VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Haley's Story [v1.1 Pre-Patched] [Viitgames]

o/
Review time ! Spoiler : it will not be great ^^"
I'm not a good written, and english isn't my native language so ..
Other reviews are better but I want to participate cause this game have left a feeling on me ! In some way

I give the game a 4/5 stars.
I'm not used to play adult visual novel so I put more subjectivity than objectivity in this review.

So I've just finished the game.
The game is (and for me too), a pretty or even very beautiful part of life of two twins, loving each other, in summary.

In fact I was searching a game with Incest tag, saw this one, thinking about fantasies game had to give and so I've speed up half of the game (holded CTRL, reading essentialy texts betweens MC and his sister).
But I've fall on a loving story, betweens a sister (Haley) and her twin brother (the MC).
Really, it's fun, entertaining and I've laugh a couple of time.
I like the chimestery betweens them.

But ..

I don't like the whole personnality of the MC.
Without spoil, and if you play you'll notice, Haley is more the girl who make fun (and seek protection) and the brother (MC) the serious guy.
She is, no she act like a brat sometimes, and he answer at the same level. It's like a game or an habit betweens them.
But the MC is half the time so serious, breaking the fun.
I know being poked by a foot in the face isn't great when working but it's that make her cute !
Her overflowing imagination and her smiles .. that make her personnality and why we appreciat her.

Besides, I don't like the father.
I know the story need something, otherwise the game is boring but thems father is a jerk.
How someone who have rises twins can think separed them?!
But no spoil.

Other reviews say we don't have informations of some events after a while and it's true, but in fact isn't a big deal.

But more big deal, it's at the half of the story, all other character other than thems parents disapear.
No more friends, no more discussions with bosses.
Ok we don't need useless texts for the story at some point, but just a line that say we talk with X or Y is good enough.
I think the author have focus on the twins without any other characters than thems parents for keep the stoy "short" with him ideas.

Even if I've skip a part of the game, I found the game a bit too long at my taste and the end maybe a little rushed?
Like other reviews, it depend on your feeling but for me that was enough.
Better end than do useless texts.
But I know, this AVN is a focus on the part of the life of two twins loving each other but sometimes I was just "ahem I need this to go end".
It's totaly subjectivity, I know see a part of the life of two characters is important, more in this story but except some laugh I had, that was long. Arf I feel guilty to write that.
I've like the story, and i've come back for the "slices of life" and of course the end but that was a bit long.

I like how Haley is modeled, same if some (a little) facial expression are not top.
I like her smile, I like how she stare when she taunts and her hair are super nice ! Like others says, they are in motions and are very pretty.
Other character are also well modeled same if I'm just "meh" by the MC's model.
The render is good also, not cheap or older.
Sex scene are good too, but absent on the end.
We have a couple of choices but I don't think they are all very important on what the story will be.

In summary, a good game if you like past time on reading a story about the loving betweens twins, more than make choices or whatever.

It's strange for me, I think the story could be better, the interactions etc, but this game give me a feel like when I finish a serie or a story in two or three films. The feeling of happiness and sadness, but more sadness cause i've rushed the beginning and the end is a little rushed.
I'll maybe rethink to this game or replay it in couple of years, who knows? ^^

Likely one of the best in terms of humor and general writing, the scenes are excellently made. I don't want to spoil anything but if there is a way to get a sequel, I think I'd welcome one. Or an expanded remake of the same; though it really doesn't need a remake for any of the usual reasons, the writing and art is incredibly good. A remake would only be fun if it extended the end stories or expanded the cast. Again though, what there is here, is plenty and I love it.

First of all, the visuals have aged extremele well, and that gets it 2 stars on its own.

Also, I wanna say that this game has made a lot of people happy, and I don't wanna take that away from them. You're not hurting anyone if you like this, so go ahead and keep liking it.

That said, this is yet another boring game about generic characters that say a bunch of lazy sentences over and over. There's nothing interesting about them at all.

