VN - Ren'Py - Powers That Be [Ch. 24 - Styling] [Burst Out Games]

[v0.5.4] (Not sure why recent ratings tend to be rather negative)

I like it. Writing is good, MC and LIs are relatable and attractive, lewd scenes are nice, story is actually moderately good.
The aspect of the story I found annoying: Why does MC not more forcefully confront / demand explanations from people he knows are involved in this?
Models and visuals are good.

I did not mind the very little "political" contents people her complained about.

This game was slightly above average at start but started going downhill with each update, and it gives the feeling of 0 fucks given. Some chars started acting like cunts no matter the choices, not to mention the mc who became a tadpole. Avoid this or risk getting angry because of wasted time.

I loved this game but since the last 2 updates
it's a disaster pity
Fortunately others will replace it
Bizarre that subscribers accept his drastic changes to the story.
In any case your work is remarkable but the plot is totally unclear now

Version: 0.5.2

Didn't get all the way to the latest chapter because I dropped playing due to the growing disinterest in the way the game was progressing (sometimes with too heavy virtuous dialogue).

Visuals

• renders are average, improvements from Chap. 6 and possibly Chap. 9
• only 1 animation, i encountered, but good rhythm though sex scenes are short
• modest female models; no exaggerated proportions
• all attractive in their own way based on your pref
• the ex-wife rendering is poorer than the other women - her lighting and texture looks lower grade

Writing & characters

• amateur storytelling so the huge amounts of reading isn't enjoyable
  • but maybe it improved and i didn't care to read anymore to notice (as I began skipping for intimate scenes)
• different personalities for each; in short, the two main girls = timid/quiet vs aggressive/lively
• mc comes off as a flustered man child - he has an immature and naïve way about himself during dialogue, i.e. virtuous white knight simp "why do I have these perverted thoughts?" characteristics which commonly is intolerable in a main character and secondly, he is a grown working man
  • dialogue between "ex stepdaughter" and father didn't match as her "teen lingo" and forwardness wasn't accommodated by the dad's very formal tone - you'd expect both to sound relaxed if they love each other and are close to each other

Content

• short chapters but a lo t of chapters with a lot of dialogue
• time skip poorly used in Chapter 4 - the part I was mostly looking forward to; the new living arrangements with MC and the Asian girl, Tilly - all the erotic shenanigans that could come from living in a small apartment was passed by to assume development between the two
• plays more like a dating sim than an adult game due to the amount of conversations between MC and the girls
  • so it would appear the Dev is more focused on character and story development
• hence, very little sexual content given how many chapters are present
  • what does exist isn't too bad but feels rushed in a way

Not spicy enough for me nor is the writing interesting enough to carry the playthrough. It could be better if both sides balanced out.

+ :

• Great models. Didn't see them anywhere. So the graphic material is the best.
• Nice beginning of the storyline.
• Relaxing music.
• Some plot twists.

- :

• Author has added a lot of politics in chapter 16. This is total turn off.
• A lot of russian words that is hard to understand.
  If author wants to add russian translation ok than but he's using a transliteration SO many times that my eyes are starting to bleed.
  Even if he wants to spice up the story with russian words he's using transliteration WAY to much.
• For some reason there's less and less action.
  It has started from 12 chapter. No action at all.
  In 13 chapter action is only for those who like NTR. To be precise it's action is for those who can forgive NTR.
  In 14 chapter it has become worse. The girl had a drug but...she is just giving a kiss and fainted out.
  In 15 chapter we have a good hint of threesome...nope just a blowjob and they have faited out again.
  In 16 chapter we have nice hint that it will begin after all that suffering...nope only tits.
• Quantity of text and CG are not the same. There's so much text on one CG. It has started from the meeting in cafe.
• Murdering one of the important charcters.
  This plot twist can work if the game is about feelings that are showing clearly by CG. But the feelings mostly here are just superpowers. Not the main.

So the game has a nice start. But now it has changed to worse.

CGs are still good so i'll unpack them when the new update will come out. That's why i have added 1 star. The game still has something but this is more like reading a book with shitty plot for now. I hope the dev will calm down with all this politics and focus on more sex scenes.
[Version 0.5.2]

Review for v0.5.2
Man I used to love this game when it first came out and in initial few updates when story was decent with some superpower stuff and was about a main character who works in a day to day job and doesn't know much about his own power and his family . Now in the last few updates writing and story takes a big fall and there is nothing but unnecessary drama with full of supernatural stuff and now everyone in this game seems to have superpowers and MC discovering his own power and suddenly seems to develop some eight sense and now a superpower expert and betrayal by others and tragedy and conspiracies and so on . And last update is the final nail , Game moved from average to worst .

