VN - Ren'Py - Growing Things Up [v0.45b] [Kinkbr]

As the other's have said, the models, lighting, scenes - all the rendering is great. The music choices aren't bad, but I mute 95% of the games here for music because it's usually not good. But these aren't bad. I feel like I've heard some of them in other games, so there must be a common source that is used, but these are mostly ambient tracks. The soundtrack isn't working to help define or emphasize characterization or, in my opinion, the mood or theme of scenes.

The writing is fine, for the most part. There is some inner monologue, some forced narrative, and some, in my opinion, writing decisions made not out of knowledge or research, but convenience. Given they are likely not native English speakers, it's rather amazing how well this has all turned out.

What triggered me to write a review was the scene where Deborah asks for the MC's help with a patient/client of hers and the Dev/Writer felt it made perfect sense that a psychologist wouldn't have communicated what was going to happen to the MC, or, evidently, the patient/client's spouse who is also a patient/client. I'm assuming they needed the ensuing chaos and confusion as part of the story development, and sacrificing basic psychology practices was their best option in their mind. It just triggers my "willing suspension of disbelief," since this scenario is an easy lawsuit scenario that not even a bad psychologist would fall into - this is Dentist molesting patients while they're under sedation levels of obvious stupidity, in my opinion. But, I am over-critical fairly often, it seems.

As usual, take what I say with a grain of salt. This is worthwhile to try out, but I do see a number of things that stand out, in my mind, as things that will trigger people. The personality divergence being the most obvious one to point out and forced kinks, but really - if they bother you that much, just stop playing. I haven't tried to see what the "No" paths look like, it may just end up being a very short game on that path.

amazing game, amazing graphics and decent story, the story could be a little bit better but i'm not gonna complain because everything else makes up for it.

Great characteres, the redhead is just mind blowingly beautiful, so is the grey hair girl absolute cutey, every character has some amazing unique body feature but red head girl's got me hooked lol

Kinkbr The br means that the DV is Brazilian.
He made a good game, but the Portuguese language itself, which is his original, was rubbish.
-------------------------------------
I tried playing the game in Portuguese, and several lines of text in every chapter were invisible.
I translate games and decided to decrypt the game to see why the lines were hidden in every chapter.
I discovered the problem: this game has audio dialogue, and when this is inserted into the game in translations, in Portuguese and other languages other than English, it requires revision because the translator Renpy doesn't recognize the audio along with the text, so everything appears hidden in the game.
There's no way to contact the game's DV here on the forum, as this game was released through someone who signed up and supported it on the DV Patron. I tried contacting the launcher who included the game here and got no response.
So, I'm downgrading the points now, because the errors I mentioned appear in several languages other than English.
https://ibb.co/ZR9WpPnY

That was awesome! Story was interesting and kept me entertained. Can't wait to see more of the busty massage girl. Nice high quality scenes with multiple angels and positions. Glad its not a shot looped video clip like others have used. Keep it up!

Let's start with the obvious thing.
*This definitely is the best mystery VN in adult industry along with another one from a few years back.

The story is definitely high literary grade. I don't know why people are complaining about the story. I know adult VN lovers are mostly dumb but still, calling these type of creative writing as bad makes me mad as a person who is studying Literature. So, Those who are complaining about the story is either too dumb or have problem understanding English.
Anyway, the plot connection, transition, story flow and coherency all are excellent unlike many other mystery and fantasy VNs.

Now the models and artwork are great too. The animations are also flawless in many part and not so good for the rest. Overall among the best VNs out there render wise. The character Deborah looks too much like one pornstar, I bet the dev is a fan of her.

Personally, I am fearful that I will think twice before playing it once the mystery started to reveal a bit more. I don't like or enjoy when there is sexual violence/blackmail. Given how the plot is twisting, I fear there is a history of something like that with the MC's sister. I hope dev brings up a massive plot twist not to let the story go that way. But if the whole story is dependent on that single plot then I can't complain. Do what you gotta do to show other dumb mystery VN devs, how to write a good creative story even if it's not original.
Still, these are just my personal opinion. From a literary percepective, it is going to be a masterpeice if dev keeps it up.

