VN - Ren'Py - Rated 19 [v0.3] [DaZed Creations]

Nice — finally, something refreshing to play! I’m all for a story with romance where it fits, and a sprinkle of spicy scenes(though it doesn't have scenes right now). And this one delivers it all. Kudos! It’s got that apocalypse anime vibe, and I love it.

Now, the plot, damn! I was hooked from start to finish. Not many games manage to keep that sense of engagement the whole way through. The characters are great too, there are so many, and they’re not just your typical archetypes. Loved that. The love interests so far are quite good, though I think I might actually like one of the non-LIs, judging by the poster I think she is nonLI (*yra-dev pls make her LI if she is not). Also although I am always up for harem, i think in this game I liked male characters as well, so I think others should also be allowed to be partners. But i will be keeping one or two or maybe some more but certainly not all.

Honestly, I find a lot of AVNs miss one thing or another, but very few combine everything and pull it off this well. One small note, maybe it’s just me not being a native English speaker, but some of the dialogue was a bit hard to follow at times.

Really looking forward to future updates. Best of luck to the dev!

v0.3
TL;DR: An intriguing start to a story-driven AVN with good graphics, writing and music. An all-around sound package that imo shows good potential to become one of the better reads you'll come across here - as long as you can accept the given premises.

RATING BREAKDOWN (*/10)

• Graphics/Models/Compositions (8/10):
  
  The models seem to be Honey Select assets which certainly is a question of subjective preference. For me personally this is not a problem as long as selected assets are of at least decent quality. To me this is the case here. What is also noticeable is the care for detail in composition of the renders. Scenes look coherent and I didn't notice any immersion breaking errors in terms of angles, perspectives, lighting and relative object sizes.​
• Story/Writing/Pacing (10/10):
  
  The basic story elements aren't anything new. We've had countless stories about school life, super powers and likewise themes. Nonetheless I was surprised how all of this got packaged into a - to me - fresh feeling kind of spin of them. A large part of this is thanks to the consistent and well-paced writing of the story so far. The author takes time to introduce the world and setting of the plot without going overboard with long monologues or similar things. There's also no disconnect or confusion resulting from inconsistencies which would be breaking immersion. Also a very important aspect (to me at least) is the good writing/grammar style. Choosing well structured sentences and wording that is easy to read without feeling simplistic, forced or fake. To make things clear though, for those looking at this for a lot of lewd/porn, this is not one of those AVNs where you get h-scenes every few clicks. There's actually only a clothed grinding scene so far. I personally mainly prefer AVNs like this, where the lewd stuff is made to fit the plot - and not the plot made to fit the lewd stuff.​
• Characters/Dialogues (9/10):
  
  We get a decently wide mix of characters - which is a given considering the setting. All with a unique personality and own traits. The author is utilizing some widely used tropes/stereotypes (just like many others do) to make some characters more accessible without long introductions. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as they fit well into the plot and still get a spin of uniqueness/own personality imo - which seems to be the case here. All characters seem to have their own mind without suffering from lack of complexity concerning intents and thoughts. So far they all seem to be able of having own opinions, agendas and (dis)likes. The MC is no push-over and rather pragmatic on the basis. This and his normal behavior mostly makes him likeable to me. His character seems to be formable to some extent as well though.
  Moreover, one of the most important aspects in this section to me - the conversations between characters are believable and consistent.​
• Music/SFX (9/10):
  
  It's noticeable that for the choices of music and sfx there was also a good amount of effort being made as to what emotions/effects the respective scenes should invoke.​

OVERALL RATING: 9/10 || 4.5/5

CLOSING REMARKS:
Overall these first 3 chapters hooked me and made me interested in finding out where this story will lead. Finding a potential hidden gem that's showing promise is always a good thing - so with sitting directly between 4 and 5 i decided to go with 5 for now and see where it goes from here.

As of 0.2 this is surprisingly good. Like way above where I expected. There isn't even any spicy content yet and I'm already hooked. It is both creative and more original than the vast majority of what's available anywhere else. It is both fantastic and realistic at the same time with many compelling characters. I look forward to the next chapter and hope the developer will continue with this level of quality. Everything seems incredibly well thought out and I am excited to see where things will go.

VERSION:0.2
SUMMARY: You can't give this game 5 stars, so get a clue and think before you review!
RATINGS: (out of 5):

NOTE: The following are my own criteria and may require more context, so keep an open mind.

1. Models: 2
2. Animations: NA
3. General Visuals: 2
4. Characters: 3
5. Story/Pacing: 2
6. Writing/Dialogue: 3
7. UI & Gameplay: 2
8. Content Quality: 3
9. Sounds & Music: 3
10. H-Content & Fetish: NA

Average: 23 of 40 possible points giving a 58% rating i.e. 2-3 stars. Due to lack of H-Content and Animation the actual rating is closer to 46%

PROS:

1. Models are not bad looking, but the style is not one I am a big fan of.
2. Music and sounds are good
3. Writing is good, reads well and structured well.
4. Story is actually not completely bad simply because its so weird out there, but thats where its interest ends IMO.

