VN - Ren'Py - New Antioch [R0.3 Public] [TheRedMyst]

This was fantastic. Great plot development, characters that feel real (bar the cartoonified ones) and great renders as well.

My only complaint is that you don't feel like a protagonist when you're playing this game. There's the MC and there are choices, but so far, the MC has been living in jail and fighting for his freedom in an arena, you've barely made any difference or any choice that makes an impact.

You spend most of the current content (in R0.3) watching other characters and I guess that's mostly because there's not much going on with the MC since he was in jail and in the arena for most of it. Hopefully, now that he's out, you'll get to make more impactful decisions and feel more like a protagonist.

The above would usually be a deal-breaker for me, but I'm still rating this 5-stars because there's just that much quality in the game. Give us more protagonist in the story and this game is shaping up to be one of the greats.

i just played the game and i loved it , its simply a masterpiece
very good story with post apocalyptic / greco roman influence/diablo / theme which i loved it..
moreover beautiful li , and TRUE Male MC (not a kid not immature man child, no weakling) which is almost rare these days.
Overall i believe its one of the best VN i have ever played.... i hope it continue like this.

Version Played : R0.3 Public

The visuals are great and distinct. The worldbuilding is somewhat unique for these kinds of games, and has potential but is also somewhat lackluster in it's execution (Chapter 2+).

My main gripe is with the plot though. You start as a capable seemingly intelligent warrior, and through extremely convoluted writing your character becomes a useless weakling. Trying not to spoil much, but the way Ch2 was written (or the start of it to be more precise) is just so silly and requires insane suspension of disbelief. If it were just made more natural, believable, this game would leave a much better taste on my palate.

As it seems to be a more story/plot-driven game, it matters a lot more compared to porn-driven games.

Love games with this kind of settings. Love to see war arena and fights in its. Nice visual and nice story. Love to see more political wars and blood in future updates. Nice LI's , enjoyed the humour in it. The boar is the best fighting partner MC got, hoping to see him in future updates too.

Overall I enjoyed the game . Keep up the good work dev looking forward to next updates

Story : in porn games, story is not the first focus, but in this game, story itself is quite Original, not like those COMMON INCEST MOTHERFKER SISFKER games based upon college themes.
Being in post modern retro mediaeval style provides quite a new environment for post apocalyptic world styles, where everything goes hand in hand, modern world tech + mediaeval era living style.

Renders : top notch, nothing else to say, they're quite the top notch

Regular updates have good content size as well as the frequency of updates is also good.


Overall, the game is a bang, this game deserves to be in the top sections of f95 collection of good games, should also be getting more funding for what the dev is doing.

This game was an extremely pleasant surprise for so many reasons. So I'll just get the mediocre stuff out of the way first.

The change between modern fashion and antiquity fashion was a bit glaring. I know that this is not really a free choice, as all developers rely on the availability of assets. But I still want to mention that it's unlikely that there would be two fashion types at the time, without at least mixing up. It's also quite strange to get escorted by a golden knight to meet a woman in an office dress. Or have a presumably badass war veteran wear a roman uniform in one scene and a sweater in the next.

As a VN player who pays a lot of attention to detail in VN scenes these differences were sometimes so glaring and unexplained, that they bordered on immersion breaking. An explanatory sentence here and there might have helped.

Now that we have this nuisance out of the way. Let me just state how positively impressed I am with the quality of the writing, both regarding dialogue and the plot as a whole. I've seen Netflix shows recently with worse execution. And while some twists are very predictable and only thinly veiled, they still come across as intended and planned.

I absolutely loved that the LIs were introduced slowly and not dropped with parachutes as is so usual for many AVNs. During chapter one it really takes a lot of time to even meet them. For some it took until chapter 2 to make an appearance. And this is exactly how it should be.

The renders are very decent, definitely better than average, but there is still room for improvement. The audio design on the other hand is convincing. The berserker scream in the Arena caught me off-guard and was very intimidating, but there are many little sound effects like the laughter of the senators that I found helpful to make the scenes feel more dynamic and alive.

The amount of content per update (it's published in chapters) is just right. It's meaty enough but doesn't take forever.

I enjoy that there are interesting male characters in this novel. Too often AVN means that it's basically a one-man, many-women show. Not so in New Antioch. Despite the lore reasons that explain some role reversals in this Universe, there are still amazing male protagonists. Often in the role of Arena fighters with their own stories and redemption arcs, how short lived they might be.

The MC is good looking and likable. He is a bit of a brute, but also a brooder, I like that he has doubts himself and is questioning things. He is a Chad, but not a Superchad. His weaknesses are clear. I hope they get explored more in the future. Nothing would be more of a waste than to see him rise to Superman-Status from here on out. But that's not really a fear, just a careful reminder. A strong man is allowed to have weak spots and I do think this MC has plenty of them and it makes him much more relatable and interesting.