As for some contructive criticism, try to put more effort into your dialogue. Almost every since sentence is literally 1-5 words long, you keep reusing the same ones over and over, making scenes feel a lot longer than they actually are.

(5 Stars bc review scores are bullshit, but i do believe this game is one of the best in the genre and would rather it shown up than down on lists)
(Preamble 2: this isn't very well edited, mostly made from annotations during the roughly 1 month that i read this VN).

Overall: it's starts really promising, but unfortunately doesn't truly rise to greatness. it's still good, in ways that make me expect good things from the writer(s). Dialogue is pretty nice, sharp, most of the time it doesn't feel like robots talking or mere pawns of the plot. Dan (the protagonist) almost feels like a real character sometimes, but everyone else feels fully realized (with some exceptions).

Main criticisms: Dan (the protagonist), as far as AVNs go, dan is fine, and occasionally shows flashes of being his own character. But grading him outside of the curve that we grade AVNs on? eh. He just goes with the flow, doesn't seem to have agency or any sort of initiave. Nothing wrong with indecisive or indifferent characters, but that has to be written in him, instead of just feeling like "he's the protag of a porn game, therefore he must do this and that, etc."
It does have some flashes, in a person that doesn't have a lot of words and doesn't seem to reflect a lot on things? but because we rarely know what's going on his mind (which doesn't need to be spelt out, but just hearing his thoughts or anything more indicative of a character would be nice).

There's 2 things i'd like to highlight about him. His relationship with Sandra is weird, at the start. He does say the pretty words, generally treats her well, and does say and do things that would equate with him caring about her. On the other hand Dan cheat's on Sandra with a multitude of characters, while Dan throws passive-aggressive comments at Sandra and occasionally even show some indiffirence towards her? Not that a story with those things can't be written, but at no point we hear a moment of reflection from dan on these actions. He cheats on Sandra until he Hayley says no, and the passive-aggressive comments just disappear. It's what i meant earlier by Dan not really being a fully realized character. Those things could be worked on to more depth, but yet they aren't.
The second thing is the hitman subplot. Awful is as strong word for it, but, it feels so out of place, meaningless, a filler story point that doesn't (but probably couldn't either) amount to anything interesting, other than fullfilling some sort of vigilante fantasy. I'm assuming something went less than ideal in development, but hey, it's still in the story. Another bad thing about that subplot is the fact that Dan "stole" the choice of how to deal with Hayley's abuser, behind her back, wether she wanted or not, barely any thought to how the death of her abuser would impact any other life. It's something that Dan made purely for himself, while i don't think the intention was anything other than some "heroic and righteous revenge", the way i read it, it was just overprotective machismo and the fantasy of being a vigilante. I could've bought it more if Dan was more of a character, if that subplot said anything about Dan, but no. Him "killing" Haley's abuser didn't say anything about himself, nor did that action have any consequences in the story (realistically the other Haley, who the story dropped like a hot a potato, would be very affected by that).

Funny thing to nitpick on: Not sure if it was intended, but Dan calling his ex a slut for selling blowjobs is very funny if you choose to cheat with him.

End paragraph i guess? While i did write more about the negative things than the positives, make no mistake, this is still a gem of the AVN scene. Again, dialogue is good, most of the characters do feel fully realized, and a lot of their interactions are fun to read.

This game's story is very good and graphics is decent. I love haley's character. She is adorable and funny. She is on my favorite list. Other LIs are interesting too.
The ending could be better but not bad.
Overall awesome game. One of my favorite VN game.

This game had some real promise, but the forced relationship is an automatic dealbreaker. None of your choices really matter, and you wind up with the same love interest no matter what you do, really disappointing.

Nice vanilla romance story. Great story, dialogues and jokes. Game doesn't force into something you are not into. Nice renders. And Haley of course is really adorable with a good written bitchy character)). Only the ending (I did the best ending with Haley) kinda leaves some questions open, but that really not that critical, it is a work for a fantasy.

