VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Confusion [v1.0.1] [AVNSnax]

Just found this VN, upto now I'm liking it. I doubt it but I kinda have a feeling Brad might be more like Alex than they let on. Also Just a little thing that bothered me, not all guys have a pronounced adams apple, I definitely don't and I wouldn't call any part of me feminine, also similarly, there are plenty of girls who have a visible adams apple.

How do you find your place in a world where you do not seem to fit in? Confusion is a story about a young transgender woman that is coming into an adult world that seems to do everything it can to deny her any chance of happiness.

There are hundreds of stories out there with Futa/Trans content, but none of them have given the sub genre a story that is grounded in a "plausible" story-line. Confusion side steps the stereotypical Futa/Trans conventions and delivers on a very relatable and human story that forces you to "see" the characters and walk in their shoes.

It is my opinion that Confusion is a story that is long overdue. The developer has taken a brave step forward by not only casting a female as MC but also a transgender MC! Many would say that the story already has two strikes against it but I do not see it that way. I see this as a fantastic story that has been long overdue!

Confusion isn't a perfect story. There are times when you feel like the atmosphere is just too negative. It becomes depressing at times and may even anger some people. I do think that the story could use a little bit more positivity to help balance the emotions but I fear doing so would diminish the emotions that the writer is trying to convey.

Perhaps the biggest (maybe only) complaint that I have here isn't in the story, but in the games "Mechanics". I found the transistions and the use of delayed slides and non dialog scenes to be annoying and at times irritating. I quickly found myself spamming the mouse button to get things moving. In my opinion these scenes and moments are greatly over done! If anything would make me quit the story and delete it, it would be these moments. In my opinion, they did more to hurt the flow of the story than anything.

Graphically, the story is pretty good. The renders are good and aside from some inconsistency with the look of the stories patriarch, all of the characters look good. In this day and age, it is hard to find a VN that doesn't use the same cookie cutter assets but Confusion does a good job of giving us characters that are fairly unique. You don't find yourself looking at the MC and thinking about another story which is good. The world within the story looks good as well.

If you are looking for gratuitous sex scenes, this is not the story for you. Confusion is a slow burn that takes it's time to flesh out characters and build a good core story. You get a glimpse of things to come while the story builds momentum and the flow of the story does a good job of building anticipation for the events yet to come.

Overall, Confusion is a fantastic story at this stage. It does a great job of keeping your attention and you can't help but be emotionally invested in the characters. Game mechanics aside, I still give this story 5 stars. Confusion is a story that has been a long time coming! It is a breathe of fresh air in a stagnant sub-genre!

This is my original review - While I have no experience with trans issues, I can definitely tell that the author put a ton of heart into trying their very best to make a believable trans protagonist. I'm ngl, when I put the "trans" tag in the search bar to find games, I had a more perverted intention in mind. Instead, this game makes you feel bad for our protagonist and feel good when others stick up for her.

Like others have stated, the one downside I can think of is that the bully character feels like he was ripped straight out of an R.L. Stein novel. One thing I do really like, however, is how the author treats depression. Unlike other series which have characters being sobbing messes, this series uses a lot of "slow-burning pain" type depression. The characters will just sit there in emotional pain. Not over the top, just genuinely hurt.

[UPDATE] - So I lowered the score I'm giving by one star. It's still a good game, however, the antagonists go from laughably bad, to insultingly horrible in recent updates. If this game had a less serious subject matter, it wouldn't be a big deal, however, the villains in this story are a representative parody of certain groups that I can't write because it goes against the TOS.

I just want to give advice to the author about villain motivation.
Most good villains don't exist necessarily for the detriment of the main character, but rather as a detriment to the main character's development.

For example, Thanos didn't attack the Avengers because, "grrr I hate the Avengers", but instead, because he wanted to fix a GENUINE problem and in his flawed mind, came up with an extreme solution that conflicts with the Avengers. Again, I have to be careful how I word this next part, but I'd rather Alex have a genuine goal that is nuanced and easy to comprehend that conflicts with others goals in this game.

This is off the top of my head but imagine if Alex wanted to do MMA. This would naturally cause villains with believable and nuanced goals that conflict with Alex's AND it would be socially relevant to today. That's just one example off the top of my head, and I realize that telling the author how to write is disrespectful, and for that, if the author reads this, I apologize but I'm only trying to help.

