VN - Ren'Py - Crimson High [v0.43.1] [Vertigo]

Overview: detective story in a high school.
Reality: case solved in the first hour, proceed to generic bland harem, but this time the girls are "monsters".
The MC, a supposed detective, has no wit, intelligence or character, 99% of the time a passive strung along, but in reality, he's super special awesome child of god or something (full details not yet available as of this review), which is the only way to explain why the nether region of every girl he meets turn into a waterfall near this bar of soap of an MC. It's really hard to think of a less original and more derivative premise and MC.
The girls are a plenty, and they all have the same body type and one face to share, no matter the age. Extremely poor usage of koikatsu. And "a plenty" means way too many with the majority being completely forgettable as a character and have about 10 lines of dialogue. If you manage to fancy one, there won't be much content anyway, because the plot is spread so thin it barely advances . And if you happen to forget who someone is (you will), gonna have to replay again because there is nothing to remind you who this randomly dropped in character you've seen for half a minute is.
Vast majority of dialogues are just repetitions or time wasters. Here's a simplified example of a couple of events:
MC: can you tell me about X?
A: Not yet
MC: OK, can you explain about Y?
A: Soon
MC:wow, how about Z?
A: come back tomorrow.
Tomorrow comes, and nothing is explained once again.
The few sex scenes that are there lack sexuality and feel like they are there to tick off a checkbox of "has sex"

In short: Good premise wasted immediately for a generic bad harem with too many characters, lame sex and barely progressing plot.

Well that was disapointing to say the least, i feel scammed by the other review.

Everything is obvious af, feels like a big part of the worst cliche that anime can create have been poured into this vn

When i was reading the resume about detective i kinda hoped that there was some sort of good mystery but yeah 20 minute into it and everything was more or less figured out and i am not a f detective so how come the mc is that dumb, like you just wanted that to tire out the story ? or is this really his character coz its not always the case... Feels like really lazy writing for me and on this note i'm gonna lazy write this review (im fair).

For some "positives": the chara-design of the girls is good, a little wanky some time but good overall and it was funny when i was not frustrated by the bad written mc.

(v 0.34.1)

Really great VN. Well-written, compelling characters; excellent framing, posing, and FX; and cute character designs. The story is interesting and engaging, and the worldbuilding/lore is consistent and well-crafted. Looking forward to more!

This is one of the most engaging VN's/games I've played. Great story, great characters (there's so many!). This game captivated me for over 5 days of my free time. Great character development, great images, and a LOT of characters.

A couple of things...
The hamsters are a neat addition, but when playing on the phone, it's VERY difficult to find them, even with the hints.

Text message font is pretty small, even using accessibility text size slider.

On the phone, the cast list would be more useful if you could click each one and pull it up full size. On the phone, this feature is almost useless. There are so many characters, I'd really like to be able to pull them up to remind myself who they are, where I met them. Providing some additional information would be really helpful!

The non-standard fonts that are used are nearly impossible to read in the phone. I have to screenshot each page, open my gallery, and zoom in so I can even see what's trying to be said (the "I'M HUNGRY" one, Ori's "sleep spell", the ghoul talking in the school). This probably looks fine on a bigger PC screen, but on a phone, it all blurs together.

I feel the story is phenomenal and tho it is annoying to end on the cliff hangers always wants me coming back for more. Characters do have great development as well and interesting histories, especially Suzu. All in all nothing really bad about the game, if i could pick anything there would be two things. First, lack of sexual content which we are warned about. Second, more info of the different kinds of myths.

I love the build up of the story. I personally loved the narrative type style of gameplay where there's not much consequences to the actions and just tells a story. Though I understand some people might not like it but it reminds of reading so I like this style a lot. The story is interesting too but I recommend letting the mc use all the info he learned at his disposal more smoothly. He is a cop so having him clumsily forget certain info at times just seems confusing. Also I hate you for ending on a cliffhanger

Probably one of the best VNs I have played ever, it is simply brilliant! The dialogue is well written and characters are well fleshed out, the cast is big but most of the them are intriguing in their own way. Especially if your fancy is towards the shy schoolgirl types. The renders are good overall. A bit of a slow burn, but gets increasingly juicy as you play. Wholeheartedly recommending this!

