VN - Ren'Py - Friends in Need [Ch. 9 v0.60c] [NeonGhosts]

Surprisingly enjoyable VN with a unique premise and no aliens with giant boobs. or superpowers It sticks to being recognizably "realistic" in its storyline, which really adds to the enjoyment. Cool power play elements if you decide to choose that kind of path. I am following and watching this game as it develops and been playing every update.

I'm always happy when VNs can still surprise me and Friends in Need definitely managed to do that.

When I started this VN, I thought it was a typical corruption VN according to the tried and tested pattern: a guy suddenly has money and abuses all the women he meets because he can.
Since I need my little dose of perversion every now and then, I thought, why not?

But when I have the opportunity to play a good guy instead who isn't just an off-the-peg asshole, I take it without hesitation. And there is hardly a VN that makes being the good guy feel both so good and so tragic at the same time.
The main character wanders through the world looking for his own place and never really finding true happiness. He compensates for this feeling of emptiness through his philanthropic work, struggling with temptations and inner demons along the way. What makes FiN shine is that it actually feels rewarding to resist the temptation to do evil by creating new relationships, bonding over non-sexual topics and potentially opening up paths that could lead to mature relationships in the future.
I think very few VN developers can pull off this level of maturity, and for me it would feel like a betrayal to act in any other way with this protagonist. In my view, Friends in Need is not a corruption VN, but a story about someone who resists the temptation and who creates meaningful relationships that are worth protecting.

v0.22

Quick note: Do not play this without installing the patch, it's a much worse experience.

Short review: Visual Novel where you play a guy in a dead-end job who lucks into being a multimillionaire. As people start asking you for money, you can be generous and charm your way into reward sex or demand sex in exchange for money (or just give people money cause you're a nice guy but why are you playing an adult game if you're gonna do that?). There's no superpowers or magical hacking skills, just a rich guy using his money to get sex.

The current content is two chapters long and about an hour of playtime but the third chapter should be out within the month. There are three women you can have sexual interactions with and at least 5 more introduced or announced.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and would recommend it. The renders are good and improve from Chapter 1 to Chapter 2. The writing is solid but the plotting gets a little worse in Chapter 2.

This review is for Friends in Need v0.22
=== Writing ===
+ good dialogue, surprisingly; there's so much cringe autismo dialogue in the games on this site with people saying crap like "whom" "musn't" and so on.. people DON'T talk like this, so thank you dev for actually making a real effort with the dialogue
+ likeable characters for the most part; maybe a little cliche here and there (nerdy sci-fi girl that watches cartoon with you, for example), but good overall
+ great pacing
+/- no incest in game yet, but hopefully the incest will be properly paced; way too many incest games just go straight into the sex with not nearly enough buildup, and I feel like incest really needs build up more than any other genre really; so, hopefully the incest will be built up enough and the other girls can make up for the wait with their own content
+/- the premise is a little unbelievable to me tbh, but who cares really, once you get past the setup, the game sails smoothly
=== Graphics ===
+ good looking models overall, especially the two blondes (2nd girl and MC's sister), though the black girl's face looks altered to a fault, i.e. her face looks like a doll rather than a real person's face; it's not ugly or anything really, just would look better imo if it looked more realistic
+ beautiful environments
+ great lighting
+ good atmosphere
+ great animations, actually, though they're not that common (which is fine for me, but others might want more)
- basically every render in chp 1 except the sex scene is lacking in quality; models, textures, facial expressions, etc. aren't so great and the MC's hair changes from blonde to black in chp 2 onward; however, rest of scenes in game are great looking as already mentioned and thankfully all of the sex scenes are great looking
=== Audio ===
+/- no comment (I played without audio, sorry)
=== Gameplay ===
+ no mini-games, stats, or other things that weigh down fap games imo, entirely story & choice
+/- currently game's on chapter 3 and there's only 3 girls with one scene each, one with a much more limited scene than the other two, all of which clearly have more content coming along with a 4th and 5th girl that have been introduced who also have content coming; keep in mind that even though there's only 3 total scenes so far, they are very long scenes with a ton of choices and they are extremely satisfying; I mention this character/scene count as neither a pro nor a con only to inform reader how much content there is; I don't have a problem with slower content or lower breadth as long as the content there is quality, and I think it definitely is
+ there are basically three routes per character, one of which is provided by the game's patch; there's nice guy romance, bad guy blackmail, and deranged guy r@pe; so far, I've only played blackmail and grape and they're both very, very satisfying and well-executed; based on writing quality, I'm sure the good guy romance route is also good; there are plenty of choices to make during the scenes and they are built up to and last long enough to give you a good fap
- no anal grape for the 2nd girl hah, this won't affect my score, but hopefully author reads this and includes more anal
=== Playability ===
+ bug free during my playthroughs

