VN - Ren'Py - New Horizon [v0.2.1] [KawaiiSukebe]

Oh my god, what an amazing game
It's a breath of fresh air, no, I play popular games of course, but there's something about this one that makes it stand out. From the very beginning of the narrative you can't help but feel like you're in an anime, the characters are lively, the main character is funny, the story, the music all looks fresh and natural.
There are, of course, moments that need to be improved, for example, the already mentioned scenes of forced sex, a silly trick in which the main girl walks without a mask, although she is the head of the gang and at the same time a popular student (she can be identified and caught somewhere near the college), a plot twist with the ex of the MC which is needed only to cause pity for him. In general, there are boring moments, but the overall plot, humor, and varied movement outweigh. Special mention should be made of the music which is very cool in the narration I look forward to the continuation. We were shown two hot blondes we are waiting for them in the next update and don't forget about the little sister!

Version 0.2.1
Render quality - 5/5
Girls are looking great and have their own character/quirks - 5/5
Story (Premise was great and got hooked instantly, it continued to be good) - 5/5
Grammar - 4/5
Music - 4/5
Overall I will give it a 5/5, even though there are some things to be improved. I quite liked the game and will wait the next versions with interest.

Note: I've seen a lot of arguing about the blackmail from Ayase, so I wanted to give my opinion on that, for future readers. I think it's the "best" kind of blackmail, because it's not done out of malice or greediness, but it's done to protect oneself. I totally understand why she felt the need to do it, and the second she gets to know MC better, she apologizes and we can all see that she is treating him with care and respect (one doesn't literally step in a gunfight for someone that she blackmailed previously). I think the dev explained the situation perfectly in the story and the people that whine so so much about it, either don't understand the language or they didn't even bother to play after the initial blackmail to see the reasoning.

If I went by my personal enjoyment despite having issues here and there id say this would be a 5 star. But I can't ignore them entirely so i'm just gonna knock 1 star off as the issues I have to me aren't a big deal.

Not a negative but it’s worth noting this game does use some words you mostly would see in anime or Japanese culture not everyone will know the meaning behind them. Like using senpai , not addressing characters by their first name at times etc etc. Which does sell the setting of this game taking place in Tokyo and make the world feel more believable.

The Good

I like how this game takes place in Toyko feels different than most AVN’s ive played

There is alot of content for only 2 chapters + an introduction. The story can be simplified as anime + slow burn action mystery with some 4th wall breaking comedy + meme’s.

We have only seen character development with 2 of the LI so far. Even though one of them had an introduction I did not like Will talk about that more a bit later. The character development I have seen from 2 chapters + an intro is some of the best character development I've seen in an AVN. Not only that it’s pretty damn romantic and none of the characters are even together yet just have untold feelings for one another.

The Bad

Now I mentioned there is a character that has an introduction I did not like at all. It’s only worth mentioning because some people might hate this and it could be enough for them to drop such a gem of a game. One of the LI comes off really forceful towards the MC by blackmailing him then forcing him to work with her. I had no issue with the blackmail as messed up as it is. I can understand it. But how forceful her introduction was by then forcing us to work for her after the blackmail when the blackmail was just there to keep the MC from talking not to work with her. Then the game acts like we should immediately forgive and forget cause her personality completely changes as she is now super nice to us almost right after. If you can get past that she is a really good character overall. I just thought her introduction was poorly executed. As the game makes you think you should hate her yet if you get past her introduction she is a very likable character. I think it would have been better if there was either no blackmail or if this dev wanted to keep blackmail, don't make her also force us to work for her right after. Instead have her explain everything and force the MC to want to join her instead of her forcing us to work for her. Would come across so much better even with her blackmailing the MC as she isn’t meant to come across as a hated character from all her interactions after said blackmail.

In the writing I find it a bit annoying to read things like *eating pizza* especially when it’s in the visual. That’s just one example, not a major issue but it is annoying all the same.