As you can see, I have lots to say. I could add more, but I don't want to overstay my welcome. We will see where the journey goes and I will support the project.

I wish real good luck to this game, it's amazing and beautiful. Such a treasure, the cooks are amazing. More games should be like this, very inspirational and lovely. I hope to see more games like these, such a scenery and memorable images. These games really inspiring me to make one myself. It keeps me going, I can't believe im saying this but these experiences is just something not to be missed on. I wish I can support these creators more. Thank you and I hope the game receives it's deserved success.

This game is the living proof that it is not necessary to put several sexual scenes one after another to make you interested, don't get me wrong, the game has sexual scenes (3 that I know of at the moment) but they are totally worth it because both in quality of animation, story, protagonist, choices, everything is spectacular.

Honestly when I opened the game I didn't feel like playing it, I didn't expect much because games like this have to have a very good developer or everything goes to shit and loses meaning, but the developer of this game has won my support and I look forward to the next chapter, for these types of games is worth continuing to support new game creators.

10/10 Male Domination: (The mc can be very dominant if you want and I love that)

10/10 Renders: (Despite not seeing other games from this developer which is supposed to be his first game, it's a great game with very good renders, even better than some of the top rated games on the forum.)

8/10 Sex Scenes: There are few, which is not bad because the game does not need it, but it is something personal that I would like to have more as the story progresses if decisions are made to have scenes of this style. On the other hand, the ones there are are very good and are very well animated.

9/10 Story: Because I am not a native English speaker it was difficult for me to focus fully on the story at the beginning because of the dialogues, but when I did I even managed to feel similar feelings to the characters, such as sadness, anger, resentment or desire for revenge.

Meh. That describes almost every aspect of this game for me so far (up to version 3). The story line has a good premise but a somewhat silly execution. The dialogue is ok. The art is actually pretty good, but the lewd content is low, which would be fine if the story was a bit stronger, but it's not. The pretexts for meeting the women are shallow and dumb. The "fight" scenes anti-climactic because it's turn based rather than time-based so the instant you learn the moves, which is very quickly, the whole process becomes boring. Still, there are some good bones here, and it is early in the game, with the scene just really being set for the main body. It has lots of room and time to improve, and it may, but for now it's just a time killer. Worth a future look to see which direction it goes but definitely not a top tier game so far.

You ever play an adult game or VN and think "Damn, the story is so good that I'd still play this even if it had no porn."? That's how I felt playing this VN.

It's a bit of a slow starter so if it doesn't hook you immediately, just keep playing and give it a fair chance. It gets better, I promise. For me, it started to pick up towards the end of the first chapter when the MC meets Aquila (one of the love interests). They play a D&D inspired game together which I found pretty fun and it did a good job of making Aquila likable despite the fact that the real reason she was there was to steal a relic and kill the MC (though she ultimately decides not to go through with the latter when she gets the chance).

After that encounter, the MC has to leave his home for reasons I won't spoil. He ends up imprisoned and has to, literally, fight for his freedom, first in the pits, then in gladiator style arena fights. There are a few fighting minigames here but they are fairly simple and straightforward and you can easily scroll back if you make a mistake.

The setting is clearly heavily inspired by the roman empire, but there's also a dose of fantasy (at least one of the characters can do magic) and advanced technology so it feels quite unique. At least to me. I don't think I've ever seen another VN with a setting like this.

Visually, it looks quite nice. Maybe it's not absolute top tier in this department, but it's definitely above average and I find all the potential love interests attractive. I especially like the way Aquila looks. She's pretty but also has facial scars (as does the MC). Just from looking at her you can tell that she's probably been through some shit, her appearance really fits the dystopian setting of this VN.

In terms of sexual content, there isn't much yet (some nudity, one of the LIs masturbating while watching the MC fight and a couple of blowjobs). But as mentioned at the start of this review, the story so good that I don't mind. That said, what little sexual content there is, I found hot so that bodes well for the future. It seems like big dick worship is going to be a major part of the sexual content in this VN. There's a widespread disease that causes nearly all men to have small dicks, but our MC is conveniently immune to the effects of said disease and has a huge dick, lol. Also, he secretes pheromones that makes women more attracted to him and he cums like a horse. Oh, and let's not forget that one of the love interests is a self admitted size queen. All of this, combined with the fact that the MC is a handsome guy and an elite level fighter makes him more than a little bit overpowered so if you like good old power fantasy porn, this VN will almost certainly deliver that in the future.