I am surprised to find this game so... Nuanced. Mind you I've only played the dark path so it's what I'll be reviewing.

When games try to portray rape they usually overdo it, playing up the antagonist to comical or way too brutal levels. But in this game the MC is much more balanced. There's introspection and method to his actions. The girls fear and show layers of hate for their rapist but at some level they also blame themselves, that's a difficult thing to get right.

The story feels alive, as if we're following the MC living out days of his unusual life. What's weird about it is that it DOESN'T feel artificial, and that makes it all the more exciting to play it.

The dev does a good job of depicting atmosphere and personalities that are nuanced and complicated - just like real people. 5/5 would recommend.

Review for 0.22 version:

Great game I really enjoyed with rare fetish of "rape with blackmail" and "nonconsensual humiliation" from male POV. There are other games with the same theme - but they are much worse IMO. They are either just too brutal and lies more in pure rape territory or they try to whitewash the deed too much making the victim enjoy it or be very casual about it. I like this game shows more psychological side of relations between victim and rapist and not shy to feature girls fear, anger, shame and contempt towards protagonist.
With that said I strongly recommend to drop spending time and efforts on vanilla/decent guy path altogether. There are lot of games with such approach anyway - who are doing it much better because its their main focus. With such dark story and protagonist personality this path turns to something very artificial and making you cringe instead of enjoying it. I believe every person should do only what they excel at - and the author really shines making evil path.
Focus on only one side will make the progress much faster - and the story more consistent and believable - without need to squeeze in various events to the same global route. The less is the more as they say.
Also I really like focus on POV type of CGs instead of showing protagonist there. It's more immersive this way. What I don't like though is trend to make the only character with questionable age - as much ugly and old-looking as possible. Why the so-called teenager is looking like 25+ y.o. junkie? Disgusting. If you are going so far as making "customizeable age" characters - don't make it wear tattoos, piercings and shaven hairstyles, pls. It's not what people who likes such characters are looking for.

While it is still a little early to give this an honest review, I have to say I was surprised at this one.

To be fair, the renders and artwork are just okay. They are a bit grainy and uninspired. It does look like the dev is doing some custom locations which I applaud, but they are just kind of meh. I appreciate the effort and the hard work, but there is little to like with the renders. Some of the renders of the girls are just not good, especially the expressions, which is usually a sign of over modification.

The writing, however, is really pretty good. It is a very unique story for the adult VN genre and the choices the MC have a clear impact on the flavor of the story. Some may think it is too wordy, but for me any more, these adult vns have to have a good story and this one has it. All the characters have some depth and they are all very different.

I am looking forward to seeing how this story progresses. Solid start and worth a playthru.

A surprisingly well written game.

A whole spectre of playing around the financial freedom, domination and inequality - you are a suddenly wealthy man (for a well written reason), and can either abuse your power (directly rapey or more of coercion), or use it for good and fluffy relationship. A compelling set of characters react appropriately.

Every bit of dialogue is used later (if information is given to player, it will be relevant), characters that are introduced in the dialogue become relevant and appear next update, the most interesting and distant love interest (little sister now in a high school) is established from the start and slowly introduced in every update bit by bit, keeping player engaged and waiting for it.

Renders are fairly decent, hopefully developer will get better with practise.

This visual novel is pretty nice, I mean not a top tier graphics and writing one. But the duality that offers the MC to be is pretty rare; most of the VN the MC always has a linear pernosanilty or otherwise is game over, so props to the dev that allows the reader to be a charming dude or to be straight up rapist and let the story follow it up its course.

