Already a fan of virtues, so this is easy to love.
The story is slightly rougher compared to virtues. However, huge improvement in terms of visuals as well as animations, and well, most of us are here for the visuals.
TL;DR: would recommend, esp. if you liked VIRTUES already. Nice fantasy story and sexy characters. Nice arc/progression involving the main villain. Caters esp. well to fans of big tits. If you can, perhaps worthwhile to wait for (hopefully bugfixed) v0.12 (see issues below). Performance should (could) be fine (also for older PCs), but game/engine seems to suffer from serious memory leakage, causing issues.
[version, env] 0.11 / PC/Win/mouse
[play time] medium ~10-11h? (estimate, fast playthrough w/ lots of ctrl (grind and some story) skipping. Did take my time to enjoy some bits.))
Review based on a 2 weeks old draft, and is rough around the edges.
It's basically VIRTUES, but with a fantasy / magic / super hero/villain story universe.
I went through it fast, but will wait for future (hopefully bugfixed) update and do a normal / slow paced run.
At times I had the feeling that (in some aspects) models in VIRTUES were more detailed, but that might well be imagination, or due to bar raised in the meantime by all the HQ stuff we get spoiled with. (UPD: I believe Heather's hair is (notable) lacking in detail, bringing the quality/experience down a notch there. A bit of a shame (esp. since she's the principal LI))
Critical note on the progression / sandbox / free roam: the LIs you get involved with early on will have their content depleted, while you continue with (content of) other LIs.
There should be more options to continue to have a sexy time with the early LIs. If I recall correctly there e.g. wasn't a way to (in-game) have actual sex w/ Heather again. When u develop with her, she gets all this oversexed, and then when you're done with her content it all falls flat. Feels off, and I think that can be remedied by being able to continue having sex with her (revisiting scenes).
At a certain point in time I did more & more time skipping just to get to events to progress with the final LI(s) that had content. Hope as development of this title progresses, all this gets smoothed out, and the story lines of all LIs keep going simultaneously (as much as possible). (Not sure (can't recall) to what extent VIRTUES suffered from this.)
Not sure if the dev(s) read(s) these, but I'll leave some issues I came across & suggestions for improvement below. Biggest issue seems to be huge leaking of memory related to loading of video assets.
I read some remarks regarding performance / hw requirements here & there.
Performance (animations) was good on my 8GB archaic potato PC (it has more trouble w/ some (unoptimized) ren'py titles), animation/assets loading was what stalled the game.
Over time I saw the game hogging up RAM, seems like a memory leak related to the loading of (animation/video) assets. Remedy: restart (this also helps with the bad loading times, which increase as your RAM gets clogged).
Wide range of waifus, beautiful renders, reasonable romance without being too realistic, not plagued by netorare, intriguing plots for a hentai game. Looking forward to future development and best of luck to devs.
Okay, this game is a great Harem Simulator, plenty of range, devisity and the right level of characterisation.
The only issue is the Engine. I ran this game on a 2023 top range laptop, and blue screened more times than I can count becuase the engine creates constant issues. I'd love to give this game five stars but with how often it crashes and how rarely it autosaves... I've had a lot of issues with it.
Nice little harem simulator featuring a wide variety of LIs, but be warned the hardware requirements are quite high for such a simple game.
Story
The story is old school - get recruited as an advisor to a superhero club and manage its superhero members (I.e. the LIs) daily.
Although each character has an introductory story, so far only a few (Heather, Sorria & Osonia, Alnilam) have robust background and build up. The rest of the LIs are just troupes fitting stereotypical fantasies like catgirl, innocent virgin, maid, shrine maiden etc.
Game Mechanics
Sandbox in name but kinetic novel in practice. Although you are free to roam around the city, the story takes place in a linear manner with no branching and you don’t even have a choice to reject any LI.
Background / Character Renders
Background is quite varied for places all over the city and the characters are unique enough so that each LI looks distinct and good thing is none of them look like standard assets made with only minor modifications.
There is one particular irritant which is the use of blue color shadows for any character who is not a LI in the course of the story. It breaks the immersion and feels like a lazy workaround.
Character Development
Very uneven. Alnilam, Elf Sisters and Heather are well developed and interesting enough that you sort of get vested while interacting with them.
