VN - Ren'Py - Infinite Stars [v1.0424.0628] [Wraiith303]

This is one of those games that I feel might do really well on another site, but may leave some feeling disappointed on this site. I played for about an hour and couldn't find any adult content. So I started mass skipping to see where the nearest bit of adult content was and I didn't find any. I just kind of gave up. There's a lot of story here and the art is pretty good. But not what I'm looking for here.

tl:dr Criminally underrated if you don't mind the limited Adult Content.
Of the hundreds of games I have played on F95 the writing in this game is comfortably in the top 10 or top 5 in quality.

+ Believable, well-written characters and a detailed plot.
+ Detailed setting and background
+ Art is average but still better than 70% of 3D art in other games
+ Multiple choices of Romantic/Sexual partners, few stereotypical characters
+ Set your personality through dialogue choices (Like many "Choice of Games" text based games)
- Limited Adult content, writing for Adult scenes is of decent quality but nothing memorable.

Fantastic game, love the fact that you can design your protagonist's appearance yourself, and the fact the choices are sprinkled throughout the story rather than just being thrown at you up-front is a really refreshing thing to see.
The story is amazingly well-written and I love the fact that the game takes itself seriously, rather than just throwing a bunch of silly references or joke attempts.
The art could use some refinement, and the lewd scenes could us actual art renderings, but the uniqueness of all the other factors in the game make up for it.
Only real gripes are that there are a couple spelling/grammatical errors throughout, and that the dev uses 'come' instead of 'cum' (meaning to achieve climax), that the save/load interface needs fixing (why only list up to page 5, and omit the next/previous page buttons on the save screen but include them on the load screen?), and that the banner seems to imply there are 6 human love interests (3 male, 3 female), but so far only 4 have been established in.
Can't wait to see where the story goes in the future!

Yeah I don’t know about this one.

It’s a visual novel with minimal porn, which is fine, really, but it relies on its writing to hold everything together and it’s honestly a mixed bag. As it’s a visual novel there’s not a ton to mention outside of that but before getting into writing I will briefly touch on:


-ART / MUSIC-


Yeah art is decent. Sometimes the characters faces look a little off, there’s some portraits you can choose for your character and I swear the eyes on a couple do not align and might even be different sizes but those are outliers and other characters/portraits look fine.
It’s also annoying that despite having so many different customisation options for how your character looks, that there are only a very select few portraits to choose for your character. You can upload your own or become a super duper patreon to get your own portrait in exchange for all your doubloons but eh I’ll pass. Better to go without a portrait as there’s no option to go back to not having one after choosing, at least that I could see.
Some backgrounds are clearly unfinished but presumably they will be later down the line. Music is fine, fits the setting but nothing special.


-WRITING-


So onto the main bulk of this game. So the story is about the crew of a spaceship called the Tabitha that gets caught up in some space politics and a mysterious infection. It’s also about an amorphous blob that slowly gains more human characteristics as the game progresses.
A joke. You play a customisable human ‘Mah’Abeu’ , kinda like a space inquisitor/diplomat with some spooky training and probable genetic modification. Who is sent to keep an eye on the ship and make sure they don’t violate the space code. Apparently this also means you have to wander round the ship and help out with menial tasks, even though your help isn’t really wanted or needed.

And weirdly even though you serve a higher power and are presumably an authority figure who is reporting directly to Space Parliament. Which y'know would have the power to reassign crew or recall the whole ship… it’s weird that the captain and a lot of the crew is so outwardly hostile to you when you first arrive. Don’t get me wrong there’s absolutely no reason they should like you and it’s completely logical that they would be intimidated and even afraid of you. But it’s just so weird to be that outwardly hostile. Particularly with the captain, It’s a bit like… if a government health inspector walks into a restaurant, the owner approaches and tells them they don’t like them and that they shouldn’t be here. That’s a great way to get your restaurant shut down. Absolutely fucking wild.

But I’ve skipped over a bit. The first two chapters, which make up the games prologue before your character is even fully sentient, you play as a few other crew members and make some decisions on there behalf. It’s fine honestly, there’s some good world building here and character writing though it’s also a bit wordy and one dialogue between the two women in chapter 1 really drags without saying anything actually important. Main issue I have with this section is that none of the choices really matter and get you to the same spot where the real game starts with only a few different lines of dialogue. In isolation it’s fine as it’s just the game's intro however… This problem is true throughout the entire game. At least in its current build, outside of who you try to romance all of the dialogue choices are completely inconsequential. And I just think that’s a shame really.

