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

Hillside is a very ideallic type of game and to be honest i absolutely love it.
Another amazing slowburn which in my opinion are the best. Charlotte is this vurnerable supermodel who you will help with protecting her daughter, slowely but surely Charlotte starts to trust you and actually wants you to protect herself.

It's a very heroic type of game. You protect girls and be a hero and the girls start to trust and eventually love you. But it is not that shallow. The mc actually has personality and past trauma's which make him a intriguing person. Therefore the romance with supermodels who cant find good men in the world they live in seems somewhat realistic.

The graphics are nothing but excellent and what an amazing insight on the disgusting world surrounding the entertainment industry by the way.

All in all 5 stars well deserved

Just with a quick glance at reviews and comments, I see two sides. Players complaining about the lack of sexual content and players praising this as a "slow burn" masterpiece of writing. While to me, this has horrible writing but the lack of sexual content is the last of its problems.

The whole premise of this is laughably silly. We have an experienced MILF of a celebrity who had a bad, violent experience with a man within the industry. And that left her scarred and man-hating. And you have to wonder, how exactly was she a famous star without having to deal with stuff like that all those years? And that's the least of the nonsensical stuff you'll encounter.

The name Hillside obviously is a reference to Hollywood. So this not-Hollywood celebrity is obviously well-off and has a daughter. That daughter of said celebrity, is of age and yet acts like a maladjusted person living under a rock. How many kids of rich celebs do you know who, instead of partying somewhere with lots of booze, coke and molly, they don't even know what's that funny feeling they get when they enjoy the touch from a person they are attracted to. There is sheltered and then there is "I don't have TV, internet, friends or even pillows to rub myself on". The girl is written in such a weird way, that not only makes it non-realistic but the interactions turn outright creepy. She is also rendered like a blonde barbie doll but the dialogue keeps having her seeking validation about her appearance from that Gary Stu of a MC.

Which brings me to the major problem with this. This game pretends to be about deep connections and the consequences of abuse/harassment and yet, amusingly enough, it's more sexist than the fuckfests we usually see here. The women are all doe-eyed waifus waiting for the big, strong Gary Stu to protect them. While they are supposed to be navigating that dangerous industry for years. They keep asking for validation about their appearance from a random guard dog, like they are not pros who have made a career out of selling the very same thing to the public.

And just to highlight how much of shiny white knight this dude is, most other males in this, are crazy rapists. I'm talking serious lunatics who will attack, try to rape and physically hurt women in plain sight, during celebrity galas full of people. How is that for good, nuanced writing?

Anyone with just a tiny bit of knowledge about cases of abuse/harassment in those circles, knows those are very complex, nuanced subjects. Trying to write about them, in a silly male power fantasy, with the perspective of good and bad of a 5 yo, is anything but good writing. With or without sex in it.

My review of Hillside [v0.10]

Hillside is a pretty wholesome daughter-raising-simulator without any sex scenes (so far).

Story
You play as a bodyguard hired by a female supermodel, living in Hillside (Hollywood), because her daughter is receiving letters from a stalker.
As a result you move into the same house with them, follow the daughter around everywhere and sometimes escort the mother to events.
The main story is split between Hollywood-stuff going on with the mother and school/stalker-stuff with the daughter.
Overall the story is realistic and entertaining.

Writing
The writing is kinda bad overall.
Most characters are written OK and some even realistically (the mother's sister and her model friend).
The mother itself talking to the MC often feels like a Barbie & Ken doll talking to each other though.
The daughter is even worse and written so poorly, she comes across as mentally-retarded.
If you accept her as mentally-retarded girl however, she suddenly becomes very well written.

Audio
The game has NO AUDIO by default (-1 star for that and the writing).
Luckily there is a great audio mod for it though.
The mod adds lots of different music tracks, that fit the game well and it plays them at the right moment, rather than just randomly running them in the background.

Overall it is a pretty entertaining game that could be 5 stars if the writing was better and it had audio.

