VN - Ren'Py - Abandoned - Obrenor: The Outcast Prince [Ch. 4b] [Lazy Tiger Studio]

[Rev Ch3]
Squeeeee~

REALLY enjoyed the voice and characters. Pacing is just right.

Art is great and characters are appealing. Holy shit that's the first male render I've seen in months that didn't make me want to kick his teeth in, characterized in such a way I actually root for him to get some.

Current release is too short, but in the "I want more nowww" way and not the "ZOMG PATREON $$$" way.

No squicky kink content; at this point it's harmless vanilla fun and might be the first such story to hold my interest.

Thread watched, eagerly looking forward for more.

[EDIT] Posted this and the game was abandoned later that same day. Fuck my life like a cricket bat in a toaster.

The story and characterization in this installment alone would beat the pants off the majority of good games on this site. I started looking for the Patreon on finishing the game, which speaks volumes in and of itself.

What a little gem this is... It's not Five Star yet, but it has the potential to be in time.

The writing is great, the art is average to above-average, and it's always a nice change of pace to delve into a fantasy world instead of... Y'know... Being the hormone-bomb kid that moves to the big city to live with his mom and three sisters.

At the moment my main gripe is with the art, so let me elaborate... The character renders are really quite good, it's the backgrounds that don't work for me. They're a mix of stock images and stock renders and I really wish the dev would pick a consistent style and stick with it.

Stock photographic images could work great if the lighting on the character renders were adjusted along the way to match the lighting of those backgrounds. That's a really effective compositing technique which you'll see constantly on sites like Renderosity or CGTalk... It doesn't need to be taken to that extreme obviously, just enough to let the characters blend in.

Alternatively stock or self-rendered 3D backgrounds wouldn't require as much lighting work, because you could get away with a more uniform globally illuminated look, but they do need to fit the narrative better. Having characters standing in an obviously empty 3D rendered tent while the text describes a raucous feast only serves to undermine the narrative when you should be in a position to control the scene.

Mind you these are nitpicks, not strong criticisms... The game is fun, playable and then re-playable for the different paths, and definitely worth a download.

It seems like it will eventually branch into a Whoring Path full of tavern wenches and peasant girls, a Waifu Path focusing on just one of the four(?) companions, and hopefully a Harem Path too. Although that harem's going to have a looooong lead-time judging by my affection levels when I tried to balance it across the three existing companions... Sliver. It's just a damn sliver.

WARNING: THIS REVIEW MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS

This review is based on version 0.30

From time to time, a gem appears among the horde of new wannabe games. Obrenor: The Outcast Prince is one that fits the description.

Plot:
The developer has chosen as the setting a medieval land (magic included). This alone differentiate this title from the miriads of other games out there. The plot is well thought out and without inconsistencies, the dialogues fit the concept nicely without using the usual tropes. Most importantly, the plot holds your attention. It is rare to find a game where you don't use the skip button to speed-forward the text, but in this game, well, I am not even sure if there is a skip button because I was drawn by the story and wanted to read every single line. The additional character do come together a bit quickly, but I believe this is part of the story as the developer envisioned it and not a rushed move.

Graphics:
The render quality is very good, with well thought out lighting.

Music:
Oh boy, do you realize how long it was since I played a game with actual music??? Moreover the theme fits the game setting perfectly. Well done!

Character development:

I like that every action modifies (slightly at this point) your relationship with your companions. The visual telltales of the modifiers are placed perfectly to be easily seen. It bothers me to have to open the extras menu to see the status of the girls though. Perhaps a direct shortcut would be indicated. All in all the characters seem to have some depth, although is still too early to tell.

GUI:
Besides that f#%!ing EXTRAS button bean near invisible on a 1920x1080 display, it's pure ren'py vanilla. It works, it's light, and is not crowded.

General thougths:

All in all I believe the game to be worth sponsoring. I will follow this to see how it goes.

GRAPHICS: 4.5/5
PLOT: 4.5/5
MUSIC: 5/5
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 4.5/5
GUI: 4.5/5

OVERALL: 4.6/5
I will give it a 5 pending the new version.

Okay maybe it makes not much sense to make a review of a version 0.1, but seriously I have to.

[!!Some spoiler maybe can be found below!!]

[[Game]]: Very nice medievalish style game. Those who likes the games placed in that age will love this one, specially if the future version will be at least as good as this one.

[[Gameplay]]: Not much choice in the game yet, but the choice will be definitely (or at least hope so... or it should) cause different things, as each choice will affect the characters around you. But as we can see now, even if the stats has only 4 heart icons for each character, it will be hard to "fill them", as +1 heart in the game choice don't gives you a full heart, in fact it gives you very little. I'm not even sure we'll be able to fill all the hearts for all the girls, but that's good thing too, as we need to choose, and of course it can raise the replayability of the game.

[[Story]]: Now this part is a bit unnecessary here due to the early stage of the game, but I must say it's refreshing to see a game where there are no incest (yet at least... ). Okay incest is a nice fetish but there are just way too much of those games these day (sorry). Anyway back to the topic. We don't know much about, like... anything. We have some hazy hints about the darkness, but nothing to be sure. The only concrete thing is turn out to be not dark (because she uses fire... which is not dark... get it?). It could be interesting story, I certanly want to see where it goes and what can be discovered.

[[Graphics]]: Now this is good. No, not good, great! The models, the poses, the backgrounds and overall the renders are very very nice, and gives a very great atmosphere for the game. My favourite is in fact Cara, and because that she reminds me and other's games Kara, don't ask why.
Just one more little thing needed, actual animations for "certain stuff". And that would be awesome.

[[Overall]]: What can I say? Can't wait for the next version. Giveittomenow!