VN - Ren'Py - Hillside [v0.16.3 rework] [DarkBlue]

Absolute garbage. Dozens of hours of blue balls content. I like long games. Lately played Haildicktator and Out of touch (both are very long), which are great in my eyes. Here there is just nothing.

And the thing is, it lures you in. Because the setting is actually quite interesting, and at first the characters aren't bad either. But there is just zero pace. I made it to the first erotic scene, hours into the game, and the b*tch was like "i am not ready for sex yet"..... yeah i am out!

aruzen19's review described the best what is wrong with this game. Women here are just horrible, fucked in the head, delusional, dumb trash, all of them, but in different ways. All they do for the whole time is generate non-stop drama, troubles, and danger for themself and MC.

I can't even imagine a decent man with balls and self-respect who will tolerate and accept these crazy, dumb, and moronic women and treat them with respect, care, and love. I was highly disgusted by this experience. If every woman on the planet were like the morons created by this dev, I assure you that humanity would become extinct in no time.

The story as a whole is as dumb and fake as those characters themselves; just add a boring, pretentious, and stagnantly stretched plot here, and you'll get the full picture.

Visuals vary from normal to nice. Nothing godlike and nothing horrible.

I'm not even sure Dev saw at least from afar what healthy and enjoyable relationships look like. Once again, the whole story and characters are just, yuck. Horribly wasted time.

I originally thought this game had a lot of potential as a sweet romantic AVN with a caring and loving family, but it became totally stagnant and ended up not realizing it. It's a metaphor for a stereotypical virgin that is so afraid of her first time that the longer she waits, the more she's stuck in her head building it up, the more difficult it gets. Thirty years later she lives alone with a dozen cats (or maybe the easy sister of her employer?).

The game is not a slow burn, its a no-burn. There's been almost no progress (physical or emotional) in sixteen redundant, repetitive and cheesy episodes. The horse has been beaten for so long the only thing left is a puddle of gore. I think the author has been building it up in his head for so long that he's terrified of going through with it.

IMO it's a case study of stringing Patrons along. The only AVN I can think of off the top of my head that's gone so long and given so little is Summer's Gone and the MMC in that game is actually asexual if you can believe it!

I hate erotic games that rely on rape and abuse as part of the plot. I don't think they have any business being intertwined with erotica and sexual arousal and they are also mood killers for me.

The main characters in this game all seem broken and shallow caricatures. Not only is there no physical intimacy, there's no emotional intimacy either. I don't know if it's true or not but I read the game's been in development for 5 years. Is this, or is this not, an erotic AVN? Shit or get off the pot. There isn't anything else worth mentioning at this point.

I really tried to enjoy this title, but failed to. It could be a good title, but let's sum it all up:

• A good story combined with good renders are the strongest points of this VN.
• Writing is the biggest issue - it prevents from enjoying the story. It's very basic and very annoying. The best way to describe it would be to compare it with a child that is playing with dolls and is pretending that those dolls are talking or thinking like: "yes, I'm big and strong!", "oh Ken, you're so strong", "yes Barbie, because I'm big and strong!". Ughhh... No, thank you very much - it's not my tea...
• No sound, no music, no emotions, no facial expression (almost).

There is a lot more to this title that could be said, but it's not about analyzing it - it's a short review and the conclusion is - it's simply not enjoyable, though it had some potential (unfortunately waisted).

What began as a thoroughly immersive story about a bodyguard with a lot of emotional baggage getting hired by a 40-year-old supermodel with even MORE emotional baggage -- yeah, it was riveting for quite awhile there -- started to bog down in the weeds of, well, 'emotional baggage'. By chapter 9 or 10, a particularly violent plot point broke out and it seemed like "ah, now we'll start getting somewhere with big ol Bodyguard Boy actually having an intimate relationship with at least ONE of the 3 females he's been protecting and getting all lovey-dovey with!"
But no... despite the promise of a slow-burn romance and its Fruits -- it's been slow-burning itself down to the nub and then some. There are just so many ways the MC and the main LI (the MILF supermodel) can say to each other the basic equivalent of:
"I'm just not sure. But I do...feel things for you... but I don't know... but I really want you... I think..."
"That's fine, Charlotte, I'll be here for you. Always. As long as it takes. Or not. Even if eventually you don't want it. I'm always....here."
"Thank you." (Brief kiss) (maybe a small hug)
And that's by chapter 16!
Weird that the actual sex that happens Visually is quick. Brief, attractive renders with no dialogue, with a side LI, of course. Sex at all happens twice, I think? Maybe 3 times, I don't recall.
As for the "Achievements" -- no idea how we're going to be unlocking any of that (16 chapters and even with mother or 2 daughters, I'm at like 2 or 3 out of 20?) So I guess that's for some 5-year plan, at least..
But all in all, I was drawn on into the story, as slogged as it became. I do hope things happen soon. Somehow. With someone. Strange, too, that the Harvey Weinstein guy would supposedly have SO much clout to own all law across the state. Hmm. THAT's a tad cartoony there. But, eh, go with it, maybe it'll turn out to be believable after all...

