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

Found this in the trending. It should be in trend for a long time. The style of the story design is quite unique and very attractive. About the artwork, it is very lucrative, specially the characters and backgrounds (i.e. I mean every thing). Found the jokes and comedy used very delightful and engaging to the story.
Only the game mechanics took some time to understand. Overall, It is much better than usual qualities adult games. Though the quality of Ren'Py games are quite good, this game would stand among them as a jewel.
Looking forward for later episodes.

One of my favorite games here, as Renpy games goes.
Story is well written, got some humor and interesting characters, as well as story development.
This rule of having to write more than 200 chars for a review is a bit too much. Perhaps lover it to 140 or so?

Halfway House is by far one of my favorite Visual Novels so far. Six chapters in and I hope there are at least that many to go if not double that.

Pros:

The characters are great for the most part. The looks. The dialog. The motivations. Everything. Kudos on that. Even some of the side characters have me chomping at the bits for more. Ashley, Emily, Shiho, and Samantha are excellent and promising in the sexual department. Luis is an awesome buddy character with superb interactions and had me close to laughing on a few occasions.

The sex so far. The sex so far has been quite provocative and nicely done. Damn. The end of the first scene if you played your cards right.... Wow!

The story line is excellent. I am mixed in hoping they churn this series out at a faster rate and wanting them to keep a steady pace of continuing this game with a solid and enjoyable plot.

The buildup. Yes. I'm saying it. The buildup is nice. Waiting to do the deed with some of the characters or even push to a deeper deed is nice and realistic for those who have done any actual dating or been in relationships.

Cons:

The sex. Wait. How is this both a pro and a con? Well, it's a bit lacking. Six chapters in and I've netted three sex scenes and some peeping activity. It's quite well done, but maybe tossing in a wet dream or three might have been nice to keep sex added without taking from the plot.

The probation officer is a bit more cartoonish than the other renders. I don't know. I wish they would have made him a bit more realistic. It isn't a big deal because I'm hoping we don't get anything romantic going with him, but it still hurts a bit in my humblest of opinions.

Overall thoughts:

If you want loads of sex, this isn't for you yet. I am saying yet, because of the buildup. I am of the belief that we are going to be seeing plenty of that in later episodes. OK. Belief might be a bit strong, but I am definitely hopeful.

If you are interested in a solid story with great character development and excellent graphics, do not skip this one over.

Beautiful and fun game, where you find lovely storyline. The story is interesting and fun and promises funny development. Ashley is very exciting and uninhibited, Emily are timid and lovely and the music is perfect.

This game feels so ALIVE. By that I don't mean the characters blink now and then (*cough cough*). I'm talking about the footprints on the bathroom floor or the stain on a plate after a meal. The renders are so crisp you can't distinguish it from reality sometimes. The use of google street view images is clever and really well done. The best compliment you can give to the characters is that they're all unique; Em in particular is a sweetheart. The journey from the halfway house to the hospital is the BEST travel scene done in any adult VN.

Looking for flaws in this game is basically nitpicking. I'd say the plot has slowed down significantly since the early chapters but if this is going to be a slow-burn drama about these characters instead, I still wouldn't mind. There's a lot of trash on this website but this one is a bona fide gem.

One of the best games out there. The story is very well and enjoyable to read. Character personalities are also very interesting. The general visuals are all very good quality. I would recommend this game to all. Five stars from me. Keep up the good work devs!

Gee, I've kind of fallen in love with this game. After the very different ratings, I started the game with mixed feelings. But now, just wow! Nevertheless, here is my attempt at an objective review/rating:

Top: graphics, models, characters, storytelling.

Good/ok: story, humor, decisions, amount of gameplay

Less good: The decision of the Dev (so far) that only Emily is a LI. And the update frequency (the last one takes quite a long time now...)

Bad: No music/sounds (more about that below)

For the sex in the game: for me ok, there are actually very hot moments with Ashley and Samantha. I actually found these scenes more erotic than the straight sex in other games. But I can understand that this is maybe not enough for some people here.

Conclusion:
Objectively speaking, that would probably be a 4+. But as I wrote at the beginning, I'm in love...

One more thing about the missing music and sounds: For those who don't turn off the sound while playing anyway, I can only highly recommend this addon/mod! I was actually already in the middle of chapter 4 when I happened to find that. Just out of curiosity I tried it: Holy shit - I played it all over again. My request: please link it on the main page so others can find it, too.

Please excuse the probably bad English - it's not my mother tongue.

Halfway House
Review, as of Ep. 5:



Overall, despite the occasional fault and nitpick, this has become one of my favorite games in development largely due to how beautiful a character Samantha is, but also owed to the game's overall vibrant cast of characters. There's a lot of potential depth to Ashley due to her personal history and I'm interested seeing how that'll tie into both her development and when it comes to romancing Emily.

Renders are above average and the writing can be funny at times. The setting is nothing new, hot milf + slutty older girl + naiver younger girl. It's of the slow burner kind, and although you have some fun with the blue haired girl, that's about it. Looking forward to see how it evolves tho

This freaking game is excellent! The writing is superb and the MC is hilarious. I've had more fun just picking on the other characters. I've laughed throughout all of the chapters so far. This really is a fun experience. The facial expressions I receive as I shoot off my nineteen year old mouth off is SO satisfying. Thank you AZ

Writing, renders and Milfs model are all top notch. What more do you need? It even has different paths according to your choices. Very well made VN. Hope to see it in 1.0 and maybe even further.

