Ren'Py - Abandoned - Patronus [v3.2.72 Final] [DVE Games]

Honestly, I really want to like Patronus. The game has a unique aesthetic, incredible art, decent writing, and a vision of real gameplay to be invested in beyond just the porn. But the game is flawed. Deeply. The initial grind is brutal, taking weeks of in-game time, all the while draining your resources and patience, and the minigame that allows you to skip this is not only repetitive, but generally unpleasant. Actually playing the minigame makes the player out to be brutal and impatient, and given the dev's comments, it almost seems like a middle finger to critics. "If you don't want to grind, be an asshole and play the minigame. If you don't want to be an asshole, then deal with the grind."

I'll be following development to see how the game changes, but it's hard to recommend it as is.

An extremely buggy, unfocused shell of a game. Nothing works, lots of crashes, it would be generous to suggest there's much potential here (the art is fine for basic cutout standing figures, scenes not so much)

The user interface for a daily schedule is clumsy and tedious (making basic 'travel to x' actions needlessly complex). The dialogue feels the need to tell you basic instructions twice, sometimes three times. It's a chore to (try to) play.

Review version: Alpha 1.1

I have to say I am extremely happily suprised by this game.

There are a lot of pseudo-historic / "fantasy" games out there, and even if they try to be historic they usually fail.

But not this one. In my opinion, both the story, the facts and most importantly the atmosphere is 100% spot on. I would like to compare it with the TV series Rome, which was also excellent in my opinion.

For that reason alone I am giving this 5 stars, because it's quite difficult to pull something like this off convicingly.

As for the gameplay, this is the Alpha 1.1 version, so there is not a lot of it yet. What is there is promising though. Although it's a Ren'Py game, it surely isn't a VN, but a full-fledged management game. At the moment there are quite a few bugs, so if you hate alpha versions, you may want to wait a bit.

The visuals appear to be hand drawn, in a realistic style. To me, it suits the theme very well.

Very much looking forward to how it progresses!