VN - Ren'Py - Real Dreams 2: Work It Out [v1.2] [FrostForge]

I'm glad to see this game has been revived, even if it's not by the original developer. Since this is the first version, it has a lot of potential, but it also needs significant polish. The characters look great, and I'm looking forward to their story. There aren't any animations in the game yet, so we'll have to wait and see how they turn out. Hopefully, the developer handles them well—janky animations can really hurt the experience.


Overall, the game has a promising start, but there's still a lot to prove. I gave it a five-star rating so far, simply because I really like the character design. Maybe I'm being too generous, or maybe I'm getting ahead of myself—but I want the developer to know that what he's undertaking here feels like a big deal, at least to me. I hope a higher rating at this stage encourages him. Please don't let me down.

I understand that it is a first approach to see if continuing with the first game is really worthwhile. The models are very good and the story is inherited from the previous game. It has potential if work is done on it.

Thank you for your work and for continuing the game.

This was a good first release from a new Dev. The renders are great and do justice to the previous version of this VN. The writing is a little rough in some points, but again, it's really early in the development process of this game, so I will give the benefit of the doubt that it will improve. I might even suggest a proof reader to help out.

I'm looking forward to future releases and seeing where this all goes.

VERSION: v1.2 - Re-Review
SUMMARY: Short review for a less than short attempt at reviving an old VN. Has been improved a bit since previous review.
RATINGS: (out of 5):

NOTE: The following categories and scoring method are my own criteria and may require more context. Additionally, scoring is based on the state, and what is in the current version and not what may or may not be.

1. Model Visuals..................... : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
2. General Visuals................... : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Animation Quality................. : ⭐⭐⭐
4. Character (Persona)............... : ⭐⭐
5. Story Quality & Pacing............ : ⭐⭐⭐
6. Writing Quality & Dialogue........ : ⭐⭐⭐
7. UI & Game-play Mechanics...........: ⭐⭐
8. Playtime & General Quality.........: ⭐⭐⭐
9. Sounds & Music.....................: ⭐
10. H-Content & Fetishes.............. : ⭐⭐⭐

Average: 26 of 50 possible points giving a 55% rating i.e. 2-3 stars.

PROS:

1. Decent looking models that stick to original game.
2. Overall visuals are really good.
3. Improved dialogue from previous update.
4. Some kinky stuff in the mix, like incest and suggested pregnancy.
5. Basic story, but gets intriguing enough to call kinky, at least the end of this update. v1.2.
6. Choices, however hard to say what they actually mean in the long run.

CONS:

1. Writing and structure are poor, sentences are incomplete not reviewed or use poor punctuation, grammar etc.
2. Dialogue is unnatural and does not flow or make much sense given the context.
3. Little to no content to provide accurate rating, 2-5min gameplay (without speeding) should not constitute a valid first game or update (opinion, but factually accurate) More content introduced, not much though and this would probably constitute what I would regard as enough content for the first release.
4. Font is bad, the name font particularly is hard to read. Small detail but...
5. Writing/grammar still needs some attention e.g. starting sentences with And, not using full sentences, but improved from first review.
6. Dialogue is still questionable, and feels shallow, unnatural, a better attempt than before, but still not quality writing IMO. See comments
7. Story and plot holes that make no sense, like the "mothers" reaction to the MC and sis being naked, is just wrong, as is a lot of odd dialogue in this VN is just one exampled See my comments below.
8. Lack of any sounds, music or lewd scene sounds is disappointing.

FINAL REMARKS, OPINIONS & SUGGESTIONS:

NOTE: The following remarks are my personal opinions and thoughts, which may provide more context and could be useful to the developer. Read it or don't.

• Grateful for this new developer to try and revive this game, however I feel some significant effort will need to be made to be a true and worthy successor/replacement of, and improvement on the original game.
• Consider getting permission to take original work and add to it to provide more context to current game.
• Review own work before publishing, ensure writing and dialogue are planned, structured and make sense to the situation.
• Provide more content with each iteration that extends beyond 2min of game-play."
• Seriously consider getting assistance with writing and planning the story thoroughly. I assume this is a one man endeavour? On models & renders, they are good, but the rest will need more skill and probably persons to make this a worthy game.
• Why not redo the first game instead of dropping in where the other left off, or at least provide a better intro with more context for the player who the MC is and how the situation came to be!
• The "mother" reaction to the son and daughter being naked together in a room, is not a mother concerned about what her kids are doing together naked, such a mother would freak out and send them to opposite sides of the world. Instead the "mother" is more concerned about them doing poorly at the championship?? WTF! What further compounds this is that if the incest patch were disabled, it still doesn't make sense that she would care what they doing as they not related, this blow out she is having is disingenuous in one instance and too mild in the other. Things like this just make the cohesion and quality of the events feel poorly structured and thought out IMO.
• Dialogue is overall OK, but still needs a bit of work e.g. of peeping on someone in the shower, the MC hears the shower going, so instead of waiting, he goes perv mode. OK we can work with this, its an adult VN. "Who could it be? Should I try and sneak in quietly?" Options, Peep and Better not. No option for going in...so get your terms correct...review.
• Point system could be nice? Some way to keep track of things, because right now there is no way to know if the mother likes the MC in any sexual way, at least how much, can you get her to like you more? Can you get all the LIs like harem game, or do you have to pick? Would be nice to know that there are consequences in the long run like choosing between Emma or Sheila, or doesn't it matter?
• Please update the tags, what other kinks are their, pregnancy is mentioned in the dream will it be in the game? What else. If you going the porn logic route, the go all out on your kinks!

TLDR:

I considered 2 stars, but I also needed to compensate for reviewers that did not review what is here, simply what they "hoped" would be there or some other irrelevant "feeling" of nostalgia or other...

This VN is not horrible, but its not great either, the visuals are really the best of it, the writing still feels awkward and weird. I honestly think the dev should simply re-write it from scratch. Take the idea, make it your own and really sit with the script to let it flow and play out as realistic as possible while keeping it sexy, kinky and an adult VN with a semi-compelling story.

Porn logic is probably the main take away and the more compelling reason to play for a mindless fap IMO. This VN simply is more about the visuals than the dialogue. THE END