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

Midnight Paradise has been a ride to say the least following it through years of development. It started out with incredible promise: amazing character models, stylish game UI and locations, and a few plot questions hanging in the air to keep you interested. Ultimately, after finally seeing the game come to a hasty close, it's hard not to say that much of that potential was squandered.

Gameplay

For starters, this game doesn't need to be a sandbox. It plays loosely with the notion that it would like to have location specific day-in-the-life events, but they all have a specific grindy order to them which kind of defeats the purpose of open world implementation. I really felt like a number of design choices were made with the expectation that the dev would get to fleshing them out later, but that largely never happens and at some point playing the game you just give up hope and realize that this is a mostly linear VN chopped up into pieces and the open world is just a pacing barrier.

Story

The story - again - starts promising but fizzles out mid game pretty quick. There's a slow burn of progressing with the ladies which is fine if it weren't for that pacing getting thrown out the window by the end of the game. If you're going to do a slow build up with the characters then let us enjoy the payoff of it too, we've earned it by being patient for years of development and grinding away for hours. Two anal scenes with the girls near the end of the game, although mostly well done, just isn't enough of a payoff for a game's worth of effort.

There's a number of plot contrivances at play which also make you gloss over the importance of the story too. Your father character is mostly out of the story for the duration of the game and same with your twin brother, both characters with concerning mystery around them. The game focuses on Connor being a drug lord despite your gameplay having almost nothing to do with actually seling the drugs as you instead do little incrimental interactions with the ladies of the story. There are a few main story plot points which deal with the severity of you being a drug boss, but from scene to scene it's mostly just used as a tool to explain why Conner has some money and influence.

Controversy

Now for the elephant in the room... The quality of writing. On the whole, it's your typical porn VN kind of stuff; you're a pushy *tenant* who kind of annoys his way into the hearts and pants of the ladies around him. It's not great, it's not terrible, it's just pretty standard fare for the genre. *However*, there are a number of moments later in the story that I take major issue with.

This caused a pretty big fire in the forum when it was introduced, but let's talk about Isabelle and the kidnap/potential rape scene. It's just juvenile, the execution, the mentality behind including it, and the way Isabelle reacts to it all. It reeks of a writer who has never dealt with real world people who have suffered events like these. Isabelle is kidnapped, drugged, bound, and possibly raped on camera if you are too slow in getting to her. You resolve this by rescuing her, taking that camera's SD card (and never looking at it for some insane reason), not telling the cops because you selfishly fear that would harm you as a drug lord, and you return her to the same bedroom she was kidnapped from. Later Isabelle goes to a spa with you and tells you that the whole scenario turned her on and that *now* she's finally ready to have sex with you. As for it's inclusion in the game, the quote floating around from the dev was along the lines of, "NTR is a popular kink and if including that expands the audience for the game then we're going to do that." Stunning. *Years* deep in development and they decide now is the time to drop a rape scene with one of your love interests in your lap as the lone instance of possible NTR. Seriously, who was this for? NTR fans don't want to waste hours grinding to get to the only scene of it in the game, and the rest of the fans don't want to see Isa get raped! Also, NTR fan =/= NTR *rape* fan. It would honestly be insulting if it weren't for how assinine its inclusion was.

Adding to the juvenile writing list is Amy.
Amy is Logan's asexual girlfriend who arbirarly dies at the end of the game by overdosing on the Halo sex drug Connor sells. She takes the drug in hopes of "fixing her asexuality and being normal" for Logan. Again, it's stunning the level of childish ignorance in which this topic is handled with and it again tells of a writer who has little understanding of what a real asexual person is like. For reference, many asexual people have and do enjoy sex, and it's not viewed as a malidy that needs to be cured. It more just a case that sex isn't an impulse they have themselves, it's something that they can be turned on to in the moment if offered to them. It's like never having the notion to order pizza, but if there's pizza already on the table then yeah, I'll have a slice and enjoy it.

Anyways, this is a pointless death in the story used just to add some forced drama to the ending while it's ultimately undeserved. I'd even add that in a game where you get pretty much every girl you could see and want, *not* getting Amy, your antagonist twin brother's girlfriend when she looks as good as she does is a missed opportunity.

Ending Impressions

The ending is rushed, no doubt about it and it will leave numerous plot questions unanswered. The multiple endings largely stick the landing giving you slightly different wrap up cutscenes, but it just really goes to point out how much fun you could have been having with the characters if the game ever decided to let you get there with them before the end. A harem ending should be an in-game reward you get to play out and enjoy, not just a two image cutscene.

There's more, but I digress. The short of it is don't play this game for the story. At best it's a run of the mill porn VN with a few nice character moments, at worst it is shockingly detatched from how real people act.

