VN - Ren'Py - My Dorm [v0.21.2 S3 Ch.1] [Tropecita Games]

I really wanted to like this game because it has a bunch of interesting aspects and fun kinks, but a combination of tedious tropes and frustratingly clumsy writing made the game too much of a chore.

It's a quite straightforward game. There are some choices, but they mostly consist of "Do you want to see this content? Yes - No". This is not a bad thing in itself, but a game like that has to rely on good writing instead of variation and mechanics and the writing isn't this game's strong suit at all.
The visuals are a bit dated, but decent enough.

The characters you meet are mostly interesting, but the game relies heavily on the virgin trope, so every single woman is either a young and shy virgin or a more mature, but terribly insecure woman, who hasn't had sex for more than a decade. Any personality the characters have is quickly replaced with either insane lust for the MC or conflicted feelings of guilt and shame, sometimes switching from one to the other in the same scene. Consistency is nonexistent. In addition, the writing isn't great when it comes to distinguishing the different personalities. All the characters feel like the same person talking, i.e. same style, same vocabulary, same humour, same verbose way of speaking etc.
As the game progresses more and more characters are added and while some later characters have a bit more personality, that bonus is almost entirely countered by how crowded the game becomes and how little time is spent on each individual character.

The MC is another trope for harem games: Bland, unfunny, very little charm to him and yet every single woman falls madly in love with him in a matter of minutes. At 21 years of age he's able to impress all the ladies, young and old, with his wisdom (mostly painful cliches along the lines of "you should just be yourself") whenever they tell him about a problem they're having. He's basically the lewd version of a superhero that has ALL super powers, ever, and no weaknesses! Impressive, but mind-numbingly boring.

The writing is the real issue, though. It's almost entirely stiff, formal and much too wordy. Characters will describe at length what just happened in the last scene or what is happening right now, they'll narrate their own feelings and thoughts in a very stilted and artificial way. This includes the sex scenes and gives us quotes like this:
"And the vibrations you produce when you hit the forbidden zone... they're increasing the pleasure... to levels that... I've never felt before..."
To my mind that is neither believable nor sexy. No one talks like that, especially when getting fucked, much less when getting fucked well.
To my mind the dev really needs to consider the "show, don't tell" approach, i.e. show us what the characters are feeling, don't have them tell us. Nothing is ever left ambiguous or unsaid, instead you'll get a dozen lines of dialogue about even the most minor thought.

The plot is another weird thing. The whole dorm situation, moving back to the home town and reconnecting etc. is a completely self-contained and sufficient story, but for some reason the dev decided that the game needed secret agents, guns and goddamn clones! This is all introduced mostly straight-faced, the game takes itself quite seriously here and there are long, dull and meandering scenes filled with absurd and uninteresting dialogue to explain this insane plot, when it does nothing for the game and just isn't an interesting story on its own. It feels entirely tacked on for no good reason and I honestly don't feel the quality of the writing is good enough to remotely justify how much time is spent on this. Writing a fun lewd game is one thing, writing an interesting sci-fi thriller requires much greater quality and this ain't it.

Sex scenes are quite hot and decently kinky, but as mentioned the clumsy dialogue haunts the lewd scenes too. They're also quickly very spread out.
A lot of characters are introduced and, while the variety in body types and ages is great compared to other games, the sheer amount of characters and the tendency for one droning conversational scene to be followed by 3 or 4 more, means that not only are sex scenes in general quite rare, but scenes with any specific girl in the game are extremely spaced out. The fact that some characters are literal clones of others only makes this worse. Instead of developing the story and relationship between the MC and girl X, you get to see the MC "charm" X's clone instead...

So yeah, this review ended up being as long-winded as most of the game's dialogue, sorry about that. The tl,dr is that there's a great game in here, but it's tripped up by a boring MC, a bloated and bland cast of characters, horribly verbose dialogue and an unnessary and convoluted plot that takes itself much too seriously.

The game's overall good but it feels a bit clunky. I'm still incredibly early into the game so perhaps it's teething problems that will resolve but so far it's ok without being spectacular.

The premise for the game is ok but at the same time it seems a bit implausible. " The main character will have to help turn the family home into a college dorm " but at the same time it seems like a secondary point, almost like a hassle. It's there because a reason is needed but with so much focus on characters who aren't impacted by the idea of needing a dorm, it feels redundant.

