VN - Ren'Py - Lost at Birth [Ch. 9 CE Part 2] [V19]

(Review of v0.4)

Lost at Birth is off to a decent start. Kailey's model is very attractive, and she is written well to embody the innocent girl who you instantly want to protect and care for. In turn, the writing captures the mc's fatherly instincts in combination with his lustful fantasies in an enjoyable way that allows you to connect with him. I also enjoyed the choice of chill, lofi music which gave the game a relaxed feeling.

There are imperfections. The sex scenes aren't that hot, and the supporting characters aren't yet compelling. But my primary issue with the game at this stage is the mc's relationship with his wife. We observe her repeatedly act out, hurting herself, the mc and Kailey. We read the mc's inner thoughts about how awful she is and how long these problems have been going on for. But he doesn't do anything about it. As of the version I played, the most that happened was him accidentally letting out that she was drinking quite a lot, and then her suggesting they take a date. He stands passively by while she starts getting Kailey into drugs. Like, seriously? The game implies he has never actually faced her with how her drinking problem has affected him and their relationship. He hasn't even explained to her that he went teetotal years ago. It makes it harder to connect to the mc, seems like a contrived plot point, and is a big turnoff. I haven't played the most recent version but I'm hoping this gets resolved fast. However I'm somewhat doubtful because the mc does seem to be written as a wet blanket, as he doesn't even intervene when Kailey starts drinking too much.

Good writing, it doesn't feel unnatural or too far fetched, you actually believe it. That's rare nowadays.
The plot is interesting, I woudn't say that it's smth special or unique, but it is solid and keeps you engaged.
Good renders and beautiful girls. The daughter is great. The wife on the other hand - very annoying.

For me the only minus that I can't play it on Mac, I got used that all AVN I buy on steam are available to play on Mac, well, not this one unfortunately. Luckily I have Windows as well.

Good models, good renders, decent scene to scene writing. So why does this game only deserve three stars?

I do not believe there is a plot per f95 standards (read: incestuous) more unoriginal than the one in Lost at Birth. If you've read the title you already know exactly what happens here, so I'm not gonna delve into that. But when the official synopsis labels the main character as an "ordinary guy", believe them! And not only is he ordinary, but the main love interest is quite the average young woman herself. Seriously, I actually don't have any character descriptors for the daughter character besides "scared" and "desperate". Yikes. Not exactly who I'd want to build a life with, but I guess it allows you to score easy dad points.

Anyway, there's zero tension throughout the story even when the author really wants you to think otherwise, and zero consequences. That aforementioned "tension" includes sexual tension, by the way.

3*, but it could be improved with some scene rewrites and some expansion of the "build up" phase of the relationship.

what in the hell ... this is one of the most conveluted games iv seen on here ...maybe its what you choose but chapter 2 was i rener then chapter 3 WTF ... the game itelf tarts out ok but quickly goes into a sort dead end of just been boring as hell ... the renders are good the models are very good ... but tbh there is nothing here to keep you playing ... there are no animations until chapter 3 and there not that great but i just cant get past the crappy story ... sorry this one either needs a rewrite or just to be avoided

My review of Lost at Birth [Ch. 5]

This game started really strong.
Interesting premise about MC saving his not-daughter.
Lots of things happening and interesting story.

Unfortunately around chapter 3 or so quality and quantity fell off a cliff.
Nothing is happening anymore, amount of content is laughable, writing is very generic and sterile...

Basically a good idea, but nothing was done with it.

I haven't played for long, but I feel so intrigued I must leave a rating immediately. The writing is really natural, not so overly theatrical like other VNs, I can actually feel like it's something someone would say in real life. The poses on the other hand are quite dramatic in some scenes, and they just break the immersion. Regardless, great game, quite distinguishable from other titles with the same settings, can't wait for more from dev!

This review is from playing up to Chapter 4.

This game has really nice flow first in foremost. Only negative for me is the speed at which Kailey gains affection for the MC as well as the intensity. This can be overlooked since there is a time skip. However, for character and relationship building - I feel this shouldn't have been overlooked. That content is what gives greater excitement during the intimate scenes.

