VN - Ren'Py - Hypnosis [v1.5.1b] [Expanding Universe Games]

It’s always great when this game updates the girls and choices are great it has the good path or semi evil path which I personally enjoy. If you enjoy sex scenes you will get plenty here. The story is pretty good I’m interested to knowing how it will end especially with whichever path you choose. Definitely recommend giving it a go and the dev even has a walkthrough in case you ever need help.

This is a competent VN.

Pros
The graphics are competent, not amazing but ok.
The writing is competent.
The story is ok, it's not a slow burn thank the lord.

Cons
It's very very dull with instances of being boring.
The story has no flavor, no spark, no excitement to make you want to play the game.
Nice route, Bad Route, Boyfriend route it's all just boring, but it wont offend anyone the writer accomplished that.
The sex scenes are short uninspired and done in a couple of renders in most cases.

I don't hate this game but I never want to play it again. I just realized writing this that I cannot recall one characters name in this title. The inoffensive faces blend together and makes you not care about any of them.

This might be for people who just discovered adult VN's and/or porn because it wont offend any of them.

The dev sets the tone for boredom in the introduction, and after playing through it I think they were warning anyone who plays adult VN's you will be bored out of your mind.

In the words of Jeremy Jahns I wont remember this in T-minus one hour. Yep already forgot. It's just dull.

It's still on going..... I really like the story and service scene. It took a while and i almost thought the writer forgot about some part in d story, but it rise up around the end. Can't wait for the ending.. It took a while but i kinda hope a really harem evil corruption ending

One thing I personally dislike in many non-harem VN's on this site is how they try to make you feel guilty for going for multiple heroines in the name of "realism".
I'm not talking about VN's that have clear separate branches for each love interest of course.

Hypnosis doesn't mess with the petty "realism", but rather strikes a nice balance in how (with a bit of suspension of disbelief) it establishes the harem: minimal drama and some magic. I wish more F95 VN's went this route.

This game surprised me.

First off, the test itself is well written; sure, there are a few commas missing here and there, but that's pretty much it. Overall, this is above and beyond what we can find in many other games on this site.

Second, the story is entertaining. While the premise is silly, the humorous tone makes it so the story never takes itself too seriously. Also, the protagonist is actually funny too, making me laugh out loud more than a few times, and he doesn't annoy me as many other protagonists have in other harem games.

Third, the lewd scenes are good. Nice to have a game play with the impregnation fetish as well; there are not as many of them as there should be.

What really brings the game down are the low graphics, especially in the first few chapters. It gets better as it goes on, but it's an issue. By the second half though, I'd gotten used to it. Although, there a few close-up shots that are a little too close or don't show enough of the lewd scenes.

Besides that, I've very much enjoyed my time with this game. I'm looking forward to future updates and will donate toward the development of the game whenever I can.

Just 3-4 years ago I'd have given this game 5 stars, but that's in the past. It's a good game if it was still 2020. This is a game I have fond memories of but the lack of updates and zero closure has pretty much ruined the game for me. I'm not sure if I'd prefer the game had just been outright abandoned so I could keep my fond memories of it. The most recent updates are pretty good, but the animations are still only pov and only show the girl's face and tits and that's it, and starting from scratch will always remind you of how this is a 5 year old game. A fresh start just reminds you how outdated the graphics are compared to pretty much any modern game.

The lack of a gallery so people know what they've missed was a big part of my low rating. It's so easy to miss scenes for unknown reasons, like the scene with tiffany, if you stay with Rachel you miss a scene with her. Even in the most recent update, you can't get a sex scene with the girl behind the fast food counter if you aren't on the "evil" path. I wouldn't have even known a sex scene with her was possible if it wasn't for URM. I still have zero idea how you even get on this "evil" path. The dev never gives any hint of this path.

It really is unfortunate because it was my favorite game for its time, but graphics have gotten better and this game is just too far behind despite still being in development.

This game was fantastic when it came out, 2019. I think me and a lot of people agree that Hypnosis set a higher bar for what to expect out of AVNs. But, after 5 years, what's there now?

Visually, it looks great for 2019. However, it isn't 2019. For 2024, it's good. Just good. It has that early Honey Select unnatural glow and matte hair for a lot of the girls. The sex scenes were good then, but now just aren't really that great.

Writing wise, it's incredibly meandering and drags along now. I don't know if it has to do with the creator just trying to extend their paycheck or them longer it went on the more needlessly complicated it became, but it is so boring. Then they just throw in sex to keep you from getting too bored, then back to the dialogue.

v1.4.2

For me I'll consider this complete, even though it isn't fully complete and may have more endings release that I would like more.

However, there are currently at least 2 endings I do like enough for my own head canon.
And the amount of content... jesus christ. This almost has too much content.
It has so much its almost bad to have as much as it does, but not quite bad.

