VN - Ren'Py - Hillside [v0.16.1] [DarkBlue]

This game here is one of those cases where I don't even like the LIs as LIs (though they are great as characters), and there's next to no porn, but this game is still one of my favourites.

Pros:

1) My favourite MC in all of AVN world. He's a total badass, but he is very gentle with the girls. I'm very comfortable in his skin.
2) One of my favourite stories in all of AVNs. I like intrigues, and secret conspiracies, and badasses who fight against corrupt rich bastards. Don't make the mistake of assuming that this game is porn or pure romance; this is film noir in AVN form, and once you accept that, everything will fall into place.
3) The characters. I may not like the Lloyds as LIs and pursue Kaylah and Selena instead, but damn, they are great as characters!
4) In addition to the above: writing is great. I do feel Charlotte's and Emma's emotions when they are attacked, and I do worry about them as a friend. I hate those ******* Hollywood producers now!
5) Specific girl: Emma. Many people say that her behaviour is totally unrealistic and too childish for a 18-years old. However, it is actually very realistic for an extremely sheltered child. You see, I was sheltered too. My parents' word was law for me. By 18 y.o., my knowledge of relationships was extremely limited, and my experience was similar to Emma's. Now, I was slightly less naive, and if a celebrity made a move on me after I caught her fucking my friend, I'd probably get that something was fishy. However, if a pretty girl of a slightly lower social standing pulled something on me, I'd 100% buy it and behave just like poor Emma does. But it isn't just relationship inexperience that holds sheltered kids back. They are also very idealistic, believe in fairy tales and see the world in black and white. Their sexuality is also repressed, and, to them, every relationship is supposed to be a great romantic love, and they want it to be that way.
With all of those things, it's very hard to navigate through life until one has made the necessary compromises with their conscience.
6) Action. I always like it when there is action in AVNs.
7) Good renders.
8) Charlotte's model is very well designed as someone who's really beautiful and in great shape, but still showing signs of aging.

Cons:
1) Almost zero sex. It isn't as bad as in other games lacking sex, as because of how great the story is I only understood that all of my MC's sex was limited to that one time with Kaylah in late hindsight. But yeah, more scenes could be nice. Charlotte should give her trusted bodyguard more leeway for, er, carnal activities.
2) As mentioned above, I'm not a fan of the MGs (and they are all Lloyds) as LIs. Charlotte is a bit too aged and damaged, Emma is too young and childish (which makes her great as a character but bad as a LI), and Lucy is a tomboy.
3) In addition to the previous point: I don't get how anyone wants to romance Suzi. She is rabid towards the MC for half the game, even after any real suspicions towards him have come and gone, he saved her from blackmail, and Charlie and Emma got to trust him. I think her character development should've started earlier.

So, overall, this game is rather lacklustre as porn and isn't my cup of tea as romance, but the best MC ever and one of the best stories pull it to a 5-star rating .

Never has an AVN made me feel more emotion than this, honestly the amount of times that I was close to tears.
If you are some horny kid looking for a game to jerk off to, or someone with zero empathy then this one may not be for you.
The slow burn romance with Charlotte is honestly one of my favourites in the genre. How she goes from not wanting you around, which is perfectly understandable given her experiences, to allowing the MC to get closer to her than she ever thought possible. Personally I can't wait to see more of it. Watching the MC go from hired bodyguard to caring father figure of Emma was for me very moving and very well done.
I don't generally post reviews as I have trouble ranking some of my favourite games, but this is certainly one of them. And given the trend lately of trying to kick the developer while they are down, I felt like the time was right to post an honest review.
Thank you to the developer, keep up the good work please.

Hillside [v0.15 at the time of this review] is an AVN that suffers from the classic "flew too close to the sun" problem, but even the "close to the sun" part is a gross overselling.

Let's start with the plot summary: As a troubled private security specialist, you reluctantly take on the job of a bodyguard for a young girl that is being stalked. Things slowly heat up as the stalker becomes bolder in his attempts to get closer to the girl.

Sounds interesting enough to set it apart from the rest, yes? And you would be right... if the entire mystery of the stalking wasn't "solved" halfway through the <v0.15 content> story. With the main perpetrators dealt with, the writer must've suddenly realized they don't have anything to move the plot forward, which is also why they pulled the ol' "always has been" card on us and introduced an Even Bigger Bad - the person pulling all the strings behind the scenes. And at this point is where the story really just falls of the cliff.

But the problems I have with this game started way before then. The dialogue is beyond childish. Actually, I've seen some reviews calling it "sanitized" and I couldn't agree more - they are just that laughable. People speaking like robots (perfect grammar & vocabulary customary only in official correspondence used everywhere - even for an 18 year-old), and very simple character posing (making every conversation look like two AIs trying to imitate human behaviour) that completely ruins immersion in a game trying to immerse you into caring for these characters.

