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

I dropped this game around the middle of chapter 5 after getting bored with the story. Felt like I went through a thousand lines of dialogue without interruption at one point. The sex scenes were largely good, albeit some felt like filler (scene where you bang a computer program and the sex doll). The BDSM stuff with the newscaster brat was a highlight. Art is quite good.

v1.10.1

Good :
- Excellent graphisms
- Nice music
- Beautiful girls with great personality
- Interesting story
- A lot of intimacy
- A lot of fetishes
- Multiple choices

Bad :
- 8GB is a little bit too heavy, i had to wait for a compressed version

In my opinion one of the best Games out here.. awesome animated Girlz , very nice renderd scenes and regulary updates..
I hope it continues this way with many many updates... ver good job of the developers

It's pretty easy to give a 5 star to this game. To put it simple, every single expect of it is top quality of the VN genre.

- Models are great, both on a "composition" level and as quality of the render
- The story is damn well conceived and well written. Even the cliches work and don't bother at all. The world building is cured to the detaly and one of the best cyberpunk enviroment i've ever seen.
- The characters are cured, tridimentional, complete with clear motivation, relatable and each one of them fits perfectly in the role and in the story.
- Sex scenes are abundant, rich, long and of course damn well made.
- A ton of animations
- The gameplay is long but never bloated or boring.

Any CON? Mmm.. i'm a bit puzzled why the MC's car is left-handed drive while the story takes place (i think) in USA.

Excellent renders and animations and a captivating story .

It does usually take quite a while for an update to come out, but i don't mind waiting when it comes to a vn of this quality.

This is definitely one of the best adult vn's around...

I just finished and I have to say that I loved to play and follow the story, the smooth animations and atmospheres are incredible! Congratulations for making this great game, I loved yo play it . Cheers

Straightforward and nicely made game.

While the models are a bit behind the curve of the best out there and the diversity could also be a bit better, they do work, so that's ok.

The game ran without issues and has a pretty decent story.
All said an ok experience.

I have the feeling, that I accidentaly played the real Cyberpunk2077. Overwhelming setting, adicting story in so many ways thanks to the muliple choices that do have an impact on the mc and story. Be the bad guy, be the nice guy or be the guy, that is just doing his f*** job but on his own (or your?) profesional way.

This game honestly made me forget several times I was reading an adult VN. Right up until the sex scenes kicked in.

Summed up in one word: "Woah"

This is easily one of the most engaging and well paced VNs out there, and it oozes quality in so many places. Sure, there's a lot you've probably seen so far if you're a cyberpunk fan, but this one still has it's own flavor, and is presented in a way that makes it all fit together on its own.

We have compelling characters with great motivations to their actions. We have excellent lore that really sets the tone of the VN. We have fantastic looking girls, with fantastic personalities tied to them.

There is not a missing thing from City of Broken Dreamers.

Well, maybe if you have a favorite girl you haven't seen in awhile. CHANDY, WHERE YOU AT?

Even the UI and music is absolutely awesome.

This whole damn thing is quality and just deserves a read. A dark room, bottle of whiskey, a cigar, and twilight peering into your room.

Maybe you saying to yourself "I never asked for this"

and you have what City of Broken Dreamers evokes. Noire Cyperpunk.

I don't know how this ride will end, but damn has it been fantastic so far.

Not a bad game. I like how it puts me in mine of Blade Runner. The character development very detailed and even sub-characters have their own back stories.
The characters are believable, too. The MC doesn't have a humongous dong, and the women don't have overly exaggerated breasts. I like a little believability in my games.
Even if they are based in a far distant future.

This review contains some plot spoilers


The Good:


Graphics:

City of Broken Dreamers is on par, in my view, with all the greatest and top ranked games on this site: BADIK, the controversial MILFY City, etc.. It's far superior in renders and animation to a few of my other favourites, such as Harem Hotel. While I haven't replayed Harem Hotel in multiple updates, I find myself loading this up on a near monthly basis to go out of my way with new saves and unlock additional galleries. I cannot stress this enough- I am a severe stickler (look at my other reviews,) and City of Broken Dreamers, made by one guy, is superior in its short (5-10 second) animations than the entire crew of Mass Effect Andromeda.

All of the women are unique in their own ways- the creator goes out of their way to make sure that while all the women have 'conventional' beauty they each have their own unique visible quirks and assets that make each encounter feel genuinely unique. This is very difficult to do, and the creator has pulled this off near-flawlessly.

There's a scene, I believe between chapters 3-4, or 4-5, where the song 'Burning Star' drops and there's a series of brief animations of characters reminiscing about the past and contemplating what to do in the future. It's a total 'load out and pump up' scene reminiscent of old action films, and it's a total banger. It got me pumped up in the same way loading up for a boss fight in a conventional Triple A game pumps me up. This is practically impossible to do in a game loaded up with sex and lewdness, and yet the developer pulled it off anyways. Extremely well done. You'll know the scene when it hits, and it stays with you.