There is one downside though. The progression of the project is very slow. Given it has already been 29 months or so, The project should have progressed a lot further. Honesty the content is around 1 year worth of moderate work.
Because of it I was thinking of lowering one star but the story execution is so better than other VNs that I can overlook that.

5 STAR.

Renders are beautiful especially the characters. The characters really do look beautiful. The animation is smooth and fluid. The story though could be better. I can see the appeal in the 'suddenly living in a house full of girls' trope but sheesh the intro could really have been better.

Spoiler warning!

The intro was so bad it put me off the zone to the point that I had to turn on "skip unread text" and hold ctrl for several minutes. The more the intro goes on the more I scratch my head. The excuse for booking the dorm, getting knocked out in one punch, bumping head first into a post. It's like anchoring the mc's unlikability. One really has to turn their brain off to be able to play this game.

This game caught my attention two years ago. I'm coming back to it and what a pleasant surprise!

I give it 5 stars for the two MILFs, the redhead and the cute little one. Some really nice scenes, lots of potential.
High-quality graphics and animations.
The story is nice.
I'm eagerly awaiting the update.

Amazing game. LIs all have distinct personalities and renders are absolutely beautiful. Writings are on point as well, definitely top 5% for all game on this site. The dev give out consistent updates as well.

I dont tend to leave reviews, but i saw the undeserving "low" score of this gem and had to intervene. It really is a great game, even the psychological aspects are well done, good characters, sweet even. You can really empathize with a lot of them, loved it

Wow… pretty impressive. Definitely not your average vanilla game!


Sure, the girls fall for the MC rather quickly, but unlike many other VNs, it doesn’t feel pointless or forced. The characters are well fleshed out, with real depth and personality, and there’s a layer of mystery and intrigue that keeps the story engaging.


On top of that, the psychological angle adds another dimension to the narrative, making it more than just a simple romance. It explores motivations, inner struggles, and the way people interact on a deeper level, which gives the story much more weight and immersion.

Great start that turned into a meh midgame (when the flashbacks and split personality bullshit was introduced) which then turned into a bad endgame with more and more stuff getting forced without any player agency. Feels like the dev got tired of giving the players options and decided to just make the dom/sub kink mandatory for all.

Other negatives include erratic pacing, huge plotholes, non-existent character development and an extremely annoying MC.

The one star above the minimum is for the good visuals and the fact that the writing comes with good grammar.

First of all, I just want to say the white GUI burns my eyes, and that horrible cursor really isn’t my thing but that’s honestly a small issue.


This is a fucking underrated gem.
At first, it seems like just another fuckfest “oops, MC ended up living in a house full of women... what could possibly go wrong?”
And for a while, that’s exactly how it plays out. It’s nothing deep or groundbreaking in terms of writing.
The dev (maybe intentionally) makes a lighthearted, simple novel where you just bang hot girls (or MILFs), and you get used to the idea that nothing traumatizing is ever going to happen here.


And then the first flashback.
Okay okay, cool.
Then not much happens again a bit of plot, nothing too serious. It’s all good.
So yeah, it’s basically a fuckfest for the first hour or two.


But then it all starts escalating and you don’t even realize how or when.


⚠ SPOILERS BELOW ⚠


Then you find out that MC suffers from some form of dissociative disorder that developed after his sister died maybe? probably? killed by their father.
That’s wild.
The “second” MC exists to protect the original blocking memories, taking over when things get overwhelming as a form of self-defense against the outside world.
That’s peak writing imho.


And then you go to a party with Anna (which, by the way, has a scene that’s absolute peak seriously, it’s so damn well done I’d honestly rank it in my top 10 lewd scenes ever. Everything about it was perfect. I fucking love Anna).


But during the party, MC gets another flashback and loses control ends up beating the shit out of a guy in a fox mask who reminded him of something.
That triggers therapy sessions with Deborah, which eventually lead to BDSM scenes that are incredibly well executed.


But they’re not just BDSM scenes.
They’re psychological analyses disguised as dom/sub interactions real therapeutic metaphors that no average writer could’ve put together like this.
I seriously admire the developer for how well he wrote and tied everything together.
It’s unbelievable.


