Review Version: v0.2
Overall Score: 97/100
Value: Infinite
As is standard with all of my reviews I will break it up into 4 distinct sections each covering different aspects of an AVN.
Note: I've purpose left out audio quality (e.g. SFX, ambience, soundtracks, etc.) due to how minor of a role it plays in a VN. While some developers take advantage of audio in fantastic methods, overall it isn't as useful of a metric when rating.
Story
“Cyberheart” is a VN that serves as an example of what a developer should strive for in terms of quality. Immediately from the start we’re graced with a philosophical question from French philosopher Albert Camus: do we like Winter? While most of the audience will brush this simple question aside it perfectly encapsulates the overall theme of the story alongside giving them the power of choosing. To put it succinctly, DiPeppo has revealed the driving factor for the story as melancholic, but we have the power to manipulate how it will end.
The plot of “Cyberheart” follows a traditional three act structure that every successful modern piece of media is built upon. To avoid spoilers, we’ll only discuss the beginning act (Act I) despite hints for the midpoint and climax being hinted at towards the end of v0.2. The key aspect behind the exposition phase of Act I is the lack of lore/info dumping on DiPeppo’s part that would easily overwhelm most of the audience as they try to commit every factoid to memory. Instead the lore of the world is given to us throughout Ch. 1 and Ch. 2 through natural methods – such as conversations between MC and Katherine that explain why the he lives with three non-blood relatives. Additionally, plots elements such as the state of technology and morality of each person are conveyed regularly in both conversation and action without the reliance on a codex to give a ten minute explanation. Overall the plot is well fleshed out and takes full advantage of the tools used by veterans in the media industry.
Speaking of level of technology, that ties into the broader discussion of the setting in which “Cyberheart” takes place in. The overall world that the story takes place in is heavily inspired by light science fiction as holographic technology and genetic manipulation are somewhat developed. DiPeppo also makes an effort to indicate that, while this tech does exist, the overall technology of the world isn’t too advanced with a scene involving a shopkeeper delivering a package to the MC. Generally, the audience will find themselves right at home as the world takes on a familiar aesthetic while incorporating realistic scientific elements. Not much else can be said as 95% of the first two chapters takes place in the same location, leaving much of the world unexplored.
Characters
This section always takes such a long time to write… anyways, enough complaining, time to discuss the five main characters so far!
The protagonist of a story which tries to incorporate player agency is difficult to get right, but not impossible as games such as the ME Trilogy and The Witcher III managed to implement this exact method of storytelling. As it stands, the choices made by the protagonist do have some measurable impact on the story as is evident by the game tracking your relationship with the other characters. The player agency aspect also means that it’s difficult to gauge the quality of the protagonist as they’re a dynamic character with wildly different personalities given who is in control. However, the MC in this case has a fleshed out background similar to Commander Shepard in the ME series, and as such will make choices that loosely follow his morality, which in this case leans towards neutral – altruistic. Additionally, we also start to see the early stages of character growth as relationships change (either for better or for worse) between him and the other characters.
The next character on our list is Remi, and I’ll start off by saying she is personally my favorite. Remi’s overall personality and aesthetic is one of innocence and kindness as she constantly tries to improve the relationship between her sister and the MC. She generally tries to see the good in people and avoids judging based on initial appearances, qualities that are typically rare due to how easily they’re exploited by less than reputability people. It’s apparent early on that Remi serves as the catalyst to a future relationship between the MC and Meredith as she typically takes on the advocate role for both. As for character growth, it’s difficult to gauge how her character will grow as the story progresses due to how early it is. My best guess is that her growth will center around the maturation process as she grows from a little girl into a young woman, which could provide a satisfying resolution to her character arc. Overall she’s a well written character with depth and attention that encapsulates the skill on display by DiPeppo.
Meredith is written in much the same way as Remi is regarding the level of depth given to her character. However, the key difference between the sisters is the general pessimism and distrust Meredith has towards Katherine and especially the MC. Her behavior is well justified when given the context that her and Remi live in a foster home wherein no one wanted to take both of them, hence their ages. Her character arc will most likely focus on her slow transition from negativity towards a more optimistic and open minded character depending on choices made by the MC. As with Remi, Meredith is a well written character with depth that makes her relatable in some ways. A genuinely great character that I can’t wait to see more of in the future.
