VN - Ren'Py - Abandoned - Complex Relations [Demo] [Amai Works]

Complex Relations

Version reviewed: Demo

After playing the demo I loved pretty much everything about it. The overall tone, chemistry between characters, direction, art, multiple perspectives... Definitely worth playing even if there were no erotic scenes. Which there are and they actually work with the story, unlike the typical "story-with-random-porn" or "porn-with-random-story" types of visual novels that have these elements. It also looks pretty focused and reasonable in scope, so hopefully we'll see the end of it. Just waiting for the Kickstarter.

This is a well-written, high quality, cute, wholesome VN. I know I'm at least a little biased because the subject matter ticks so many of my boxes, but that doesn't change the fact that this game is quality.

My favorite parts of this game are the little character interactions in every scene that draw out their individual complexities and relationships. It helps to immerse myself in the story when I like and care about all of the characters, even the non-POV ones.

One of the things that continually struck me while playing was how polished everything was, from the error-free writing to the little movements characters make during dialog. It's all relatively minor, but it's noticeable and adds to the experience.

In the context of being a visual novel - pretty good. Of course, there's no gameplay and you have very little input into what's happening. However, it's a straight up VN so that's about expected. What it does do however, within that format, is well executed.

So the character sprites are cute if fairly conservative, that should be obvious from the screenshots. Something you might not catch at first though is that there's a good deal of stage directions inserted in, having the characters moving around the screen and emoting. It's still limited and if you think about it too much you'll realise the perspective is busted, but in a symbolic sense, it works. It works well. The stills are a lot better with that. UI is unfinished, but it's a demo so that might get resolved over time. It's just jarring when something feels like it's missing when the demo is otherwise fairly well polished.

The writing is the hard hitter here, or specifically the characters. They're fleshed out and have depth, but more importantly, they feel human, interact with each other in ways that feel genuine. There's also a quirk to the presentation here - at certain points you're asked to pick the perspective from which you want to view the next segment. At the very least that adds some more re-playability than just hunting different paths to the ending.

Having actual characters with personalities means there's room for chemistry between them. Especially since the characters are not strangers to each other. Nothing unusual in terms of the back stories, but that just makes it easier to catch on and follow how that affects the plot. The perspective switching helps with clearing it up as well.

The story is not very sexual and it doesn't really feel like a wish fulfilment from the male character's perspective. It's more of a light erotic romance thing. I'd still say the game is written for and targetted at a male audience, but getting a look into the girl's thoughts does flesh out the story a fair bit. Of course this is only a demo, though it's pretty hefty. I'd say the size of a small VN in its own right.

Overall:
- If you don't like VNs, this one might surprise you but it's not going to rock your boat about the format;
- You're not gonna play this one handed, it's sexy, but it's not that kind of game;
- Demo, but will give you a good idea if you want to wait on the full release or not.
- Good art, good writing;
- Unfortunately runs on Ren'Py