VN - Ren'Py - Hillside [v0.16] [DarkBlue]

Very nice looking, but I cannot get past the immersion-breaking narrative conflict. Every character is selfish and combative to the point of reckless endangerment of those they profess to love and protect. You, as the Bodyguard, are expected to undo the catastrophically retarded choices the NPCs make while resisting the urge to rage quit (both in game and out). Three stars for keeping the gameplay fresh and the story moving, despite the fact the entire city of Hillside is beyond redemption.

The story is very well written. It's fun to play from the beginning after every update.

It is very refreshing to read a good story than the normal 5 minutes and it's all about sex.

I'm looking forward to further updates what the writer is thinking and where the story is going.

I liked the game but it's getting cringier and cringier.. The visuals are absolutely great, the writing is good enough and the premise has some original points.. but characters are less and less believable, we have the typical hot-but-she-doesn't-know 18yo who acts like she's 12, maybe 13, always disturbing, especially in an adult VN. We have the shining hero, exalted in a world were every other man is a one-dimensional villain, we have a female cast of only emotionally unstable models, we have an abuse of internal thoughts, which is bad enough in itself, but when it affects the thoughts of ALL the npc it is kind of unbearable, and cringy, and lazy. Those thoughts are all over the place, even the slutty sister, who instantly falls for our hero, thinks "I'll have to wait a week to get a kiss, it's gonna be worth it.." GIMME A BREAK! Anyway, there is effort behind it and I still hope it finds ways to redeem itself

Great renders, but everything else deserves a 1 score. There is no real choices in this game. Most updates play like a kinetic novel from beginning to finish. The entire premise of a supermodel who does modelling gigs for top designer brands but at the same time has ~issues~ that makes her uncomfortable and downright hysterical when she is near men is simply put retarded.

The game is extremely dry, and suffers from the syndrome that is quite common in some of the most popular porn VNs here, where the devs try to compensate 10/10 looks by making the women emotionally unstable, or unsecure or a damsel in distress.

Here in this situation, the MC acts as psychologist and a self-esteem boost to 10/10 women. It is like the only way those devs could imagine how a man could land with such women. A very naive way to think about relationships, but I digress, this is supposed to be an adult VN, and for an Adult VN, it is extremely un erotic, there is simply nothing there.

I mean one supporting character (the sister of the model) cries on your shoulders one night and the next day she calls you boyfriend!

like this game very much!!!! being someone's hero feels really good!!!

this game doesn't contains much sex content right now(maybe not any sex content at all?! I don't remember~), but this game still is a really good game including an interesting story and nice graphics.

usually the main male character is already being loved by the main female characters in any other games, or at least being neutral, this one is different. The bodyguard is hated in the beginning, but MC is a very warm-hearted man even with a ugly face(i mean not handsome). When girls know him better, they love MC more. pretty warm love story and hot girs are in the game!

The story is a little long winded and written for the preteen girl. There really is no sexual content other than a nice set of breasts every now and then. The girls are so hot but 9 updates and not a single sex scene.

This an excellent game and a brilliant story that can be replayed and enjoyed which isn't common. The characters are beautiful and are well fleshed out with decent back story. Another huge reason for the five stars is down to the developer of the game being really active on this forum answering questions and getting involved with the fan base here. Thanks for anawesome game DB and i look forward to it to continue for many many updates....... Still waiting impatiently

Potential of great drama but no significant payoff yet

Game hardly has any lewd content. The main thing that makes the game interesting is the premise a mother who works as a model in Hollywood/Hillside and is trying to protect her daughter from a stalker. The protagonist is a bodyguard who is trying to figure out who the stalker is and has cute interactions with the mom and daughter.

The writing in the beginning was very well done. Strong characterizations and entertaining dialogue. However, as you continue through the game, you'll find that the plot moves forward at a snails pace. The mystery is good, but could have used some more work. I have a strong suspicion of who the stalker is supposed to be, which feels pronounced because of the obvious red herrings and process of elimination.

