Ren'Py - Completed - Midnight Paradise [v1.0f Extra] [Lewdlab]

A pretty good sandbox game with some serious plot and realism issues.

Pros

• Excellent renders
• Excellent character models
• Beautiful character models
• Likable characters (overall)
• Good lewd/sex scenes (overall)
• A decent amount of content

Cons

• At the beginning of the game, the MC has flashbacks and dreams of having sex during his past college exploits. Instead of doing this, I would have greatly preferred starting out at college and showing the MC's wild lifestyle with lots of fun, drugs, and sex and then move when he flunks out of college. It would have been awesome to see a detailed event play out with banging the professor's daughter.
• The MC makes a bet with Isabel while watching a TV show, wins, and gets to touch her breasts but the scene ends up being lackluster. It only shows the MC with one hand on one breast with no movement or anything else. This was a missed opportunity! I would have groped the shit out of her breasts and animate the scene well.
• Lots of events are missing their conclusion. This is the style of the author but I'm not a fan. For example, the MC gets Ruby a job and then never tells her about it and the story just continues on like the conversation happened automatically in the background. It happens again with getting paid $20,000 for the car theft. It continues to happen throughout the game, why?
• The MC is suppose to be going to college but the game doesn't require that the MC ever attend. As long as the MC completes his tutoring sessions all is good.
• Free drinks at the nightclub
• Not a fan of the large white circle mouse cursor
• Not enough events happening in the evening. I find myself having to skip time frequently.
• The sandbox mechanics in this game are questionable. It is debatable whether or not there are enough story events to justify it. Most of the time it plays out like a visual novel except that I have to click five or six times to advance the story instead of only clicking once.
• There are morality, lust, and culture stats in the game, however they are rarely used. There is no consistency here and it is disappointing.
• Ruby gets way too jealous of her brother (MC) at the beginning of Ruby's 'Love' path. She acts like the MC is her boyfriend (in relationship only, not physically). The progression needs to be more gradual.
• The Map only shows outdoor locations. It would be helpful and save a lot of time to have the map show interior rooms at your home to save mouse clicks. The better sandbox games out there do this.
• With Isabel's massages, you unlock massage #2 and #3 and then later on it says you unlocked more massages for Isabel and then it just places a "New" message on the same two massages you unlocked earlier (identical content).
• Isabel loses another bet on a TV show and the MC gets to suck on her breasts. The dev chooses to ruin the scene with 2 FPS choppy animations.
• $1500 a month for rent? Seriously?
• The 'Talk' options with the girls in your house need to be expanded. Each girl has two talk options that are used at the beginning of the game and then they update maybe once after that.
• When watching porn on your laptop you get interrupted 100% of the time by your sisters or mother. At least make it random. The MC can never fap in his own bedroom successfully. The event never progresses in the game, everyone is just surprised and leaves.
• So the MC has to borrow a truck to transport drugs??? Halo is super expensive, the pills are tiny and rare yet his junker car doesn't have a big enough trunk to hold it??? Then he needs an entire warehouse to store the drugs??? The MC is a newbie at this and suddenly he becomes the largest drug cartel in the country???
• The MC is given two large crates of halo which would likely be millions of dollars worth of drugs. There is no security at all when he loads up the valuable drugs into the truck. He seemingly gets all the expensive drugs for free. He has no security at his drug warehouse. The MC is somehow trusted with millions of dollars worth of drugs with no experience selling or distributing them. The list of unrealistic behavior of the MC and story events is huge!
• The MC shows his drug warehouse to Ruby and his mother to show off??? How stupid is this MC? He puts his loved ones potentially in harms way. He then hires his sister to work at his new business.
• The MC owes a lot of people favors and yet few are collected throughout the story. Everyone seems to be willing to bail out the MC when he is in trouble and help him out without a second thought.
• The MC is making all this cash at his business yet personal money never increases.
• The MC rents an apartment and never asks how much the rent is and no money is asked for up front.
• Lack of progress with your sisters and mother. You never get to vaginal or anal penetration.
• The maid is super hot for the MC right from the start with no buildup. She wants to fuck his brains out right from the beginning.

The plot and story are hard to swallow and aren't realistic. I understand that the game isn't finished but the author leaves all these mysterious things happening up in the air with zero explanation. The player is just suppose to accept it all in good faith?

