Unity - Midnight Sin [v0.7.1] [Faerin]

Plot
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
This isn't the common loser MC tale that by miraculous ways ended up conquering tons of girls. He has a badass background as a highly trained bodyguard and ends up being the bodyguard of his own father's widow and finds out that he has 3 step-sisters that have never met before. The first thing he tries to do is gain his stepmother's trust by protecting and helping his step-sisters at all costs, but as they are lonely because of their lifestyle in confinement in a mansion and having an overprotective and strict mother, they end up developing a big crush on the MC. Here things get weird, he fiercely rejects them and the game becomes a kind of inverted corruption, they try to corrupt the MC instead of the opposite like in all other AVNs. The MC is clearly against incest and loves his sisters as a brother should love... But not forever!

Gameplay
★ ★ ★
It's a free-roaming point-and-click event hunter.

Renders and Animations
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
This is the AVN's extremely strong point, and I can say with certainty that it's ahead of its time. I've never seen anything like it and I've played the main AVN's available on this forum. The renders and animations alone can easily give five starts for the game

Engine
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The developer managed to beat Ren'py using the Unity engine.

I am aware that this is a game in development, but even viewed through that lens, it can't be rated higher than 3/5. And that's a real shame, since I really like Faerin as a developer.

Pros:
-Nice animations and images.
-An interesting story.
-Cool characters.

cons:
-Not all characters are developed. That might be due to being in development, and could change later.
-Lack of gameplay: For a long time, gameplay is limited to clicking 'next hour', untill a specific event occurs in a specific room. While we are waiting for that to happen, there is nothing to do. No interesting, repeating events. No change in the images of the girls. Nothing to do but click 'next'.
-Connected to that: A real slow development. The game gets steamy after a while, but it takes a long time to get there.
-Boring gameplay: Some of the gameplay that exists is 'hunt the pixel', where you have to find a specific item to click.

I will continue to follow this game, hoping for the cons to get fixed. It's not a total write-off, and has the potentiel for greatness. I really hope it gets there with time.

Nice models and good renders, also the main riddle was kinda fun and well thought through, played it with walktrhough however. Except for that riddle maybe, the ingame walkthrough works quite well in general and all-in-all the GUI is very user friendly for a sandbox game, so it doesn't feel too grindy.

That being said, the game is rather vanilla and boring which is why it gets only 3/5 stars. The girls have different personalities but the sex scenes are more or less completely interchangeable as it is so often the case nowadays with all these softwashed games. The whole BDSM/discipline theme makes kind of no sense because apparently they all just love it, so there is zero edge or spice or any hint for corruption. What's the point of all that hidden punishment room when they love it and are basically begging for it anyway? I don't mind the girls loving it "deep down" or them getting "accustomed" to the bdsm theme but since all the devs are shitting themselves nowadays when showing even the slightliest non-con or forceplay scene, the result is another run-of-the-mill boring vanilla sex game.

This game is a step down from his earlier efforts, the story started interesting enough but has now ended up a bit boring. I suppose if you are a BDSM fan you can bump it 1-2 stars but that fetish is just ok for me.
The graphics are very good, not quite genre leading.
The LIs are tropey which is not a bad thing they just seem to fall for the MC quite quickly and now have nowhere to go. The sandbox is adding nothing and this game could work just as well as a VN.

Edit: I see some new reviews giving massive praise to the fact that the girls are superkeen on the MC from the get go. This might have been novel 6 years ago but is now super common to the point where its more unusual for many of the girls to be hard to get than the other way around.
The story would have been much more interesting if all the girls did not act the same way towards the MC with very minor differences.

Story 2/5, Originality 2/5, Renders 4.5/5, Animations 4/5, Amount of content 3/5

Review of v0.5.1

A beautiful game with a good story.

The graphics and animations are excellent. I like the fact that you can change the animation speed during the sex scenes and that there are different camera angles.

The gameplay is good. Personally, I haven't come across any major bugs since I've been playing it (that is, since the beginning).

