VN - Ren'Py - Isabella - Chasing Shadows [Ch. 4.3] [badtimetales]

Game has been in my backlog for a while and I finally got around to playing it. Good sounds, has animation and decent amount of lewd scenes, the girls are nice and have their own personalities, the renders are nice, the plot is well done and intriguing. Its doing a good job of keeping my attention. There are no slow or dull points. Its still overall early in the plot still I think but so far its all promising. And at least the dev is active which is more than what I can say for 90% of the other games lol.

Isabella - Dark Paths doesn't have all that much content yet, you can easily play through the entire build in one afternoon, but the VN is off to a promising start.

The story revolves around the dead girlfriend of the MC who was killed in a hit and run accident. Only it was probably murder. She was an investigative journalist and about to release a juicy story about the fashion world, involving abuse of models etc. and someone evidently didn't want her to release her findings.

The MC fell into a deep hole after the loss of his girlfriend, but he has gotten into a - more or less casual- friends with huge benefits relationship with a bartender after the death of his girlfriend.

The game then slowly develops the bigger mystery, with the MC trying to uncover the reasons behind the death of his dead girlfriend, while he also befriends a hot supermodel, titular character Isabella. As a fashion model she is involved with some of the people who may or may not be behind the girlfriend's death, so she's central to the story and not just a regular love interest.
But on top of that the relationship with the bartender Alex also develops and it becomes obvious that it's really more than just "friends with benefits", even though both insist that's it's just that. But it's really not.

The character models in the game are all very attractive. All of them have natural proportions, Alex is very petite and cute, Isabella is a bit more curvy but still looking very natural. So if you like female characters who look like actual women, Isabella - Dark Paths is your game.

And while there are some typos in the game, there are some problems with "your" and "you're" and sometimes it's "to" instead of "too", the writing is pretty good. It's certainly a few levels above your standard VN fare.

The central mystery is also intriguing and you will never skip any of the narration or dialogue here, you, as the player, will absolutely want to find out why the girlfriend Jennifer was killed. So even the scenes with several male NPCs, including the father of the MC, a former police detective and a few others will keep you engaged.

The renders are also pretty great, it's your typical DAZ3D affair, but things look good. There are plenty of animations in the game, not just for the more intimate scenes, but several story scenes are also animated, it adds quite a lot of atmosphere.

Not everything is perfect though... I feel the flashback heavy intro may have been handled a bit better. Maybe it would have been better to start the game with Jennifer and to actually experience the accident and then to skip ahead a few months instead of resorting to flashbacks.
I was also not a fan of how quickly and eagerly news anchor Valerie (a colleague of the dead reporter girlfriend) jumps the bones of the MC. That scene is avoidable however and the MC can reject her. But honestly, who will do that. Valerie is after Isabella easily the most attractive woman in the game, only somewhat less curvy than Isabella. Still, some more build-up may have been nice. But maybe she's only ever meant to be a casual friends with benefits character. At least Valerie insists - for now - that she's not looking for a relationship. But that could certainly change in the future.

As of now there are zero scenes with Isabella, so people hoping to get a bit closer to her need to be patient. Most of the scenes you get are with the bartender girlfriend Alex and then one optional scene with Valerie plus a dream sequence with the poor dead girlfriend Jennifer (that morphs into a short scene with Isabella, it's evident the MC really likes her a lot). I am usually not a friend of dream sex, at least with potential future love interests, but the scene with Isabella here is pretty short and you only ever see Isabella's chest for a brief moment, when Jennifer morphs into her. The MC wakes up very quickly afer that. I guess the scene is essential and meant to point out the growing affection for Isabella. It's also pointed out in the story how Isabella is the same type of woman as Jennifer and this will certainly have an impact on the MC's feelings towards her.

