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

Well.. I played some hour on this game.
I can see some potential, but overall in my opinion it is a soulless game.
It is difficult for me to relate to the characters story or feel any sexual tension.

Technically the game has been built properly, but I cannot make get in my head.

Overall stellar work, despite some grinding elements. Good writing.

In the final product, I'd enjoy seeing more consequences for your actions (positive or negative). For example, when sexually assaulting coworkers, the only penalty is an arbitrary point loss, which can be easily overcome. In other words, there's no reason to not try to fuck every woman in the game, making this kind of a porn fest.

Version: v0.71b

PROS:
- Very good Renders of the female character models
- Good/Regular Sex Scenes
- Regular Animations
- Regular Gameplay

CONS:
- Poorly status progression system
- Relationships with the characters are bad
- Some RPG characteristics are useless
- Grind gameplay and slightly tiring
- A little poorly organized

Review:
The beginning of this game shows a gameplay where you see that there is some potential, because it's an office settings game and the MC will have to struggle to reach the top of the company, as described in the synopsis. However, that's not what happens, the plot says one thing but in practice it is quite another. One of the things that irritated me about the game was that it has sci-fi, which made the game a little nonsense (is my opinion).
History:
You are a guy who works in an office and in your office you have 3 colleagues who are a man and two women. In the office there are more NPCs for you to interact with, but two of them at the beginning have no interaction at all. In your home you date a beautiful and hot young woman, it could be the MC's sister or step-sister, but there is no incest in the story. Whatever. The story is going well, but there came a time that I got tired of following and then I stopped reading the dialogues. That's because I lost interest, because I thought that some of the things were not going well.
Gameplay:
It is a sandbox with RPG where you will have to grind a lot to increase the progression with the characters. There are some characteristics that you need to work on, such as friendship, fear, lust and love. But I noticed that only friendship is more effective, because fear or love will change some scenes, but to tell you the truth these characteristics were very poorly worked. Therefore, relationships with NPCs have little impact and the gameplay and is very tiring, I arrived halfway through the game and gave up playing. Not to mention that it is quite poorly organized, which makes it very uncomfortable.
Graphics & Sex Content:
The graphics are good, but the interface is not much. The girls' renders are good, but the scenes and animations not so much. One of the things that irritated me a lot is when it comes to the sex scene that you have to keep clicking with the mouse, this is very annoying. There's a little bit of Harem, there's a little bit of cheating, and corruption is something that could be better effort. The "rape" in the game is very silly and boring, if you don’t like this content then don’t worry too much. The MC wears an invisible outfit and abuse/rape a girl.

So, why I did gave 2 stars?
I don't know if it is fair or unfair to give a 2 star rating, because this game could be a great game if it was well organized and built. The game has some good and some bad elements, the gameplay is very uncomfortable and the grind makes you very tired. This game is quite long, it has almost 5gb of download size, however the content presented could be much better. The characteristics of the RPG sometimes do not work very well, or do not work, some things are useless and that could be better worked out, another factor is the sci-fi which in my opinion I think it didn’t match very well. Overall, it was a game that I would have liked to have enjoyed more, because I like corruption in office settings game or such themes. The characters in this game are good. I liked the game a little, not much, but if it was more organized, it had an improved interface and a RPG that was more acceptable, as well as the most important, the characteristics. Anyway, it is difficult to follow this game, it is long and tiring, but if you want to try, experiment. But if you are looking for fast gameplay, with a lot of sexual content or worthwhile content, I suggest you look for another game.

I play a ton of Sandbox-Grindy games and this one is also a good one and keep me engage for many hours.

Pro
- The character look really great. Even though the render is not the top notch but I don't freak out by them.
- Not only the character look nice but they also memorable and don't feel they're the same person with just different render.
- Grinding is acceptable not too far and not too easy.

Neutral
- Sex scene is really a mix bag. Some are good, Some are meh.

Con
- This maybe not be a big issue but they aren't any waiting system. I mean you can wait for an hour but you can't wait for just 15 mins. You have to go around find someone to talk to and or wandering aimlessly.
- Some typo.
- I'm not sure that "Oppurtunity screen" is hint or not but I think it's really need to make something much more clearer. A lot of time, I feel really confused that I have clear this one or not. (Some of them has "Complete" after the letter but most of them don't)

Anyhow, if you feel interest in this game,I think you should try this.

Wow, this game kept me up until 4am. Without a doubt I can say this is the best sandbox game I've played within the genre.

High-Rise Climb is brimming with potential, successfully giving players a very open ended experience and creating the perception of openness within the game world. The setup is quick and to the point, no long winded conversations, needless dialogue, or other absolutely annoying "filler" material I see in many of the games today (even the top rated ones). The conversations and interactions seem purposeful leading towards and end.