The characters themselves? Two-dimensional.. in the sense that they literally only have two defining characteristics to set them apart from the next one. The "star" of the show is the world-famous supermodel Charlotte Lloyd that, due to her sexual trauma, is now openly hostile to every male member of the human species... but not when working, because she has "learned to deal with unwanted male attention as a model"... makes sense to me! /s
She is also the kindest and most humble person in the world, going so far as to completely cover the medical expenses of one of her studio hands. Which is pleasing to hear, since apparently she can also be enough of a bitch to have made it to the top of the incredibly cutthroat world of modelling - an advice she earnestly gives to one the up-and-coming models looking to replace her when she finally retires. Now, this doesn't make the character of Charlotte a Mary Sue, but it does next to nothing to make her an interesting character either. She has no skeletons in the closet, no shameful past that drives her in a world where every other model is portrayed as a naive coked-out airhead willing to spread their legs for a promise of getting french fries for lunch. But not our Charlotte, you see, she held her ground, resisted, and made it to the top regardless... because she is just that principled.

The MC is not any better. Wracked from guilt over the resolution of our previous job, MC is hesitant to accept Charlotte's offer to watch over her daughter. But, just like Batman & Superman, all it takes is hearing one familiar name:
, and the MC abso-fucking-lutely jumps on the opportunity to right the wrongs of his past by protecting this helpless lass. And oh, did I mention? Apparently our 30-something year-old MC was also in love with the girl that died on him, and guess what else she has in common with Emma? They are both 18 .
Not that this will affect the story in any way, because through his time spent watching over Emma like a hawk, our guy develops actual fatherly affection for the girl. Not even kidding: in the (very) few "erotic" scenes between the two, MC always awkwardly looks away semi-disgusted when Emma unknowingly does something inapropriate around him.
So not only is our MC a hotheaded fool (but also ex-military, in case you didn't pick up on any of the exactly 0 behavioural cues the writers dropped on us), he also acts like a dumb teenager, unable to understand or process human emtion and empathy, trais that are clearly not required to work as a live-in bodyguard. He is frequently dumbstruck by how women act around him, bending over backwards like a sick puppy trying to please his masters. I don't even think femdom enjoyers would find his persona here worthy of their time.

The story told here starts of good, but unbelievably quickly devolves into a house-sitting simulator where your choices don't matter in the outcome of the story - just the "relationship" you build with the women surrounding you. And to answer your questions: no, there are no real sex scenes in this game. Not even with the side-women that throw themselves at you because clearly, this imitation of Hollywood/Beverly Hills lacks "real men" (which apparently means men that are in shape and don't cry at the end of Titanic) and now you are the first fuckable piece of meat these women have seen in their lives. Seriously, there are maybe 1 or 2 sex scenes and I do mean scenes (no animations and like, 4 or 5 distinct renders of sex with some random supermodel that is never to be heard from again). All you do in this game is gather points with 3 different girls and like Drew Carrey said: "Welcome to another shitty Kinetic Novel designed to blue-ball you until your testicles perform a testicular-torsion harakiri - where the choices are made up and the points don't matter!" - because you probably won't see Charlotte (the only MILF and the main girl of this game) give up the goods in fifty lifetimes.

Seriously, don't waste your time on this. In fact, stop reading this NOW and just move on. You'd do better to browse F95's Abandoned section and give something from there a chance than this disappointing mess of an incorehent plot.

There have been a few observation from my end.
.
1.The dev is really creative and somehow found a great plot and setting but the time management and coherency suck big time. This is why suspense, Mystery, Thriller isn't possible for every writer. I haven't completed the whole novel but the MC is there over a month and he even didn't try to find or trace the person who is bullying over the phone. WTF is he doing there??? Then when he had a lead with a name "Jhono" or something he is stalling for weeks. WTH man!! You're not cop, you're private protection. You act fast with a little evidence. You're not a police who has a lot on his plate. As a protector you have only one job and you're slacking there.
2. I never hated slowburn, sandbox unlike many but if you want story focus then throw at least some decent story. If you don't have good story neither fan service then what are you good for?? He is pulling the story for unnecessary reasons. After reading over 100 of mystery/adventure novels I have come to realization that unless you're are a genius your mystery/detective story should not cross 50k word count safer to keep under 30k. Anything further than that needs genius planning of folding and unfolding multiple layers of mystery while keeping the logical sense and coherency.
3. You're not Shakespeare writing comedy. Try to focus on the time management specially when writing mystery/thriller.

.. the 2 stars for some good artwork. Overall the VN sucks.

SN: Personal Opinion, Emma is the definition of a girl whom I despise. Stil I didn't let this affect the review.

