VN - Ren'Py - Elite Garden [Ep.3] [A&K Studio]

[Reviewed Ep.3]

This has the makings of a top-tier game -- it's off to a great start with high production values and a compelling (if cliche) story. It is undeniably inspired by those other massively-popular, college-bro, multiple love interest titles and it doesn't measure up in overall quality, but there's not much wrong with this one -- if you don't mind a generic setting and relatively light action so far.

The Good ()

• High production values -- the game just looks great
• Gorgeous, hyper-detailed models and renders
• A diversity of love interests with different personalities, ages, and body types
• You can pursue multiple love interests without obviously excluding the others (so far)
• Well-executed cinematography and visual storytelling
• An original story that has familiar elements / setting but still feels fresh
• A good amount of content for three episodes

The Not-So-Good ()

• Has had only 2 updates in ~15 months since initial release, so this game is averaging an episode every 6 months.
• Some of the plot points / background aren't super sketched out and are thin (story-wise)
• Weird emerging relationship with the brother and sister -- it's not clear if the sister is meant to be a love interest, and the dynamics with the brother are strange
• Most the female characters are very quick to cozy up to the MC in a very accelerated way
• Few H-scenes at this point in development and not much "action" has happened yet.

Overall, a promising title with great initial content and beautiful character models. Can't go wrong.

I'm sure the story and the characters are all great and all but I just can't get over how goddamn fucking ugly the MC looks. It's hard for me to continue playing this VN because how fucking gross the MC looks, and I'm not only talking about his face structure and lesbian ass hairstyle, both of them are ugly as well but what bothers me the most is how fucking greasy the MC looks.

Elite garden Ep.3

Yeah it's your usual college setting game. There is no fresh story plot here. But characters are nice including female and male characters. Since I'm a big sucker for college themed game I enjoyed it. There is also humor. Girls are pretty but most of them are usual models. In this game you can see many random bg characters. I actually liked a goth girl. Hope dev may add some interaction or scenes with her in future updates. This one is slow burn. So if you are looking for lewd part avoid this one. Also game suddenly jump from one scene to other. It would have been nice if we got some choices during that match. So the match would be more interesting. Comparing to episode one, two and three are shorter. Also there is no incest but sister character is nice. From the looks of it I think incest is sure no.

Overall I enjoyed the game looking forward to next updates

An enjoyable enough experience that has a roster of pretty girls and good writing, but isn't too eye-grabbing or presenting anything too compelling or interesting to stand out from the other AVNs that dive into the same trope.

I also need to note how the fuck some MCs get laid with haircuts like the one in this game. This guy looks like a repressed lesbian pretending to be a dude. Other than that dumbass statement I made I had a fun time and will keep an eye on development to see if it improves in some areas to make it unique.

It's okay. Just okay just so far, I'm not seeing the hype.


Story:

Middle class family(Is that even a thing anymore?) with the father being dead of course(So it appears) gets granted 3 full ride scholarships because apparently the mother and father(RIP?) produced 3 fine tuned athletes. This game doesn't force unnecessary incest which is great in my book but there's, of course, some of the same cliches I tend to stay away from.

1. Typical rich douchey antagonist.

2. Typical girls that throw themselves at the MC and of course have had a past with some of the antagonists so now you have them be extra douchey towards you because you're the new guy.

3. Typical hot girl that's ignored because the MC is too moronic to see that she has feelings for him.

4. The classic teacher or administrator that just instantly gives in to the MC's charm with no regard for anyone from the student faculty or administration finding out. Not to mention that it could get her fired and ruin her career IRL but I get it, it's a AVN. Just wish games with situations such as this was more discreet about the obvious.

There's more but those 4 stood out for me. As far as romancing goes... Kaira is okay, so is Emily, there's Katherine and of course the girl next door. Other than that none of the "love interest" really stood out for me. It does come with it's share of drama, from the revenge porn-ish plot with Meera. The Douche being the son of the mayor or whatever and being basically untouchable(Haven't seen that one before). And lastly the ending scene of the update with a female student puking in the restroom. Could it be due to drunkenness? Or perhaps there's a pregnancy storyline coming soon?

Relax, don't worry. I mean, it's not like it's the MC, he hasn't even gotten laid yet.

Models:
Decent. The sister model is cute though she has been in too many other AVN's already. I could say the same for most of the cast.