That said, the models are really top teir. Ruby, Isabelle, Joyce, the maid, your teacher, and several others, all are unique looking and georgeous in their own right. That's a large reason why the game feels so disappointing at times - the character models are fantastic and you'll spend the game wishing you could find more substatial things to do with them.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this is a game where you can tell the dev fell out of love with it mid-way. It shifts priorities a few times, underwent some needless UI changes, and wraps up in a way you'd expect from someone just wanting to finally move on to other things. Animations and renders get more glitchy as the game goes on which is a sign of just some lost passion and care for your project. The game isn't bad, in fact it still manages to stand out of the crowd for it's excellent looking characters and style, but you play it and quickly realize that there just isn't the substance you're hoping for.

You can tell when a writer doesn't really care about what they are writing about and that feeling is contagious to the reader. By the time major "shocking" events of the story unfold you'll be pretty mentally checked out. The characters aren't treated with the level of respect that I think their initial designs and stories warranted and that's a shame.

It's a game worth playing, but struggles to retain your respect as a player despite it trying to be more serious in tone at times. Go in with average expectations and you should be able to enjoy it just fine.

3 stars out of 5

There is a lot to like about this game, bogged down mostly by the main story, which unfortunately is where you'll be spending most of your time.

Starting with the good, the sandbox content is some of the best I have ever seen. The 3 main women are in different locations doing different activities 3 times a day for each of the 7 days. You get the opportunity to flirt and test the waters with them in unique ways depending on where you are and what activity you are interrupting. There is a lot of content here. Most of the events happen 1 or 2 times per week, with 3 being the maximum, so every day there will be something fresh. As your relationship evolves with the women they might change what they are doing or wear something new, which unlocks a whole new set of options. There is so much to love about this sandbox, I really wish the game leaned harder into it.

Another thing to love is the quality of the renders and of the UI. The women look fantastic, and they keep their appearances fresh with new outfits, hairstyles, and makeup frequently. Something about the lighting or camera makes everything in the background look better too. I recognized a few assets from other games, but somehow they look better in this game. Clearly the developer has a great attention to detail, which carries over into their UI. The UI is fast, and clearly and concisely shows information you need. Very well designed overall. The one exception is the cell phone, with mandatory pauses after every text message sent that gets very frustrating.

The big negative here is the main story, which is just painfully boring. If you play this game, I recommend you turn on "skip unseen text" and then press tab every time you start a main story plotline. There is just nothing at all compelling there. The characterization of the MC is that he is a cool badass and sometimes random women you just met and will never meet again want some no strings fun. It is an adolescent self-insert wish fulfillment fantasy and nothing more, and it is LONG. Most of your time playing this game will be through the main story. Even if you skip the dialogue, a lot of text comes from the cell phone, which can't be skipped. The game would easily be 4* without the story, and 5* with even a minimal implementation of something else on top of the sandbox. What a horrendous waste of potential here.

Another problem with the story is that it is not very well intertwined with the sandbox. Unless you focus almost entirely on the sandbox and neglect the story, you will notice that women will say things during the sandbox that completely ignores what you have done with them in their stories. You might come back from a sex filled weekend vacation with one woman only for her to get shy about being seen in her underwear. This will happen very frequently the later get you get into the game. I wish the developer had taken more time to tie together sandbox progression with story progression.

Overall, I can't recommend playing this, even though there are so many good qualities. You might enjoy this game if you import a save that has the main story already completed, or if you have low self-esteem and don't value your free time very highly. I will check out the next project from this developer, becasue there is a lot of potential here, but I don't believe that they can deliver on that potential.

It's not a perfect game, so giving it 5 stars might seem odd, but no game is perfect. This one is as close as I've seen. From the characters and renders, to the story itself. There's some grinding, but also lots to do within that grinding. Suggest progressing the girls evenly regardless of favorites, as it makes the game more linear.
Enjoy.

This game is the closest to perfection I've ever played on F95ZONE.

Outstanding character visuals.
Sandbox game style that maximizes its strengths.
A convenient interface.
Even the MOD melted really well into this game.

It's a little disappointing, though.
I'm not a big fan of normal Netorare, but I do like Netorare who competes.
It would have been nice to see MC compete with LOGAN or DAD.
When I have that kind of tension in the game, I have a more thrilling sense of accomplishment.

But this is just my personal preference, and in terms of Midnight Paradise itself, this is a really good game and I would highly recommend it.

This, along with a man of the house, have been the 2 best games for me, the perfect girls, the perfect sandbox, the mix between history and sandbox is incredible.

10/10

Waiting for the next game they make.

Talk about wasted potential. This was a game I genuinely looked forward too every update. But somewhere in the middle it seems like the developer lost interest in his own plot and decided to rush through it. Nothing makes sense and just download a complete save so you have access to the scenes. They're extremely well animated and women are gorgeous though the excessive foot fetish focus is tiring..

