VN - Ren'Py - Halfway House [Ep.11 - Bonus 7-8] [Az]

Gave this one 3 stars primarily because the developer has a COMPLETELY unreasonable time frame for updates, EP10 came a year or more out after EP9.

That being said, even after a year and comparing this game to what is currently out there, it still rates high on my list in terms of quality and story. Models are realistic and not everyone model or character is a overly inflated boob bimbo.

This game does make me want to see what happens next which I feel is critical to enjoy the lewd scenes when they happen.

I highly recommend this game for your bucket list of adult novels and can only hope the developer will be more active and produce timely, quality and (hopefully) quantity updates.

I thought this was actually going to be a big ass update considering it took 15 months but guess what its not. I played this like very long ago considering it was one of the most trending and the reviews were also nice. But its just bad when you go further into the VN.
The graphics were really good and the characters looked alright but in some renders they looked odd.
The story doesn't make sense at all. The character development of the girls is just terrible. They just keep going back and forth all the time if they are in love or not with the MC especially Emily. And guess what still nothing much with Emily in this update.
The sex scenes were all in MCs dream so far but in this update you get to fk the nurse that i dont give a fk about. Atlast we are getting somewhere with the sex scenes i guess. But there's nothing much of a progress in the characters still. Animations are mediocre to me. This game is just terrible. The dev is milking the patrons and giving just bullshit updates.
I just don't see myself coming back for this garbage again. This might be the last time. Because the content here is laughable with the time it took.
Maybe if it gets a tag showing complete then I might check but I will be a fuckin gramps by then.

shit dev, poor game overall
3/10

Very Big Minus:
For forcing me to watch the protagonist beat his horse and how he pees, you literally watch his penis more often than the girls' tits/pussy.

Graphically it's fine.
Girls - Overall nothing to complain about except for one, I can't believe anyone would want anything to do with that whore in purple hair, she's so annoying I just started skipping interactions with her.
The music is
Sounds occur at times, but are completely unnecessary in my opinion.
Story - Basically there is none, we go from girl to girl and either get annoyed at the girl or at that douchebag MC, well sometimes there is interaction with the guy who lives with us, but it basically boils down to us watching porn with him or listening to what a cunt he is.

And then it's time for the protagonist himself
If it wasn't for Emily, who is super interesting I would have stopped playing the game very quickly, the MC here is a complete retard, several times I had to turn off the game and go for a walk to cool off, he acts like a total loser, I would insult the beta-male by calling him a beta-male, the girls treat him like the victim of fate that he is, a character that there is no chance of liking.
I would give the game 3 stars, for the graphics and one Li, but that would be unfair to the other rated games, simply don't deserve this game a better rating in my opinion.



Minus for his thoughts on how the girls are beautiful and gorgeous despite the fact that I only scored any points with one.
Dozens of single choices "go inside", "take shower" for what?

Conclusion:
I have very mixed feelings about this production, there are more minuses than pluses in it, in my opinion on this forum you will find dozens of more interesting productions where you will not have to play a complete loser MC.

For an adult game, this has surprisingly sparse amount of actual adult content. The story is rather boring, and the development time-to-content is way too high to keep my interest. I would not recommend this game based on all of this.

Writing is subpar. It is not engaging. I don't think the dev knows how middle aged people speak. When the woman of the house constantly "hehe"s every few sentences - You know the game is cringe.

Renders have got a lot better since the first couple of episodes - Still a lot to be desired.

When I first played I couldn't even get through the second episode it was so bad. Decided to, eventually, soldier on. Played ep 10 - 15 month wait for not a lot of content.

Not much to say what is good about it. Really does feel like the bare minimum has been put into it and it shows.

The only word that comes to mind about rating this game is "Poor".

Pretty solid game. The story is pretty decent with some nice spin on the usually landlady story. Models are hot and even though they are low in numbers they have unique look to them. I especially enjoy the milf, balance body proportions slutty face just perfect! Fetishes wise the game is also arousing at least for me. Visually the game is also in the upper end of what at least I have played, good example is the night scene with the milf the lighting was just perfect.

