Ren'Py - My Early Life [Ep.1-15.00] [CeLaVie Group]

Grindy games are fine, but having to repeat the same action over and over again and taking away the skip option? Absolutely braindead design decisions. Until that is fixed, this game doesn't deserve more than 1 star.

Models are ok, story is serviceable, the gameplay systems could work if everything else wasn't so grindy, the hint guide is unwieldy and scenes often take too long to progress or alternatively you can quickly reach progress in some scenes, but in others the exact same thing needs another 5 attempts.

- nightmarishly slow story development
- each new episode means that most scenes have to be repeated from scratch before something new can appear. It's as if everything is happening in a time loop and our ‘sisters’ have forgotten what they agreed to in the previous episode.

As of Part Two, Episode 15:

Okay, so let me start off this review by saying: If you are not into a grind, this game is NOT for you. One of the things I respect about this dev is they are very honest about this up front. So if you play it and get mad, you were warned in advance. That being said:

Artwork/Animations - 5/5

The girls are absolutely lovely and the scenes and animations are too-notch. I have no complaints here. The dev put a lot of work into it, and you can tell.

Storyline/Dialogue - 5/5

I thought of putting this at 4/5, because (and I could be wrong), I don't think the dev's first language is English. How some of the dialogue and words come out make me think this. However, the reason I am giving this 5 stars is because most devs whose language is not English don't put work into making their dialogue make sense; this dev does. So A for effort here. And the story is actually good.

Gameplay/UI - 5/5

Okay, so I struggled with this one. Like I mentioned, the game is grindy, and it is very difficult to navigate if you don't pay attention to the dialogue. And the in-game hint system is far from perfect; it is missing tips to activate some scenes, and I don't think it's by design. Good news is, as you play, you kind of get a feel for the game, and can start working without it IF you're patient (took me until episode 6 xD). So why am I giving this 5 stars? Because I like the fact that this is such a slow corrupt game. You really have to earn what you get. And once you get there, it's worth it. If you make it to the later episodes, you'll see why. I didn't think I'd find this game addicting, but I did.

To recap: Again, if slow corrupt games with some grind isn't your ticket, this game isn't for you. If you're into a game that rewards the patient, this is for you. Do I think some areas like the hint system need improvement? Yes. But overall, this is a great game that more than makes up for its shortcomings.

Final score: 5/5

Radical Dreamer

I don’t think I’ve ever written a bad review on these boards, but I can’t help myself with this 'CeLaVie' game. It’s an unrewarding grind, where grinding has replaced actual gameplay. The hint system is abysmal, and some past chapters are just broken, preventing progression. After over 10 chapters, you finally have the chance to develop a relationship with a character, but even then, it’s not possible. The gameplay lasts about 6-7 hours, which might seem like a good thing, but you’ll be doing the same tasks repeatedly because of the game's obtuse triggers—specific hours, specific days, and specific locations. Worse, the trigger might even be something like "do the same thing five times and notice that two lines of text changed". The hint system is absolute trash. I do not recommend this game

Gave the eldest (not)sibling 32k for her personal use and she got furious that I asked her to call me her brother in return. The girls are c**ts even though you let them live in the house your father left you and they call you a pervert from the start with seemingly no reason.

That aside, this game makes a mockery of your time invested and the developer punishes you for doing anything but grinding what little actual content there is, to make it seem like there is more content (same scene different colour outfit (not even a different outfit most of the time just changed pattern)).

I have no idea why it is not at most a 2 star game. If it had a gallery I might give it two stars but unless you are a glutton for punishment, stay well clear of this.

*edit* scrolled through the images folder and whilst tedious there is some raunch for the more voyeuristic among us. Still won't raise the rating though as dev vs player base is not something I will encourage.

Author is aware of the bugs. Author doesn't want to spend the few minutes it would take to fix it.

One example is that the guide shows that there's a trigger in Bob's room at 8:00, but the trigger is at 9:30. It would take the author 5 seconds to open the file and change it to 9:30. He didn't and won't. Same with other bugs.

Following the ingame guide is annoying because of things like this.

Reviewed at chapter 12

The good: The game has pretty good renders and animations from what I expected. Yes it is very grindy, but I think that makes it also rewarding. I also thought the setting was more believable and relatable then on other games from the same author.

The bad: Very buggy and the guide is not very good. The author has commented that the version of the game here is pirated and altered, so I don't know if it's because of that. I REALLY recommend using the Universal Renpy Mod to save yourself from some of the grind and to diagnose some bugs.

BTW if you are in a rush, the hottest content beggins on chapter 7. Personally, I'm glad I waited to start the game now that it has been further developed.

Ep. 12 release but review of Ep. 1-11 download. Played through Episodes 1-5.

Good renders, okay story, terrible gameplay. Rating it an IGN 3 but, overall, would not recommend.

What really is disappointing in this game , besides all the grind, its the rewards system. Even if you are in the last episode its still not worth it, a waste of time with not even one scene animated, the story it's not even good. The only one good thing about this game it's the corruption gameplay but not the best tho. But seriously, some much time to reach something and the develep only put frames, with no animation? Geez. If you only enjoy pictures goahead but it's a complete waste of time

The female models look good but that is the only thing this VN has going for it.