[v1.1 Pre-Patched]

Haley's Story was one I initially skipped it due to a certain tag (not to yuck anyone's yum) but I decided to give it a shot with the numerous good ratings, and I am honestly glad that I did.
The dialogue and banter between the MCs just had me instantly invested, then it delves deeper as the story goes on-- without losing a beat between the humour and serious moments.

H-scenes
While the "animations" and statics are simple, due to being an older title. There's a certain rustic charm to them.

The "worst" complaint you will find is the fact it is a few years old, so there's a bit of jank here and there. Nothing outlandishly immersion breaking. A bit too dark in a few places/scenes.

Mostly vanilla in terms of kink variety (outside the obvious incest); though a few light moments of variety sprinkled throughout to not be completely boring:
mainly threesomes, a bit of lesbian action, voyeurism, and anal.

In conclusion: if you want to enjoy a compelling incest romance, this is the game for you

This game/story brings back memories, it was the time I played/read a VN game and really enjoyed it. I always looked forward to the next update.

I loved the graphics and the looks of the girl haley, I though she was beautiful and funny.

It was only after finishing the main story line, a few updates later, that I realized you could have different endings. Unfortunately I never played those other story lines, I just watched the images in game.

Every time I see this game, I feel like downloading it again, and trying to play it again, to recreate the feeling I had the first time I played it.

I'm surprised by how wholesome this game is
Yes, it's siblings incest but the relationship is such a supportive, wholesome and loving one that it seems completely natural.
All the supporting cast are the same, nice people.
The pace and writing is good. It's also nice to see black people not portrayed as generic stereotypes .

The downside; the ending seems rushed. There's plot and character archs that are left hanging and everything wraps up too quickly. Hopefully dev will revisit and redo the endings

Still a nice game that I enjoyed

The game starts out really strong. The sibling relationship with Haley is very cute, fun and believable, as is the slow escalation towards a sexual relationship.
The game loses points for forcing the MC into a relationship with another girl without the player's input. We only get to choose whether we want to sleep with her or not.

I really like the buildup for Haley's backstory reveal and how the two siblings start dealing with it. Huge probs for bringing up their parents and having to navigate that relationship, at least a little bit.

The ending however is rushed at best. Some girls get route choices without any follow up development. Even Haley's main story leaves many plot strings untied and characters stop caring about some of their previously core motivations.

All in all the game tells a pretty believable, wholesome, cute, funny and sexy story, with a decent amount of very well anmimated sex scenes.
Definetely reccommended.

All around great game.
Story is really good. Haley is character you are going to love. She is definitely on my top favourite list. Other LI are pretty unique and hot too.
Pace of the story and having more than one ending make is great and makes the game re-playable.
You will have a lot of fun playing it. Though, I must warn, there are some emotional moments.

This game is much more grounded then most you can find around here...
I do love the characters, the main girl is fun, has her own agency and is (of course) a little crazy. Also the chemistry is a lot less forced then in most stories like this! But the side characters are also interesting and nothing is to out of place.
If you like a well written romance between siblings (twins without that stupid harem thing or bullshit "all want to fuck the nerd" stories, than this is for you!

Had a lot of fun playing this. Nice pacing, not too quick. The pubic choice was very nice, but would be nice to heve her growing it instead of being forced to have her shave it.

Image quality was good too, and the dialogs we also good and reasonably believable (considering the type of game).

When I first started playing this game, I didn't think too much of it. Now here I am, having completed several playthroughs. Visually, it's not the best, but the characters in this game are great. Haley is easily one of my favorite characters, not just in adult games, but in fiction. There were several moments involving her where I literally burst out laughing, which pretty much never happens in games like these (I still think about the scene where she held up her fist and "commented" about your girlfriend). As a story, it's well worth the read.

One of my favorite games .

Haley is one of the most remarkable VN character I've met. She is charming, funny, and caring. Until now, I've never met another woman from other games that matches Haley's personality.