Writing:

The writing is short. Conversations are a sentence or two, then a rebuttal or reply from the person you are conversing with, leading to another sentence or two, etc.. This allows conversations to be brief enough to convey the right plot information while also feeling organic. Lines that are conventionally cheesy are noted by either your MC or the character they are speaking to, and this occurs infrequently, which balances beautifully the line between 'hokey' and 'legitimate.' People say silly things when clothes start to fly off, and this largely is pulled off very well.

The main plot of the game is not necessarily unique, a powerful young girl who may or may not be the subject of megacorp experimentation needs to be hunted down and captured by you, the MC, a 'Ghost' who is a private contractor mercenary for hire. The game bounces between minor plots that take up the majority of each 'chapter,' which nearly always act as an impetus to forward the overall main plot. A lot of games get bogged down in minor plot points and forget where they were originally going, but the author here is clearly capable of this delicate balance between minor plots and major plots. You never feel as though you are working in circles.

This feels like a kinetic novella but it actually is not. I've run 3 different save games, a 'lust' 'score' and 'neutral plot focused' saves and while the differences between the three may not be totally obvious, there is more than enough incentive to replay and try different replies to gain either new lewd scenes or to garner additional plot information. This harkens me back to the oldschool RPG's of the past. While there's certainly not the same kind of variation you can get in Fallout 2, Planescape Torment, NeverwinterNights, etc.. This game feels as though any choice you make is the 'correct' one most of the time, but then going back to do the inverse of what you had done before can yield new dialogue, new cutscenes, new lewd scenes, etc.. It's truly a brilliant balancing act.


The Flow:

It's perfect. I never say those words together, but it really is. I find it just as good as any majorly popular game on this site, perhaps slightly better. Due to the tightness of the plot and trajectory of the story you never feel as though you are treading old ground. Very few repeat scenes even contain the same dialogue- there's always a quip by the MC or the MC's partner that states they had just had this scene and they are eager to do it again, which keeps switching between similar scenes somewhat fresh. It's very easy for the creator to just leave the original default dialogue, and thus taking the time to add separate vignettes of dialogue for the same animation scenes is something they did not have to do, yet did anyways- this demonstrates an obvious love and care for both their own material and for the audience's expectations, and should be commended.


The Bad:

A few of the 'riding' animations are awkward as hell. The developer clearly has some issues with what to do with a characters arms in some scenes, and the animation loop of 3-5 seconds only heightens this awkwardness.


And that's it for the bad.

Overall:

The writing is tight. It's a simple plot in the grand scheme of things, but this works to the game's benefit and not to its detriment. Each character's dialogue is as unique as their visual looks- each person acts and feels and 'sounds' as though they have their own concerns, motivations, desires, and this really lets you see past the 'game' and look at it more as a good story. It didn't make me sad like certain storylines in other games, and it didn't ever make me burst out laughing like other games, but as a serious cyberpunk story containing a plethora of different lewdness and fetishes/kinks it ticks every possible box I could ask for. This is my first 5 star review on the site. This game is an absolute banger, and there's no reason for you not to try it. The Dev 'learning as they go' is, in my view, very close to 'master' status for this type of game, and I look forward to all their future works and the continuation of this game. Nicely done.

Content wise its top tier game and fap material. Plot is both interesting as it is erotic. Add to it great animations and graphic and we have a solid contender for best adult/mature visual novel out there. Made in cyberpunk setting with private eye as its main protogonist. You can choose corporations or the good guys. Contract or honour. Love or money. Sex or clean conciousness. There is third option too. Play for both teams and see. It is your choice to make. There are multitude of sexy female characters to meet and see what they have to offer. Play and see. Love it or hate it. The choice is yours to make. Even if I don't belive in possibility of disliking this game. The choice is yours as your path in this game. Good luck!

Version: [v1.10.1 Ch.10]
Not perfect, but pretty damn close.

The good:
-The scenes
Renders and animations are looking great, the setting is usually pretty good.
I like the choice sometimes presented between intense forceful scenes and gentle loving scenes. overall everything is really pretty and high quaility.

-The writing
I found myself interested in the story, the characters are distinct and mostly likeable.
Overall there's not much to say - everything is well above average in the genre., and as someone who would much rather have awful renders with decent writing than the other way around, I found the writing to be pretty good.

The bad (or in this case - just not as great):
-Pacing
It's fine mostly, but at times I found myself bored even though I really enjoyed the story, other times I found the sex scenes happen quickly in a row, probably in an effort to ship enough h-scenes in the end of a story heavy content update.

-Options in H-scenes
There's plenty, enough to please most people. but I found it was a bit too much?
For example - everyone loves anal or tries it for the first time. I get it, its popular and easy, but it just makes the characters feel a bit same-y when it comes to sexual preferences, undermining the fact they are usually pretty different as people.
You do get different things from different characters - some are usually more loving and gentle, while others prefer some pretty hardcore BDSM, but yah, pretty much everyone likes butt stuff, which I found a little weird.

