Ren'Py - My Girl Loves Handcuffs [v0.1.1] [395games]

i love the idea
as the matter of fact i was sold on the title alone
but i hate the execution


ALL THE CONS:
Grindy and hard job minigame that is slow and painful
i know i can start on EASY, but why not make the game easy to begin with so i feel like i participate in gameplay with OPTIONAL challenge mode?
unlocking any upgrades in job is also slow nad painful
Entire game seems to be made grindy on purpose so author can sell you patreon codes to cheat the boring parts out of the game
Difficulty with money is just cruel and stupid
in order to relax you need to play game on PC
however game is shit and you need to be good at it to recover stamina
sleeping recover 0-10 stamina, but Gaming text-based trash 70-100 stamina or 0 if you don't skip and try to solve it yourself
RELATIONSHIP is also GRINDY AND SLOW
just so you can not get to LEVEL 2, max is level 1 and 3/3
author decided to simply to not give empty level and instead stop you there
so instead of waiting for new version with level 2 relationship you feel like deleting everything all together
you can also not have stamina to handcuff your GF
when i don't have energy and i get a oral i m fainting, but i m not saying no
music is trash in this game
weird ambient noises that are sensory harming for me
girl looks mediocre at best and its a shame you only have her as option
nearly no customization or things to do so far
only 2 room apartment and cubic space at work

Summary: great idea ruined by everything

Review is from 0.1

I really enjoyed this a lot. Love the main girl and love the teasing and build up. I hope the focus stays on her or at least only a small number of girls like other games from this author.

This is an excellent sandbox game in every sense of the word, with sensual development, to great renders ,with active male and female protag and deep lore. This have every indication of becoming a classic and sandbox style of AVN, I just hope that the dev make the interaction with FMC more dynamic, but agi. This a is just a start , eagerly waiting for future versio. If this game.

From the makers of MIST (a horror/fantasy game) now shifts to normal settings about a girl who has a kink for handcuffs.

Story's pretty straight forward, and there's even a little bit of lewd scenes between her & the MC.

Visually it's slightly different than Mist. Much brighter. Also have no issues with how they look as their renders are pretty much 'in current times'.

Music itself is similar to Mist, but doesn't have much at this time which may get repetitive later on when the game has more content.

Game mechanics is why is this NOT a 5 star game. Good news is you can choose Easy Mode and "just give me the lewds!!", but it still takes a bit of time to get those scenes.

Normal mode is a giant mess. You have certain days to pay your rent, but the problem is you are handcuffed to your Stamina bar. To make due you need to work.

The mini game is nightmare fuel. The explanation is fine, but you have a very short window to make money. There's a Timer Bar. The biggest issue is the client lists is a giant mess. Finding the item is a big mess. I think the names are also RNG based

It's so overwhelming if you don't make minimum $24 per run you're screwed, and will likely be short on your rent = Game Over

You have a short amount of days to do this while the Stamina drains you. From empty to full it takes almost 10 days to get all your Stamina back. The math doesn't add up, and this mini game needs an easier system. Maybe add an unlock where their names are highlighted. Same with the items. Just a thought.

Oh wait. There's more. From what I've read (it's also shown in the Stats) they're adding MORE work task. THREE more. Not looking forward to it.

Of course if nothing else cheating the mini game will eliminate all that stress when that comes into the game later on (technically there is a way to cheat, but kind of tricky atm).

Pros

- nice renders
- has music

Cons

- mini game is nightmare fuel
- stamina bar doesn't increase when Pass Time
- low stamina bar

Verdict: Skip it. For now. Hardly any lewds, and the mini game is currently nightmare fuel. Check back in 2026 (or 2-4 updates if Stamina & Work gets improved). Officially this is currently a 2.5/5 stars. Nowhere close to 5 stars.

Didn't realize this was the dev behind MIST when I started playing, but now that I know, it makes complete and total sense. This is a fabulous first release, spectacular renders, writing that never once made me want to skip (which is rare), absolutely a game to keep an eye on in future updates.

Super high quality renders and a very compelling story. The minigame featured is more interesting than many and has a Papers Please direction going for it. The main girl looks a bit weird at first but I got over it pretty quickly and didn't have any issues with it personally after like 5 minutes. I'm hopeful for this one!

First take on a new game by 395. And as expected, it's great so far. Visually is really an improvement over the previous games, and the plot is interesting so far. Gamplay is open ended, but not tiresome. Minigames are decent enough, at least for a few times, and can be skipped afterwards.

For now, 5*. Of course subject to change as the game develops.

The one big downside... this game means slower progress on Covenant of Morn, which is also a great game. But this release was a needed break the dev deserved after some rough time with CoM, so all good.

Eagerly waiting for more

Great first version from a fantastic dev, excited to see where this goes! Your unique art style always looks great and it feels really polished already. The character design is always refreshing as well and speaks to my preferences.