VN - Ren'Py - Hillside [v0.15 First Half] [DarkBlue]

OMG!!!

First off the models are gorgeous. The story is so engaging that I stuck with it and read through the entire SUPER long story, despite there being ZERO sexual content. I mean, sure there is some brief nudity but seriously... If I had known I wouldn't have started the game. That said, the models and story are both very solid.

It's just kinda of a bait and switch. There are arguably 5 women for the lead character to develop a relationship with, and at the beginning it even felt like some sort of harem was going to develop. But no, NOTHING! Not one scene with the MC and ANY of the women.

I hate both that so much time was sucked into this with no payoff, and that I know I will play the update. Sigh.

Version 0.11

After 4 hours of "gameplay" (it's a VN just reading and choosing some options) this is my opinon.

Is it a good story? Yes
Does it have good dialogue? Yes
Are the renders good? Yes
Do you like the characters? yes, i want to protect Emma with all my heart

Have I been blueballed for 4 hours of reading? YES

Version played: v0.11
-A slow burn but a worthwhile 1

Ok, lets get a few stuff cleared first. The renders are very nice, like crystal clear and great quality. The female characters also look attractive and so does the males. I would recommended to use the mulit-mod for the ambient music.

Now the main cake of the review. The MC's role in the story reminds me of a typical Liam neeson movie - MC gets back into town for reasons or a job, meets a cast of characters then unexpectedly gets involved in a big plot or conflict which he was actually running away from. All I am saying is the story is very down to earth, no magic or fantasy, just realistic. That's not a bad thing as the pacing is good and the female characters especially the daughter is particularly naïve, something that we have all gone through during our adolescent times.

However I would encourage users not to play this version yet until after 0.11 as the story just reached a small peaking point . Let me reiterate, the game is great and the story is good, it is just at a cliffhangers which may frustrate impatient readers. Also there's no sex scenes at all yet, just fan service like watching an ecchi anime,

Definitely bookmarking this and coming back in the future.

I don't remember how I ended downloading Hillside, but it was quite a discovery.

At first, I had difficulties to find an interest into the story, I thought it will the classic trope of “Alone mother hire big guy to protect her family, and it ends up in a harem style household”.
I couldn't have been more wrong. The story evolve slowly, each character being treated with a deep background story, often dark and twisted.

I found myself overwhelm by some scenes because they felt too real, too unsettling to be just brushed off. The game successfully depict the way I see the star system, full of pervert, intrigue, and secrets.

As far I have being in the game, there's not so much sexual content. It's mainly resolved on spying, voyeur or blackmail materials which I amn't quite found off but those work very well with the storyline, adding to the dark, twisted background.

This game push all the wrong buttons in me, but in a good way. It a pleasure to find this kind of gem in all the F95 library.

Could use more variety.
Some female areolas are colored funny/mischievously in the first part of the game. This is fixed in later renders. constants. 1. the game has great characters of all ages in the sex part the game is slow but that doesn't matter being a kinetic romance game for me that's enough. if you are looking for a game with fast sex and a lot of penetration this is not the game for you just letting you know... 2. game has a great story about an ex-military who works as a security guard for a girl named Emma this is interesting and the his relationship with this girl and her family makes it much more productive for the outcome of the path you are following and there is also a step by step in the game that warns you when a little heart appears it is because you did something right so for me this is a positive point 3. and there is also Emma's mother Charlotte who hired us for this but unfortunately she is also suffering abuse and threats at work this shows how realistic this game is this is something that happens in the real world and that makes this game perfect for me It's not just a game that I spend my time on but I enjoy it with pleasure. everything that happens and will happen from now on so i advise you to play it enjoy it and be patient if you are here to see great emotional romance scenes happy moments this is your game now if you want something fast full of corruption and sex is not for you sorry.

I like most of this game, but there are some things that I dislike so much it makes it just an average game to me.

Things I like:

I like the characters for the most part, although some are a little one dimensional. I also do like the relationship building, and character building done. The renders look good, that girls are all really good looking. The writing is for the most part competent and easy to read.

Things I didn't Like:

How can people be as dumb as some of the people in this game. The story is interesting, but to get it all to fit DB made the characters be so stupid sometimes, drives me nuts sometimes. Most of the twists in the story are predictable, and to hide this fact the characters sometimes act so dumb. Like, the MC is in security, it's his job. How can he no notice lots of things? I will not make any spoilers here, but if someone blurts something out to you they clearly shouldn't know, no warning signs go off? So much dumb!