The rest of the LIs are fillers that are there just to increase the variety catering to different kinks without any interesting character development.
Sex Scenes
There’s a good number of them to cater to most non-extreme kinks and many of them are well animated with enough spicy dialogue and sound effects to get the mood going.
However as this game uses gamedot instead of the usual Unity / Renpy engine, the hardware requirements are much higher compared to other AVNs. From my own experience, you will need at least 16GB of RAM and a mid tier CPU that is not older than 4 years in order to run the animations smoothly.
Most mid-range and below mobile will likely experience hangups and jerky animations.
BGM and Sound Effects
BGM is the generic kind and if you play enough VNs you've probably heard them before somewhere else. Sound effects are lightweight which is a shame considering there are a lot of magic and superheroes fighting scenes.
Conclusion
As a harem simulator it checks all the boxes in terms of animation, variety of LIs and story pacing. It’s a solid 4 - 4.5 star experience.
The only issue I have is the game engine which uses system resources inefficiently and this whole idea of dressing up a strictly kinetic novel as a sandbox which is unnecessary.
Great game overall.
Plenty of girls that have each unique personalities(doesn't sound like much but most games fumble this), so youa ctually care about them.
H scenes are well made, models are very nice, the plot is actually cool.
Quite an amazing game this one. Great character, fantastic character models, multiple costumes for each character, amazing H-scenes, decent plot, and only mildly grindy gameplay. The main character is a cool dude, who despite having no powers, has a unique set of skills and insight to make the events that make him the main character feel natural. I enjoy the added touch of hang out events slowly changing over time as relationships develop. Although character personalities are pretty often seen waifu tropes, they're all done elegantly and competently.
It's really hard to find any flaws with this game other than sometimes poor grammar/spelling mistakes, and the overall pace being a little too slow. There's a lot of teasing scenes, but it's all pretty hot.
I'm a huge fan now and will probably give the developers past games a spin.
Im a huge fan of the devs previous work VIRTUES and was REALLY excited to see that he was already working on a new project.
Unfortunately Im not much into furries or animal beings, so I put this game off after 5mins.
Yesterday I gave it a new try and.. HOLY MOLY I wasnt disappointed. The dev made a huge progress in... actually in EVERYTHING. Im completely hooked to the world, story, atmosphere, ero scenes and most importantly into the characters. I like how they have 2 different appearances during work and non working times, it gives them more personality.
As I already said the world is really interesting. As a person who likes heroes/villain tropes, I got hooked real quickly and the characters are all quite versatile and (most of them are) so interesting to explore - ESPECIALLY Cassy, Sorring, Osonia and "Fortune Teller" Lady.
The music is chosen really well. For the sandbox game it is, its important to have relaxing music you can vibe to. He/she did well in choosing. It might be my mind playing tricks, but I feel like some songs from the previous game were took over. I like them.
Gameplay. For some people it might already be grindy, BUT its actually NOT grindy at all imo. There are so many different events happening all the time, you are always in for a treat and new things to discover.
For some people it might be more of a visual novel, because there dont seem to be any important choices to make, but im actually glad that the game is like this, because many choices create many branches that could become complicated. Its fine for me as it is now.
The H-Scenes are hot af. The girls are already smoking hot, but the renders of the scenes are giving them an extra kick, holy moly.
My only downsites for it so far would be that cat girl isnt appealing to me. Fox girl is still alright. Even better without her ears. And the doctor isnt appealing to me either. (Glad that she doesnt seem to be a main girl.. YET)
Dont get me wrong their character traits and personalities are still interesting... just their appearances arent appealign to me, but thats a me-problem lmao.
Plus that there isnt enough content out for it yet, q.q
Anyways. This game definetely deserves more attention, so thats why im putting it in my recommended games. I cant see this game to fall off from my list any time soon.
Pretty good VN with solid 4 out 5. Tho, kinetic nature of it and inability to choose partners for MC is killing this KN for me. LIke, for example, I hate Alnilam with all my heart, this filthy sucking/riding the dead hoe. ughhh, she's so f disgusting. She single handedly kills this KN for me. And no amount sad 'boo-hoo' backstory is gonna fix that. Jail or write off her, even without aforementioned she don't deserve forgiveness or place among LIs.
