Ren'Py - High-Rise Climb [v0.95.1.2] [Smokeydots]

I honestly can't give this VN any more than 3 stars. There is a solid amount of content, but it isn't good enough to push it into 4 stars.

First and foremost, why isn't there an NTR tag? Seeing how it's all over the place with what I'm assuming are LIs.

With that out of the way, here goes the review.

Average is as far as I can go. Yes there is a lot of content. It almost comes across as being bogged down with shit to do.

I recommend dropping the harem tag and leaving that aspect alone. Because there's not an actual harem going on here with all of the cheating and NTR, cucking going on.

Give us the option to kick the drunkard GF to the curb and keep her sister. Seeing how that relationship started off with cheating. LOL

The money making is actually quite easy. You just amass so much you don't have anything to spend it on. Good job there.

The condo you buy could have been a nice place for a harem if this was actually a harem VN. 2 bed rooms? Why?

The warehouse is completely not needed. You could've done the AI right there in that condo. Only if the condo would have been done differently.

So, IMO this VN could have been done at least 2 years ago. Seeing as I don't actually remember the first time I came across it. Yet here we are in 2024 and this one is still going.
At least this MC doesn't have cockzilla going on, and all the women aren't madly in love with him from the onset.
Either way, this is only based on my opinions. I wouldn't want anyone to pass judgement because of that.
Give it a try. Just skip the cheat mod. The only thing it really does is fix relationship points with some of the women, and your stats. Which is good.

Originally one of my favorite games on the site.

- really attractive women which still hold up really really well, even though the overall render quality is probably about average at this point in time, but the character models themselves are unique and actually look good
- office theme is done better than most games of similar nature
- good sex scenes and scenarios, though animations are sometimes very rigid and unnatural looking
- main character is smart guy and not a beta. women do flock to him but usually don't instantly sleep with him, so there's at least progression
- well developed power dynamics
- plenty of content - not sure why others are saying there's not a lot, also qualifying these by saying "not a ton for 6 years" should be completely irrelevant when reviewing. The point is for anyone new who takes on the game there are a wide range of scenes, especially with certain characters having multiple scenarios/paths.

neg

- can be grindy, some will mind and some don't. I will say at the very least you get into a rhythm, and honestly events can always be found while you go through the days
- story probably has too much going on by the end
- huge game size + not great performance
- not enough Olivia

You can tell there has been a lot of effort put into this game, but that doesn't make the final product good. This is another very grindy, very tedious sandbox game where you micromanage everything, down to the very basics of being alive, like eating. There's really not much to say here, the girls look ok, the graphics look ok, the game technically plays fine, it's just a grindy snoozefest sandbox. Honestly pretty damn disappointing because if this was either a VN or a sandbox where you just used it to have freedom of choice to explore your own paths, that would be significantly better and would probably be a decent little game. Instead, this game wastes your time by having you eat food, take a shower, and work out at the gym to keep your stats normal. Very sad.

High-Rise Climb [v0.94a]

Pros:
Nice Premise

Neutral:
Some Character Models look decent, but others look too aged

Cons:
Boring Story
Way too grindy
Poor Sex Scenes
Not much content
Terrible game performance
Animations are dull
Some choices are forced upon you

Conclusion:

The plot really convinced me to play this game, because I do like corruption games, and the idea of the boss corrupting female co-workers hasn't been done that often, and sadly mostly with bad results.
Sadly this game is no different and has countless issues.
From a content perspective, it's hard to believe that the development of this game is in it's sixth year, when there's still not much content here.
I can look past a boring story, bad writing, lack of content or aged visuals with lackluster animations.
But the game feels really half-assed, is filled with grindy filler, doesn't do anything interesting with the promising plot, and doesn't make you want to play this game more.
Not only that, but this game runs like absolute dogshit, and leads you wanting to uninstall it.
Because the dev doesn't seem to be able to optimize a 6 year-old renpy game, that feels like me trying to play fuckin Cyberpunk 2077 on an GTX 750.
It's laggy, there are countless freezes and crashes, which makes this game unplayable at times.
Is it maybe an old version of renpy?
I definetly never had these issues with other games before. So, without the terrible performance of the game it would've gotten 2*. And maybe even that would be too nice, considering in what a poor state this game is in after 6 years.
There's no way I can recommend this game, and this one will take a place in my ignore list.

Renders are good
Cheat mod is good
Story is meh not really interesting
Fear mechannic feels useless
No bugs
Events not always triggering
Option to make the The wife being alcoholic just is bad
rsearch items are really good

Really nice renders and girls .

Loved the game , well done smokey dots . I hope your team is proud of what they've made .

Story is a little predictable but that's expected in the genere , good luck for the future of the project and i hope it goes well!