As I mention it also feels a bit clunky at times. It's not a game cause everyone wants the MC's dick. It's a wish fulfilment simulator. Each and everyone wants to go for a ride and that's fine and all but there's no real explanation to why. It's like everyone knows you're the MC and that's just how these things work. And at times it feels even the Dev can't be bothered establishing the why. I think the first.....4? girls you speak to end up seeing you in the shower and it's like "OMGZ look at the size of that" and that's it. Like the Dev put his hand in, picked out the old "caught in the shower" trope and went "good enough, copy and paste".

Possibly being harsh, it's interesting, it's worth playing, it just feels a bit... raw. Like it needs some polish in terms of plot and dialogue. The fact it seems most of the girls are virgins just means you're not even getting any variety in terms of relationship. They're all super shy, meek etc. There's a few assertive women in there and to be honest the interactions with them are so much more engaging.

So, after playing through v.12 I have gotten an overall feeling for this game.

First of all, the original girls and the animations are hot and i have no complaints about that. Where the game drags down for me is in the dialogue. It is repetitive and boring. There are quite a few girls in this game and the recurring theme is that the MC has to lay down the "harem rules" every single time with each and every one. So much of this game is the MC trying to wrangle all his relationships into a working, logical functioning harem, and it shouldnt really work but of course it does because plot.

Later, a group of diversity girls are introduced and you are put into a "relationship points" system with them, which is rather confusing because now you have to wonder if you're going to have enough points with the ones you like or what the consequences are for having negative points with the ones you dont like.

One other point i would like to make is that the writing has no breaks for the mc. What i mean by that, is that he moves from girl scene to girl scene without ever really doing anything that a normal guy would do. He is supposed to be the CFO of this family business and yet he does no actual work that i can tell, aside from one scene in which he tears down a wall. Even in that scene we have all the women watching and commenting like lovestruck teenagers. All the girls have the same questions about the situation they are in, and he always gives the same answers, and the dialogue moves so slowly its sometimes painful. As of v12 the "harem" is only partially public, and with every passing scene one wishes they would just out the whole thing all at once so we could just get it over with and move on already.

Pregnancy options are nice if you are into that, and later a couple of GILFS show up, if thats your thing.

Version: [v0.18.2 P2]
A promising VA that unfortunately falls for a common pitfall - way too many LI's.

There's a lot to like here, the renders are nice, the scenes are hot, and there are a bunch of really heartwarming moments.
The story is... well, its there, and it starts out interesting enough, and overall I was pretty excited to see what is coming for 'My Dorm'.

Unfortunately, the amount of LI's got so unnecessarily, annoyingly high 'My Dorm' became, for me at least, impossible to enjoy.
It made the story drag on, the beautiful moments to feel much less special as they just kept repeating with different girls that got less and less screen time, it just became a wordy, confusing wholesome moments and sex scenes manufacturing machine working at 110% capacity.
I'll also be honest and say that after adding the 10th or 11th LI things got very confusing for me, coming back to play the new updates left me wondering who's who and what was their story. I decided to drop it.

I like the developer, I really liked most of the first part, and I firmly believe this could have been a very strong 4* VN if the amount of LI's was cut in half.
I do recommend giving it a shot, because as I said - there's plenty to like and the first part is very good, it's just not for me anymore.

I don't normally give out 5-star ratings, but My Dorm definitely deserves one. I've played only a few AVNs that were better.

+ Excellent models, scenes, renders, and lighting
+ Different body types and great personalities matching them
+ Loads of content, and while the story isn't too deep, it's very engaging and well-written
+ Lots of sex scenes, though with this many possible partners each one's time diminishes accordingly
+ Built-in guide, clearly showing results, and pregnancy options clearly
+ Interactions between characters is frequent and believable
+ Most regular renders have animated blinking, or waving hands, or other expressions. Brings life to the models and story.
+ Great implementation of the harem and "incest" (no spoilers here for the surprises)
+ A likable and honest/up-front MC (despite having a large member) makes it easy to play him

- Sex scene animations/length could be smoother, better, and longer
- Few kinks overall (I think anal only happened once through 0.17.0). Most sex is vaginal/oral for the entire game. Absolutely NEEDS more kinks, to expand the experience.

The two minuses above didn't detract enough from the overall experience to merit taking anything away from the 5-star rating. It'd end up a 4.7 or 4.8 either way.

