VN - Ren'Py - Rock the Rim [S1 Ep.1 P1] [RWA Studios]

This VN excels at two things - take them for what they're worth:

1. Overly-wordy, circular dialog that is just plain odd.
2. Extremely high quality renders.

I usually do a Good vs Bad section, or give the various aspects of a VN individual breakdowns with my own personal rating on their appeal and execution.

In this case, I'm going to just give a summary. DIsclaimer: I have not played this dev's other titles. Though I did note they're working on at least 3 simultaneously, which seems to scream "cash grab" to me; the highest rated VNs that are known to be of superior quality or an exceptional play experience are made by devs who understand the fragility of these projects, and how easily they can become "mid".

This VN, in particular, got so boring so very quickly to me that despite the allure of the visuals (and they are well rendered), my hand found that CTRL key very often. Whenever I did pause to actually read through the dialog and narrative, I was so bored by it. The chosen personality traits, the way characters speak to one another, the cadence of the conversation - literally every aspect - to me, was odd. This especially shone through for me during I also want to warn anyone who reads reviews before downloading: this title has very little lewd content. Reminds me a ton of Oceanlab's "Summer's Gone" writing approach where they reel you in with stunning visuals but seldom deliver any amount of satisfying lewd content. I really hope I'm wrong about that, either with respect to this project or this dev's other projects, but I suspect I'm not.

The graphics are good. But story is poorly written. Same type sentence again and again. Not too much scene in intimate moments feels like just those scene got cut. And filled with unnecessary dialogues makes it kind of annoying. In the scene of MC and Lexi is the perfect example. The climax moments of MC and Lexi is poorly done like some lazy work. Samir gets too much screen time then female characters. You need to change the way of story writing and add more scene into sex.

This game has some of the absolute worst dialog I've ever read. I can't even tell if it's a translation issue or what. I really don't think most of it is. Maybe bad (terrible) AI?

Conversations go in circles. Everything is said 2 or 3 times. Pronouns are wrong all over the place (possibly translation). Literally every reference to the coach is masculine (and nevermind calling Kate 'coach' at one point). And the sex scene dialog..... Wow. I don't know where to even start with that. Reading the scenes with Lexi is just really, really difficult. Why do they keep repeating the same nonsensical feelings over and over again? Literally like 10-12 times saying the same stupid things to each other. What is that?

Character relationships are just wacky too. We meet Luna for the first time for about 2.5 minutes and drop her off to her controlling father but apparently we already know that Luna is stronger than she looks and we'll do anything to protect her? What is even happening? The time frames of knowing other characters barely hold together themselves.

And what's with the whole premise for this game? This guy is some basketball talent but the whole thing opens with him tripping and hitting his head? No one seems to even really care other than maybe going to the nurse who has no buttons on her shirt. And then when he does play, the shit-talking teammates are apparently the least competent and shittiest players of all time.

And there's no mention of him being any musical talent at all. A super brief eavesdropped conversation about some band needing a singer and that's about it. He doesn't talk about music or show any interest in it at all. Not as a hobby, not in discussions with other people, nothing. Sure, it's EP1..... But if the NAME of your game is half music, you'd think it would come up?

I've read through most of the comments about this being a possibly commonly scamming dev or something, but I just don't get it. Why go through all of the trouble of great renders to just shit out something like this? I'd rather see mid-renders with decent writing than whatever regurgitated AI nonsense this became.

Two stars for decently hot girls, even if many do look similar.

I was punched outside the story by the ridiculous way it's written you have the impression that two 90 years old philosophy doctors talk about themselves.

God they are 18 to 25 years old no people will talk like this ... even more when they are in sports.