bums me out to give what was once such a promising game only 2 stars, but I have to rate this on what it is, and not what its potential once was.

For the first 2-4 episodes, Hillside promises to be one of the best renpy VNs to be found anywhere. The renders look great, the characters are engaging, the scenario is interesting and it's all good.

As it goes along, though, the main issue with this game gets more and more difficult to ignore. Sadly, the game author just doesn't have any idea for how to plausibly get these characters together. And so by about episode 6 or 7 or so, character relationship development grinds to a halt. And that's a problem.

This business/development model for VNs requires content updates. But what do you do if you don't know how to bring your characters together? Only thing to do is to focus on story. And yikes does this game lean into that.

The story here gets increasingly convoluted. Something something about corruption and exploitation and beating/raping women and sex trafficking by rich men. Things get resolved by the MC beating dudes up, frequently. Then things escalate. More beatings happen. Rinse. Repeat.

Meanwhile, the increasingly grateful love interests in the game remain grateful but relationships stay stagnant. Nothing happens. (At the end of episode 16, the MC and his protectee hold hands. And exchange a couple of fairly chaste kisses. I adore and appreciate a slow burn, but this point there's more heat in a cat's breath than there is in this.

The main issue here appears to be one of scoping and planning. Hillside completely loses its focus and just never gets it back. I think fairly early on, a decision was made to make Charlotte, rather than Emma, the main love interest in the game. Which is fine. But that's when things really just get lost in the wilderness, too, and the focus of the entire VN becomes the crime story and not the characters.

And that's an issue. Renpy is great. VNs are great. But if I want to play a crime story and beat up corrupt bad guys, I've got Cyberpunk 2077 or GTA or RDR2 or an Assassin's Creed game to do that in, and it's much more satisfying and visceral than any VN could ever be. And sadly, I don't think there's a way to get this once-promising project back where it belongs, either.

It's a shame, but also a cautionary tale. Scope your project. Write out your story and be detailed about progression. And most importantly, know what your story and what your game actually is before you start.

I tried to enjoy the story, but I just couldn’t. The early story seemed to set up some mystery and tension, but it turns out there weren’t any real stakes. The lack of meaningful choices also made the story feel flat, which led me to skip most of the dialogue. This isn’t a slow burn—it’s just that nothing ever builds up.

Its more than a pervy narritive that is serviced by not having your MC be a giant manwhore. The story is good, a bodyguard with a past needing redemption guards a shut in supermodel scared by a person experience. You have the model, her two daughters, her sloot of a sister, and the model's younger rival. The youngest daughter is adorable. Eldest daughter is hot and just begging to be corrupted. The aunt is a tomboy and just horny as can be. The rival is fucking hot and possibly the only character without any wild hang ups trying not to fall for you. Charlotte, your main model is bult like shes the world's top model.

The only downside in this entire narrative is shes a complete nutcase and fuck the level of slowburn on the core family. In the beginning its understandable, but waaaaaay later she still thinks you're just waiting to to assault her lol. Shes one of the most attractive women in the world and shes surprised men want to fuck her and is mad the dude she's in love with also wants to fuck her. Its like she wants some sort of virginal love where a man loves her for her personality, but shes also a massive bitch to everyone. She almost gets this man killed right after he saved her daughter from being gutted. Even dude is like wtf!?!?

Honestly between Kaylah and Emma are the only two worth sticking around for so far, but at this point its gonna take a hard 10 years before Emma does anything sexual and by that time you'll marry and have 10 kids with Kaylah. We are literally 5 years in and Charlotte will hold your had and give you tiny little kisses. Thats it.