There needs to be a good balance between grind and reward, this is completely out of balance. There is almost zero reward. Things have barely progressed at all. It takes slow burn to an unpleasant extreme. It simply isn't entertaining to play.

Also I'm confused why it has an incest tag as there isn't any at all. A clear case of bait and switch which to me is unforgivable.

Not worth the time or energy.

Good game nice picture and a good story. There are not many games like this one, because this game make you want to have more and maybe be in the place of the main charachter. So if you like this kind of games you have to play is good story good pics and good sex

Overall story and not bad, the images as usual, nothing to say. Some bugs on the right and left but overall it's okay. The big flaw of the game is that you have to constantly repeat the scenes to move forward. you have to tell between 30 minutes to 1 hour to unlock 1 episode, these are just too much.

Nice models, but it's an absolute grindfest and ultra slow pacing.

If you hesitate to play the game i will give an exemple : you can only kiss the girl on the front page at episode 5.

And you have to burn 5 hours of your time to pass just one episode and with the cheat mode applied. I can't imagine to play without , you ll have to spend twice your time on stupid game mechanics.

A game with great models and a fairly good story.
There are some flaws with the hint system as you can expect from a beta game but it doesn't usually interfere with the playing.
The story gradually builds up (with trust and money) and includes more people after a while. The moneymaking system is good as you can focus on building a bank or progress story.

A game with good models, but that's all.

It's full of bugs, ghost events, unnecessary grinding, they removed jumping.

You're going to be an idiot day after day and make little... if any progress because the game is too good to leave you stagnant.

Ep. 9

I have played at least 9 hours of this game.
Don't be me.

I did not fully complete it. I did reach episode 9.

Firstly, the warning is not clear enough. Yes, this is a very slow paced game. like excruciatingly so, as if that is the kink itself.

You will have your first orgasm .

I like the art and detail. I dislike seeing the same scene literally a dozen times, every few times having a minor change.

I like the characters, except when I have to re-seduce them because every other episode Eve has a bitchfit and the girls have zero spine.

I like the corruption and seduction, but not the constant and forever unending blue balls.

I am playing with an edit to make the horrendous attitude stat and money grind go away. But you know when I finally closed the game and deleted it?
When the next step requires you to have no money.

Hah. Ok. I see you.
Enjoy making your game dev. I see the work put into it. You crazy bastard.

Some day maybe you will try a remake and try a visual novel or even kinetic novel. I bet that would get 4 to 5 star average with all the content that could be put together succinctly.

I currently do not recommend this game.
Unless you really enjoy teasing to the point you become numb to their models and also enjoy being blue balled.

You will see more action with 1 google search without scrolling.

I gave 2 stars because there were some really great scenes of teasing, flashing, and tricksy grooming that was hot.
Not worth though.

Full disclosure: I gave up playing the game fully since it was too grindy to continue. But I played for 6 hours straight and I get the gist of this game. There were some things I enjoyed and some I didn't, namely the UX (User Experience).

The Good:

• Extremely cute girls. Wonderful models and I can't complain because they look stunning.
• Gamification of taking pictures to earn money was great and it felt really good when I got "sisters" to pose for me to earn money.
• Happiness mechanics felt great and it added a lot of depth to the game.
• A lot of content, it takes hours to go threw all the content

The Bad:

• The game lacks cohesive UX design; the placement of actions was not easy to find, especially the one in your room where you have to study and so on.
• Game hints are pretty much useless, to the point that they misguide you. Overall, moving around the locations didn't feel nice. A lot of bugs, the screen not working properly, and events not functioning correctly. The most horrible thing was that when I thought the game would automatically go to the next episode, it never did. I had to manually click "Skip Episode." This one was the most horrible experience for me.
• Some renders were too bad quality and some sloppy mistakes in the renders, where clothes were pocking threw the bedsheet.
• Grammatically speaking... let's just say the game has some mistakes.

If this game was not my type and the girls were not too damn cute I would have given it 2 stars but despite its flaws, I liked it, and I would give this game 3 stars.

superb image quality and animation.
Most of the time you have to understand what to do depending on the dialogue and the MC's intuitions.
There are 3 main girls available for various tastes and the ability to skip chapter in case you get stuck
It's a very slow game but it's worth it!

If I could give a big fat 0 I would. This game is extremely grindy with very little reward with a convoluted story and dialogue that is betrays the low level writing skills of the author. It's technically a repeat of his previous game but the novelty has worn off. I couldn't find a single fap in all this mess, you try.....

An author who gets bored of his own games to the point of abandoning them and constantly starting a new one with the same procedure already foresees the result of this one.

The corrpuption system is good and so are the images, but I'm afraid that his inability to introduce more fetishes or sexual perversion to satisfy the player leads to a tedious routine that does not make it clear what to do or where to go, limiting you to repeat and repeat events already seen constantly.

Now, to make it more difficult, or get someone to pay 48,50€, 97€ or 193,50€ monthly for this (are we crazy?) add a system of money (or rather throwing money away), schedule events (some impossible to do that make you skip the episode out of boredom) to extend this as long as possible without getting nothing more than to see naked girls to, probably, create a new game when bored again .