Long story short, I would highly recommend a playthrough. It is definitely going to be worth it when the novel is completed.

the typical problem of a game wich startetd with a great first release shown from the high ratings at the beginning and then falls totally flat.
lots of meaningfull choices at the start and no forced content like not interested in the wife or whore ok just reject them.
but as the game progressed choices lose there meaning (still able to reject the whore but still have to suffer through her antics coffe girl could be nice when there werent the bullshit with the slut)
I cant stand the wife and rejected her all the way and still forced to fuck her... damn when you make a char unlikeable from the beginning stick to it and let the player choose if he wants to engae with her or just turn around and walk away....
after the last update i dont think i will play it further the only good left are the renders but they alone cant save a story.

The first chapters were really promising. There seemed the possibility of different paths (corrupion/love/caring).
Chapter 4 and 5 however were dissapointing to me.

First of all, two forced sex scenes with the daughter. So much for the caring path.
Second. the constant wining of the mc is getting on my nerves. Keeps saying "I must control my sex drive, I must control my sex drive" and then proceeds to have sex with the daughter without a second thought.

A lot of unnecessary drama in this game, a bit too much for my taste.

Also, the chapters don't have that much content.
Five chapters may seem like the game has already a decent size of gameplay, but it's actually rather short.

So yeah... I'm a bit afraid this game is going downhill fast.

The models are very beautiful though.

very beautiful visuals, regardless if its the girls or the food they cook.

sadly the writing gets really bad quickly after the restaurant scene. its too rushed, too unrealistic, and additionally I personally really dont like it - the exaggerated white-knighting and being ok to get walked all over by the annoying wife. also the writing for the sexscenes is really unsatisfying. (and the one scene where the fwb girl gets the virgin coffee shop girl to do stuff with you and she tells her she wants her to be a strong sexually liberated woman made me almost vomit into my computer screen tbh)

+ visuals top
- writing flop

the young looking daughter is hot af though, and I loved all the cooking and food, looks so yummy =)

This game has beautiful characters and good writing that makes up for the commonly used lost daughter plot. Some of the girls let you get straight to the action and others have more of a slow burn with options for corruption or love. The author is planning to add animations and puts out good sized content regularly. Hope the developer can finish this one because it has great potential.

Very solid renders, decent looking characters and props in general.
Solid writing, kind of interesting approach to the overused trope of lopst daughter.
The story progression pretty much feels organic ,if that is a thing, with some exceptions.
"Sex" scenes seem to try to tell a short story at least, what ever can be told about it at least.

Overall it looks like a 4 or 5 stars game. BUT:
-The main story has not many scenes, so even if it feels kind of organic, some bias from the reader is needed to fill in the blanks created by the lack of scenes.
-Chapters 1 and 2 feel like organic cause there is different stuff happening that peaks at the end of CH2.
-Chapter 3 is pretty much filler and some office drama, and it adds a 7 days later, but those 7 days storywise dont add anything, since CH3 ends prety much where CH2 ended.
-Ch4 feels like a game whose developer feels its gonna crash soon and tries to go a little farther from what you would expect,seeing the previous progression curve, and it ends in the worst way possible, with your expectations subverted, and a decision that has no impact in the game cause it ends.

And this game is finaly average cause the writer played a very cheap and dirty trick, the cockblock, having established previously that the problems at the office would delay the wifes arrival. That is lying to the reader, and after having the episode 3 as filler of stalled progression, I think the game is not worth playing untill its completed, or abandoned.

TLDR:
What can be good from any art piece, this game has it above average.
But also has some share of the worst any art piece can have which is filler, and stalling, and all the tricks to artifitially stretch a story beyond the creator's capability.

This is generally a very well made game, but the writing pretty much ruins it for me. The renders and the characters look great. The "cinematography" for lack of a better word is noticeably good as well, although the shots intentionally hiding the MC's face are just bizarre and out of place. Do devs really need to keep doing this?