Imagine making a nice quality game, so that later in one update it will be trashed. Bravo, real talent. It seems that the developer, trying to keep up with modern POLITICAL trends, forgot that he is making a PORN game. Yes, of course, we all know that all Russians, without exception, are fiends on earth, but maybe you should keep all your political views to yourself, and if you have something to say, then go to Moscow, I'm sure they will be happy to listen there.

Started off strong...but has gone off in weird directions. Biggest complaints though are the size and frequency of the updates. Each update inches the story along, and seems to be released about once every three months. Erotic scenes were super hot at first, and now just seemed to be thrown in on top of the weird story plot points as an after-thought because the Dev suddenly remembered this is an erotic game, not a adventure spy game. I usually wait 3 or so updates after I find a game before I commit to supporting them on Patreon or Subscribestar. But this now goes on my "check it out after a year or so" list and we'll see where it's at. Not as hopeful about it's future as I was in the beginning though.

(I'll make a more detailed review later)

Just some quick highlights...

The models (minus Niece at first) were pretty dang good. I love the wife's model, she look unique and daughter looks incredible and unique.

The wife cheated on you multiple times throughout the MC life prior to the game's place in the story. She's NOT in the right. The MC made some mistakes here and there, but she is clearly in the wrong. HOWEVER, the beauty of the writing is that if you decide to be nice to her, you can see that she's truly a pitiable person. She's fucked up, realllllllllly badly. She suffers for her mistakes (deservingly so) and MC can just be empathetic. Like a true adult. MC can choose to not let the bitterness overtake him and I respect this take so much EVEN if she doesn't deserve it. We all know how hard forgiving someone is at times, let alone someone that violated you as much as this character did to MC, but yeah, it was pretty interesting reading it. I'm glad the daughter does NOT forgive her. She deserves it, BUT again, MC is a bigger person than I'll ever be in this universe. It's clear to me that one of the devs has maybe had some experience with this cause it's written so realitically. The dialogue and atmosphere is so palpable that it has to be based on real life.


The biggest negative thing I can say at the moment about this game is just... the memes... It's exhausting sometimes! It's like someone ran an AI machine at a zoomer convention and it turned into this. Almost every line has some reference or meme injected. The ironic part of this whole thing is that in SOME ways it works to the games stregnths (I'm gritting my teeth right now). Do not be fooled by my critique of the memes, this game is pretty well written. It has a LOT of heart and it's charming when memes aren't coming from every orifice. But yeah, the game works really well because it doesn't pretend to be realisitic, but has enough of personality and depth to the dumb characters that it feels realistic.

My MC and his relationship with his daughter and niece is very touching. A bit hamhanded in the first few releases, but it got better when they locked into the feelings these characters carried. I guess the one weird thing this game did that I find a bit questionable is not make the 2 main girls virgins. NOW I know what many are going to say "OH! All girls have to be virgins for you!?!? Why can't a girl have a life... blah blah blah." Look, I get it, but that's not my intention on this subject. The daughter has probably the best excuse to NOT be a virgin, but at the same time the BEST reason TO stay a virgin. She talks about how her whole life she knew she wanted to be with her dad and that no guy was good enough for him, but yet she still dated around. Whatever, doesn't matter on this front.

However, the niece 100% should have been one. She has almost no sociable skills and has loved her uncle just as long as daughter. The boyfriend was a dumb passive guy with little backbone, so it is plausable as well, but yeah, besides that, I dont' have much of a gripe.

I'll give a more detailed run on content and story in the next update

I wanted to give this game 3 stars based on the story setup and decent renders alone, but the writing warrants the 1 star. every other line seems to be a pop culture refence or a cringe-worthy use of vernacular

I read some of these reviews and just can't relate to them at all, so I feel compelled to chip in with an admittedly generous 5.

I didn't find the dialogue all that cringe - to be honest I kinda enjoyed the references and took both the personalities and dialogue to be somewhat quirky and caricature.

Without wanting to be too spoilery - clue's in the name - some of these people are latent superheroes. Maybe I'm old but they're pretty indistinguishable from any other pulp teen comic book hero stuff.

So for me, it kinda stylistically fits. And Nika's hawt af. So there's that.

It has a developing story with a fun premise, a fairly charming, albeit eccentric and somewhat broken, cast of characters, some pathos and heart.