Loving the game so far, just finished the last released update (0.32.1). Obviously, one of the biggest current upsets for me is the lack of h-scenes, but as it says on the front we gotta wait a bit longer, which im honestly chill with. Love the characters and im enjoying the story too. Out of all currently releasing games, this is easily in my top 3 and I will be watching it closely.

I like the story. It starts with a murder mystery that the main character discovering there is a whole secret society hiding in plain sight.

There are a lot different girls with their own secrets to be revealed. Although the adult scenes are slow to appear at first you meet a lot of interesting and cute girls along the way.

The updates are frequent. They quite often end in a bit of a cliff hanger, but I enjoy them and usually can’t wait for the next one.

It is a great game that’s worth checking out.

Story is pretty ok, MC which is supposed to be a grown up detective working a murder case in a school and try to solve it, and finding out about vamps and such and thats about it for the main plot really.

Its supposed to be more based on story then sex atleast to start with, but still MC is cringy as hell and has the mindset of a 12 year old which gets annoying, not sure why so many MCs in games has to be like that, i just find it idiotic and when MC meets someone he constantly thinks about their tits and ass and how he wants to fuck em all....its just weird when hes supposed to be a grown-up detective it only drags the story down to being bland.
Like looking a pictures of the 13 girls MC goes "they are all attractive, might not be relevant to the case but it is to me" MC is just a pervert no more no less, and he trys to flirt with 100% of all females he meets and no theres no option not to do it.

When MC sits infront of the girl vamp who wanted to bite him in hes sleep and he goes, "fuck my weakness for cute girls" to stop making her explain her self thats when i had enough, MC truely has no brain power and cant connect the dots that she might be a vamp....hes a freaking detective...a cop... and hes brainless? he sees her fangs, she wants to bite him, shes way stronger then him and MC goes to lalaland not being able to figure anything out??? come on....this story is shit, then he freely walks the girl home to what could be vamp lair to get him self killed....and i got to say it would make for a better story if that girls mom did kill MC he deserves it for being so stupid.

He gets multiple hints even from the girls he used to babysit as well, like how they changes and had to leave the familie and shit but MC just stays clueless, if you asked MC to add 1+1 together he would use 4 hours to figure it out and still come up with the worng result.....and when MC gets told not to share the hidden world of creatures what does MC do...share it...with one that would never be able to hold a secret or atleast shouldent compared to how her character is.....

When MC finaly learns about it all (no thx to hes own brain) he pretty much just accepts it and goes on like its just another normal day....
He also finds out he cant fuck vamps since that will kill him and what does MC do? none stop flirting with everyone like any other day.....and the way dev made vamps is just weird, they cant have sex with men and theres 0 male vamps, so i guess all vamps are forced lesbians? and they walk in the sun with no issues.

It almost feel like half the text/thoughts is MC flirting/thinking about ass and tits, its just waaaaaaaaaaay to much, proberly the worst and most cringy MC ive seen and thats saying something.

To make game even worse its just another mindless fuckfest game or very close to it since LIs will be forced on you in most cases, you might be able to turn down a few but most will be forced, which i did kinda guess considering how MC acts constantly, but its still annoying that you cant say no and it really should have a kinetic novel tag to warn people about the lack of choices in the game, even more so since its a real slowburn game so when your not info forced LIs/Sex and wont find out about before many hours of reading its just really bad and a waste of time.

Animations are prett decent and music is alright.

This is probably one of my favorite VN's. All the girls are adorable and attractive. They all have different personalities.

The story is really good also. You start as a detective and your first case is a murder at a school, little do you know you're about to be thrown into a world you never would of thought could be.

Some of the stories about the girls past is pretty sad maybe there is a way for us to brighten up their lives? Yes, yes we can. Like I said before the girls are adorable. It's really hard to point out a favorite for me but I would say Miko, Mana and more recently Emma but I really do enjoy all the girls, these 3 are just my personal favorites.