The animations are pretty good and some of them are even quite long, often several animations are combined into a longer sequence. At times there is a splitscreen giving you two different angles. There are some choices here and there, mostly about where to finish, nothing real fancy, it's ok though. There are no forced kinks (as of yet, I hope it will stay that way) and everything is basically vanilla. But as someone who likes vanilla that's a big plus. And as long as it's vanilla choices are not required.

But while the game itself has music and sound effects the sex animations have no music or sound at all, which I found a bit odd. At least a music track could have been used here to enhance the mood.
Also, some of the poses of Alex in the animations are... not good, her body is a bit contorted here and there and it doesn't look natural. But it's nothing major. And it only happens in earlier scenes.

The super rich MC trope is maybe a bit overused though, and in this game the MC is yet another super rich son of some super rich father owning an IT company. But it provides an explanation why the MC doesn't have to work and has all the time in the world to spend with the various females. On the plus side the MC is not a kid, he's 32, it's good to get an actual adult protagonist. Girlfriend Alex is 24, Isabella is also in her early twenties. So no teenagers here.

The game switches between POV and 3rd person perspective when necessary. So there are no awkward camera angles here. When two characters kiss you will see the MC's head and in several other scenes too.

Isabella - Dark Path is certainly one of the better story focused VNs, the available content is very promising. By giving the MC a girlfriend out of the gate you also get several scenes that don't feel too rushed or silly, since the two have known each other for months already. It may only be a negative if you don't like starter girlfriends and prefer to conquer all your LIs in the game.
But if you want early sex in your game I think this is the best way to do it. Alex is also pretty likable so I would guess almost everyone will be ok with her. You will not want to avoid her.

What I also liked was how the dev rendered Alex' reaction to a kiss Isabella gives the MC (she wants to create a distraction and avoid getting seen by someone she doesn't like), you can see how she's hurt and jealous. That facial expression was spot on. Many other VNs usually don't do that. But here you can feel the pain of Alex. It may make you think twice if it's a good idea to cheat on her, even if she pretends she and the MC are not really in a relationship.
But I suppose almost everyone won't be able to resist Isabella should opportunities arise in the future, that woman is stunning and easily one of the best looking female characters in any game.

So if you like a good mystery, if you can handle somewhat darker subjects like a murdered girlfriend, if you like story driven VNs that only have a few (potential) love interests, if you like very attractive, but realistic looking characters, then Isabella - Dark Paths is absolutely worth your time. This could easily become one of the best story driven VNs.

I've never seen an AVN this immersive... The animations are next level... But it's more than just in sex scenes, it's all the way from driving your car to walking down the street. The game seems to strive to be more than just a porn game, but the whole immersion of a story.

Definitely keep your eye on this one. It's the complete package. Hot women, good humor, emotional moments, great story.

A solid story where the lewd scenes come when they are needed, not just out of the blue.
An impressive amount of animations.
Overall good render quality and a very nice top model as POI for the MC.
Very promising

Very good story, and not as dark as the title can feel. Very nice rendering, a lot of very nice quality animations !
the characters are well writen, like the history. It's a good thriller so far, but like i said not dark thriller. The MC is (right now at least) a good guy, same as the others "good" characters. But there is, of course, some villains too !

[Ch. 3.1 Fix]

One of the best games for this type of story. This is a mystery/conspiracy/thriller story told exclusively through the POV of the MC. The setting is the dark underbelly of the contemporary world where the rich and powerful abuse their positions to enjoy their decadent life. Murder, cover ups, corruption, sexploitation, trafficking. The MC is a good guy (not sure if he can go dark later) who is looking to uncover the truth for personal reasons.

The story telling is exceptional. You notice the difference between a talented writer and just a random amateur porn dev. The intro immediately grabs you and doesn't let on from there. Because the story is told strictly from MC's POV, we only know as much as he knows. We are trying to figure things out along with him. It's not entirely clear who we can really trust or how deep the conspiracy goes.