Also, what is the deal with Emma? She's 18 in the game, looks 18 in the game. Is a very sweet and nice girl, very easy to really like her and want her to be happy, but, she acts like she's 14! I guess I kinda understand what the dev was going for with her.. it just gets kinda odd sometimes.

As I said I do find the story interesting enough and like the characters enough to want to see where this is going, plus to actually see some lewd scenes. But I hope that the naivety of some of the characters is removed as they grow more. As the story comes to it's conclusion, I will most likely revise the review. Like I said, I like the game, but the blind dumb shit that some of these characters do and turn a blind eye to just brings it way down for me.

Slow Burn City:

But fuck it's worth it to me. Top of the line renders, extraordinary cast of characters with Charlotte and Emma being the leading ladies. Haters can hate but Hillside is great, as of version 0.11 there's no sex scenes but I think that's about to soon change.

Played at Episode 11.

I'll be honest, the first time I played the game, I didn't like it because the female characters, honestly, are not that attractive according to my profile that I like the most (girls with more curves, bigger breasts and butts), but leaving that aside and going to the main of the game, it has a mysterious and immersive story around the characters in the story, making it keep us drawn to understand what really happened in their past.

some criticism constructive! we know that others man in the game is not important, but the Dev can do the Make the extra men very different from the MC. Emma's School Guard and Charlotte's Helicopter Pilot look pretty much the same, and they still look like the MC! surely he should have made these two with different hair and skin tones, it would give more immersion in the game, small details always improve the aspect of the game.

If you're after a game just for the sexual content, this is the wrong game for you.

Now if you want an interesting game with an excellent story, you've come to the right place.

Story: 5 / 5.
Character appearance: 3.5 / 5.
Renders: 4 / 5.
Sexual Content: Not yet.

2 hours in I realized I hadn't hit one H scene yet, and I didn't care at all. Good, tight writing with grounded character growth and situations make for a fun story. Good renders that don't try to overdo it with a reasonable cast keep things moving.

My only criticism is that the character Emma is likely going to be dateable, and I think that's a mistake. I won't pretend to know the exact rules for crowdfunding sites are, but I think making Emma 16, in high school, and off limits would serve the story better, but its a small gripe in the wider scheme of things.

Really wanting to see what's next from the author in this story and future projects.

This is going to be a contradictory opinion:

The game is very good, very good quality, good renders, quite different from the rest and a solid, hard plot that makes you get deep into the story, that's why I give it 4 stars.

But I can't play this game, it's so raw, it accumulates a lot of rage in me, the impotence of not being able to kill those bastards... that the characters don't let themselves be helped makes me mad as hell, when I play I feel like I can kill someone.

Obviously this is my problem for getting too much into the plot, that's why I give it a good rating even if it's not for me.

If someone can assure me here and now that the game allows you to take revenge, I will hold out as long as I can to take that revenge, if it is not in the current content and will not be in the future content, sorry I can't play it.

got bored tried game for the 1st time.
cons.
their was zero sex just some sexual abuse portrayed poorly.
way to much blue balling and teasing.
mc seems actually dumb considering he has military background.
story had to many holes and felt like a high school drama.
angry daughter,good naive dumb daughter,mom with bad past, slutty aunt.
overused set up.
character development would be better if the daughters were younger to match persona.
teenage moron smarter then mc somehow.
predictable villain twist early in story.
not much action for mc.

pros.
likable development for some girls.
being from LA their take on Hollywood is very accurate.
good story passing till ending update so far.
good bonding an wholesome moments.
good image quality.

overall mehh

v0.11

Holy shit!

So I just finished v0.11, and this game is awesome. First of all, the story is amazing. This isn't your average "fuck all the girls" game. In fact, in my playthrough, at the end of v0.11, the MC hasn't had sex with anyone. I know there are different love interests, so there may be sex on other paths, but I found myself playing more like I would actually act in the MC's position rather than playing like a horndog who's actions have no consequences. But that's how good the story is; it sucked me in and made me care about the characters more than getting my rocks off. In all honesty, I would compare this more to an interactive HBO show than a porn game.

The renders look great. So much so that you can see the nuance in the characters emotions. It's not just a set of rotating facial expressions, but have the nuance of the different situations the characters are in. But like I said, in the "good guy" playthrough, there is no sex as of v0.11.

I will be following this game closely and adding my financial support to it. If you love a good story with interesting characters and more of a slow burn love story, I highly recommend you give this a look.