The game started very promising with a good story and very hot girls, but the finale was rushed as hell...


So many questions that got no answers. If you are going to play the game for the story, you're gonna be dissapointed...

Good not great. I think the game had a lot of potential and room for more story. It felt like the game was rushed to end. Game was fun to play, sandbox was not too annoying. I wish it was longer and had more scenes for the "bonus" characters like tanya.

The game started well and promising but then it took too damn much to finally progressed with Joyce.

As The main Love Interest promoting the game, her progress is tremendously slow until around the end of the game with not enough time to enjoy and explore further her relationship, making it even less worth it playing or spending that much time to advance in her path considering she is the one that is in the Banners promoting the game.

The other LI seemed boring.

It lacks a freedom of choice for the paths, to make them exclusive, you have to play other paths even if you're interested in one in particular, the player doesn't have that level of freedom to cancel or avoid other paths and just focus on one.

For a game that appears to be about incest, The sisters look so different to each other and to the parents that it makes you wonder any real genetic relationship between the characters, it makes no sense.

The sandbox was repetitive and boring. Many scenes are night visits or massages making things very repetitive. This game followed the same failed formula as "Dreams of Desire" and that game was also a waste of time in progression and exploration after having sex as if having sex is the end game which shows a lack of creativity and imagination to continue the story and relationship moving forward after the first time.

It's not a game I would recommend or suggest or talk about with others about playing in order to spare them from wasting time with repetitive scenes, sandbox, and leaving the most important relationship until the end that you're better off not starting the game, at least not if your interest is Joyce.

The wasted time of remaking "Dreams of Desire" damaged the production of this game, if it wasn't for that time wasted, this game could've been so much better with more time to explore and develop the main paths before reaching a quick ending.

For those interested in incest games, Mother & Son and their relationship, This game is NOT the game to play since it takes too much time for them to get together and then the game soon after it ends.

Most wonderful adult Game With the best Graphic and renders, i have ever Played so far.
With Most beautiful older Sister and Mom ever in a Adult Game.
The Sanbox and Nightcreeper mechanic is Just amazing.
Never felt so much Emotions in one Game.
The Story Path of Isabel gets Out of Hand fast.
And the Sub Route of Ruby is a Bit Hardcore and disguisting. (She gets beaten a lot and in one Scene She Takes the anal Plug in top her mouth)
The Younger Sister Ruby do Need a Bit of Work though, Storylike and in the appearance, it feels Like She was left behind.

Cant wait Till this Game gets finished. Keep Up the good Work .

Lewd as all hell. Love the characters, love the pacing, and especially love just how visually stimulating this one is.
This isn't one for deep storytelling, but it isn't shallow and boring either. It has a compelling character progression coupled with magnificent renders and good writing to back it up. There's no grind at all and even though at start the MC feels annoying, you kinda warm up to him as well.
What makes this story so good is just how hot it is, which isn't easy to pull off, building tension and creating scenarios in which there's a spicyness to almost every scene. Also helps that there's not 20 different girls with same personality around, and that characters are slowly introduced in the narrative and plot thickens eventually.
One caveat is that, I know that this game has been in development for a while, and I played the first version when it came out way back and now I get to play the current version which I see as a vast improvement, but a lot of time has also passed. Still, I believe in the dev for the previous game was also glorious and this one is proving to be even better. Delicious.

I appreciate the new game and the progress so far, a likeable and real MC not overly douche and not overly kind, not wimpy or overly full of himself. The renders are always good, not surprise there is a lot of FEET scene the dev has a thing for it even in the first game. hope to see more soon

After playing dreams of desire I also had high expectations for this one.

It actually is rather good. The animations and models are nice, the story is not the best but still at least interesting enough to read it.

But in the end I stopped playing it without reaching the current end. The sandbox-part and the endless grinding killed it. I cought myself clicking though all the repetetive scenes without reading anything. The multiple levels of massages, photoshoots, "go shopping with sister" and so on it's just not worth it.

I wish the dev would remove the sandbox-feature or at least reduce it to a low level only leaving options that actually matter for story parts or quests.

I am so sorry because the mother and younger sister are extremly hot but more than 50% of the playtime is grinding and that's killing the motivation for it.

Without sandbox playstyle this would have been again a 5 star game

Great fucking game, the quality of the renders is really great, the females characters are very good written, this is a game that you would definitely want to play, there is not grinding and i gotta say the story is reallyyy good like it leaves you wanting more, for me this is one of the few 10/10 games in the forum

Slowly becoming one of the best H game out there for me.
Renders are excellent, midnight city's atmosphere coupled with the music really gives the game a vibe and I'm curious how the story will end.
Great overall.