If you're looking for something with a good story and the low amount of sexual content (as of 0.3) isn't a dealbreaker for you, then you should definitely try this.

Review for R0.3 Public
This game is set in a fantasy world. The storyline is very well thought out and very interesting. I especially like the attention to detail. Just think of Hammond the hog, just a random side charachter which is just nicely worked out and adds some humour.

The characters are well developed in general and all have unique characteristics. Very few characters have been introduced without any relevance which is a big plus.

Furthermore, this game uses animations which is always valuable and the graphics are decent. All in all, I cant give it any lower than five stars. I thoroughly enjoyed playing this game. I really recommend it!

The game had a bit of a rough start with an MC that looks so much like Adam Driver it is distracting and writing that was honestly just boring and unfunny and even made me skip things (like the silly DnD scene). However, by the end of the game I was fully invested and was very curious where the story would go from here. The MC's new haircut also helped.

The story, and romance, are very much a slow-burn which is not for everyone. But once you do make it past the rough start and the world/story opens up it becomes clear that this is a story full of political intrigue, mysterious lore, and interesting characters with different goals and politics. It gives me some Game of Thrones vibes. Not something you'd usually see in a porn game but I like it.

When it comes to the porn itself there isn't too much yet. There are some scenes that show sexy girls in hot poses and there's one blowjob scene. So if you're just here for a quick wank then this isn't the game for you. The one blowjob scene is really hot though. It has some great cock worship and dirty talk. If future scenes are anything like that we're in for a treat.

4/5 for now but can easily become a 5/5 with future updates.

Pretty early, but really really good game so far. The setting is fascinating and quite unique, the caracter designs are on point. The writing is really good too and the future possibilities seem almost endless at this point. Very little lewd scenes as of right now but the dev has already shown he understands the value of building it up rather than going straight for easy gratuitous sex scenes. Genuinely one of the best new games i've played in a while, can't wait to see how it's going to go !

awesome game. beautiful unique renders. wonderful unique models. awesome story. great gameplay.

this has just jumped to being one of my most favourites. really looking forward to updates.

5-stars is not easily given by me. you've earned it though. i urge anyone who can to help out the dev.

also amazing mix of sci-fi and medieval and dystopian setting. however, to my liking as it is no NTR or sharing.

boring; there is meaningless text at the moment. I skipped almost everything.
there is no male domination in this game at the moment (or I skipped it)

Visuals: Solid render and animations. Character models and backgrounds look good for the most part.

Story: Male power fantasy with a hodge podge of tropes thrown in that's sometimes good with the lore and intrigue, but also sometimes contrived and get a little cringe at times.

1. It's post apocalyptic and everyone uses phrases from the Roman empire and latin, but people also play dungeons and dragons.
2. They use swords and arrows for this macho gladiator combat stuff and there's somehow magic, but there's also high tech computers and security cameras and video games. No guns though, because it'd make the sword and shield stuff redundant I guess.
3. There's some disease that affected the fertility of the entire world, making every man's penis extra extra small. But the MC's a special individual and has a huge penis and super fertility!...And he's a DnD pro and has his own Dungeon Master screen!

UI, music, presentation: Also solid.

3.5/5 stars

very enjoyable visual novel, from a ok, this makes as much sense as any other scientific theory in the world and it's written in an engaging and sometimes humorous manner perspective. there's plenty of political intrigue, and plenty of chance to prove yourself (the MC) as the dominant macho type you may well be... but for now...

it needs sex scenes - that's my only real complaint. there's one BJ so far (oral "sex"), and that's as close to sexual interactions with other characters as the entire content gets thus far. calling it a slow burn implies it burns, which for now isn't true. it looks like it's on the way there... but so far I consider all but the last 10 to 15 minutes of play time more of a prologue, with chapter one of what I hope will be an amazing VN (with sex scenes) starting now.

looking forward to more to see if that plays out.

Very impressed. Narrative and concept are both quite sophisticated. Sexual content, thus far, is mostly implied rather than immediate. 7/10 for graphics - good without being brilliant.

Looking forward to the next update.

TLDR, review as of R0.3, a mixed bag with both good and bad.

Pros

• Male cast has diverse looks.
  
  
• MC actually good looking. However, having his hair get cut was a mistake, he looks less Mad Max and more modern yuppy youth now.
  
  
• MC taller than females and with a decent muscle tone, even has hair on his chest. A low bar many game cannot clear, especially Daz 3D games. That said, he could have been made even bigger, considering he's supposed to be a really strong and tough fighter.
  
  
• Visually polished.
  
  
• Diverse and mostly fitting musical score and sound effects.
  
  
• Proper english.
  
  
• Good dialogue.
  