The story is one of drama. Who do you love? Lust? Or consequences of which hole you plowed? And the weird thing is I find it interesting to read.
Mostly.
There was plenty of skipping through fluff dialogue or parts I didn't care about.
And still there was a shit ton of content anyway.
I could literally choose what parts to read more fully and which parts to gloss over and it was still a meaty read.

The sex was frequent, and varied. A couple kinks here and there but mostly vanilla for the sex itself, but kind of realistic in that sense.

I would like to say I would come back and see the rest that isn't finished but honestly that's too much rereading and I already have a couple endings that are good enough.

I recommend it. Now I need to go rehydrate. Oh, the suns up...

This is a polarizing game. It was one of the first long ones I played, kind of a gateway into other AVNs, and the first one that actually turned me on consistently, but playing the most recent update after many years with many other games under my belt, it's time for the hindsight to kick in.

There's lots of potential, and thus lots of wasted potential. But the content is solid and there's many good things to say. I almost gave it a 4 but there are much better games I've given 4s to and I couldn't put it on that level, but if I could it would get a 3.5/5 overall

tldr:
+ choices are realistic and appropriately impactful
+ characters are diverse and consistently different
+ dialogue in both plot and sex is stellar (best aspect)
+ great pacing and ratio of story/sex scenes

- renders are mostly lazy
- animations are jarringly awful and used seemingly at random
- locked-in growth fetish would be fine but teases being reversible and just isn't

Gameplay: 4/5

Standard click-through-the-dialogue interrupted by occasional choices. Choices are actually pretty meaningful for the most part and lead to alternate content which is appreciated. Even more appreciated is that making one choice, whether it's between girls or between how to treat one, doesn't necessarily lock you out of revisiting the option(s) later. This is a double edged sword that is realistic (people change their minds) and lets the player try seeing the other side of the coin in the same playthrough, but at the same time it also means many choices feel less impactful at times where maybe they should have been more important. But overall, it's a chill vibe that matches the chill choice system. Even imagining how to keep all the branches on the same tree hurts my brain so I don't think I could do better.

Sex: 2.5/5

This one is the most heartbreaking because if the sex scenes were done better the game would immediately go from just above average to top marks despite any other complaints I might have, but instead holds it back from being one of my favorites.

The setup and execution of how we get to sex scenes is really hot. There's a lot of variety not just in the girls you can fuck but also the scenarios themselves. The dialogue is done really well and doesn't overdo it... mostly. Sometimes the girls match the MCs wittiness a little too closely to where their back and forths are hard to differentiate. Other than that it might actually be the most realistic sex dialogue as characters are consistent and while they say hot porny shit they are self aware of being corny and don't break character to do it.

But that's where my praise ends because everything when it comes to visuals and pacing is atrocious. When animations play it's the box standard positions for the engine, and when they don't play, while some position renders are good, the models are lazily used and the faces aren't even touched, so everyone has the same default pained face. The hottest scenes are the ones where the sex is mostly implied and the dialogue is the focus.

Even weirder is the pacing of the sex scenes. There are animations, especially early on (it did improve...slightly over time), that abruptly end halfway. There is no attempt at making the cumshots work in any way. When they are animated they feel rushed and without the dialogue in a lot of them you wouldn't be able to tell where a sex scene begins or ends. It's actually bizarre and no game since has made me feel this way, even much worse ones.

As for the girls themselves... I dunno. The designs have their moments with each girl's distinct look having its own charm but they aren't really used to good potential and the game goes all in on the oversized butts and boobs fetish which is fine but it also pretends to have options that let you stop this but NEVER FOLLOWS THROUGH. Multiple choices pretend to give you the option to stop their growing but without it some of the later plot would have holes so instead you have to watch hot models eventually grow into unlovable blobs (preference I guess) whose only redeeming feature is that the scene writing is still hot and there are enough side characters with better proportions.

Plot: 4/5

This is the most slice-of-lifey slice of life game there is, but is much less... Japanese about it. Sorry, I'm as weeby as the next guy, but it's just kind of refreshing when characters make decisions and say how they feel without tripping over themselves 8000 times in the process. Characters can be shy without being utterly mute and impossibly introverted. Characters can be sassy without being Tsundere. Characters can DO MORE THAN ONE THING. In a genre dominated by the same ol' anime harems, it's nice to see some characters with confidence who don't fall precisely into cookie cutter stereotypes.

When it comes to the actual story, it's hard to really fault something that barely exists. The stopwatch is an excuse for the harem to start for an MC who, while charming and clever, isn't particularily special. I actually like the MC a lot more than most AVNs. He never felt overdone. He spoke often enough to feel like a real character but not so often that you're taken out of his perspective. He reacts reasonably based on your choices and the progression of events. He isn't too big a bitch or too big a bully and it makes sense why the girls like him.