This game is really brilliant and what is really bad about it is nothing. Everything makes sense here.
You have to play it all the way through to get the best out of it. If you don't you lose everything.
The writing is excellent. Every single character has a clearly defined role in the story and plays it to the full.
Every relationship lasts. As mc, if you have a relationship with someone they never forget all that you did both for and to them.
There isn't one girl in this story who isn't smoking hot.
The graphics are fantastic. They seem ageless.
The animations are well thought out, supremely well executed and truly add a lot to the story.
There isn't an excessive amount of sex scenes, because the relationships are designed to burn slowly. When the sex finally arrives it really is always worth the wait.
The underlying strength of this story is its characters and their depth of character. Whether you love them or hate them they are all richly drawn and, playing the mc, as the story progresses, you really feel as though you get to know them almost like real people.

The game is really bad, but what is good about this game is really nothing. Nothing makes sense here.
You play EP1 and when you get to EP10 You haven't lost anything
Bad writing, none of the characters make sense!
If you have a relationship with someone, suddenly a scene later she forgets everything.
There is no hot character
Bad graphics from 3 years ago
No meaningful animations
There are no sex scenes, and if there is one, it's because it's not imaginative.
The characters aren't real, they're shallow to the extreme.

great story, with great character and graphic. too bad it is highly likely abandoned though i always looks back on the thread for the update. until right now 17 April 2023 it stuck in ep 9. I hope it will gets an update soon.

It amazes me how thoughtful some stories can be, with a grand purpose and aim to reach higher standards. Depiction of characters with traits like honesty and speaking of mind without fear and storylines that appreciating that instead of being servile, these are prominent points for story and is delightful to see that characters could have it.

Storyline is pristine, characters are very genuine and charming, artwork is beautiful and twists are adeptly implemented, there is plenty of determining choices given to MC, that is more than you need in to cling .
You can learn so much from this game, the way PO decided to dedicate his life to make a difference in other's is really praiseworthy.
Halfway House is an amazing experience ,I wish to see more stories like this.

Among the visual novel games I have played, Emily from this game is my favorite character of all time. I always look forward to interacting with her during gameplay, and she is truly adorable. I love everything about her, from her personality and clothing to her jealousy over others.

The story development in the game is also excellent, but the only downside is that there are relatively few erotic scenes. I hope that future updates will address this.

In conclusion, if you like girls like Emily, then this game is perfect for you. However, if you have no interest in Emily or want to see more erotic scenes, then this game may not be suitable for you.

Halfway House [Ep. 9]

Pros:
Decent Renders
Decent Story/premise

Cons:
Way too much filler
Boring dialogues
Not many girls
Having to choose between girls sucks
Characters incl. the MC get boring as the game progresses
No preferences button
Less to no Sex Scenes (You can miss pretty much every sexual scene if you make the wrong choices.)

I have no problem with “slow burn” games, but fuck me, this game has been in Development for three and a half years and still doesn´t pick up the pace.
There are so many scenes that are just filler and lead to nothing, which makes you lose interest in the game and it´s characters.
I like the premise of the game and the models, but it feels like the more the game progresses, you will get put through scenes with boring dialogues that mean absolutely nothing.
In my first playthrough I had 0 sexual scenes except a girl showing her tits and butthole, WOW.
The other reviews say, you´ll only see one Sex Scene and four BJ scenes and we are over three years in, and on EP.9.
Again, I don´t have problems with games that are slow burn or aren´t total fuckfests, but come on, this game just drags along, is terribly paced and you can miss pretty much everything of what is very few already, which is bad game design.
Even when this game has not much sexual content, the story is just not strong enough to keep you invested in playing this game.
Games like these just make you wonder if the Dev purposely tries to drag this game out, to suck on his customers as long as possible, and maybe then adds good content when it loses interest. Or if he really thinks that this game is any good, which it´s not.

TBH I've been wanting to try this for a long time but the lack of animations tag kind of held me back but I'm glad i finally tried it & honestly it did not disappoint at all.

What I loved the most is the interesting premise & fleshed out characters .Each LI has their own captivating persona which i found to be particularly alluring.Even our bro Luis might look like a Mexican cartel but is a big softie in the inside kind of reminds me Kung Fu Panda for some reason

Now let's talk about the elephant in the room the SEX & yes i mean the animations honestly at the start they were really subpar but as of 2022 i see animations have really improved & am glad that the dev is actually bringing it to modern standards which itself is worth the praise as I've seen some dev who still use the billion year old GIF animations even now.