EDIT: Okay after finishing I feel like the execution and time management were poor and I still stannd by it but the overall plot sketch is really good. But Dev showed lots of inconsistency and lack of coherency just to interconnect the dots in the sketch. So, it's really enjoyable for those who don't notice things but irritating and disturbing for those of with logical sense.

This is seriously a good title. It's not something for people who are looking for a "lewd" VN this is much deeper than that.

I gotta start off saying, jesus, wholesome.
This VN has a lot of pain, darkness, and despair but also holds a ton of wholesome moments that kind of wash it away. Starting with the Primary point of focus Emma, the main LI's daughter. Emma is a delight, she's innocent like a child, and just overly wholesome in almost every way. She's written and designed so well it almost feels genuine. Gonna break off into some points now.

The LI's:
There isn't many, atleast yet, idk if theres a plan for more, theres routes you kind of follow it seems, but the LI's are all pretty good.

The Animations:
Eh didnt see much of them, mostly because theres not alot of adult content so cant really give a stable rating here.

The Story:
Great, incredible. Basically similar to RL events in Hollyweird, instead in Hillside following a human trafficking, drug & sex rink that blooms from aspiring young female talents that are severely abused by the rich elite. You play as a bodyguard MC that protects a family that got a little bit too close to this part of the hills, and overtime grow fond of them becoming a staple of their family & life in one way or another.

The Kind of Bad:
Theres is a more personal bias I guess as someone who also writes a good bit... Charlotte's attitude is inconsistent alot of times. I'm gonna mark this as a spoiler just to be fair. Thats just my take on it though. It just didn't fit her character norm in the way it was done in my honest opinion. Otherwise just a lack of adult scenes for how long it was which most people will probably dislike. Theres also a lot of points in the writing where the game tends to remind you of things that already happened but in a way that seems "new" to the characters, which I caught several times. It can be confusing and make you question why its being talked about as if the first time. (The story is great, but basically you can feel the writing drop off at times) Transitions are also rushed at times where it just jumps ahead in time, or a scene ends a bit abruptly was also a bit jarring.

Either way look super forward to the next part would say it was around a 9.5/10, stunningly solid. I crave for more. I see reviews that talk down about how every male is apparently a monster, which is kinda silly. In the world of the rich elite, most men are pretty awful lol, they have more money than morality. I dont like the demonization of men as much as the next person but its pretty fitting for this kind of story.

I guess the scene of the girl from Girl House is just the MC watching one of her stream. Also, could it be this "new" MC is actually the little brother of that other blonde girl from the first game too hummm...
After checking the old game he sure does look like the little shit in the first game.

After more than 4 years of development I think is time to make a review about Hillside current state.

While the game started with some promise back in the day, after all these years this is going nowhere and it shows. Some people criticized how the MC acted around the women and so on. The dev response was to sanitize the game to Disney levels.

Now we have a group of characters each one more extreme than the previews one. I'm talking about the main LI, so traumatized that having a male in front of her gives her ptsd. Or the younger daughter, supposedly a college student who thinks and acts like a kindergardener.
I mean, there is a general story about a bodyguard against Hollywood predators but the writing is so bad that hurts.

Renders are mid-ground, after 4 years there are avns with far better graphics but still there are some bottom of the barrel too. In any case visuals don't matter much cause the eroticism is non existant.
There was a nude pic years ago of the younger daughter taking a shower but that got scrapped cause it was not the right place to show her in all her glory or so the dev said.

Which brings me to talk about the sex scenes. I think there is one or maybe two, I don't remember cause I have seen only one with some side chick and it was nothing to write home about.

I know there are some slow burn games out there, but this doesn't have even the interest of erotic situations to keep you going.
Underwhelming.

I love it. its a great VN. Imcurrently following the charlotte and Emma Route simantanously, so basically nothing sexual happened yet, but i seriously coudnt give a fuck about that. the story is so immersive and fascinating that you dont even pay attention to that. The Characters are so interesting and full of background that i just cant help myself to be amazed by them. 10/10

Version 0.15 First Half

So want to start off by saying what an amazing story / vn to read and in my option very wholesome.

Pros:

• Story - I felt willing and wanting to read what was written. (Wasn't boring / filler dialog)
• Graphics / Renders - Very well done and flushed out.
• Progress - So don't want to spoil things but the way your character is more welcomed into his job / role.

Cons:

• Some scenes felt kind of rushed (I.E: Pool scene where MC is allowed around. You don't really get to swim and / or jumps to next scene / room.)

