VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Maya and Friends [v1.0] [Diathorn]

Too rapey and abusive for general audience, even for a porn game. The story is also flat because it doesn't ever live up to the potential of its opening promise: i.e. she's being interviewed in future prison as some mafia boss.

Spoilers ahead, but I suggest you read to save time - Instead, it starts and ends with one rapey fat bastard and crew. There is nothing further, so the complete tag is misused TBH.

Shame because the premise and art had lots of promise.

I want to love this, and it could have been so much better with some small differences, but as it stands it's pretty mediocre.

I love Diathorn's art, and the writing from a prose-standpoint is very good. There are a lot of idioms that are really well-placed. However the story basically ends extremely abruptly. The ending is anti-climactic and completely out of place. The entire story is a flashback, but because it ends before it has even told half the story, it explains absolutely nothing about how Maya got to where she is at the start of the intro.

Really, if it was just a little bit longer, I would have been praising this for being a beautiful self-contained story with good art, writing, and definitely mediocre voice-acting. But the ending is just so jarring.

This game is a fucking trip. The writing is quite good in terms of prose. This VN is rather sparse on dialogues, but there is a lot of narration. It's a writing style that lets you delve into the mind of the author, and what you find there is quite twisted and dark.

Brutal violence, murder, rape, drug addiction, and even a bit of existential horror. Both in the visuals and the narration. It's not for the faint of heart. It's certainly not for anyone who can't at least tolerate such subject matter. It sits in that weird boundary between gratuitous shock value and artistic expression.

To be frank, this was a rather unique experience, but it's certainly not recommended for the general audience. It's a pretty short VN though, so not a huge time investment for those who are curious enough.

One of my favorite games on the entire site.
"Art" is the word that comes to mind.

In terms of sexual content, if you're into this type of rough stuff it's great.

The voice acting for Maya works pretty well, given that her last name is Wong. For the males, it's a little dehumanizing, but in a way it actually adds to their sinister nature.

Maya and Friends [v1.0] [Completed]

Pros:
Excellent Artwork
Voiced MC
dark premise
good writing

Cons:
Very short game
The Story feels bland, rushed and lacks depth with less to no build up.
Instant game overs
Skip function doesn´t work properly
Male Voices sound weird
short and not animated sex scenes
Multiple endings that you see when you restart the game.

Conclusion:
I think it´s sad to think what could’ve been, if this game was developed by someone who knows how to create Stories and good gameplay.
Other than the beautiful Artstyle and the voice acting, this game just doesn´t deliver on any level.
This game looks incredibly promising and I love the dark premise, but the story feels so flat, uninteresting and rushed, that I can´t give it more than 2*.
If you never played the game, you haven´t missed much.

A really hot well written short game. The art is drawings over renders, and honestly looks quite gorgeous. All the sex scenes are depraved and heavy rape. Which if is your thing (it is mine), then this game is a diamond in the rough.

You play as a girl who gets raped by a fat bastard and his crew. There is a lot of brutality and some drug abuse in the game. You have to get all the bad ends before you get the true end which is still a bad end. You could probably finish the game in 10 min to 1 hr depending on if you read or not. Overall feels underwhelming but at least the effort was decent.

--Art is or seems original and is nice but only a couple images per scene
--Game is voiced but a lot of lines feel monotone like it's played by text to speech and only the female is voiced.
--There is ambience and music which makes the mood a little better

--Skip text and transition option removed
--Only 9 save slots
--Plot starts off interesting but falls flat with sudden and abrupt endings

Showed a lot of promise from the art, setup and the mention of multiple endings but I was pretty disappointed overall.
The female voice is pretty decent but oftentimes makes some mistakes or doesn't read the sentences properly.
The male "voice" is atrocious. It sounds like someone has just put a filter over them saying unrelated sentences. I swear one of them says something like "listen intently to what the frogs had to say". It's really offputting.
It ends very abruptly too, so all of that promise from the start is gone. Really feels like a prologue more than anything.

While the art and writing are pretty darned good, there is nothing redeemable in this "game" at all. There is nothing erotic or compelling here.

I found it a glamorization of rape, drug addiction and cruelty.

The story. even though there are multiple endings all lead the protagonist to her doom, and I feel there is no possible way to root for the protagonist or feel sorrow for her by her apparent "transformation" from a simple school girl to a raving, sex-crazed drug addict who's demise feels like a simple cop-out because the author really had no idea where the story would lead us.