I like most aspects of this game, and I generally love the story... but there is way too much internal monologuing. Most games will do an internal monologue as a recap of the story we've just seen or of the previous episode, but Hillside doesn't do that. See, Hillside is the ultimate in 3rd-person omniscient. We get everything, we get it all. We get the dialogue, the action, the visuals, and we get the internal conflict for every decision a character comes to about the MC or the MC's presence... and we usually get one or two of them per scene.

Charlie wants to get closer to the MC? She has to break into an internalized conflict of how that makes her feel first, how months ago she would have never trusted a man, but here she is with a man that makes her feel all the good things, and she has limitless positive descriptors about him. Yes, he can be violent at times, but he's like a claymore... point him at your enemies and watch him unleash hell to protect you.

It's not just limited to Charlie of course, it's not even limited to just the LIs for that matter. MC does it as much as they do--moreso if you add up all the dialogue options for every route. Am I good enough? I'm just some ex-army bodyguard that got his last mission team killed and the last girl I loved and protected died under my watch. Am I too old? What would others think anyway? I'm old enough to be her father, she should be looking at boys her own age. Does she hate me? Seems like she does, and it seems irrational but she's been instilled with this fear/hatred of men since she was a child. I can't change that and I'm not sure if I can ever breakthrough.

Most of the conversation in this game is incredibly terse, and a lot of the characters are so walled off they shutdown before they ever really get started, only to wind up the internalizations. I genuinely wonder how short this story would be without the inner monologuing.

Don't get me wrong, I still love the game and I'll probably play it to its conclusion--provided the dev continues to update it, it feels like the update cycle gets longer and longer with it--but it just strikes me as odd how short or mildly repetitive the actual conversations are, and it's largely there to kickstart a monologue you've heard before.

Looks like gold, plays like a waiting game.

+Stunning visuals: Renders are polished, lighting is cinematic, and characters are attractive.
+Real character writing: Emotionally grounded dialogue, complex personalities, and genuine relationship arcs.
+Professional vibe: This doesn’t feel amateur, it has structure, polish, and clear care in production.


-Teasing fatigue: Constant build-up, zero release. Every scene that leans sexual swerves into drama or interruption.
-Painfully slow pacing: Dozens of hours in, and actual sexual content is minimal or route-locked.
-Emotion over intimacy: For a game on an adult site, it avoids intimacy like it’s allergic to climax.
-Player blue-balling: You’re not playing a romance VN, you’re trapped in an emotional purgatory with great lighting.

Hillside is a masterclass in building tension and a case study in how not to resolve it. Only recommended if you enjoy the edge more than the climax.

This is one of my favorites! So I'm tempted to give it a lenient rating! I like this theme, I like the characters, and we get attached to them without any problem. However, I have to admit that the updates are a little too slow and that this story is going around in circles a bit. Okay, it's a slow-burning game, but still! Something is not coherent at a certain stage of the plot's development! Let's not forget that the main heroine (she is literally superb: bravo) is still 40 years old!!
Okay, she's hurt, bruised, weakened, but at her age, she also has a real maturity in life. I'm really expecting a lot from this story, and I sincerely hope the developer will also show a bit of the shirtless, full-abdom MC to raise the temperature among the girls, a bit of solitary pleasure or candid or accidental spying to provoke that rise in erotic tension... in short, something a little more substantial than holding hands on rare occasions. Slow burn, okay, but we must realize that by overdoing it, we can end up either cooling the whole thing off or sinking into the ridiculous and the grotesque.
Finally, if the development remains serious and commits to a little more latent eroticism, it could become a must-have, but if it gets lost in sentimentality... and be careful, it's only a short step to ruining everything, and the next update will certainly be the axe! Courage and perseverance to the developer.

I think some of the negative reviews are totally fair, This is a slow-burning game that I think has slow-burned enough. Every chapter seems to have the same flaws that we keep re-hashing, the characters don't seem to grow that much, sometimes the characters are illogical, like the MC thinking Charlotte is the one but also totally fine with banging Kaylah and there's no inner turmoil, so why do I have this at 4 stars instead of lower?