The slow pace, quality of the mystery, and lack of lewd scenes unfortunately make this game hard to recommend despite the developer's clear high level of skill. I would wait for a few more updates to be released to make the game interesting again like it was in the beginning and prove me wrong.

right now in v0.6 there is not so much content but...
game have potential story is so good (actually one of the best in my opinion of course)
models are beautiful i like the game so far
and keep an close eyes on it
keep up the good work

Kudos to you, I forgot that I was playing a porn game. It has entered my list of games in this site that I really like the story e characters, I actually wanted to read the dialogues, instead of skipping it until I see boobs, like I do with so many other games.

This is a very stroy driven game, while there is no sexual content as of yet, the story is quite engaging & compelling, it starts off with a single mother being violently beaten by some thug who hires a bodyguard (You) for her young daughters & she is very cold & even harsh towards your character at the start but as the story goes on she seems to be warming up to you. Meanwhile the stalker who beat her is stil out there & you have to protect the family at all costs.

I think this is a very original story so far with impressive visuals & hopefully will continue its pace in futue updates

Excellent, mature story. Playing a professional bodyguard who earns trust overtime is realy refreshing. The Renders are beautiful and playing the main character in first person is exactly what this game needs.

I'm usually a big advocate of games with a steady build-up and slowly developing character relationships, but this game takes the term 'slow burn' to a whole new level...

The game itself is actually pretty nice. The characters look beautiful and the story is good. You can see that the dev has really put a lot of effort into this one.

However, nothing happens. And that's not a problem at the start of the game, because I too believe that you should first get to know the characters and get into the story before the naughty stuff unfolds. But six updates and several hours of gameplay later still litterally nothing has happened!

And again, I'm definitely not saying that all the female characters should just jump the MC like some sex-craving nymphos, but there's not even any sexual tension. It's just a bunch of drama at this point.

This reminded me of two of my favourite games, 'Light of my Life' and 'Single Again'; two slightly similar games with a slow build-up and quite a few updates without anything really happening as well. And yet I loved those games! - Why? - I think that's because of the underlying sexual tension. These stories are written so that you're constantly in suspense: will she...? might they...? The player is being teased, the characters are slowly being corrupted, and bit by bit things are progressing...

But I missed all those things in Hillside. Which just made me lose interest in the story and after a while I started skipping the conversations to see if anything was actually gonna happen. And it was not.

Still 4 stars for the nice renders and the good story. But games like these need at least some sexual tension to keep the story interesting and that's really what this game is lacking right now. Might check again when it's finished.

I am updating my review, because as the VN is advancing I am enjoying and understanding it much better.
Initially I gave this a 3 star rating and I am upping my rating to 4 stars.
The reason for this - as the story is unfolding I am appreciating the plot a lot more. It is still very much a slow burn. But things are starting to fall into place a lot more. Charlotte is developing a great relationship with the MC. I love the relationship that has formed between the younger daughter and the MC. Even the older daughter has mellowed and has come to a truce with the MC (granted he had to solve her biggest problem for her to even treat the MC any civility, but it's progress).

Pros:
The plot is compelling and original.
The LI's are hot.
The renders are clear
Your choices do effect the story and how other characters interact with you.

Cons:
I feel like most of the male characters are too unrealistically evil and they operate in a world where they are essentially untouchable. It's like the Dev used the Me Too issues as reference material - but dialed up the level of debauchery to the extreme. Actors, Producers, the rich and powerful can rape, drug, assault anyone they want, with no subtlety and have no fear of any consequences. It's just a little too over the top in my opinion.
The crazy plan that Zak has of eventually fucking Charlotte, by first seducing Emma (and not to mention his convoluted and unrealistic plan to get Emma to fall in love with him) is more like the plot of a super villain in a superheroes movie.

one of the best these days, i really like the slow burn, the knight in shiny armour type of story. models are beautifull and the story is very well written. it keeps you wanting for more. its not one of those : i know we don`t know each other but please whip your dick out and fuck me in the ass story.
those can be very entertaining for sure but games/vn`s like these are by far my favorite. so...... this one..... a five star for sure. i love it.

