Ren'Py - Abandoned - Lab Rats 2 [v0.51.1] [Vren]

If there ever was a game on the Zone that properly did the "Oh My..." meme justice, it would be this one.
As a connoisseur of fine MILF fantasy pr0n, this game and its content itches all of the right scratches. The women of the world are mostly randomly generated from a selection of heights, weights, colors and hairstyles, but one thing I've found most prevalent is that the women you meet are either already married w/ kids, single w/ kids or still a "kid". This lands us smack dab in the middle of MILFtown, USA.
And what MILF game wouldn't be complete without the penultimate MILF herself, your own Mom. I rate many games of this niche based on how fast and loose you can play with the Oedipus angle. It turns out in this game that the sexual and sometimes romantic relationship you can create with your mother in the game is nicely fleshed out. The aforementioned romance aspect is somewhat lacking in this sequel, but then again, there is something different about a mother and son being intimate that makes romance seem a bit redundant and tired. You've already lived with one another for years, seen each other naked, laughed, cried, etc. Who needs romance when you have an understanding that only a mother and a son can have?
Anyway, in the sequel to the well received (but short) Lab Rats, Vren gives us motherfuckers a (dare I say?) Magnum Opus of the kinky variety. I've got over 12 hours in the game so far, and still no boredom in sight! Now I have to add a bit of a disclaimer here that I played the game with both the newest mod package+bugfix which adds a lot of additional content that is hard to distinguish from Vren's own making unless you pains-takingly identify each and every single new event and change within the code and mod file, but I prefer to just give the original creator the lion's share of the credit since it's his design, platform and idea.
With that out of the way, I'll end my little review with a quick breakdown of some pros and cons and some hope for future additions in the WISH section:
PROS:

• Lots of room for experimentation, silliness
• No more time limit
• Better clothing
• Exciting event system
• Well coded GUI and resolution
• No penis... No seriously, this is a good thing in a time where MC's schlongs are like additional limbs rather than sexual organs.

CONS:

• Moderately steep learning curve. Some people might fail within the first week if they don't have the patience for it.
• Some elements of the outfit design segment are difficult to understand, and it can be off-putting at first.
• The dialogue system can get tedious late game.
• The women in sexual encounters have ZERO agency, and the player has to make every decision regarding position, speed and when to stop. The one exception is clothing removal.
• It is hard to tell exactly what the purpose of the "happiness" mechanic is for outside of common sense.

WISH FOR:

• Actual cuckoldry/netori mechanics for the married women (It's possible there is an opportunity for this in the Alexia story arc, but I haven't gone far enough to find out if it is possible), and netorare opportunities for MC's GFs. So that everyone can have fun yeah?
• Some kind of quantifiable harem system?
• Possible world domination subplot? Eh?
• More romance!
• More facial variety.

This game is not for everyone !

If you're looking for a casual railroaded short wank, pass your way. This here is a sandbox game : sure, there is plenty of porn, but the scenery and the atmosphere is minimal and you will have to plan towards what you want to see.

Firstly, let's adress the elephant in the room here, probably the most off-putting thing about the porn content this game has to offer : there are no dicks. The girls will perform various sexual acts implying you, but not a single inch of your character's body will ever be shown during these scenes (we call it the Extreme Floating Dick Syndrome in the porn industry).

• Does it look weird ? Yeah, at first, definitely. Even more if you haven't played the first game (which is not mandatory btw).
• Does it break the immersion ? Well, depends on you. I'm used to text-based game so I don't mind picturing the scene in my mind. Sure, the text here is pretty plain and simple compared to purely textual games BUT the images provided by the game give a solid foundation to build your fantasy on.
• Do you get used to it ? Eventually. There are so many different body types that you will eventually find something that appeals to you and gets you into it.
• So, the porn scenes requires you to read between the lines and watch between the pixels. A lot of other scenes from other games don't ; why would I bother with this game ? In a word : sandbox.

Seduce the girls you want to seduce. Turn them into sluts if you want. Dress them. Develop your business. Design the serums that best serve your intentions (sluttify, dominate, enhance "physical features" or just sells well) ... It's like Game Dev Tycoon had a threesome with a dating sim and a dressup sim. There is a lot to do and you will have to decide what you want to go after and plan for it. You will have to grind at times but honestly, it does not feel that bad ? I have over 1000 hours on Warframe so I don't know if that statement is worth anything. You better try it for yourself.