If you haven't given this one a shot and you like a good story, cute girls and all around good time, check out this one. I think you will enjoy if you're ok with a slightly slow burn but, It's 100% worth it.

I had a hard time deciding between 4 and 5 stars.

There's a lot to love. The premise and setting aren't anything new, but it executes the concept better than most. The general "cinematography" is very good, and the dialogue feels very natural.

The girls themselves are mostly attractive , interesting, and varied both in appearance and personalities. Miko in particular is a beauty that stands out from the typical crowd of Koi girls, but I can't quite put my finger on why. A few, like the blonde police woman (whose name I can't remember) stray a bit into the uncanny valley for me.

This leads into one improvement it desperately needs; a larger character gallery, and to include the "monster type" and "powers" (if applicable) of the girls we've met in it. You can assume any unknown girls are vampires and often be right, but there are a lot of side characters that are easy to forget important details of and it would be nice to know for sure.

In the end, I'm eagerly awaiting the next update, so that ultimately makes it worthy of five stars from me.

This is a hard game to rate for me because you can just tell there is a lot of love poured into it by the dev. This is clearly not a game that is just quickly made and uploaded for a few bucks. However, that being said, this feels like barely a game because of how much of a kinetic novel it feels like. Throughout the game, there are only a handful of choices, and those choices are minimalistic at best. You just decide whether or not you are interested in a girl, basically. There are no options for different routes or yes/no to certain kinks or anything like that. You're mostly just reading a very detailed and in depth story with a unique fantasy setting. As stated on the page, there are not a lot of sex scenes in this game at all. If you're coming for a sex game you'll be very disappointed. If you want a very long in depth written story with a fantasy setting that mixes with the modern day then you'll love this game. The girls are all honey select but its got a nice mix of uniqueness blended with an anime style and it looks really really nice. I really like the look of all the characters. Overall, it's a pretty damn good game, but barely a game, and for me that part disappointed me enough to take off a star.

I quite like the plot of Crimson High, there's some decent world-building and it holds a good amount of mystery that gets reasonably revealed. I do think though that it might have gotten overly ambitious with the number of plot points and characters with some not being properly examined by the detective MC or just lacking payoff.

Speaking of characters, there's quite a few LIs and they're all at least nicely modelled, though it doesn't seem that they're all optional (or at least the choice isn't made obvious). But then again, that would probably multiply the complexity of development by many times given how many characters there are, which is another issue as inevitably some characters just drop off in appearance for no reason other than having to pace out the story. Most of the characters get a fair amount of development but it an feel like too much to keep track of sometimes. The sex scenes themselves are alright though not too high in quantity, which at least is sort of explained with a sufficient plot reason.

Overall, I think the story drives forward very well despite a few hiccups, and I give it a 4 star rating primarily for that, even though the VN suffers a bit by trying to be too grand in the quantity of plot points and characters.

[As of 28.1]
As a first-time player, I enjoyed myself immensely. Eventually, anyway.

Honestly, the start was a little hard to get through, primarily because of the MC. While he didn't seem like a wimp, he did feel overly passive to me and not at all what I would expect a detective to be like. Didn't ask enough questions, didn't seem curious enough, and trusted too quickly. I was pretty sure he would get murdered two days after he gets assigned a case where the culprit actually IS a cute girl.

I also didn't like how he didn't literally take his gun everywhere after getting almost killed twice and finding out myths are real. I mean, yeah, you're going on a date with a girl, and bringing a gun is not usually your first instinct, but when both you and the girl have already been attacked multiple times, maybe it's a good idea to bring some protection! Even if you're on a date! Personally, I would have gotten a second gun, just in case.

I also felt he dropped the mother topic with Uraha too quickly. I mean, my mother is alive and well, but when a 500-year-old vampire tells me they "heard about her," I'd like some more information than that, let alone if she were dead.