Even if you disagree with the side you are trying to make villainous, it's important to at least understand the motivations and concerns that lead to their behaviors. Otherwise, they feel "unhuman" and the work you painstakingly created begins to feel like propaganda.

Graphics = Good

Gameplay = VN so good.

Story = Give this a try, it is a great story, I cried on the intro cause that made me realize how much I wanted my childhood to be more like that of the parents supporting my gender identity (NB) instead of forcing me to appear as masc as possible to not get bullied, although in my case I did resort to violence, I loved the realistic approach to transition and so far I've really fallen in love with it, also I saw someone write about the asexuality thing somewhere, either a review or comment and though to clarify that besides sexuality being in a spectrum and being fluid trauma and mental conditions heavily influence it so it is perfectly reasonable for the MC to just start having sexual desires after starting to heal, also some asexual people do get horny (me for example) but sex is not a priority in their life and don't normally seek sexual encounters but don't shun them either, again it is a very realistic approach from what I gathered, or at least as much as a Adult VN would allow and that includes character interactions and what they say, and again I can't stress this enough, it is realistic in a AVN type of way, wich means that it will have unlogical things in it, there is a lot of story for a 0.4 really good because of that as well.

extra = mostly stuff that I don't like that much 1. It feels like it is more of Chris's story of dealing with her sister than Alexe's, at least in the very beginning (chapter 2 for better about it). 2. Not a fan of seeing the thought of the characters I'm not playing, it makes me feel detached from the character that I'm actually controlling.3. this is the one work where more time with the MC and their inner thoughts is needed the most as, at least from what I gathered, most people here are not Trans so they would need as much help as possible to understand the character being the sex and sexual thoughts. 4. The only reason I can't give this a 5/5 besides just not liking the review system of stars or numbers is the animations, I like being in control of the pacing and animations take that away, a good example of what I like would be terminus reach 2 and there I don't like how some scenes move on their own, I like renpy games because of the control it gives players but I know I'm probably on the minority here.

edit: decided to edit some pointed criticisms of mine here, mostly 2 right now, 1. the reason to work out should be because it normally makes people feel better and helps with self-image and mental health, but not pointed out as "you could lose some weight" that does come off as a type of prejudice but it fits the story if you think that it would be what a young woman that grew up in a capitalistic and patriarchal society would think, just think criticism of it would be nice really. 2. the bathroom scene would be better in a private setting as to avoid people using it in a bad-faith argument about the game. I probably have more but can't word it right now so this will do.

A great start so far, with some very attractive renders. The story is very interesting and kinky wether you install the taboo patch or not (although the taboo makes it better). While there's no option to turn down the guy yet, it completely makes sense why there isn't.

Renders are quite good and the spelling and grammar have no obvious errors.

[ v0.3 ] 5 STARS. Very promising game. The MC is very likeable and pretty. I like the development of the characters. This game tackles some mature themes and scenarios. So far the trans protagonist has only shown interest in women, which is the kind of content I want to see (or trans on trans). Love the relationship between the MC and her "lookalike foster-"sister. So far there is very little sexual content, but at this early stage it's totally understandable. The pacing is pretty good right now. I'm very excited to see how the game develops further. Can't wait to see more!

[v0.9] UPDATED. 3 STARS. Unfortunately my opinion of this title has changed for the worse. The biggest reason is because of the tone of the game. It's a little too serious for what I'm looking for (an innocent fap session). To some this is probably a selling point, but personally I don't like how sad a lot of the game is. The MC is constantly abused and crying, there are several characters that exist purely to gender-bash and assault the MC, including her own family. There is a clear emphasis on exploring how trans people have to deal with bullying and discrimination. It's all too heavy for me when I just want to escape reality and enjoy a story about a trans girl loving on her twin sister. And that all said, the game's handling of incest (optional I suppose) is rather flippant. It doesn't take much for the whole family (minus a bully sister) to get on their knees and share the MC's cock. I personally don't mind this too much, but it conflicts with the grounded and serious tone the rest of the story is going for.