The character writing is really spot on as well. They act incredibly realistically based on the relationship dynamics. Just as a quick example, after MC (who has a fwb/semi-gf) meets Isabella and helps her deal with some imminent threats and lets her stay at his place for safety, she well... thanks him sincerely. She doesn't hug him in skimpy clothing or kiss him on the cheek or whatever, something that seems almost expected in most porn games under similar circumstances.

We learn about characters, including the MC, as the story moves along. There are no exposition dumps at the start. There are no unnaturally set up Q&A sessions getting to know a LI. Everything flows like a real screenplay and the story keeps you engaged the whole time. Things like jealousy comes into play to add some tensions to potential relationships.

The visuals are quite above average. Not the most amazing I've seen, but certainly very beautiful to look at. The dev loves cars and makes neat transition animations when driving around lol. The camera angles are generally shot in 1st person POV or obscured third person self insert style. Not something I typically like, but it's very appropriately used in this game since the story has you ride along with the MC while we figure out how deep the rabbit hole goes.

The audio is excellent. Nice choice of tracks that fit the tone of the scenes and locations. There are the occasional sound effects too.

Sex scenes are good enough for this type of story. I generally prefer a more drawn out and dialogue heavy scene (hentai and porny stuff), but stories/characters that are grounded in reality like this one benefit from more realistic depictions of sex.

The choices set some variables and flags, but we are not far enough along to see any real variances, as far as I can see. At least currently, the story is playing out without too much input from the player.

This is an excellent visual novel although it is pretty light on the porn side so far.

Well...
I am enjoyed the story, the so-called thriller and the characters.
Something that is not right are the sex scenes, poorly, swiftly represented.

It seems to be a standard in nowadays "adult" games, emphasis on some game dynamic (sandbox, combats, plot) but very little attention to sex scenes... Probably is better omit fully represented sex if there is no appetite in putting effort in representing it.

Anyway.. I would say not great not terrible, probably will improve.

Reviewed for ch 3.1
My first attempt at a review here, or rather some disjointed thoughts.

While it is still fairly early in development at ch 3.1 this game impressed me from the start. The game opens with a nice animation, giving us both a hint of the dev's skills and placing us in the story in an effective way. The dev sprinkles each update with a fair amount of nice animations, to mark a scene transition or an important moment, and not just for the sex. Overall, they are well done and fit well, and we are warned not to click through them just before they start. A nice little touch.

The characters are all very well designed visually, the women are very attractive, but badtimestales has clearly spent some time and thought on the men as well, something we don't always see. My only very slight criticism is that, while they are distinct enough not to confuse them, several of the women are 'of a type', cool, slim blondes.
In general though, we see a fairly wide type of people with some representation of minorities. I'm a middle-aged, straight white guy, so take that comment for what its worth.
Everyone seems to be pretty fit though, no obesity problem in this world.

One thing I especially noted, though, was that two characters who are closely related, actually resemble each other. I don't think we'll find a family with three sisters where one is a natural blonde, one is a brunette and one is a red-head here...

Central to the story is the mystery surrounding the death of the MC's girlfriend a few years ago (and how this may or may not be connected to other characters we meet), with new facts and details being revealed at a good pace each update. So far it doesn't feel either drawn out or as if we're rushed through things. It seems the dev is staying focused on the main story and mystery, with little in the way of side-stories so far.
The dialogue is over all good, with only an occasional choice of word that might feel a little off (English isn't my first language, I should note). Descriptive text is mostly the same, in this update there was one place where it felt a bit uninspired, but I'm probably picking at very small nits now.

There is some character development, and especially one character is dealing with their reactions to several events in the story, and an unfolding situation on a personal level. I think this was very well done, with small cues letting us know how they felt. In general, characters give the impression of being well-rounded with both flaws and strengths so far. As with the physical design of them, the dev seems to have put some serious thought into this too.

