VN - Ren'Py - Intertwined [v0.12.3] [Nyx]

Intertwined v0.4

-SUMMARY:
Intertwined is one of those rare games where you, the player quickly connect with the Main Character (MC). The fact that the game is mostly NOT in POV view as many games in the genre, this takes the "third person view" and is done quite well and with great affect.

The backstory leading up to the game gets established when we learn that literally every important person in the MC's life has failed him in some way or another. Either cruel, unkind, or insensitive which left scars. After getting kicked out by his mother to live with his father at the age of 13, then years later moving back with his mother because of a dramatic change in his father's household, puts the MC back where he started: in his hometown to live with his mother, resuming his old life, five years later, now a senior in High School.

This backdrop becomes foreshadowing because of the nature of most of his relationships as the game progresses.

-QUALTIY RENDERS (10):
The visuals in this game are topnotch. Only a handful of games in this format match the quality of Nyx's work here. Nyx's use of lighting, shading, and color were, quite frankly, genius. The characters and scenery are similarly beautiful, owed primarily to Nyx's masterful use of lighting, shading, and color. Scene locations we've seen before in other games just look fabulous here. Even character models we've seen before elsewhere that looked good or okay, look positively stunning here (Alexis). Fantastic.

-CHARACTER DESIGN (9.5):
This is purely subjective on my part. Please bare that in mind.
All of the women were quite lovely. When you load up the game, you get treated to a marquee-like view of all the women in the game, handsomely done. I took the time to pick out my favorites from the Main Menu before starting the game. Then, being familiar with the genre, guessed that one or both of them will somehow become "unattainable." As always, in this matter I turned out to be remarkably accurate as BOTH girls I decided were most attractive to me indeed became Unattainable in the storyline. In this format, the prettiest girls will be lesbians who don't like men, your sister, killed, or moved to a different country. It's the thing...and yes...it drives me nuts. The more immersive the game, the more likely this will happen in my experience.

I only have 2 minor cosmetic complaints. 1) One Fugly girl. Yes...I'm one of those guys that find tattoos, boyish hair, and facial piercing on women to be unattractive (like vandalizing the Mona Lisa). 2) Most girls have overly thick lips. Some have oddly textured lips (like Elena and Alexis). A few have weird-looking "duck lips" (like Layla), but that is easily overlooked because everything else is amazing. Though most girls have the same general body type, none of them are extremes in bust or hip size either small or large. More variation would have been nice, but I think Nyx just wanted to take pains to avoid the now clique, cartoonishly big boobed/butted women that most games in this format have.

-CHARACTERIZATION

THE MAIN CHARACTER (10): As a Player, I found this guy to be likeable and relatable. This guy isn't a rampaging sexual degenerate as some games portray. He's just a guy with thoughts and feelings most of us have without feeling creeped out by him. One reviewer here complained that the MC should be more of a "pervert". I strongly disagree. In the most successful games here (the ones with the highest ratings and most active threads) the MC feels like YOU. If playing the MC feels like you're looking over the shoulder of a twisted psychopath, or is a malicious, hateful person, you cannot connect (unless you are that rare twisted hateful person). Not this game. The MC feels like you, so when he experiences an emotion, you share it with him. Very well done.

THE GIRLS (5): Now, all the characters...I'm serious...ALL the characters except TWO (one girl, and his buddy Zach) are assholes. Seriously. I feel so sorry for the MC. He lives in a universe where every sentient being, including friends, loved ones, and strangers frequently, actively, and mercilessly treat him like crap. Trapped in an abusive universe where every thing in existence wants to hurt or shame me, I found it challenging to actually like...well...anybody except for one of the girls (which has an unspoken secret that I'm sure will end up being a some kind of personal attack). Zach is not particularly interesting as the overused, stereotypical friend with no filter or boundaries. One girl tricked me. At first, she was friendly, funny, flirty, and sexy. And just when I decided I would focus on her...BOOM, a mean and malicious bully out of the blue. The MC gets ignored, abandoned, beat up, pushed, bullied, humiliated, insulted, yelled at, belittled, used, and abused every day, all day, all the time. With only one refuge from the abuse, I grew irritated and worn out by the viscous and unfriendly world. I quickly grew to dislike those mean women, but the game would not let me pull away from them, which I found unpleasant. This is my strongest critique of the game. I am truly not interested in all but one of the girls because of their ugly personalities.