I gave this game 5 stars but I know it is not perfect - even to someone who overcame the above mentioned elements :

• The girl models would benefit from more diversity (a new haircut is not a new person).
• The characters should have more affirmed personalities resulting in more personal dialogues.
• Moar secks pls (a blowjob/deepthroat/skullfuck should not look the same, idem for facial/mouthful)

... But I believe in the competence and clairvoyance of the dev team. These improvements do not look impossible to make (or at least way less than the animations they introduced in the 0.24 or 0.25 update) and they're all this game needs to be worth 5 stars.

EDIT: well, I kinda forgot to mention the game is laggy at times (especially when saving/loading). It does not change the core experience but it's there and it would benefit the user experience if it were not.

so before i get into the review allow me to explain the reason i gave this game 2 stars. as a porn game it is arguably the worst i have ever played and barly deserves a one star rating. as a managment/ life sim game it is fairly decent but nothing special so i would give it a three star ratting. whats between one and three yes thats right 2 which is why i gave it the rating i did. i point this out so if your coming into this expecting a good porn game you will understand that the porn side of this game is seriously horrendus.

negatives
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most characters are but ugly.
the sex scenes are literally just still images of the girls in the positions without any dicks or any thing going into them. in other words doggy style sex is a girl on all four legs with her ass in your face and some dialog that is average at best.
the pill aspect of the game is pretty much useless since by the time you actually get to the point where you can make the pills all the girls are almost maxed out on there stats anyways just from the random events.
the pills are not worth it. usually in games like this you would expect some kind of added event or option when using something like a mind control pill. in this game all that happens is you get stat increases and the option to make the charachter like something like for example incest which will give them some extra diolouge. the problem is the game asks you to input the things you want to make the charachter like to have that effect other wise it has no effect. so in the case of incest this is easy since its incest. but what if you want your charachter to like raw sex? well you need to put in bareback sex to get that result and without googling or guesing that you would not no it. maybe you want the charachter to want to get pregnant. well for that you need to input risking getting pregnant. honestly i could go on and on but i dont want to write a book so ill just get to the pros.

pros
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though the engagement aspect can be boring it is also slightly addicting at times
this game manages to do things most other games would not even try and i always consider that a positive because even though it might not be the game for me i bet there has been some one out there waiting for a game like this to be made.

If there is one phrase that can sum up this game it's too much of a good thing. You can alter the clothing, bodystyle, and attitude of the NPC's. You can also puzzle together a great serum. The problem is that there are so many ways you can arrange the serum that you honestly don't know if you are on the right track or not. The same goes for the clothing. I'd personally prefer buying clothing for the NPC's in premade outfits that they would like with the option to make some minor changes than start from scratch when I want them to look like sluts.

Yes players have demanded more choices, but this creates a slog between one fun scene and the next..

On the other hand it is fun to change how characters look to suit them to your preference. Granted I had to crack the game to do it after two weeks of trying to play it the correct way, but it's still fun.

I think the game is going on a great direction, and the updates are constant and consistent witch is awesome, I would say that the two things that keeps it from being great, or excellent is the element that Mind Control has been kinda displaced from the focus of the story, I personally want more drugs to have way more effects than just "makes her horny" we need mind breaking drugs, drugs that literally make girls act like zombies, or drugs that destroy their personality, leaving just husks, hell, make a drug that make girls go batshit insane, just more than the boring "oh..im horny and im obedient"
Also the lack of pregnancy content is a true shame, it was such a great element in the first game.

v0.25.1

i played this game for hours and this is my Opinions about this game.

goods:
.system of serum and making money is nice
.making out fit system is good but if have more clothes can be so better
.the quality of clothes is so nice

bads:
.i think animation system is not good for this game and i think last update was waste time
.i see lot of player of this game says the characters so ugly. i think this is right.
.The latest updates have made it harder to make money than before
. i think if this game have a short story can game more better than know
. the game have so many bugs and this bugs must be fixed by update but
developer (vren) dont do this
.some clothes have render bugs
.choosing characters have lag

this was my Opinions for this game ( sorry for bad english )

I really really wanted to like this game after lab rats 1 but it is just too complex for an adult game, it is much more of a business simulator with adult content added.