There was some talk early on in the thread about player agency and forced sex-scenes. It's a difficult balance to get right, and must vary depending on the type of story you are trying to tell. If you are making a harem-type of game, where every girl is a possible LI and there is very little backstory (your father is dead, you move back home to your Landlady and her three daughters...), but when the MC's past and old relationships matter, and the MC has a personality that isn't completely shaped by the player, it does make sense to remove some choices from the player. Different games aim for different playstyles, even under the VN umbrella, and for the most part Isabella - Dark Paths succeeds in this, imo.
There is an early sex-scene that isn't avoidable, but it makes sense to lay the foundation for the MC's relationships, after that one you always the option to decline.

As you have probably guessed by now, I am enjoying this game a lot, it's one of my favourites currently and for anyone looking for a mystery, with a bit of sexiness thrown in, and characters who are both believable and relatable - do give it a chance.

Edit: Removed comment about a second unavoidable (dependent on earlier choices) sex-scene that was quickly changed to be fully optional.

This is a solid entry in a subgenre of adult visual novels that is otherwise underperforming--the erotic thriller. Many devs are able to produce an erotic game, but few are able to produce one that can properly be called a thriller.

Badtimetales is one of the best new devs in the adult indie scene. Solid renders, animations, dialogue, and use of music. But where he really shines is on plot. Through chapter 3.1 he's frequently been able to create moments of genuine drama and anticipation. This is where he triumphs over most other devs who mask their inability to tell an engaging story with cheap sexual tropes. This game leaves you actually looking forward to the progression of the plot, not just the progression of your sexual relationships.

There are several mysteries presented in this game, each one leaving you trying to puzzle it out. BTT is doing a good job of keeping the player's interest by releasing answers to some of the questions while continuing to build up the other ones.

Since I'm reviewing chapter 3.1, there are still number of turns ahead. I'm looking forward to seeing what's on the other side of them.

Not only the game but the dev is also great one of the best I've met really promising game and it would be a crime if it doesn't become one of the best of all time
Good luck dev
Let's start from the story one of my fav things about this masterpiece
It's not the usual kid who wants sex but it's an older man with a different story and it's very very interesting i liked it
Then there's the supermodel's mystery that's also really exciting
The models are great if you ask me my fav it's Valerie Hall the news channel one and everything about her is perfect in my opinion eyes body hairstyle etc
Also can't forget the wide compatibility of the game it's available on windows android linux mac and perfectly ported to every operating system
Moving on we have the writing and gotta say that for someone who isn't a native english speaker it's very good the dev did a fantastic job really appreciated he deserves more and will get it eventually i really hope the best for him
I'm giving 5 stars so he will be motivated and continue the hard work and it will be good for both us (the players and the dev)
And almost forgot a part i really love
The movies!
Yes you read it correctly there are in-game movies of high quality and not every game has got it
So if you are looking for a VN that is worth it, this is what i suggest you
Can't wait for the updates !

Enjoyed the background story build up. Anxiously awaiting chapter 3 to really dig in.

Good looking characters with good contrast between them.

Reasonable time between updates. Dev is active on forums and socials to chat about the game whenever.

Version CH 2.3

Usually I don’t review a game or VN until it’s been out for some time and has several if not many updates. But from time to time I’ll get a request from a dev to review their game. In this case it was my pleasure to so do.

It’s my custom to play the VN from scratch. Mainly because when play stretches over many months with time between updates I can lose sight as to some of the aspects that make me like a VN.

Very early in my replay I was once again struck by the high quality of the renders and animations. Then I was reminded of the excellent dialog in this VN. Asked by a LI to provide a “tasty and healthy” dinner the response was “Do I look like the love child of Houdini and Gordon Ramsey?”
Slice it however you want but that’s quality dialog and it persists throughout the VN.

Often I turn off the sound, but the sound track in the VN truly complements the script, situation, and imagery.

While tastes vary, I find the LIs very attractive. They have different styles and I’m sure that some won’t appeal to everyone, but I find something unique to draw me to each of them.

