VN - Ren'Py - In for a Penny [v0.61] [Moist Sponge Productions]

This is great!
The writing is good, the MC is likeable. There is an ambitious number of harem members, most of whom look great. The sex scenes are hot.
The main character is presented with some interesting world building, and the plot revolves around him solving its mystery.

It's a slow burn and there is so little player choice that it's basically like reading a comic. Many of the girls also have very big boobs. These are not downsides: if you enjoy those things don't skip this one.

This is turning out to be one of my favorite games on this site. I love the laid back pace and getting to know all about the characters and the world. Screw the haters. Keep on doing what you're doing.

The art is incredible and the bodily proportions are very much to my liking!
well done and looking forward to more. Very interesting how some of the family groups use alliteration. I must admit I wish some of these girls were real, especially the ones with the freckles....

There is something quite special in this game. It's something that is hard to put your finger on. It's not that games with Harems are typically realistic, it's just that they try and justify it when in reality there is no justification.

What this game does that's SUPER refreshing is it doesn't bullshit you. It's a harem game. That IS what it is. HOWEVER, just because it's a Harem game doesn't mean it's a sex fest. I saw other reviewers talking about how for a game with the Harem tag and revolves around the idea of having sex with every girl as a concept, there is almost no sex involved. To those I say this:

Are you kidding me? Is that not goddamn refreshing? I've played a LOT of Harem games on this site and even NON Harem games and they push you into sex with everyone right away. If you want that experience, cool. But don't trash this game cause it wants the MC to be something other than a horndog that bangs everything without any other purpose.

The MC is my favorite part of this game cause he likes having sex. He finds the girls attractive, but doesn't feel the need to just bed everything that walks. There is power in controlling yourself as much as it is to let go and indulge. It's refreshing to see that there might be a dude out there that thinks before he sticks his dong into everything.

Pros
-Love the HUMONGOUS breasts. It's silly and it's dumb, but it's also different. Why not have huge impossibly sized breasts when you live in a world where they can't sag or cause you pain.
-MC isn't a horned up youth waiting to bed everything in his wake.
-The writing is funny and engaging. It's not stilted translated dialogue from Russia. It's home grown from what I can tell.
-The pacing is pretty decent. Maybe a bit slow, but this game isn't about just fucking everything, but allowing the MC connect with each girl.
-The story is wacky and doesn't take itself too serious, even when it takes itself seriously.

Cons
-The MC's penis is... riDICKulous! As some have pointed out, it's wider than his arm and it's over a foot long.
-There is an NTRish scene in a flashback that some that like Vanilla might not like. (I didn't) but the Dev doesn't like it, so it's possible to be changed in the future. Who knows. IT IS DEAD!
-When you are introduced to each girl, it's really hard knowing which girl is which. Like, there are over 40 women, and sometimes characters are introduced two at a time and it's easy to lose track of who is talking.

Final thoughts:
This game was made for me. It's a silly game with a crazy idea. The MC isn't just trying to fuck everything (even though he will eventually) and the pacing is slow enough to enjoy forming relationships with each character.

If you like slower Harems with big breasts or like silly stories with fun characters, this is DEFINITELY for you. If you are impatient or don't wanna wait on story lines to be properly established, then avoid it.

(Psst, there might be family loving in the future )

the MC no matter his integration has no pair. yes being confused by stuff is understandable. But if yoyu someone as a bitch then just grow a pair and tell her to shut the hell up. If not then why create a vn with a male protag that does not have female domination.

For a game designed around a man having to make love to a town full of women or 2 alien girls suffer .... nothing much happens.

How the 2 alien girls haven't been punished yet I don't know because the lack of action goes against everything they said at the start.

The plot makes no sense to what is actually going on with is ... well ... nothing.

We're 11 updates in and it's gone nowhere. The most action the game has scene is from a flashback and it shows no sign of improving.

Only 1 word describes this game and it's a word I wouldn't ever have considered could be used for a game about 50 women all there to have sex with 1 man.