I do like the world building and the setting, I think the Mah’Abeu in particular is a pretty interesting idea. I also really like how the aliens are portrayed with the translator producing errors and then correcting itself mid conversation to show how complicated communicating with them can be. There’s some pretty nice touches and some good attention to detail throughout.
The character writing is a little messy though, it relies on its drama with characters acting and behaving in ways that don’t really reflect on their role and rank aboard the ship, which is, ostensibly, meant to be a military vessel. I do like the occasional emotional outburst and humanizing moment but it does happen far too often on this ship and makes you wonder how any of them got the job in the first place. Could just do with getting a bit more serious/professional in some places.

(Minor spoilers) - Just for this next section.

As the story progresses and chapter 3 reaches its climax it becomes apparent that the crew (and you) are infected with a parasite that will kill them eventually. Luckily, angry but horny doctor lady discovers a cure. However the reactors aboard the ship are fucked and the medicine needed is in a section of the ship that is now powered down and cannot be accessed. Apparently they can’t just redivert power to that section (even just to open a fucking door) because that’s ‘not how that works’. I’m no electrical engineer but seriously that’s best you’ve got? Just say the door is jammed or inoperable from the ship's damage. Makes way more sense.
Speaking of that door, it can’t be blasted open as that would take hours and also would trigger an automatic failsafe (which they also can’t do anything about :/) trapping anyone inside that section of the ship. Wait, what?
So that just leaves one person going outside of the ship to enter via an exterior access hatch, find the medicine and get out. So naturally they send… you. Who doesn't know where they are going and has no idea where to look but apparently you are the best person for the job because now some crew are starting to feel lethargic from the parasite and it should take you the longest before you start feeling symptoms? Yeeeaaahhh I dunno chief, that seems pretty dumb to me. Now me personally, I’d rather send the person feeling a little sluggish but knows where to go and what to grab rather than bumblefuck mcgee over there.
Point is I found the climax for chapter 3 a little convoluted and kinda dumb.


-SEX SCENES-


There aren’t any. Oh no wait there are, just for some reason they are off by default and you have to go into the settings and turn them on… wish that was more obvious, could have saved me some time. Oh well. Okay so I turned them on and… well that was a load of nothing. It’s more or less just a nude sprite of the character moving ever so slightly, there’s no cg’s or anything, no model of your character, nothing besides the naked character gyrating slightly and text at the bottom of the screen. The text is good to be fair but yeah not really any visuals or art to speak of.
At first I thought it might just be the character I went for, the doctor lady, didn’t have a finished scene and I remembered this game is primarily aimed at women (bold choice but I respect it). So… I hit up sad muscle security man and went to go slip him some salami to see if there was a proper scene there but no it was the same as the doctor lady. So I’m left to conclude what I’ve seen is the extent that this game currently has to offer and that’s fine to be clear but I do think people should be aware, especially on this site, if they come to this game expecting more.


-CONCLUSION-


And that’s all really so far, I’m not going to touch on chapter 4 as that is still very wip for now. There were some final thoughts I had about the game and its future development. So, the game as said by the developer is primarily aimed towards women and that is reflected quite a bit in the games writing and future development. Which is cool but I do wonder if at times the game is also trying to appeal to everyone and ultimately failing in that regard. It’s just a feeling I get when going through all the character appearance options, which let you play as anyone of any orientation. Which I am all for, but if the game’s primary audience is women, then there’s going to be a bit of a disparity in content until much, much later down the line when all routes, romances and characters are developed (looking at the patreon polls and posts which are heavily geared towards the guys routes). So my thought is that maybe this game would be better off if it was more focused and fully aimed at its target audience. It wouldn’t really be for me then, but then not everything is or has to be that way. Just a thought, bit of a radical one but hey, there it is.

Otherwise, this game kinda misses the mark for me, the character writing in particular really lets it down.

It is one of those games where the crew for a military vessel, despite their age and training, act like a bunch of hormonal teenagers. I simply can't bring myself to care about their constant emotional outbursts.
On a character customisation front, character portraits are pre-made and do not match the descriptions you select whatsoever.

right now i'm labelling this as average, over-all i like the world, its grounded in scientific reality to some extent, with actually having to decelerate half-way when trying to get to your destination etc.

