VN - Ren'Py - Hillside [v0.15.1] [DarkBlue]

This might be one of the most frustrating games I've played in a while. On the positive side, the storyline is very well written, albeit it with a couple of heavy caveats that I will come to later.

The artwork and the look of women generally is absolutely top notch. There are 3 or 4 of the characters that are stunningly drawn and found my self regularly flipping between them in terms of who was my favourite.

The MC is a likeable guy, who is wrestling with his own demons, whilst trying to aid others in dealing with theirs. Most of the NPC's have a uniqueness and quality of their own. The older sister in the family, Suzi is a little OTT on the aggressive attitude stakes, but not to the point that I found her lacking a credible feel.

Now to the caveat: The younger sister, Emma who is supposed to be 18, turning 19 has the personna of someone 5 or 6 years younger and that's being generous. She has all the emotional sophistication of Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man with similar levels of resilience. When she's not in tears, she's dreaming of unicorns and rainbows. Her love of pink is as alarming as the villain in Sleeping with the enemy's desire for symmetry when it comes to the storage of canned foods. Despite this however she somehow manages to be a genius fashion designer,mercifully however none of her designs have been done in pink.

I know I'm ripping into this game, which seems unfair as it is compelling and enjoyable to play. I suppose that comes down to one key element: For me this isn't a porn game. There is no appreciable sex scene to speak of and frustratingly, the MC seems to have the will power of a Catholic nun and a Buddhist monk when it comes to abstinence from sex.

I'd go as far to say that if someone told me that if a talented feminist writer had been kidnapped and told she wouldn't be released until she wrote the script for an adult sex game, this is what it would look like.

The Me2 movement has a heavy bearing on the storyline and there's a wokeness about the conclusions drawn and in the context of this story where there is almost 0 sexual content it comes across as somewhat misandristic.

Hopefully the dev decides to introduce some sex, any sex into the storyline in the next few updates. This could be a great game, if what has been produced up until now is just the prelude.

For the moment however this game disappoints greatly in the one key area that no game of this genre can afford to fail on, sexual content.

I have waited some time to play in order to evaluate better. After the 0.14 my comments are:

• Characters are well designed phsically. The ones with top-class model appearance are really top-class model. There are no absurd body type like a woman who never trains and have wonderful body
• Reactions of the characters are written naturally for a porn game. I hate when characters suddenly accepts a thing that normally they won't accept. Mother and daughter did not become lesbian instantly for example
• I really liked the story. İdea comes from the real life of the models. I am not fan of violence but it is everywhere in the world. When someone tries to tell a story without it, usually story sounds childish.
• There are branches in the story and branches are not evolving with millions of choices. I think the number of choices is also great.

To sum up, I really liked the game. I am looking forward for the next update. I hope the developers continue with this quality (and more frequently )

Hillside is another game which I expected to love and was unpleasantly surprised, especially given the positive reviews I’d read prior to playing it. No music, no animations, a handful of sex scenes roughly eight or more hours into the story that are over in the blink of an eye, and a story that varies between far-fetched and out-right preposterous, with one-dimensional Shakespeare villains that leave the impression that the author hasn’t finished high school. The negatives far outweigh any positives resulting in a game that, in its current form, I would not recommend to anyone.


While the game is pretty bad, it’s not all doom-and-gloom. The character designs are unique and attractive and I had no issues telling different characters apart. Effort was put into lighting and shadows as well as into adding background characters which many authors don’t bother with. We’ve all seen the black blobs in the background to represent the general populace, so seeing them fully rendered was a welcome change.


The plot began as an interesting one. You’re hired as a bodyguard by a famous (though aging) model in order to protect her eighteen-year-old daughter who is being stalked and harassed. The model in question is extremely distrustful of men and for good reason, and it was brave of the author to show those reason in painful detail making the reader instantly sympathetic.


However, those same painful details are where the problems begin. To call the motivations of the villainous characters preposterous would be an understatement. They’re clearly meant to be fictionalized versions of well-known #MeToo casualties, such as Harvey Weinstein, but the character is barely one-dimensional and acts like an unhinged lunatic, screaming in public areas about wanting to kill and rape people. There’s no depth to the villains and their motivations make no sense. Another villain is momentarily in police custody and immediately brags about trying to kill other characters and yet is still let loose. In another scene, a pair of cops find that someone has killed another cop, and start yelling, in public, and in surprising detail, how the person is going to have an accident on the way to the station. This is not how real people talk. This isn’t even how TV/Movie people talk. This is bizarro world stuff, and it makes the entire plot unravel.


