VN - Ren'Py - Drive to Nowhere [v1.8 EA] [VisualNovels]

VERSION:.1.2 RE-REVIEW: 1.3
SUMMARY: Starts off OK, but is and becomes more inconsistent as you play. Its setting and artwork primarily, and may appeal to the fans of darker elements of human nature.
RATINGS: (out of 5):

NOTE: The following categories and scoring method are my own criteria and may require more context.

1. Model Visuals............................................. : 3
2. General Visuals.......................................... : 4
3. Animation Quality....................................... : 3
4. Character (Persona).................................... : 3
5. Story Quality & Pacing................................. : 2
6. Writing Quality & Dialogue........................... : 2
7. UI & Game-play Mechanics.......................... : 3
8. Content Amount & General Quality................ : 2
9. Sounds & Music.......................................... : 4
10. H-Content & Fetishes................................... : 3

Average: 29 of 50 possible points giving a 58% rating i.e. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

PROS:

1. Sounds effects are pretty decent, ambient is good, music fits the scene, conveying the emotion, even lewd sounds are good (where there are)
2. Models are done well, MC looks like an 18yo and "mother" fits the mature bill, tits are saggy and she has a slight stomach that goes with "having a kid". so works well and she isn't really pretty, just a plane Jane mom look, which actually works very well in terms of realism.
3. Game-play mechanics are decent, interacting with the environment but subtlety e.g. tapping the reception bell
4. The themes hint on darker elements of human nature, the motel clerk kid scene which may appeal to some.
5. Being able to set the age and relationship parameters are a nice feature.

CONS:

1. Style of the game feels like its from the 60s but they have wifi, tube tv with modern remote, land line telephone that is more modern than much of the other items around, making the game feel less consistent than i'd like.
2. Choices when there are none, while sometimes having interactions in the game world are nice, its stupid when the only option is that ONE option.
3. Other noticeable things are silly but apparent, like the MCs burger being some jumbo size thing the size of his head, but he eats it with one and like a lego character would...this again adds to the inconsistent impression and simply poor polishing of the VN...how hard is it to "shrink" a fucking burger render to be in proportion to a characters hand...why not eat the burger with two hands, too much effort to design that? Come on man...
4. The last 5min of the game become incredibly inconsistent, with the weird "dream" the MC has, to his "mother" jerking him off for really no reason apart from being a slut This is further compounded but the story she spun, it sounded like she lied to her son and told him that her sister screwed her husband and not the other way around. Then you add the poor dialogue and yeah...last 5min the quality just tanked...
5. Inconsistent tags like futa content in the MC "dream" is not mentioned, is this real, and something to expect in the future. What of other tags or missing ones
6. Short and has little to give it a decent review, however this game does poor enough to not warrant even this review IMO.
7. Quality has improved a little, or rather, its as good as the start of the game, before the weird shit with the futa dream. The 1.3 content however is only 2min worth of content and I honestly don't know why the dev bothers with this, spend time, make enough content to actually make the worth the effort to even download the update, this is a waste of time and NONE of the two options in this version have any content worth bothering with this "update"

NOTE: The following remarks are my personal opinions and thoughts, which may provide more context which could be useful to the developer.

FINAL REMARKS, OPINIONS & SUGGESTIONS:

• Not sure why some developers create VNs that look like they set in 60s or 80s but the technology is that of today. I understand if having graphic assets are hard to create or come by and there are abundant ones from 60s or older eras, but then keep the game in that timeline dont screw around like you have some artistic license to do anything. Some more examples, I mean the MC looks like JFK ffs, the whole motel scene is straight out that era of the move Psycho, the TV is tube and still has ancient dials, but wait, the MC has a remote! GTFO!!! oh and the boarder around the screen, like a film reel? So again...wifi (sign board)
• The motel clerk scene where the clerk is molesting his own kid, a kid that is at most 16yo? while this is probably true and happens/ed the dev should watch for trouble with underage suggestive content (just saying). The darker themes are not bad, if anything there it does pull a particular crowd, leans to more mature content which has some appeal.
• Choices when none are required or there is only one...This can and should be avoided by just having the next scene roll in and the VN continue normally. You are not bullshitting anyone creating "fake" interactions to make more a "VN" experience and less kinetic novel...
• As a side note and comment, this developer is infamous for their half baked and planned VNs. I am not surprised to see the same trend here, but I will be fair to say the level of VN has improved slowly but surely with each VN. It would be nice though if they would complete a VN before starting a new one and instead of churning them out like an assembly line, perhaps read comments and develop VNs accordingly? Just a thought...

TLDR:

Fairly decent game, with potential, but does feel inconsistent, as if the developer either got bored making it and started throwing random stuff in to make it work or was simply not bothered to follow through and create a well planned VN. Particularly when it comes to aesthetics and the setting of the game being from different technological and social time periods.

The VN feels incomplete and like something that was clobbered together and put out for people to try. This is typical of this developer IMO and the VN was fairly OK until the last 5min of version 1.2.

I gave it 3 stars, because it starts off reasonably fine and is in a way the best content this dev has delivered IMO. However 3 is gracious and I would lean toward 2 stars more. This is not a good VN, not in its state, but could be.

More like an experiment than a real game.

Code errors at lines 1420, 1424. Sloppy choice of music tracks (I'm pretty sure dev didn't pay Pink Floyd or Pat Ballard).