As for the progression of events, one scene just sort of leads to the next and the consequences of the stopwatch are appropriate even if it's probably the most annoying aspect of the plot. See, even though I'm not into the giant boobs and butt fetish, it would be fine if the game didn't keep reminding me that I should be able to fix it at any time with the fucking watch. It's just the big red flag where the MC and I don't agree at all. He's nonchalant about letting them become bad hentai proportions, where I would not be. I only fault it that as a preference.

Other than that the pace is good because it's always looking to setup the next sex scene. There are plenty of conflicts and drama of all scales and the characters are pretty good about how they react and adapt, but the plot does just sort of meander about which is probably why it takes so long to get to any major choices.

And that's fine. it just wants you to be along for the ride. I like the chill vibes, the harem with enough guilt to justify it, but not so much that you don't get all the sex you want without it feeling silly by the end. Most importantly though, I LOVE the fact that the dev doesn't cop out by adding more magical bullshit and universe shattering interdimensional plots that every other dev resorts to the moment they run out of real human stories to tell. Take notes people, you don't need fairies and elves to come out of portals or have someone reveal that you're part of a family of wizards or assassins in order to tell a complete story.

A single, magical watch is just fine. And so is the game. Wouldn't put it in my list of best ones, but would definitely recommend it.

For someone who dont have a big tit fetish and dislike big tits, this game wont be for you in any way or form, goal of game is to pretty much make every girl grow big tits, so it goes without saying its proberly one of the worst plots and games ive seen.

You dont even have a choice, you meet a girl and you make her grow bigger tits....its really annoying when your perfectly happy with how the girls look, but instend you turn them into ugly slutty bimbos......just no....

Cant really rate the girls since they start out looking great but end out extreemly ugly, how do you even rate that....

Music there is none.

Animations are somewhat decent for HS.

This game for me hovers between a 3 and a 4 and I'll try to quickly explain why. While yes it's honey select and yes the girls look good, the story is basically non existent outside of finding some magic watch that can hypnotize. The writing is serviceable but nothing special. The meat of the game comes from the girls, and that's where the problem starts. This game is a jumbled mess of paths and scenes. You have no idea what your choices are going to lead to. The game has an ingame hint system but it just tells you it will guide you on the "safe" route. What does that even mean? What routes are there? What happens if I go on a different route? You never know because it's so jumbled together. There are a ton of hidden "game over" options that really have no business of being there, and you never know when you should be saving so you don't screw up your planned routes. This game is a perfect example why you don't try to make all sorts of crazy routes and scenes with a ton of different girls and then mix them together. There is an official walkthrough that brings you to a document and it's a massive list. If you think that your game needs a huge pdf word document to try to explain what all your routes do and what options do what in your game, then you have gone too far and your game needs to be brought back some. I should be able to pick up a game, decide how I want to approach the girls, know confidently what my choices will do, and then play the game. I do not want to read through a massive walkthrough to figure out whether or not I'm going to be happy with my choices or not.

I must say I enjoyed this game pretty well. It has a good amount of sexy lewd filled scenes in it and a good handful of cuties. A couple of gripes that I do have though is, I wish the expansion on the girls was a bit more (but that's just me). That and I feel like the camera positioning on the scenes could be placed at better angles and such. But all in all, was a pretty fun ride thus far. Excited to see what more comes out!

VERY good game, although a lot of story development and writing (not really my thing, but you might like story and characters that actually develop), the graphics and women's design are out of this world. Solid game if you ask me.

Reviewing v1.2a, released June 2022.
Disclaimers:

• I have only played through episode 11.
• I'm new to this VN, so I don't have the knowledge or expectations about what dev has promised the community that some of the other reviewers apparently have strong feelings about.

I like the game. The premise is interesting and fun. If you're not into stacked women and body modification, it's probably not for you. I'm a pretty conventional tits and ass kind of guy, so this game ticks those boxes for me. It's an uncommon, fresh take that the mind control is effective on physical changes as well as thinking and behavior. It doesn't break my suspension of disbelief that there's a "mind over matter" aspect to hypnosis in this game. The gameplay has plenty of choices, several of which have real impact on the story and content. The characters are all likeable. Even the current villianess up to the point that I've played has many qualities and moments that make her sympathetic and loveable, but I dig crazy chicks from time to time, even IRL. I don't know if there is or will be a harem ending available for the story, but there's unquestionably a harem in the game. As one would expect with an unplanned, impromptu harem, there's a fair bit of drama about that, but significantly less than anyone should expect anywhere but a harem AVN. The MC is pretty bog standard for harem AVNs in that he's a fairly nice, unexceptional guy that wins girls over buy being pretty nice to them when he's not playing around behind their backs or in their face. He's unique from other AVN MC's in that he doesn't have unmatched sexual prowess and a huge dick that all the girls absolutely need in their lives (at first). The story very quickly falls back into line with that trope. It's almost a genre requirement in AVNs and is apparently an absolute requirement in harem AVNs.