Like everyone else already said, the visuals are great. The rest, not so much.

The main problem this sandbox game has, is that it's divided into two sections. One is the classic sandbox experience with 4 different times of day and multiple different locations (Bathroom, Room 1 e.g.) in which you can interact with the multiple characters during the day.
The other section are "Quests/Objectives", for which you need to progress the story sometimes, however they do not interact with the sandbox element a lot.

For the sandbox element, for each interaction with one of the main characters (Sister, Sister, Mother) you get 1 point. Every 5 points you increase your "Intimacy Lvl'' with them, which unlocks new interactions. As this game teases a lot, the natural progression for each character is something like Talk -> see naked -> touch boob -> blowjob and so on, with the end "goal" being sex. The quests are similar, but usually always are a bigger step (first blowjob for example).


So, the problem is, that the quests do not have a certain point/intimacy requirement, which leads to some stupid character progression. The main thing, is that each character has Sex with the protagonist for the first time in a "Quest". I tried to optimize day to day activities and quests to not "waste" any time slot and before I knew it, I had sex with one sister in her final quest, while during the day after in the shower in the normal sandbox mode, the dialogue was something like this.

"Oh my god, my sister looks so hot. I can't imagine how touching her boobs must feel like. I so want to fuck her but I need to be patient."

"Oh my god my he is just standing there, looking at me. I'm naked this is so wrong! But why do I kind of like it? Connor get the hell out, you're such a perv looking at you sister like that."

Immersion, ruined.

This leads to the main problem, which is that if you focus on the quests early, think that you're kinda on the same speed with the quests and the day to day sandbox element, you can completely ruin your game by breaking any immersion. On top of that, you then need to interact with a character you previously had Sex with 30 or 40 times doing teasing scenes, while every second thought/dialogue goes like "No, we can't cross that line...''

The intimacy level goes up to 80, 90 and 100 for the three characters, so the quests should have checkpoints for a certain intimacy level before doing them, this would help the game immensely.

Overall, a below average game that drags on forever and has many inconsistencies. The visuals are nice, but that's about it.

Oh, I guess I forgot about the story. Kinda fitting because it's so bland you forget it while playing aswell.

If you want to grind 10 to 15 hours with repeatable scenes, you will like this game. If you think the renders are hot, download the cheat mod and enjoy the visuals for 30 minutes.

Broken sandbox map, good graphic, and after few days, nothing happened. Installed walkthrough says stay with isabella, spent few days nothing happaned, lawyer didnt call bla bla in 33 days, nothing happened. Very unsuccessfull sandbox game. Sorry but this is how this is

(Review of v0.26 Elite)

The LIs are hot and visuals are more than OK, but those are the only positives here; the sandbox is so terribly boring and repetitive that it just isn't worth it. There's a quest log and a timetable and they do help somewhat at saving you some time wandering around doing useless actions, but even so you have to go home every day and do a lot of clicks just to reach your bed and sleep until the next day. Even the screen switching is slow, for whatever reason, and the world map is divided in sections so you have to remember where something is, otherwise you have to go back and try again because the developer couldn't be bothered to implement a single worldspace. Almost everything is done in a way that makes you waste as much time as possible, including a mouse pointer that is so big and simple that you miss some clicks because you have no idea where the hitzone is. Madness...

Continuity breaks every now and then. For example, your mother goes to work, then in the next scene she magically teleported back home and is now talking on the phone. The script suffers from the same problem too: in one scene you are having a nice banter with your older sister, only to have her bashing you for no reason one hour later as if you had just started all over again.

The fundamental problem here is that scenes are recycled to death, including the dialogue itself. Photo shootings, boring talk, yoga sessions, massages, sun tanning... The same old beaten crap we find in every adult game these days, only here it all progresses at such a snail pace that you virtually have to be a masochist to endure the endless grinding. In the end all the wear and tear goes to your mouse instead of where it should, if you know what I mean.

Others may find this fun but I for one can't stand this torture. Like another reviewer said, you'd be better off using a decompressor to extract the pictures and animations you like and dumping everything else.

I absolutely loved this game! The storyline is incredibly engaging, filled with unexpected twists and rich character development that keeps you hooked from start to finish. The visuals are stunning, with beautifully rendered scenes that not only enhance the narrative but also add an extra layer of allure. The user interface is intuitive and user-friendly, making navigation seamless and enjoyable. It's rare for me to find a game where I’m drawn in by both the plot and the captivating visuals, but this one strikes the perfect balance. The writing is top-notch, with witty dialogue and immersive descriptions that elevate the entire experience. I found myself eagerly anticipating each new scene, not just for the enticing visuals but also for the unfolding story that kept me wanting more. Overall, this game is a true gem that offers a delightful combination of narrative depth and eye-catching art