From an objective standpoint I'd give this game a 3 and a half star. The renders are good, the writing pretty good. From a subjective standpoint I'd give it a 1, so I settled on 3.

My reasoning:
I tried to play this game as a kind person, rather than an asshole/actual rapist. Typically that's how I like to play these types of games, if given the choice. I'm not above being the bad guy or anything, but I appreciate the opportunity to be the good guy when given.

This game just feels like it gives lip-service to being a kind person, but actually wants you to be evil. Pretty much every love interest in the game that I've come across so far (I have not finished the latest version's content, just had to put down the game about halfway through), every LI feels like a perfectly written character for an asshole/rapist to corrupt or bend to their will. They do NOT feel like a character that a kind philanthropist would pursue.

That's all fine and dandy if that's how you want to play. But don't offer the other option if you're unwilling to change the love interests. It leads to issues of the player feeling like "Wait, why am I being kind again to these people, when it's obvious their stories were made to be heavily exploited by a rich asshole, not helped by a kind one?"

I guess the most obvious example is Nikki. You're friends, she's dumb and lets her boyfriend get her into debt, and comes to the MC to ask for help. You're given three choices: 1. Just give her the money, no strings attached. 2. Ask her to prostitute herself. 3. Actually just rape her.
While I didn't click on option three because, well, gross tbh, I did try both the other options. And they end exactly the same. With the same consequences for the character. Even if you give her the money she still has sex with you, and still afterwards says she's going back to her deadbeat boyfriend.
And then she comes back later, tatted up after, again, letting her boyfriend ruin her life. And she's the first love interest (which most who play these games will agree is the "most important" love interest). She's the first love interest, and despite whatever 'choices' you made, she still fucks her life up in some unspecified manor. Listen, it's a porn game. It's not that deep. If I wanted to see that story, I'd go watch Forest fucking Gump.

Let the guys who want to be assholes be assholes. Reward them for their assholetry by having more fucked up stuff happen, be my guest. But if I guy wants to have a fantasy where he can just be kind and have loving relationships... don't punish him, maybe?

Again, I wanted to be fair in my review, because it's pretty obvious to me that this game is not made for the 'good' fantasy, just not made for me. And that's fine, just wish it wasn't advertised that way.

Review as of Version 0.22

Pleasantly surprised !

Writing was well done compare to many games out there. Nothing groundbreaking, just competently put together enough to care about characters and the story. Mc was given plausible enough scenarios that didn't break the immersion of the story. (And the Male Domination Tag was on point)

Renders were average. and No animation.

there were some notable bad cases where facial expressions look like someone pull the facial rig sliders to its maximum(not talking about the euphoric facial expression - Ahegao here ). Also one of the sunrise scenery looks like apocalypse(bad lighting IMO) .

Choices
Meaningful choices with differing outcome. Thanks to good writing each action seems to be presented in way that align with the Mc Character personality. both choices are presented as MC's inner monologue and present a true Devils advocate on each counter argue both choices. I've seen it many other games have done this inner-monologue- counter argument -Tip before picking a choice. But it seems here it was done better and more in more organic manner.

Hoping the Dev would keep this writing standard and improve upon the graphics more.

This one is turning into a surprisingly good game.

To be more precise, the first version was okayish. The dev made few mistakes with exaggerated facial expressions, the renders were a bit on the low quality side and there was a lack of Ren'py customization. However, I liked the replayability with a different level of bastardness and the writing was entertaining on each path.
The game was short nonetheless, thus soon forgotten...

Here appeared the v0.22, which added some significant routes choices for the next girls and fleshed out dialogs and relationships. A nice thing here is that MC can totally miss all opportunities by being too nice, which adds a bit of realism. It reminds me of the first dating sim apps, only with option to be a complete asshole.

The facial expression exaggeration issue is common for novice dev, and could be fixed in further releases. I remember some good games doing so. Let's hope for the best. This game definitively needs to be followed. (Nice cliffhanger, by the way!)

Good start for the game keep up the good work. Has lots of kinks so read tags, Not too many games do this type of style and that's sad the characters don't look bad by any means either can't wait to see what comes of this.