I'll see the finished product to make the final judgment, but for now it is very good KN, as a whole. Check it out and don't forget to support dev if you really like it.
Story - 3/5. Decent story, it was pretty engaging, to an extent. Not too bad.
Choices - 0,7/5. Don't matter. Flavor text.
Gameplay - 2/5. KN with sandbox and some bugs.
Characters - 2/5.
MC - -9999/5 *G-GULP!*
Models/animations - 4/5. It's pretty good HS.
Grammar - 4/5. it's all gonna be fine with proofreading.
The story wasnt really that good tbh but the interaction and dynamics between the MC and all the girls for some reason i really liked and loved it, the relationship also has a nice pace i'd say not to fast and not to slow.
The renders was great and beautifully done, the gameplay also not really complicated as you only need to click here and there to raise the girl parameter and unlock the event with them, i'd understand if some people find it grindy but personally i didnt think that way as its a simple enough gameplay.
If i want to nitpicking then i hope the MC can have a better render and also toned down at the breast size..personally dislike the huge and unrealistic breast or a breast that only an old lady could have a huge and saggy breast.
The story perhaps kinda cringe for some people who were not accustomed to it but personally i've read bunch of japanese manga and i loved science fiction very much so im okay with the story, not an amazing one but its good enough for me to enjoy it.
Its a kinetic novel kinda as the choice seems doesnt affect anything and personally i liked this more than multiplies path like any other games so i can sit and enjoy the story without a headache which choices is the best etc
Conclusion i give this 5 stars simply because it has everything i liked aside from the story ( main theme of the story was fine but the pace kinda needs improvement )
It has some good characters, but some really bad ones as well. The renders look good but it's grindy as hell so I just spent half of the time skipping through conversations I've already seen because can't progress through the game otherwise. Also, everybody else that isn't a LI or the MC is just a bunch of silhouettes of different colors, which looks pretty bad.
The story is... average or a tad below that, nothing really amazing, at least for me. Also caught many typos.
As others have already pointed out, the story is fine, the MC is not that great, the renders and the girls are pretty and the game uses the same formula as V.I.R.T.U.E.S which I'm OK with since I enjoyed that very much. However there are few red flags that would be nice to know about before jumping in.
Godot engine
While the UI looks nice, at the time of writing (version 0.9.4) the game has severe save problems. The UI shows a list of saves that you made, however only one remains after a relaunch. I assume that happens because every new save is created as a file with the name "saves 0", thus every time a new save is created, it overrides the old one. Now that is not a game breaking problem, until the game breaks something. Like what happened with Alnilam's interrogations. In the end I had to find the file and edit it manually to fix the progression, and that wouldn't be necessary if I had all of my save files. To add an insult to injury, you have to redefine the player and the other name every damn time a save is loaded. Otherwise you are stuck with the "player:name" placeholder or something like that and an white spaces in the dialogues.
Fixed in 0.10
Lack of Ren'Py's creature comforts like, right click closes the menu, skip transitions, URM, etc.
Unnecessary grind.
The girls' repeatable events just annoying once you have read through them once and yet you have to view them at least 3 times again to raise their affection. Just, WHY?? At least they change after events, but still...
No real choices
While the game has choices, they definitely don't do a thing. So the story is as kinetic as it can get.
"In the next update" options
I can't express how much I hate this, if there is an option, we should be able to choose it. It's not like the writer is held at gunpoint to include them there, so either do it properly or don't do it at all!
Standard Honey Select animations
While this goes for 99.99% HS games, for some reason I have expected more. Probably because it's not their first game. Despite that, all H-scenes are the same old recycled sequences that we all have seen in other games, time and time again.
To sum it up, I would rather wait before trying it out, I don't know if I'm the only one with the save problems but it's a deal breaker for me and those "in the next update" are just needlessly pissing me off. I will check the game after the next update and if it gets fixed, I will update my review.
** Edit **
Version 0.10 fixes the saves issue that I had, yay! Now I can at least recommend the game for those who don't mind the other issues I listed above.
Phoenixes is another excellent game by NoMeme. Do you like big breasts? Do you like wholesome harems? Do you like good guy mcs? Do you like sexy sex? Then Phoenixes will be the game for you. Wait: will be?