Yes maybe some parts are fetishizable.
But the real psychological core beneath it all the symbolic “healing” process for MC’s trauma and dissociation, where his second personality takes over and he forgets what he did... why he suddenly wakes up with a person lying in a pool of blood that’s epic.


I’m genuinely excited for the next updates and especially for the Steam release.


Thanks and above all, big thanks to Kinkbr for his work.

A game with two 'faces', it begins as one sort of game and halfway later becomes something else entirely.

Pros:
1) The LIs are likeable.
2) Many lewds.
3) The whole camera spy plot is decent.
4) The later game dual personality thing is good.

Cons:
1) Most of the LIs have oversized tits, even the younger ones like Sarah.
2) The best model in the game is wasted on a one-shot side girl (Amanda). C'mon, she'd be perfect as Sarah…
3) By mid-game, the game finaly crosses the line between 'good fuckfest' and 'bad fuckfest' when three girls throw themselves at the MC in rapid succession.
4) By late game, the BDSM curve gains much more focus and becomes unavoidable. That's not for everyone, and certainly not for me.
5) The camera spy thing gets resolved too quickly.
6) The whole 'alternate place to live' thing gets more or less shafted pretty quick.

So, this is actually for people who are… okay with BDSM. BDSM fans will probably get bored with the first half of the current content which is rather vanilla, and those disliking the stuff will drop the game when it becomes unavoidable.
In general, it's an okay fuckfest with a plot twist.

TL;DR = great harem game.

Story: 4/5
Pros:
+ Story follows this MC, who is surrounded by a lot of hot chicks.
+ Big part of plotline often revolves around S/M submission.
+ There is also this drama plotline, where MC is having split personality disorder.
+ Another sub plotline is about dark underworld and crimes.
Cons:
- There are some cliché in the story. Like "dont contact police, we will solve the case against criminal gang on our own".
- Also all girls throw themselves on the MC like crazy.

Art and Sex stuff: 5/5
Pros:
+ Renders are very good.
+ Girls are sexy.
+ Sex scenes are hot.
+ Game has (sex) animations. Nice.
Cons:
- I cant think of anything.

Gameplay: 5/5
Pros:
+ This is typical VN with choices.
+ Choices have some impact on the gameplay.
+ English is decent.
+ Game has soundtrack. It gives the game nice ambience.
+ There are some sex sounds. (Like girls moaning during sex).
Cons:
- Majority of choices are mostly about 2 options: "The girl will like you and have sex with you" or "the girl wont like you".

To sum it up:
This is really great game. I will definitely recommend this.

This one certainly grew up on me ngl. Usual requirements such as renders and animations in particular are top notch however storyline felt unique in the sense and without spilling much spoilers here the mc follows a young man with multiple personality disorder and good contexts to back it up.
Felt the sexual tension wasn't there where mc ended up having sex in the end which i feel should be worked on.. Dev did a nice job at non sexual part of the storyline in the game but nsfw scenes mostly lacks the emotional involvement of sort. Once again nice animations btw.

This game is top quality. Animation and images are fantastic.
Story goes a bit of its rockers later on... But all in all. Great stuff.
This game is top quality. Animation and images are fantastic.
Story goes a bit of its rockers later on... But all in all. Great stuff.

One of the more promising AVNs Ive played. The story is genuinely interesting, even if it's still in its early stages. Its clear that there's a bigger story planned. I'm actually excited to see where the story is heading in future updates.

But what makes this game stand out most are the graphics. Best for AVN I have seen so far.

Was going great, I was enjoying the game, characters were great storyline was a little weird as your character starts to do some weird things without your choice mattering and it gets bailed out by the second worst writing trope ever severe amnesia.
(it was all a dream is first btw)

Wow...pretty nice.

Not your average vanilla game!

Yes, the girls fall for the MC pretty fast, but it's not as pointless as in a lot of other VNs. The girls are fleshed out a lot, there is mystery and intrigue.

Then there is the whole psychology angle

So for me an easy 5/5. I can not wait for the next update.

Damn this dumb throwing the ball minigame is so frustrating, like why? what is the point? Like, seriously I don't get why do this kind of minigames forced on a porn game.

This should be skippable or just a chilling minigame at best does I need to be Faker to jerk off?