CONS:

1. Story is too vague and plot is still obscure even into version 0.2. Its all boring and focused on the kids which is itself a limitation.
2. Per story point, the story is unique but also just, its also on the nose when it comes to sudden bullshit. A world is miraculously crapped out by some entity that is either like Q from star trek or Thanos when he snaps his fingers and just does whatever he wants. What makes this worse though is that the focus on the game is really on the MC who comes across as mediocre and not really different from any other kid in the game, he does not feel special even with powers and all that is happening in this world so far is really just about the kids and getting them all situated and to create some order for them, ironically going against the very thing this entity wants really, the little bit of intrigue this game has shown is not enough for everything else it does not show.
3. Adding to the story, the characters are also uninteresting and the only semi interesting part of the game is the sick friend in hospital and that because im curious about her. The rest...as before boring...
4. No H-scenes and pretty boring actually with the game not really getting anywhere interesting, I actually found myself skipping the dialogue post the brother rescue...its just a boring read and not nearly intriguing enough.

FINAL REMARKS, OPINIONS & SUGGESTIONS:

• Per above, only having teenagers in this world limits the game severely especially when it comes to H-scenes and then to ensure we don't kiddy fiddle, the characters need to be 18yo unless I'm mistaken? So that limits the sexual relations even more. So no milfs or mature woman, only brats with small tits and drama.
• Adding to the above, the game has no H-scenes, this is an adult VN no? Lets think about this, young horny teenagers, no parents, grown ups, some have superpowers and they can pretty much do what they want, and we have zero H-scenes? Come on.!..so far in the game sex doesn't get show and the MC sure as shit doesn't get any yet, not even a kiss from a LI yet. SAD.
• Disappointing and not to be confused with something like Waifu Academy which even though I don't like the style, which is reminiscent of this game, its much better in terms of story, interesting characters and actually has some decent lewd scenes.

This all being said, I think the developer did a good job of the game and the efforts are good really, but the game didn't appeal to me and the story gets lost simply because of the slow progression which just does not keep me interested enough, especially when there are no H-scenes of ANY kind to at least break from the monotonous read that is currently all that's here.

Oh and before anyone gripes, superhero stories are a dime a dozen, so having powers and kids going ape shit is not that special or unique, so if you gonna go this route, make it fucking interesting and don't screw yourself over by dragging it out...if you drag it out, give the player a good story.

Here however, there is no suspense and the only intriguing part is the sick girl in hospital that goes missing...but lets face it, this is most likely not technology, more like magic and demons shit which is not very interesting, at least not in this context and not the way this writer is telling the story.

Short but promising, so far no sexual content yet.

Rated 19 is the kind of story where you'll have to suspend your disbelief a little. Some unknown entity that's assumed the form of a little kid has, with the aid of some other external forces, removed all the adults above the age of 19 and given the remaining humans superpowers in form of enhancements of gifts.
You play as the local basketball star who has to navigate this post-apocalyptic where all the rules have been thrown out to try to keep your brother and friends safe, while searching for a way to find your little sister and reunite with your illness-stricken childhood friend.

The story is currently a little on the shorter side and doesn't yet feature a lot of choices, but it does a good job of giving the characters their own personality. The writing is pretty decent, although a bit too much exposition happens through narration, instead of letting the images & the context speak for themselves, rather than spelling everything out for the player.

What makes this story promising in my eyes is that the developer actually develops conflicts, character motivations and emotional connections between the characters. A lot of games just throw good-looking characters your way that are barren of any soul and feature no connection to the protagonist except their fuckability. Rated 19 seems to intend to actually make believeable emotional connections, from the childhood friend that's been hospitalized for a terminal illness, to the protagonist's friends and siblings.
The protagonist also manages to credibly balance self-preservation instincts and human psychology, giving us a protagonist who's not an overpowered and undefeatable juggernaut but someone using street smarts to outmaneuver more enhanced foes and while not immediately resorting to excessive force or violence, will not shy away from taking a life if there is no other way.

It makes me hopeful that it's going to be a story with a protagonist that's not going to be an edgy power-trip teenager, but a more rational thinking but determined person thatdoes what it takes to get those he cares about through the dangers of a world unchained.

In that, the five stars are more of a encouragement than a final rating, since the game doesn't yet show much beyond chapter 1 and doesn't yet show how the developer manages to handle the sexual content.
Still, I prefer to give encouragement & hope the dev can manage updates in the near future.

Given that there's no sexual content yet and this isn't just a fap-story, the developer should probably be prepared to use other social media to spread awareness (twitter, bluesky etc.) and be prepared that support for slow-buildup games like this is usually slow to come and many people will wait multiple updates before they might commit to any support.

That said, I had fun playing the game and am genuinely curious how things pick up in the future.