VN - Ren'Py - Dreamland [v0.4.0p] [Dokiden]

The story is a little odd, there are lots of things that don’t really make sense (yet?), and I don’t really know what type of story I’m going to end up with.

The visuals are great, but this is a game that just won’t stay still. Pretty much every frame involves movement, so even if it’s a static render, you’re still panning or zooming. You get a lot of little scenes as well where the group is in a car, for instance, and you see the scenery rushing past through a window, and a pair of boobs bouncing slightly as the car moves. While these animations may look good, you have to wonder if they are necessary, especially with the long development times between updates for these games.

The girls are definitely a high point though. I don’t really have a favourite in terms of love interests yet, as I haven’t had the opportunity to get to know them, but of the six we’ve been introduced to so far, four have had lewd scenes with the MC and a fifth a solo lewd scene, so we’re reasonably well served there, for the size of the game so far. In my opinion though, these lewds haven’t been the best.

The typical way they play out is that you’ll go through the scene, then get the options, which are to repeat the positions you’ve just had, or cum (or fuck, for a couple of the not-already-fucking scenes). A good percentage of them are cut short as well, so there’s plenty of blue-balling going on. I’d also prefer to see more of the girls in these scenes, rather than just focusing on body shots.

In terms of characters, I think we have a mixed bag here. The MC is largely forgettable (other than the fact it’s your POV, of course), and his best friend doesn’t really seem like much of a friend (plus there are rather sinister elements there later on – although this does make him a bit interesting, at least). Mei’s story is similarly strange, or at least how it ends the current update is strange, and I have literally no idea why Katherine is an actual character and not just someone on the MC’s computer.

Needless to say, we are still early in the game, so all of these points should be addressed in time. I just personally feel that the story should have given us a bit more to go on rather than just throwing out a bunch of mysteries in the first day. Maybe once we get to Dreamland things will start to become a little clearer…

Loved the premises, it's still in its early stages so the plot is only starting to be revealed. But the quality of the renders in itself warrants a high rating. I strongly encourage players to give it a try and to support Dokiden. All in all the cast has been set up, it has not yet however expanded past it

Visually and technically beautiful with a promising story keeps me engaged with development progress. I can confidently say this beats some of the best in the genre at the moment.

The writing and decision-making some of the characters have are a little jarring but don't entirely detract from the experience.

If it keeps going at this rate it should explode in popularity very soon. Looking forward to the next chapters!

This game is absolutely gorgeous, and the murder mystery gives it a very Until Dawn / Scream atmosphere which is remarkable. Art is sublime and the custom scene effects dev opted for really make this VN memorable.

Only thing to keep in mind when starting this short (so far) journey is that development is glacial - updates are at least 4 months apart.

Treat this game like fine dining: as something you enjoy once or twice a year and you won't be frustrated. This game won't be finished until 2026 (my own estimate, take that as you will), but I will still be subbed to Patreon until it is. What is there is golden.

This game in all likelihood is a 3 1/2. It's not quite average to me because there are things I enjoyed and things I didn't.


My summary of the story:

In this story everyone is released from the shackles that was quarantine . The plot works due to this being a real thing, sadly. You and your friends going out on a road trip after what appeared to be years of isolation seems like a great idea, right?

Mei, Summer and Alex are all "friends" with the MC, they plan a road trip 4 months in advance before we see them reuniting and heading out. Right out the gate Alex has this bright idea to pick up two hitchhikers and you have the "Choice" to side with Alex or Summer and Mei. This choice, of course, is proven to be obsolete as Alex overrules you.

1. Choices don't really matter unless we're talking paths. I chose not to compliment Summer's feet because I'm not a foot person and knew where that would led... yet still got a footjob from her.

2. People get robbed and set up countless times so Alex just assuming that the group is in good hands because there's an extra set of tits involved just shows how unserious he is. Also, Lea and Danielle are two of the 5 main girls so... there was no getting rid of them even if you wanted to.

Picking back up, there's teasing along the way. You go to a rest stop a see a missing girl in Abigail. And like true geniuses you all decide to go camping near the same very place that she was last seen.

After arriving at the camp, all of a sudden every girl has the hots for the MC, apparently Mei has always had feelings for you and Summer never thought of you as nothing more than a friend.

