Ren'Py - Life's Payback [v0.7] [Vinkawa]

Review written as of v0.5 - I'm also a subscriber so I may be biased in favor for this game. I will edit the review inconsistently based on further updates.

tl;dr: Honest to god 4 stars, with some 5 star content thrown in. Has potential to iron out issues while also raising its potential to a true full star game, but there is a certain uncertainty that comes with this anticipation. Mainly, the game still is in early development, so expect things to go in a way that may not head in directions the game feels like its supposed to already take. We just have to wait and see.

The Best:

• This game actually respects your time, it has almost no grind and is straight to the point
• Fast development circle with adds satisfying content at a steady pace

The Good:

• Easy to digest porn game without overwhelming you with walls of text, not like this review
• Meaningful sex scenes that go straight to the point while progressing with the character you like interacting with
• Does all the common fetishes that are already included exceptionally well, but not consistently. Still better than many porngames, but I fear that there has to be at least one update that updates previous scenes to become up to snuff with the newer ones as development goes by.
• Feeling of progression, at least from whats here, is already decent.
• I feel that the developer actually faps to his own game. Which is a fantastic indication that if it has bad quality, he will not fap to his own shit, meaning there won't be any scenes below a certain quality threshhold. Expect the quality of this game to stay high enough.
• Its open world and doesn't feel like a VN. This is just my preference, but I like open world porngames that don't feel like a VN. If you think so as well, this is one of the better examples on how to do it right.
• This game has some sexy custom and very fapable animations, though whether or not these are taken from another place has to be seen, would be nice to see the dev giving examples on how they made it, maybe other devs can learn from him.

The Bad:

• Unfortunately and this is how the game is designed, the girls requires porn in order to make you feel more attached to them. Which means the more content there is for one girl, the better the sex with her becomes. The game has not yet reached this point
• Not all fetishes available for all girls, yet. A common problem of all TBD porn games and not really a big deal
• Lack of sound, most likely fixed in further updates
• The same track playing just gives me minor Brain Damage, a common issue in most generic porngames.
• Why does the school scene repeat every day? Without much change. IMHO a few times is enough
• Some minor bugs, like the characters mugshot being visible at school during weekends.

The Ugly:

• Holy shit, who coded the fucking map? It would've been so much better to give players a tiny visual hint at the bottom like some porngames do in order to show where the deadzone is for the map to show up. Don't take it the wrong way, hiding the map is a good choice but holy shit is it a horrible execution. This needs to be polished more
• Because of how the game is designed, all the girls should be treated fairly. So that every girl you have to meet up with has to has a sort of progression and potential resolution as the story is told through the porn. Which means right now, what you see is just the beginning. There is a particular uncertainty that comes with it. Nobody likes a game that treats characters better than other characters. The game may fall trap by adding more and more girls, or girls getting preferatial treatment. Adding more scenes to everyone at a consistent pace may aliviate this problem.
• The laugh you hear in the menu is from the famous Thriller music video. While its setting up a certain tone in this game nicely, there is a severe lack of quality with the audio. It would be great to hear the laugh somewhat sampled in a music. After hearing the laugh 4 times in a row I got brain damage, thank you based developer

I usually don't want to review games that are in production, but considering I've done the same with another game it would feel hypocritical to not review games based on weird assumptions.

First things first, this may possibly be one of the best games ever made in Koikatsu, ever. Including games like My Office Adventures and King of Summer. I feel this game has potential to be up there in terms of content. Even if development may be slowing down at one point, it shows good signs that this game may be the chosen one. A very fapable porngame that ticks all the boxes that should be ticked in a open world.

So why does the game only have 4 stars instead of 5?

Because while the porn here can be really fucking good at times, there isn't enough progress right now to really feel attached to any of the setting and characters. One of the games main core principles is that it tries to tell the story mostly through porn, think of anything Brazzers does but in a VN format. Most scenes range from a bit above the norm of what you see in a game made with Koikatsu to actually stellar. Some of the scenes are some of the hottest ever made with the engine. And while there is already some amount of content considering this is v0.5, its has not yet reached the point to see where the game is going for and what the themes actually are. It just requires a lot more time developing to show progression with your character and them.