-STORY (7):
Nothing original about this. High school/College age guy moves back home to go to school so you can put all the girls in one place. Nothing new. The one original element was quickly ignored and discarded (see below). A good thing is that so far EVERY character the game has introduced has some internal subplot going. All of them. This is usually revealed with hints showing a brief glance into their thoughts. Nyx does this rather cleverly, and in fact, the "pattern interrupt" of the dialogue with brief glimpses into the thoughts of the characters and the MCs creates a very smooth and entertaining flow to the story. Nyx's writing style is excellent but the game will feel very familiar if you've played games of this format before.

There was one plot hole or error where a girl meets the MC at the Club. Next day she introduces him to her sister who states "Is this the guy you told me about from last night?" Later in the game there is a whole scene about how the sister is shocked and surprised that she met the MC at the Club.

-SUBPLOT (2):
As I said, every living being in this universe except the MC, Zach, and one girl is a total jerk. Some characters literally inflicted trauma on the character in early life that left scars. The existence of those scars hung in the air as the storyline proceeded. The anticipation of that necessary and dramatic confrontation with two characters in particular that traumatized the MC...were ignored and discarded as if they never happened as soon as he met them in-game. "Wait...What???" I tried every option I could, but nope...life changing scars from the past were never brought up and ignored. It's not being drawn out for dramatic effect because the anticipation is GONE. The drama forgotten. I was very much looking forward to these scenes but they never happened. Even if they are brought up again in later installments, it's too late. The fire...the emotions that drove me to want to click to the next slide...have been extinguished. In one case the narrative actually made the MC weakly apologize upon meeting the person that tore his heart out. They hugged once...Best Buds. Two choices were given to "Forget it" or "Not let it go" (a weak kind of, "I'll get you back" thing). Both had the same results: One Hug...Trauma Forgotten...Best Buds. Extremely disappointing. A two great storytelling opportunities were lost with a fizzle.

-DIALOGUE (3):
The format was great. I loved the use of color to distinguish between the characters, and dialogue flowed very well. Nyx even threw in a few creative pauses which was cool. My complaint is that every, and I do me every line of dialogue in the story had a grammatic error of some sort. For example, every sentence (except a couple that I noticed) in the game used TWO PERIODS (..) instead of ONE PERIOD (.) at the end of sentences. In English, Two Periods isn't a thing. There were several spelling error (like one "confortable"), and several grammar errors. A good script editing before the next release would benefit the game tremendously. As an active reader and writer, I found the frequent errors distracting from the story.

-CONCLUSION (4 STARS):
Visually the game is absolutely stunning. The story was unoriginal and nothing we haven't seen before has happened. You cannot help but "feel like you are there" since Nyx made the MC so relatable. But it's that empathy with the character which drives home it's hardest flaw: Everyone is mean to the MC. A couple of interesting emotional conflicts that were important to the storyline were ignored and discarded, which was jarring and disappointing. With not much story here with the major subplots discarded, I'm not sure where the story will take us in the future apart from a series of "things that happen."

Overall, the good outweighs the bad. This game is recommended despite it's flaws.

Absolutely fantastic, one of the best in a while. So many models, so many sub-plots, no fluff/filler stuff. I don't feel like I need a walkthrough or points system, things are kind of natural, choice-wise.

So curious to see what happens if/when the girls find out about each other, the story has a lot of naughty excitement even without a ton of sex scenes so far.

[v0.5.5]

I just finished the game. I was looking forward to the update that had just arrived and I got what I wanted. I didn't get the opportunity to play the 0.5 update, but I can say I'm a little happy because the producer made additions to the past dialogues, I noticed this while playing and I can say it fits very well into the story. It is nice that producer made improvements retrospectively. The story of the game is written perfectly. It is really nice that each of the characters in the game are connected to each other. The game is really one of my favorites. If the animations are a step better, I can say that the game will not lack.

I am looking forward to the new updates to the game again, I hope the producer will not keep us waiting too

Now that there is more of the game I am starting to like the story. There are something things in the story that do seem like utter nonsense, but for the most part the story of how everyone seems to be connected to each other and ensuing revelations are good.


Yet another game that forces a relationship. You aren't really choosing any relationships. Try ignoring a character and the game pretends that you are in love.
Story is bad. Character models are alright, for the most part. Something is just really off. Can't quiet figure out what it was.