Another villainous character has non-stop repeated inner monologues about how all they want to do is screw and/or rape everyone and how they’re going to do lots of horrible things to make that happen. Someone needs to explain to the author that even rapists have thoughts other than rape. All of the villains are pure ID with no reasoning going on beyond “Want to get my way and rape and kill and brag!”


The inner monologues are another issue in that there’s just so many of them. Every scene, each character thinks far more than they actually speak, resulting in seemingly endless exposition instead of action. They talk and talk and think and think and no progress is made. The character development is either horribly stunted or fast-tracked when you weren’t looking. For example, the MC confesses to loving the daughter he’s protecting after only doing so for maybe a week. Why? There’s no apparent reason. All of the dialogue is over the top and not in a good way, making few if any of the characters believable.


Adult content is another weakness. There’s simply very little going on in that department. There is no harem route, so you have to commit to one partner, and as of 14.1, there are maybe 3 or 4 adult scenes total, requiring at least three playthroughs. Worse still, the romances are poorly written and advance awkwardly. There’s very little buildup. Other plots progress and then suddenly so-and-so confesses their love even though it feels completely out of left field. There are also no animations, which normally wouldn’t bother me, but there are very few renders or dialogue for these scenes either. They’re over in less than a minute. Some of my favorite adult scenes from other games contain no animations, but they have to be done right. This one does it all wrong.


After getting through the first few chapters I assumed I must be missing something. The game has 4 ½ out of 5! That’s a good game, right? Popular too! What am I missing? After finishing the current content, I can say I’m not missing anything. Poor writing and adult content that is limited in both quantity and quality leads to a game I likely won’t continue unless some serious edits are done.

I love the fact that there is a great story here and real characters and the MC has realistic responses to choose from. A lot of other games appear to have only "douche bag" typical adult game responses. More than happy to wait for the "action" as story line to me is more important and I feel engaged with the characters and renders are excellent.

Certainly a game for those willing to be patient and enjoy more of a story driven game. I have replayed this game a few times so far and look forward to further updates. Recommended, and hope to find similar games in the future. 5* keep up the good work DB . This review is based on v0.14.1.

This game is not bad, it's just stupid and exaggerated

Like a 18 years old girl who behaves like 10 years old child

Or grown woman that half an hour ago told MC about how corrupt cops in the town and now she is calling to police after murdering one of their detective

Or 20 years old girl that can speak only CAPS BECAUSE SHE IS SO COOL AND CAN SOLVE ANY PROBLEM HERSELF!!!!!

Oh, and if there is no sex encounters in this game, so at leats give me captivating story, but story is mediocre

The only good thing in this VN is renders

You want a porn game to quickly fap to?

Move along mate, this isn't that sort of game.

You want a game with a compelling story, interesting characters, moments so wholesome you might shed a tear and events so outrageous you might swear loudly at 2am waking up the cat that then proceeds to resentfully prevent you from going to sleep by pawing at your face because Smudge is a spiteful little shit?

Got distracted there, anyway, five out of five, ten out of ten, twenty seven out of twenty seven whatever floats your boat

Cat not included, assuming Smudge settles the fuck down

Just, wow

Originally started playing this because the models looked so nice but before I even realised it, I was completely invested in the story!

Honestly an amazing game and its so easy to get lost in! I'm running both Charlotte and Lucy routes and always find myself impatiently waiting for the next update.

I know that most(if not all) of us creeps on this site are looking for a good fap but for those who are willing to invest our time into a slow burn game with a good story, I'd highly recommend this game.
The only other game I've ever felt invested in the story like this would be Monster Girl Quest, in which I ended up not caring about the sex and just got lost in the great story.

Hillside is a game that strikes a balance between great graphics and an engaging storyline. It's evident that the developers have put thought into crafting a vibrant setting that breathes life into the game. With a substantial amount of content already available, the game offers a sense of progression in the character arcs that have kept me thoroughly engaged. What's especially noteworthy is that the game doesn't rely on filler conversations to artificially prolong it. Instead, it adeptly transitions between scenes, allowing for a brisk and enjoyable pace.