Dialogue:

So-so.

Renders:
Decent. Though I did think that the football scene was well done also.


Overall:

It can be enjoyable for some once you ignore most of the usual tropes and cliches. Best of luck to the Dev.

If it wasn’t for the enjoyment factor of this game, I'd probably rate this game something like a 4 because it does need more updates to judge it properly. To me this game has one of the better looking LI in the world of AVN’s. I got to be honest as well. This might be a bit of a biased review because I loved this game enough that i'm considering putting it in my top 10.

The good
Probably the best thing about this game for me is the wholesome moments of the MC with his family. It’s pretty unique as you normally don't see that in these games too often. Also yes this game has no landlady or roommate ( incest) content but it doesn’t need it either. That type of content would ruin the wholesomeness of the family moments.

I find the dialogue in this game comes off as pretty realistic and feels pretty natural to me. Even the drama that occurs doesn't really feel over the top just for the sake of drama , as it comes across a bit realistic so far. Well except for one time but that is more or less because of the setting of us being in a school / area meant for the rich. So one of the instances of the drama that occurs with one of the LI does feel a bit cliche or something you might see on a TV show. But because of the context of most of the people around the MC are part of some elite or rich family it does make sense.

The relationship building is one of the better things about this game as well. You actually feel like you get to know these characters and not just there to bang all the girls asap. Which is always nice to see in an AVN. But that means there are no lewd scenes yet for those that care about that.

The mixed or unsure

Because it’s still early on in the game’s development lifespan some characters are lacking a bit of love / content compared to some of the other ones. Some feel like there is too many LI or it should be a harem game with the introduction of the cheerleaders. I’d argue it makes it feel a bit more natural to have more than your 4-6 LI in your social group. It doesn’t mean that they all need to be a LI. But I'm a bit unsure how I feel about this aspect at the same time. For one reason I don't want it to take away too much content from the main LI in this game. I’m fine with them being SG’s that show up once in a while. But until more updates happen this part of the game I have mixed feelings about.

The bad
Well if i'm being 100% honest I can't think of anything I did not enjoy in this one. If I have to nitpick Emily looks a lot worse compared to the other characters in this game.

Subjective opinions ahead ...

I liked the game so far despite its drawbacks.
Those are in no specific order

- the generic setting
- the use of very common tropes
- the lack of actual sex happening (yes, I am aware that this announced right at the start)
- the almost almighty MC
- the lack of choices

Nevertheless I followed the story and each encounter with some interest so at least some of the writing is working for me. I did like the wholesome atmosphere in the family and some of the girls are really hot (like Catherine, gives me the librarian vibe). Is it great dialogue? Nah, but it's not the worst either.
It is hard to ignore the obvious inspirations from other, similarly themed games, but still I feel like hanging around and finding out what's the story with all the girls.
Keep up the humor, give me the beautiful girls and don't bother with animations. It looks like they eat up a lot of time and resources to create them but they don't add anything to character or story. As you stated this is one of your first projects, focus on story and characters. My recommendation at least.
Thoroughly enjoyed it, give it a go!

Story 3/5
Just one of those games that makes you go ohh shit every time you meet a new girl....and not seeing a harem tag....it just wouldent be possible to pick just one.....problem is that its a real slowburn and theres still no real plots just a few small secrets in a few girls backstory and MCs male friend is forced into doing something, it would be nice with more info faster since the story falls a bit flat when theres just nothing happening other then MC going to school and flirts with everyone, even those you dont want to flirt with...so it gets boring.

It reallllly needs more choices to say no, like lambo rich girl why not just let us say yes or no to the fake date or like the teacher or whoever asking MC out for dinner, why not allow the player to say yes or no....it only gets annoying and cringy reading idiotic flirting when you got 0 interest as the player....even more so when its not a harem game.

Then theres the 0 sex which is even more boring, so many hot girls and theres just nothing happening, even MCs brother has had more sex then MC which also removes a possible LI....so yeah not doing great in that area.

Girls 5/5
They are hot and there is a good diversity in builds cant really ask for more.

Animations ?/5
Well theres nothing to see still.

Music 4/5
Its pretty decent music that dosent get annoying to listen to in the long run, nothing special but good enough.