Obviously, these are just a bunch of issues, as for the most part this game already is showing a lot of potential, and is worth following.

And truth be told, sometimes all it takes is a honest porngame. The game wants to make you feel horny and it does so nicely, but many games do that already. Do they deserve 5 stars? I feel rating this game higher would be unfair to any other game.

For those not sure, there is some indication that this game is progressing in the right direction. The developer is slowly adding content to any of the characters. The world gets more and more fleshed out in a bit-by-bit basis. So expect further versions to be much better than this. And despite the lack of some sounds, the game is still fairly good, and considering its very early in its development circle, I feel that there isn't much to criticize in that regard. I'm mostly certain most issues will be ironed out. A very good game and the only problem that really arises here is that the woman all are caricatures right now.

One way to manage this problem, just to any potential reader a decent example, would be to chain options together. The game is open world, so opening up futher options as you progress with any of the characters may be a decent idea. At some point, I would love to just go to a character, ask them "Yo X, wanna go fuck at your home?". Then, you can choose with a multitude of generic options, from missionary to tittyfuck. This game is all about control. Make them fuck you until they like it and eventually fall in love with you. In a sex game, there is no better sense of progression. Its why games like Corruption feel so good as they give some meaning towards progress, even though its not subject matter I actually like.

So overall, this game has a lot of potential and be sure to check it out since most scenes are alright and development is heading at a steady consistent pace towards its still yet uncertain future.

best thing about this is the frequent updates. the animations aren't bad too. Male domination content is always a plus and this game has a strong focus on it. Not much of a story to speak of but that means scenes are more frequent. The designs of the girls are varying and there's ahegao so the game is just good fun. If I wasn't a lazy broke ass I'd donate.

The game isn't a game is it just porn, wouldn't be a problem if the porn was good but it isn't and if it didn't try to mask itself as a game. The animations are custom but i don't think all are made by the person because quality varies a lot, some are worse then koikatsu’s default ones. I don't even know what updates this game can have because there is no story, only things to add are more scenes and that is it. Giving 2 stars because some of the still images are good quality. (Also why the main menu of the game has a loud laugh?)

Really sexy looking 3d art.
Cute girls.
The game is really not pretending it is anything but porn, as it jumps right into it.
I laughed a few times from the jokes.
Expect blackmail, whether that is good or bad is up to you.

An interesting take on a revenge-like plot game.

As of (0.4.2)

Pros:

• A few girls to choose from but a good amount of scenes from most of them
• Different sizes, ranging from big-tittied milfs to flat students
• Plot is definitely an interesting take
• 2-4 hours to complete as of now

Cons:

• A small but annoying enough grind for some people
• Not a huge fan of the day & night cycle in this game, you feel restricted at times
• Skip a lot of time to get to a certain part of the day for one scene then rinse and repeat

There's definitely a lot of potential here and I can't wait to see how the game develops. The game gets updated regularly so I'll come back to this in a few patches.

amazing game.

-Dev is listening to feed back, when it's actually constructive and not just vitriolic.
-the body models are varied but all fit with each other
-the expression's are *chefs kiss*. the sister character in particular has the best "fucked stupid" face I've seen
-the grind is balanced. focusing a character gets you to the next stage pretty fast to be frank, but is still a satisfying effort

if I had any gripe, since I try to at least include something critical in any discussion for the sake of balance it would be the removal of the school blowjob from the spoiled student but it's honestly so minor I still give this 5/5

Life's Payback strikes an impressive balance between simplicity and depth, offering a refreshing experience in the genre. Each character in the game is well-developed, avoiding the pitfalls of being overly simplistic or bland. This careful character development creates a perfect medium that keeps players engaged and invested in the story.

The visuals are very good, with the creator successfully adding extra style to the 3D modeled world. The physics of body movements and the execution of expressions are particularly noteworthy, adding a layer of realism and immersion to the game. The animation quality enhances the overall experience, making every scene visually appealing and engaging.

