VN - Ren'Py - College Kings [Act 1 v1.4.18] [Undergrad Steve]

Reviewing v14.0.1

Some of the best renders and animation I've seen in any game and a light hearted story that doesn't take itself too seriously while still having impactful consequences for choices.

There are still some choices that have a bad way locking you out of certain paths when not warranted and occasional long gaps between sex scenes but they're minor annoyances on what is a great experience through a pretty long playthrough already. Great replayability value too. I've also had just one crash/bug in over 20+ hours of playing.

A must play in my opinion.

One of the best games in the site. Good renders, funny characters, not too much drama and while it shows a lot of sex, it isn't a fuckfest. Luckly it's still a VN.
What I like the most about this game is that it tries to be original gameplaywise. It got different paths, some fun minigames such as a turn-based combat system, and even a detective one. Not to mention instead of points earned or lost depending on what we say, this game has its unique personality system. Even achievements! Not everything works great, but you can definitely see the devs are working on something special.

The renders are good, but the writing could use some work. Sometimes it's good, but other times it's either decent at best or below the mark. The scenes are enjoyable, but things get strange at the Europe trip. The controls and QOL can be improved a lot on the boat if we could go by the map instead of clicking around and getting to the locations. The choices and how they affect the story was implemented well and is one of the big pluses of the game

v14.0.1 played circa 17 hours (1 normal playthrough, 1 fast skip playthrough and replaying a few scenes).

Renders are great and the story is serviceable to accommodate banging the pool of hot chicks.

Dialogue can be hit or miss, sometimes it's great, sometimes it's utterly cringe-lord terribad.
For example, at the start of the game, 1 gameday after meeting the prudest/shyest character in the lineup MC has the following conversation: (after ONE day!!):

Shy girl: "I haven't actually had sex before"
MC: "You?"
Shy girl: "I mean I've done stuff... just not sex."
MC: "You haven't had sex?"
Shy girl: "Yeah..."
MC: "Your vagina - has never seen a penis?"

..Please just kill me. The second worst dialogue, that feels like it was written by some 14 year old whitenkight fulltime-reddit moderator, happens during the last part of a particular characters story if you decide to mess with their relationship.

Outside of that the writing was mostly good.

I encountered some minor bugs, mainly blue notification dot on messages not disappearing when all messages are read+answered and sometimes a phone message buzzsound being tied to entering a room, regardless if you enter it for the 1st or the 20th time. Clicking the phone also sometimes did not disable the layer below, resulting in my character advancing 1 line of text or switching rooms even though I am just navigating the phone menu.

Navigation can sometimes be very confusing, especially on a specific boat location, point of view gets reversed randomly so you never have any idea what direction you are facing or coming from (e.g. clicking 2x UP/Forward will lead spinning in circles, etc). For that scenario there was a map that unfortunately was utterly useless because there is no onscreen compass nor is the map clickable, navigation made me dizzy/disorientated due to inconsistent frame-zones+angles.

Despite my complaints which seem to occupy a lot of physical writing space there actually isn't that much wrong with the game overall.
I am still rounding to full rating due to the sheer amount of high quality content, in terms of story, writing, dialogue and animated scenes.
The variety of woman is very high and each one has her own personality, some with minor other with major deep rooted issues. You also need to juggle the girls a bit since some characters are totally fine with sharing the MC while others seem to lock into a proper relationship status with jealousy/breakup consequences.

Overall a very good title, among the top I have read/played thus far with minor negatives that can be patched out/fixed.

One of the best games ever.

The characters, the story, the scenes, just amazing.

The concept of fight, cheating, and harem is not new but still while playing this game, for some reason it feels different.

The story is very similar to another very famous game but still it's different in several other aspects.

The only issue I see is none of the characters are build to be a fighter but the whole story revolves around fighting and being a King.

But overall it's a great game, thus 5 stars.

Extremely pleasently surprised! I was afraid that this was going to be another boring VN or a cheap knock off, but I assure you that it is not!

The story is compelling, there is a lot of decision which allows you to have a personalized story and the characters each have their own unique interesting personality which got me hooked for every character and emotionally invested in both the girls and the project.

As of v14.01 there are hours of gameplay available especially if you, like me, like to see all the different paths.
The game looks gorgeous, the animation is good and importantly, there's plenty of good scenes with every girl.
I particularly like VNs with some element of gameplay/free roam and while it is not abundant in this game, it is present and never bored me.
The grammar and writing style is also well above average for those who find it important to get hooked to the story.

