VN - Ren'Py - Abandoned - Promises [v0.21e] [Tiimx]

Great attractive girls with their own personalities, fun plot, rather well written. Good renders assuming you like honey select style that is. Had fun playing it, was never bored. There is a background mystery to the plot that is unfolding. Looking forward to more updates.

Promises was a very weird experience for me.
I didn't particularly enjoy it, but that's just down to personal preference.

This is a Honey Select game, so you know what to expect. The women can look cute or pretty, though a bit stylized. Males usually look bad or silly. And unfortunately the MC in this game just looks plain silly. He takes the crown as the silliest looking MC in any game I have ever played. It's bordering on distracting.
The face is one of the standard HS faces for males... but the silly hairstyle and weird stubble just make him look stupid. Like a kid that wears a wig and glued on a fake beard to appear older.

The game makes use of flashbacks, in fact the game begins with a flashback and it takes a while before the MC even enters the scene. I am not entirely certain what the purpose of the flashbacks is, maybe more content is required for that. But I have to say I quickly lost interest in the flashbacks after the prologue and eventually just skimmed through them, so maybe some details escaped me. The flashback character does eventually meet the MC's stepmom though. But why do I need to care about Linda in the flashback who has not yet even appeared in the present timeline? Sure, that may all become clearer in future updates... but I didn't find the flashback engaging.

The basic premise of the game is also a bit weird. MC appears to be 18 or 19 maybe... is a secret agent for some organization... drives a Ferrari... and goes to highschool/college.
This game apparently also has some supernatural aspects to it, there's a weird friend who can - without any explanation - somehow divine characteristics, interests and even sexual kinks of women. You can reject the friend and tell him no... but it's apparently a requirement for the harem route to accept the help of the friend (more like a classmate really).

You can - if you like - establish a harem in this game, or you can reject women and pursue just a few. So choices exist which is always appreciated.
Love interests here are a mixed bag. They do look pretty, most HS females usually look cute or pretty... but their eagerness here is super shallow and their personalities also leave some things to be desired. But that is down to taste of course.
I am usually no fan of super fast and super easy characters.

The female teacher (more like a professor even...) invites MC over to her home (you can also go to the park, I chose home) and the super magic classmate reveals a few things about her before that... the teacher is apparently a sex addict who even takes medication to keep her urges at bay.
Anyway, MC and teacher meet at home... instant sex. Of course.

MC meets some cute white haired girl called Hannah in a supermarket... no sex, but instant smooching and some fooling around.

Another potential love interest, Molly, is revealed to be a submissive masochist... Again, this is personal preference, but I really don't care for this kind of character at all. You can of course choose to end routes. Should I keep playing I will probably have to dump her unless there will be options to turn her into a more mentally healthy and stable person. Sub/dom is nothing for me and hurting other people, even if they like it, is a red flag. Big no no for me. That had a major impact on my personal enjoyment.

Then there are twins. You get instant action in a cafe with one of them... and when you meet the twin again you find out that she is a twin (you meet the other twin without knowing it)... you go into the apartment... and instant action with both twins who both pleasure the MC at the same time. Sure. Yes. Whatever. Also, one of the twins is yet another secret agent for some rival corpo, why not...
Of course there are many who probably like that. I don't. Again, a matter of preference.

The entire secret organization thing feels so out of left field and weird... is this supposed to be 21 Jump Street, only with secret agents for some shady corporation? Had no interest in that at all unfortunately.

So maybe this game is simply not for me. That can happen. I didn't care for the flashbacks, nor do I like most of the love interests (too fast, weird personalities), don't like the whole "secret agent for some corpo" plot which takes up a lot of time here, didn't like the secret agent friend, and finally the MC looks stupid and is in dire need of a complete makeover.

The HS renders are fine though, the latest episode also has animated renders which looks really good. Music is ok in the game, you may recognize a few tracks from other games maybe.
Design of the love interests is really good as well, all of them are visually appealing. There's not too much action in the game yet, but the action there is is super fast, feels extremely superficial and in my opinion love interests who immediately fall on the MC's super long (of course) penis are just boring.