Boring.

IT is, arguably, the single most boring VN i've had the misfortune to play.

From limited action to shit scenes that don't match the plot. On top of that it has terrible characters. Hardly any of them have a personality and if the nuns didn't have names I wouldn't be able to tell them apart, they all act exactly the same.

By far the worst offender is the MC who is the most useless, utterly moronic waste of a lead character. You read the overview and listen to what certain characters say in game and the MC actively fights against it. Women throw themselves at him and he all but runs away.

I didn't manage to finish the latest update. I've tried with this several times and quite a few people have voiced the same issue with the lack of anything going on I just couldn't be bothered with it anymore. I got a couple of scenes into the update and it dawned on me I was forcing myself to play but paying no attention, I was bored.

By all means check it out yourselves and make your own minds up but I just can't recommend it unless you're suffering from insomnia then this might help you fall asleep.

Even though I've given this VN 3 stars, I'm writing this because it has a lot of potential. This VN is still just getting started and I think it could very well turn in to a very good VN if the dev listens to some of the criticism here.

I don't know if the devs read these things but I really hope that this dev does.

The writing is pretty good, there's a pretty interesting backstory and character development etc. I think the dev has also done a pretty good job introducing and framing each girl in an attractive and tempting way to the reader, both in terms of writing and appearance. The renders of the girls aren't amazing but they are good enough. I think these elements alone are enough to make a great VN and the dev has done an exemplary job in crafting them for the reader so far.

Here's the criticism:

Your renders look good but let's face it, your animating skills just aren't ready yet. I think it's fair to say that your animations aren't adding much to the scenes at the moment.. I think you should, instead, embrace your strength until you get better at animating. Drop the animations for now and just focus on getting good still-frame shots of the action. Try zooming out a bit with your frame and getting good emotional, sexy, still-frames of the scene... like framing a beautiful painting. Animations are great but you can still get a lot out of the positioning and framing of the camera on these beautiful bodies that you have spent so much time creating.

There are lots of girls in this VN, something to keep track of who's who would help, especially when someone who is not present in the scene is being talked about. Maybe show a small head-shot whenever a name is referenced, or some kind of color-coding scheme which labels each name with a different color? Perhaps different shades of the same color for girls who are related since there are several large families?

The MC's attitude is a little strange. Hear me out.. I know people have already mentioned this. I understand that you must have a build-up to the story so you can't have the MC act like a typical guy and instantly try to bang every single woman. But I think there needs to be more creativity in how the MC is behaving in this circumstance, because how he's acting so far is just not believable. Consider that the MC has just met 40+ exceedingly beautiful women and yet has never thought to himself that any of them are particularly attractive other than some expletives about big tits (and enjoying actual sex during sex scenes). Even guys who are afraid to actually be forward in pursuing women are at least thinking about being forward and what may come of that. Maybe spending a bit of time writing what the MC is thinking could go a long way in showing the reader that this guy actually likes the attention he's getting and wants more of it with specific girls but is constrained by nerves and being in a bizarre situation that makes him feel not so great about pursuing women as if everything was normal and he had not been abducted by aliens. As it stands right now, the MC just comes across as having inhuman levels of constraint or disinterest and it's distracting. I think a good way to view writing the MC's thoughts is that it foreshadows to the reader what the MC's future may hold with specific girls and puts that anticipation in the reader's mind which keeps them interested. As it stands now, for all the reader knows, this guy may bang everyone or may decide to just sit in his house and do nothing and he doesn't really care which one happens.. and when you're reading an erotic VN it makes the MC feel like an antagonist, which I don't think is a good thing.

Ok that's all. I think you're doing a great job so far and I wish you the best. I look forward to future updates.

Love it. Finally a developer who is not afraid of huge boobs, we need more of those.
Story is fine and quite genius actually, because it lets you explore so many different settings and characters.
Would give 5 stars, but have to give only 4, because of the mediocre animations. Hopefuly the dev will get better with those.
Very promising game.
Oh, and scene replay gallery would be nice.