Sorely disappointed, and if you like abrupt endings with no logical conclusion, then this game is for you.
If, on the other hand, you enjoy compelling drama, sexy girls, wild and erotic adventures, and a satisfactory conclusion to your VNs, then steer VERY clear of this one as there is nothing to see here.

I didn't expect it to be this good.
One of the best parts of the game is writing and storytelling( great voice ). Also the story is truly unique, none of that "son returning home" bullshit. It's really dark and violent and stays true for it's tags.
The game doesn't have choices or animation, but the story impressed me that's why 5/5.

There are some positives such as the game has a different art style that sill looks really good and interesting. The amount of choices does not make me feel like I am choosing my own path. You can either continue with the game or end it for the most part.

Yeah this is dark as hell. Maya goes through one hell of an ordeal, and it's realistic. I could imagine this happening to someone in the real world. Loved it for the storytelling and the writing. Not so much the smut cuz it is straight up dastardly (unless that's your thing) If the tags are your kink this has all of that in spades.

It's an interesting short story that is mostly filled with rape, graphic violence and gore. I actually really enjoyed it, just not in a sexual way. The compelling developments and descriptive situations were entertaining enough for me to just activate the auto mode, sit back and enjoy the experience like any movie.

When it comes to the sexual content, however, I'm sure you'll love it if you personally have a thing for extreme content. The story certainly doesn't pull any punches, that's for sure. The extreme content is disturbing enough without trying too hard and coming off as edgy.

The art is by Diathorn, so you know it's top tier. To this day I still struggle to understand whether Diathorn's art is 2D or 3D. That's how amazingly detailed and unique it is. Maya is gorgeous and the sex scenes are very well-drawn. You won't be disappointed on that front.

As for my complaints, I suppose I could say that the story is a bit too dank and trippy sometimes, bordering on confusing. The VA also misreads lines very often, which can be distracting. Despite that, though, the VA still does a great job, especially in the latter half of the game after Maya is taken to the toilet. The ending is also delivered pretty awkwardly, making you stop and think, "Wait, that's where it ends?"

All in all, it was an enjoyable experience. This visual novel was clearly built with care and passion. The ending is cathartic despite its awkward conclusion, and I definitely recommend this piece of entertainment to anyone who isn't too squeamish.

This is a fabulously done gritty, dark, taboo VN. Absolutely not for everyone. Does a great job exploring unapologetic mind-breaks, psychosis, and horrible things happening to good people, surreal psychedelic experiences addiction, violence.. Work of genuine art in every way, from visual to text to concept. I wish so much that the dev had a tutorial on how he creates those super-cool art effects! The only thing is that I wish so much that it was longer.. and it feels like it should be. It hints about an incredible story-arc, victim to crime lord, so much more but then it ends on a brief Fin. The path to the Fin is also odd.. there are only a few choices and they don't really matter.. not just because there is one 'right' way through but because the other paths don't.. add much I guess? They're not sexy, they're not as fleshed out.. they're just 'wrong path and you die'.. I get what they represent (the drug-addled mind processing reality in multiple ways) which is a super-cool idea, but for that it feels like they could've had a little.. 'more'. As it is, they serve as a puzzle to realize you are supposed to replay. Still though I love it, and will love it so much more if it becomes longer!

This game can be really hard to give a rating because even if you don't like the genre everything else about this game is pretty much amazing?

The voice actor for the female is absolutely amazing. Her tone of voice and the way she talks just kind of makes you fall in love with her personality. She did such an amazing job portraying her character. (This was probably my favorite part I am a sucker for a damn good character and I feel like she made me wanna keep going to the end.)

The story itself despite being brutal actually does follow pretty much through from start to finish it makes sense it doesn't fall short of not being a story. Basically simply put it sounds like a true-story being told by the actual victim rather then being told by someone who just made a video game.

The art is different but very beautiful and looks like it was all painted. The style was very interesting and really likeable.

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Summary: A brutal, relentless story that doesn't shy away from themes that are taboo, shocking or revolting, but fit in with the narrative of a tragic tale that's very real in our world. With beautiful artistic visuals and amazing narration, you're sucked into storm of sex, violence and insanity.
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Review:

• Art-style: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
The style has a lot of identity, and is peculiar to this game style. There are no rigid outlines and the smeared colors and tones match the tone of the plotline very well - hazy, grainy and uncertain, just like the narrator's broken mind as she invokes the memory of the events. The missing star regards their number - I wish I had seen much more of this style. More poses, more scenes, more environments. I understand these pieces of art take a lot of time and work to produce, but I feel like the artist could have showed off more.