Then, some minor things, like during Miko's date, where the MC gives her a box of chocolates that seems to appear and disappear into thin air. It's kind of funny when such things get acknowledged, like the MC thinking where they pulled this and that from, but when it's not, it's just weird.
There was also the time when the MC had already told Miko about Suzu staying at his apartment but later worried about telling Miko that exact same thing.

Anyway, having said all that, from about halfway into where the game is at now, I started enjoying myself a lot more as the MC started seeming much more like what I would expect someone like him to be.

I still have some grievances, though, like the MC still having failed to check the handwriting in that notebook. I mean, yeah, the case is basically over, but be a little more thorough; why don't you?
He also still has too many times where he "Doesn't know why he did/feel/say/think this or that." Even if it has gone down by a bit.
Like the time when he "Didn't know why he felt like kissing her," and I'm just sitting here thinking 'dude, you have a beautiful girl on your lap with her face close to yours while you're looking into each other's eyes. I would have revoked your straight male card if you didn't at least THINK about kissing her.'

It seems I somehow ended up complaining about the MC again, but I honestly enjoy both the MC and the game now. The setting and story are both intriguing, and I'm excited to see more.

There aren't really a lot of adult scenes yet, but the ones that are there are good, and I see a lot of promising stuff for the future.

So yeah, I deducted one star for the mediocre MC at the start, but otherwise great game.

Great game.

An engaging and well-written story. I love games like this, where the game scenes progress as you advance in the story.

All the characters are very well-detailed and developed. Plus, it's visually beautiful.

Congratulations to the developer!

I think this is a great example of what can be done with Koikatsu. The visuals and the sound are appealing in a general anime sorta way. The game isn't presented as a bunch of memes and references tying sex scenes together and the characters express personality beyond being clones of favored anime waifus.

Vertigo pays a great deal of attention to detail. There's no mid-scene camera angle jitter, no mid scene lighting changes or background objects moving around for no reason. What really impresses is how people in the background aren't static. In a lot of games the only character on screen that moves is the one you're specifically talking to. But this one, you see that they are presented like people, they'll react to things that are said or happen instead of just sitting there like dolls.

The MC is even a likeable sorta guy, he's obviously the lead of a harem story but not all his problems are solved by his giant magic dick like most others.

Speaking of which kudos to the dev for not subjecting the audience to more dick shots then girls. I don't know how many games I've tried where I have to frequently see the MC in the shower or pissing like they're advertising his alpha/bull/stud status right before they show us the evil dream sequences to qualify for tags they haven't got content for yet. Thanks Vertigo for being a rational person in this regard.

The story's great, actual character development for a couple characters so far. Although I will say, I hope there's some more challenges to overcome. I'm not saying I wanna see anyone die, but some more adversity would do well to spice things up. As it is it's mostly slice of life with monster inspired girls with some kinda spooky looming shadows nearby that might be a problem. Some day? Be prepared for cliff hangers if you play by the update, if you wait 2 or 3 and play them all at once you won't notice them. Clever that...

Give it a try if you like harem stories, girls in pleated skirts, and heartwarming character interaction punctured...I mean punctuated by some pretty good lewd content.

If you like the most generic characters, situations, plot, humour, mc, scenes and dialogue, this one is for you.
There is not one original thing going on in here and you have seen everything at least a dozen times already. The humor is random and cringeworthy and nothing interesting happens.

But at least it is stretched very thin and padded with more nonsense.

I love this game and I'm gonna tell you why, but I'm going to advise you first to go into this one blind. It's going to really make the first leg of the story that much more enjoyable for you.

Anyway, this game is fantastic. The main draws to this game that I want to write about are its story, the characters, and the world-building. Gonna tackle them 1 by 1. There's a lot more I could write about but I'm gonna limit myself to these because wow this review is already long.