Dident really enjoy much in this game, the stories are boring and plain, the girls dident really do much for me either they felt emotionless and about 95% of them i dident like how they look and its mostly the same build body wise, i just couldent get any feelings for them.
And the sex scenes with text like in, out, in, out when MC is fucking a LI is just not how you set the mood in sex scenes.

Also not really a fan of being forced to be with LIs i dont want to be with, but if you dont then quest lines cant be done, so expect to be forced to brainwash LIs into doing things they dont want, and your forced to do drugs as well. Its really more like a kinetic story for the most parts and very little freedom.

The animations are very short and alot of scenes arent even animated which makes it feel cheap and rushed, the 3-some scene is proberly the only one that is decent.

Sandbox is also making it take forever to get anywhere in the stories, but it wasent the worst sandbox ive tried atleast.

Story 2/5
Boring, Kinetic feel, long with barely any rewards, any by long its not due to texts since the stories them selfs is maybe 2 hours worth if that, its long due to the grind.

Animations 2/5
Alot of sex scenes is picture to picture and 99% of the animated ones are very short and boring with text like "in, out, in, out" ya i am not kidding...

Girl 2/5
They where just not to my taste, alot looks older then what they are supposed to be and i dident really like most of the face designs.

Music 3/5
Standard background music nothing mood setting but better then silent.

Sandbox 3/5
Not the worst but its still a grind.

Updates 1/5
Well game is close to 6 years old so maybe in another 10 it will be complete, its just to slow.

I would avoid this game even though the plot is cool & its a fairly unique premise + the characters are decently written. Don’t be fooled. The game has been around for 6 years, but it has about as much content as many games do in 6-12 months. Outside of the grind mechanisms, there is about 1 hour to 1.5 hours of content. Thats ridiculous for six years of development.

The majority of characters in the game are either introduced briefly once, or there is no way to interact with them. The game is also not polished and there quite a few bugs. Additionally, for some reason, the “opportunities page” does not work for half the characters, and some characters do not show up at all on the relations page so you have no idea what the stats are for them.

If you play the smart way (don’t spend any money until you have around 40m due to interest compounding) the game can be completed in about 6 hours due to having to grind and click the same buttons endlessly. Given the pace of development for the game, it is highly unlikely it will ever be finished in a satisfactory manner.

Review for High-Rise Climb v0.93.1c:

Overall: 3/5 - I started this game a couple years ago and ditched it because it was just too complicated and I didn't have the time. I tried it again this week and played through the available content and came to the conclusion that it's OK, but the entertainment value just isn't worth the time spent.

Story: 3.5/5 - The story started off kinda slow and boring and eventually turned SciFi, but the SciFi aspect just got started before the end of the most recent update. Various love-interests have their side stories but none of them are very engaging by themselves.

Writing: 3.5/5 - The writing is mostly good. It actually appears to be written by a native English speaker. However, there are quite a few typos and other mistakes especially in the later content. Obviously, nobody is proofreading.

Renders: 3/5 - Most of the renders look dated. This game was started in 2017 and that's exactly what I would've guessed if somebody asked me when the game was made solely based on the renders. They do improve some over time, but they're not even close to modern VN quality. It shows that the game has been dragging on way too long. However, the models are pretty and you've likely seen a few of them in other games.

Animations: 2/5 - The animations are a sore spot for this game. It seems like most of the animations for earlier content are missing, like the developer intended to insert animations for some scenes but never did it. The animations that are in the game range from poor jerky 2-frame to smooth and mostly natural-looking. The better animations are in the later content, which makes sense. Too bad the animations for older content were never added and/or updated to benefit new players.

Sound: 2/5 - The music bored me to tears.

Content: 2/5 - Content and especially lewd content is lacking for a game that's been in development for 5 1/2 years. Build-up to the lewd content is kinda poor. The lewd content available with the MC's live-in girlfriend from the start of the game is really weak for no reason and the only repeatable sex scene with her is when they are tripping on Extacy. Basically, players are going to put in a lot of time bot not get much adult content. Also, there are many weird continuity errors in the content that break immersion. These are likely due to the sandbox design and lack of overall design and testing. E.g., MC hypnotizes Angela to stop drinking, but she still drinks in repeating scenes. Angela tells MC that he can fuck her sister, but Angela goes ballistic when her sister stands in front of MC wearing only underwear. There are many others.

Gameplay: 2/5 - This game is overly complicated, the sandbox is overly tedious, and the balance for grind vs content starts off really poor and barely makes it to average by the time you finish the most recent update. The sandbox is a bit of a mess. With the gameplay being so grindy, the sandbox needs to be consistent and optimal. The interaction UI works differently for different characters, the navigation UI works differently for different interiors. It sucks, especially when you have to get re-accustomed to the inconsistencies every few months when playing a new update.