Not a Big deal to me

These might be a big deal to some, not to me. All the lewd scenes so far are forced as far as I can tell. Typically I would hate this but didn’t mind it so much in this game. There were very few choices and can’t say if any of them mattered beyond getting relationship points.

I've gotta say this VN has a lot going for it. The pacing may be too slow for some, but the complexity of the plot and the richness of the character development makes it all worthwhile. The characters are interesting, attractive, and likable, and the mysteries in their past give us something to look forward to.

The only thing this game has going for it is render quality and some attractive girls. The story could be very interesting but is executed extremely poorly, with constant flashbacks and randomness that gets ignored 2 renders later like the flashbang in the train that just completely gets ignored.

The game is VERY VERY Anime-like it has so many tropes I couldn't count them.. There was also this one voiced meme scene that was unbearably cringe. Dialogue is just cringe in general for most of the game.

Lots of Default HS2 poses being used over and over again. Its fine to use it if it matches the exact situation or for NPCs but most of the time MC would have a weird default pose for situations that really didnt match.

Barely any choices and is essentially a kinetic novel. The music is fine I guess nothing really special. A plus for not using default animations and making custom ones even if not the best.

I would explain more but Pemoj's review pretty much sums up everything else.

This is a great game, I don't see how it has such a low rating. The renders are the best you can get in HS2, the sci-fi setting is very interesting, and the LIs are just superb. Definitely recommended!

Review of 0.2 version.

This game reminds me a lot of another game that “may fly” if they were well executed.

Graphics 5/5. This is the only good part of the game, both the overall graphics and the beautifully modeled characters. Nowadays you can make great games using Honey Select 2, and this is one of them.

Animations 2/5. Just meh. Average HS2 ones, although you can tell the author has custom made them, which deserves some points for that. Seeing how the penis goes inside the girls is more an act of faith than a visual quality, as you actually have to imagine that the penis is inside the girl. In such a way that sometimes the author has to create another video while the video of the sexual act is being executed so that you can see, and therefore know, that you are fucking the girl.

Music and sounds 2/5. There is, so it deserves some points for that. And nothing else to highlight in that sense. At least positive.

Gameplay 1/5. I have no idea what kind of game it is. In the tags it says it's a visual novel, but the choices are very few and only serve to be able to see porn scenes. So it's really a kinetic novel. It tries to be funny, but usually the opposite effect happens. Stupid and unnecessary memes that try to be funny and only produce cringe. Fourth wall breaking (the author speaks to the audience) can be an excellent resource if done well. "House of Cards" is a masterpiece in that sense. Here it often doesn't come into play. The only thing the author achieves is to break the immersion with things that, as with other aspects, I don't understand. And I only understand that they are unnecessary. More cringe. Internet style speak is another element to highlight... negatively. Lots of long and unnecessary scenes, that I don't know if they contribute or not to the game... because as I've already written I have no idea what kind of game it is. Typical slice of life? School life? Gang fight? Romance? This and many other things could be. And trying to be all of these and more... or not... it is none of them. Which denotes the game's biggest flaw: it has no clear direction. Lots of generic anime/manga tropes and cliches that, if you're over 25 and like these genres, you've seen hundreds of times. The huge amount of flashbacks is another big problem. The use of flashbacks is usually a bad decision to solve a structural problem: the story stops being linear to go back to a past that is either important to explain in the present, or else it should have been explained much earlier. In this case, it is the latter. Worse, many flashbacks are unnecessary, contributing little or nothing to the overall plot. Even worse, many of the unnecessary ones are unnecessarily long. I could cite more things, and almost none of them positive.