The plot changes when we see Alex talking about returning to this place after 5 years, apparently he's the reason for Abigail's disappearance due to his own obsession.

This honestly saved the game's interest for me as it was quickly fading. Alex now has that same obsession with Lea, but the idea of turning Alex from the forced "Bro" character to this potentially deranged lunatic is a turn that I welcomed. Lastly, Mei goes missing but I think it's more so that she going to meet up with the MC's ex or something like that.

Dialogue:
Good. I was able to understand everything without a issue.

Writing:
50-50.

1. What I didn't like is how one minute Summer went from not wanting Lea and Danielle on the trip to changing in front of Lea and even letting her cop a feel, make it make sense? It's ridiculous how lesbianism is written in games, Devs make it seem as natural as breathing air. I actually like Summer but her character hasn't been written well at all. I don't know if it was because she hasn't been sexually active in years but... it was still forced.

2. Mei seems like a solid love interest for the MC, you can tell she genuinely cares for him. She was one of the bright spots in this game.

3. You can say the signs of Alex being a psycho was there, maybe? If you choose the go after Lea after he "Called dibs on her" he gets to a point where he attacks you, knocking you out completely and then blames it on the drugs.

4. Lea seems like a total bitch but she's the game's "It girl" apparently. I'm sure there's more to her, probably the confident girl with inner flaws sort of thing. She's also not bad to look at.

5. MC comes off as pussy crazed or is it whipped? Anyway, I would like it if he shows more initiative the way he did towards the ending of the update. Stop being easily played by people.

There's more but I won't go on.

Renders:
Superb. Top notch in every which way.

Music:
Felt organic, went with every facade of the game. Well done.

Gui:
Looks amazing, makes the game feel like it's a movie. After playing the latest update, you can say it sort of sets the tone for events to come. Award rooms is always nice.

Overall thoughts:

It's worth my time, I'll see what happens in the next update. I think for me that will determine how far I go with this project. It started okay for me, then hit some rough spots before leaving me intrigued with the whole Alex situation.

Some of the best quality renders on the site and beautiful fairly unique women. Good teasing and build-up.
Story is a bit meh, but has potential to develop.
The worst thing is the cockblocking that occurs MOST of the time, who TF finds this entertaining? It happens way too much in the genre, I feel like there's too many Ruined Johnson fans here trying too hard to "subvert expectations" or some crap. You even get cockblocked by virginity, STOP this shit ffs.

Positives
The renders are the best ive seen out of the 80 or so AVN's ive played.
The animations are some of the best as well.
The story is a bit early to judge but it is looking real promising

Mixed

So far all the girls seem easy to have lewd scenes without needing to get to know them that well. 2 of them I give a pass since you've been friends with them for at least 18 months so I imagine the MC knows them decently.

This game seems to be a blue ball simulator if lewds matter to you, when it gets really hot 4 times it stops right before sex actually happens. Which doesn't bother me as it’s the last thing I play these games for. There is 2 lewd scenes / sex that play out till completion with no blue balling.

This next part depends on you. I find none of the LI but 1 of them likeable so far and even then I am wary of her. As what seems to be a theme in this game the LI are likeable at first. Then they either have some negative trait about them , do something messed up or have some kind of secret that stops them from being likeable in my books. But they all are very pretty.

Even if I hated every LI id still play this game because it keeps wondering what is going to happen next, what is this LI going to do next and will they become redeemable in my eyes.

Dreamland has some of the best renders ive ever seen in a AVGN. Dialogue is pretty funny and many of the characters have a charm to them.

One of the characters is just incredibly annoying and i dont understand how the main character and him are friends at all.

The plot is insanely slow and doesnot know where it wants to go. Sometimes it will be very dramatic but then it gets very slice of life. Those dramatic outbursts really are out of nowhere sometimes and it takes a while to get used to them.

The render quality is insane, and the production value is truly premium. Visually this game is probably one of, if not the best I have ever seen.

The writing is OK. I definitely am interested in where the story is going to go, but I am not in love with it. I agree with some other reviewers that the forced scenes are not ideal, and that the MC is definitely lacking a little personality. It seems the girls are throwing themselves at him for no real apparent reason.