i like the characters to an extent aswell, although you don't really interact as much as you would like with them in like the first 2 episodes or whatever they are called, since you're primarily just following the rail and then picking which side-rail to switch to when you get to a junction,

i like being able to create your own character, although i don't like that you make them as you go along, being able to make them right at the beginning i feel would help with the player's imagination more in scenes, for instance you can only actually set your height after like 2 episodes when the game actually opens up more and you can explore the ship on your own time and not follow a rail,

i don't like that you can only decide to have one set of genitalia, atleast so far, since i don't know if it'll end up popping up later that you can pick like a second set if you wish like when the height choice appeared, since so far if you want to do a Futa etc, you can only actually be a dick-girl, you can't have both a penis and vagina, especially considering a Mua'hbe or whatever the hell you are (since it isn't actually entirely explained what they are beyond being incredibly special units for the government) are genetically enhanced.

also as far as i can see, it doesn't appear like you can have a harem option, since i've flirted with a bunch of the women, but so far you can only have sexual interactions/relationship with one of them, since at a certain point you have to choose between creating a mural for one of them and that appears to lock out the other since you'll only be having intimate moments with the girl (or possibly guy) you picked. i'd love to have the option of being able to pick both/more as time goes on, especially if you pick the empath class. considering the sheer amount of stuff you have to trawl through, even if you can speed past certain sections you've experienced before, it still feels like too much just to see the other sex scene or experience an intimate moment with a different character, it doesn't have to encompass EVERYONE you can romantically get involved with and it doesn't mean they all have to interact/like each other in intimate moments, but being able to would be nice in exploring the world and characters that have been created

Let's talk about how damned good this game is.

First: the worldbuilding is fantastic. It's easy to forget how difficult the task of creating a setting, even one that is a futuristic representation of our own world, can be. Infinite Stars does a tremendous job of not only creating an interesting setting, but making it feel expansive and lived-in. There's history here that affects the characters and the story at large.

Second, the character writing is outstanding. Few writers can really bring a sense of realness to characters while also keeping them interesting and engaging. The characters here have motivations, preferences, problems, self-doubt... The range of human emotion and experience is well-represented, and the aliens are written in a way that is just alien enough to make you question if you really understand what they're thinking and feeling.

Finally, the story itself is excellent. It keeps you engaged, makes you start asking questions before you even really get a full grasp on what's going on. I find myself eager to learn more, to discover clues and experience events alongside the characters. This is an immersive experience.

I think the only things I find even marginally disappointing are the visuals. I'm not typically a fan of sprites, though Infinite Stars at least does them fairly well and keeps them emotive and dynamic. But some of them feel rushed, not quite done. I'd love the artist to go back and spend a little more time on some of these, because I feel like they could be better. Granted, this is coming from someone with all the artistic ability of a box of rocks, so take that for what it's worth.

Regardless, this is an excellent game. Well designed, thoughtful, and engaging. Can't wait to see where it takes us.

I will try not to be unnecessary harsh, or mean. The game isn't for me, and I mainly want to explain what you can await from it, not put in into the ground.

The game isn't sex oriented, that's very clear from the beginning, and I'm OK with that. It's clearly focused on the writing, that has a lot of work put in it. It's mainly character oriented, then event and lore oriented. There is a story going on, but it's mainly a bunch of people imprisoned together in a stressful situation. And least during the first chapters.
And again, I'm OK with that.

What lost me was the main character, the characters, the writing style, and the general behavior of the characters. Which is kind of a problem, as it is the main interest of the game.

The author explained that he wanted to make the MC as generic as possible in order for you to identify him/her as you want. Why not ? But honestly, it's very confusing, especially at the beginning. You are asked your name. OK, but who am I ? Who am I going to play? Then, whoosh! You play as two new characters and won't hear about your MC before several minutes.
Why not introduce him at the point where he appears in the story ? Why not ask me now who I am? What I look like, my gender, etc.
It's OK to expend your MC's life story while talking to other characters. But for his physical appearance… It's kind of weird.
Instead of having a unique screen where you select the several features that define what your character looks like, you are asked during the whole introduction about your eyes, your hair, your skin color, your gender, etc.
Why can't we decide from the first time he appears what he looks like once and for all? It would be so much clearer… Some people even saw it as some woke propaganda, because at some point you are asked if you want your character to be referred as he/her or they. I think it's more a faux-pas than anything, but yes, it is confusing. Because at this point you still have no idea what your characters looks like.


When MC appears, I must admit I had great expectations. You are the government's diplomat send to clean the mess. A highly capable and mysterious character. The necessary evil no one wants to deal with. Feared by all. Trained to interact with foreign species, the result of some dark, secret and unethical superhuman program.

The first dialogue you get get impressed me.
The older captain started to act like a jerk when he first met me, and I admit I took much pleasure to humiliate him in front of his crew for his mistakes.
Oh, you want to play that game Mr Big-Shot? No problem! I can play too.