Cannot bear more than 1 scene at a time, i tried to the blond in the class when he sleep but god it's unbearable.

the gameplay itself is very good and it's nice to read the musical component is a very pleasant atmosphere of music and plot wonderfully made characters in general very atmospheric and pleasant emotions the game evokes in you that the game further wants to play it

Good game, good story, the renders are beautifull, first sex scene i think is very nice, i hope for more and fast, to soon for known if the game is banger.
Story 8/10
Characters 9/10
Renders 9/10
Music 10/10
Enjoyability 9/10

This game really shines with its amazing renders and detailed character designs. The characters look amazing, and even though the story unfolds slowly, it keeps you hooked with constant anticipation.

With such a strong start and high quality, I’m excited for future updates. Big congratulations to the developers—can’t wait to see where this game goes!

For those complaining about the main character, it is totally bearable everyone cannot have same expectation of alpha characters from get go, lets wait to see if we get some character developments.

Sure, grammar and English is little bad which can be polished later, but I’m a sucker for great renders and attention to detail. In my book, this is a fantastic start to the game.

Great graphics, characters look really beatiful, story is cool so far, game looks promising! Hope it gets regular updates and the quality stays this high.

Congratulations to the developers and keep the good work

I'll give it 2 stars for the renders and the music, the rest is a disaster.

The MC is pathetic. If the wind blows too hard, he'll fall over and end up in a coma. Not only that, most of the girls in the game will make it a point to remind you of that every few minutes, the rest will treat you like a little baby they have to defend. I really can't fathom anyone wanting to play this role.

The dialog is a mess. Everyone talks the same. Ahh no, Ahh yes, Ahh sorry, Ahh buddy. Buddy is in like every other sentence, so is Ahh and it doesn't matter which character is speaking. He and she are all mixed up. I'm and we're are all mixed up.

There's no actual main plot, just random interactions with random characters you know little to nothing about. I wont be following this one.

Edit: Oh and you gotta love all the fake reviews giving this 5 stars. For that reason I'm reducing my rating down to one star, to balance it out.

some of the worst engrish ive ever seen. i wondered how a brand new game had so many translations already and its obvious they used google translate for all of them.

mc is a skinny child and why would anyone ever want to play as that i dont know

renders are good but the girls all have the same face. same lips, nose, chin on all of them

not a good game. dont waste your time.

So.... another one, huh? Let's jump right in.

Story:

Now I'll be the first to admit that this team makes some beautiful renders. Their skills in the art department has never been a weak point... it's usually everything else. Here with "Beyond The Game" it's the same standard from this Dev team. Literally ever story they produce involves the MC being this super passive weakling of a man that everyone pushes around.

This MC , like that other one in WOS has the same androgynous feel to him. Pretty face, slim waist and a booty which sort of sticks out. That's fine if it's the theme but there's no indication of this so far other than him being a puss. The story is he's adopted and lives with his landlady who looks to be in her 20's and a dude named "Brain" who's one of his bullies. The other being a guy name Celeb who's the main crush of the girl that throws herself at you from the time this VN starts. To sum it up: If you're a virgin who's overly passive, has a glutton for punishment and enjoy being the footstool of everyone then this might be for you.

Dialogue & Grammar:
Brutal sauce. Nothing different from the other games. Kayla trying to convince the MC to steal from Caleb's locker: "If you do this... I'll make up with one of our girls..."

Models/characters:

Too many clones of the same model. You have "Milfs" that looks like they're college students at best but none of them stick out. They're too... pretty. I know that sounds weird to some but variety should at least be considered if you're going to have this many female characters roaming around. From Florence to Kayla to Kate it's hard trying to fall in love with the same exact character.


Overall:
Well, 5th times a charm? Right? Good luck.

Looks promising, good quality, models, music and menu, i like the amount of characters with the combination of good expressions and postures, because that makes all the scenes more alive, the plot is a common slice of life for now.

What needs more work are the dialogs, like the novel could be really immersive but in some scenes the dialogs are pretty bad.
This was like an introductory chapter so there is not much bonding with other characters or love interest aside from those closest to him.