A notable weak spot is the dialogue in the Summer/Alice choice. The MC either becomes a MAJOR asshole to his long-time friend, or Alice gets really depressed over some guy she doesn't know having made plans with his long-term friend already.

Another iffy bit was how Summer just IMMEDIATELY assumes MC is creeping on them, and then apologizes later, but MC pretty much never defends himself. I feel like just 2-3 more lines of dialogue would have made that scenario a lot more beliavable.

However, I do like that rejecting some of the girls IS NOT always the end of their "route," but that they might still attempt to convince the MC otherwise. This is something that a lot of games lack. The girls definitely make up in personality what the MC lacks.

I think a decent amount of the negative reviews are because a number of the girls aren't the typical AVN virgin LI. There is a wider spread of personalities. In a way, the character flaws make me enjoy the game more. None of these LI's strike me as healthy relationship material right away which I find interesting and novel.

Overall, I enjoyed this enough for the 5 star, but there is definitely some flaws.

The render quality is second to none. Even some of the stills are animated. Plus, an original plot that doesn't resort to landladies and roommates. The animated scenes are great as well. All in all, already one of the best.

Story isent that bad but i am just so tierd of having shit forced on you like LIs and kinks and fake choices like you can say you dont want the two bitches along at the start but then your friend goes against you and the girls and against the promiss of the 4 having a trip together alone, i found that extremly idiotic and just makes it a kinetic story.

And for what to show the new girls off as lesbians/BI and push the idea that Summer is BI as well? i always found it idiotic to make all girls BI in a game, and also to force MC into getting a BJ by a bitch i wouldent even touch with a 10 ft pole and to force a footjob fetish on you as well and as the player you get 0 choices to tell her to fuck off so again kinetic shit, shes clearly a whore of some kind which also shows to be true in dialogs later and what did she do after giving MC a BJ she ends up fucking MCs friend? lol

If anything they should have let the idiot friend leave with the 2 random girls on hes own and then go on with their trip without him since he dosent seem to be worth having around if he goes against all of them anyway which is also idiotic when 3 out of 4 votes is no to bring them along, the only thing that would make sense is to leave hes ass behind or not take the random bitches with them.

Also dont know why devs think everyone is into big tits and make MC the same way its annoying to play when you as the player hate them...MC is even considering cheating on hes new girlfriend just because of some huge tits i mean gimme a break, yet another brainless, cringy and childish MC with a mindset of a 12 year old, its just to boring.

The only thing thats really good in the game is the quality of renders and animations they are very nice but those alone wont be able to carry a game, story simply has to be there as well or you might as well look at a porn site, and same goes for choices dont make fake choices, make it kinetic if you dont want to put in the work with choices.

Virgin scene is shit as well, girl has a ton of pain and you even see MCs dick go in and take it out and 0 blood, dont know why so many games cant even that right.

As for content there is surprisingly very little and i expect this will take alot of years to ever get finished since story has barely even started after more then 1½ years in the makings.

If it can become good i really dont think so, it would take to big of a change, like a new brain for MC, no forced shit, no fake choices, not turning all girls to lesbians/BIs...i mean its just to much to fix.

With some pain I must agree with the other negative reviews.
The graphics are good but that's all.

The story seemed promising and having some mysterious twist. But as it happens in many erotic games, the actual story is too watered-down with people babbling about nothing .

The game also begins with some toilet humour about farting which is just bad taste.

You don't come to the porn for a story, you may say. But you'll be wrong, there are people who actually are after good story with some erotic content, call it porn or not.

At some moment I started skipping the dialogues and a moment later the game hanged. My computer is quite old but I don't have such problems with 95% of Renpy games so it must be something wrong with the game.

I just cannot rate it higher, altough it looks quite pretty as I said.

I am really impressed with this game. The women are beautiful, the GUI is clean, the story is interesting, the renders are amazing, the styling is really cool(love the panning and 3D effects of every shot) and the choices really seem to have a strong impact on how things play out. One of the best "vanilla" VN's I've played so far.

Love the graphics and therefore love the girls! The scale between dialogue and lewd action is imo perfect. I like that through the story you get teased a lot and i get more excited what will come next. Cant wait for more and hopefully it will be soon!

This review is as of v0.2.7.