So if you're looking for a good VN that will make you emotionally invested in its characters while still making sure you're horny throughout your session, this game is for you!

A good game that could be great. Something just feels like it's missing? Like the game is almost lost.

Starts out 5* but the drop off is noticeable around the Europe trip.

My biggest gripe thus far is with the Emily character. The whole "Cheating ex coming back into the MC's life" thing has such potential, IF we could get some development with her aside from a few dream sequences. What was her reasoning? Who is she as a person? Show us that she's grown. Instead she just comes off as a hollow, psycho piece of temptation bait for the player.

The sex scenes also aren't the *best*, but they are fine. Would like to see less vanilla stuff, personally.

The other supporting characters are cool in my book, though. Imre, Josh, and Ryan are all true bros, Aubrey, Chloe and Riley are smoke shows, Nora is temptation bait done right (take notes Emily), and Lauren and Penny are just so loveable.

I haven't seen the bugs other players are complaining of, so I cannot comment there. I just think the world could use some building, and the writing could be more refined.

*chuckles*

4*

Edit: I also wanna' make note of the game basically forcing you onto the Lauren/GF path if you do anything with her romantically at all. (Even if you reject her at the start)

Was jarring for her and the MC to act as if they had something exclusive when she catches the MC with Aubrey on the plane. The romance with Lauren moves way too quickly in general, but I love her so I'll allow it. Ha.

Edit-Edit: Figured I'd revise my already edited review to add some small things that I feel Steve could add to make the CK world more immersive.

The Kiwi app feels clunky and a bit useless. The UI makes the app feel like a chore to navigate, is very bland looking and I would suggest adding more color to the posts page as well as adding NPC/LI posts more frequently. Small stuff like that makes the world feel alive, instead of NPCs and Love Interests only existing when interacting with the MC.

The option to ignore text messages more often, and even starting small talk convos would also be very cool. A big issue I have with CK is it feels like the plot is "MC gets a text to do a thing, he does it, rinse and repeat." I feel giving the player the option to not respond, kinda like with Emily at the start or like you can with Lauren at the Apes party would add some freedom, and feel less kinetic.

A chit-chat feature could also add some much needed life in free roam as sometimes the free roam events seem a bit small. It'd be cool to check in on our bros or love interests.

Just some things for Steve to consider.

This game started great, been one of the very first to play and support it. But it lacks the spirit (quit after Act 3 Part 3) it had in the beginning.
I don't understand what our goal or ambition is as a player, since we had our inner conflict wether we should fight or not, which was completed by joining a frat. So after playing a bit and traveling a few countries I still don't understand what drives our player aside from banging every chick we want.

Kinda sad as I really loved the game but I feel like it's not only the road we go is unclear, but also very buggy and those bugs don't seem to be removed with time.

The game started off strong but it has been nothing but downhill ever since. The only sorta good thing is the renders, which are not the most amazing but they are the only consistent thing about the game. The story, writing, pace feel like it's going nowhere. You have no idea what is going to happen next because there is no story. Just a bunch of random events glued together. And don't even remind me about the bugs. I can't decide what is the worst thing about this game, bugs or the story. Probably the story, honestly

Started off great but has just become cringe. The Storyline is boring and shallow....actually it's dire. Just short random scenes loosely connected together. The dialogue script is so bad....it's constant *laughs* and *chuckles*
In every conversation...it's like the writers have no idea of how real people talk to each other

There is no feeling of depth to any relations with the girls...hardly any boxing fights...scenes feel short and sparse i.e the dates in the europe trip part 3.
I found the last 2 updates a snooze fest.

Oh and the kct system just sucks! you can miss a path *cough Amber* just because your kct was the wrong type...and the things that change your kct don't even make sense at times.

Including your ex as a LI seems a complete waste as the dev has made her an unlikeable psycho bitch. Don't bother with Emily, trust me.

For me, this is the weakest college vn on here. It just feels aimed at kids with how shallow and infantile it is. I think that's who they are targetting..
Thank god I cancelled my Patreon.

There are much better vn's out there with college themes.

Sorry Undergrad Steve, but despite all your hype every release, I just find it subpar. it's the equivalent of watching teen tv drama.

14.0.1 Windows

First of all there's no way that this game is only rated average!

I love the the KCT system, even though it took me a while to figure it out.
The renders look great, the characters have a solid background, the interactions feel pretty realistic while still making it fun to play.