The content in this release (labeled 0.8) is remarkably dense. I expected to skip my way through a lot of "chit chat nonsense", and be done with it in an instant, but there wasn't much to skip. Navigation is painless, going from location to location, identifying interactions, and goals are well outlined. My review came close to a 5 star, but here is why I'm holding off on that:

Pros:
1) The world feels truly open, able to go where you want, when you want.
2) The characters are all very attractive, well imagined, great to interact with.
3) The renders are great, not the highest quality out there, but better than most. They appropriately convey the scene and if there were bad ones, I didn't notice because the story was engaging.
4) The skill/stat system is meaningful, not containing elements that are only useful for a single story line.

Cons:
1) Sex scenes are a mixed bag. Some are animated, others are "dissolve to a pose". If you have a favorite girl you can't wait to bed, it's a real gamble whether or not that bedding will be satisfying. I would love to see those interactions animated as the game progresses, because it will be a major snag in the sweater if they are not.
2) Sex scenes are remarkably non interactive in most cases, which is a shame because it's what you work for. The reward feels very low at times, rarely the option to switch positions, change intensity, or many other features implemented in lessor games. Without question, this is work, but I think it would make this game legendary if incorporated.
3) The affect of character stats: Relationship, Fear, Lust, ect. are not terribly clear at times. I found myself needing Relationship and Fear most often, but not always sure how it's altering the game. Sometimes it's outright said, but I think a quick little guide on it would be handy.

In all, I could not recommend this game more and truly hope it reaches climax and doesn't fizzle out into a half hearted hand job like some of the promising games I've played in the past.

To the dev, if you read this, great work and please continue!

Definitely one of the best sand box games.

-Renders 5/5
-Animation 4.5/5 good quality, but i felt scenes are a little short
-Story 5/5 very interesting.
-Characters 5/5 Each character's attractive. and lot of side characters as well

A stunning, ambitious game that is mature, relatively realistic and executed well.

High quality renders and animations set the stage, but what really wins you over are the girls' personalities in this. Every single one of them is likeable in some relatable human way, they are not just characters.

For example, you coworker might be an insufferable know it all bitch trope at first glance, but then you find out she's way too smart for her own good and is a gigantic softie inside who melts from a simple hug, if it's with a person who actually "gets" her. But then further down the line you see a different side of her too, and discover she's cutthroat and whorish in her ambitions... I particularly like this aspect of the game, it does not patronize you with easily understandable cookier-cutter characters, instead they're presented to you as human beings in flux.

It's stuff like that in this game, it sets you up with a sandbox in which situations happen, and how you relate to what's happening is left up to you - you don't have to be nice to anybody just because the dev decided it. But the game is relatively realistic in portraying the girls as human, likeable personalities each with her own agenda and issues, so you get sucked into the whirlwind.

There are bugs and it's incomplete (v0.70c as of my review) but that's fine. For example, I bought a car for our dude in the game, but it decided to never arrive. Lol, never buy a cheap car online, save up and go for the lambo. (It was a bug, budget car is bugged but the lambo works) There's still a ton of fully working content already that is unusual and you won't get in more simple-minded games.

Technically the game is very well done as well. It's a sandboxy slice of life type game with plenty of delicious grinding, and nice feeling rewards as you move on up in the finance world. Finally I want to mention the excellent "power fantasy" aspects the dev managed to put in this game: as you move up in corporate, you can explore greater and greater powers over your underlings who jostle among themselves and try to please you. It's up to you if you want to tip the scales and make some of this overtly sexual. It would be a great game just for pulling off this aspect alone.

this game has a Nice storyline with technology-related things. You can become invisible, plot hidden cameras and have a lot of sex with beautiful girls. At first, didn't know what to expect from this game especially since all the talk of mind-breaking and manipulation, but as I played further I got drawn into the game's story and the manipulation fear/resp is well integrated into it and it is up to you, for the most part, to exploit or try to make the "better" choice. The visuals are very pleasant with well-done renders and scenes, with some fun characters with good design, and the writing is well handled with some minor cliches but that is to be expected since nothing is truly original especially in an anime-like world

Best sandbox game I ever played. Render is top quality. Girls are all beautiful like top models and characters are so good impossible to not like or understand them. I am not a materialist person but in this game I can easily identify with protagonist. Protagonist is not an asshole but his goals to make enormous amount of money buy luxury things and seduce girls. Really fun to live that lifestyle day to day.