Design wise the agent the MC saves later in the game is my favorite, it's the sultry looking redhead you can see on page 1 of the discussion. Stunning looks. Character traits are yet unknown though, more or less, she seems to be a tough gal though. MAYBE if she turns out to be less of a insta-sex character and has a personality that doesn't annoy me I will give this game a chance in future updates. Too bad she's yet another 19-year-old secret agent.

So... who will like this? If you like Honey Select, if you like story driven games about teenage secret agents, teenage MCs that drive a super expensive sports car, with some added supernatural elements, several cute looking super easy love interests that fawn over the MC at the first opportunity... then you will probably enjoy this.

I hard a hard time enjoying this... didn't care for the structure with the flashbacks, did not care for Linda (the flashback character) at all, I don't like the main plot since teenage secret corpo agents with sniper rifles are entirely ridiculous in my opinion, and most love interests here are boring for me, because I don't like supereasy women in VNs and at least one LI (Molly) has a character and certain kinks (masochism, submission) I absolutely abhor.
And it's not clear yet if the game will allow you to change Molly for the better or if all interactions with her are meant to feed into her kinks. One scene in a library had the option to kiss her "forcefully" or "passionate". I chose "passionate"... no idea though if this will change anything for the future or if Molly will eventually beg the MC to please hurt her. To which I can only say "never".

Despite all my criticism this game certainly has potential. And you can easily pick and choose which characters you like. You are not forced into anything here. Too bad I didn't know about Molly's condition before I said "yes" to her route.
My advice to the devs... make at least some characters "normal", i.e. more of a slow burn, no weird kinks, or make the kinks entirely optional (always the best choice in my opinion) and don't aim to make this game a weird hybrid of entirely different genres that don't mix and match all too well.

In my opinion harem romance games and plots about super secret corpo agents don't mix and match at all really. I would prefer it if there was an option sooner than later to quit this agent life. I'd rather skip all the secret agent content than to click through it. Also, supernatural elements? Really? In most cases supernatural elements are a cop-out and excuse to make things super easy.

Most VNs, in my opinion, would greatly benefit from a much clearer focus on important things.. and in a harem game it's the harem and the girls. Supernatural elements make things cheap and silly. You basically get a cheat sheet for the women here and find out everything about them instead of learning it organically from them. Super boring. And since the harem route (there is an ingame walkthrough) recommends you accept the help of the classmate you will have to accept this.
And if the hero is supposed to be some badass secret agent please don't make him some super dorky looking teenager.

A game with this setting would need an actual adult MC and actual adult love interests, not 19-year-old girls. But that's just my opinion. Maybe you enjoy the somewhat outlandish setting. As usual no review can tell you if you will really enjoy something. so why not give the game a try and see for yourself if you like it! If you are like me then you may not like it all that much... if your preferences are different there's a good chance you will love it.

So far amazing work.

I enjoyed the story with the hits of mystery that fall in it.

I thought it was cute the long time friend
The models are nice although I am scared of the high beams might loose a eye inadvertently *mc slips lands on molly's chest face first ...molly: you ok mc? mc: I think I might be blind in my left eye hold still let me fall again and finish the job!* j/p

Over all I enjoyed this greatly it has "promise" to it and I am excited for more and will change my review accordingly as the game progresses!

Keep up the good work!

Impressed with the main storyline, not so about the Linda et al part so skipped most of the time because i feel it's a waste of resources and the fact that I as a main protagonist don't associate with either of them so couldn't care less.
Renders at the beginning are rough, i did see significant improvement as the game progressed but there's still some room for improvement. Animations are quite good. The textbox transparency toggle wasn't working though even when I did on/off several times but nothing worked, might be a bug there. Some girls were coming on too strongly contrary to their personality in whatever little I have seen while some were too shelly.
And i didn't team up with Fred in getting to know the girl via his witchcraft, felt creepy and unnatural, like knowing significant about girls even before getting to know them well, hopefully it won't bite me in future as the choice was "switch choice". That didn't appeal me.

