VN - Ren'Py - Lost & Found [v0.8] [Jun1or72]

The premise of the game(story) does appeal to me. The execution of the story is at best, good but not great. Also, there are some other reviews that make the obvious comparison to a very similar project but I'm not going to compare projects.

I don't mind the beginning of the story about the awful father that has caused the situation you and your' family are put into. Though it's nothing original and a bit lackluster, but whatever and ignorable.

The sad truth is the images are inconsistent in quality. Prime example is the first time you go to the office reception desk. It's shaded and then randomly not. Also, the shading is just too dark, but this could be excused. Though, the abrupt lack of shadows is jarring.

The writing is, even if not fluent English, all over the place at times. Events that should have more words said, are not and vice versa. I will admit that situations that are meant to feel emotional, do seem to express that in the text and visual medium. There also seems to be a point in the last 3 or 4 chapters(as of 0.5) that the names of the person making the dialog, is randomly missing.

In conclusion, this isn't a bad game(story). It's not the worst and the writing is obviously from a newbie writer, which is admitted from the beginning. That's nothing against the writer though. They're new and practice makes perfect. I overall do like this game(story) so far and think with some editorial changes, this could be exceptional.

This story is yet another carbon copy of a game on this site that shouldn't be held on the pedestal that it is. Frankly, if the dev couldn't be bothered to make their own story, I'm not gonna write my usual doctorate thesis of a vn review. I really don't care who copied who, it's plagiarism. And not only that, the writing and dialog is bad so it's ripping off a bad and boring story. The ONLY three differences from the source material is it isn't long winded, there's slightly better title cards for the chapters, and thankfully there's no loli content.

default renpy ui
MC supposed to be a photographer but every angle in the game is terrible
immediately after learning his mother was still alive, MC says "was that my mother?!" but then "I just can stop staring at her tits"
MC is not allowed to be surprised by anything
MC rewarded for staring at his interviewers tits constantly with sex
Writer is overly focused on bugattis
On that, giving a photographer a supercar with no storage space is laughable
Yet again no one at all even remotely dwells on the fact that mom left her son 20 years ago
practically copies the other game beat for beat even the dumb "MC considering suicide but that only comes up for one line of dialogue"
Even the sex dreams of the girls is in this
The only thing it's missing is a girl with cat-like birth defects
Kylie meets MC, acts rude, apologizes, then in detail confesses to childhood trauma to some guy, she just met, that constantly sexualizes his family members mind you; "i was sexually abused" MC says sorry then imagines her naked. I'm sorry, what?!
Every single time MC meets someone, he politely says "it's nice to meet you" each girl responds with "So charming!" THATS NOT CHARM ITS JUST A POLITE GREETING
Reading "my little sparkle" gives me a cringe only the incel subreddit could ever give me
Speedruns the events of the source material
The fact that Beth not only exists but pops up two days after MC reenters their life the exact same way, cheapens the experience and impact of both of the events.
Right after "becoming a couple" MC cheats on kylie with the receptionist so much for "love"

Bottom line, boring, lazy, repetitive, rip-off, waste of hard drive space. If you're one of the people that LOVE that other game and want more, here ya go. I won't fault you for having bad taste.

A little shaky in terms of presentation and writing, but the perfect comfort food. At this point, it's pretty clear what the creator's intentions are and I am absolutely here for it.

The fact that this is the dev's first game makes me all the more hopeful for how this game grows.

Considering this having barely any gameplay, the writing really needs lots of improvement. The easiest thing is to make MC drive the narrative more, let him start topic of conversation, take actions that have consequences. Being passive and choosing to be passive are very different in my eyes. But i can understand if the writer wants the game to appeal more to the "beta" audience. Like seriously, F95zone should make a "beta" tag to address these games

This is a straight rip off of another famous VN on here. I hope the dev got permission before scalping this story? The only things missing are the cat girl sister, and the harem.
Now on to the review
PROS
Models are decent
Renders are ok
CONS
Straight rip off story
Summary
There are only a couple differences between this and the more famous VN on this site. Mentioned them above.
The story is the same. The events just happen faster than the original.
Maybe this dev thinks they can do it better than the original, but that is a hard thing to try to do.
For me personally, this is a hard pass for me. Don't let my opinion deter you from at least trying it out.
My thoughts for the dev, figure out your own story. In my opinion this is a steal from a really great developer.
Good luck in the future