I enjoy this game. There is definitely too much cock blocking and the writing isn't amazing, but I can live with that. The models are quite attractive and the story is interesting enough.

The busty redhead and busty tattooed girl are just what the doctor ordered. I suppose I'll have to wait another year or so to see how it goes with them.

This game really needs the ability to save names. There are too many branches for that not to be part of it.

The only thing this game has is the renders, the rest is mediocre.
Because of all the personalized stuff, transitions and stuff this game runs veery slow, never had this kind of problem with other games on f95, even the AAA ones.
Most of the chicks are pure sluts, seems to have a inclination to be one or are just unlikeable.
MCs friend is insufferable.
MC could be better in personality
Laughable writing
Cockblock fest.
Most of the chicks seems to have no problem of being nude in front of other guys...exhibicionists in the making.
Weak plot and dumb characters.
Some forced sexual interactions and kink (footjob)
Small amount of content for the time the game is being developed.
Sad to see this level of renders in this kind of game.

Pretty overrated and mediocre. The game looks quite amazing, no doubt about that. Great looking renders and the girls are hot. However, just because it looks great doesn't mean it plays great. Having these super fancy menus but also having them be slow and unresponsive is not awesome. Not a fan of all of the fade in and fade outs, all it does is slow down the game. When i want to save my game, I expect to be able to hit ESC and go right to the save screen to save quickly, doesn't happen here. As for the gameplay, it's generic. It's just another cliched college love story. Beta MC who is sad about his ex, virgin girl who is overly attached to MC, clowny male best friend and the hot model girl who also has a crush on MC. Also, I can just tell this game is going to be FILLED with drama. The other girls that are brought along with your group of friends are also completely unlikeable, they are just sluts and are literally asking to be fucked. There is literally no reason to pick them because you know they are going to just cause more drama. Overall, pretty dissapointing.

Good Points
+ Art style and render quality (for pictures) look pretty good.
+ We have well-made animation physics with different angles/positions, but they sometimes look a bit blurry.
+ Most of our choices matter and most of the time it's a good thing.

Bad Points & Suggestions
- Unlike most Renpy games our game doesn't open the save menu when we press the right mouse or ESC button, which is something pretty useful and makes saving easier, the feature should be added with the next updates.
- Save page numbers should be bottom of the save slots, not above, it's another time-wasting thing to have since you gonna save at the last save slot (which is positioned at the bottom right) for changing pages you gotta waste some time to save page, a small but time-wasting UI problem, should be changed with next updates.
- Lastly, save numbers are not visible after page number 9, so that needs update as well.
- The writing is not that great, like how Summer and Lea suspect MC peeping on them instead of Alex should make any sense? Or is Lea's path supposed to make any sense at all with all that bullshit going on with Alex? She is hot, but her character (She is basically an egoist slut with no positive character trait) and her whole path are terrible and literally there is no reason to choose at all. The whole path and her character need rework for sure.
- Most (Some sex scenes are unavoidable) choices being impacted on actions is good, but having too much impact and forcing you to have 3-5 different saves for different girls is annoying and time-wasting.
- Alex is a very annoying, egoistic, and selfish character and his existence in the game is good enough to count as a bad point. He literally cockblocked his best friend (MC), rule out somewhere with a bullshit excuse, punched out cold because of a slutty girl, and left the middle of nowhere.
- Girls don't have unique characters, most of them have basic slutty characters and only Mei is different, but she is too prude it's kind of annoying, so can't say the love interests of MC are actually ''interesting'' at all.
- Nearly every damn scene ends up with MC getting cockblocked. He got cockblocked by Mei being a virgin and can't handle the pain, got cockblocked by Alex, then got cockblocked while watching porn... Like seriously? What's next? Getting cockblocked while dreaming? SMH...

For The End
With all due to my respect for the current state of the game, the only good thing going with the game is render quality and well-made animations, other than that there is nothing and even most of those sex animations end up with MC getting cockblocked... So not sure I can even count them as good points for real.

PROS
-Render are wonderful
-Scene are top tier!
-Story are looking good but still too short for amount of time that take for one update but hoping for more
-Character looking very good!

CONS
-alex
-The disgusting alex toilet scene sound
-Will be 5 stars without alex