Just a quick review playing version [V0.21e]

Renders are not the sharpest but it's well animated and the girls look diverse and not too over the top. Even if it remains stock character creation software.
The number of scenes strikes a good balance between building the story while not being too scarse. Sure it remains a harem kind of thing but really it's always a tradeoff.


Story so far is pretty good for a porn game. So far for me at least worth following.
As far as I have seen choices mostly boil down to do I want the scene or not, which is perfectly fine.

This was the first time I played this game. So far it looks very good. Story is the strong point I think. It has suspense, funny moments, action, in general it is diverse and does not become boring. As for the graphics, I can say that it is quite good. The look of the MC's face is not entirely to my taste, but that is strictly up to everyone's tastes. The personality and the appearance of the characters are diversified in order to be able to please as many players as possible. So my advice to those who are undecided whether to try it, I tell them it is definitely worth a try. Personally I found the game interesting.

Really great game so far.

The writing and especially the dialogue are really good, too many porn games have terrible cringy dialogue but this is an exception.

Renders are pretty decent, the models are unique and the girls are varied and attractive. The animations are good.

Worth a playthrough, got high hopes for this one.

I don't usually rate a game that focuses more on story 5/5. But when I do, it's really good.

I found myself more invested in the story than in the ability to have sex, which is a testament to the worldbuilding and writing.

Review for v0.17c

Love the game so far! I thoroughly enjoyed playing through it, kept me invested throughout the whole thing. Renders are good, the characters have some life and personality to them (there wasn't a single character I disliked), scenes are animated well, and it has good music. One of the things most important to me in these visual novels is the writing, and so far this game has done a great job with it. Plot is fun and things aren't all immediately explained, which leaves some mystery for you as things progress. I like that some of the choices actually seem meaningful as well.

I also love the way the MC's "Job" is revealed in the scene with Montrell when heading to school. It was portrayed so causally but made it fun and got me invested. A "bro" character can be rather hit or miss in these games, but this game does a good job with that too. My only gripe would be that I don't particularly care for all the flashbacks, but that's more my own personal preference and they aren't that long anyway. Excited to play more of this as it develops!

Promises [v0.17c] [Tiimx] - Review -
Starting with the positive of this game - the plot in this game is interesting and the girls look beautiful and has different traits and character. Writing is good and MC is fun to play . Sex scenes are well done loved the threesome with the twins . Nice to see that Harem is one of the planned routes as I like too many female characters it will be difficult to choose one among them . Game needs a walkthrough though , don't know the consequences of some of the choices in the game .
So in the end loved this game for the gripping story and the female characters will see how the story unfolds further .

The models are of HS2 kind, which means limited realism and limited variety, but actually the girls are pretty enough.

The story might not be quite realistic (more like a hybrid of a spy TV show and a porn movie), but it's interesting, with some humor and likable characters.

Sex scenes are good, especially the threesome.

The writing might have a few grammar errata, but it has good dynamics and balance between various aspects of MC's life.

v0.17c

Review 0.13b
Renders are pretty good for honey select.
Story is interesting enough to keep you clicking.
Characters have enough spark to keep you interested.
Overall one to watch on future updates .
4.5

As of Version 0.13b
This VN has a very nice storyline with interesting mystery surrounding Main character family and his past . The renders are decent for an HoneySelect games and loved the variety of female characters and a nice amount of content for the game till now . I'm glad that the dev said will be no NTR . It would be nice to know the planned tags .
Overall amazing game with excellent plot , 5 stars for me , Good work Tiimx , Looking forward to future updates .

Short but the plot and writing looks like if this continues will be a very good game. Admittedly the models at first threw me off a bit, and while the prologue may start a bit slow it soon becomes clear of its importance following right after.

The story has what they call 'switch' choices, i.e choices that impact later in the story, and even with not 1 in-game day passing there are several. Looking forward to see where the story goes in the coming months.

A good start, with interesting characters and just enough of a mystery plot to get you invested. My only complaint so far would be the fact the the prologue spends a lot of time on a characters that subsequently disapears from the game, meaning we're introduced to an entirely new set of cast about 30 minutes into the story.

Despite the NTR toggle the game does not seem contain any NTR as of version 0.04, for anyone worried about that.