VN - Ren'Py - Abandoned - Evergreen Valley [v0.4] [BlackPhoenixST]

The premise of the game is about as average as you can get, MC's a shy nerd who suddenly starts drowning in pussy, incest, father is out of the picture except for setting up bullshit challenge that will lead to the MC having a bunch of money, younger sister who really likes you, older sister who's all tsundere about it.

But, at the same time, there are some unique ideas here. The cheerleader character, specifically, I liked a lot. She's not just a bitch because that's her character, there's a reason (albeit a pretty dumb one) behind it, and you can see a sweet girl beneath the bitchy veneer. Characters in general seem to have some depth, even though they're based on clichés many of them have their own thing going, which is a major point in the game's favour.

Not to say it's all good. Almost every single sexual interaction is interrupted by someone else before it can actually happen, the grammar goes from decent to horrible seemingly at random, the MC's inner monologue is cringey and whiny (though thankfully brief), some guy introduced himself as Jared and everyone proceeded to refer to him as Mark, the pacing is super fast so the moments when taboo lines are crossed don't have time to breathe which ruins the whole point, and one thing that struck me as particularly odd was how when you go to check if Iris is asleep before sneaking out to the party at the end of the current update (0.4), you can just suddenly decide to fuck her thighs as she sleeps. I mean, unless I missed something, all we had up to now with her was some casual touching in the pool that wasn't even framed sexually and all of a sudden the MC is fucking her thighs while she's asleep. I mean sure we can opt out, but the fact that that's even an option is bizarre enough.

The music got super repetitive to the point that I just turned it off. There's only one track (at least for a big enough portion of the game that I thought that's all I was gonna listen to for the entirety of it) and it's not a bad one, but I can only listen to the same song on repeat so many times before I get tired of it. I don't think there's other audio.

The renders are good. The girls are all attractive yet distinct, I like the diversity that's slowly being introduced, don't like the MC model though, dude's rail thin. Get some meat on that boy's bones, damn. He used to swim competitively if I recall correctly, and swimming is the best full-body exercise there is.

More of a nitpick than actual criticism is the overuse of the exclamation point. There's just no need, and using so many and so often kind of gives off the impression that everyone's slightly deaf so they shout certain words to be sure they're heard.

To close off, what I can say is that Evergreen Valley never bored me. Its story was coherent enough to keep me engaged despite the various issues and, even though slightly uninspired, I want to see where it goes. So, I will keep my eye on this game and play any future versions, but its various flaws and shortcomings land it squarely in 3 star territory for now.

Pretty generic "family harem" plot so far. But the models are very nice, renders are good, writing is acceptable, so giving it "Good". May increase it later to 5, because as of v0.3 not too much content involved. Also would be happy to have a bit of "male domination" path going, because if it stays just "vanilla" - probably will get boring pretty soon.

classic house mate and school environment, with good quality character's graphic. Lot of girls at disponibility. evolution possibility to dominance in house, and also in dad's company succession dispute. or also, some scientist plot, with the science fair in school with the cheerleader cobaye; or even a corruption affair with the neighbor.

There isn't much content to base a review on yet but so far I like what I see. It seems to be heading in the direction of a simple, yet entertaining story.

I'll give one star just for the fact that the female models look good and don't have the over exaggerated asses you see too often or the over inflated balloon boobs. I don't know why some Devs like the Jessica Rabbit body shape but I much prefer more realistic proportions.

As of right now I can see Anne becoming a personal favorite. Hope we see more content soon.

So far so good. The animation is ok. It is hard to say if the game will be great or not. The storyline is fine and have a good amount of women that will assist the main character I guess in is quest ehe. At least, I like the concept that give you the chance to put the option how everybody is relate to the heroes. There will be no need for the Ipatch for this one at least. Time will tell how fast the developper plan to update the game. If there is an update every month with good content this could be a succesful game, if not this game will surelly died in a matter of a few months if the develloper is looking for patreon. There is so many games available developper don't realize if they do not provide content people will not subscribe to their games. On my side, I will wait on the next upgrade to see how fast the next update will be available and how much content are provided before I subscribe.

It's a good start. An easy guilty pleasure of a game for sure. Decent renders, the story is straight to the point, a bit fun to read too. the casts are likable so far. There is no reinventing the wheel here but the dev knows what they are doing and that is enough for me.

[Reviewed: v0.1]
The game at this point is just one day of our 18 year-old protagonist. He is nearing the end of his senior year in high school and is unsure what he plans to do next in his life. He lives with -- specified at start-up -- his mom and two sisters: one older and one apparently younger. His dad and mom are divorced (presumably) and he's remarried (acquiring a stepson), and those three live a short car ride away.

The protagonist is apparently getting good grades in school, but his replacement chemistry teacher has thrown a twist at her class, requiring them to pair up and create a "science fair" end-of-term project. Naturally he gets randomly paired with a hot cheerleader, who acts in public like the protagonist is beneath contempt, but privately uses him to help her get good-enough grades, apparently through some cheating. She pays for his help with a BJ, and it seems that both she and the protagonist are happy with this arrangement. (Following one of the annoyingly common tropes with these VNs, the protagonist is equipped with a member that looks to be 9+ inches. Boo.)

The splash screen comes without any title. There's no music or sound effects. The protagonist's name -- "Cole" by default -- and his family's relations are configured at startup with the player filling in the details through a few screens. There's no default relations, but each of the strings start with the suggestive letter that match what one might expect for a family. I guess this is enough to skate by anti-incest rules that might be present elsewhere. (The protagonist notes in an aside that a sister is "favored with mom's good genes" that doesn't make sense unless she is the daughter of the other.)

We are presented with a few choices for the protagonist while he interacts with his sisters during the day, and one choice tends to be reflected in an increased sister-specific "score". It's not clear how whether or how these scores might affect things later on.

I've rated this as Average (3 stars) as there's nothing outstanding here, and nothing that bad either. So far it seems pretty much like other VNs with the same tags.