College dropout to drug lord in a matter of weeks?

Lots of realism issues throughout the game that made me cringe. The MC is trusted to sell and distribute a very expensive and rare drug that is extremely difficult to duplicate. The whole premise is really hard to swallow. The MC is moving millions of dollars worth of drugs around town with zero security or security measures.

I did enjoy my experience with the game but it isn't without frustrations. The best part of the game are the gorgeous renders and character models.

I'm not sold on the sandbox mechanics for this game. Most of the time the player only had one or two choices anyway so it mostly plays out like a visual novel, just with a lot of additional mouse clicks.

The animations vary a lot in quality. Some are really great and others are two frames.

I rate the game 3.5 stars but since I can't I'm throwing the dev a bone and rating it 4 stars.

I don't recommend the game for those who hate sandbox games but I do recommend it for everyone else.

I'm giving this game 2 stars, 1 star because of the fantastic renders and the other star because some scenes were pretty hot, that's all the good on this game.

The downside is huge:

1) this game dragged for months/years with little to none interaction with the 4 main girls, which are the only ones that I find highly attractive
2) during those months the dev kept adding new and uninteresting characters, I mean, with 4 main girls, what's the need of adding more and more other girls? come on...
3) the story of the game is stupid, 4) not only the story is stupid, but it keeps evolving in more stupid incoherent ways to avoid the real story we want to see (this idiot MC relation with the interesting girls of the game)
5) when the MC actually started to get some skin contact with the main girls, suddenly the developer turned into Ic$t0r mode and stopped releasing updates with million excuses constantly ignoring his own deadlines

In sum, this was probably the most promising game when 0.1 was released, honestly, awesome renders and a really nice new retro kind of interface, all this went down the drain over the months and years.

Probably one of the most promising games out there, good story, nice characters , wished that the choices that you make would matter more, however they may in the future updates. I hope that we will see the project completed.

I'm impressed cuz it actually turned out to be way better than I expected. Storywise nothing much to brag about but it does have it's really cool moments that I enjoyed. A likeable & cool headed MC but the rest of the cast wasn't that interesting.
Though the sex scenes have high quality animation I did find them to be really short & monotonous(mostly with family). The most astonishing part for me personally was that the character I was least interested in turned out to have the most genuine backstory & gave me the best sex scene too - La maid.

It's well crafted, I liked the story, the plot, the animations, the sex scenes, and the characters.
I was surprised by the rendering of this visual novel, it is spectacular.
Although it lacks some sex scenes but everything is fine.

Okay, so at least one star, and possible two of this rating are for the mother and older sister models (and what is done with them,). Ren'Py games are interesting in that there is often a huge gap between the quality of the artwork and the quality of the writing. To be fair, the writing here isn't bad. The plot moves at a fair clip, there are no long boring stretches of dialogue, and the whole criminal mastermind (and eager university student!) thing give it a sense of tension and drama.

But the artwork is excellent, and the women are exquisite.

This is a VN with choice and sandbox elements. Your hand is held throughout. The MC is not likeable, but he is enjoyable, in that he's a real devious shit, and even the most decent of us like to pretend otherwise sometimes.

The eroticism is great, except for one aspect I'll come to. There's not a huge amount, updates are slow and skimpy (and, as of writing, the game is on hold). But what there is is choice, with some great poolside moments, massage moments, answering the phone or the door moments. That's what brings me back to this game.

But, there's a trope in these games I call "the step-by-step assembly of sex." What happens is that you encounter a woman, and you get her to lift her skirt. Then you go. The next day, she lifts her skirt and takes off her panties. The next day you get to touch her. The next day... This game has a lot of that. I mean, sheesh, a real lot.

My guess is that creators use this trope to a) spread out the content, and b) build suspense, and okay, for the former I understand. Rendering takes time. But there are much better ways to build suspense. It's just so unnatural "right, she's touched my penis, I'd better leave before we go any further." I mean, who does that? We're not talking about schoolkids circling the bases, we're talking about sexually mature adults.

In this case, it does work, to an extent, with, say , the couples yoga, because you have the female partner slowly allowing her desire to take over. But in the other cases, it's just so bizarre and really spoils any suspension of disbelief.