Bugs: There are some "opportunities" that can't be completed because the game doesn't check dependencies before allowing the player to progress in other opportunities. The sandbox user interface is full of dumb little bugs. They're not game-breaking but they are very annoying. The coding underneath the hood must be a bowl of spaghetti. Here are some examples:

• The time of day can roll over from 23:00 to 24:00 and 25:00 instead of 00:00 and 01:00.
• Stats for work-level, body-level, and research-level are randomly displayed as negative or have values over 100%.
• Relationship level isn't a percentage, and it can go well above 100, but when it's above 100, certain actions will reset it to 100.
• The current location indicator says "HOME" most of the time, even when the MC is at work, or other places.
• The "WAGE" stat starts to go backwards when it reaches about $308 million.

All of the little bugs and typos that have existed for so many years are an indication of how little the developer actually cares about quality.

Sexual harassment, workplace, public, and corruption?

Yes, please.

Wait, the development began in 2017? 6 years ago?

And there is so little content in it?

And I have to grind hours to unlock low frames animations with terrible animations?

No, thank you.

You can play nice by grinding the "like" stat (around +6 a day with upgrades) or play less nice with harassment by increasing their fear. Wich unlock... Two scenes for two characters... Wow.

Then hours later, the story finally slightly moves on and unlocks some new scenes and that's it.

6 years, barely a dozen of scenes, almost no story.

Dated compared to the more modern games, but the models and story are still enjoyable. The girls are distinct to choose upon, and is still okay for a playthrough. It can get grindy, but renpy games can be cheated to make it less grindy

Its ok.
The presentation is great both in renders and UI, with some good ideas like the Xray glasses option, that adds an extra level of enjoyment to the games story and world. The animations are pretty good as well.
There are many characters to interact with, though the grind necessary to progress the relationships with any of them can get quite boring and tedious. The grind in general can get extremely tedious. As for the love interests, more variations in body proportions would have been greatly appreciated. As it is now all of the female characters seem to have the same build with minor variations. But this is overall a small complaint.
The writing is ok, characters have their own personalities and interests, but i definitely felt the need to skim through it most of the time.
Overall its a recommend, it is a quite polished experience.

Verision: 0.92a

Definitely a great game with a ton of content. Not sure I got everything, but it was definitely nice to so many options for how to work with the characters from love to outright predation. For the most part, your character is as moral as you want them to be, no preachy moralizing. The scenes are hot and creative.

Only down sides would be: some scenes need more narration and the creator clearly learned to animate in the development of the game, some scenes don't move, some stutter, others are completely fluid.

High-Rise Climb (0.92a version) is a game I really wanted to like as I love office stories. And in this case, the result is somewhere in the middle. Gameplay-wise it's a sandbox with little grind, which is nice, that allows you to progress with an adequate amount of freedom and choose which girls you're interested in and which you are not. The thing is the story, it takes its time on the begginning which is great, and then just starts going very quickly as you unlock some skills. This makes the whole story fall a bit apart as things just reach a rythm that doesn't feel believable at all. I know it is a porn game, but I think in a game like this story is very important to set the mood, create tension and so on, and in this case it fails a bit on that as it advances, specially with certain girls.

Render quality is very good, no doubt about it, as are the character models. Animations, especially during sex scenes, are not that great though, and in general sex scenes are a bit on the low quality, with unneeded clicks and other interruptions. As for sound it has some music to it, but it ends up being a bit too repetitive, so in the end I silenced it.

Edit: So, all in all, I kept following the game for a while and playing it's updates but it ended up not being worth it. Dropped.

v0.92a

Gameplay: I always cheat in extra money and will / hygiene at the start, if you do that, the grind is minimal and progression is quite fast.

Characters: I don't like Angela at all, I do however very much like both girls she makes available. Both Bailey and Olivia are some of my favorites girls across any game. The other girls are nice as well, but some are still only placeholders or just available to chat with.

Art: It is a little inconsistent, some animations look great, some are a bit janky (might be the earlier stuff) overall it has enough very good renders/animations to make me forgive the inconsistency.

Story: It has a nice sense of progression to it, but I would prefer it if it was less linear. I like how things play out with most girls, with the exception of Angela. I'd much rather move into my new loft with Bailey and/or Olivia and break up with Angela, but now on both Angela routes the new threesome scenes are too focused on her.

TLDR: I really like this game, it has multiple very hot girls/scenes and a nice sense of progression. It's not perfect, but I still look forward to every release.

Decent game held hostage by too much grind and dull conversations.

At first the game holds promise as we step into the high-performance world of bleeding edge finance. Set in a wall-street esque setting, we follow MC who strives to make it in the finance world. He has a girlfriend but their relationship is rather dull and not much comes out of it.