Scenes in the game are well-crafted, utilizing good camera angles and dialogue to maintain engagement. The scenes are immersive and keep the player's attention throughout, ensuring a satisfying experience from start to finish.

There is a nice variety of female characters. This includes a decent number of characters without overwhelming the player, which is a common issue in similar games. Each character model received adequate attention, preventing any from feeling underdeveloped or neglected.

The UI is user-friendly and informative. It provides just enough functionality to get the job done efficiently, allowing players to understand it early on.

The game features a progression system with each girl, requiring players to unlock scenes by earning points. Initially, this felt repetitive and somewhat tedious. However, with the latest update, the grind has been reduced, and the pacing feels much better, making for a far more more enjoyable experience.

Despite being in its early stages, Life's Payback already offers a substantial amount of content and shows tremendous potential. The balance of character development, visual appeal, scene execution, and a user-friendly interface makes it a standout in its genre. The recent updates addressing the progression system further enhance the gameplay experience. For these reasons and it's potential, I believe Life's Payback deserves a high rating.

For some reason (virgins angry about the dev not giving exactly what they wanted) this game is getting a lot of fake reviews. DO NOT listen to them. This game is awesome, it has a lot of variety, very good animations, incredible characters assets and its just amazing the speed the dev has with the updates. The story is straightfoward as it can be, you are an asshole turning women into your sex slaves with blackmail and money, if you are into that the it is definitly the game for you, like it is for me. For the people making those fake reviews... you really have nothing better to do with your lifes?

Boring, uninspired sandbox. Characters has almost zero personality, you barely have interactions with them, besides the sex scenes themselfs. We given very vague and surface-level reasons to hate girls, and sent to farm points and collect scenes. I love all things maledom, but got no joy from this one, you don't get to care enough about this characters. Scenes themselves decently made, but that's pretty much it. Don't waste your time.

A rather uninspiring and poorly-made game.

Story 1/5:
The world is in a financial crisis, so our dad(who allegedly left the family a long time ago) forces us to move back with our mother so she can be eligible for government aid. Even though our MC was mistreated by his mother during his childhood, he agrees and decides to use this opportunity to seek revenge.
Also, since only families whose children have good grades can get any money from the government, we end up enrolling in school.
Yep, you read that correctly. The world's in a financial crisis, and the government decided to use this opportunity to launch the most moronic eugenics program you could possibly think of.
I don't think the dev knows what a financial crisis is, but ultimately, the story doesn't actually matter. After the intro, we go straight into farming influence points and money so we can eventually fuck all the girls, and the state of the world never develops further than what was established in the prologue.

Gameplay 1/5
Utterly boring and boils down to mindless clicking. Click on your PC to gain 50$. Click on a specific character at a specific time in a specific place to gain one influence point. Repeat until you've accumulated enough points or money to unlock the next scene. Given that a single item can cost up to 1000$, and some girl's scenes require 20 points - you're in for a ride. The gameplay exists solely to waste your time. There's no challenge or enjoyment in it.

Art 2/5:
Default, low-poly backgrounds you've already seen 1000 times.
Bad shading.
In many scenes, characters have no shadows.
Constant clipping, especially hair.
Good character models(none are made by the dev, but they are good nonetheless.)
I'm sorry, but it's not 2019 anymore, and such poor art quality has gotten pretty hard to even look at.

Animations 2/5 :
Now, the dev seems to think that taking animation scene data from Koikatsu cord and other places without crediting the ACTUAL authors makes him the best KK user the world's ever seen. Well, he's obviously far from it, but even the animations have several issues:
-Most of them don't loop correctly. You'd think a dev that boasts this hard about "his" animations would at least be capable of performing the absolute basic task of making a clean loop out of them, but nope. He isn't. In most of the animations, there's an awkward pause lasting about half a second where nothing moves at all. Given that most of these animations are only 2-3 seconds long, this pause becomes a very noticeable and glaring issue. It disrupts the flow and kinda ruins most scenes.
-Inconsistent quality. The uncredited animations are of good enough quality. Nothing extraordinary, but definitely better than the default stock loops. However, the dev actually made a few animations himself. And holy fuck is he bad at it. The quality of said animations is abysmal, worse even than the default ones. I actually couldn't stop laughing when I got to the Mathilde BJ scene. It's not just bad, it's comically bad. The animations like the BJ from the mother or HJ from the teacher are not much better.