I like the characters, and while they act illogically, I think Charlotte, Emma, Suzi, etc are charming in their own ways, and I ENJOY playing the game. Now I do think that maybethe author needs to stop with the slow burn, enough is enough, but I think the models in this game are ridiculously attractive, Emma isn't as attractive for me and it's weird when the dialogue says she's so pretty, or prettier than Suzi when that is absolutely not the case, it's still a flawed but good game, I don't think it deserves a worse review than this.

The plot is interesting and the girls and renders are nice. It's a slow burn game though and that wouldn't be bad as long there were frequent updates but that's not the case either. There are many other games which are equal or better which have much more progression.

Well thought game with good renders, nice story and interesting LIs, but with terrible writing, which kills the entire game to me.

Pros:
- interesting story, full of twists
- nice renders
- some nice, unique LIs
- nice backstories

Cons:
- dialogues are very inmature
- MC, tough, well-built guy is acting like a timid, school boy
- every time I thought the story is going somewhere, something silly is being put in it that slows down the story and destroys the feeling of the game

I stopped playing this game ages ago and I honestly do not recommend unless you like MCs, who are full of self-pity and cannot clean up their act

+ great likable MC! He's a real fucking man who also behave like one!
+ nicely done lovey-dovey stuff, and relationship development. Player can see and feel a real connection between characters
+ intersting unique story
+ Charlotte's traumatic past
+ Lucy is best girl here
+ girls and their cute jealousy moments

- Charlotte is so fucking bipolar. Progress with her literally stopped, and we see for many updates exactly the same shit over and over again. During conversations, and her inner thoughts, it's just copy-paste: she is ready to move on, and do something more with MC, but she back off in the end.. Just stop this nonsense
- no music
- disappointing lewd scenes. There is barely any action, and when finally something happens, it's too short and written without passion. Weakest part of the game
- Emma behave like a child. Hard to treat her seriously as potential LI
- Suzi and her bitchy attitude, wtf?

Good intriguing start, but after a while I get more and more annoyed by this game, many things need to be improved - no idea if it will happen.. 3 stars

Possible Spoilers:

Hillside is an excellent crime drama about police corruption and the seedy underbelly of the fashion world. The story begins with us learning that someone is stalking the daughter of fashion supermodel, Charlotte Lloyd, which forces her to hire a bodyguard (the MC) to protect her.

The plot thickens as we soon learn that Charlotte had been brutally beaten earlier in her career, the impact of this event, leaving her mentally scarred and unable to trust or establish any close relationships with men.

I won't give away any major plot twists, but I will say that the story is well done and really held my interest. I actually became attached to the Lloyd family and the sad story of the main characters past.

I must also add that this is not a Porn game. It is a visual novel with a few sex scenes, which are integrated naturally into the theme of the game. So if you're here just to have sex with the characters, this game is not for you.

Pros:

1- Excellent story that held my interest throughout.
2- Beautiful characters and some really nice renders.
3- A technically well made game.
4- Multiple options to take varied paths / love interests.
5- Loved Lucy LLoyd. Fearless and selfless.. A well made character.

Cons-

1- An overly long game. Very wordy.
2- Some of the dialogue feels awkward and misses the mark.
3- Youngest daughter Emma is 18 but acts like a 13 year old, making some scenes feel out of place.
4- Older sister Suzi's emotions flipped more than a hamburger on a fast food grill. Her temper tantrums becoming borderline psycho at times.
5- Some facial expressions seemed overdone and didn't quite look right.

This is a very good story that held my interest to the end. But it's not a porn game. Go fap someplace else.

I'm not going to sugarcoat this review: this adult visual novel is an absolute disaster. While I understand that a well-told story can be enjoyable even without an abundance of explicit content, this game fails spectacularly on all fronts. What we encounter in *Hillside* goes beyond a simple lack of eroticism—it’s a convoluted mess filled with broken characters and implausible plotlines.

Beyond the external appearance, which is limited by the use of outdated 3D models, the character design is atrocious. Each female character is portrayed as emotionally unstable, riddled with psychiatric issues that make them repulsive rather than attractive. It’s impossible to forge any kind of connection with characters that are so poorly crafted. Their negative traits are exaggerated to the point of absurdity, rendering them entirely unlikable.

Take Charlotte: a supposedly successful 40-year-old supermodel (seriously?) who is traumatized by violent abuse in the fashion industry. Yet, despite her morbid phobia of men, she continues to model in revealing lingerie and attends social events where her abusers are present. Talk about cognitive dissonance! She unloads her aversion to men onto the main character, who is the only person treating her with the respect she deserves—after all, he’s the one she hires to protect her daughter. The logic here is laughable at best.