Only con in my option, I felt like there could of been some good renders during
All in all, 10/10 for me, it is in my top 3 for sure. Could possibly take #1 depending on the second half and hopefully more afterward <3.

story is absolutely idiotic, every male but the MC is a rapist or sexual assault perpetrator. Oh and there is basically no action on top of the stupid story. Gets 2 stars for rendering

4* for now - on verge of being a 2* for over doing the slow burn. One of the more interesting plots for a AVN, and the models are great. The writing is above average but still does not always use the best word choice, some minor spelling mistakes in newer content, and the Emma character is poorly written. Most of the other characters are well enough done

This is a story driven game, however this game is getting dangerously close to too much slow burn. Across all routes there are a total of 3 sex scenes including a HJ. This game has been out for over 4 years now, and the next updates need to seriously pick up the pace for this game to remain playable

Hillside is a fantastic visual novel that stands out for its captivating story, well-developed characters, and stunning renders. Despite being unfinished, it shines with its engaging plot and emotional depth, offering a unique, slow-burn experience that is more focused on narrative than explicit content. The models are beautifully designed, and the game's thoughtful exploration of real-life issues faced by actresses adds a meaningful layer to the story. While some may find the pace slow and the erotic content minimal, the game's strength lies in its storytelling and character development, making it a must-play for fans of story-driven VNs.

I don't normally leave reviews on this site, but this game is fantastic, and I would recommend it to anyone!

Though unfinished, Hillside shines brightly with its charming characters and promising story. To the creators: your talent is evident, your passion palpable. Keep forging ahead! Your devoted audience eagerly awaits the completion of this enchanting journey.

How? How? How?

How the fuck is this VN rated so highly? It is 100% not an Adult VN, it's a Story VN ONLY. If your looking for any type of sex, forget about it! I got annoyed after 40 minutes and just started skipping while following the walkthrough. The closest you get to any sex is him rubbing the 40 year old mother's FEET. That's it. Do yourself a favor if you are looking for an ADULT VN look elsewhere.
As a STORY based VN I would give it more stars the story starts off intriguing but then like a bad Soap Opera it just goes on and on and on and on. Like a bad Romance novel, the Will they wont they is real.

So disappointing as the graphics are great looking so I gave it a point for the renders and a point for a good story start, that sadly overstays it's welcome.

It's not a SLOW burn, it's NO Burn.

Absolutely beautiful models and clean renders.

MC is intriguing and not another horny teen with a horse cock.

The story is interesting with a few paths to take. And as much as I want sex scenes in games I play, it is refreshing that this isn't overloaded with them. There is enough lewd content to keep me happy.

TL;DR Expected slow burn story instead got a “dramatic” story with almost no action.
This is touted as a “slow burn” AVN, but it should really just be a VN that happens to have a very slight chance of sex scenes. Ultimately a “slow burn” is tolerable, if the story is good. However, in this case we get something like a snail trying to reach the moon when it comes to pacing. Aside from that the story is repetitive things like the constant “but should I talk to him/her”, which is necessary because the author doesn’t want to resolve the conflict that can be resolved with talk. The #metoo stuff could have been handled a lot better if the villains didn’t act like total cartoon villains and the same things weren’t said over and over again about it. I also found the slowness of sex scenes pointless because that’s usually for more “realistic” stories yet almost everything else seemed to be done from the point of view of an overly dramatic story teller. I will say the models look good if somewhat generic, and the naivety of the youngest daughter is very rare but does happen, usually in cults though.

Game was really good till the death of the character we know, after that it doesn't really make much sense and it feels directionless.
Dev can't decide if he wants to do sex scenes or not and the baiting is getting annoying.
Renders are pretty good and the models are decent.

I have no idea why this game is rated so high.

The renders are the only decent thing about it.
The rest is mediocre at best utter garbage at its worst.

For main cast we have:

The MC. Generic dude with traumatic past.
The abused/raped supermodel.
Her daughter that is so naive that she's borderline retarded.
Her alcoholic aunt, a slut.

I found the story to be quite boring... nothing ever really happens for a long time. Then you get a few action scenes and the aftermath of those gets resolved very quickly.

This game is bad as a novel because it's boring and as ADULT VN it's even worse because almost nothing ever happens.

I rate this game 2/5 for the renders.

+ a great story that I enjoy
+ the renders are beautiful
+ there are the models, the supermodels and then Charlotte, who is in a whole other league of her own
- the end of the story is still a long way off and further developments could take years
- for some, the slow pace and the "mere" eroticism rather than sex scenes may be a minus (for me, on the contrary, I like it in the case of Hillside)

very polished game, great writing and although there is hardly any sexual content there are lots of sexy renders sprinkled throughout. all the girls are unique for the most part, although kayla and lucy have similar personalities with throwing themselves at the mc.

a few cons: emma is too naive and innocent to the point that it is unrealistic and kinda ruins the immersion. imo the was poorly handled cos there's no music/sound - the mod adds some but its just not the same level of polish as the rest of the game
the dialogue occasionally feels rather stilted
also there is no harem which made me sad, but i think having a harem would probably ruin the game tbh so its for the best, even though it makes me very sad!!!!!