Like that large breasts means that here. There is some effort taken to make the renders slightly different than the norm, though the key word is 'some'. It's a passable story. I wish it had a walkthrough or gallery mod, it's replayability isn't high enough to play the 'guess which choice for the result you want' game, and if I wish that I can't call a game 'good' relative to some out there, however I also don't see any flaws that make me immediately want to call it 'bad', if you like the preview pics you'll probably like the game.
I'd call it a 2.5 but I'll round up to 3 just because lately I've had a pet peeve with devs calling things 'big' or 'large' breast that really aren't and at least here they aren't playing around with that lol.

Interesting premise, definitely harem ( which I have no complaints about, lol). Some very nice models and very clean graphics. My only problem is the impossible breasts, its very offsetting and a major letdown to a very nice game.

I find it VERY annoying and unbelievable that a loser with no life is given an opportunity to fuck 50 something women with you being the only dick in sight. Any normal person would jump at, and yet he's apprehensive. Like what!

Pros: I like the fact that there's a group of women that actually hate him and is working to foil his plans. The writing, although long winded, goes into details of all the women. It helps brings out each individual's character. The women are nicely draw.

Cons: The sex scenes are lacking and the renders could be approved on. Would like actual options, more of a free roam, that actually gives me a choice on who I am as a MC. Whether I want to be a horn dog or this shy character. As far as I see it, you have no real choices. I found it really hard to know who was talking when the women were in groups of 2 or more. How about you zoom in on the person during their dialogue.

All in all, it's interesting and I would like to see how this pans out. Fuck these broads like your life depends on it, which I think it does.

Really good writing if you take the chance to read it. You can catch some humor lines here and there which help brighten up the story. If your looking for fap material than this isn’t the game for you because it's not a virtual novel with a whole bunch of sex scenes but it’s a VN with sex scenes and a good story. You don’t need to be a incredible smart person to understand the story you just need to take your time and enjoy it.

Pros:
- Good story
- Amazing variety of girls that all have their own story
- Amazing dialogue
- Good amount fo work
- Humane MC who doesn’t just try to dick every girl he sees but approaches with sensibility like we humans do in a real world situation. No guy in the real world as soon as she sees a girl is like “let’s fuck” it’s not plausible and there is no way the girl will reply to complete stranger “sure, let’s fuck” she’s more likely to press charges against you.

Cons:
- Little issue with who’s talking when there is a group talk
- Not the greatest animations but the dev is trying. Hopefully they will get better with each update

Personally, I am liking the story and I think the writing is the strongest point of this game. The renders are pretty good. The premise is funny and I like how the main character is not just another horndog. I would have to agree that the pacing seems very draggy but I actually found myself drawn to the story that it slipped my mind. More scenes wouldn't hurt though, just saying. Will be paying attention to this game!

You should really make the MC more excited to get to fuck 50 sexy women. I understand being apprehensive about the women pitted against him and being a nice guy but He is acting like its sum Burdon and not pretty much every hetrosexual guys fantasy.

characters: there is like 40 of them and they all feel nice autentique.

story and writing: is actually really funny and easy to follow.

draws(cg): needs a lot of work on it.

scenes (all of them): mnostly are very well done.

conclussion: IS A WORK IN PROGRES, so don expect amazing draws and renders, and a GOTY gameplay.
NOW... with that say, this game shows from the very first moment that aims more to be funny than sexy (there is some very hot scenes yes, but i laughted more than i faped) the best part is the characters ALL OF THEM, the MC is kinda a anime cool guy but still occidental enough.

this game TOTTALY deserve your time and money.

psdt: again is a WIP, so expect LOTS of places that need some polish and upgrades, but if you can focus on the idea of the game, you will find a nice time...and also you will find that the detective is the best waifu.