Then there's Emma, Charlotte's youngest daughter. At 18, she's physically developed but mentally stunted, resembling a 10-year-old in maturity. This bizarre portrayal is cringeworthy. She's bullied at school and harassed by a stalker, and she creates provocative outfits to be worn by models , including her own mother. It’s infuriatingly contradictory that this character is depicted as innocent and naive about sex while also being a skilled designer of sexualized clothing.

Lucy, Charlotte’s sister and manager, is another disaster. She’s depicted as a sexual nymphomaniac who flirts with the bodyguard while her niece is being stalked. The sheer absurdity of the situation is mind-boggling. Her emotional swings, from sexual excitement to tears, only serve to highlight her mental instability. It’s hard to take any of this seriously.

Suzy, the eldest daughter, is a complete waste of screen time. Her irrational outbursts at the main character for using her room make her seem absolutely childish. This senseless animosity only adds to her disgusting persona, making her a character you can’t help but loathe.

As for the plot? It’s an absolute dumpster fire. All the drama revolves around an illogical lack of communication and an absurd level of distrust among characters. Charlotte keeps vital information about the stalker from Emma, 'cause she don't want her to be afraid? also she keeps information about her attacks suffered in the past hidden from the very person she hired to protect her family. Emma hides the fact that she’s being harassed and bullied. Lucy keeps secrets from her sister and the MC. Suzy refuses to ask for help despite being the victim of an extortion. The main character himself is not without his secrets... It’s an endless cycle of stupidity that defies all logic and common sense.

In summary, the level of absurdity in this narrative is staggering. Reading this train wreck was an exercise in frustration, and I honestly don’t know how I managed to drag myself to episode 9 before throwing in the towel. It’s a masterclass in how not to write a coherent, engaging story. Save yourself the pain and avoid this one at all costs.

This game had a strong start. It's a fairly unique premise in the genre and the render quality is good. The 4 to 6 women that we see the most are at least attractive and not outrageously proportioned.

In terms of grammar and typos, the writing is fine. It's UK English so to Americans, or people who have learned American English it may sound odd at times. There are typos and errors, but they're quite rare.

Sadly, that's the end of the good news. I made it to somewhere in episode 11 I think. I was trying to power through to see if anything ever got better, but every aspect of the plot and characters continued to decline. I had to give up.

• Emma, the 18 year old, speaks and behaves like she's 10 to 11 years old. For a while I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, but it just gets worse and worse. Every character in the game treats her the way you would treat a small child. The dev has made it very clear that Emma is no older than 10 or 11. She's just "18" because if she wasn't, she couldn't have D cups and be used as eye candy.
• Charlotte, the mom, knows about an extremely wide spread evil conspiracy in the city. She's filthy rich. She could move her family anywhere in the world. She hasn't done so for 20 years.
• Kayla (might be remembering that name wrong) is denser than a brick. She's warned about things. She blows it off. Said things happen to her. Later, the person who warned her about the things attempts to warn her about more things. She completely blows off the attempt and it takes physical restraint to get her to wake the fuck up.

Random shit that probably only annoys me:

• Either the dev does not know what college is, or he's afraid of calling it high school for censorship reasons. In any case, Emma goes to high school. It's called college, and the word college is used in ways no human has ever used it in conversation.
• The basement of a multi-million dollar home has a completely unfinished basement full of spiders.
• I know there was other stuff, but thankfully I've forgotten whatever it was.

very unique game, with more of a focus on story driven elements. The characters have personalities that contribute to the story as opposed to just being something to hit ctrl through. This is good enough to be a blockbuster hit

This game isn't perfect, the writing is kinda flawed, the renders aren't the most beautiful around, and if you aren't like me and are after great h-scenes, you won't find any.

Why i'm giving 5 stars then? Well, the story is insanely addictive. I kept playing non-stop becausa i was dying just to see what happens. Every character is... human and flawed, but everyone has a motivation to be like that (even if the naiveté and childlike behaviour of Emma gets VERY tiring). The story is DARK, and you'll fell for the characters because of that. So the world building is great.

I also think that Charlotte's path feel too much "canon", i don't think the game works when you choose another LI.