Do we finally get a game where you can act like a confident adult without being an asshole?

Well… No. Still no.

I'm sorry, but apart from a very few flavor choices where your characters seems to remember who he is supposed to be, you still only have the choice between being a wimp or a mere jerk.

The doctor got on my nerves the second I met her.
No, the reaction of my character got on my nerve the moment I met the doctor. She's fucking too busy and doesn't want to talk to you. Why are you wasting your time, her time, and making a fool of yourself? You don't have to make friends with every one!
But the next day she calmly talks with the captains, goes to the bridge and has a nice chat with everyone… The same character that didn't want to even tell you hello because she had no time...
If at this point I could have locked her in the medbay until she treated all patients, I would have forgive all problem the game has. That would have been so awesome !
You are too busy and need peace to work? No problem, I will make sure no one interrupts you from your work, including yourself.

But no.

You apologize constantly, never put the others back to their place.
The only choices that have consistency is to play as the comforting, diplomatic, passive child you can see everywhere in todays media. Always polite, always kind, always understanding. This is clearly the "official" route. You are a walking ass-kisser. You have a few scenes where you can shine, showing off your capacities, but they are far too few of them. Actually, I'm not sure what justified my presence on the ship.
And it's a shame, because I really don't think that it is was the author had in mind, but that's the end result.

And I don't care about that annoying cat. I don't care about every character's personal life. Am I the only one interested in the power shortage and the strange par---- ? (nah, no spoiler)
Everyone keeps on talking and talking, about their past, their past trauma. Everyone is having a tantrum at one point or another. It kind of breaks the impact after a while.

I'll stop here.

It's definitely not a bad game. The writing isn't bad. There is much work and passion put into it, and it shows off.
But it isn't for me. I'm not into deep character stories. I wanted to play a sci-fi game, meet alien species, live an adventure, you know, that sort of thing? Not hear everyone's excuse to have a PTSD.

But honestly, good luck. I think you're on the right track. You definitely have an audience from what I've seen, and that's great. I hope you will succeed.

Cheers.

its good but kind of annoying at the same time. the game really wants you to be bisexual as even when you just try to go friend route you will keep having boners about the male crew which i personally found annoying as hell.

as for the actual game, the artwork is good, the characters are pretty well done, the story is interesting and choices seem to have some meaning(cant really tell that much as its still very early even though its 3 or so years in) personally would have just prefered a normal character maker at the start instead of being a vaguely defined blob that gains features overtime

As an avid fan of Shepard era Mass Effect, this is a must try game for any fans of space opera, don't let the Visual Novel tag discourage you because this game is well written than a 100 million USD project called Mass Effect : Andromeda

Expected a generic space story with some adult content, got some seriously good sci-fi. The art is unique and the characters feel real, could perhaps use more illustrations to add more depth to the scenes and make the storytelling a little less text based but that'll come with time.

Really didn't expect to get invested in the story, ended up playing the whole lot in one go because I was sufficiently hooked on the premise and the characters.

(V 1.0321.1022a) Finally some good writing! Interesting plot, not to cliche for a space opera and well paced character development. In this early version you can actually feel like playing a game, not just trying to figure out the correct answer to see any content, you have some choices, personality trees (impact is not clear yet), but surely worth watching. Congrats to the dev!

TL / DR
The primordial form of an epic space opera. Lots of great characters and an interesting premise. Game's art and music are top tier.

Version 1.0322.1014p updates: Solid update that added more story and variety.

Pros:
+ Excellent writing
+ Enjoyable characters
+ Narrative set up is good
+ Character sprites and other art all looks great
+ Good music
+ BRAIDS <3
+ Space cat-parasite.
+ Lenby is a peach
+ Some very creative ways to help the ships NPCs.
+ Good understanding of romance

Cons:
-Some minor inconsistencies and typos.

Spoiler: example

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~Game needs to more clearly label the romantic pathings.
~Khalil platonic pathing needs to get cleaned up for het male players. There is only so much brooding over how handsome a male character is I can take in a game, but I'd still like to be his friend. I don't need to hear about his 'towering frame' or 'piercing emerald eyes like 20 times on the platonic route.
~In a game where there is no actual scene content outside of text it would be a lot nicer if we had a larger latitude to effect the description of scene content with various flags. We made quite a few choices about what our characters looked like- but they didn't really come up later in the game.
~Some of the characters get very little screen time.

Neutrals:
~Lots of missing and planned tag content. Very much a WiP- but one with a lot of potential.