What a disappointment of a game , the renders are extremely weird the story and dialogue are silly the choices are a joke (stay with the mc ,follow sally ,stay with mc ,follow sister anne). this vn does not take itself seriously or the player+almost no sex action .better to stay away from this horrible game and don't waste your time.

The following review is based off my personal experience with playing this Game/Visual Novel... I try to be as brutally honest and detailed as I can, and these are my own opinions and thoughts, from one or more play throughs... The version this review is based on is v0.02.5...

Even though this erotic visual novel hardly ever takes itself seriously, it goes to extreme lengths to be silly, rather then entertaining...

The visuals are a hodge-podge of varying quality characters, mostly with larger then normal breasts and a protagonist with a penis wider then his forearm and almost as long as it too... Other then a small handful of female characters that looked somewhat normal in dimensions, most are over the top with insanely large breasts... Some characters just started looking too much alike after a while... Some character models I have seen before, while others were somewhat unique.... The backdrops are alright, with only a couple I recognized... The navigation map is a bit daunting looking, but in the current content only one location seemed to work anyhow...

The script is o.k. although I ran into quite a bit of misspelled words and grammar errors... The plot (what little there really is) revolves around a male protagonist who has been abducted by two aliens, for an experiment where he needs to have sex with 40 or more women in a town made up by the aliens... All of the characters have been genetically modified to allow the protagonists way over sized penis to not cause them harm, like that is supposed to make the sex encounters not feel wrong looking?

Pretty much every single character is over the top, highly stereotyped, and so forth... No personalities of any realistic nature at all, that I noticed... Most of the current content revolves entirely around introducing the protagonist to all the many various women of the town... Many of which are broken up into groups of a mother and her daughters... Most of the characters have chosen to take on various roles in the town, with many taking their assigned roles to the nth degree... Even the two Greek female gods at the end of the current content...

At no point, does any of the content feel meaningful or have any deep story elements... The story text, dialogue, and inner-monologue pretty much involves a lot of fanciful sarcasm, over played character dynamics/personalities, and varied attempts at humor... Sometimes things were funny, but most of the time I just wanted to skip through it... Which I didn't, no matter how many times I wanted to...

This whole visual novel, seems designed to be purely a highly over the top sex romp with many overly size breasted women, all of which seem to be suffering from one psychosis or another... At no point does it take much, if anything at all, very seriously... To the point of annoyance after you've read through enough of it... There is a lot of story text to read, but nothing of real substance...

It appears, based on the existence of a navigation map, that the game play style will most likely be a navigation system, although I didn't see any grinding elements, at least not in the current content... For the moment everything plays out as a primarily linear visual novel...

There are some occasional choices, that allow you to stay with the protagonist or play the role of an observer following other characters briefly... In some cases you may catch some information, while other times you may miss out on an erotic event based on the choice... A continuity issue I ran into revolved around one of the choices I made to follow some girls, and when they returned it appears I had missed something occurring with the protagonist and another character, which later on comes up in dialogue with one of the goddesses as if I (the reader/player) knew what had happened, when I never experienced that content... So I was rather confused...

The erotic content comes in fast events here and there, but as this is mostly just lots of character introductions currently, it's not that big a deal...

Overall, this VN/Game is basically meant to be a meaningless porn fest, under the guise of a farcical universe of over the top fetishes... At no point does it take itself seriously, and although it did have a few humorous moments, it becomes tiresome and annoying after a while... There are so many characters, I'm not sure how it will ever keep anything straight unless it stays as a linear story... None of the characters seem grounded in any form of reality, not even the protagonist...

This VN/Game is definitely unique in it's approach, but I think it might be over doing it, or perhaps the developers may be biting off more then they can chew... Some folks may enjoy the constant sarcasm and craziness, but for me it has a tendency to wear on you over the long haul... Also, large breasts are not a turn on for me, and outrageously over sized breasts are a turn off (because they look ridiculous)... And this VN/Game has a lot of overly large breasts in it, especially in comparison with the smaller body frame sizes they are attached to... Also, the overly large penis is so overboard large, it just kills the mood... Regardless how the developers try to play it off in the very beginning...