Surprisingly good.

Graphics: I really like the choice of models (in particular Nikki and Gabby; the blonde and the milf were less interesting). Facial expressions were a bit ..unfortunate.. from time to time in the beginning, but that seems to have become much better.

The writing is actually quite good, and the story is fine (nothing truly spectacular, but a lot better than I assumed from the short description).

You can play as a reasonably kind (and somewhat dominant) MC, but you also have the option to be a rather disgusing asshole. Somehow this setup appeals to me (this may be a bit hypocrite/pathetic, but what can I do): Knowing that the "dark" options exist kind of makes me feel more satisfied about choosing the other one; it makes the predicament of the LI(s) more pressing, it gives a notion of power (which can be nice even if you do not abuse it too much)

I was positively surprised by this.
The art is okay, the body types of the ladies are really diverse.
Writing is fine, not extraordinary, but it gets the job done and done well.

What I really enjoyed about this is the options, though. The dev does a great job of using mostly the same pics and renders to tell very different stories.

You can be a completely horrible rapist monster, a calculating mofo, or you can be sweet and gentle. And the great thing is, you still get what you want, no matter how you play it.
So many games make it either be a jerk, either be just going for sex or being sweet and romantic, this game does it all in one go and in a way that is fucking impressive.

I've checked out all paths, just to be sure about that, even though I clearly want to go the nice and charming route all the way, but the other parts are hot in their own right (you know, rape as a fantasy in a game, it's not fucking real life, some wieners tend to forget that isn't the same).

If the updates come regularly and considering how the story might develop and how the other characters will be and how much the already introduced girls still play a part, I can easy see this going to a five, but so far it is a very well-deserved four-star rating.

Great work, keep it up!

Excellent, great writing, great renders and story.
I love the dark themes and the fact that the devs doesn't shy away from rape and the likes.
There seems to be some good incest coming out way as well with the MC's sister that should join the cast next, and she might be not be prepared for what's coming to her xD.
Anyways I enjoyed my time on the game, I just wished there was more content, right now you have a night with 2 girls, and some side action with a third.

I am beginning to like this game a lot. There are a few things I have issues with other than that it is a good game.

The Pros:

• Impactful choices
• Good writing
  Good character design
• Good pacing

Between good and bad:

• The renders (The renders are pretty average)
• The story is relatively simple but not stupid

The cons:

• The models look pretty ugly in most cases (Including MC)
• They make weird expressions a lot of the time.
• No use of sound effects or music

This is an exciting game because of the branches this game provides. You can be evil to get what you want, or you can get creative to get what you want most. But it has a few cons that this game comes up with. I would say it was an exciting experience.

It's a good start so far. The writing is good, and the animation is high quality. I think this has the potential to be a great game. The female facial expressions need work though, as they are excessively animated when Nikki is on the couch and looking at the MC. I was not a fan of the Ahegao face; I know it's a big thing in anime, but it completely removed me from the moment. I also wish the game had sound (background, sound effects like door knocking, moaning, etc).

This game is really good. The writing is great, and I really like how dark you can get. I wasn't crazy about the girl's face at times - her mouth in particular looked strange to me. But obviously that's subjective.

This game has potential, but could definitely use some polishing.

The amount of content is understandably limited, as this is an early release, so there's only maybe 10-15 minutes of game time. That said, the strengths and weaknesses of the game are already apparent.

PRO:
The writing is good, and the dialogues are better than most games you'll find here. The premise of the story is interesting and plausible. There is some witty and humorous banter, and its obvious that this dev is a strong writer. I expect the story to be well-developed and engaging in future releases.

CON:
The rendering is not good. The only female character is attractive enough, but the MC is somewhat odd-looking. The posing/body shapes and positions of all the characters are often really awkward, and the facial expressions range from slightly awkward to frightening, and are off-putting at a number of points.

I also found the MC to be a bit creepy for my tastes, but that is obviously extremely subjective. I'm not going to knock a game for not 100% fitting into my own personal preferences/kinks.

Ultimately, I could see this becoming a really excellent VN, but the characters/rendering need a lot of improvement.