[Reviewed v0.4]

This game probably deserves something like 4.5 stars but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt as it continues to develop.

This game has one of the hottest collection of female characters currently in development. Yes, some of the models are familiar but Nyx has done a great job making each character individually attractive. The MC is also very good looking and makes the circumstances of him forming a near instant bond with every character a bit more believable.

The interactions between the MC and women in this game are well-constructed and thought out -- I'm genuinely interested in seeing where certain relationships go next.

The writing is generally good but the narrative is choppy -- there are big jumps between days and scenes in progressing the story. Having played v.04 some time after v.03, the change in time / place / context at the beginning of v.04 was especially confusing.

A couple of things to say about this game:

To say something bad about the visual aspect, many girls dresses leave nipples visible. That happens in real life with big breasted kind of saggy females because their bras lift their nipples to that point, but havent seen it happen without a bra and firm breasts.
And maybe theres some jagged edges in some shadows and i think thats it for flaws

The writing part may have a couple of things that i would make slightly different like the booth scene with Cara. I would add some lines in the dialogue so that scene has a purpose by itself. Its because right after that scene in the booth the sisters talk at the bar and come clean about their feelings so theres no point in not being caught at the booth, maybe being caught can trigger the conversation.

Another negative part is the act that sex is kind fo secondary thing, theres no creeping, no foreshadowing dialogues, the MC doesnt seek sex like a regular perv MC. If you like that type of easy and free scenes, you are screwed here.

Now the good aspects:
Renders are clean, not sharp, not blur, lighting is awesome and there are shadows. Some characters can see they have amazing textures.

The way the interactions are posed is awesome, for instance the scene with Layla in the park, how she grab mc arm while they are talking before saying goodbye. Or Alexis in the car how she puts that focused face when she is driving. Theres a lot of these trough the game.

The narrative part is kind of the same. The writer clearly remembers what he(or she) writes, theres a lot of mentions to things that happen in the past.
Characters are not stereotypes, may be hard to perceive differences between them, cause they are just slightly different. I perceive them that way, at least.
Writing is real good, theres a little bt of every emotion there. Im gonna stop here. Probably my favourite or one of my favourite, and this has more value since its not an incest game, but its so well written that makes me feel bad having to choose a girl.

Totally recommended if i wasnt so damn poor that i need to save 2 years to buy some VR googles i would be supporting this Dev.

Congratu fucking lations

Edit for 0.8.2:
The way the story was going when I first played ti was pretty interesting, and I was pretty hyped about it. Unfortunately after some updates and after 1 new palythrough I found the plot way too full of drama, unsolved drama and convoluted nonsensical drama that so far doesn't show a sign of being solved (damn the plot doesn't even speak clearly about some of it, like Erynn "job")
The fact that the 2 main leads discard each other is ridiculous and the use of the usual drama tropes is eye rolling. At some point there is a part of the story that consistof the Mc being mad at everyone, followed by unsolved drama.
The MC is only a punching bag, he is beaten like 3 or 4 times without any posible comeback. Other times he can respond but according to the WT is not the best option (is this coded that way?)
Played without the hype uncovers a sad truth, which are the vanilla bland sex scenes. Those are not that good to overcame the bad taste that all the drama leaves in your mouth.

So lets TLDR this:
-Mc is a punching bag, phisically and as for how lifes treats him,and many times he seems also emotionally weak.
-Sex scenes are poor, vanilla and default in angles and animations used.
-Way too much nonsensical unsolved drama that for instance criples one of the main LIs progression.
-Choice system is a mess to the point that walking out on your childhood love being hit is a right choice.

[v0.4]

This is quite good, on the cusp of being great. It has some glaring flaws that really detract from the experience though. I'll list the problems first.

1) Sex scenes are EXTREMELY underwhelming. It's among the worst I've ever seen in an otherwise good VN. First thing you can notice is the choppy animations. It's bad enough that still shots would be an improvement. More importantly, the scenes are short as fuck with little to no dialogue. The MC is a 2 pump chump, quite literally. Scenes go like this. "Ohhh yea." Press spacebar. "It feels so good!" Press spacebar. Cum. Don't even show the cumshot. "Ohhh... that was amazing." Rolls eyes.

2) The other major flaw I found was in the way the game handles the point system and the variations resulting from your choices. I'll give an example.