I don't complain about the MC because him being like this weak guy might be part of the plot so we will have to wait to see it.

This reminds me when Summer's gone began because the dialogs and some scenes killed me of cringe but i saw future in it specially when the dev start remaking it, i sense something similar here like an improvement for the future.
Overall i like it, im like in 3,5 - 4 stars. Good job Waifuz Studio

MC is absolutely pathetic.

He is a sniveling wimp who absolutely panics and stutters at seeing his sister in underwear that covers more than any swimwear. He is controlled like a cuck because he is completely afraid of all women, who are then the ones to drive every decision, which means everyone throws themselves at him.

The MC is an unfamiliar model and looks reasonable although he looks more like a lesbian than a man. The female models are very well done, but as is way too common, suffer from ugly, unrealistic bloated boobs. the renders are first class.

The writing is fairly good, grammatically, but the story is wasted since the mc is so absolutely pathetic, there's not much you can do with it

The Pros:

- The renders
- Opening music

The Cons:

- Copy and paste story from another poorly written game.
- Bad sentence structuring, bad grammar and overall badly translated.
- Same type of MC from a game I sworn I've played before... Wimpy and feminine.
- The characters except for some of the male models all look similar.


I could've sworn I played a similar story... Anyway, the MC is a classic spineless wimp. The butt of everyone's joke sort of deal. He also looks like a woman which is triggering my memory as if I played this exact story before. The problem with devs that fancy a certain vendor is that certain vendors tend to have models that look similar. In this story most of the main ladies look very similar with the exception of different hairstyles and textures. But it's definitely the same face. Even the MC has the same face. It's one thing if this game was a family based game where they were all related but this isn't the case.

Aside from those issues I couldn't drive too deep into the story because of the constant badly worded sentences and misspellings of the simplest things.

Hire a writer, translator, editor or whatever you need to polish this project. Good luck.

Visually, one of the best games out. Amazing renders and animations. I like the idea behind all of the characters too, but the dialogue is definitely lacking. Clear to tell English isn't the dev's first language, pronouns are incorrect pretty often, and presumable Calep and Brain are simply misspelt common names. Despite all of this the game is enjoyable, but if they were to be fixed, this could be a top tier game.

A really great game, one that motivates me to write a review.

You immediately feel part of the story thanks to the animations and images.
The MC is really great, perfect body, beautiful young face which fits the university and he gains experience with sex there.

The female characters are also very well done.

I really want more of this awesome game, so dear devs stay with the project, don't let yourselves be put off and continue to deliver such great quality.

Regards

This release has a lot of potential. The visuals, with their impressive renders and animations, are a highlight. The main concern right now is the English, which suggests that the developer isn't a native speaker. Although it's not a significant problem, addressing it in future updates would be helpful. All in all, it’s a promising start

This is just a first chapter release, but although the graphics are solid and the animations flow nicely (minus the ridiculous ass impact shiver) it does not save this game.

Language errors (many times doing things that Grammarly would not fix, because it works grammatically but goes against what the render shows - like calling a shower a bath, using the wrong pronoun or name or misspelling simple names, calling an ankle wrist etc.) and The Room quality dialogue (so bad it is funny) and a story that seems poorly paced in that it feels extremely rushed. Unless significant improvement is made to the quality of the writing, I cannot see myself returning to this train wreck.

Side note - there already seems to be some attempt at rating bolstering as the 5* review posted discusses Wi-Fi in the Philippines.

TLDR - Graphics are good, but if you read an AVN for the pictures you might as well go look at porn

I think the other reviews sum it up well, it's a visually solid game with attractive girls and a unique-looking MC that I believe has potential. The English definitely could use some work. Brian being spelled Brain the whole time, Caleb being spelled Calep, and the extremely formal way some of the characters speak even in casual situations throws you off. However, as English is not the native language of the developer, it's still pretty solid.

I would suggest running the dialogue through Grammarly or something similar for English, it can help with the easy misses.