The idea behind the game is good and i dont mind the new models althrough the old ones were better.
After hours of playing even with cheats i still never got to the mind control aspect, the business and research takes so long that for characters that have to stay(family) they will like you by then anyway and the one that dont will leave long before you have a workable mind contol syrum.

My review is based on it being primarly an adult game first but if you like the simulator aspect more than the adult side then you would enjoy the game althrough the lag is incredibly frustrating.

Amazing game love it, having absolute control over the sex makes it feel more open and the sandbox experience is really enjoyable too, even after playing for over 20 hours the game feels still pretty fresh and nice to wank on. Just try it you not going to regret it!

It's quite a complex "life simulation" and management type game, with a very fun chemicals company that you can run. All employees are going to be hot girls, and you can have field day in the office as well as in town during non-biz hours.

I recommend this game to simulation fans and those who like "live your life" style of games.

The interface is kind of clunky and the art is technically subpar, but you quickly get used to it and the rendered girls have a good amount of possible variations and are charming in their own way if you are willing to suspend your judgement a little bit.

So I've been following/playing this game for, wow, no clue how long now. Been over a year for sure. It's come a long way in that time, mostly having focused on the underlying mechanics and systems. Which is why I specifically hadn't rated it until now.

While it is in no way complete, the game is fleshed out enough that I can def recommend it if you like corrupting/management/harem style games that have a strong business simulator style game as their base. Graphics are getting better all the time, haven't had a bad glitch in ages (I use the mods BTW, so your mileage may vary), story is meh but doesn't matter much to me since it's not the focus at this time.

It can be a grind, hence mods, but there's a solid gameplay loop here. Writing is good enough that you won't be constantly shaking your head at the cliches/cheesy jokes or seeing spelling mistakes constantly. Hell, just try it.

But if you don't like it at first, try it again after an update or two. It's well worth it.

This game is a really ambitious project. At first I missed the design of the first Lab Rats which was incredible, but as update after update has rolled out, I've started to grasp the vision the creator. With the basic framework complete this game is now ripe for story development, and it already has lots of amazing options you won't see in other games. I'm hoping at some point there will be a pregnancy system, but for now it's been great playing a game that's probably the best mind control simulator you can find.

I think that the game need some little improvement in the content like the wardrobes and the fact that we always get the same face kill the mood but i liked the game even though is lack a lots of thing

I think too many people are getting hung up on the graphics and the legacy of this series.

We've got excellent text only-games on here like Free Cities that don't rely on graphics or use really basic graphics from mods. We've got cookie-cutter doll games that do it out of necessity, like Hentai High School. These are more management simulators with smut in them than anything else.

Those expecting Lab Rats 1, with its ironically similarly cookie-cutter, but easier to fap to Honey Select-style graphics are going to be disappointed, this game isn't that. That's only possible with a handful of girls, and a tightly scripted story. You want that, try "Take Over," it's a great middle ground.

This game is honestly a bit like minecraft in that you are generating the world, you are crafting the tools to manage that world, no two worlds will be identical, and you have modding support. I want to say the graphics suck, but after a bit, it doesn't matter. The scope and power fantasy this allows the player makes the graphics not matter.

This is the only game on here that I will pick up a new version with new features and fixes and start from scratch every time and not mind it because it is always different. Every time I do, I know for sure I'm going to have 5-10 hours just evaporate on me because I get sucked into that whole "one more day" mindset of making my business a success. I could just cheat and give myself billions and still want to optimize everything and defer gratification until that point.

This game isn't done. There's a lot missing. Mod support is getting off the ground, and it's needed, there's not enough content to go around yet because the foundation is still being built. Still, what's here is exemplary, and while in a vacuum I'd give it 4/5 stars, I have to give it a 5 to offset all of the "bad graphics, wahhh" whining in other reviews.

Give it a shot, the game is great.

Good potential, adding animations with the MC would help maybe a deeper stories for characters as well. So I would like to see improvements for the full version. It would be great to see this game improve by the time 1.0 so I hope you take in not just my suggestions but others as well and use a few of them.