As of Episode 9 there isn't an actual sex scene just a few bj & cunnilingus but i don't mind the wait cuz I'm more into the story & i enjoy the realistic approach instead of seeing a sex scene right after u talk to someone for the 1st time.Well except for the Ashley scenes which comes out of nowhere still in her defence she's 'unpredictable as fuck' as she will treat u like the shit that was accidentally stepped on & the next thing u know she wants u to treat her like the dirty whore that she is

Personally, the most lovable main heroine appears.

Although the update is quite late, it shows the result.

Wait while playing other games. One day there will be an update and it is lovely as always.

What a nice game if you ask me. The renders are made very decent quality and fit the plot perfectly, The characters are archetypal: Rebel-Rebel, Sulky Sweetheart, Big Bro, Mischievous Milf, and Daring Dude aka MC. But they are very well depicted, the more you know them the deeper character to emerge. What came as surprise, MC doesn't make me feel like despise him, that's rare nowadays, do love this smooth-talking bastard. The story is a mix of teenage drama and comedy, with plenty of twists and turns and a slight hint of porn.
The only complaint is that updates take too long, but that's the case with most of the great games here.

Halfway house [Ep.9]

Nice game enjoyed it. Good renders and graphics. Rendering of cars is an example for this they are well polished. Emily's cuteness is the main thing that kept me going. Jealousy between emily and doctor is very much enjoyable. And there is Ashley she's not cut but she is playful. Each girls in the game got their own characteristics. Overall I enjoyed the game keep up the good work dev, looking forward to next updates

This is really a good VN. The premise is unique, the characters are interesting and develop slowly, so HwH is basically a procedural VN. The inner and outer conflicts of Emily, Ashley and Samantha don't seem melodramatic which helps tremendously with immersion.

The renders are good, the music is rather basic but acceptable. I would rate the atmosphere as rather on the superficial side, HwH lacks some depth to be really special. There are moments of depth though, for instance when Ashley seeks alone time and opens up to you, with her inner demons on display. That's good cinema right there but HwH can't always maintain this level of meaningfulness.

It is also very difficult to play HwH without a walkthrough and that is my biggest criticism and the one and only reason why I can't give it five stars. I had tried HwH before but without a walkthrough you make too many wrong decisions and the game quickly reminds you of what you are missing. One checkpoint after the other goes down the drain and that's not enjoyable at all.
On the other hand, you have to behave very obscenely if you follow the walkthrough. Many decisions that are necessary to reach checkpoints seemed counterintuitive to me. For instance you have to be a bit abusive towards Ashley to corrupt her enough to open up other dialogue options. And so in the end everything becomes kind of kinetic, since the choices aren't really choices if you want to reach checkpoints.

Apart from that, this VN is a well-rounded experience.

Fantastic AVN. The storyline is interesting and the characters are great. Emily is a fabulous character. While the MC relationship with her is slow to develop, her personality makes it worth the wait. Even the housemate male character is a good addition to the game and serves his purpose well.

Good game, good characters, funny story. Development is a bit slow, but the quality of the game more than makes up for it, the art style is phenomenal, the characters are hot, and the pacing is good. You won't find many better than this, if you're looking for a new VN to try out, look no farther.

[Version reviewed: Ep 9]

Most likely my favorite "3D visual novel"-like game out of all I've played.

At each update I'm equally waiting for the porn and the continuation of the story. Although I regret that only Emily can be romanced, she's a very sweet and likeable girl so I do enjoy romancing her.


[Review update: Ep 10]
A year of waiting. For that. More than anything, I'm confused. About what the plot is even about. About where it's going. About what all this build up was for. About how slow things are going to progress in the future.

Simply put, while some pretty important story lines where opened previously, another big one was started in this update. This makes the plot feel, at this point, pretty messy and all over the place. I have no doubt it will all connect in the end but the process of "getting there" took so long that it kinda killed my hype. I sound harsh saying this, but I loved the previous chapters so much that I fell pretty hard after this one.

Most importantly, I was playing a romance/corruption game, with a bit of deeper themes involving abuse, trauma and healing, with a sometimes dipshit, sometimes great guy MC and his ragtag group of weird family members. The game no longer seems to be about them anymore. The romance route of Ep 10 is honestly the worst part of this game, as it feels rushed and out of place despite taking a year to develop.

I think I'll forget this game for awhile and play it again once a few episodes have been produced. Might be a long time, but I'd rather wait than be this disappointed again. Dropped from 5* to 4*, because the rest of the game is solid.