Story 1/5. At the level of the rest of the game. I mean, very bad. When I see that the author is Asian my dangermeter reaches 1000 out of 10. And although there are very good exceptions, this is not one of them. For reasons I'd rather not assume, Asians love weak MCs or ones that make them NTR. At the moment there is not even a hint of NTR, but the MC is a weak lil bitch. It turns out that your father is a teacher, and you of course are his student with the usual myriad of generic scenes and clichés (oh, my bad son is asleep while I'm teaching, wake up son, zzz... what? Oh, sorry dad, sigh, blablabla). Suddenly your dad disappears, you seem to be attacked from behind and it looks like they do something to you, that something seems to give you a superpower or something. Local thugs are about to rape a girl, you save her, more or less. But things end badly. The school queen shows up, she knows you saved her friend, but she still blackmails you to join a gang of... not sure what. Bad, very bad start. The rest is a hodgepodge of scenes of school life, family life, slice of life, gangs, the school queen driving, among other themes. I have no idea what the story of the game is. You are supposed to find your father with the help of the school queen, who is also looking for her sister, missing like your father. Meanwhile, the MC gets into a gang to do good, save the innocent, etc. Something that even the leader of the gang herself doesn't believe, as she admits later on. For not knowing, I don't even know how many members the band has. Theoretically 4 plus one that appears at the end of 0.2. In reality the MC and the queen of the school usually act alone because the other 2 “have a life and the boss doesn't want to exploit them”. But she blackmails you after knowing that you saved her friend.... By the way, in a series of scenes that try to be funny, the punks who try to rape the school queen's friend, you meet them later on the beach. Like... dafuk is dat? To sum it up. The story is so confusing, and the lurches so obvious, that I have no idea which one it is.

Characters 1/5. They have already been commented a little. MC weak and blackmailed. Simp of his ex-girlfriend and the queen of the school, besides having a shitty personality. The boss of the gang (or is it the queen of the school?) blackmailer. But it turns out that as a good Japanese, she is all honor. Is that true, when she admits that she says that with the gang she tries to do good but she doesn't believe it herself? So, hypocritical. Most of them, for one reason or another, are inconsequential. Even those who should not be, like the members of your band, who barely appear a few minutes on stage. The worst thing is not knowing if they are inconsequential or not. If it were slice of life/school life, the MC's friends would be important. But even if they were... they would be inconsequential. Because it gives the sensation that they are there only to be inconsequential creating long and inconsequential scenes that do not contribute anything to the plot. Or maybe they do? Dunno. The characters are generally very cloned. Some of the female characters, like the childhood friend, are saved at some points. But that's not enough to save the characters overall. That said, the graphic quality of the female characters, like that of the game, is very high. And why so many names and pronouns in Japanese? Oh, I forgot. The gigantic amount of manga/anime tropes/cliches.

To sum up. This is one of those games that I, like others, would like to give a five for its great graphic quality. But I, unlike others, value this type of games for the game itself, not for its graphics. And the game is a huge mess. Mainly because neither its own creator knows what it is nor what he wants to achieve with his game. There is no clear direction. The only clear thing is the cringe it generates in me. I don't understand how there can be people who give 5 stars to this, especially those who give 5 stars after writing a long review where the negative points are many more and worse than the positive ones. Even when the positive points have negative points.

This game reminds me the funny old days of watching Japanese harem animations. I’m very grateful that there is an AVN like that. Ayase is now one of my favorite heroines. Noa will be greate too, I can sense it. Miharu is the girl like Aoyama Nanami, poor girl lol. Childhood sweethearts can't compete with the girl who suddenly enters his life, classic principles. Can’t wait to see the next update.

This game deserves more attention. It's a fun, coming of age anime-style visual novel. It's unique in its setting and deserves support to keep going.

Reviewed as of v0.2.

Story:
It has a few tropes typical of the genre, but I think they're well enough executed. It's the "missing dad involved in a conspiracy" play, which causes the main character, Tatsuya, to receive "special abilities" that progress the plot. These abilities seem to be rooted in cyberpunk near-future technology mixed with east-Asian spirits/mythology. It's a cool mix for those that enjoy these themes that are already prevalent in many animes.

Note there aren't many choices in the story, but I think that's a good thing in this context. The story has a lot of factions and interweaving motivations, so it deserves to be a bit more structured to ensure the plot flows well enough. The choices mostly lie in funny events and choosing between love interests, but due to the nature of the story I will note some scenes with LI's are unskippable due to those events needing to move the plot forward. This may upset some that want their MC to be a total reflection of themselves/their own choices, but I think it's a good choice by the developer to properly develop Tatsuya as his own character with proper growth. It's a coming of age story, after all.