Sad to say this is not a true sequel to his first game, which is one of my favorites. It is a management sim where the girls look worse than they did in the previous game. It doesn't connect the characters into one great story like it should. It's nice to try and please everyone with various looks and whatnot with randomization, but it needs a core of story driven into it first. The story is just not there and takes back seat to the grind of trying to get that next great potion which you can't really use to get sexed up with, it just makes them want to work harder. Try focusing more on the girls being sexy and less on the girl giving me an extra hour of her time to go make some potion which will allow me to get another random poorly rendered girl to not give me any fun times, but rather just work harder.... so sad to see mind control wasted on being more efficient instead of getting laid in a porn game. Turn this around and make it so you can have sexy times (with maybe a little character development story thrown in) instead and you'll see your donations and fan base grow instead of the slow shrinking it has been doing.

Lab Rats 2 has taken something fantastic and unique, and turned it into an abomination of its former self filled with:

• Disturbingly ugly girls
• Non-stop grinding
• Lagging and long save/load times
• Nonsensical decision trees that requires constant save-scumming (made a lot worse by the lagging)
• Unintuitive gameplay
• Boring personalities
• No clear and interesting story line

Some claim it doesn't need to succeed as a wanking game because it is a business simulator, but unfortunately it fails horribly at both. I respect Vren's attempt to try something new, but the execution is awful and Ren'Py is a shit platform for anything management related as it is too rigid and can't handle complexity well. If he really wants to persist, he should focus on fixing the core concept instead of making new material, but I can't see how without starting over from scratch.

Edit: I changed my rating here three months later. This isn't because any of the core issues has been fixed. They haven't. However, I think 1 stars should be kept for those games who aren't just bad, but isn't even trying. It is clear Vren has put a lot of work into this and believes in his own vision. This is also reflected in the game, and he deserves at least some credit for it. In addition, it is worth supporting people who think originally. I wouldn't give it 3 stars, but that is what you get by rounding 2½ stars up.

In summary, my average rating is the result of mixing deeply flawed and awesome things together. Kinda of like if Mother Theresa had a great butt. Yes, this is the picture I leave you with. You're welcome.

4/5 stars for great writing, concept and theme.

Pro:
- Your choices have consequences in the game
- Well written encounters with the ladies
- A fun game (albeit complex) full of possibility

Cons:
- The Grind
- Making money is tricky
- Maintaining everything is a balancing act

If I could make one suggestion, it would be to make grinding slightly easier on the player. If you mess up a little in the production and selling of products you'll quickly go bankrupt and game over.

But as long as you start production soon and sell items every day, you should become profitable enough to get by. It's really challenging, but there is a fun game here to experiment with until development is completed.

Lab Rats 2 DTB is not a visual novel with some added "mini games" it's an actual game with some genuine thought behind it.

You have to do research, supply, production and marketing to keep you company alive while also corrupting and/or controlling them ladies by different means for sexy time all over the city.

The game gets a 2nd star only because the renders are diverse and the idea behind them (how you can customize the bodies of the women) is interesting. That said, the execution of this game is some brutal grind, complexity for it's own sake, and the end result is wasted time for the player. Instead of refining the system used in the first game this one takes the complexity to a degree that strips most of the fun out of playing it. Working on spreadsheets while browsing porn would give a similar effect with less effort. This was an interesting idea!, off a game that wasn't bad, it just didn't materialize in the final product.

i playd longer Times Lab Rats2, until month. i think my review will be with long expirience.
Vren give us an 2. Part of Lab Rats. Its Sandbox, you talk with women and build very slowly points up in affection, sexual desire etc. Its a long grind Game. Extra you have you own company you can research and build Medic to help corrupt Women.

The Gamesystem: lots of Clicking and moderate read. the System is build on repeat with no BAD consequenses. Good on it, you learn the Gamemechanics easyer

Story: Ok a Staory is fast explaind: corrupt girls

Sex: No Animation, only Renders if you reach the sexgoals.

Motivation: this is a GAME, so its means you have to do something to get sexscenes. The System is easy, but you can cheat.

4 Star because, Vrens Models are... ahh, not best and simple the same hahaha. but i give 4 Star because the Gamemechanics is well made and simple to make fun