Lewd animations are very well done, perhaps even exceptional in certain cases.

So the story around Isabella unfolds in a natural way. Maybe it’s not ground breaking fiction, but it is well plotted and well written. Threads from various sources start to reveal and then blend themselves into a tapestry of a plot. Then it deepens as the MC’s early history is revealed.

So what can I say? It’s early in the evolution of this VN, but to date it’s simply excellent in all categories. Writing, technical presentation, the LIs, renders, animations all top notch.

It’s five stars now and if the dev can continue to maintain this level of quality we just might have to give it 6.

TL;DR
Really excellent in all aspects and well worth your time to check it out.

I really like the story and can't wait to see how it will develop.
The characters are unique, renders are great with smooth animations. The "movies" give a great depth to the game.

I'm looking forward to new updates.

After finishing this update (ch. 2.3) i was left wanting more. The graphics are pretty good en the models do look very good.

The story is starting to become more interesting and it was a wise decision to start of with a FWB instead of a girlfriend. A FWB is a great way to add sex scenes early on and it does not make it akward as with a girlfriend. Because appearantly there is this characher that youre supposed to have a conncection with but you just dont know this characther. U dont have this problem with a FWB.

I do think the writing could do with some improvements. For examples as we get to know the characters more, I personally think that adding thoughts of the characters is a good idea to bring your game to the next level. It adds more depth to the characters and can create tension for the player.

Im interested in how the romance with the supermodel will get on, because the other girl does not seem to be the type that shares her man. Hopefully the dev can make it work.

All in all this game deserves more attention and 4 stars is a good rating at this very moment i think, but i see a lot of potential.

To say it checks all the boxes is kinda cliché.. but what else can you say if it's the truth? One of the best 'newer' games out and I believe as the updates come it's just going to get better and better. Great writing and renders.. with animations throughout that are just off the charts.. just oozing talent. Tip of the hat to this DEV and I can't wait for more.

This has the making of an excellent story driven VN
To keep the pace and not use up a whole chapter explaining how Frank is in the situation he is in the events are explained in the beginning and to get the story going I understand why.

The story is interesting so far with good potential.
The story also has some interesting characters in it and slow character development is important and it is well done.
Alex is one of my personal favorite character types. I read a lot of books (100 or so a year) and an Alex is a huge plus.
Isabella we are only getting to know so far in ch.2.2

Best of luck "badtimestales" your off to a flying start 5 star easy from me

(Ch 2.1) Very promising start to what looks to be an intriguing story. Player agency and narrative quality are always at odds with one another, and it's rare to find a VN developer willing to pick the latter. Luckily, badtimetales does so, to great effect.

So far, we haven't seen much of the titular character, but the one person we have met, Alex, is wonderful. She is sassy, witty, beautiful and three-dimensional. I'm hopeful that Isabella will be likewise interesting. Looking forward to future chapters!

Very nice renders, animations and writing. Deserving of more support from the community. Developers like badtimetales should be encouraged to continue with support and positive feedback . Highly recommended!

I love the Story of this Game. The Plot could happen in real life too, in my view.

The Renders are very well done and beautiful. Animations are breathtaking, compared to the animations in other VN, in my opinion. All in all very recommended, try it!

I don't usually do reviews, but I felt compelled to do one this time.

The animations are fantastic. Like, really, REALLY good. Don't let the non-lewd ones at the beginning throw you.

The story so far is dark which seems to be a trend for new good games lately, but it's well done and certainly not your typical "Dead dad, fuck your "landlady"" crap, despite the obvious "Dead Girlfriend" joke that could be made.
I'm hoping a bit of MC backstory is coming soon though. Namely his apparent affluence and knowledge of...maybe Krav Maga?

It's still early days (Ch 2.1), and I would probably rate the game 4.5 if that were an option, because it isn't perfect, but just giving it a 4 would be a disservice (especially with just 5 reviews) so 5 stars it is.