I'm not sure it's truly five star material for me yet, but it's certainly not worthy of some of the trash reviews it's had imho.

Started nice, some nice models and some creepy one.
Mc gives such a beta vibe that it cringes myself hard.
Full of pop culture lines that it becomes very annoying.
Basicly every LI is a slut so i cant connect with any of them, when the daughter says she had been fucking other guys just to be good pleasing her father i face palm myself so hard after reading that, even my forehead become red, like wtf of line is that yikes. So starting with the cheater wife, the hoe daughter and other things from the rest of the cast the LI are more a turn off than a turn on.

Where to start...

The dev has gone the route of "make every single person an unlikable arse". It's a way to go I guess.

The dialogue is beyond cringe. It's a 40 year old saying "Hello fellow kids!" level of pathetic. It isn't funny in the slightest.

I liked the premise in the beginning but it has gone so far afield it's gone silly season (guess that should be expected from a dev who thinks pop culture references are the height of conversation).

If I gave a damn about any of the characters I'd bitch about the utter beta vibe the MC gives off with his acceptance that every female seems like a complete slut and has banged multiple guys, but I don't so I shan't.

Tilly got an update so she looks human now.

I liked the game (except the dialogue) at the start. But as every character has been fleshed out I liked them less and less. As the main plot or story has evolved again I like it less and less.

This time I didn't even bother to add a patch cause I just wanted to see where the clown car was headed. I kinda doubt I'll bother to download the next update.

I'd love to say it started out strong before getting to this point, but it was decent at best with a slightly interesting premise as a hook.

Anyway best of luck dev.

I gotta say the redhead cheerleader washing machine girl is really attractive in a unique way which I really like to see and think is rare in porn games. I do kinda wish maybe her areolas were smaller or her breasts were maybe not necessarily bigger but just more good looking. The niece/super power girl and the mother aren't that good looking and they also don't look related at all. I really wish they were redone in a way where they'd look different but also still good. the super power girl just kinda looks weird like kinda like doll which could be hot if it was done well but she also looks like really old and really young at the same time. the mother character just doens't look attractive at all imo. i really feel like this entire game is carried by the redhead cheerleader character. i generally like her personality too. i like the whole yandere kinda crazy/horny thing like the way she cherishes and speaks to the dick like "dont worry i'll give you lots of attention" even kinda ignoring the MC and just talking to the dick but sometimes maybe the specific dialogue is little ridiculous like some of the "lit" and stuff like that.

she does have a really uniquely attractive face and oddly her arms and general body (except her breasts) matches her face. she also has really attractive lips that look different from many other models in games.

I like most parts of the game. so a solid 4*.

MC: Goodlooking (I prefer headless more) with a conscience but he is so horny that he can't resist the forbidden fruit. 5*
Niece: She's a person you like and feel sympathy for, but she could be made a little more pretty. 4*
Daughter: I like her, even if some complain about her being a slut but that was just because she was mad at her mother (rightly). Pretty and sexy, so that's good. 5*
Mother: I blame her for everything spo she's down on minus. If I end with having sex with her I'll change the total rating to 1*. No rating for her.
Boss: Goodlooking and sexy but a no-no as she's married. Said no to sex with her. No rating for her.
Niko: Well, mysterious (maybe Russian spy), but I wouldn't say no to her even if it could be a little more "meat" on her body. 4*
Story: Ok, even if there are some weird things but that's maybe explained later. 4*
Humor: I like the use of qoutes, some of the dialogue is so full of it that it's so funny. 5*
Sex: The scenes could be a little longer with closeups and different views. 4*

As I said, a strong 4* uinless I end up with the mother. Then the rating goes down, down, down...

I actually really like the story and the concept overall. It is actually really cool and has some good depth. That alone is keeps me engaged and allows a 4 star rating.

The dialog however is cringe and I have to force myself to ignore the way overly abused slang words. A couple here and there would be fine, but the writer is missing the target audience with how heavily it is being used. I is just annoying as fuck. Although I love the quotes and other dialog. It helps overcome the slang crap.

The graphics are good, but the models are suspect. Especially the Tilly model. I am actually all for not having some model perfect daz characters again. They are overused and often unrealistic. Wish I could say the same fore the godzilladick.

The writing for this is pretty damn cringy. Very difficult to even force myself to read it, frankly. Just turned skip text on and rolled back a bit for choices. The Tilly character is kinda weird looking, as well. If Valerie wouldn't talk at all, that'd be great. Looks pretty good overall, but man, that dialogue.

