Ren'Py - Abandoned - Life in Santa County [S1 v1.1] [Bold Bash Studios]

I really want to like this game but I just can't.

The renders and animation for this game are spot on and can't be faulted but the writing is where this game is let down big time.

Okay, two high school kids getting into trouble is fine but every fucking time they keep getting into one clusterfuck after another. The MC and his side kick are the worst protags I have ever seen and don't have a single brain cell between the both of them.

The dialog and writing just tries to be, I don't know, clever, witty but just falls flat on it's face. Okay, the MC gets dragged into this by his useless sidekick but the MC just seems to whinge and cry since things don't go his way. A weak ass MC was fine once upon a time but those days are gone. why not have an MC that doesn't take shit and calls evil dudes bluff? He has far more to lose than MC since his source to get jobs done is gone.

Maybe, I'm being too picky right now but so far this game hasn't hooked me and making me wait with a hardon for the next update.

A very good game that introduces you through a prologue to what the story is going to do. The characters have feelings and are well developed. The protagonist also has an engaging story. The only thing that fails is the consequences of the decisions but they have already said that it will have it in a future chapter. The renders and animations are great.

Great Start and good job for an initial episode.
Just a few issues regarding the dialog appearing too woody and expressionless but otherwise the graphics and the story building using the background intrigue was good.
I have to admit that the setup for the sex scene was too far fetched. It could have been done away with or developed in a different manner which didn't involve the husband (e.g. set up a voyeur scene where the woman notyices and seduces MC) as it is very hard to believe that a grown man would catch his son's best friend in his bathroom & coerce him to have sex with his wife.
The length of the content was also another good point where it was satisfyingly long but remained entertaining throughout.

Hope future updates will also have similar length of content or else it will be a disappointment.

Honestly, this game is great. Easy to move, beautiful animations, renderings, etc, etc ... Even the story doesn't bother me. The story is a solid 8.5. These guys definitely deserve patreon support.

The icing on the cake is the fact that the main female character looks like Jill Valentine.

Guys, you are so talented. I really hope that others will recognize this and eventually increase your earnings.

Can't wait to see the future of this game.

Like everyone has already said the renders are pretty good. But that's where the positives end for me.

The free roam isn't difficult per se but it's impossible to find that fucking briefcase without the knowledge that it's under the bed. I went over it several times and it didn't light up even when i knew exactly where to look. The phone is also not fun to use, granted you only use it once

The writing is meh. It tries to be clever but comes off as annoying more than anything else. I get what's trying to be done with Ron, the stupid but lovable best friend, but he comes off ass an annoying piece of shit that no one would want to be friends with. The MC is also an idiot which if that's the goal then congratulations 10/10 game. The game tries to set up like a big reveal about the everyone in the town having a lot of secrets and ooh everything's not as it seems, but I don't care. I kinda care about the Landlady and her fetishes but it feels like it's too early to reveal as much information as they have. It's the first update we haven't spent enough time with these characters for this stuff to really hit hard and feel like it matters.

Game has potential though and I look forward to future updats

Right off the bat, there is a buttload of content to go through. Renders are top notch. Everything in the background and foreground looks solid and characters for the most part look good - the two exceptions being Karen sometimes looking a little too much like Gollum in some scenes and Iris looking like she's in her mid 30s.... Animations are also pretty smooth

Interface is pretty professional and very clean which started me off on the right foot and gave me high expectations for the game. But.....

It took me all of 2 minutes to give myself a concussion for how mind-numbingly annoying Ron and this friendship is. They both act like 12 year olds at best with 0 IQ and the back and forth about their mothers is unbearable. Ron is right up there with some of the most annoying friends I've seen in these VNs.

Also wouldn't have forced this relationship thing with Camelia when I had no interest in doing so. At this early of a point in the game, it's best to hint at the start of relationships or make crushes on the MC known so as to provide further development down the road and give us a choice as to whether or not we want to continue

I wanna stay to see how this thing goes. I'm not gonna bash the free roam aspect as that is purely subjective but the dialogue needs to be adjusted heavily 'cause I'm not sure how much more idiocy I can take between the two. It has enough of a foundation to be a great game but when a good chunk of it is spent hating our existence having to listen to their bickering, it lowers the chances of reaching that potential tenfold

One of the best new games (0.1 update) I have ever played. Good Story, nice renders, hot mom, aunt and neightbour, bitch cousin, 2+ hours. I think it has all the ingredients to be one of the best games.