The game has a kind of dark undertone going on, not just with the crime subplot, but also because most scenes occur in the evening, lit either by lamps or neon. It's actually ominous, I find, and I wonder if it's intentional. I mean, the story is full of forbidden love and implied violence, and I can't help but wonder if things are meant to get really bad, later on. But it is "Midnight" city, after all, so maybe I'm just imagining things.

Yeah, check it out, for the mom and the older sister, for sure.

Amazing sandbox lite, with a good story, nice soundtrack, and really high quality renders all of them beautiful.

This site needs more games like this.

Looking forward to the next updates: really waiting to see ruby taking it up the bum, yum

A game with really great graphics, models of the girls are really good, the animations are really well made, with choices that actually change the game, more realistic build up, not just direct sex scenes after few lines, like many other games, very cool story, a true masterpiece for me. Can't wait for the finished product and beyond.

v0.14 Sandbox is unbelievably grindy. advancing time doesn't allow to skip night>day & additionally there is no fast travel to your bed, so enjoy clicking 6+ times ever few seconds just to advance day. Models are decent-ish. Story is completely forgettable. Scenes are lackluster and way too few. Grind killed it for me esspecially since there is no payoff. Overall playable but bad.

This review is based on .14.

One sentence review - A sexy game that makes you feel as if you'll never have sex again.

Visuals - 5/5 High quality and unique, probably some of the best on the aite.
Story - 5/5 Pretty good story so far with the main guy really getting into something narrative driven.
Characters - 5/5 While the basic tropes are there on all characters they are still very well designed and sexy.
Music - 5/5 This one really gets the mood right.
Fappability - 2/5 This is what weighs this game the most. After so many updates you'd think you would have gotten somewhere... but you haven't.

It's the fappability score and grindy nature of this game that gives it a 4/5.

Con: Also, the writing is terrible at times, the story and character relations lack credibility. Badly. Teenager TV serials have a more believable plot and more believable characters. The game was obviously written by yet another basement Russian - it shows in spelling and grammar, in the outlandish plot, in the ragged sex scenes and in the typical Eastern European faces with high cheekbones.

Pro: Why three stars then? At least it's got a plot, the map gently opens up along with progress in the game, and the renders are good. I'm curious to know how the story continues after 0.14.

Note: I used the "unlimited money" cheat and thus cannot say to which extent grinding is a demotivational factor.

Very good game, I'm not putting 5 stars for one reason: the main plot. It's not bad, but I really don't care. I'm playing this game for the naughty bits, and having to go further in the main story to unlock next character steps is completely killing the mood.

Other than that, the game is excellent, the models are gorgeous and the scenes are hot.

Animation is very good Models used were very good. Characters are pretty good story-wise.

Only complaint is the unskippable cutscenes towards the later chapters, but the voice over one was better than expected.

I hope you build out the school a bit more, and maybe add a built in hint system.

I would be very happy to give this game a well-earnt 5 star rating.
Obviously I did not. Let me explain why.

The game is top notch at almost every aspect.
- Graphics and renderings are excellent. A real feast for the eyes.
- The females are beautiful and each of them has its individual perks.
- GUI is well built and easy to handle.

But there is one issue which is a major showstopper.
- The story is a senseless mess.

I fully understand that it is fictitious.
But does this mean it also has to be annoying and ridiculous?

With a proper story and this game would be 5 stars without doubt.

I first want to say that a 1* is NOT a bad rating and that I will be changing it if I feel that the game gets improved.

The good:

• Renders are beautiful
• Lighting is amazing
• Characters look and feel fantastic
• Animations are pretty cool I guess

The bad:

• The MC is an asshole!
• I get that it is a sandbox, but come on! This is WAY too much grind!
• Your balls will hurt after playing this game due to a lack of H-scenes
• The story sucks and you can tell that the dev is making it up as he goes along.

Based on version 0.14 Elite

I would like to start by saying the quality of the renders and animation are top notch. Visually this game is stunning and the female characters are all very attractive. My biggest problem with this game is that theres no choices and you are forced to be a pervert douchebag that thinks with his penis instead of his brain. You cant advance the story without walking in on your sister while their being naked or being a creep while they are sleeping.

I understand that this is a incest game but some of the lewd situations are beyond stupid. You drop your phone while driving and your sisters being nice and picking it up. The game then forces you to touch her ass.

Lastly, not a fan of sandbox and repetitive nature of this game.