I have never played a game with so many excellent content the CG scenes are great the story i actually took some time to read stuff and the animation is just right short but placed in the right place i can not find a girl in this game i do not like and the research and building projects are a nice addition to this kind of game not to mention you actually buy something with the money so far is an excellent game for me and this is my personal opinion.

This is hands down the best free-roam Ren'py game implementation I've seen. The models and renders are gorgeous. The premise and story is good. The lewds and animations are fappable. The gameplay is fun and challenging without being a grindy pain in the ass.

This is not exactly my favourite game.
But:
1) Gameplay: standard. Slow start, good acceleration toward lust, end with fireworks. 4/5
2) Graphics: high to end. 4.5/5
3) Branches and longevity: few big choice, a little grind, lot of "side-quest". It's a really good work. 5/5
4) Story: ehm... Classic office dream? 5.5/5 lust 1/5 "suspance".
Overall 4/5
A must try, hoping in a classic final with office party...

Nice graphics and catching story lines. If you read texts carefully, you can feel the game cares about details. It gives you a pretty real job experience mixed with all those erotic contents.
Just hope update can be faster but given so many paths it has in the game guess we have to be patient.

Outstanding world creation in greatly reminding myself of prior dealings in the finance/hedge fund world. The game is a five star for me in terms of environment, some of the dialogue, and how some characters act in this environment.

One star ding absolutely for the grinding nature of the game, and sometimes it doesn't really flow very well moment to moment. Still, I recommend it for sure.

This game has some big consistency errors,like when you get to decide to either go on a date with Angela if you accept Alice appears out of nowhere later,dafuq.There's some more points like this in the game that dont make sence.Other than that the game is kinda grindy and you can lose alot of scenes if you dont proceed the intented way of the walkthroughs which are all over the place.
The things i liked about this game are only some models and kinda the story.
Oh i should also mention that some sex scenes are 2 frames back and forth which is awfull and you have to spam continue all the time which is also kinda annoying.
For me it needs some rework on the first story parts, an overhaul on the animations and a cut down on the grind.

Lots of options on how you want to go and what you want the relationships with each NPC to be. Mind control/influence aspect done pretty well. Sexy women and good, pretty logical, gameplay. Definitely looking forward to future updates.

Pros :
-The graphics are good
-2 different paths
-F. characters are hot

Cons :
-Really excessive grinding mechanisms, this is the main raison why I give this game 2 stars. I didn't want to finish the game because of that
-The story is kinda "plain", mc make millions in finance and get a lot of girls

Overall : a game wasted by the grinding system way too tedious.

Wasted potential

Chara Design :
The girls are quite pretty, their attitude is sometimes interesting, sometimes boring but overall, this part of the game is pretty good.

Story/Background :
I feel like it could have been much better, the main idea has good potential, but not very well used, at least not in a captivating way. Dialogues are quite well written though.

Renders/Animations :
It's on the upper average side. Nothing exceptional but still enjoyable.

Gameplay :
Although the principle seems nice on the paper, the results is on a highly grinding game, and scrolling through repetitive days without advancing much.

---
The main reason I dropped the game halfway is because the story was not really captivating enough to overcome the huge grind. The actions you have to do makes often no sense at all, and I didn't feel like scrolling through repetitive days to find out randomly where to advance

People says this game gets better later on. Too bad, you should get the player interested right from the start, even more at the start....because if he quits before it gets good, what's the point ?

Without wasting much of your time, here is the list of pros and cons:

Pros

• Great looking characters.
• Has many sex scenes with great animations.
• Story is building up to be something better than good. Although, from the very beginning the story lacked humor and flavor, but the last few updates have changed the direction and now it is getting interesting.
• Your choices matter. As of [v0.6a], you have only one decision that plays a huge impact, but with the direction of the story, it is assumed that the game will have few more choices like this in the near future. Besides, you have so many choices that play important roles but aren't long term.

Cons

• The game is a bit of a grind. It isn't too much but if it was reduced then that would improve the playing quality. If you start playing from the start to the end of [v0.6a] then it might take you 4 hours to completely finish it.
• Lack of use for money. Through out this game, your character will earn a lot of money but that money so far isn't used much; this kills the motivation to grind for money.

CONCLUSION

This game is a must! At first hour of playing this game you might feel as it is boring but after you are done with the grind, you will start to really enjoy this game. I would give this game a 4.4 rating, if I could but that isn't possible.

Quality game with a unique free roam play style. Has excellent renders and excellent animations, albeit very limited animations. Old "animated scenes" can be updated. Interesting story line with multiple likable characters and a lot of content. Fairly frequent big updates is a plus and I am looking forward to future updates.