Ren'Py - Heavy Five [Ch.2RS] [Nottravis]

Version tested: Ch.4R and Ch.2RS

Heavy Five is one of those AVN's that the community loves or hates.
It's my favourite by far, and since the review system seems to be an oasis of calm for haters, here is my biased opinion as well.

Sci-fi universe: 5/5
Story: 5/5
Dialogues: 5/5
Renders: 5/5
Gameplay: 5/5 (the freeroam is a little bit puzzling at first, it has a learning curve but it's a real freeroam with no task list)
Characters : 5/5
Ambient and Music soundtrack : 5/5
Potential: 10/5

I sincerely recommend playing Heavy Five, but wait until Ch.5RS is released, cause Ch.4R and Ch.2RS are both obsolete.

Congrats on the game and good luck to the Dev.

maybe it's because of the military setup where people thinks they are tom cruise from top gun....
except sarah, the game 's protagonists are not engaging, not interesting and even cringe. i couldn't bear any.
they also are full of themselves,

you can't avoid interactions with those characters whose personalities are not enjoyable. this is the definition of a cringe game.
the story is boring and you need to deal with characters you can't bear.
not sure how this game won awards,

Really interesting premise, strong writing and consistent verisimilitude with the choices characters make. Easy recommendation. Seeming very wide option spread as I've not managed a lot of the achievements yet, suggests good replayability.

Having played the original and the remake I have to say I prefer the in universe original way of picking character and name. The reworked version took me out of it a bit. Not a huge deal. Another thing, I really enjoyed the mocking of the seeming endless clones of "college age man moves in with hot milf, tsundere elder daughter and virginal youngest daughter".

One nitpick would be to update the download links to make it clear the remastered version is all chapters up to Chapter 4. I downloaded the first link and saw it ended at chapter 2, saw a download link for chapter 4 and thought there was a missing link for chapter 3.

This is gonna be a personal problem so don't mind my bitching... I love this game's story and characters, too much lol so I think I'm gonna have to move on from it because it seems like you can only do one route or another at a time per game.. I get that choices matter but I read that as "you get locked out of most of the content unless you want to save scum or do multiple playthroughs" I noticed a ton of stuff I apparently missed in the first two chapters, went with Annie so I forgot about the VR shit which looked like a fun route, had a drunken bj then got yelled at by the butch lieutenant.. I guess that's the problem with writing characters too well lol it makes you want to do a harem route or even noncanon seeing everyone's scenes route.. Contemplated starting as a female mc so I'd maybe get in everyone's good graces but I think I'd still have a mental breakdown at all the stuff I'd miss... One of the toughest passes I've ever had to make, amd that's why the rating's a 4 lol I can't give a 5 star to a game that I won't play but it is expertly crafted in every other way

based on release CH2-RS, I've determined this game just isn't for me... and may not be for many others.

the renders are great. the animations are - mostly - very smooth.

but the game itself is so full of bad sex puns (true groan-worthy puns in spoken, televised, and poster formats), and so little in the way of lewd images that make any sense (if you play as I did, for story content and true to what you believe is your character... you get nothing)... that I finally figured out there's no reason to play it anymore.

combine that with the facts that

1. you can't avoid interactions (not just lewd interactions, but continued, in-depth interactions) with those characters whose personalities are, well, undesirable
2. there is implied unavoidable NTR (confirmed as upcoming by another review)... and NTR is not a tag for the game

...and I felt the need to delete the game before getting anymore interested in what's otherwise a decently illustrated VN, just one bordering on a kinetic novel for all the choices you get to make that actually make any difference to the story.

Note: While I have played both versions available here, I'll be focusing mainly on the primary download (Chapter 1 R), as I am under the impression that is the current iteration of the game the developer is working with.

This one is a bit rough, there's a lot going on but a distinct lack of polish throughout.

The game wants to present itself well. The visual quality is extremely high, there are even pre-rendered cutscenes and animations...but, then...why is some of the image layering wrong? Why are the menus cluttered with unformatted text? Why is the main menu music linked to "Sound Volume" when "Music Volume" is right there? It's a lot of relatively minor jank that together makes the game feel like more of a mock-up than a high quality product.

In terms of the writing, it's kind of...my understanding is this is the second remake of the first chapter, but I'm almost wondering if it's an alpha of the second remake, because a lot seems to be missing.