Characters:
I think the characters are the strongest point of the game. Visually, they are all very good looking and unique. It's easy to recognize them and their outfits reflect their personalities well.

I think their motivations and personalities are very prominently portrayed, and none feel like copycats of each other. A big part of why this works is because often, we are shown and not told. There aren't any big, offensive info dumps. Instead, we get to observe each characters' expressions, note their changes in tone/language, and witness well-done flashbacks.

I want to point out one criticism some players have, and that's Ayase's "blackmail" of Tatsuya - and I think that's a weak criticism that doesn't deserve to deter any new players of the game. The story needs to be more rigid/structured in order to move the plot forward in a meaningful manner, which means that Ayase needs to come across as antagonistic at first. As the story progresses, it's clear why Ayase reacts that way because her personality and character growth are well highlighted in her recent interactions with Tatsuya. I think she's a well written character and deserving of any player's time.

Content:
Content is another area this game really shines - there's a LOT of story to unpack. For such a new game with not many versions yet, there's many hours of gameplay. The game itself (as of 0.2) has many more renders than many completed games, and each update thus far has progressed the plot naturally. Clearly, the development effort is there.

Regarding the adult scenes, there's also a good amount for being so early in development. The scenes are not with too many characters as of yet, but it's obvious that the seeds have already been planted for most. The events are very sexy, fit well with the plot, and visually appealing. Some animations though aren't as good looking as the plain renders themselves, so some work can be done there. But so far, I don't think anyone will be disappointed by the sex scenes now or in the future.

Other:
Graphically everything is good looking. Resolution is good, and each render has good lighting and unique poses and backgrounds. Locations are constantly shifting so it doesn't feel like you're watching the same assets and poses constantly getting reused.

I'll also note there's a ton of 4th wall breaks in the story. For some, this can be blatant and a bit obtrusive. However, I found them all enjoyable and giving the game extra character, considering its dystopian setting.

Conclusion:
It deserves a 5 star rating to join the ranks of other top Honey Select games. New Horizon is no copycat of any other game, its characters are developed well and stand alone in its own universe. While rigid and structured compared to its contemporaries, I think that will make sure the plot will continue to move forward in meaningful ways that allow us to grow alongside the characters every update.

Ayase best girl.

review for v0.2.

looks amazing, and that's pretty all the good in it.
writing ass, full of memes, 4th wall breaking, generic ass anime tropes and clichés.
girls are all pretty cute, but kinda trash ass personalities, or just boring as shit.
mc a bit of a bitch, a generic animu boi mc.

This game has everything I'm usually looking for in an AVN. The characters are likeable and attractive. The story was interesting enough to keep me involved and reading. Also has more content than I was expecting despite only being a 0.2 build. I could see the occasional meme referential humor being disruptive to some but I enjoyed it personally. All in all had a great time with this one and am looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Mini review:

I wanted to give this 3 stars but it feels more appropriate to give it 2 stars.

Lets start with 5 Stars


-2 Dialogue: I deducted a point for the meme references and literal images popping up during dialogue breaking the fourth wall. Besides that the dialogue is very internet speak which is not the worst I read but it also takes you out of the immersion.

-1 Story: As I previously mentioned fourth wall breaking and internet speak constantly destroy the immersion which makes me not take the story serious. But the overall theme is not serious as you have gangs, super soldiers and love interest doing a move from chainsaw man. For the rest it is the natural beta MC that pulls everyone without effort because plot. Also the story has forced love interests and is basically kinetic.

Conclusion: It's a really bad anime that doesn't take itself serious with literal meme pop ups. If the story cant take itself serious why would I put in any effort?

The only good thing I can mention is the Lis are good looking but that is the only redeeming quality.