Not fully caught up yet, but it's enjoyable so far. There is a large cast of characters and very few that I am not a fan of. The premise is very unique and pretty interesting. There is even some interesting world building with the MCs father and such. Also, there is a lot of optional content which is always a nice touch. Solid 4.5 / 5.

A very amazing story about building a family and not just living in one. So many LI's may seem like a problem until you see how well that each as written as a person instead of a "station". The overall story is charming AND heartwarming. Something that very few other AVN's achieve. Everybody can find a favorite or two (or ALL) I am glad that I get to keep following along on this adventure to see how EVERYONE even the ever aged MC (;P) grows more into themselves and more into what I wish more families could be.

Thank you Topecita for giving us this adventure.

Very good fun mostly lighthearted game in the slice of life harem genre, with a good cast of characters, improving graphics, humor, few to no bugs and even some story.

Not recommended for players that want a strong antagonist or corruption or an extreme grind, but very much for those who can play a game without that and enjoy a feel good moment or two.

Also an extra shoutout to the dev for his willingness to go the extra mile to offer a choice in who you do wish to have a romantic relationship with. Pretty rare for a dev to give you the choice to have a relation with everything between 0 to 28 ladies and respect your wishes. Kuddos.

Game is a VN (clearly labeled as such) that has lots of text to read as character backstories/personalities/motivations are devleoped in far more depth than most games/VNs. If you don't like to read, or if you prefer content with lewd scenes every few clicks with no consequences, this game may not be for you. But if you enjoy realistically paced relationships where characters do their best to be respectful of one another (MC included), you will likely enjoy this game. There are LI's of many different kinds, so there is something for everyone (or many somethings). Well written, with some humor, lots of well developed and well-rendered LI's, and - most unusually - nothing absurd that takes you out of the game or forces you to suspend disbelief. Game mechanics are smooth. Only thing missing that would be a big improvement at some point is an in-game reference to help keep track of who all the ladies are and what MC's history with each of them is, because when coming back after a while (maybe skipping an update or two) it can be hard to remember who they all are. EDIT: this was added and I just never noticed because me is dumb. There is a button to open character info, but if you play with icons minimized like me the function of that particular button is not obvious. So there you have it - nothing is missing from this game (other than the standard misogyny and general meanness prevalent in games enjoyed by boys who need to feel powerful).

Unbiased Review of My Dorm, part 1 & 2

Part 1 - ⭐⭐⭐
Part 2 - ⭐

Pros
-Great ensemble of characters, nice variety. Its a buffet done right.
More commonly seen in Sandbox genres, its a nice little change for linear VNs.

-Pretty solid amount of content especially for Part 1.

-Sex scenes probably use some stock animations but I actually think its better in this case, many other VN's scenes feel like clunky 15 fps robotic movements.

-Renders have improved in Part 2.

-Writing is very beefy and most of the girls are done quite well. They don't always feel like reskins with the same personality save 1-3 girls.

-QoL for all you kinky bastards out there

-Bless thy in game Walkthrough.


Cons
-The story falls short, it tries to do too much and include too much without being sure of its identity. It tries to be deep or meaningful at certain moments but that illusion is kinda shattered when all the women literally throw themselves at him with some of the most strangest dialogue.

-No gallery in Part 1.

-Some characters are just completely and absolutely forgettable and unnecessary. Like the girls that were protecting your house from.. um bad guys. Yes.

-Dialogue is overkill in Part 2 considering that you can't skip it like in Part 1. Especially for characters that you have no intention of romancing or getting involved with since Part 1. (there is a skip function apparently but regardless the dialogue is still monstrous for characters that have no credence to the over arching plot)

- The pacing is very erratic, there's no proper transition to how fast or slow things progress. You're just kind of thrown a new bone from all sorts of angles. That tends to happen with a large group of characters, lots of writing to sort out so its understandable to a degree.

Overall I want to make it clear that trying to have beefy dialogue to making your story have multiple subplots isn't wrong. Its just not very well executed here, games like Stranded in Space are even more dialogue heavy but that tone was established from the get go and hinted multiple times as to how much more twists there might be. You don't feel like you got slighted. Would still recommend it, its got good content and a plethora of girls to choose from.

This review might trigger some fans but objectivity isn't a lost art for me.