It feels kind of odd to be evaluating this as a sex game, because it's really not (as of v0.11). There's nudity, sexy women, and sexy situations, but this is a graphic novel, first and foremost. And it's a damn good one, tackling the issue of corrupt men in power in Hillside (seemingly obvious parallel to Hollywood), and the ways in which they wield that power to physically and psychologically abuse not only vulnerable women, but women of all social tiers. It can be heartbreaking at times and there's certainly plenty of tears and trauma that is parsed out. Luckily, you're a traumatized detective who is handsome, capable, and ready to knock these sons-of-bitches down a peg. There is plenty of catharsis to go around. Highly recommend this one.

Really enjoying this one. Had an earlier version sitting on my hard drive and finally decided to go through my back log and had to download the update as soon as I finished. Characters are fleshed out and the story is well written, love the dynamics being built here and I'm excited to continue the story from here. Keep up the great work.

To be honest I came looking for some sort of sexual content, but I stayed for the story. The story is really well written and the visuals are great. The story in particular is very close to real life. Real life being that Hillside is like Hollywood, where rich fuckers get away with a lot of shit. Kinda like what happened to Harvey Weinstein. But all the shit whats happening in Hillside really makes you infuriated. I really just want our MC to kill those mofos and get away with it cuz those bastards deserve it. All in all 9.5/10. I know that the story needs to be developed first and the relationships for the sexual content to come in, but I just wished we could have gotten at least something, so many episode in.

Update 0.11
The game shows very little skin, but that's my only complaint. At it's current stage there's already hours upon hours of content, and the story is the best writing I've seen in one of these kinds of games. It's a slow burn, but the payoff is worth it.

I went through the current version (v0.11) without seeing any sex. These were my options as I was enthralled by the story and did not want to break (my) character just for a sexy scene.

One of the best-written games I found on F95 to date.
The characters are all very well made, each with their own personality and highly complex past that builds into their current selves. I loved the story and the characters involved so yeah 5/5 from me for that.

The renders are great, I would hazard to say among the best I have seen in a while. As mentioned above I did not see any sex scenes but I cannot fault any of the renders I did see. Good choice of characters, all of the women are gorgeous and fit in their respective roles, nothing forced with maybe one exception: Suzi appears a bit too old to be Charlotte's daughter IMHO. But you can dismiss that to my subjectivism. Still giving it 5/5

I can't wait to see how things unfold which is rare for me. Great job so far devs, awesome game, fully recommend it.

I'll try to keep this as spoiler free as possible.

What a rush, this is such a great story.

Lots of "Feels", so I started to care for the characters the MC protects.

I love to hate the "bad guys", also the side characters feel "fleshed out".

This is not a "quick fuck" title, but lots of sexy ladies (think High society, Fashion and Movies circles) with exciting closeups.

If you want to be a capable guardian/protector MC in a story with lots of exciting action (combat, kidnapping) look no further.

Highly recommended!

I can't let people say the story is dull nor that it's predictable.

From the beginning there are many suspects as to who was sending the messages. At some point it becomes predictable who is behind them, right, but for me the suspense lasted long enough.

Maybe I'm not objective due to the fact most VN stories on here are clearly bad, but this one was more than correct, and has great main characters

Also love the renders !!

I don't even mind the slowburn that much even though I'm playing since hours and still haven't done anything remotely sexual with anyone aside the sister, because I just like the story

What I'd say is lacking is development of side characters

This game has great art but a very predictable and dull story. Chapter 10 already and the MC only gets to bang the emotionally damaged sister of the supposed main love interest. And no, you haven't even been able to kiss the main love interest, which begs the question as to why anyone would play the game or wait on the months' long interim between updates. I am left wondering if the dev is aware of the player expectations for these sorts of games.

Additionally, I find it misleading that the game features imagery of both the mother and the younger daughter - which in practically every other game within the bubble of Adult Games suggests that a romantic/sexual relationship is more likely to happen with them instead of the ones less featured in the marketing imagery. The only unpredictable thing about this game is how folks might be expecting one type of game, and end up with another.

This isn't really a sex story; it's a Lifetime network series with the occasional softcore sex scene. In other words, 'meh'. Anyone doubting that assessment only needs to note that, in over two years of releases, he hasn't even held hands with the supposed love interest, much less had any sexy time. That's not a slow burn my friends; that's a poorly-made arson attempt.

For a sex game, it sucks. For any sort of game, it sucks. Monopoly and Candyland have more interesting plot twists. in spending all their time on the artwork, the dev forgot about the story.

And the artwork is the only reason this game received two stars. If I could give it negative numbers, I would do so in a heartbeat.