However, my major concern lies in the adult content side. While the narrative has been built up for moments of intimacy later in the game with the main female protagonist, the scenes thus far have been lacking, both in quantity and quality with the side characters. At this point, the primary draw is the storyline itself, as even the teasing moments prove to be more enticing than the actual intimate encounters. In anticipation of future developments, I sincerely hope the developers can enhance these scenes, ensuring that they truly capture the essence of intimacy when the time comes for Charlotte to shine. That's the missing piece for an otherwise promising game.

Review of 0.14

I'll start this review off with a clarification that this is an absolutely excellent adult game, NOT a mindless porn game. If you're just looking for a game to CRTL through and find scenes to fap to then this is NOT the game for you. If you want a very well thought out story with well writen characters navigating complex situations, relationships and drama then you'll love this game.

I've played many AVNs and very few have captured and held my attention like this one has. This is truly one of the best stories that I have come across on this site. I really don't want to spoil anything in this review but if you like a good drama with twists and turns, highs and lows and the occasional gut punch then you will love this game.

It took me a while to try this masterpiece, but I will be eagerly awaiting the future releases from here on out.

This game is concentrated drama fest for the sake of even more drama. MC voluntary involves himself with womans who bring him only a lot of headache and troubles just because why not? thats writen in the plot. This game is not about MC having a fun time with girls on a new job, but having to deal with a lot of bullshit thats going on around those girls and thats it.

MC is decent man but still he have to endure a lot of totally undeserved mistreating, deals with a lot of drama and issues that he doesnt obliged, like at all. But he still behaves decently and continue his work, he solves issues and risks himself. But for what? Services? No. Favors? No. Money? No. Sex? 3 years in development and MC can have sex only once with a girl who was a total whore in the past, but for you as MC even being all this cool and decent is not enough for her to spread her legs for you just for fun, you need to ROMANCE her literally after her words that she let dudes in the past fuck her just because she was mad at her sister. So why MC endure all this troubles and unnecessary for him drama? Because of vietnam flashbacks from past mistakes, which somehow he can redeem by helping this fucked up family with their troubles.

In conclusion, this game is not about sex, have Santa Barbara level of drama on every corner and for those who read at least some books in the past this plot will pass as mediocre at best.

Great game, masterpiece. Not the typical harem-idiocy that you see everywhere where every single girls are braindead who can't breath without holding MC's dick. Would go as far as to say this is one of the best game for the VN genre.

I kind of want to give this a 5, but until it's finished I won't. I'll explain why. But consider this a very solid 4.

So, to begin with - it's definitely not a perfect game. There's a lot of western AVN tropes and it starts pretty clunky. The game does pick up a lot at some point and it becomes engaging.

Renders are alright, sex scenes non-existent. This is a slooooooooooooooooow burn game. Personally I found that okay. Again, more on that in a second.

Final thing to get out of the way - the women are pretty ok.

So, the thing I was getting to is that this was a very enjoyable light crime thriller. If it was a book it'd be one of those pleasant things you gloss over lazily during a vacation. It's not ultra smart, it's not extremely deep, it's "safe" in a way. Which is absolutely great - listen, you're probably not Agatha Christie if you're writing a game that's on here.

I found the entire experience kinda nice. The point is, it's compact and doesn't try to be something it's not. It's a very...coherent game. Hard to explain.

Hence, I'm reluctant to give it 5 stars before it finishes, because if its strongest point is that its coherent and focused, if it veers off too much at the end it'll mean the rest of it was pointless as well.

I just hope the dev keeps the same direction - nothing too wild, compact, nice.

There isn't a lot of story oriented VN like this on this site. Some might say it's too pure but I like it. Sometimes it feels like there will be too much drama but it doesn't. The devs did a good job in adding drama in a linear plot line and even though everything seems to be dramatized in Hillside, the plot is balanced.