TLDR: All of the Love Interests Other than the Niece Constantly Talk About how they Banged Other Dudes, and/or have done morally terrible things in the past, and you FORGIVE THEM, which is a huge Turnoff, I'm not sure how referencing other dudes you banged while we have sex is supposed to be hot, but it really isn't.

Okay first the positives before I tear this project a new one, the renders and sex scenes are great, the dialogue is funny, The main character is well done, and a decent man even though life has thrown several terrible things his way, a slutty hypocrite of a daughter and a slutty cheating wife.

So my main issue with this game, isn't with the main LI the niece unlike many of the other reviewers, and it isn't with the dialogue, per se, which I find enjoyable because I constantly make references to pop culture or songs myself during speech, My issue is that literally EVERY CHARACTER other than the main character Has done MORALLY TERRIBLE things in the past and it is CONSTANTLY REFERENCED. The niece is honestly the best character, its mentioned that she had a boyfriend that burned her due to her hospitalization, and that's it, yes they have had sex, and yes he hurt her, but it is acknowledged and moved past.

Every other character its dwelled on in perpetuity, His daughter is a complete slut who has been with multiple boyfriends who were just with her for the sex, she smoked a bunch of cigarettes and weed, she drank a lot, got lots of "tattoos" which are not shown but with how they are referenced they must have been lewd tattoos, and She constantly mentions this during and after sex, like no I don't want to know your body count, that you did drugs, and that You "saved" yourself by letting me be the first person who came inside you, that's not really saving yourself.

The wife is a terrible person, who says repeatedly how she can do better and that she is sorry, but cheated on you with multiple guys before, during your marriage, even though after the first few times you kept trying to make the marriage work for your daughter's sake. Meanwhile the daughter is a slutty hypocrite, who during this time is banging dozens of bad guys and smoking and getting tattoos. While the daughter is busy being the town bicycle she claims that she is mad at her mom for her mom's slutty behavior; LIKE HELLO POT MEET KETTLE? How can act like a whore and be mad at your mom for being a whore, while also blaming your own mom for your actions... No your actions are your own, and your behavior is disgusting. Also I'm going to guess you have to forgive the Mom for the good ending, which is utterly stupid, if you know anything about human nature, its that 99% of the time people do not change. Not only that the Mom is a terrible human being for ruining a marriage for her own pleasure, people seem to think marriage is for happiness, which is utterly stupid, marriage is DUTY, to raise the next generation, and create wealth to propagate society, its not for your happiness.

What the author should have done was make the daughter a virtuous character if the author wants the daughter to have moral high ground over the mom than the daughter needs to be a "virgin," not literally, but as a character who is the "perfect" daughter, It would have made more sense if the Niece was their daughter, because she is still a virtuous person, and the only one other than the MC who has morals still.

Finally, Gloria and Nika, the side characters Nika is a fine character, and mysterious but just based on her dialogue she is obviously another character that has done terrible things in her past, and is either morally reprehensible now or was in the past, and Gloria is just another two faced wife in this universe of cheating spouses who want other people to sexually satisfy them and are overall bad people.
RENDERS : 4/5
SEX: 2.5/5 for the constant talking about other guys during sex,
CHARACTERS: 2/5 (got plus one star for MC and Niece)
STORY :1/5
DIALOGUE: 2.5/5 (good dialogue unless you hate references, so ill rate it average)

OVERALL 2/5, I want to rate it 1 star for despicable characters that the author is trying to show as redeemed, but I wont skew the rating. (Character and story are Weighted more heavily, which is why its not a 3 star.)

The story is lacking, the latest chapter was short. The few animations that are in the game are good but very few. This game could have been rated higher if the story was more interesting and had more animations.

Not a bad harem game with a pretty interesting story and nice looking LIs. The real problem here is the writing way to self-indulgent for it's own good and the slang and foreign languages are just over the top. The dev has created some nice characters here but when they start with the slang and the foreign talk they become cliched stereotypes. A bit of that stuff would be fine but it's over the top here and it distracts from everything. Additionally the game seems to want to be a bit more than your standard harem incest game and explore the effects of power on people but it's too much show, too much talking and quotes from philosophers an occasional allusion here or there is fine but when every conversation contains a quote from Plato or Nietzsche it's counter productive. Give the reader here a bit of credit and let them discover this stuff instead of having it handed to them on a platter. Overall the game has quite a bit going for it but it needs to tone down the writing and be a bit more subtle to be a really great game. Recommended with some reservations about the tone