Choices 3/5
They seem to work fine and you can turn down or be with whoever you want or atleast almost since the brother to MC already took one, there is a bit lack of choices though i mean if a player dont want to be with a girl then dont keep forceing them to go on dates and constant flirting its idiotic when you have already said no multiple times, by then MC should know he dosent want the girl.

This might end up as a 4 or 5 star game once its finished, but as of chapter 3 there just isent much to come for, ill revisit and change my review later when there is something to see, game does need to pick up the phase though if nothing interresting happens people might give it up before it starts.

I like the story so far thru Episode 3 with, as the author warns, more emphasis on character backstories than gratuitous sex scenes. I was struck emotionally by some of those back stories even though my expectations are low for this genre. But this author team put some effort into this and it shows.

But it also has some lack of attention to detail in that I've seen letterman jackets with 3 different schools' logos including B&R obviously lifted from another game, let alone the opening American Football stadium having the team name Shockers in the near endzone.

And then there's things like an athletic scholarship athlete like the MC showing up as a walk-on and going to tryouts after starting the semester when American Football at the collegiate level usually starts team practice at a Summer camp for the team members, usually uncoached, and begins coached practice a month or more before the Fall semester starts in order to get the team properly conditioned and strengthened for the full contact sport that American Football is. This is not to say that American Football is superior to any other sport, just that physical conditioning matters due to the violence and the tendency to injury if not properly prepared. Australian Football and Rugby have similar requirements for conditioning the players to the violence well prior to the first games of the season.

And like many other alleged college environments, there's the trope of bells ringing to signify the start/end of class. And this is hardly the only AVN that does that. I've been on several college campuses and I've not heard a bell ringing between or during classes but for fire drills. Perhaps European and/or Asian schools do this, and maybe some JCs here in the US, but not any uni or college I've yet been to. I've been to a couple of campuses that had a carillon tower that chimed hourly during the day but weren't clearly heard all over campus.

Overall, the dialogue is pretty good with a few rough spots but fairly snappy and colloquial.

I liked the use of still montages to describe minor interactions - cutscenes if you will, that fill in between some scenes. They were reminiscent of reading an actual book allowing you to write your own dialogue in your head as the scenes played out. Hadn't really seen that technique used in other AVNs I've viewed before.

It's a promising start with a fair amount of rough edges which I assume will get cleaned up, and an interesting cast of characters. I think the authors have a vision of where the story goes and I hope they stick to it rather than be persuaded by donors to go in any different direction than their original outline other than to correct errors.

Looking forward to the next installment!

This is generic as generic comes. Sorry, but this ain't it chief. It's just non stop cliches, the most standard generic models for all the girls including the MC who also has one of the dumbest haircuts i've ever seen. The plot is cliche, the antagonists are cliche (the generic douchebag who tries to get under the MC's skin) and the writing is just so generic and cliche. This would normally confer an average review but dude this is 2024 and this stuff has been done 7 or 8 years ago. There's literally nothing here that would be worth playing, sorry.

It started really well but I just don't see where it's going.

First episode felt like an introduction to all the main characters and LI's who will mainly influence the story and I liked it quite a bit. Second episode was like a little aftermath of the events of episode 1 and how things will play out, building relationships with girls, learning more about the relationships everyone has on campus and so on and then a bomb gets dropped where *SPOILER* Meera's nudes get leaked. I'm thinking ok she's gonna be a bit more out of the picture but then she's literally introduced back into the story like 15 minutes in and later on you're saying the date is rescheduled. What was the point of her having the nudes leaked and scratching off the date then if she's literally back 15 minutes into the next episode?

Another thing which annoyed me with this update is you didn't have any real progress with any of the LI's or story. All we did essentially was set up dates with the girls. This episode felt like it was just telling us about things to come in the future like "You'll probably go on dates with certain girls later on, you'll probably meet certain characters later on, you're family will probably be more important later on".

I like this game but it needs a little bit of work. Maybe next few updates will be better cause we might actually get those things hinted at but this episode wasn't great as it felt like we didnt really progress the story in anyway.

The amazing thing about this avn is thats while its a "power-fantasy" aka mc being the skilled, funny, charming, "handsome" quarterback but it still feels super grounded and somewhat real.

I love that he has a normal family and dont want to fuck his sister/mother or the other way around. Its just a wholesome family where everyone cares about each other and is fun.