Story 1/5
It starts off pretty good really, but MC turns out to be a submissive idiot and gets blackmailed into joining a gang and then forced to let the blackmailing bitch sleep in hes appartment and all MC thinks about is how horney he will be? not that she told him she would turn him in as a rapist to the cops with the picture she took of him helping a girl..
If MC had kicked all of their asses and take destory her phone that would have been alot more fun and then talk to the gang about hes father and joining them but not before putting the fuckers in their place....but no the submissive MC will just forgive everything.....

Why cant devs ever make a decent MC that dosent have the mindset of a 12 year old and one that arent so submissive its boring as fuck...
And you have no choices which is even more annoying since you cant make a choice to be dom and tell her to fuck off or atleast no to letting her stay, but what MC will do later is forgive her....again with no choice to the player.

Once they are at home MC just get more and more cringy thoughts its awfull to read really, like "i wonder what she smells like in all kind of diffrent places" i mean come on really wtf she tried to beat him up, she blackmails him, she forces her self to stay with him...tell me MC isent a submissive and childish idiot.

And to make it absolutly idiotic MC then walks into her in the shower knowing shes in there and acts supprised? this is turning into something worse the a b-porn movie.

Next some random girl you as the player barely know anything about is forced on you in a sex scene and if theres something i hate its forced LIs forced relationships, forced fetishes and forced sex scenes.....
And it keeps forcing girls on the player and sex scenes and so on.

This is game is just yet another mindless fuckfest game where the player has no choices or controle over anything, not even who to fuck.

Its also an all out kinetic novel and should be TAGED as such, all the choices given changes nothing, not in main story or relationships.

To make it really stupid game dosent have a harem tag not even in planed tags and the most idiotic thing you can do in any none harem game is force MC into relationships constantly and which also means there is no faithfull route what so ever, which is also idiotic in a none harem game.

Also makes me wonder how on earth anyone can give this game a high rating when its this messed up, ive even seen 5 stars reviews where the list of bad things is 3 times longer then the good stuff? and still gets 5 stars why?

Even if i could get into the main story and like that part it gets ruined to me personaly by the lack of choices and all the forced shit.

Girls 3/5
I like the girls and there is an ok diversity in builds as well, but when everyone is forced it just ends out as a huge turn-off instend.

Animations 3/5
Pretty average HS animations nothing new.

Music 3/5
Standard background stuff nothing special.

Choices 0/5
Forced LIs/Sex/Fetishes/Relationships no choices changes anything in main story so yeah all out kinetic.

Quick Review after playing 0.1.5
I'd give it 4.5 but ratings doesn't allow half scores

The Good:
- Beautiful renders and characters
- Good writing (when serious)
- Good H-scene

The Bad (or Nitpicks):
- Cringe pop culture references, very meme-y in a bad way
- BGMs are hit or miss (especially the songs, pretty sure I heard Linkin Park? Nostalgic, but come on)
- Plot Armor (MC has powers for some reason, could be salvaged if explained properly)
- Almost no choices, better to call it a Kinetic Novel
- Recurring side characters/NPCs getting overlooked or introduced late (as of this writing only MC's Best Friend has a name in MC's group while the others are generic Male Classmate 1, etc. some generic throway names wouldn't hurt)
- Overexplaining things happening like in action scenes so you'd have to click multiple times through them
- The Character speaking gets mixed up sometimes

Conclusion:
I'd give them full 5 stars if they tone down the memes (or at least try to keep it subtle), switch up the BGMs for something better fitting (would suggest something without lyrics) and fix some of the nitpicks I've mentioned above.

Overall this game has a great potential and I'm looking forward for future updates.

Randomly came across this game and decided to give it a shot. Its become a new favorite of mine, and must mention I'm impressed with the render quality given its a HS game. Looking forward to see how popular this game can become given its potential; and with more updates.

This game is very good and have a lot of potential. The plot is fine imo, but the render and design are top notch. The main character is not a wimp but an actually good person and the female cast are interesting.

Reviewing v0.1.5

Pros
- The Graphic is pleasant.