Overall, 2 stars. And even that's being generous.

Amazing game and sandbox done right 5/5

-You will not miss anything if you focused on one route
-Animation is amazing (bj lips are kinda stretched, please no)
-Dancing scenes are always perfect
-Mom and characters in general are hot af


-bad, nothing


gg

Very promissing game.
-basic revenge story but it's ok not every game has to be lord of the rings.
-standard sandbox with a mimimum grind
- diverent body types
- a dark skined "pet" =)

overall a good sandbox in his early stages

From what I played, I love it, it has the perfect dose of getting things done, not too much, not too little.

With the huge asses that they present to us, I would love for there to be anal, a lot of anal, not as a route, but as an option, not just vaginal, since many games leave this aside and incorporate it until the end.

All those asses deserve love, whether it's hard and raw, or nice and worked, or both, it doesn't matter.

Crazy developer, your animations are good.

A tip, remember that not all of us have the latest generation operating systems.

Beautiful work developer, keep it up.

Well, to put it simply, what I like it's simplicity.

The story is easy to follow (perhaps except the Introduction), not something to be bound/tied up by.

Graphic and scenes are Attractive enough. Top of average kind of.

Sound doesn't leave a big impression. I remember som SE like noice from falling and hitting something

Summed up: I look forward to Progress, but i might forget it.

Ahh. [v0.3.2]

Life's payback is my kind of story it has my favorite fetishes ;maledom,netori and maybe harem,The Animations are top tier English is not perfect but easy to understand and the characters are interesting enough to follow story,I loved Anna scenes ,Elise scenes and Nina one scene, can't wait for more content with sister and stepmom
Hope this game gets support and on my watch list , thanks vinkawa can't wait for future content......

graphics are good girls are hot story line is good. there is a small grind in this one the rewards seem well worth it. going in the comment the creator seems very responsive to people, so you know it going to go places

It´s a simple corruption Game, however, the renders look very good the animations are smooth and the progress feels natural. There is some grinding in the Game, but it seems to be well-balanced. This has some great potential and it's definetely worth a try.

Right to the point game, the good kind of sandbox, really good sex scenes and interactions, the dev listen to the people but still do his own thing wich i like very much, the characters are cute and well modeled an also are the the sex scenes wich feel natural and not like every other corruption kind of game were every female character want's to fuck the mc at first interaction, theres a base of things you need to do to gain the scenes but af the same time is not that time consuming, scenarys are great, map is easy to use, hints are straightforward and easy to follow so you don't need any fan guides or mods to get the scenes, also every character feels alive and with personality wich is more needed nowadays with all of this new games having blank just want to fuck characters, overall an easy 5 stars for me, i love it.

[v0.3.2]

Let me start by saying the story is dumb. Characters act like porn characters and don't follow normal logic. The setting is dumb. The MC's reasoning for acting bitter is asinine. If you absolutely need these things in your fappy game, this ain't it.

However, I don't feel any of the above issues effect the game all that much since it's great for a quick fap game with great models and H-animations, this is pretty much it. Scenarios are pretty hot in that B-budget porn logic kind of way. Only issue I have is how it feels a little bit too grindy, which wouldn't be an issue if we had a bunch of content in the game, but with how little there is at the moment, it doesn't work yet. The game hasn't been in development for all that long, however, and I see a good a mount of content for dev time already, so I see this issue going away eventually.

Great start or a quickie fap game.

Review for v0.2

Disclaimer: you won't play this one for the story

5 stars because it's a straight forward fap game. Not a story driven slow burn. Nothing groundbreaking, just solid. Models and scenes are hot. Dev also quickly updated the initial release with new scenes. Guess they won't be able to keep that speed up but one can hope.
It's a bit grindy if you only focus on upping the relationship of a single character, so I suggest multitasking the characters.
Looking forward to more updates.