4 stars for animations/renders

This game is best described as "Blueball Paradise", handjobs, thigjobs, blowjobs, boobjobs are all you'll get, there is only a single, short penetration scene. Disappointing, at least the animation quality is really good.

Based on version 0.14.
I rarely write reviews. I did enjoy some parts of the game but it is not a masterpiece. I am not supporting the creator on Patreon so for me the game is free, I am well aware of that. Also I have no clue what it takes to develop a game. All criticism comes with great respect for the things this creator is doing and doing better than others.

Spoilers ahead.

Visuals
Many have already commented on the good quality of the renders and animations so I will skip that point. Personally I feel that something is off with the faces sometimes but it is subtle and doesn't break the game for me. In fact I got used to it over time and it didn't bother me, they were still hot. The MILFs (Mom, aunt, Tanya) actually did look a bit older and in some renders their skin showed the age. I don't need it to be that realistic but I am not complaining. It is very clear that the creator is proud of his work and it shows in his renders, I don't blame him.

Writing
Many have commented on how retarded and unlikeable the MC is and I agree, but he is not the only one.
None of the involved characters have any rational explanation for what they are doing.
The drug subplot is entirely silly, the Russian mob consists of two people one of whom is unable to keep her knickers on and just hands out a warehouse to the same guy who trespassed in their territory and stole from them? Just because the MC is asking? The shady Mr Thorne hands over a laptop and a car to the MC and then just leaves him alone? There are 2 or 3 interactions so far with him, and that is the man who supposedly can put you in jail at a moment's notice.
Regardless of who the family is, the MC should be dead within the first 30 minutes of the game.
The (supposedly) sinister dealings of the father and/or brother promise some future development but I honestly don't have high hopes.
There should be some kind of explanation for why the people behave as dumb as they do.

The family situation.
Seeing it as anything else but family is just not possible but I have no problem with that.
Perving on the female members is the whole point of the game, also not unexpected after DoD and I have no problem with that either.
However there is no buildup whatsoever, the ladies get naked within minutes of playtime.
It has been mentioned that all boxes are ticked when it comes to the usual game tropes and that is true. More often than not I was reminded of Man of the House albeit with better renders. The mom, two sisters (one bratty, one nice), the bathroom scenes, yoga, creeping at night - it's all there. Also the movie Secretary came to mind but I can't blame anyone getting inspired by that.

The choices
There are none so far except you can pick one girlfriend over the other. That's it. Considering that you don't know any of the two and are not made to care anyway the choice is meaningless.
The morality stat can block a few sex options (or what passes for that) but maybe there is still something coming later.

The sandbox/city map hopping
I don't really mind, the hint system works well enough that you know where to go. Does it add to the gameplay? Not really. Ah wait, that IS the gameplay.

Sex
I don't have complaints in that department. The scenes are nicely rendered and animated and did the job. You cannot (yet) fuck anyone but the maid, the teacher and your girlfriend (if you choose the right one) but that is fine. As stated above I am missing the buildup between the MC coming home and being intimate with the other women anyway. Maybe it's because I am not into feet ...

Overall
I would like to have the creator spend some time on story, characters, motivations, brain in general. Or find suitable people for him to do that.
As someone once said, bad graphics can break a good game but good graphics cannot save a bad game.
It is not too bad to be saved in my books but it is a shame that it is not better to do the amount of work that has gone in the visuals justice.
The average rating I am giving is a reflection of the great graphics on one side and the poor aspects I highlighted on the other side.

Two stars for good renders, but Lewdlab screwed the pooch with story pacing.

I was halfway through the recent update when I realized I was skimming dialog and skipping scenes wholesale. It struck me that I don't care about the story or these characters anymore, Lewdlab has drawn it too far out. The emotional impact of any sexual interaction has soured, it's boring and tedious.

I'll happily update this review if Lewdlab can pull a Lazarus and ressurect this game from the dead- but at this rate I'm just not seeing it happen.

After 14 fucking episodes, the main character doesn't get to fuck any of the girls. This is frustrating. The devs are playing on sexual edging. Fuck this! This is never okay. The story is plain boring. Nothing interesting happening.

EDIT: As of 0.14, there is ABSOLUTELY NO VAGINAL SEX. So this tag is HIGHLY MISLEADING!