Obviously this VN/Game is still in it's very early stages of development... But based off the amount of starting content already, I don't think it has any plans to stray away from it's current trajectory... Do I plan to revisit this one? Not really, as most of it I found unappealing and reading the constant over the top story telling with far fetched characters, just wore me out about half way through the current content... I wish the developers the best of luck...

Update on my initial review. 2/12/2024

So it's been 4 years since my initial review. Figured it was time to update it for the current version.

CHARACTERS: Characters are dynamic, and show growth throughout the story.
RENDERS: I'm on the fence with renders. Some are good, but others are grainy and not so good. Then there are the mishaps with having complete conversations with someone while looking at the character you just had a convo with. Then there is the scenes where you just get the diamond pattern with nothing else.
STORY: Story is crazy, but it's fun and interesting. Basically it's so far fetched it works.
WRITING: For the most part the writing is pretty good. Yeah there are some flubs here and there but it's good enough.

Summary
The MC wakes up and is thrust into a situation where he has to have sex in a controlled experiment. Most of the women are already in love with him, but there are a few that want nothing to do with him. Which really makes the story better. Meaning that the MC doesn't get to have them right away.
This VN is super long. Not only in the amount of time it's been in development, but in content as well. I'm usually not interested in projects that have been going on for that long. Granted I haven't really paid attention to this VN since my first review. But, I'm not going to be doing that again. It's fun and enjoying. You have a bit of everything rolling around in there.
So with saying that, I highly recommend this VN. MSP is doing a good job developing this VN.

love love love the premise, most of the character designs, personality designs, like the setup of different fetishes. really think this has a lot of potential but i just feel like it has a pacing problem and it feels like the dialogue to content ratio is too high. some of the dialogue is good and contributes sexy context to the content but some of it just seems a little too long (like 10 frames of dialogue for what couldve been done in 2-3). i was mentally screaming at the main character to just fuck one of the nuns begging to be punished or satisfied, at least one. if the nun stuff is a setup for a bigger payoff in later stuff, i can understand that but still overall as an intro, i wish the MC maybe fucked Blue or maybe the mayor gives a really "welcoming" welcome with a full on bang or something. i feel like this would also make it make more sense/believable if he had a pretty wild opening scene with the mayor or blue and was kinda spent/exhausted or got in more than what he bargained for (so when he's at the church, the whole "im too tired" thing feels a lot more in line with the story which idk, can be setup for whatever down the line, blue solving his problem with some super horny modification which unlocks a new stage in the game/story) i feel like all i got was that kinda disappointing doctor scene. i totally get that sometimes a slow beginning and strong buildup with an amazing ending can make for a great overall work but i think sex games are more of a pop genre and should probably, in most cases open up with a good taste of what the game is gonna be like. also, i feel like there are plenty of characters that are setup already for varying or a longer burn for tension build up and everything, like the less friendly/more hostile characters. i think it's good to have like at least one character that's sort of the easy lay, maybe they're super friendly and warm or kinda mean and just slutty, while having say a character that cant have sex bc of whatever need or limiting reason you need to free up later on, or like a character that hates you that can be setup for different content than what the friendly characters offer.

not saying blow all the best shots in the opening act but doing a good representative hook/appetizer would be nice and i don't feel like i got that. even with the sort of slow burn to a big end structure, i admit i still do generally prefer stuff whether its a movie or book or song that opens up pretty strong and thruout is a pretty satisfying ride , enough to "want to turn the page or watch the next episode" in terms of pacing with an amazing end.

i also don't like that you have to choose between content. there already seems like sparse content. if it felt better paces and like there wasn't a lot of dialogue to get to some content, then i don't mind the choice between content especially if it's like a choice between fetishes (but i think the choice should indicate that, like choice 1 (lesbian), choice 2 (bondage stuff) bc not everyone's into the same stuff, so that makes sense to me. but since there's no indication and there's already not that much sex content, i feel like i'm just missing out and spinning roulette on getting content.