The only minor complaint I have at this stage of development is that there is no scene with one of the girls (the blonde maid), but I think that will come in future updates.

Anyway, if you like sandboxes with puzzles to solve, mini-games and beautiful women with different personalities, then I'd recommend this game.

<< Update for 7.l - removed 1 star due to locked content behind "extra version". >>

The good

- Faerin is one of the better writers on this site and that alone makes all of his future works worth a look. In particular, the girls' different personalities and dispositions toward the main character shine in the dialogue. I particularly enjoyed Annabelle, the introvert gamer girl.
- The characters look great. There is a clear improvement from game to game with quality of the renders.

The bad

-Love/Lust stats. Why? They don't seem to serve a purpose, there are not multiple ways to increase or decrease them. The story is linear with each character with hardly any player agency. The love and lust stats are more of a page number in the story than anything else.

-"Sandbox". This is not a sandbox. It's a linear story. It's sadly a step backwards from both previous titles in this regard, as character progression is linear and there is no optional content. You must progress all the girls.

-Money - why? There are not multiple ways to earn it and you can't even choose when to spend it. The store tells you that you don't need that right now. The fights have a skip button. It's just un-enjoyable clicking that you have to do to unlock the next part.

-What's the deal with animated girls smelling your penis in this genre? It seems like a trope for sex scenes written by someone who's never had sex.

-Pace of progression / first half vs second half. I find the first half of faerin games enjoyable in general. There is progression, there is buildup, and it's well written. But then there is a point in the game where the courting stops and suddenly all of the girls go [in a very sudden way] from building sexual tension to "please c*m inside my p*ssy" all at once. I find that at this point, the writing that made the game enjoyable was thrown out of the window and from here, you're just clicking through for the lewd scenes. This, in my opinion is the worst quality of the game, and all Faerin games. Addressing this point in my humble opinion is the key to a 5 star game.

Conclusion: Faerin games are well written in the first half and it's worth taking a look. Once the sex scenes kick in, good writing goes out of the window and it's just clicking through lewd scenes.
First half of the game: 4.5 stars
Second half of the game: 2.5 stars
Applicable to previous Faerin games as well.

The girls are hot and that's the only good thing here. I dont know why so many people keep rating it 5 stars.

First of all its a sandbox, so as a player you have no agency at all, the story progresses as designed and events happen as designed. Dont really understand the need for assigning stats in such a game, where those stats just change without you as a player taking any decision. But also this game goes one step beyond, where everything the MC does is because he is being blackmailed. Like seriously as a player i have no choice and then the character i am playing also has no say in the matter what happens. He just has to go along what the blackmailer tells him to do, rather than MC being interested in the girls and doing things to get close to them.

Additionally MC is just a wuss and kinda stupid.
The story is so poor, for eg this MC knows he is getting blackmailed, he kinda knows how are they observing him. But instead of doing something about it, he is secretly enjoying doing things with these girls. It really doesnt make any sense. A person getting blackmailed doesnt behave like that, esp if he is a professional bodyguard.
Anyways i really have no desire to play this anymore.

At 0.5.1, the game is made really well. No bugs, smooth gameplay and dialoge
- The characters are great (With the Ipatch)
- The models are phenomenal. All of them. Thick, curvy all amazing
- The UI is easy to use and understandable .

- There isn't much to the story, but there is air of mystery of why certain things are happening.

I also played with the walk through, which definitely helps

i like that this game has so many things to do, puzzle and requirement to progress the quest and secrets.

the models are amazing and beautiful.

the dev of this game is making a great games, i liked the other games as much as i enjoyed this one.


please keep up the great work i would support it defiantly.

top of the charts games out there
like man of the house was and even better
just need more content to come but its still really good and worth playing

the renders the animations are incredible 10/10
the story is also very good 10/10
UI very good and simple. 10/10
not grindy at all, no repetitive scenese . everytime something new. 10/10
great progression 10/10

just simply amazing game just need more content , can't wait for more to replay it again for like the 6th time already

going to become like man of the house (even batter with bdsm)....
also love the ui ....
i hope updates get biiger when the story goes ...
love the renders and animations in the game
i hope dev gets support for the awsome game

Review for Midnight Sin v0.5.0:

I really like the gaming experience of Faerin's games. There's so much more that can be done in Unity compared to some other engines and he's really taking advantage of it. Given the complexity, it's even more impressive that bugs are rare and minor.