Effectively "Heavy Fire" seems to put its status as an adult game ahead of its other elements, placing things into the setting without much thought in order to encourage character and adult interactions. I'm quite disappointed by this, as the characters themselves are reasonably interesting...or as interesting as they can get for a 30 minute single chapter. I maintain the hope on my assertion and that this version of chapter 1 is not emblamatic of the final chapter 1 and will be expanded upon, because I want to play it at its full potential.

As for the "Chapter 4 Remastered" download also present on the F95 page, which is poorly labeled and actually contains chapters 1-4, I'm under the impression it's currently being overhauled again and so would not bother with it at this time. Having played it myself, I think it has a lot of the same issues already stated - problems maintaining quality and a lot of issues inserting things nonsensically into the setting.

I can't really recommend Heavy Five for anything other than some of its visuals, but even if you're downloading it just for that, there isn't much nudity at this time.

A lot have been said about this game. Some see it as an cash grab, others see it as the second coming of Christ (gamewise). And as always the truth is that it is false on both account.

Dev has paused her patreon a long time so kuddos on that and so it is far from a cash grab. Is it the best sexgame? In my opinion far from it, it is a good game but has it flaws. (which game does not)

Well lets start:

The dev is a perfectionist with all the pros and cons that come with it. Which makes me wonder if the game will ever reach a fully released status. I don't think the dev is going to abandon the game anytime soon, but every release takes a minimal of a year and it has been remastered twice. All and all the game has not much to show for all those years. What is released is very good. Nice renders, good story and sexual tension brought in the right manner. But content wise for all those years it is not very much.

So what's the ''problem''. Well you can you play as a male or female with light of dark skin and npc's react accordingly to it, with their own preferences. While that sounds cool, I personally would rather see that in big productions. This takes alot of time and if you only play one of the options the updates might be quite short. Even without starting to talk about the current limitations which makes you chose in the very limited time you got. (though there is finally change coming on that point).

On the less important things: One of the choices I can't get my head around, and it really is a minor thing, But as a connoisseur of the finer things as femdom, there is one character I really like. So at a certain point she has an joi assignment for you, all the while you see pictures of submissive females. Well a joi never has been easier. Why would you want to see sub females if you prefer a femdom npc?

Finally I understand it is all the dev decisions and it is good to see that she is going her own way on that point, and not be influenced by patreon polls.

Concluding, this game is like a nice surprise, don't wait for it, it won't happen often, but when it happens it is a good day. I would I could give it a 3,5, because 3 is to low and 4 is a tad to high.

Version: Ch. 4 Remastered (abandoned)

For a game that is almost 7GBs large, this game is pretty short gameplay and story wise, the only thing that does seem fully fleshed out are the character and the sexual scenes, while everything else is left behind. This also ties into another point of the game that feels left behind, that being the sandbox part of this game, while in theory you could call this a sandbox game, it doesnt play like one because it doesnt encourage you to explore, see the sights and mess around for the fun of it. Instead you are forced into doing the select few actions over and over again because it is the most optimal way to do so.
I will do give credit to this game, the characters are fun and fleshed out, the sexual scenes are quite well made and the whole art part of the is quite good.
The only real bummer is that this game could have been rebalanced, the story could have been finished and it could have put the cherry on top of the cake when it comes to the sexual aspect of this game, yet it will stay here as a half baked pie that could have been great given more time in the oven.

It could be so much more than it is. The game asks you to explore, but effectively penalizes you for it, because of how little in-game time you are given, and how short each "chapter" is. It's also rather restrictive for a "sandbox" game, which again mars your ability to explore meaningfully. These are my major complaints, why build this interesting, immersive world, only to penalize the player for attempting to immerse in it?

This is a fantastic game in which you may choose your protag's ethnicity and gender, which is unusual. This sci-fi term, like the plot, is intriguing. Choices important, and dialogues are beneficial, therefore the entire piece is beautifully written. Render and the gals are stunning. The game is gradually adding filthy stuff, although there are still some steamy scenes.

With the banner prominently and proudly proclaiming "winner" of awards, I was expecting more out of this game.

For a game that started development January 2019, this game is incredibly short. The dialog does not intrigue, you're basically always left with 2 choices. Either agree with the NPC or the NPC won't like you and the story line ends. So in essence you are only left with one choice. Agree with the NPC because the other choice ends the game. That's not much of a choice imo.

I don't want to be a dick about it, but this game is like a fat girl with a "interesting personality". The characters are not interesting and nothing note worthy happens, nor does it give you the desire for anything to happen.

Very great renderings, a wonderful plot (so far), and a nice character. I enjoyed the VR segment with Sarah, which was quite amusing, and I like the game overall. I'd want to see more free activities; I understand it's a visual novel, but I'd like to have more free mobility and stuff to do.