I think no one is going to complain about the visual aspect of the VN.

v.0.14 Nice and wholesome long stretches of story written in this visual novel. I can't say its a game as there is nearly no choices to make for our protag and some of them are final way too early in the story. Like having interest in a girl yet said girl didn't do anything to show interest back. So I don't get why he need to be loyal to someone he isn't in relationship with? This game lacks manwhore route. One in which we will see all branches of relationships with many interesting girls. Until we settle on one or a few of them. Till v 0.14 there were 2 instances of sex. With 2 characters and you can't have them both at one playtrough... as mc stays loyal even when player wants to pursue more interesting girls. Especially if said girl was interested in physical only interactions. This story is too wholesome for my tastes. If you added sex then try to make players expirience it. In this game there are too many girls trying to flirt with Mc yet he brushes them off. Its not an erotic game if you tried to play it for that. I wonder if we will see many more sex scenes because for now we have 14 updates. 1 sex scene per 7 updates. So I will try to wait another 70 updates before I play it again

Might as well add the no sexual content tag to this shit, the most content we've gotten is one sex scene. This game tries to focus on the 'story', but it's really not that good of a plot. And without any sex content, all you're left with is a mediocre story with characters I could give two fucks about.

The greatest compliment that I could give Hillside is probably that I actually want to stay loyal and not just fuck every character in the game.

The story is honestly quite grounded and while obviously working at an accelerated pace relationship wise due to it being a game the character interactions feel like they really could have played out over time.
The people your character interacts with are genuinely good people who are a delight to spend time with too. Each of them is an actual nuanced person, not just a single caricature defining their whole being.

Now the bad news for anyone just looking for a fap, you won't find that here. You get the odd moments of titilation and do get to progress forward in a relationship with all that entails but anyone looking for the poke-em-mon 'gotta bang them all' approach will be sadly disappointed.

The models are gorgeous, the renders are of good quality, the writing is well done, characters feel like people and the MC isn't a sleazy creep.
The only extra I could ask for would be animations but not every dev is capable of that for a multitude of reasons so I can't fault them too much for it but if I'm to write an honest review I would drop it to a 4.5 if that were possible based on that reasoning.

Now what are you waiting for, get out there and give Emma a hug, the girl is too adorable not to want to dote on her.

Hillside really has a great story in very believable settings that seems to be based on those weinstein and eipstein assholes cases from few years ago.

The characters are well wrote and act in believable ways in the conditions they're living in.
The focus of the story is on Charlotte and her daughter Emma, with Emma being an immature young woman that react like a 12/13 years old girl as a result of being sheltered all her life by her mother (with reason considering how despicable evil the people are in the business she works in).
This create a strange and interesting dynamic in which the MC is slowly going from being the bodyguard of the family into becoming Emma's dad.

The writing is very good and even the MC is interesting.
oh and Team Lucy for the win.

top AVN deserving of 5 stars to me.

Slow burn? Of course!
It's like love/drama movie and not an erotic movie or porn movie.
I have no problem with it, but in my opinion, the story may be interesting, but without anything "spicy and risqué" to make it attractive, and it generates little interest.
We have: Blah blah blah... hug. Blah blah blah... sobbing or crying, and blah blah blah... some shouting/argument... From time to time there are kisses on the cheeks, on the forehead, some on the mouth... You can also see some boobs , ass, nipple... but little else.
And why 2 stars? The renders are quite decent, especially the one of the little daughter.

I've already gotten used to unren rpa files, seeing the images, and if they catch my attention, I play the game. If not, I delete the game directly. And this game is not the only one in which I do that process, unfortunately.

Regards.

There are hundreds of reviews, but I'll add another one onto it.

Story and writing is pretty good, but drags in several places. The characters in the VN are actually written like characters though, which is a big benefit and probably the only reason it gets a high 3 I guess. Unfortunately though, there ARE some issues. The longer the game goes, the less the characters actually evolve. The mother is forced into the "aggressive and possessive" stereotype, the dev insists on the younger daughter being unable to have any level of maturity, the villains are all cartoonishly evil, it just ends up dissolving.

Visually it's great, not really any complaints in that department. The biggest complaint though is that for all the time spent on how great it is visually, there's barely any intimiate/sexual scenes. For all of the dialogue you sit through, there are only a handful of scenes. Why even make a nsfw VN if you're spending 96% of your time playing it just treating it like a VN? Either add more sexual content, or just make it SFW. Not very complicated.

Positives:
Interesting story, great renders. Very appreciative of the "normal" physical proportions of the characters.

Criticisms:
Firstly, while I understand the direction of the game and intent to tell an adult story and not just produce masturbatory material, I wish there were a couple more naughty scenes already in the game.

Secondly, while I mostly like Emma as a character, she come across like a 13-year-old, she's meant to be eighteen, but her personality and character feels much younger and that's a bit ick to me.

I recommend this game if you're looking for a story focused game with some mild sexual content.