The game is one of those slow burners like the dev message tells you it is. You're likely familiar with how these go: character relationships are built up over several hours and the main enjoyment isn't really about the sex payoff at the "end" of the build-up (it is there though, but not for every girl yet as of current update 0.28). You're playing the game to see the characters develop up to bedding them, and then seeing how things progress afterwards. This is not one of those harem games where you go through a 20-minute character arc with a love interest and then they end up just being a trophy you can smash on the side while you pursue the next one.

About those characters then, there's the typical selection of "archetypes" you'd find in a lot of harem games: various shades of shy girls, a couple of flirty girls, a quiet one, a mysterious one, etc. Where Crimson high will impress you is in how it gives you glimpses into the depth of each of these girls. A lot of showing and not telling, done through the small details in scenes like how the girls look at the MC, what they say to him, and how, and sometimes why. 10 hours in and you're still not handed a single one of these girl's full stories and the mysteries of those stories gives each girl a real and distinctive weight whenever they're on screen. The game has probably the most robust and most loveable roster of LIs in any harem game I've played, which is remarkable considering how many LIs there are.

I would talk about the plot here, but it's worth finding that one out yourself, so I'll say it's definitely compelling. Moreover, it allows the characters to surprise you with how they end up developing and interacting with it. A case where both the plot, and the characters are in symbiosis, both enhancing the other, which is absolutely something most games don't get right and where the dev deserves the most praise for managing.

I also want to talk about the MC's character, which a few reviews seem to have issues with. I think they underrate him. He's a detective, and definitely not a dumb one either as shown by how he interacts with what's going on in the plot, picking up on the nuances of what people say to him and being able to discern who he can trust and what people's intentions are. While he's got the typical harem master trait of wanting to take care of and help ALL the girls, he's not a pushover. He'll put his foot down when it's time to do so. He's a 24 yr old adult and he's dealing with a bunch of 18/19 yr old girls at the end of the day, and it's always apparent. If you give him a chance and pay a bit more attention to his monologuing and actions, he will impress you with his insight, or at the very least make you respect him as a character who's able to take the weight of so many people's lives and the responsibilities that come with them. Finally, just like the girls, there's a lot we/he does not know about himself. He has many inexplicable reactions to things, able to do things and react to situations much more competently than anyone expects, all of which in an interesting and grounded way. He has a real depth there, not at all like the typical plank or blank page but somehow competent MC.

Last is world-building. It's done pretty damn well. The game is based in the "real world", in Japan, but here are characters from all over the world, people who are way older than they appear, the threads of politics and intrigue are not explicitly laid out bare the story yet, but absolutely pulse and set the course of things. Again, depth, there's a lot of it and can hold the crazy plot and its fantastic characters in it and keep everything grounded with the rules and expectations that it establishes.

This is where my main criticism of the game lies though. Unfortunately, this game has one of the bad harem game tropes where the MC is the only man shown in the story who isn't dead, an asshole, an ASSHOLE, elderly, a dad, gay, or isn't the one and only buddy/bro trope character who is not at all a threat to your relationships. If you realize that there are basically no other "normal" guys in the story, it can put a dampener on the world-building side of things, specifically how it keeps the story grounded and believable in the context of everything. Even just showing an interaction with another normal couple, or better yet have some more cool, likable, and interesting male characters tangentially related to the plot would do absolute wonders. At the current patch point of the story, the MC is the world to most of the girls, there is no harm in letting them interact with another cool genuinely likable guy, who while isn't going try some ntr shenanigans, is again a normal dude who isn't conveniently disallowed from being liked by the girls. Besides making the world more believable, it would be a chance to show the depth (my favorite word apparently) of the girls' feelings for the MC.

Thankfully, this kind of thing can be done at any point in the story, it is a case of literally just adding a new side character. If you're reading this dev I hope I made my case well enough for you to consider doing something about this at least, this game is close to perfect for me and this trope is lame frankly.

4.5/5 game, rounded up because I think most people don't have as big of an issue as I have with not enough male characters in harem, story focused games. One of the best VNs I've played.

A very well written story with compelling characters. Despite the slow burn I still find myself drawn into the game and wanting to see more. If I had to complain about anything it would almost be that there are too many characters to follow =P