A very long, very tedious exercise in writing, which never get's to the point it strife's for. The writing itself is barebone detective story, which takes the topics of abuse and harassment in the model industry in the most kids gloves way I had ever seen. The characters are nothing to write home about, renders are decent, but not state of art quality. It is presented as a bad/good path kinda experience "protect them or fail", but in fact it is a kinetic novel where choices do not change the storyline.

It is an option to waste an hour or two, but nothing more than that. Average in everything, good in nothing.

Also, there is no sexual content whatsoever, and I am not sure what this game is even doing on the NSFW website.

I reviewed this already but seems it got deleted. this is for v0.10.... If you're here for a fap THIS GAME IS NOT FOR YOU!!!!! This is a slow burn visual novel with adult elements not a porn game. The renders are good. The dialogue is great. The story is excellent. If you've paid any attention to the news coming out of hollywood not about entertainment than you have the plot to this game. i recommend making saves for each route because this isnt harem. As of now there is no sex scenes. There are flashbacks of attempted rape and abuse so if youre triggered by women being harmed (not used as a kink in this game) this is a warning. All in all 5/5 so far

For me, this is another one of those i started playing to get my dose of sexy lewdness, however as the story has progressed i find that i am not bothered by the lack of it. The story has me interested on its own, so far it hasnt needed a constant series of dick wetting scenes. I cant wait to see how it progresses and i will be excitedly awaiting the next update, i look forward to the day the MC gets to kick someone's arse. Top marks to the dev on the work so far.

This is an interesting graphic detective novel, I think the dev has done a nice job of setting things up while we try to guess "who did it".

I have no idea why anyone would rate this game 1*. It is not a 1* "game" . It is not a porn game, although it might one day have porn in it, atm it has a few nude shots. and couple hardcore flashback scenes and that's it. But it is well written, has very nice graphics, and compelling characters with unique personalities. That does not make it a 1* game. It might make it "not for some people"

I am fortunate to have just started reading it, so the story had a chance to develop. I would recommend the game, and will follow it.

It's a very good game, good luck developer
both the characters are very good and the story is very well established
I can say that it is a good game in this respect.
but the story is another good one, I can tell you that I like everything about this game in general.

Love this game. In this forum, there are so few games with such a good story, with real-life type of heroes and not typical pornstyle game, but with hot erotic stuff. Perfectly revealed characters that you can empathize with or hate. Social and family issues that are well integrated into the story and not annoying. One of those games that I wait for updates every time. Thanks, and i hope the dev will continue in this way.

Each character has got an arc that pulls us in. The foreboding doom lingering right across the next scene, the next image, the next sentence just lifts up the story telling aspect of the VN, it makes us want to know what lies ahead and at the same time, hold on to the current scene with all our might lest something happens to any of the protagonists. Somehow it all gets connected and makes complete sense. There's an unpredictable predictability in the way the story is told. Kudos to the devs!

a great game with a decent storyline
who wants rough sex or every 5 min wants to fuck someone else in bed is wrong here.
who likes very good graphics and decent teasing characters with a certain emotional depth will find his pleasure here.
Some emotions are a bit jumpy and serve rather to artificially prolong the arc of tension but never that it feels extremely unrealistic or annoying rather teases
keep it up...

Really good story. animations are currently not available. but it will be soon. the images are very good.

Elections are not very effective. usually story driven. I hope it gets a quick update. It has a really impressive story.

definitely give it a try. Waiting Impatiently.

This game is amazing, rarely have I been this invested in a story in any VN ever! There isn't a lot of lewd content here yet. As a matter of fact I didn't encounter a single lewd scene involving the MC, just a short scene of another character masturbating. But the thing is, I didn't care at all. I'm super invested in the story and I would play this game without any lewd scenes at all. Having pretty much deepthroated the game's story and writing, I should probably mention that it looks really good too! It's seriously worth playing, my only complaint is that it's not finished and hitting that screen that tells you you're at the end of the current build really sucked!

Version: v0.9.1

I'll start off by saying the game is really good. Currently it has about 6h of gameplay, no sex scenes so far (except 1 masturbation with 2 frame cycle) but it doesn't mean you should skip the game.