Version at time of writing: 0.6

This game is a pretty interesting case. First and foremost, don't be fooled by the 0.6 version number: there is barely an inkling of sexual/erotic content in this game so far. The renders, writing and story all clearly show that this is quite a high quality and ambitious game, but if you are browsing an adult game site looking for an adult game, there is no reason to give this one a shot currently.

The lack of sexual content could change in the future, but the other factor I'd like to warn potential players of is that the plot is relatively serious compared to most games on this site, and bad things happen to the girls. It's nothing gruesome or crazy but it's a bit depressing. If you like your games to have actual gripping stories with lots of detail, you might really like this game, but I'd still advise you to wait for many, many more versions to be released.(Personally I found the level of detail to draw out scenes I didn't really care about, which was also a detractor for me)

Long story short: I was drawn in by nice renders, a respectable version number, and a setting that appeals to me, but was disappointed in the lack of sexual content, and the (relatively)darker plot. The game definitely has a lot of potential to improve though, and even with how few sexual moments are in the game currently I'm a fan of what the dev(s) are going for on that side of things, so given some more time this game could become something really nice. However, if you are browsing an adult game site looking for an adult game, there is currently no compelling reason to give this game a shot.

I wanted to like this game, because the renders are really good, but the story leaves a lot to be desired. It's one of those games where the the MC is the hero/knight in shining armor/perfect man and every other character relies on him to solve every problem, even at the cost of realism and common sense.

The story has a certain irony to it, because it's about the MC (a bodyguard) protecting people from a stalker, while at the same time spilling all the intimate details of a famous model's life to a bartender, going to a detective and asking him to dig into extremely personal case files on Charlotte, and installing a keylogger on the daughter's phone. Ignoring the fact that any one of these things would get a bodyguard fired immediately, who is the real stalker in this story?

The other characters treat the MC like a therapist/close member of the family after a few days of working for them, with the exception of Charlotte, the one who actually hired him. Charlotte hates him/is scared of him because she has a troubled past involving men abusing her. I guess she's never thought of just hiring a female bodyguard? I don't know.

Charlotte is hiding all the details of the stalker from her daughter because she doesn't want to scare her. I get it, even if the daughter is 18 and deserves to know. However, the overprotective nature of Charlotte extends way further than just that. She won't allow her daughter to wear a one-piece swimsuit while the MC is staying with them, but is trusting him to be alone with her on a daily basis. It doesn't make any sense.

Charlotte's manager/sister (Lucy) falls in lust/love with the MC within days of meeting him, and then tells the MC all about the troubled past of her sister, because she thinks he can't be an effective bodyguard without knowing all the secrets of the people you're protecting. Good intentions or not, that's messed up. Worst manager/sister ever.

Basically, the story suffers from characters who do extremely shitty things to each other on the basis of protecting one another, but none of them realize they're all betraying each other's trust in the process. It's one of those stories where the MC is portrayed as being the super nice, good-looking, perfect badass who gets away with everything because he's the hero.

Probably no one on this forum thought that an adult game could have such a good and realistic storyline.

For the first time they play such games, I started to read the text so thoroughly, of course I also read in other games, but here this game drew me like a book. Great dialogues, very well-made character models, very good lighting and game environment, and a really interesting plot and interesting characters.

Very good game! I never did it, but now i just need to support this creator Good job!

[As of v0.6]

1- Girls are nice
2- Interesting approach, Playing as a bodyguard, quite unique.
3- Story is intriguing


No actual lewd scene so far, I guess MC need to slow build up the trust, which is fine. So far so good and look forward to the next update. 4/5.

The game has started well and has an excellent story. The characters are well made. It has an interesting story. Overall as of now, I would say the game is very good. I think the story is written around the #METOO movement. Where the women face some difficulties from stronger and Richer people.