The other thing that bothered me is the design of the game itself. Like an RPG straight out of the 2000s, there is a morality system for the MC. You either make 'good' and forgiving choices, or 'rude' and dominating choices. The problem is that choosing one route or the other early on locks you in and there is no way to make different decisions later on. You can only play one route in a single play through because you lack points to unlock other choices. I hate having content locked off behind multiple playthroughs and not being able to shape a character as the story goes. For a game that focuses so hard on being realistic and serious, you would think it would also treat the MC as a character that can change over time or behave differently depending on individual situations. It doesn't help that most of the more perverted and sexy options are locked behind the 'asshole' variant of the MC, so being nice to people and being a sexy pervert are apparently contradictory behaviors.

The MC begins to come off overly confident and borderline rude as the story goes on (which makes sense from overcoming the bullying), regardless of choices made by the player. Needless to say, the kind and innocent version of the MC you are introduced to in the beginning is gone deeper into the game. Combine this with the awful haircut she gets and I just don't like the MC anymore.

A shame this game didn't go the direction I initially hoped.

Review v0.3a:

It's clear that the MC is a deeply troubled person.

I think that this is exceptionally well portrayed in the game. Not only the MC, but nearly all characters are feeling very deep and well developed. One exception being the archetypical bully asshole Kevin, but there is something more going on there. I'm looking forward of seeing more of the MC's older sister Ellie and delving deeper into her reasons for treating the MC as poorly as she does.

I haven't played all paths, but it seems there are a few options. I followed a "lesbian" path and was not confronted with other dicks besides my own (so far) and I also didn't feel like I was dodging bullets all the time. Instead, the path I followed was mostly romantic and loving. In any case, and contrary to many other trans games, there is nothing forced on the player / MC. Without spoiling things, some (very) negative things happen for sure, but the MC / player has the agency to deal with these things.

The only thing I found a bit weak about the story is that while, for some reason, the MC only had a hard-on for two (!) times before the start of the story, she's starting to behave like a typical horny teenager, getting hard-ons for her twin's friend/lover, her mother and her twin sister. That's fine but I think the problem is with the back story. If there is some techical reason for her being mostly asexual while growing up, e.g. due to her transitioning, it's not stated in the game. Otherwise it's a bit unbelievable. Also the twin sister seems to be in a relationship with Zoey and with Izzy at the same time. I found this also a bit confusing and unneccesarily complicated.

Graphics, for the most parts it's fine. It's not breathtakingly beautiful but it's fine. Emotions are shown well, which is rather important for this game. Some outdoor scenes are rather poor but it's not a big deal.

Lewd content, well, there is some, but for this version 0.3a, not that much. It's clearly not a fap game and also clearly a slow burn. Which is completely fine by me.

Edit version 0.4: the story is starting to annoy me a bit to be honest. The MC is constantly crying, the mom is going overboard with her woke bullshit.

Verdict: 3 / 5 due to some plot holes, less-then-stellar graphics and annoying woke overtones.

Wow. Incredibly well written and erotic. The characters have depth and the while the family drama is pretty heavy, with topics like these you should expect that. Really looking forward to see more.

Dont usually go for these types of genre but what played so far was very erotic, which was quite suprising so looking forward to any more updates. Models look pretty good, the writing is very erotic and the scenarios quite erotic with a lot of potential.

The review below by SixtyNineGaming pretty much sums up my thoughts. It's nice seeing a serious take on issues that the trans community has to deal with. But aside from that, the story looks promising, and I like that its a bit of a slow build. It would cheapen the game showing more at this point.

The graphics are ok, no issues there.

The dialog is realistic, with no spelling or grammar issues that I noticed.

No issues with any of the coding, everything worked perfectly.

I would have given four stars as that's what I hand out for games I consider pretty good, but the fact that I'm also able to learn about someone's world that is in no way relatable to my own earned it an extra star.

Best of luck with the game, and I look forward to the updates.

This is the first game on the site that actually shows you the trans and transition experience. Almost every VN has trans people as a fetish (which I am not against), but this one actually what it is like to be a trans person. The constant ridicule and exclusion, the uncertianity and doubt, all these make life hard for trans people and this VN showed those things.

This is still an initial release/demo, so there isn't much content, but I love what's here and I'm looking for to more with interest.