-Layla is having a bad day. You try to talk to her and help her feel better. She snaps at you. Here you can accept her apology and hear her problems or just leave while she feels sorry. I assume you get a point for her or not here, but the results from this choice is not reflected anywhere in the conversation after this scene. All the meetings after that are the same and proceed in much the same way. Basically most scenes are standalone in this game with the difference being the point totals can give you a little extra thing like a kiss here or a hug there. But it doesn't really feel organic because the game doesn't use nearly enough flags/triggers to modify dialogues to reflect past choices.

This is not an isolated case and there are many parts in the game that feel like this (reunion with Erynn for example).

3) Dev could work on scene transitions a bit. Some scenes just end abruptly out of the blue and you are dropped into a totally different place and situation.

---------------------------

With that out of the way, I still think the game was quite enjoyable. The writing is very solid. Dialogues sound natural for the most part. Characters are lively and charming with noticeable personality traits. Models are really hot (Layla ) with nice textures. High quality renders. Handsome and pretty cool MC. It's mostly a romance story and it pulls it off.

People who are used to having it all might have some problems because the game forces you to choose between some girls. I don't find this particularly annoying, since there are enough harem games out there, but I did find it a bit heavy handed sometimes. I would have to see how the more plot centric characters are handled in this regard, but it would be nice if we could remain friends instead of being awkward or cutting ties. Communication is important and all.

Overall, I did have a good time reading through this one and would recommend it to people who want a semi realistic and down to earth take on a romance game.

Very good and solid game. Though most of the girl models I've seen a dozen of times already, but the story is decent, language is good, choices do matter. Definitely recommend. Though I would prefer a "harem route" - still dunno if the developer would go for it. Currently I have some doubts, because he's going into a more realistic aproach (which is kinda good because it increases immersion, "but" - no harems in real life for you, dude). Plus I'm a fan of domination - hope it could be added at some point. Currently it is somewhat "vanilla romance", but very decently written.

Writing 5/5
This has to be one of the most excellent examples of character development on f95zone. Almost every single female love interest is likeable with minor flaws and strengths. There are a couple of moments where a predictable event is coming but the writer shifts and this works in its favor to hold your attention. At some point a major problem does happen however you are constantly guessing when that will arise.

Erotic Scenes 3/5
There's a good balance of naughty scenes throughout but once you get to the exciting parts they feel rushed. I'm not expecting a cowboy vs missionary render choice in fact I think this is pointless especially if it doesn't fit a girls personality. Some more description in the passionate scenes would be great along with some close ups. I haven't seen this anywhere but a close up of a girls face looking passionately into the camera would work really well. Not just a ohhh I just came scream render at the end.


Graphics 3/5
I'm going to have to take some points off for a few reasons. The renders have decent quality however I was put off by the lighting. In outdoor scenes the renders are fine but there are plenty of examples of indoor scenes particularly the first episode where some characters are poorly lit and you can't see their facial expressions. There a lot less animations and renders in this series per scene than other major releases but in my opinion It's difficult to grab and hold a readers attention if there is too much going on.

Sound 0/5
It's a visual novel and for many players not entirely necessary however I feel personally that some well selected songs could make this story far more exciting. I can tell the developer has an interest in music by the story. I know this would increase production time but some sound design for a few moments could be great as well.

Summary: Some areas to improve but aren't worth deducting a star on a new developer who is working hard and showing promise in the most important areas to engage readers as followers.

To start, this game has an amazing plot and wonderful characters. At the very first glance, you have much apprehension about this game, but once you start to play it, trust me, you will not leave your screen. The renders overall are top notch with amazing animations. This game just increased my desire to become a patreon. Seriously though, for such a brilliant masterpiece, we should support the dev. Huge thanks for this game. Keep it up! Can't wait for the next updates.

--- Rating tuned down to 3/5 as of version 0.6 ---

The quality of the writing takes a major nosedive because of the cheap attempts of the writer to chreate "flawed" characters, in an extremely leading way to boot. This game portrays all men as idiotic, irredeemable assholes and pretty much all women as victims that have, at worst, "made some mistakes" and you are forced to give every one of them a second chance. Why? Because the game tells you to, even when the reasoning behind some of the characters behaviours is moronic at best. I should also point out that no one in this game acts like an adult, especially those whose age suggests they should.