The worst thing to me though is the writing. The dialogue is good enough most of the time, but the characters feel pretty unnatural sometimes. The story mostly revolves around idiots arguing about petty drama. The type of shit that's irritating in real life, let alone a game that's supposed to be entertaining.

I had a hard time deciding between 3 or 4 stars on this one. This is a story driven game. There is some decent content, but the focus is clearly on the story.

The dev is talented. The settings, scene blocking and renders are all really good. Admittedly, some of the renders are a bit grainy, but that is probably a GFX issue and not due to the dev.

My only real problem with it is not being able to see the MC face. I sort of understand why devs do this, but in this VN, the MC is visible in a whole bunch of scenes. For me, this only works if the VN is predominately first person and the MC is not seen very often. In this case, however, it's distracting to see the MC and the daughter sitting together on the couch with half the MC's face showing and the top of her head cut off. For me, it was really distracting and it kept taking me out of the story.

Admittedly, I am more into the stories these days and while I am here for the content, I am looking for a good story to go with it so taking me out of the story is not good IMO. For those that just like to look at pretty things and decent content, you will probably like this better than I do. Also, some of you may not mind the half head approach.

Regardless of what you like, you should definitely give this a download and try it yourself. I am looking forward to seeing where the story goes,

The renders and writing for this vn are very good, there's not quite as much freedom as I like, since I prefer sandbox games but it's very good.

This game actually made me sad, the daughter is the spitting image of the girl who left me about 3 years back and the render quality and the way the artist captured facial expressions made it all a bit too real (take it as a good thing)

The only criticism was how quickly daughter was suddenly comfortable, even laying her head in his lap immediately

I'm partway through the game as of ch 4. The art and models look really good. The story so far just focuses on the main characters and how they interact.

The characters in this game really stand out. The MC and his wife are assholes, but they know they're fucked up and stuck with how things are, so the interactions come off as complicated, funny, and realistic. In many AVNs, the MC and other main characters do asshole things frequently, but never acknowledge it or face realistic consequences for it. In this one, it's a part of their character and isn't necessarily malicious. Moreover, Kailey's backstory is pretty emotional, and is really a victim of neglectful parenting, so it's clear she could really use guidance from someone that cares.

So far, I would recommend this to anyone who likes character-driven stories where the character are fucked up in a realistic way. Also, anyone who loves an incest story should be eating well with this one.

I'll start with the pros of the game, which are the stunning characters and how great the game looks, al the characters are attractive and no real annoying character that you have to deal with. The story is well written for the most part, whats going on makes sense and there aren't really any grammatical issues.

There's really two things "wrong", the first and minor thin is no animations, which would enhance the game a whole lot but isn't taking anything away from it. The biggest con for this game, and the thing keeping me from even giving it 4 stars, are the lengths of the so called "chapters". A chapter is usually and lengthy period of time, or a time of signifigance, which is anything but what these chapters are. The latest "chapter" (chapter 4) is only a single day, with the story not progressing at all, with nothing of importance happening. I was going to give 4 stars, but it seems like the content is getting less and less and can't give 4 stars with the lack of content per update.

Pros:
- good story
- interesting Characters
- great Art (renders and models)

Cons:
- No Animations
- Chapters are too short / small for my liking

Overall:
- very good AVN with a promising future
- I would give 5 stars but because the chapters are too short / small I can only give 4 stars

Great game so far. I'm really enjoying the story, character models and flow of it. It goes at a pretty good speed with enough story and lewd content to keep you wondering what will come next. Very interested to see where this goes in the future and I think it could be a top game when it's finished.

Interesting take on a classic story; very well written.
Characters feel distinct and unique.
Strong point of this VN is it's originality.
Relationships feel real and believable, with constellations that I have seldom seen.
Excellent quality renders.
Sleek UI.
Relaxing Sound.
So far, not clear how many decisions have impacted gameplay (or if they do at all: feels like "Choose Sex" vs. "Choose Nothing".)

All in all, excellent game!