The Honey Select renders look good, with poses and expressions generally looking natural. Some exceptions are: characters having entire conversations while looking defeated and staring at a table even when the dialogue doesn't match that mood; characters looking at MC instead of the person they're addressing, which is sometimes clearly intentional and other times feels like the dialogue was changed, but the image wasn't updated to match edit; characters posing in flirty or sexy poses that don't match the tone of the scene or dialogue; Ashley's mom's arms hanging like she's unconscious or dead drunk when she's looking at ice cream flavors. Mostly nothing glaring or egregious, but there's room for improvement. Animations look good. They're pretty short loops, but they serve their purpose. Some of the loops aren't looped very well, so there can be some really distracting jolts when the animation starts over. That should really be fixed.

The biggest problem I found with the game is inconsistent dialogues. Characters will reference events that you opted out or played differently than the dialogue reflects. These errors might be from incomplete edits/reworks to the script, bad coding, or the dev forgetting that they made certain events optional ten episodes later. It's hard work finding and keeping track of issues like this in writing VNs or other non-linear stories, but it's pretty important. Dev(s) needs some proofreaders or pay attention to feedback. I found some typos and consistency issues that according to comments on this thread go back more than 2 years. It's not enough to get me worked up or to rage quit, but that's pretty lazy.

I'd give it 3.5 out of 5 if that were an option. I round up out of consideration for the obvious work that's gone into the project and the fun I've had reading it. It would easily deserve a full four stars if the issues mentioned had been addressed. Maybe even five stars if animations and inconsistencies were addressed as well as a little more polish to the dialogue and some deep introspection to the moral dilemmas the MC faces.

Honestly, the biggest problem is with the title. Hypnosis is supposed to work on the mind rather than the body. The concept of a magic clock that does body mod is great but the title hypnosis is absolutely misleading. While the game isn't bad. In fact the renders were decent from the time the game came out. However, it did not match expectations (at least in the beginning).

honestly, this game has a very good story. the thing i enjoyed the most is that you can choose different paths, because it makes you wanna play again and again choosing different options. plus, i like all the characters, but Leah and Ashley have my heart.

A bit wordy and full of high schooler-esque drama, but the characters are rendered well, and you can skip a lot just by reading expressions on faces.

The story overall is interesting, and the sex scenes are pretty hot. I'm not a huge VN fan, but this one has me hooked.

I really love this story. Characters are handled well and are charming with distinct personalities. The sex is frequent and satisfies a bunch of different itches. This isn't really what I go to mind control kinds of stories for, because everyone is just too good of people with it, but that only serves to its credit because of the fantastic story that has me invested.

Bonus: asexuality is presented as something that's just fine and not an issue, and Daphne is even my favorite character.

Review based on version "Broken Watch Ending v1.0.9"
Well, this game was a journey for me. At the beginning I liked it for main fetishes it have, clever dialogs and well done Honey Select graphics. Unfortunately like mentioned in other reviews DEV apparently get lost with the story and success of his own creation. Time between updates started to grow and instead of following main story and main fetish (MC) development changed direction to sub endings and plots that doesn't have a lot of common from initial game. He have the right to do that but it completely changed the game and that is misleading if you liked it before. Right now much more overall time from the begining of development was invested in those distraction then in main plot and promise. It is hard to say if game will be ever finished in line with direction of few first episodes but after months and months I doubt it. My advice is to try the game if you like MC but drop it the moment MC is gone - it will probably never return and that moment change game entirely.
Summarizing:
story up to version from around April 2020 : 4/5, story after that 1/5
graphics/sex scenes/animations: Basic HS, lets say 3/5
dialogs: pretty funny and fitting 3/5
amount of content: 4,5/5 - a lot but changes in fetishes mean it is different type of content from one point in time
characters: pretty basic but enjoyable bunch, well designed harem: 3/5
broken promise: yes 0/5

This is an art project for subverting expectations rather than anything someone is meant to enjoy.

"If I call my game hypnosis and tag it mind control, won't everyone have their expectations subverted if they discover that in my world hypnosis only causes physical changes (breast enlargement) and has nothing to do with mind control?"
Yes my expectations were subverted. Not in a good way.

"If I make a harem game but then give you bad end for pursuing harem because harems are totally unrealistic won't people's expectations be subverted?"
Yes my expectations were subverted. Not in a good way.

This is an art project and I am impressed by the effort the artist put into this. But I am not going to recommend people to inflict it on themselves. Subverted expectations are not fun. Fun is fun. If someone is coming to a hypnosis harem game they want a hypnosis harem.