The good:
One of the best aspects of the game, besides the clean and crisp renders and cute models, is the characters. They are full of expression and character and I really liked it. Every new frame they have a different render for their expression and it adds a lot for conveying the feel of the scenes. Well done on this part!

Another well crafted aspect is the premise of the game and the development of the story. It starts really good by planting in your brain few possible suspects for the antagonist which makes the cogs in your brain spinning and draws you into the game, well at least it works for me, by teasing your brain with the mystery and the unavoidable process of trying to fill in the gaps.

Some cool and small additions to the game are the achievements, which make you have some sense about how far are you in the game and if you missed some content.
Another one, for me, was that this game (finally) has some realistic body proportions and not some melons on the chest and on the behind.

The less good:
So the things that less impacted my game play was that there is no soundtrack and no animation, its a shame but not a deal breaker, especially not with some good writing and characters.

The bigger caveat is the lack of choice, or worse, giving you choice and then taking it away by throwing it to the garbage hehe. Straight from the get go, when you are given the first choice to make, you are given 3 option, pick any of them, but nothing of them happens. From this moment on, I had a feeling the game would keep on that track.
And down the line, as suspected, you face again with numerous choices which are empty most of the time, Even choices that seem important, like keeping a relationship with some girl are getting denied.

I can see and understand how those choices could ruin the buildup of the story and maybe push the player farther from the feelings the MC "should" have towards the main characters and by that the climax moments will be less impactful.

Anyway, I assume it will be changed and some action would be possible.

Great game so far, wish the dev good luck. You have a nice thing here.
Highly recommended.

This protagonist is a guard dog that rolls over too easily for his employers. Despite this, he is capable.

The dialogue was a bit over-the-top, but was far easier to read than certain other games. There's so little boot-knockin' that it should have the "no sexual content" tag. The glimpse of two very minor side characters fucking, doesn't count.

The game is very addicting. The plot is captivating and unique. The characters are sensual, pleasant and believable and it is natural to become attached to them.
One of the best revelations of the last year, it really deserves to be tried to get carried away in this intertwining of stories, emotions, actions and reactions.

This is not a porn game. It's a soap opera presented as a visual novel where you get lucky if you catch sight of A Boob. The renders are of excellent quality however.

There is no corruption going on, no building of relationships, the game started with have relationship points with each character but I guess the creator got bored of it and stopped after a few chapters. It's a competently written Visual Novel in the most pure sense of the genre.

Since this is not a forum where we gather to discuss novels but rather a place where we gather to check out visual aids to assist us in our nightly quest to kill as many of our sperm cells as possible, I can only give this a 3/5 at most.

Maybe the novel gets saucier later, but its gonna take a few years probably.

The game has beautiful renders and a nice story too. I'm waiting eagerly for every update. It has good quality writing and good content so far. Five stars for me. Keep it up DarkBlue! Going to suscribe on Patreon.

Here's what I think after playing Hillside v0.9 final

This is one of the best written visual novels out there, but I really hated the violence and sexual assault parts of it, I know that it is just a story but it still makes my blood boil thinking that those things are really happening to some women in the real world. I love the graphics, the women are hot especially Charlotte and I love Lucy's nipple piercings, also, there are no gigantic tits and asses here that looks absurd. The story is very engaging and well written that I almost didn't mind the lack of sex scenes. I like the pacing of the story, it makes it more realistic. I also like that the player's choices really affect how the story goes in terms of relationship with the other characters,

As of the moment of writing this review., there are no tags for graphic violence or sexual assault and blackmail for this game, I suggest that those tags be added just to avoid the negative consequences in case someone who is suffering from depression or trauma from the said events might have access to this game.

I am expecting for retribution on what happened to the characters in the story and I hope that the upcoming updates will start to feature sex scenes especially between Charlotte and the MC.

Based on how well the story was made, the great graphics and even if it has some minor setbacks, it is still a nice game an is one of the best out there so I am giving it 4 stars.