Cons
- MC's personality is pathetic, he can fight and somehow he has some friends and nameless female NPCs be happy to have him around, but ultimately his sole positive personality-trait is his sense of justice, which is put to shame by the rest of his personality, he is a simp, he likes ONE girl(Ayase) and he is subservient to her despite the awful things she does to him(that i'll explain when i'll talk about her) and he compares people to her like "oh this person is so kind and selfless that reminds me of how great Ayase is", he sucks up to her even when she is clearly hostile and aggressive.
- Ayase's plan regarding MC and what she thought about the situation: "This guy clearly saved me and my bestfriend from rape even though i attacked him first believing he was the rapist how can i convince to join me in my quest to find out what happened to my sister and maybe do some vigilantism? I could be nice and appeal to his sense of justice now that he knows that i'm the most popular and loved girl in the school and now that he knows that i'm a ninja-vigilante we can fight crime together OR i can take a picture of him and blackmail him threating him to go to the police and accuse him to be the rapist that he fought and force him to tell me where he lives insisting that nobody will ever believe his word because i'm a girl, i'm popular, i'm loved, and society clearly bends over even at false accusations of rape and other forms of assaults on women, and then be a spoiled brat that brags non-stop about how rich i am, how i know how to buy an actual 3-meals(who even eats that much?!Like 3 plates full of food) breakfast menù and how my dad made me learn how to use a sword and even though i trained for years, MC basically defeated me while also going easy on me when i thought he was the rapist, also why not maybe show off my sport-car that i bought with daddy's cash, all while still acting like an absolute douche and even mocking MC in front of his own sister and her bestfriend who apparently are in a different school but i'm that famous that they know me without MC ever mentioning me to them before today? Yeah let's go for the abusive choice!" This is probably what went through her head at the time. Ultimately Ayase believes to be a good person even though she acknowledges that she is blackmailing MC with a picture of MC completely dressed in front of her bestfriend who is partially naked, and MC having a shocked facial expression...it's such a bait picture that the picture's title could easily be "Random(possibly virgin) guy shocked after seeing a pair of tits and a pussy in a dirty alley"
- Yes if you read above MC is also the butt of every joke to a point that those jokes are shoved down your throat even though they aren't funny to begin with.
- The game is placed in Japan and everyone is apparently japanese but everyone explains to each other the meaning of every japanese-word, some characters even have names or codenames with a double meaning depending on how you read the kanjis of those names...it's so stupid, because a japanese person that knows their own language wouldn't need such explanation(aside maybe for the codenames with double-meanings...but even then i don't think people would explain it, because usually things are more simple than what they are)

Conclusion

Good Graphic, stupid plot, painfully annoying characters, clearly wrote by someone who watched too many animes and idealized Japan...I wish the best to the dev, but i'm very pessimistic about it, sorry.

Extra

I want to add a comment i made in the thread that explains way better than this review

This game will be a MASTERPIECE someday... Mark my work! Got little chill play before bed and it make me go from 1am to 6h26 am Little interact romance but that is what they call sweetness. This KS guy know exactly what he doing! Pls keep developing gud work, i'll follow and support you from now<3

Promising start. Interesting story, likeable characters and great renders. It's a slow burn with a lot of build up to each character it seems, which I like as well.
I think you should give it chance.

Good:
Beautiful art.

Bad:
Boring jokes and memes refrence.

Despite appearing quite a lot, the combat scenes are so goofy.

There arent many options for players.

The characters didn't really have a true individual personality and all seamed to have extremely similar personalities,

Music sometimes doesn't fit the situation

Next, some sexual situations are loose and generic, seen in a thousand other games before. There's not really a sense of conquest through meaningful moments.

The plot isn't that bad but I've seen these typical plot types too many times so everything in this game becomes so predictable. With the main character's plot amor that as big as the whole galaxy, nothing will surprise me, : MC enters a battle - win as always - the girls spread their legs and let him bang them - repeat.

Although I want to mention the number of sex scenes, but this game is just. v0.1.5 at the moment. Hopefully in the future the dev gonna improve his writing. But if it continues as it is, this game will become a game that, lack of lewd, and plot. Thanks for reading this and sorry for my bad english