Buddha said: "Don't blindly believe what they say. Don't believe my words because someone else has convinced you of them. Don't believe everything you see, hear or read from others, whether it's a person of great authority, a leader or a religious text. Do not rely on reason alone, nor on reflection alone. Do not ignore your own authority and do not blindly follow others. This path will only lead you to illusions. Find out for yourself what is true, what is reality."

Please take this into account when reading my review.

Imagine a porn movie where you are the main character and all the women want you! Got it? Now, this is not it.

Warning! This is NOT a power fantasy. It takes time for things to take shape. If you're impatient, if frustrated that you're not the god of the game, or want characters that are nothing more than sex toys, then this is NOT your game.

The Heavy not on oldschool porn game. Our character is not a demigod, the world does not revolve around him. Choices have weight. If you act like an asshole to the other characters, they will treat you like one. There is no instant sex in the game, you have to fight for results. The other characters are individuals, not mindless marionette puppets that you can drag around at will. There are many different routes, because your choices affect things. The game world is logically structured, so not all events can be reached via a single route.

If you want an interesting story with humour, well-developed characters and beautiful art, I recommend this game.

This game is a complete disaster. While the graphics and writing are good, both are utterly overwhelmed by completely insane choices made by the developer. Constant additions of complex features no one wanted, a remaster that no one asked for and hasn't improved much of anything, game timeframe so short that it's impossible to actually figure anything out or explore even a single route properly. The list of issues goes on and on, all of it balanced against nothing but good graphics and good writing. Which, while amazing, isn't nearly enough to justify recommending the game to anyone. Far from it, I'd highly recommend staying away to save yourself from a frustration induced migraine.

I played to the end of chapter 2 and so far it's tedious to see all the different routes without a walkthrough guide and when a walkthrough is required to see all the paths that's when i quit the game if the dev reads this review PLEASE add the option the start for any episode like in where the heart is and a more detailed recap that show what you did would be appreciated cause it's easy to forget what you did throughout the episode

Pros:

~Dossiers : great content in Ui menu's- really fun to have all that data.
~Derrieres : character models look nice. Sarah in particular is a cutie.
~Humor. Sometimes a little cheesy - but I really enjoyed it

Cons:
~Game overindulges on pathings, which leads to narrative bloat. It cannot get a proper story on because it is attempting to do too many things at once.
~If you are not interested in trying all the different paths- you lose a hefty chunk of content.
~Your character is unable to stop a sexual assault. :-(

(Chapter 4 Remastered)

This was a chore to play because the main aspects of the game are at odds with one another.

The game has many different paths with exclusive content, so you are intended to replay the game many times in order to discover them all. However, the game is also filled with awful minigames and tedious tasks that do nothing but soak up time. This takes all the fun out of replaying the game, turning its greatest strength into its biggest weakness. There really needs to be some sort of fast play option so that players can skip all of the mindless busywork that drags the game down.

The minigames are very poorly designed. Most either suffer from a heavy reliance on RNG or from unintuitive gameplay segments that can only be won through trial and error. Some have both, such as the pool minigame. This minigame should be fun, as it is a chance to spend time with the only decent love interest in the game, but instead it is just another chore. You take turns attempting trick shots where your opponent's chance to succeed are based on RNG, and you make or miss based on whether or not you choose the one correct option out of the eighteen given to you. The missed shots all play the exact same animation and dialogue, so if you don't guess correctly the first time, your only option is to rollback and try every other possibility in turn.

The exploration aspect of the game is often plagued with RNG as well, so while your memory will help you quickly find which of the twelve washing machines is not at total waste of time, it won't help you find which of the nine power buses are different. So you still end up with a lot of trial and error on each subsequent playthrough.

The overall tone of the game is also a mess. The main story about a suspected sabotage and the fear of being set up as a scapegoat is a serious and interesting plotline that should be a great source of building tension. But whenever things start to get interesting, the newscasts and the awful fourth wall breaking intermissions let all of the air out of the tires.

The humour is very stale. There was a point in the game where I repaired a remote control that I had found in the free roam exploration, and it unlocked a parody of an adult game that has been abandoned for several years now. I had been hoping that the remote would lead me to some sort of clue about the main quest, so it was a big disappointment to instead watch that dead horse get beaten yet again.

