to make the game deeper and completely immersive.
-Plot:The story structure is solid , fluid , there is nothing that can confuse the players or to be broken from a full immersion.
-Graphic and Renders : If in Depraved Awakening the level was already high , now Dev raised up the bar to another plan , that many other games can just dream to reach ; the richness of details and mages accompany the player with the reading to create a unique atmosphere.
-Girls : Philly is one of the best to pay homage to female beauty and always all his women are so amazing and gorgeous ; different woman for different tastes , but in every case , top quality
-Animations : one of the best improvement that I find in this new Philly Work. I'm without words to describe how a person , when he works with passion , professionalism , but especially Love can improve ; here just a big and sincere applause form me .
-Music: What can I say ? Just give the suggestion to listen how the musical choices and some sounds effect give to this game , the extra touch . Sublime.
-Innovation and new concepts : Some new ideas like for example the use of clue for the hidden images and the glossary are interesting and innovative

Neutral
-This games is the earlier updates so it actually lacks a little bit about a full characterization of the plot . I wish for next updates a bigger descriptions about the background and personal story of main characters . This thing was the weakest part of his previous game but also here I wait for a Author improvement for example in the description of the past life of the characters , maybe with use of some specific writing technicians methods ; unexceptionable the Flashback used to describe Gloria's childhood .

Cons
-Nothing

Overall , this of course is a game worth to play , a full 5 stars review.
I've one small dream here ( it's not Broken , but Intact ) : Philly have a big talent in what he is making , you can feel immediately , he loves to write and make his work in words and images; I don't want to be an adulator and the Author don't need my words to going on with his Opera , but my dream is that one day he can be a full Time Artist , he deserve it . Because I really wish in my life to have more games to play , to enjoy , to be happy. There is too much shit in this world , Philly was able to make me forget about this , there is still beauty in this world , I was forgetting about this and City of a Broken Dreamers is a Gem in the waste there is outside .

Incredible animations. The production is something you would see i a hollywood movie. Very entertianing story and seems like a whole universe could be created around the current story and setting. This is the best game I have ever played. I'm looking forward to see what future updates hold.

Reads like a film/ some of the best animations

Pillygames products are one of thew few I actually I read the text. Continuing with Crime film theme from Depraved Awakening switching from detective to mercenary. The high end renders, atmospheric music, and quality animation (some of the best IMO) for scenes Leaves me almost feeling Like I am watching a Neo-noir film. The actually story only adds to that feeling. This new project has my attention and I am looking forward to its development.

4/5 as I hold the 5th for completed works but the quality stays this high it will earn it.

Story alone could be made easily into a successfuI book or game 5/5.Quality of renders,animations,environment and people is possibly the best out there in this genre. Sex scenes are a full HOLY MAMA/5.Honestly don't know if it's possible to make a game better and sorry if i can't give you improvement tips, but it's the truth. Just keep doing what you're doing Philly

Best animation ever. Great sound, great plot. Multiple choices.
A lot of porn positions to choose.
This is a new benchmark in this game genre.
different paths to take and contents for replayability.
I hope this game keeps the progress its already got.

Like with Depraved Awakening, I was a tiny bit skeptical after the very first release, (with regard to CoBD) I really liked the way the game was made, the renders are fabulous, the animations were great, and the game also has top tier animations outside of the sex scenes, which is very rare for an adult game, I also really liked the setting and the the beautiful looks of the characters. But the story didn't tie me up completly.

The the v0.2 just blew my mind, the story starts to take on pace and getting some highly interesting turns. But even bigger the characters really convinced me, I really like Victoria, and the sex-scene with Shanlon was a masterpiece, I rarely experienced something as hot in adult games.

I normally don't review unfinished games, which makes this game even more special, I DARE you to give this game a try!

As expected from PhillyGames the game has amazing renders, actual animations not 3 frames on loop and actually enjoyable soundtrack, imagine that! A porn game with a good soundtrack that doesn't make you want to rip your ears off the moment you launch the game!

Excellent game. This game is something i look forward to play every other month. Excellent renders and animation. The story keeps you engaged. Game system has glossary and point system for every character. Very well done.

An absolutely MUST for every developer in this genre. Perfect lights, great paint shop with maybe the biggest PSD graphics palette in use. Dramaturgy with blending and so on close to movie level, simply showing that even Renpy can play in this (normally unity preserverd) setup. All over all, the best artwork i have seen so far in this segment. I am thrilled to see if the drama is working out.
Speaking of dramaturgy: many of the bespoken games on this platform simply lack of the story line to get the player IN the story in time. There are just a few that show perfect balance of story line, graphics and tempo.And thats the real complex part to design in every game and genre.

So: chapeau to this developer for an outstanding picture work. Can't wait to see more.
Thank you.

Without a doubt one of the best games on F95.

- A creator that cares about his game, which shows in every aspect of it.
- the characters are all awesomely great, with variety and uniqueness that clearly shows a creator that wants them to differ from most cookie-cutter reused assets.
- the backgrounds and ambience in the scenes the best I have seen in an adult game, conveying the atmosphere and 'feel' of the story better than many 'real' games.
- the story captivates me, and drew me in, and after 5 minutes I was all onboard for the plot.
- The animations are of the highest quality
- and finally the sex scenes: they are varied, interesting, with plenty of kinks to satisfy a diverse audience without (so far) pushing any away, they serve the story and the story serves the sex scenes in a way I can't recall having seen before, and most importantly - They are all hot as fuck

Overall: 5/5, with no obvious problems, and a MUST PLAY recommendation from here. Now excuse me while I go find the developers Patron to support him.

When the creator cares about his work, It shows.

It has a story, that is not half bad. excellent renders, unique characters. And well written sex scenes. ( And in Imho, awesome kinks )

The creator has also already proven that he finishes his work.
He is one of the few I support.

The animations are beautiful. The character renders are out of this world. The story is absolutely amazing. I love the cyberpunk type of setting. Great game overall there's a few problems but that's the game is great in itself in my opinion

Beginning of something special.
Just when I thought PhillyGames couldn't get any better, they continue to surprise and entice me.

Pro's:
Excellent quality graphics
Smooth animations
Plot is very promising
Original characters with their own unique personality
Character backstory

Con's:
There are no con's whatsoever that I can see, though it is just the first release.