Images 4k on my 2k screen is a total waste of bandwidth (1.5 Gb for several minutes of gameplay???).

I don't know why they cut off that couple of "loli" images (especially having those selectable age & relationship), but now this game is even more flat & bland than it was at the Demo stage.

So the dev is experimenting, trying to make it more entertaining, but that just adds confusion. E.g., why would I have to click burgers at the diner (if I can't click tacos or anything else)?

Conclusion: it's some sloppy, poorly made stuff.

The only good thing is the story (namely, the dramatic situation), hence the 2nd star in my rating.

Even so, at the moment it's more promise of the story, which doesn't mean the story will be actually any good. And it's probably only for those who like son-mother incest. Not for me.

[v1.2]

ugly looking women/LI's are an immediate uninterest for me

MC looks like they're 12 in some shots especially slide where you enter age

motel clerk's wife's daughter looks pretty young

lewds are terrible

not much interest in this one IMO dev should be focused on their other works not creating another game

Review of [v1.2]

Pretty dark adventure horror game, looks VERY GOOD.

You're traveling with your Stepmom (you can edit the relationship), although it's not entirely clear to me why, and you're heading to some pretty shady places, like a seedy hotel and other places where things happen and you meet some pretty creepy people.

The game is quite well done in terms of detail, lighting, writing, and animations.

The only downside is that there's very little content since it came out a month ago...

PROS

• Interesting Dark Horror Adventure
• Good Writing
• Good Renders
• OK Animations with Audio

CONS

• Your sepmom is not very attractive
• Very Short

RATING :

Content: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sound: ⭐⭐⭐
Renders: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Animations:⭐⭐⭐

Final conclusion: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ DARK PORN HORROR ADVENTURE RECOMENDED

Extremely short. Very little content. Loli tag refers to a 6 second sex scene involving an old nasty clerk and his love interests yound daughter. Not even that got. Mc and female mc have no sex scene. Not even much sext views to be honest. Its a start but not really a good one. Not really enough content here to make a strong judgement from. Could be better Could be worse. Needs way more content to fet a better rating. Not bad looking characters but seeing no nudity from them its hard to rate their looks. What we did see was kind of nasty to be honest. The loli was not bad but the pig was disgusting. Who knows what her mom looks like as there was nothing to see. Not sure if this will actually be continued despite it being said it will be because that would possibly require some actual work to generate it. Maybe in a few years this might have enough there to be worthwhile. Looks like a money suck game novel to me. Pay for 10 minutes at a time. Hope I am proven wrong. The characters actually looked interesting.

It's a fairly short intro but packs quite a punch really. Seemingly setting up for a great story line and already has me drawn in wanting to read/discover more. Renders are quite good and best part apart about them is the character models and appearance all visually fit their roles quite nicely. Reiterating what was said by another reviewer, realistic looking. Also, as stated already, loving the in-game option to change relationships, names and ages.

Only potential negative - Game hints a bit at possible NTR paths, with the only erotic scene in first release not even involving the MC. However, I wouldn't judge too early. (NTR doesn't personally bother me but there seems to be a hate trend on F95 towards anything NTR)

Overall, definitely an excellent start and definitely looking forward to further releases. Not enough here and far too early for me to consider financial support but might be a good one for those that don't mind getting in and helping out early on a promising VN.

This review is of the first release.

Pros:
1. The game features a gritty atmosphere that's nicely realized and immersive. It sets the tone both physically and emotionally.
2. The female MC is a realistic depiction of a woman of her age. No gigantic tits or disgustingly huge ass. This is a woman you can imagine living next door to you. More devs should learn what this one knows: realism is hot.
3. Names and relationships between the male MC and the female MC are fully customizable, as is the male MC's age. No phony step-cest here if you don't want it.
4. The one other character we get to know is convincingly disgusting and sleazy, which adds to the overall atmosphere.

Cons
1. The only real con so far is that the English used, while serviceable, isn't great. I get it, English is a difficult language to learn and use properly. Still, the dev might wish to get some native-speaking help to make an editorial pass and smooth out some rough spots.

Conclusion:
This is a very good start. This is a demo, so the lack of content isn't a negative. The content around the motel owner is unsettling, but it's meant to be, and furthermore it effectively adds to the tone of degradation that the game is going for; however, it might be a bit much for squeamish players. Overall, this is one of the better demos I've played recently and I very much look forward to seeing where things go from here.

A first chapter that will want you to find out more about this odd mother son couple and the low lives they encounter on their road trip to nowhere. Unusual characters and style, intriguing and atmospheric indeed. Reminiscent of the abandoned Gates Motel game.
Edit: v1.5; the story continues to surprise and to capture. The story branches of and later merges again. There's a lot of foreshadowing and a nice cliff hanger at the end. I like it whenever thought is given to such details.

Very short at the moment. The four stars are to encourage the Dev. He is talented and his models are well done. In fact, technically, I'd say the Dev is above average. The issue with his stuff, apparently, is that he seems to jump around a lot between stories. He has two ongoing and a history of simply just "abandoning" projects...you know, technically still ongoing, but then he begins a new story.

So, interesting start on this one. Realistic female forms as usual for this Dev (refreshing.) Hopefully, the Dev will stick to it. Plenty of possibilities of smexy inzest and other shenanigans. Nice touch for allowing relationships to be modified.