The cheap, mexican soap-opera tier melodrama really kicked into overgear with the last two updates, and made reading through this game an eye-roll fest. I'm getting off this ride but I'm not giving the game 2 stars only because the effort in the novel side of the visual-novel is there and it's noticeable. It's just not up to snuff.

This game was quite enjoyable.

I'm not sure this is a 5 star game simply because the models are ones most of us have seen a hundred times by now and the renders definitely are a step below some other 5 star games, but this game has heart. Not many games can make choosing which LI to pursue so damn difficult and this game certainly manages to do just that. I honestly love all of the LIs.

The girls all have a fun and interesting personality and I can't help but want to see more of them. On top of that, there feels like there is a lot of branching and just so many choices you can make.

The dialogue and writing is decent, it's all pretty standard tropes we have seen plenty of times already but that being said, it's still interesting to me.
Sometimes the dialogue and conversations are just kind of abrupt. Like a near instant change of subject or something along those lines which is kind of awkward. But, for the most part, I'm always invested into what each character is going to say next.

Additionally, the latest update (0.4) was phenomenal. I think it was larger than all previous versions combined (not positive about that) and it made me feel for the characters in the story.

It's immensely impressive that my opinion from the game just being decent a few versions ago has shot up and I'd honestly say it's 5 stars if the renders were cleaner and more effort were put into them and on top of that, it would have been great to see some more unique models or morphs.

Still, it's been really fun and I only see it getting better every update.

4/5

Great renders and a well written story. My only real complaint is that the 18 year old MC looks like he's 50. Other than that minor complaint I think it shows real potential (is only 0.4 at time of writing).

One of the best games i have tried. Story is interesting, characters as well. Even in early stage the game have great number of content. Totally would advise to support developer and to try out this game. The game itself is choice based which is great plus from my part. Try it out and enjoy.

Probably the best game of this style I've come across in a while. Great models, decent story, even got a couple chuckles out of it.
Usually I'd skip over a lot of the conversations but found myself actually getting into the story, so kudo's for that.
Pretty keen to follow this one, pretty impressed at this point.

Better than as I expected and love to see what's come next.?
What you'll see!

• Sporty girls
• Sexy faces
• Intriguing story
• MILF+
• Good render

This is the 4th episode and it has lot more content than any previous, like it so much and definitely recommended.

What an amazing game!

Like many others, the two most important things in an adult game for me are story and renders. And in that order. I cannot enjoy a game without it having a properly thought out story with decent writing. Intertwined gets the max points in that. Not once was I bored or frustrated when playing.

The main character is very likable: he’s funny, witty, athletic and handsome. The athletic and handsome part gets a bit boring in some games, but not in here. The girls all look stunning and have different personalities. There’s no real MILF action yet, just some teasing renders in that genre, but I can see it coming in future updates.

The renders are very good. The girls look really hot. The only critique I have is the length of the sex scenes. They could be slightly longer. However, the other aspects are simply so strong that it’s impossible to go down from the 5-star rating.

I strongly recommend everybody to check this out! And there's plenty of content for a v0.4.

I played V.04 and thoroughly enjoyed this game. I think the story and writing were both very good, and the few mysteries that have come up really make me want to know just what is/will happen.
The renders were very good, with a few animations that were done well, but that I was not sure were really needed. The only thing I thought was really missing was the actual money shots. I liked how the women pretty much always got theirs before the end of the scene.
Another critic was that there were a few times when it seemed that the scene ended early, or did not transition well to the next one. Where I had to back up a few to see if I missed something and was just surprised at the jump to a new scene at a much later date/time.
Kudos on how much the dev is getting out quickly (and good quality), I hope they can keep it up!

Overall, I really recommend this, and I went out and joined the Patreon after I got to the end of this version.

A game that has actually choices that have consquences that are not just a cosmatic option. The playful and flirty banter is genuine and feels close to real life rather. No tropes, each character have their own unique personalities. Renders are beautiful, with a variety of body types. Best thing of all is that this is not a pokeman game, so you simply cannot catch them all, choices have consquences.

Reviewed version 0.3a.

Overall not bad

Very Pretty models with decent character building
Renders are very good and animations were better than some.

Overall story seems good so far,will be interesting to play again after a few more updates

Decision tree is crap though , If you don't want to write the arc then don't give a choice.
Putting choices in the story sucks when all your going to do is overwrite the choice anyway. Just drags the story down.

Worth looking at.