Midnight Sin's user interface is very nicely done and mostly well-optimized. There are a few things that are slow and annoying, such as the fade-out/fade-in of skipping time, the countdown of driving between locations on the city map, and some short animations that are not skippable during repeatable events such as the fight scenes.

Most gameplay is typical sandbox style, but it's complemented by a great UI and hint system that makes playing less tedious. The fight minigames are challenging to learn, but unfortunately, they're also boring AF after a few fights. However, players can skip the fight minigame if they find it boring or just don't like it. Hopefully, additional gaming elements will be added to give some variety to the gaming experience.

The female models are pretty and the model for the MC is good. The renders look good even though they don't appear to be very high resolution, and I think this really helps keep the game's size under control. The animations are very good, too.

The story is an above-average incest story with half-sisters. The writing is excellent.

As for content, the overall amount of content in the game is kind of average for sandbox games. The amount of lewd content is a bit low so far, but I expect will accelerate drastically over time, just like the dev's other games. Content quality and relationship building is pretty good, too. Excluding the maid scene, which was intentionally different for the storyline.

The content before v0.5.0 was dropping hints, but now, it's looking more like this game is going to fall into the stereotype BDSM-focused harem game with the MC being the one to administer all punishment. There are enough similar games out there that I know a market exists, but I find it to be a turn-off. It doesn't affect my rating, but it does de-motivate me to try future updates and re-evaluate the game as it progresses.

Finally, a game with meaningful interaction and progression that makes sense.

The visuals are amazing—I have nothing bad to say about them.

The UI and interface overall are simple and easy to use.

The characters each have distinct personalities, which is rare in today's visual novel space.

My only complaint is that the updates are a bit short, but at least they're consistent.

Pros

• An excellent story emphasizing incest & polyamorous:
• MC being surprisingly introduced to hot and beautiful stepmom & step sisters is interesting; developing good relationship and achieving intimacy makes it seductively interesting. Step mom gradually feeling MC’s good qualities and slowly falling for him is nice.
• All six females are being different personalities both physically as well characteristically is another plus.
• MC developing good relation with the shy natured sister Annebelle is very nice; especially online chatting using video game portal is excellent.
• Seductiveness is at the best.
• Excellent quality of image renders.
• Excellent quality of animations.
• Sound is good.
• Mini games with option to skip are really good.
• MC being blackmailed is an excellent and very interesting strategy.
• Youngest sister Olivia losing her virginity with MC by ‘accidental’ was very nice and the kind of strategy is super crazy but logically possible. MC want to push her away but her body is slippery due to massage oil leading to her pussy pushed into MC’s cock; OMG what an interesting logic. LOL
• Voice:
• Females laughing are good.
• Lewd moans are very good.
• Lewd shocking expressions are nice but intensity could be varied a little.
• Playability, performance and grammar are all just OK no issue.

Cons

• No progress for the event that the new maid Kate spying MC.
• Minor troubles due to UNITY platform UI not so user friendly compared to RENPY platform.
• No clarity about completing this update; In-game status reached 100% for all the characters and the hints indicates there is nothing to do for every characters. But a clear message to indicate that all the events for this update is completed could be better.

Eagerly waiting for next update.

This is definitely a really fun game.
The character growth and pace of the game are both rewarding and well-balanced, and I am really enjoying it. The plot is competent and occasionally captivating. Excellent animation and graphics complement the well-written text.
Overall, this is a worthwhile game to play!