The dynamics between the MC and Haley feels natural and convincing . I really like the romantic relationship between the two which really gave butterflies to my stomach.

Yes, the story's twist is quite controversial and unusual for this kind of game. It really makes you sad for Haley and take care or protect her more.

My only issue with this game is its ending. Yes, it wrap ups some points of the story but I think the dev can still expound it. Nevertheless, the game is overall an unforgettable experience.

An incest romance, that plays and reads like one. Unlike most games with these tags on this site.

It has a good amount of sex, seduction and most importantly semi-realistic romance . The star of the show is obviously the Haley character. MC can get involved with other girls, but the plot will always revolve around his relationship with Haley. As it should for a game named like that.

The highlight is the relationship between the two protags. While it gets going too fast for my liking (considering its nature), it has a few twists and turns. The most controversial (and most interesting to me), was a little revelation of a past event, that strongly influenced Haley's psyche. And was the reason for her ... unusual sexual tendencies. What should be a given for stories like this one (obviously abnormal relationships should have roots in mental fuckery), is unsurprisingly treated as controversial here. Maybe we are too used in absurd fuckfests that don't make any sense in other games, or some purity snowflakes who want every female to be virgin are too loud....

Sadly either that noise, burnout or some other reason I can't possibly know, caused this to have an obviously rushed ending. It tries to wrap up everything too fast after a point, leaving many important sub-plots unresolved. Still a fun game in this genre, if you are sick of brat +MILF + 2 sisters recipe and want something more grounded.

Haley's story has some shortcomings but despite all that it is one of the best sister/brother romance VNs available.

Sure, you do get railroaded into one of the girls other than Haley, she will become your girlfriend pretty early on even if you reject her all the way through and want noting to do with her, and yes, the twist around the halfway point of the story is a bit unexpected and makes things a bit darker than they need to be, HOWEVER, said twist does not ruin the relationship with Haley at all (I would say it strengthens the bond and helps Haley recover from a past trauma) and the forced upon girlfriend only has a few interactions with you and will eventually be dropped completely if you want nothing to do with her.

And sure, the ending is incredibly rushed, but it's a happy ever after, even if you don't really get to see it and things are mostly just implied. But the two main characters (if you choose that route) are 100% happy and good things are in the future for them. It's apparent the developer lost the will to invest much more time into the VN at this point.

The interactions between the brother and sister are sweet, wholesome often quite funny and if you can accept a somewhat darker twist (It's just lines of dialogue about an event in the past, you never see anything) at the halfway point in an otherwise very wholesome VN, then Haley's Story will deliver and you will spend a few nice hours with this VN.

A beautiful story with good H-scenes and surprisingly compelling relationships and characters. There were a few little things I wished I could have done differently, but I got two endings to see what changes were made, and I enjoyed them both. The smut is great, but this is a game you can play for the story, with the smut being a bonus on top.

This one did emotional damage. Which is not something I look for in a porn game.

The game is well written, the pacing is very good and I was very invested in the main LI. I liked the banter between them, the rituals and the way they first communicated a lot of their feelings by gestures before they started being able to talk about them. I would have rated it a 5 at that point. So, one of the first and major climaxes of a love story like this is the first "full" sex, right? And while the scene wasn't great, it was good enough (and the location and Haley's narration were good ideas I think) - but immediately after that, Haley drops a rapey NTR-in-the-past bombshell that seems to be the reason for all the present kinkiness (which is why it feels very NTR-ish to me). It comes out of nowhere, it nuked my boner, my enjoyment of the story, my interest in Haley and has left me more or less flabbergasted for 30 minutes. I wanted to fap to a nice romantic story, not deliver emotional blunt trauma to myself.

The writing and scenes quality falls of a cliff at that point anyway. You get some more H-scenes, which I started to pace through because they became so lifeless and boring (no more dirty talk, no d/s play) and then you get one of several "endings" which are the textbook example of rushed.