I look forward for the next updates.

Wow, just wow,
I was sertenly captivated and swept away in this story.
The writing is pretty good, combined with the renders most of it feels spot on, I was feeling tens on the darker notes of the story and felt good at the erotism parts the latter might give a feeling of "i miss something in dept before this point", but then again its puberty we are talking about hehe.

I was surprised at how much content there was for the v0.1 release.
so to translate this a bit:
Pro's:
* Good renders (from what i understand they will be even better in the future, if they find the funds for improving hardware.)
* Strong story, most of it is nice in dept.
* The animations are good (only the last animation could be a bit nicer, though i do understand why its out of dept/faded.)
* I have a somewhat mixed feeling about the characters persona, (saintlike vs evil) but i guess if you take note of a few key notes, this will become even more pleasant in future updates (diversity).

Con's:

* The only real problem i have right now is the jump (in timeline) between some scene's, you jump from one place to another in another timeframe, wich sometimes is quite confusing, a simple fix for this would even be a black frame telling you "5 hours later you arive..." or before you go here you do that. So you dont need a render if you dont want to, but might be a little extra .


So all in all, verry good work, keep on going, i for one am lusting for more of this story.

I had hope when I saw this game, but there is still a lot to do to make it good.

- The story focuses a lot on milfs, and less on others (not my thing, but I accept).
- Not really significant choices.
- Beautiful but illogical renders: milfs that look like 25 years old... still apparent nipples...
- The free roams are very difficult to play, the phone is poorly optimized, and I remained stuck in the second free roam, where you have to find a hiding place to steal the bag... I wouldn’t go any further in the game.

I am sure you gave it your best effort, you were trying to be clever and funny. If I were 12 years old, I am sure this would have my undivided attention. Since I am not, I found it very difficult to stay with and the back story took me to the edge of leaving, so I did. I hope your next effort matures and can keep the attention of adults.
The graphics were not bad, not all men like oversized women. So the reason he came to school every morning had me cringing. I wish you better success next time.

i just started and it about 3 hours ago and still not finished (i take my time and and alternate between the web and the game) the art is great love it !! the story is ok since im not that huge on this part and what i really liked is the content on the first release is more than 2gb instead of the 100mb bs 10 min and your done XD anyway wanted to support the devs and to continue to work on this game thank you.

Very good start, the renders are flawless, and the story really added depth to the characters. His friend is an total idiot but it's relevant to the story because it pulls him into situations he probably never would have been in other wise.

Normally I don't rate games, but I just had too for this one, apart from the models that are ok I wouldn't recommend this game to anyone, specially from the story. It's so bad that I couldn't even believe what was happening, everything that happened its so forced and that only makes everything worse as you go on with the game.

Well i won't be commenting renders, since like the previous reviews said they are good.
But we also get absolutely pointless choices, an ugly creep who keeps stalking us and our family, but instead of giving us choice to deal with him somehow, we blindly keep doing what he wants.
If you enjoy reading/playing about how you forced to steal panties from all of your family members and friends, and look how the aforementioned creep is sniffing them, then sure give it a try.
Without any meaningfull choices, all i can give it is 3 stars for now.

Edit
Turns out we can deal with him with a very meaningfull choice.
Sorry Dev for my slow reading.
So to apologize, i'm giving this a solid 5 stars(since the game became solid, the moment i managed to deal with that guy).

Pro
stunning renders and animations
simple plot that's easy to follow
Good amount of lewd scenes for introduction episode to keep you interested hence not a blue balling game.
A lot of CONTENT for a intro

Cons
the bright background outshine the white text from time to time making it harder to read
personally i feel the characters are having too many internal monologues in some instances

As per previously mention, it is also the best first release I ever played also. Great job. The animation is well done. The story it very good. There is a lot of suspense. A lot of women for all the different taste. Took me at least 2 hours to finished this first version

One of the best "first releases" I have ever played. Very comprehensive and no noticeable or annoying bugs. The models look very well done, so far no "disturbing" or recycled models to be seen. The setting captures the American high school atmosphere well. The characters are well tuned and quickly bring out their behaviour, e.g. Ron The play promises me good humour, interactive moments and of course lots of sexual fantasies