If you've played NoMeme's previous game, you'll understand two words: slow burn. NoMeme is a harem-crafting master, but their approach to relationship building is slow, and proper sex only gets started quite far into the game. And this is absolutely true of Phoenixes. As of v0.9.4, there are 9 girls and we have only had full sex with 3. However, all the lewd scenes are hot, with amazing visuals and sexy writing. NoMeme's previous game was exactly the same, which is why the last third of that game was the best, and extremely hot. Phoenixes is shaping up to be the same.
But it's not all about the sex. Phoenixes actually has some really good worldbuilding and a fun plot to accompany it. It takes itself exactly the right amount of not-too-seriously. The visuals are stunning throughout and the writing is strong. It's built in the Godot engine, which it utilises to build a slick UI. However I did experience a bug: while all my saves worked, only the 12 most recent displayed their image in the load menu. This is a problem because the game's gallery does not actually replay sex scenes, it only shows you the images from those scenes. This is a shame, because it misses out on all the well written, hot dialogue. Another annoyance is that the game interjects a few scenes (so far only 3) which have sub-scenes only accessible with sufficient points in a girl. I don't know why, but these happen typically well before you have the points necessary to see those sub-scenes. However there is a dedicated place to replay these in your apartment, so it's not a big deal.
It's worth mentioning the bonus chapter. Firstly: in my opinion, you shouldn't play it until you're in an established romantic relationship with Heather, which for me was pretty much at the end of the current build. Basically it adds some more hot sex scenes, which fit into the main game's plot in a way intended to not disrupt it. However I personally still found it slightly emotionally disruptive. Obviously it was made as a way to encourage people playing on the itchio version to support NoMeme on patreon, which is perfectly understandable.
So: should you play Phoenixes now, or should you wait? In my opinion, play it now! Yes, your heart will sink a bit everytime the message "You've reached the end of this girl's story in this build" pops up. But this is just such a good wholesome harem game; if you're into this genre you shouldn't wait.
There are certain moments, some scenes are blocked by “only available in future updates as you will need a greater relationship with a certain character” Of the 4 choice options, only one is available, but you can review a scene in a type of replay called subplot's, which is like a gallery of scenes that the dev created and knew that the player would not be able to do at that moment, so he created the subplot, a menu from which you can review the scene in an out-of-context way as it would just be a replay of a situation that has already happened
So wouldn't it be better to wait to include such an opportunity in future updates instead of letting the player "tease" something that he cannot do at the moment?
I have 2 elves... option 1 go with elf Y.. option 2 go with elf X... option 3 go with the two elves together X and Y.. however I can only go with Y because the other options are not ready in the at the moment, but I may review it someday in the future so “don’t be upset player”
I wouldn't say that this is a good way of putting situations... but that's another question.
despite the game being a sandbox it is practically kinetic, THERE ARE NO CHOICES, the MC acts the way the dev wants... the player didn't like being rejected so many times by the white tail? Don't want to forgive her for raping him while he was sleeping and then refusing to sleep with him again while he's awake? but it's up to the dev to forgive, not the player, so the mc will always forgive the white tail and will do everything for her, even though she causes him blue balls He will always give in to teasing and accept being teased and having just a handjob as a reward... just like most girls…”because he is a gentleman with girls”, There's a bit of a lack of attitude with the MC... he should have his own motivations... arrive at the moment and be the one who refuses the girls... or he's the one who imposes the rules and they're the ones who fight for him or at least let the player choose who to get involved with.. or the dev stop placing fouls and empty options that “aren't implemented yet but you can review it as a replay” like... such a big sandbox game.. few people would be willing to replay everything for some content where 3 options in a scene weren't ready at the moment... “ah man, I wanted to go out with the two elves... I'll wait for the update in a few months and replay everything so I can see the scene with the two elves instead of just one” when I will barely remember what happened in the scene
I like robot girls... elves... villains I like super powers... but the lack of choice and “not implemented” options that are there but not ready... kinda that breaks and discourages me a little…
I don't like being provoked and being promised something in the future that I will barely remember later and being rewarded at the moment with something lower than my expectations... it would be better not to include such options then...