The writting is pretty much flawless, the music doesn't get boring after a while and all the free roaming games give plenty of playing time...

Five stars for me! Really keep it up with the dev dude, and if you're someone reading the reviews before playing you're not wasting your time.

I did not expect the huge story line,
Good graphic, good animationa, good story, good characters delevopment
I prefer long story, The game haves a lot of routes, that you might explore to see every scenes.
The developer delivers regular updates of the game.

Keep the good work

V 14.0.1
Pros

• Very beautiful female characters +
• Good Animations and renders +

Cons

• Many girls with uninteresting stories
• Boring very boring dialogues (hard to survive this)
• All choices seem the same, everything leads to sex
• The story of this game is extremely simple, there is no intrigue. It's drama, bad drama
• Some of the girls' personalities seemed to me exactly the same
• The "overlay" spoils the sex scene, loses all the "magic". (You can hide it but it's annoying).
• Emily's route is a disaster

I wish there was a 4.5 star option. College Kings is an amazing game and absolutely deserves better ratings. Fuck those who just slap that 1 star button because this isn't filled with thirsty milfs with some gigantic tits who jump your cock .3 seconds into the game. I can appreciate a good slow-burner with some complex characters.

Lindsey for president!

That's all

The game seems very good to me, I do not understand why it resives criticism, people do not conform to anything, it is one of the games most complimented in good updates, render one of the dv that dedicates to this and it does not disappoint its followers that is why I give it a score of five

This game is amazing!! MUCH better than certain other college oriented games! The level of detail in the characters relationships is simply astounding. I'm used to games laying a barebones story and later (if ever) coming back and rounding out everything...not so with this game! its full on epic from the very beginning.

This game is very promosing in it's beginning. Characters are distinct and have their own agency and goals. It has an original point system that results in different outcomes and that is always a plus.


I'd say a few months ago, this game would easily a deserve a 5 star review from me. But thankfully, I don't give out premature reviews.


With following pile of chapters, this game's weakness became clear -- It's story structure.


Major events that have been build for chapters fall flat and brushed aside without major importance or payoff. This just makes the player feel like he has spent hours reading useless words and that he wasted his time.


Other scenes lack tonal consistency and just take off the immersion, like A tone should be set in the begining to prepare for bad news such as these, so the player doesn't feel like the events are completely random. Plus, there was no previous foreshadowing.
The event themselves aren't ''bad ideas''. They were only badly built. And due to these problems, the characters themselves end up suffering, which sort of ruin the early impressions.



In short, I hope that in future projects the authoer hires an actual editor that can help him with story structure and tells him what also has to happen for his ideas to flourish.

I give this game 3 starts because I love the innovation, it's start and it's ideas. Butsadly I cannot rate it any higherbecause of the aforementioned problems. I am hopeful the author will improve and wish him best of luck in the future.

Amazing renders and story.. The sex scenes do not make us wait for too long.. My Only concern is the size of the download.. Dev has to do something may be in his next game.. Last but not the least, all the models are super amazing and unique.!! In love with this game

Game tries too hard to be something it's not. This doesn't feel like a real college game to me, just something that the Dev thinks college is about.

Story: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Average MC fucking all of these hot women? Yeah right. Realistic college game my ass. In reality this guy would at the very most be able to bang Lauren. There's nothing special about him so I don't get why he's written like Casanova. No real plot here other than high school drama.

Renders: 3 out of 5 stars

They're good to look at.


Characters: 1.5 out 5 stars

It's really hard to like any of these characters or "Love interest". One cheats on you, but then realizes that she fucked up and wants you back, yeah right. Another is a easy lay who almost instantly puts on immediately. There's the popular girl who no one seems to trust and... Lindsay or is it Lauren? She's kinda plain so I forget, but she's ironically the best choice to me.

Gameplay: 2 out of 5 stars

There's bugs and bugs, but not as bad as GH. Still a nuisance, however.
I hate the fight system, I often skip it. The phone system is iffy and don't use it with the transparent text mod. I'm not impressed with this game overall, wish the creators nothing, but the best though.

game is always buggy with each update, the story is pretty much non-existent, a male character gets added to game part way through story, but adds nothing to the story itself, the frats are pretty much pointless, pick a frat never wear the jacket, and the fighting mechanic that was suppose to be the main part of the game, you have like 3 or 4 fights, by time they appear it better to just skip them.
speaking of skipping, I advise you skip this game, and go play something better.