And i like that not all guys around are dumb cliche assholes or douchebags, some are of course like in reality but not everyone. I think the LI's are great too. Meera, Kiara and Susie are awesome and the others are good too, should be someone for everyones tastes.

All of it helps to make the setting more real and the best college games are like that , i dont get why evereyones whining about it here.

Keep in mind that a lot of the negative reviews are people being butthurt over not being able to fuck the sister ..

I dont mind harem or incest games but this strange entitlement to be able to fuck the mcs sister/mother/whatever in every single avn is just pure braindamage.

This game is one of my favorites, I hope I can stay with Arianne, but if I can't, the game is still good and full of interesting characters, it's rare to find a game that isn't just about sexual things, but about telling a good story story with good development.

The dynamics between the brothers and sister are great, I have fun watching the interaction between them.

Short summary:


This game is average. The story is the same boring college story, without any twists. The writing isn’t the worst, but for a “story-focused” game it’s not great either. The game wants to be “BaDICK”, down to copying several models but doesn’t deliver. It may be much better down the line with better character work.



Good Things

• Some models are pretty
• Expressions are ok

Bad points

• Generic story
• Most girls look like plastic dolls
• Almost no choices

Game is good, has a lot of potential. The renders have their own unique flavour, didn't love them originally but they're growing on me. Has some good sibling interactions without feeling the need to add an incestual relationship as of yet. Personally upset about that, the sister is the best looking girl in the game imo. Overall could be better, but it's not nearly as bad as some reviews make it out to be.

Hands down one of the worst VNs I have played. It has already been mentioned in prior reviews, but the game is literally cliche central with little to no story at all. A majority of the characters thus far lack substance...they're just there. And then there is just too many...feels weird saying that about a college themed game, but here we are.

Then you add in the laziness of the dev who thought it would be edgy (it's not) to drop in renders with no dialogue at all. Just characters staring at each other. Episode 3 felt like a split between simple dialogue (lazy writing) & renders with no dialogue. Why do I need to see multiple renders of the football team celebrating their win and then a cheerleader walking into a bathroom only to pan to a stall of a cheerleader that looks to be vomiting? Really?

Do yourself a favor and skip this one. It sucks.

The game is a bit generic and boring in the beginning. The MC seems to have some type of emotional/psychological problem due to an unrevealed event, and is very lame and cringy in the first interactions (which could be explained by a period of isolation he went through so that's ok). The sense of humour is also bad in the first minutes of the game, but it manages to get interesting and funny pretty quickly. The girls are charismatic enough and all of them are beautiful. The dialogues are decent, and the story, in spite of not presenting anything new as of now, seems promising.

Now, there are some scenes which are basically a set of renders without text, showing interactions between characters. I guess the dev did not want to write more dialogue and decided to add those with the intention of showing the characters get along great. I think those don't work well and are lazy. The dev could also implement transitions of some sort, 'cause in some cases you go from casually talking to your family in the living room to being in class on the next day from one render to the other and that can be a bit confusing sometimes.

Also, it would be nice having more moments with each of the girls. For now, you have only gone out and spent time with two of the girls, and said 'dates' were pretty short. I think there is wasted potential in those. The game is still in its early versions so most likely that will change with future updates but yeah, as of now, it seems most of the moments in the VN are rushed.

Still, the VN is good and enjoyable and seems to be quite promising.

A fairly common premise with something that makes it different enough to stand on its own two feet. Additionally, the characters are getting fleshed out nicely and you start to like/hate some of them enough that you get invested in the story. As the developer notes, it's a slow burn.

Despite the overused college setting, this still manages to feel fresh due to the amount of thought put into the characters both main and part-time. There are also hints of darker things to come, which is always a good thing! The LI's are attractive, and the protagonist's brother brings welcome comic relief. All in all I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys a well thought out story with tantalising glimpses of what is to come without showing TNA every 20 renders. Good job, keep it up!

Way too little content as of now.
I may edit this review in the future. But here what to expect of this game.

-Its very linear with no true major branching or choice that affects you.

-LIs are decently designed but nothing you've never seen from Daz

-MC is of course another unreasonable chick magnet.

-This game states that it is aiming to be more story driven so the lack of sexual content is a big no from me. I don't play VN's for pretentious writing like Summer's Gone.

As of now, story is barely beginning, renders are below average. Not much else to write about