Ren'Py - Power Vacuum [Ch. 12 Official] [What? Why? Games]

I would give the game 4.5 stars if possible, and after some deliberation I went with 5. It is not exactly "excellent", more like "very good".

To sum the game up in one sentence: Power Vacuum is a "Big Brother" inspired parody porn game with an OK amount of sexual content in the current version (0.6).

The character models are OK for the most part, but some are not and sometimes the facial expressions are uncanny/weird. Overall the dev is doing a good job with the 3D renders though and the animations are OK-ish. I myself am of the opinion that if animations are not flawless they should be left out altogether, but thats personal preference.

The NTR is "bad-end-only" and the villain is ridiculous and not really a threat. Don't play the game for that tag alone.

It feels like two thirds of the dialogue is made up of innuendo and cheap jokes, which is a little much. Some jokes are actually quite good, but with the overall amount it feels like everyone is doing a bad stand-up comedy routine all the time.

I still give it 5 stars, because those are pretty much the only complaints I have and it makes for a good experience that lasts several hours, even if you mostly skip through the milf-content like I did. Looking forward to future updates.

Version: 0.5b
Visual novel/Script: 5
Gaming experience: 4 (sanbox free roaming)
Graphic quality: 4
Character development: 5+
Xcitement: 5

Considerations: Limited locations and no random events for a sandbox. Also would be better with some Easter eggs to help cope with navigation through the rooms.
Faces expressions and grapphic quality look better next to the text than in the rendered story.
Nice the option to skip the ntr content without altering the game story. Elegant yet simple solution.
Good game

I agree with renonymous to a degree but the game has a insanely slow burn and insane repetition it tells you how much you need to repeat an event I guess that's a plus if you play the game from the start it feels like an unbearable grind to the point I had to take a break the humor ruins any story it could have to the point almost all scenes are ruined by the writer thinking a scene needs it when it doesn't lets talk about the most annoying part the NTR and the pointless choices that always lead to NTR NTR isn't a fetish of mine but the use of hunter in this game is pathetic why is there an option to turn off NTR when that kills almost all choices and the only choices typically end in game over shouldn't there be a linear tag of some sort I feel as if the games could be less than 30 minutes in length if your not constantly re doing the same event over and over with minor differences I could list some positives but I figured what I didn't like about the game was more important and sorry for my grammar issues

Really, really good script, beautiful graphic and wonderful plot! What do you want more of this?! Main Caracter is either normal and easy to empathy, girls are very natural (by the way, for an erotic novel) and no hate between character... Download now!

Keywords: (Very) slow burn, humour, harem, choices don’t matter.

Overall, this story has been very enjoyable so far and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes these sort of “gather your harem” types of games. However, there are a few areas where Power Vacuum could be improved. Spoilers ahead.

Tone: This game’s banter is witty and enjoyable, and it makes for some funny and endearing scenes. However, the story suffers from excessive and poorly timed humor as the author can’t stop inserting jokes into even erotic moments, making them feel like they were filmed before a live studio audience and the characters are pausing mid-thrust for an audience laugh track. The ironic thing is that the author seems self-aware in a nearly identical situation—While Eva’s giving the MC a blowjob, the MC makes a joke about something that happened with his sister, and Eva starts bringing up her previous lovers as an example of how mentioning stupid shit, mid-sex, can kill a mood. Despite this, Power Vacuum hurts the eroticism and drama of many of its strongest moments with awkwardly inserted humor.

Pacing: There are no random events, and chapters progress solely through story events. Because one character’s story can have 12 events in a chapter and the others have 6-8, you’ll find yourself skipping 15 hours of the day or repeating the same placeholder bonding events just to hit that one character’s daily event, 4 days in a row, so you can go to the next chapter. This is especially unfulfilling as some of these scenes which were important enough to make for such lopsided pacing are repetitious, being the same dry-humping scene from the previous night with different banter thrown in.

huNTeR: I had high hopes for this character. Despite looking like a bloated crypt-keeper, Hunter's presence could have represented conflict and challenge. He announces that he’ll be seducing the house members at the same time you’re trying to win them over but, in spite of this, he only has a few hardcoded events which you can’t even fail. Even with NTR turned on, the game rolls itself back before he can pluck a girl from your harem. I would’ve loved to see Hunter as a real antagonist with more presence, and to see his actions have real stakes, but instead he’s just Chekhov’s dong left on the mantle—another storytelling device foiled by humor.

Still, I only speak so passionately against the story’s flaws because it is so damned enjoyable. The linear story and its unique characters are endearing and lovingly written. The majority of sex scenes are spicy. You will not waste your time with this one.

This is a better written version of big brother.
The dialogues are quite well written.
I hope the writer can expand on his prank war stuff.
The models and the way the progression of story play
out are quite similar to some common tropes, hopefully the
writer can expand his excellent writing to the story as his dialogue
and scene writing is already off the mark.

Honestly probably one of the best games I played. The dialog and reactions always get a laugh out of me and the way the story unfolds is great. What I especially like is that even though you have to click around unlike most games it's very straight forward and it just flows very well.

Characters without any vital signs, and therefore they don’t interact with each other, they seem to come out of a car accident. A trivial, boring plot, without any dialogue. A game that doesn’t even contain in full what the tags promise, so we’re getting a one-way and stillborn game.

This game is a the great desolation - miles and miles of desert with no end in sight. You will spend hours without any sex scene in sight. IN the first chapter the biggest thing that happened to the MC was to get a glimpse of his sister's asshole.
Sometime during the 2nd chapter, I realized I have spent close to 2-3 hours on this game without a single payoff. I guess this is what softcore porn feels like - never understood the point of that.

This one's weird, like really weird.