Throughout the entire game I can't think of a single conversation that captivated me, they're all dull and one dimensional where nothing of substance gets said. That's actually the summary of MC's interactions with all the LI's.

The renders are alright but the animations leave something to be desired. The sex scenes are forgettable and... Fuck it, the game is just forgettable with all that grind. Even with cheats it takes ages and it's just not fun.

Reviewing at .91.

There is a character in this that I felt connected to in a way I don't think I ever have in a similar game. Multiple characters are hot, the setting is fun. The gameplay loop is enjoyable, the story is solid. Some parts are simplistic. Some options are limited. But overall this game probably would earn a solid 4 stars from me.

That said, there is a character that as the game progressed I started to feel connected with in a way I previously hadn't. I actually had to step away from the game for several days because I felt guilty about the ways that the story had progressed, and I ended up starting over. I think this is one of the first times I've wanted to go down a particular path for the sake of that character, rather than just trying to see all the content that was available. If a game can cause that intense of a feeling in me (whether or not it might in any other players) that has to deserve 5 stars.

Version Reviewed: v0.91a

Overview: Become the king of business and bitches.

Story: You start work for a small but scrappy investment firm and use your talents to rise to the top. In the process of doing so you will raise the various stat bars on all of your female (and male, although never for sex stuff) associates, friends, family, girlfriend, and even the local mallrats.

Gameplay: Grind with an extra helping of grind. One of the core principals of the game is the money grind, where you start with a small savings and a steady job and every week increase your investment income until you're earning millions per week in a runaway feedback loop, just as capitalism intended. Beyond the money grind there are also two different relationship meters to grind with every character, one of which is basically love and the other is fear. In addition there is an actual love meter, as well as a lust meter for every girl. Your own character has a skill tree that he fills out by grinding research. He also has a fitness meter you grind at the gym, and a promotion meter you grind at work. You also have hunger, mood, and cleanliness to maintain. You also need to show up to the office every day and put in 4 hours of regular work or your boss gets mad and might fire you. Are you having fun yet?

Beyond all of the grind to actually get content you need not only to have the meters beyond (or below!) a certain point and figure out the right action to take with the character at the right time of day. There is a help system but it is significantly incomplete and also often uselessly vague. Sometimes it gives you a useful hint, but you can't count on it. There is also a girl database to help you keep track of the various stats of all of the girls, but it has less than a third of the girls in it. I think maybe the dev has forgotten it even exists?

As the game is incomplete I won't grade it harshly on missing pieces, but there is one thing that I really don't get. So you live in a small apartment with your girlfriend and her friend for most of the game. Eventually you earn enough money to buy an extremely expensive condo with cash. Seriously, our genius Wall street guy pulls his money out of investments to buy a $15 million dollar condo that will supposedly be his primary residence with cash--his boss should have fired him on the spot. But that's not even the worst part. He buys this beachfront mansion that is closer to his work than his apartment and...doesn't use it at all. Sure you can visit and swim in the pool or even sleep in the bed, but then your girlfriend will be angry and think you are sleeping around if you don't go back home and sleep in your tiny apartment. Why didn't everybody immediately move into this fully furnished condo? Who knows? Literally the only thing you can do of note in the condo is call your hot realtor (who apparently does come with the house) for a quick fuck.

Graphics: Nicely done DAZ with a good variety of assets. There are even animations, sometimes with alternate angles. Most of the time it is still images however. The models are well proportioned, but a bit samey. The sex content leans vanilla but there is enough there to fap to, if you can manage the grind.

Conclusion: The nice graphics and decent enough story is weighed down by gameplay issues. The grind is excessive and the quest tracker is too poorly implemented.

I am getting stuck a lot and the menu clues don't offer much help and it does not seems update to the current version. User experience=0. lot of debug screens that force me to rollback.
hopefully this will be fixed in the future.

Good Game though couple of suggestions.
1. The Investment work barely increases weekly income ( whole day of effort makes 70k into 71k), Not worth it at all, Should make it 10x atleast. Plus there is no mention that the investment income depends on the available cash.
2. There is no Intro, Intro of girlfriend and Neighbor is also lacking, only when I was halfway the game did a dialog mention that she is girlfriend and Alice is neighbor.
3. The Fear thing doesn't have any incentive, you can have whatever it gives through relationship, there is no reason to go that route, and if you increase relationship it decreases fear and vice versa, it doesn't have to be that way, For example Grace's plot could be unlocked through fear first then Player can decide his/her route instead of grinding her relationship point to talk about that first opportunity, Although I would prefer Submission instead of Fear.
4. Game size is too large, Maybe use webp or other codec.
5. Psychology Bonus is Glitchy doesn't work on some character like Olivia, and the 200% bonus doesn't work at all i think.