----------------
Editing my review with version0.11 with the famous reformulation of the game, remade from scratch with the "more bearable MC".
I keep my old review as my opinion for the current version, since it is practically the same!! If there is something that has changed, it is the performance of the game engine, for the worse.
It was not very pleasant to replay hoping for something better and end up going through the same problems and bad feelings that I had in my first gameplay, and that made me reevaluate the stars of my review.
One of among the Greatest adult visual novel you can find on this site and it's definitely not for kids. Amazing character models and animation scenes. Will be waiting for more updates on this one.
-Alnilam number 1 even though she literally killed the MC (us).
The renders, animations and h-scenes are all great.
The story is good so far, no complaints.
That said, it's obviously about the same formula as virtues, where a lazy guy without ambition finds himself surrounded by girls who like to be dominated, which gives the guy the ambition and drive to try and be worthy of them.
It's not a bad formula, and just twice in a row is still fine, but if you make a third game, I suggest trying something new.
Now for the bad stuf, the MC starts of as a cringy edgelord with self esteem issues, who then transfers into a cringy romantic with self esteem issues, either way, it's a little hard to like him.
I also dislike how kemuri is portrayed, and I don't mean the concept of a blind sword master itself, as that's a timeless classic, but rather the dumb way in wich the story makes the MC feel sympathy for her.
I mean, she fails at school because she is blind? What bullshit is that? There are plenty of ways for blind people to take tests and learn, and if she isn't using those, she's just choosing to fail.
Then there is the way she walked straight into a pole, while holding her sword, I mean what is that? How long has she been blind for? 5 minutes? Use your sheathed sword to check the space in front of you!
Seriously, trying to force the MC and us players to feel sympathy for her in this way actually feels like an insult to blind people!
Anyway, becaude of kemuri and the cringy MC, I'm subtracting a star, but otherwise its a great game!
Basically what the other reviewers have said. This is a typical Harem x Superhero game, which is expected from the devs. So, if you're okay with that style, then you will like this.
The overall presentation is really good (good renders, good character design, nice environment, good UI), the story is decent and intriguing (the dilemma between the MC, the Lead LL & the antagonist is really good), and the characters are mostly well written for the majority of it, though there are a lot of cringe dialogues.
The only complaint that I have are the sex scenes, because they are default Honey Select animations with not much flair or eroticness to them. Especially considering the render quality, I was expecting good custom animation, but, hence we get the generic default ones.
NoMeme, is in my opinion one of the best harem genre game developer. Phoenixes is no exception, great game from visuals to dialogue. The ost could benefit from more variety.
The characters have individual personalities and are likeable. The overall design of them is also well done. (The rather terrible hairstyle of mc is fixed later on.)
The gameplay or management system could be a little bit more complex. I feel like all possible actions one can do with the 'Hero Guild' play out the same. E.g. it doesn't even matter with heroine you pick.
5/5 - Excellent Harem Game form a VN standpoint, the gameplay could use some work!
Phoenixes is a game for those who enjoy harems in a blend of fantasy and sci-fi settings. The pacing is done well enough and the renders are gorgeous. There's a lot of girls with animal features but nothing full on furry (yet).
Unfortunately the mc is a bit of a tool and has that odour of wimp around him. It feels as if he's taken from a meme and i fully expect him to teleport behind someone with his sword, saying "nothing personell kid." He's not as cool as he thinks he is and it breaks the immersion.
Other than that, the story is refreshing and the setting is well developed. It really feels as if you're in a living city. The girls are very cute and the sex is animated, lots of plusses with this game but sometimes it needs to not take itself so seriously all the time.
I would give it a 3.5 if i could.
Pros:
The character designs
The sex scenes
Worldbuilding
Fav girl robot girl
Cons:
-The Dialoge is so cringe sometimes, nobody talks like that
- and every girl goes into the sam direction as of now ( mc has a master like relationship with every girl)
-an the arc with anilin (the goat girl) is just weird, how the mc got closer to her is just odd. She tells the Mc how ever body mistreated her, thats why she hates sociaty, MC mistreats her and now she likes him. L. Why didnt she like the people before MC then when she actually enjoyed being a masochistic.
In general i would still recommend this game.
I enjoyed it.
P.s: English is not my first language.