This is the third title from a developer who has already established a strong reputation. From the outset, expectations for this game were high. Faerin's performance was found to be in line with expectations.
In contrast to the preceding games, the protagonist is a mature male, yet still exhibits a degree of sympathy, displaying a certain bewilderment in response to the events unfolding around him. The female characters are strikingly beautiful, maintaining a certain distance from the protagonist, yet he gradually succeeds in overcoming this distance. The gameplay incorporates elements of mystery solving, although the development of the narrative is somewhat slow. Nevertheless, I found this game to be entertaining, even in its incomplete state.

This is a slow burn...it takes time to soften and let the juices flow.
I am seriously enjoying the game, the pacing and character development are both satisfying and well balanced. The storyline is capable and at times, intriguing. Graphics and animation are excellent, the writing is good.
All in all, this is a game worth playing!

As of 0.4.3, I have quite a few things to talk about!

First of all, I pretty much discovered Hgames when Man of the House was mid development, so its been a while lets be honest. Faerin came onto the scene and dropped a banger that, even though its dated by todays standards, is still a valuable and enjoyable journey.

Then came Mystwood Manor. Doesn't feel like its been 5 years since that dropped, but hey, were all getting older. Mystwood gave Faerin a chance to take everything he learned with MotH and improve on it as well as try out some new ideas. Mystwood has a decent enough story, but was plagued with grind (I know thats part of the idea, it was a management game, but a H game nonetheless.) that was excessively padded with constant UI animations and an inability to save outside of the management screen.

Midnight Sin is doing what Faerin did before. Learning from his mistakes. For the most part, anyway. Much less UI animation, great character models (though I'm still of the opinion that you should never see the MC's face) and a decent cut to the grinding required. The characters are simple archetypes. The upbeat younger daughter, the shy yet boobalicious middle daughter and the pretentious and snobby eldest daughter. Nothing new there really.

Having the father have an affair resulting in the MC is a bit of a lazy way to tie some incest though, lets be honest. Probably could leave that out assuming Faerin doesnt have plans for that in future. I love a good incest plot, but when the MC doesnt even know the family exist until the start of the game, might as well just go the Hillside route and leave it out as it adds nothing.

Something that really should be thought about is camera placement with the sex shots. Whenever the MC isnt an active participant, or the girls are in the bath or something, the shots are amazing, but as soon as its an actual sex scene, the camera is in all the wrong places. Im getting way more of the MC blocking tits and such than we really should be.

Also just let us save in sex scenes. It costs nothing to be able to do so. I know devs don't generally like to save scum, but I'll never understand why. Nothing kills a players entertainment more than having to restart a game for a sex scene we missed, because theres a good chunk of the time where we cant actually save, and have to either hope or rely on autosaves that we don't control.

Plays rather well. No crashing or stuttering as is common with earlier releases. Simple and effective UI (lesson learned from MM), no exceptional grind but still found myself skipping a few more days than I would have liked to get to new content.

And while my review does come off as overly critical (thats just kinda what I am, everything good he has done in his previous titles has more or less carried over and been improved here) I still absolutely recommend giving it a play at least once. These are a few things that I really hope Faerin as fully aware of and is at least considering taking a whack at improvement. If he does so, it has the potential to be as popular as his first game.

Faerin is by far one of those few creators that while I will wait for a good few updates between playing, It takes everything I have not to click "Download" each time I get a notification. This is going to be no different.

I would have liked to give a better rating, but the hottest scenes are always in close-up.

Let me explain: I'm a fan of Anabelle; she is clearly my favorite. But why, when she paints her bodyguard and we see her from behind, are her buttocks not in the frame?

Why, when she gives him a handjob, is there a close-up of the guy's genitals? Why not pull back and admire the ENTIRE body of the women when they are in action? There are always close-ups of the guy's genitals, and it frustrates me.

90 percent of your time playing will be spent skipping time. Looped animations and blandly looped moans. Renders are solid and story is interesting but this is probably... easily... Faerin's worst game. It's definitely salvageable bcuz of how good the girls and the story is, but it really needs some tuning just to get to above mediocre.