Basically ur some bad boi who is put into some care home witch only has a owner Milf and 2 younger girls.. but who cares about em?
So you start ogggeling and messing around with milf and other girls.. if u want. IT also has some thicc boi theare but who cares? And fat man who drives you theare. Cant wait for more

Absolutely loving the story ad the girls. An actually normal believable game with no weird stuff (looking at you, incest). Also not focused on just fucking everyone out of nowhere with literally no development, as most games here. Has an actual build up and hot girls. 10/10

By the time the first episode has ended, you forget about the rendering quality, because everything is mere repetition. You've been there and done that.

There is not much of a story to begin with. The sub-par dialogs, which have an excess of "shit" and "crap," are randomly peppered with contextually irrelevant "ha ha" and "ha ha ha." The protagonist and the main characters are outright unlovable. Eroge titles make up for all of that with an excess of pornographic material. They arouse when they fail to satisfy. This title does not have that either.

To add insult to the injury, Emily lends her Windows 7 laptop to the main protagonist without making a new user account for him. Instead, she gives him her username and password. What kind of idiot does that?

if you are looking for a porn game do not look here. this game gave me the biggest blue balls ever. the story is ok but by episode 5 your just clicking through dialog like ok can I fuck you yet. I only got one "sex" scene from my playthrough but I understand there is a cum in mouth scene that I didn't get. the scene I got was horrible. Samantha finally gets the character hard and all she will let him do is jerk off... and I was ok with that expecting there to be more but nope she gets you naked again and al of a sudden the character is a pussy and is saying "are you sure" im sitting here like why are you asking her that you should be asking to fuck get in the tub with you or something like wtf. there are so many opportunities for sex scenes that were missed it really made me mad. I do think the game deserves some credit on the sexy models and the story isn't that bad just needs more sex. hell even kissing. if the character gets no pussy in episode 6 when it comes out im not playing it.

Is this a porn game or not? After slogging through 5 "episodes", I'm still not sure. The premise was new and fairly different. The models were attractive and renders were good. I'm also a fan of realistic, proportionate models, as opposed to the cartoon-ish busts, waist and asses that would make Barbie herself laugh out loud that you see in many adult games. But the writing is terrible...and slooooooow.

After 5 episodes, you've got 1 handjob/cum-in-mouth scene, 3 boob shots, and 1 instance of the MC dropping a load on a panty covered posterior. That's it. There's literally more porn in the in-game porn you see on a laptop and on a TV than there is in the game itself. And did I mention the writing is bad? Jewels like "I'm about to mess up your big round butt just like you asked." aren't going to be winning any prizes any time soon.

Others mention the awesome character development, but I guess I missed that? You have 1 character that is forever bitchy. Another that is forever angry over the smallest, stupidest shit. And then the "mom" who is a perpetual angsty "We shouldn't do this. But really I don't mind. Teehee. Wait No. Yes. No. Maybe." Over all the characters personalities are completely static, wooden and don't really draw you in.
Overall, I feel like this game is half a step up from an R-rated movie but with worse script-writing. It's an OK way to kill some time, but don't expect much and you won't be too disappointed.

Definitely one of the best VNs out there. Let's put it like this, if you are just a greedy horny person who wants to fap at a lot of materials, then let me tell you that this is not for you. This game is definitely for those who want some compelling story and good character development and relationship with characters (not BS).

The game takes time to develop, especially with the characters because of the romantic relationship that you can form with your lover (which I like the most personally). I am a hopeless romantic person, so the fact that Az the developer of the game incorporated romance (even though it's not in the tags), made me buy this game. Seriously, there's a lot of devs there guys who just aim for more fap materials rather than a good character development and plot. Well, this dev deserves an award. This game's great and I'm thankful that this has been made.

Worth your time. Early review but I won't delay the suspense because this game will most likely tick all the boxes of a typical top game on this site. What will make this one of the best eventually is how it focuses on it characters.

Pros
Sex(ish) scenes
Dialogue
Graphics
Actual threat of clear and present danger
No point and click
Angles

Cons
All female models besides the milf are the same (Which for me is fine because Im only here for the Milf)
Too much teasing
MC is a moron

Review after Ep.5

Started this game with very low expectations and i was pleasantly surprised. Sure the idea of a young guy moving in with a milf and 2 young women is not very original, but it's not incest so it makes it kinda believable.

Pros
I like all the characters surprisingly (more than MC who seems kind of a dick)
Nice renders
Interesting storyline

Cons
So far there no love route for Ashley which means she's only there for sex.
The whole attack/rape scene and the follow up seemed kinda childish.
You need a walkthrough to find out which choices lead to maximum results and what scenes they unlock.

Overall, even though it's not the best game out there and there's not a lot of content yet, it definitely deserves your time.

One of my favorites since the story goes not the usual way to cover its true nature. This time, there's probably a cool message behind, giving PINS and JDs hope for a second chance to get their life together (gg). Models in this VN are quite unique and more or less MC friendly at the beginning. Soundtracks and FX are on point! There are branching choices to make depending on your bias. English dialogs were fun to read at times. Some parts just crossed the borderline up to a point where roomie Luis seemed more stable than the yappy MC :/ Anyway! Keep it up guys

Just found this game today, and something told me to give it a try. It has some of the best graphics, story telling out there. Can't wait for the next update, the humor just had me cracking up. How the developer tells the story and the interaction between characters is outstanding, and gets you hooked into the story.