• Gameplay: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
There's more to the gameplay than most players realize - we're lead to believe that some options abruptly end the game, and that's it. But it's not. The main menu gives us clues as to how, by losing and dying, we're actually making progress. An instant death screen is not just an instant death screen. There's more to it, and we need to resume the story from the start to figure it out. Besides this interesting mechanic, however, we're given no further gameplay elements.

• Storyline: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Crude, raw, shivering and worst (best) of all: realistic. Your hand is not held as you descend into the abyss with Maya, and the subjectivity of how she recalls it - and what is real, or what is her broken mind recalling - makes for an interesting tone. It's not easy to devise an elaborate, subjective plot like this; this is not a "chosen hero" story. But in the end, I was left not knowing what story it actually is, because we're cut short of it. The game is complete, but there's no open ending, or closed ending, there's just no ending at all - even with the true ending. I wanted to give this story 5/5, but the vacant hole we suddenly step into in the end left me disappointed and wanting more... which never came.

• Grammar: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Breathtaking, intricate, and very well performed by the narrator. I had never had a porn game send me shivers, but the VA's shaky but ecstatic voice claiming her death sealed the deal for me to consider this a great script, with a great actress.
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Stars: 17
Parameters: 4 (Art | Gameplay | Storyline | Grammar)
Final calculus: 17/4 = 4.25 = 4
Result: 4 ☆

Uff... this game is quite interesting and disturbing at the same time.

The artdesign is really interesting and looks great and like quality.

The Voiceacting of the girl is top notch. She really had fun with this i am certain even i can't imagine how a girl with sucha cute voice can read some really horrible and cruel lines. I REALLY would like to know who she is, but i am certain she is asian. she has that sound in her bright and sweet voice and know only asians who would read such hardcore fetish stuff.

Talking about hardcore fetish stuff: The game is really dark and already started rough, but instead of hollywood revange like or into some ordinary naive girl get fucked and abused thing, the story gets more and more fucked up and crueler. and thats personally hard for me since i am:

- no big fan of pissing
- no fan at all of hurting a woman heavily (like maybe soft slaps in the face, some spanking and a bit of choking but not beating a woman into her stomach and kicking her... head?!
- she also gets so broken she kills a hobo by jumping on his head WTF?

There is also heavy drug abuse she even gets fucked during knocked out. which can be hot from a certain perspective but since so much fucked up shit happened in my country i am no fan of this either.

(also personally i like cowgirl and titsucking and there is nothing happen in that way even she has some juicy juicy boobs)

the artstyle again is really interesting and REALLY professional - the voiceacting of the girl is sexy, cute and odd. so really good too. the story is... interesting, weird and disturbing so nothing for snowflakes.

I nearly never give a game 5 stars and i can't give it 4 stars cause of the fucked up harsh content. but i have to give it more than 2 cause of the drawing and voiceacting.

Ok, i played as far as the "good" ending. In the end it's just a bland story with random disgusting violence which is not even remotely involving or emotional. Avoidable game. Mi first impression is confirmed only about the very good artworks, but that's about it. Around 1 hour or so of a girl who read some painfully long written text while guys around her sound like Animal Crossing dwellers.

I tried this based on the tags. And it delivers on that.

An innocent girl is mistreated and dominated by criminal males. If you like severe degradation of female char, you should like it.

The art is very well done and way above average for a porn game. Some reviews mistake story for dialogue. The story is shallow, the dialogues are sophisticated.

Downsides:

- Very short
- I hate games with instant game overs due to choices, this is one of those
- As a visual novel it has very long reads between actions (and also during actions)
- You cannot really control your char, nor the story, as there are very few choices, you mainly follow the story as it is presented

edit: to some up went in for porn and art style. stayed to get true ending. after the "prologue" part. yeah it ain't in me to enjoy that

gruesome, nerve wracking and guilt and rage inducing.
at the beginning it was just the spring on the bed and already it gave you an idea of what was happening and anticipation just kept building up. how this story was written, it plays a trick on you.
then at the end that shit was pure art.