The final complaint I have is that for a game that prides itself on having important choices, there was none when it mattered the most. There is a moment in the game where Chris decides to sexually assault your sister while you are not allowed to attempt to prevent it or to retaliate in any way, shape, or form. Your inaction is explained in the most unconvincingly pathetic way possible, making this the lowest point of the game so far. That scene ruined two of the core characters, and I don't see any signs that the story can recover from it given how poorly it was handled.

It hurts to not give this 5 stars, but ultimately I felt like I was struggling too much against the game's design. It feels too easy to reach the end of the chapter checklist ... and have encountered barely anything on that list. (It's nice there is a list, though!) So there's a lot of reloading and trying to reach different content.

I can tell this game is a labor of love with very high attention to detail, quality, and a clear vision for what it wants to be. It's got some great renders and animations, lots of choices, unique gameplay mechanics and minigames, a variety of characters who develop different relationships with the player based on choices, and a mystery in a sci-fi setting.

The game's design philosophy is that anything could have a consequence, so just play how you want. This is ambitious, and the dev is trying hard to deliver! This means no hotspot markers, and little feedback if what I clicked set a variable that's important or was just flavor.

It's difficult to know if I've fallen off a character's path or missed something important. For example, during the sandbox portion of the game, it's unclear which actions advance time. I have a sense that whatever I pick next I'll see some new content (which is great) but it might not be the right content to advance the path I want (which is frustrating) or maybe I'll see less if I choose the wrong order. (Also, it seems like the game expects players to pursue only one love interest per playthrough, as I've encountered consistency bugs where the game assumes previous events happened for the LI if the player jumps to a different LI.)

This is one of the few ren'py games I've decompiled to look at the files to understand how to see new content. To the game's credit, after looking at the files, not everything is as difficult as it seems; players can often miss out on a lot of flavor while still hitting the main points.

The game sometimes uses random events to advance, such as combat sections where players can roll back and do it again with different results. This design means that players trying for specific results will be slowed down each time they encounter them. However, the combat features several animations that vary based on how combat is going, so a lot of work went into it.

So ... it's definitely worth a look. If you approach it with the idea that you won't easily be able to see what you want, but you'll always be able to see something, then it's good. If you like exploring and trying everything to see what changes, this might be the game you've always wanted! But I feel a lot of players will either give up or use a walkthrough.

Lastly, with regards to sexual content (as of Chapter 4 remastered), a significant amount of effort has gone into scenes that do not involve the MC, and sometimes don't even involve the crew (there's a news program, a magazine, a parody, game within a game, etc, that all receive sexual content). This isn't a good or bad point, just something to know going in.

This is one of the games that in my opinion suffers from the high ambitions of the dev.
Instead of sticking to a relatively simple story and a few important options, it dabbles into everything.
Attempts at innovative gameplay, a plethora of choices, which sadly make the game so overblown that it takes ages to update and a dev constantly questioning herself and her abilities and re-doing crap, because she's not satisfied.
Hence, we already have a remastered version with just four chapters in (and they are not at all big chapters).

The writing as it comes to dialogue and descriptions is fine in my opinion, when it comes to story development however it feels unfocused, unmotivated and well, simply not that good.

The game has some pretty standard characters, it also has one of the most annoying and aggravating female characters I've encountered in games.

I have nothing against slow-burn stories, in fact, if there is a lot of sexual content early in the game, there better be an explanation (like already existing relationships, a fantastic sexual god as MC, and a game not taking itself seriously for example) for it.
I also absolutely love story- and character driven games.
So why do I rank this game so low?
Slow-burn needs the right pace, there needs to be a pay-off and IMO you need to steadily up the ante with the LIs.
Go from kissing to a bit of groping, to heavy petting, to forms of sex without actual physical intercourse and then to finally "popping the cherry" or so to speak, which doesn't need to be a literal deflowering, but simply a way of saying the actual physical act needs to happen at some point.

So far, the game fails for me in this regard.

And as for characters, well they simply aren't that great and again, one of them is simply annoying and completely unlikeable, a hypocrite of the highest order and so insufferable, that you wish for some option to seriously hurt or kill her.
Unless you are a total blanket who gets off on being humiliated and treated like either a toy or an enemy, for no fucking reason, other than that Chris believes she is the lady and mistress of all she surveys.
Yeah, no matter whether you are aggressive and "evil" or friendly and open, this lady needs to lord it out over you. It has nothing to do with MC and her both being military, you are of equal rank and at least on the ground it's actually the MC who would be the leader as the more senior officer in that regard
I'm expanding a bit on my POV about the character in spoilers, because it's just my personal view of it, and it might not be that interesting for some, it also isn't the major factor for my rating of the game, but if you see the long rant about it, you might think so.