  
• Deep worldbuilding that isn't openly moronic for the most part (see cons below).
  
  
• Choices that matter (but there's a big but, see below).
  
  
• Variety of body types of LIs.
  
  
• Variety of ages of LIs.
  
  
• Perverted LI. One of the LIs is masturbating to a live show of semi-nude (male) prisoners fighting each other to death. Uncommon for LIs to be so evily perverted.
  
  
• MC can kill a good looking woman in a gladitorial fight. In a world where the MC kills a lot of people, it's nice that not every (attractive) woman is spared the sword. Makes it more realistic.

Cons

• Ugly LIs. I guess this is kind of subjective, but of the five LIs, I only found one had a really attractive face (the solar seer). The empress/mother and the doctor have downright ugly faces in my opinion and I'm more and more coming down on sida that blonde daughter is also ugly. In general, they have too big mouth/lips, eyes and chin and too small/flat/pixie noses and the empress/mother looks like a homeless alcoholic in the face). That is not a common problem in porn games. Kind of ironic that many of the male characters look so much better, as it's usually the other way around. Maybe the dev is a woman...?
  
  
• Silly national characteristics. Having the main powerfaction style themselves as Neo-romans, is ok, I can see that actually hapening. Having northerners look like a ridiculous hollywood version of Vikings with faux Scandinavian names to boot is not, and it doesn't get better when you realise that southerners are subsaharan Africans and easterners are Chinese/east asian. Does the Neo-roman empire span the entire Euroasian continent, as well as Africa, or how did they pull that off? Not that this matters hugely in your average porn game, but this game obviously want to take itself very seriously when it comes to background, story and lore, so it shouldn't contain such sillyness.
  
  
• Silly plot points. Like when the MC inadvertently foils an assassination plot by inviting his would be assassin to a session of Dungeons and Dragons. As you do when you find yourself with what you think is a prostitute payed for by your adoptive brother (fucking said prostitute is of course out of the question for mister post apocalyptical boy scout). And of course, how could the would be assassin say no and how could she be anything other than absolutely wowed by playing Dungeons and Dragons? Not to mention, big deadly fighter in a post apocalyptical future where they don't even have electricity in the homes where he lives is playing role playing games...
  
  Or when a robber who just been aprehended mid-crime by a praetorian guard arrogantly starts mouthing off about his rights, only for the praetorian to kill him there and then. As if anyone living in a post apocalyptical roman empire would believe they had "rights" after having been caught red handed robbing someone at knife-point...
  
  
• Low sex to time ratio. You have to play for an hour or two before you get to your first sex scene, kind off, and then it's just groping and a vision/dream on top off that, not really sex. And it doesn't get much better after that either.
  
  
• Mind reading and frequent and long scenes where the MC isn't present (more than half of the game doesn't have the MC in it), whereby the player gets to know secret plot points the MC has no idea about and gets to know many characters intimately, including their real motives and secrets no one else knows about, though the MC never even met them. Fucks with first person immersion, drags out the game (see low sex to time ratio above) and will likely lead to the player making choices he/she maybe wouldn't do if they only had the same knowledge as the MC.
  
  
• Stunted choices. While there certainly are choices, they are not that many and in a number of situations it feels as if there should be a choice, but there is none. Furthermore, if you pop open the hood of the game, you'll find that for most of the time, playing the boy scout is the right thing to do, at least in how to treat the ladies. But this is still early, so that might change.
  
  
• Chaste MC. As mentioned above, there are a couple of situations where it feels like choices are missing, and a big part of that are scenes with LIs/potential LIs where the MC doesn't try to get into the panties of the LIs despite having an opening of sorts, instead the game forces the boy scout route. Particularly annoying if you're playing the MC as dominant. In that I also include a blow job scene where the player is not given the option to push the womans head down the MCs cock. However, towards the end we actually get a choice to push for a sex scene and a more assertive/dominant approach, so maybe it will change as the game progresses.
  
  
• Facial expressions a bit to much. Sometimes goes into uncanny valley.
  
  
• Stupid/evil men, compentent/good women. Almost all men except the MC are either stupid, pathethic and/or morally flawed, whereas the female LIs in comparrison are very compentent and generally more morally pure. It's especially annoying because some of the pathethic/deviant men are the boyfriends/brothers/sons to the LIs, which just makes the discrepancies more grating. Once more, however, it's quite early and at least one of the LIs shows signs of having a darker side, though she seems kind of repentant, and another might be devoloping it, so who knows what the future will bring?

This is a good one

I like the premise of the 'ancient tech' in a world millennia away from when it was used (or whatever many years)

the renders are good, and a major + for me is that the dev did not go 'cookie cutter' goddess type females

Looking forward to see much more of this story