What can be improved?:
-The music (more music!)
The music that's there is actually pretty good, but the games takes a couple of hours from start to finish - and some tracks trigger way more often than others. pretty sure some triggered 20 or more times. what's there is great - just please give me more!


TL;DR -
Easily a top 10 game for me.
The writing is great, the renders are great, there's plenty of content as of this patch and overall it just feels like a really really high quality experience.
The game does suffer some minor issues - like weird pacing at times, but they are truly minor.
I Would have probably rated the game 4.5 stars if I could, but as it is - its MUCH closer to 5 stars than it is to 4, so I'll gladly give it a 5. I had a wonderful time.

v1.10.1 Ch.10

The models in this are really incredible, but I found the story to be a bit flat. The sex scenes had no build up, they just kind of happen, and the animations sometimes had a bit of an uncanny valley effect to them. It was okay, but I had a hard time getting into it.

Excellent indeed. Not gonna lie this is the only vn i like to play from the start once the update is released. I just want to forget the story again so that i can enjoy with same intensity as i did when i played first time. I like game where sex revolves around the story and not the other way around and this one is masterpiece in a way. All the models or li's in here are gorgeous i repeat they are fuckin gorgeous. The storytelling direction part is well done and it's no coincidence as Philly has that perk of doing it as he did with his previous installment. It's wholesome experience based on favorite genre sci/fi with top of the tier renders and animations. You gotta try this if you haven't because you are missing something amazing.

A cyberpunk themed, very generic and linear Visual Novel with boring click-to-see-next-slide gameplay (a.k.a powerpoint presentation) and no dialogue options. Though it has big fan-base, this VN is really no fun. It takes itself far too serious (not a single joke) and is not as interesting as the dev thinks it is. Writing is bad, pacing is off with constant change of viewpoints and the time it takes to actually start off. As most effort was put into graphics, somehow none of the characters are really attractive (same plastic and "too cute to be true" faces), memorable (no personality) or attention grabbing. Sex scenes are badly written, stiff and robotic (lacking in buildup, teasing, seduction, exposition and payoff). Implementation of the routes is really bad as it's designed to make you miss things (excluding choices where chosing one girl locks you out of another and you must load old saves and complete entire VN again to see content for more than just one girl). Story-wise this MC is supposed to be a bad-ass super-agent but barely does anyting at all and the contrast between what people are saying about him and how utterly unprepared he acts (when he finally decides to do something) completely kills any immersion.
The whole game is linear and predictable, there are no dialogue options and very few choices (no branching story lines or multiple endings) that serve no purpose other than locking you out of sex scenes - if you chose badly (without a walkthrough) you will simply miss the sex scene (won't score enough love/lust points) which is really riddiculous (you will not only be locked out of other girls but also won't get a sex scene with a girl you have chosen.) Sex scenes could also be implemented much better (are all about clicking back and forth, selecting mechanically from "missionary", "cowgirl", "doggy" and "cum".)
Some people think that good graphics = good adult game while the best graphics are in real adult movies. Adult games should be all about creating anticipation, sexual tension and presenting a fantastic payoff. And this VN is really far from it.

In terms of how talented the dev is, this would be a five star. But I have to rate based on my own personal enjoyment of the game. I don't really enjoy the cyberpunk/futuristic setting and most of the characters don't do much for me, so I found myself checking out and just trying to skip forward to the sex scenes just to get things over with. It's not because the dev is a bad writer, far from it... It's just the genre has almost no appeal for me whatsoever and whatever PhillyGames' talents (and they are many), they couldn't overcome my lack of interest in the story or the setting. Still, technically, this is a very good game. I just couldn't get myself into it.

CoBD is a technical marvel. The renders are incredibly detailed and beautiful. The animations are fluid and long. The art and models used are unique, as well. In short, the game is amazing to behold visually.

The story is pretty good. I like science fiction and there is enough mystery and action in this story to make it compelling. Having said that, PhillyGames' updates are not really story-focused. Like most developers, he appears to push out an update once he thinks he's completed enough content to make the update worthwhile, but that means that the end of each episode feels less like the end of an episode and more like cutting away to a commercial break.

Supported philly during the making of Depraved awakening as it was a top notch game ahead of the rest in terms of western vn .Dropped out of the new game as i didnt think the cyberpunk thing was right for me , But how wrong i was will certainly re patreon as soon as i can afford it .Any way onto the game itself Love the story it has funny parts emotional parts and of course the reason we play these game fapping .the renders are top notch as expected from philly ,and the animations are second to none for a renpy based game . I would sincerely ask you to support this dev as i have done in the past and will do again when i can afford to do so

Wow 5 stars all the way the game is so good top notch graphics and animations glad game is back on track with vic now on our side seems really shady i am excited how the story goes further hope with vic a femme fatale would be really nice just hope for longer episodes