So, to sum it up, the art is really good at times, some of the writing is good, the overall pace and plot has its problems, the characters work fine for the most part, but aren't written particularly great or outstanding and one of them is a massive pain in the ass, with no option to put her in her place.

Game Version Played: Heavy Five Chapter 4 Remastered (9/12/2021)

Bottom Line Up Front: The Dev is able to leverage current technology to produce renders and animations that are above average quality, however there are serious problems with the plot, pacing, and engaging the player with sex or with an emotional connection to the other characters.

Heavy Five is a Sci Fi Adult Mystery sandbox/visual novel. Adult because there are sex scenes and nakedness and some fetishes. Mystery because there are teases about a weird things going on and a greater plot in the background. Sandbox because of a free-ish roam in the middle of each chapter. Visual novel because there are more usual choice based reading events before and after the sandbox. Fetishes focus on rape-play (consensual non-consensual or fantasy rape), tease and denial/fem dom, bugs/slugs, and vanilla.

Art: 4/5
The animations are 'good enough', they get the job done- above the average for a solo person operation, but have definite moments of jankiness and immersion breaking that is likely a unavoidable result of using Daz. The stills show attention to detail, lighting, texture, and other signs of am above average quality production.

Story: 2/5
The story is like a ruined orgasm- lots of build up with a terrible payoff. It is true that it is not complete, but if what we have seen so far continues, all the hints and promises are going to turn out to be like Season 8 of Game of Thrones, just a huge let down. As an example- In Chapter 1 you can be challenged to a boxing match with one of the interests. Dialogue and thoughts in the succeeding chapters build up all kinds of plans for this match, like bets to up the stakes or using drugs to win in an evil way. Then it is postponed, and then the day of... sucker punch and a completely artless obvious dodge to add a new 'twisty' bit to the plot. Writers need to learn this- it is not clever to keep adding twisty bits, it is exhausting. Bigger fiction settings than this have failed utterly because they get so caught up in adding mystery that there is a) never any pay off, and b) it is literally impossible to meet the massively inflated expectations of the fan base. This game is headed down that path. There are so many threads of mystery that you need to keep a journal to keep track, but if the result is like the above, then there is no reason to invest emotionally in the mystery as it will only lead to disappointment.


Sex: 2/5
This is a slow burn game, at least according to the dev, and they defend it by pointing out that you have only known these people for hours to days. Avoiding porn logic to get to the sex is fine, even admirable, but it is very inconsistent. Your relationships with the supposed love interests are incredibly slow, but porn logic comes swinging back in to get folks naked in the most contrived ways. Which again, is also fine, an adult game should have some sexiness in it, otherwise strip all that out and sell this on Steam. Ironically, the most engaging and enjoyable sex scene in the whole game so far is the tutorial for chapter 4. This is a theme- the add on bits (note- these are available only to high tier patrons, so your game might not even have them) are sexier and more enjoyable than 95% of the stuff in the game itself. Which is even assuming you can FIND the sex without a walkthrough. Playing the game as a female MC, and as recommended by the Dev (ie just making choices I think are good), I got exactly zero sex scenes in the story itself. Running through multiple times, I was able to find the VR sex (which... is a computer game in a computer game and is focused so far on the rape-play fetish), and what amounts to a short video involving slugs but doesn't involve YOU THE PLAYER in any way (other than being deliberately stupid in order to see it)- both with the same love interest. The male MC can have coitus interruptus with a different LI, and there are reports of other scenes as well but I was unable to get them. And then the whole tease/denial/femdom module. Here is the thing- the Dev needs to spend some serious time going to websites that specialize in this kind of fetish, because this is one half assed implementation that needs serious help. Jack off instruction games are not new and those who enjoy them do so for different reasons, but they DO have many things in common that make for a quality implementation. Just putting a beat meter up with a slide show is NOT a quality implementation, ESPECIALLY when given the option to opine on an image, it won't even remember if you hate something or not. Am I close to cumming? no, because you killed my boner 3 times in a row, and further I told you that each time. Learn from other games what works and what doesn't!

All in all, this is a massive undertaking that is too caught up in its own head to be enjoyable. The dev throws literal gigabytes of pictures and animations at you, but then makes it impossible to enjoy those pictures and animations by locking them behind impregnable choice logic or poor implementation. The current plot points sound interesting and intriguing, but what we are presented with shows every sign of being a huge let down of constant tease with no payoff. And perhaps that is all this is- a very meta way to do fem dom tease and denial on a community of players in the real world. If so, bravo, very well done.