overall, lot of moving peices (lot of characters). can already see the setup for varying fetishes and interests which i think is a big plus, just think pacing is on the grindy/filler-y side pertaining to dialogue. (thank god it isn't a gameplay grind/filler at least tho imo. those can be even worse). good enough for me to support on patreon. looking forward to future updates


side note: also, really love how dark the black girls are in this. i haven't seen any other game with really dark black girls and i think it's really hot. really hope to see them with really bright/fresh pink vaginas. think the really pink vagina with really dark skin is super hot. and also love the pale blonde/blue eyes with big breasts

holy fuck, the giantress fetish added last patch is a great addition. i never realized how effective and well done it could be done in 3d and yet i don't think it's in any 3d game

update 0.3: really like the addition of casey, she has a nice niche/unique look from the other blondes. i really like a lot of the designs but 0.3 was just a big nothing-burger in terms of sexual content. it feels too much like... the player is first being introduced to all the areas and then is probably gonna go back and actually get content and personally, i think it'd be much better to sort of go with an ff7 approach, like more of linear story that opens up into this bigger world. to introduce all the characters at the beginning can feel weirdly limiting, like you already know how big the world is. i think it feels a lot bigger if there's like the introduction to all the areas up until the nun-area, then the first good sex scene (not all the nun girls or anything just the first satisfying big sexy scene) then maybe the day ends and you go back to some of the other areas and at somepoint more in the middle of the game other characters are introduces like the goddess/giantress and casey and the military area. like when the player feels a sense of "wow this is pretty good and big" then you open up another area with even wilder juicy or niche content (like the giantress).

with the current setup it feels more like i got all excited about the giantress and now i'm probably gonna have to wait a really long time before i get that content (same problem with every other girl that the player might be enticed by)

review for v.0.02

edit: The threadmaker has removed the Ren'py tag from the thread. So my long rant is slightly less relevant.

edit2: the devs have now switched over to Ren'py as of version v0.02.5 Thus making my rant below a relic of history.

I'm giving this 4 stars with a few caveats. First of all, the engine being used is not Ren'py. Or if it is Ren'py it's been heavily modified to make it slightly worse than default Ren'py in every way possible.

Let me explain. You can almost save everywhere. When you right click it sometimes takes you to a save page. I can't figure out any rhyme or reason to why it works sometimes but other times doesn't. But the save page only allows one page worth of saves instead of the infinite amount allowed by renpy. Also you cannot save while a choice is being displayed on the screen. And since there is virtually no warning when a choice is about to occur, it's impossible to see all options without either saving constantly or restarting the game from scratch.

Also the backlog history button is kinda broken. Instead of showing you the most recent thing said, it shows the entire history of the current scene you're viewing. And if you click on it twice, it will double the history by showing a ghost version of itself on the screen.

In any case, the UI is pretty much my only complaint with this game. It's like they tried to make the game function exactly like Ren'py, but for some reason didn't want to actually use Ren'py. And in it's current state it still needs quite a bit of work before it can be considered close to what it tried to achieve.

That being said, the actual game parts of the game are pretty good. I enjoy the sci-fi setting. Parts of it have been decently well thought out. The harem setting is done well. It promises to be a sex romp, but the devs clearly know not to rush things to make everything go so fast that the story loses all tension.

I like most of the characters. They all have personalities which can be slightly extreme, but not to the point of ruining things for me. And they're mostly different enough from each other to be interesting.

I do think that maybe the dev has set a bit too much of a challenge for themselves with the need to have 40 sexable characters. But what I've seen so far is good.

The writting can be decently funny at times. Not laugh out loud funny, but it has gotten me to expell some air through my nostrils a few times.

The animation during the sex scenes aren't amazing. But they're not bad either. Just a bit stiff.

Overall I enjoy the game. I wish the devs had just used Renpy instead of whatever they're using. But even with those issues, at its core this is a good game.