Mostly the dialogue. As my favourite reviewer says "A good time... if you're drunk!". Weird beyond description. Not sexy. Not "jump your bones" porn level. Not Engrish. Weird.

The renders are alright, if they're in a face front looking at you pose. But they get really off with some others. Ex: when Brenna is at the pool, her head is suddenly too small, rotated at 120 degrees, like it's made out of rubber. Unearthly big tits and tiny limbs, but that's par for some porn games.

The NTR foe barely looks human. I know there are some plot points to it, but still, he'd be more at home in a fantasy setting.

The grind is bearable. It's Ren'Py so you can just SKIP until you read dialogue that's new and the robot helper tells you what you need to do, so that's fine. No real walkthrough needed.

Still, I give it 4/5 because most of the models have a mischievous look and dialogue about them when they're not being weird and I love me some mischief with my Love Interests.

extremely realistic game, with a slow build up as each update is a step towards the corruption of each family member, im not usually a fan of NTR however the grandpa who is your rival is extremely charismatic and hilarious as a character that the NTR isnt even that bad

I love the characters, the dialogue is super fun and witty, and it's a great slow-burn game. Keep up the good work and ignore all the noise!

For repeat even progression, it'd be cool if you added some randomness in the daily grind to keep things spicy and fun.

Power Vacuum 0.5:

Pros:

• Better than average renders & animation.
• Slow burn. The game designer takes the time to let the player get to know the characters. Only the better visual novels here do that.
• The characters are real, three-dimensional people, not just fap material. Paradoxically, this makes the fapping more satisfying.

Cons, (Only two):

• Sound is very sparse and absent during the sex scenes. However, this is a perennial complaint about most games, and I do understand the extra time and money it takes to add good sound, so this is just a nitpick, and not really a complaint.
• Grandpa. This fucker is waaaay too creepy. His presence (so far) has actually lessened my enjoyment of the game. I understand that there’s a big payoff coming because of this, but *shudder*. I want to murder this rapey douche and bury him under an off-ramp. Seriously. I wish the creator had dialed grandpa back a skosh.
• 
  
• However, all of this is eclipsed by the one great strength of this game: the dialogue. This game has far and away the wittiest writing of any game I’ve played here. It sparkles and fizzes like Champaign. I found myself laughing out loud regularly while playing. I’m not exaggerating when I say I would still have played this game, even with creepy grandpa, if there was no sex in it at all. The creator is wasted here. He should be writing hit sitcoms.

If you want to play a game so well done it's gonna make you forget you downloaded to jack off then this is the game for you.
Technically speaking it may not be the BEST adult game but the character feels so goddamn authentic and so well written it's gonna blow you away.
While not the most common and conventional "roommates" all the characters relations feel real and authentic.
You progress steadily into more and more spicy situations with your "roommates" without being rushed of dumbed-down.
Overall a really great game


EDIT AFTER 0.6
So the premise is still here and the game has excellent writing, characters and scenes but something is slowly but surely changing and not for the better.
Although you notice that from the beginning the characters (MC included) have a really "not ordinary" line of thought but it's getting more and more ridiculous as the game progresses.
While this fuels some of the funniest moments I've had playing games (ANY game not only adult novels) it takes away one of the greatest merit this game used to have: realistic characters.
Before it sounded unusual but understandable while now it's just weird and feels really pushed. MC is starting to and more and more dumb and when he is unsure of what to do he just goes "meh, fuck it" and takes the direct approach like there were no consequences whatsoever.
This game was one of THE BEST because it understood that it needed a certain pace to get things going and have always used a smart way to move the story forward without resorting to what only looks like lazy writing. I really wish the best for this game as I grew fond of the characters and their story but I just hope the developer doesn't burn out and rush the ending like so many games nowadays.

Was a deserved 9/10 but now is more 8/10.

Power Vacuum is great, funny Visual Novel with lots of lewd scenes. The game is still in development at the moment and sets up plenty of future content. There is a working incest patch which makes 4 of the main girls related if that's your thing.

There is no full intercourse scenes with your family yet and only 1 with one of your sister's school friends. apart from that all the scenes are hot and funny at the same time.

The comedy is great where you banter with the characters frequently.

The dev is heavily active in the forum as well which is always a good sign.

The character models in this game are pretty decent. The characters themselves are interesting and funny. Honestly i spent more time laughing at this game than jacking off to it. The witty back and forth shit talk between the characters was gold at times and many times i burst out laughing. i honestly cant wait for more.

To be honest this game had a bit of a slow buildup. First few releases i thought to myself "wow the models are pretty hot, lets see what happens" and as the game has been updated, boy oh boy. I replayed this game from the start and was not disappointed in the slightest. Animations are amazing, models are hot, story is quirky which i appreciate. This went from a "meh" to a "i cant wait" within just a few updates. Cant speak for the NTR as thats not my thing. Do not sleep on this game, its really good!

The character design is good.
The story is what im hooked at and how the protagonist developed in the story. And the game is not short considering the size of the game.
Good job Sir! I will be on stand-by for any update.

The story is pretty generic for incest game. The render is nice. The girls are stereotype at first glance but there're things that make them unique. It's a sandbox game but grinding isn't bad. There're NTR but can aviod easily. What I like about this game is its humor and dialog. It's funny and I often laughed when I was playing.

So i played v0.5 and what can i say?

This is one of the best game i played. Here's why.

1. The developer actually trying to write a real family. In most incest games at some point siblings like just forget that their siblings. They like really become landlady and tennants.
Of course its still porn game, so we have crazy situation. But at least he is trying. And there is a reason for this sexual tension. Like the most weird character Hunter. Oh boy, how many people talking about that.

But i think the main problem is that people have wrong expectation from this game. Its mostly kinetic game and only NTR bad ending, very short i must say. If you don't like it. Well, its just a matter of taste. Game just not for you.