One of the best Harem VNs on this website.

Big range of characters, with different personalities and body types, all sexy as hell

Story is different than the rest of the harem VNs, it's more focused on the spicy scenes but the story is always there which in my opinion is the correct balance for this type of game.

MC is not the usual retard or weak-spined loser from 90% of harem games and even though he isn't john wick he will still try to protect his girls.

You have the option of not going for specific girls if you don't like them, it's good that the dev gave the option since I know some players can be more picky. Personally I went for all of them, yes even the grandma and I will go after the chubby, big titted aunt when the game lets me too.

Really liking it so far, I hope it continues on this path and good luck to the dev.

SUCH a fun game! Out of the 41 games I am currently playing, this is in a tight running with Grandma's House as my favorite.
The dialogue is usually pretty good as is the art. The reasoning behind the whole harem situation and even the !ncest is believable and sensible. Plus, happy to see Bellingham, WA mentioned as I used to live there, 25 years ago.
And the clones? Fun! Granted, there is a lot of ignoring scientific fact for this, but I have games with vampires, goblins, Necko-girls from space, demons, wizards and a guy trapped alone, Stranded in Space(tm) on a ship with a thousand horny women. After that, clones are an easy thing to accept.
Even the ability to be able to choose who you date, who you can impregnate, etc, are great inserts to make a game you can truly have a unique path of your own in.
My only quibble is that the MC doesn't seem to get much repeat encounters with the girls he's romancing. Granted, that would cut into time for other story elements, but makes me feel the girls might start to feel a bit neglected.
Keep up the good work, and can't wait for the next installment.

My opinion of this game changed part way through part 2. Based on part 1, I'd rate the game between 4 and 5 stars.

Core Game Problems

It's an overly long story that drags on so long that it becomes boring. Most visual novels are a summary of the story and events. The game makes NO attempt to speed things up or to summarize anything. It's just endless dialog and text that goes on for ages.

After you've added the 8th girl to your harem, it just gets predictable and boring. I thought part 1 was well done overall but after getting part way through part 2 it felt like a never ending soap opera.

I can see that the author put a lot of hard work into this game but some players aren't interested in reading a 500 page fiction novel.

The cast is way too large and because of this it feels like once you add a girl to your harem they become side characters and you're off to your next conquest.

Another major gripe is the huge emphasis on trying to make the whole harem concept believable. Very few harems are believable. In most cases they only occur among the ultra wealthy and men in positions of great power (kings, rulers, etc.). With harem games, we accept the fantasy and don't need the harem concept to be constantly justified by the author. I love harem games, I just don't like the constant story emphasis attempting to justify it.

The MC is a perfect white knight! He always has the right answer and can easily squash any problems with his harem. Always the hero and rarely does anything wrong. He doesn't feel human as a result because he is too perfect, nearly all the time. I understand that the MC is a good looking charismatic guy but the whole white knight thing is over the top and goes supernova at times. Too many cringe moments in the story as a result.

For me, the game would be close to 5 stars had the author summarized the story and had a smaller cast with deeper character development for each of them. Removing all the harem justification would be a huge plus also. Making the MC human instead of the perfect white knight would be more immersive for me.

If you're going to have a huge visual novel you have to be able to keep the player's interest and it faded the more I played through part 2. I never finished part 2 because I went from loving the game (part 1) to being bored and uninterested in continuing it half way through part 2. The same recipe played out for most of the girls (meet them, have an event with them, take their viriginity or fuck them, add them to your harem, move on to the next conquest/girl).

What I liked

Good renders and character models
Good sex scenes
Good character development
Unique characters and personalities
Harem game

Conclusion

I recommend playing through part 1 and ending there. I only recommend the full game for players who love to read and love verbose dialog and very long stories (slow burn, 500 page novels).

I love this vn. Love the characters, but obviously I like some of the more than others. Samantha, Debbie and Kate are my absolute favorites. Looking forward to see more of Kate. The renders look great, most of the animations are also great.
There is a lot to love about this vn, and i am looking forward to see more. The story can get a bit convoluted at times, but all in all it has great moments for everyone, and i do want to see how the story evolves with everyone.
Highly recommended.

very fun to play, has def good humor, caught myself chuckling from time to time. would recommend to play, mc looks kinda weird at the beginning of he game, but after the hair cut, he looks def better. the girls have different personalities, some of them eperienced, some less, you know virgins, no sluts. the animations are ok. the story is a little confusing, but so far i'm still following. plot is a little cliche and overdone. you know guy comes home from college to visit his family, because his father dissapeared. but i don't mind that kind of story.