Katherine serves as the pseudo mom of the story and plays to the whole “mom” kink that some in the audience have. It’s slowly revealed throughout Ch. 1 that Katherine inherited an orphanage from her parents and genuinely gave it her best to take care of all of the kids under her supervision. The key issue revealed is the slow death of the orphanage as the MC, Meredith, and Remi are the last of the children to live there due to lack of adoption. To make matters worse, the orphanage is only kept open at the generous donation given to Katherine by the MC via his inheritance. Additionally, it’s revealed that she overworks herself to the point of exhaustion trying to take care of the remaining orphans despite knowing it’s an uphill battle. What’s being done here is a masterful setup for Katherine’s character growth later in the story as she learns to cope with the new reality she finds herself in. How she does so will most likely be revealed in Act II or Act III as she plays a fairly large role in the story.
The final character introduced in the current version is Irene, a cybernetically enhanced human with a tragic backstory. Her character serves as the catalyst for future plot development as her very existence is a product of intervention by the antagonist of the story. Irene’s personality is best described as stoic due to her cybernetics and how she obtained them. The role her character fills is evoking emotions from the audience as she was originally supposed to die due to an accident that left her in a coma. However, she survived due to a procedure which replace much of her body with cybernetics, including portions of her brain. She is essentially the deuteragonist of the story as she is the inciting incident for the entire plot. We’ll most likely see her character growth revolve around regaining her humanity through the rest of the cast. Overall she competes with Remi in terms of who my favorite character of the story is, seriously well done DiPeppo!
Visual Quality
“Cyberheart” implements a pseudo manga aesthetic that feels refreshingly unique. Each character is given a level of care and detail that ensures each looks unique without delving into ridiculousness in design. The benefit of a limited cast results in more time invested on the fine details of each character that ensures each on fulfills everyone’s personal preference. Take for example Remi, she has a similar facial structure to Meredith, and she has distinct differences that make her unique. These two are the clearest example of the level of quality a character has aesthetically when given ample development time, and serves as an excellent reason to limit the cast of characters to a few full defined characters.
The overall aesthetic of the renders is the clearest example of the skills DiPeppo has. This is a bit difficult to explain as each render implements a method used in visual arts called “triangular composition”. What this means is that each scene is set up in a manner that you can form a triangle between each of the objects in a scene so that the audience’s attention is centered. This type of approach to visual arts ensures that the artists is forcing the audience to focus on the aspects of the scene which matter rather than focusing on the contextual imagery. More simply, DiPeppo is utilizing a technique which manipulates the audience into viewing the important aspects rather than feeling overwhelmed or unbalanced. It’s a method executed spectacularly throughout Ch. 1 and Ch. 2 that showcases the raw talent the artist has, and is worthy of the highest praise I can give.
Additionally, the UI in “Cyberheart” is both functional and fits the aesthetic defined by the them. A primary example is the choice menu utilizing a clean, geometric design that is the hallmark of sci-fi media. Additionally, menu items are animated in a way that further adds to the futuristic aesthetic between the highlighting menu text and background geometry. I could easily spend the next several hours detailing how impressive it is that DiPeppo managed to build a UI that adds to the aesthetics, but I’ll leave it short by saying that he deserves so much praise for his implementation of it.
Lewd Content
And now we move onto the section that probably 90% of everyone skips to… lewd content! To save both myself and DiPeppo the hassle, there is NO lewd content implemented as of Ch. 2. The way I’m defining lewd content is any scene which involves NSFW content such as nudity, masturbation, or generally any interaction between two characters in which nudity is involved.
Act I will focus primarily on relationship building and plot development with mild nudity. We’ll see much more in the way of lewd content in Act II.
Please avoid cluttering the thread/reviews about the lack of lewd content.
*This section, and by extension the review score, will be updated at the introduction of lewd content.*
Conclusion
I was genuinely impressed with the overall quality of “Cyberheart” as I typically avoid the type of aesthetic it implements. DiPeppo exhibits both the skill and dedication to not only see this story to its end, but solidify himself in the upper echelon of developers in the AVN space. The beauty of a VN is the hybridization of traditional media content (e.g. movies, TV series), and novellas, a fact that DiPeppo takes full advantage of by implementing the skills necessary to excel at both mediums.
I highly encourage everyone who enjoys DiPeppo’s work to support him on Patreon and/or leaving a review here. He’s fully deserving of a much larger audience than what he has now!
Score Breakdown
Story: 25/25
Characters: 23/25
Visual Quality: 25/25
Total: 73/75 (97.3333%)
*Edit: Fixed formatting at top and under "conclusion" .*