8/10 recommended

The best game I've played so far. Everything is almost perfect. It's hard to imagine a game with a huge character line and meticulously built characters. One thing I really like about this game is that the ladies are built in a diverse way, some of them have physical flaws, but they are all beautiful in their own way. Furthermore, a plus point for Dev is that girls can improve their appearance through exercise or makeup. The characters' costumes and hairstyles are also meticulously and regularly cared for. The two female characters I like most are definitely Samantha and grandmother Olivia. Samantha is perfectly shaped and attractive, especially her vagina. As for Olivia, with a breast full of milk, I wonder if she can be pregnant or not =)). And I really hope to see Olivia dye her hair, she looks so hot with her deep brown hair in one scene. And it would be even better if it was possible to get all the ladies pregnant and turn one of them into a sex slave, instead of most being romantically inclined.

So, love the game. For a minute, the game looked like it was going to be a rather hum-drum story following our MC through the meanderings of a semester of women at the family's homes/dorms. I wasn't entirely sure where the story was going to come from, but the developer has done well integrating a wild tale of science fact--even if we aren't cloning people yet, cloning is real--with action/adventure.

Oh, and the MC is on a quest from God to produce more children than Elon Musk. To his credit, the MC is clearly more efficient at it.

Going to give this five stars, but I do have one question...

Why are all the women so tall?

Even the shortcakes--the shortest is Olivia at 5'5"--are taller than the global average for women (5'3"), while the majority of women in the game are between 5'9" and 5'11". Pretty sure Debbie, the lanky champion swimmer, is actually taller than the MC coming in a full foot higher than the global average for women (6'3").

It's a HAREM game, a lot of the negatives seem to be against the fact that it is what it claims to be. It also does the harem correctly, the LIs know and learn about each other as the story progresses., without the need for a massive orgy.

There are a LOT of LIs, but each is individual, if it is too many you can close off paths to keep the number more to your liking. I won't say it's too many because I'm looking forward to the additions moving forward.

It's IMHO one of the best Harem games you can find. The story is nice enough to keep you engaged. Character growth for each one so far is a very nice consistency. The timid virgin is not grabbing a whip and strap-on. They're actual fictional characters not just cock sleeves with no personality.

I'm just laughing at the recent reviewers who are all up in arms over the unfairness of the MC in a porno game telling his harem not to NTR him while sexing up everything with a pulse.

Maybe they should make a sign calling for "equal rights for fictional porn game love/lust interests" and march up and down the street in their nations capital chanting and blocking traffic until someone takes them seriously (could be there for a while). The greatest generation had WW2, the boomers had vietnam, and these folks have......equal rights for female shaped pixels in video games..... . Every generation has their battle, I suppose...

Anyways, if you ignore those people, like you should, it's a fun game. Nothing new or ground breaking, but the girls are cute and there's a good amount of action. If you like harem games and don't have trouble remembering it's a game and not real life (like some people), then check it out. Don't expect the great novel of our age, but that's not why most people play these games.

Yes, it's the millionth adaption of the same old concept. It's literally like watching the same movie forever. I am not sure how you guys do it. BUT I can't really fault the game about this, since it's pretty clear what it tries to achieve. It's yet another harem power fantasy. It's all it is meant to be and I assume that's why you are here anyway.

It's one of the better versions of TEH HAREM. The plot is still beaten into submission with a crowbar. The girls still fall in love with the MC for no reason whatsoever and say things no living woman would say or think. So far, so similar.

Unfortunately it eventually loses all cohesion with a flood of faceless women coming in that all go through the same bullshit (Oh, I love him, Oh he has other women, Oh, I accept it anyway, Let's fuck).

What it has going for it though is that it is fairly entertaining and the characters are different enough to be interesting - at least the first dozen or so.

As far as Happy Meals go, this one is at least still warm. Enjoy.

Edit: I have to add, that the "I can have anyone, but you can't kiss/look/smile at anyone but me" really bothers me. It's ok to not show it or even act on it on the girls part, but fucking around as the MC and disallowing the women the same freedom comes across as really incel-ish. Meh (-1 Star).