Ren'Py - RomCom: Divergence [v0.1.3.1p] [Haptales]

As a parody, this works - it takes a cookie-cutter romance template and puts a jaded, cynical, game-breaking completionist in the place of the hapless protagonist. This leads to some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments.

However, right after the first girl is, as he'd put it 'conquered', the narrative kind of falls apart - you don't get to make it a tongue-in-cheek parody and then continue to play it straight.

The protagonist doesn't really change his mind as his circumstances shift, and while I suspect there's a mystery to unravel and maybe even character growth, I don't want to go through the not-nearly-as-funny slop of this bullheaded moron of a replacement protagonist getting the hint and changing his approach.

So, just from the first 30-40% of the content, judging from the replay gallery, this is a 4 star experience - fresh and new in the opener, but gets bogged down with all the wrong elements of its own innovation. Visuals and animation is standard modded koikatsu, you know what you're in for.

Outside of the fetishes this game checks out, this game went in the only direction a VN made in Koikatu Studio could: Fully aware parody.
It knows what we are tired to see, what we want to see, sure dialogue may get badly written but it knows we're skipping 3/4 of it anyways. Even the girls and scenes are original and not some preset/modded character models/animations stolen off some Patreon.
And sure it's not perfect, we may want more out of it, maybe more girls, less straightforward path to one of the girls in each "chapter", or side scenes with characters not targeted in the chapter...
But it's still a better Koikatu Studio-made Ren'py game than 99% of the Koikatu Studio-made games out there

I give this game 5 stars. Does it deserves them objectively? No, but it does subjectively to me, due to some *quite rare* fetishes it has inside that i really like, and the writing is good enough to amuse me.

The story? Initially intriguing, then just quite humorous, but has the potential to become intriguing again.
The characters? Quite bland, a cast of girls with traditional personalities and quirks, but still, it's not like it's really a bad thing.
The art? Quite good, same for the sex scenes, that i love!

The story goes on REALLY fast and it's not a bad thing, i like the idea of a MC that literally knows to be the MC and he's just trying to 100% the story as fast as possible, using every cheat and trick in the book, with hilarous results.

Loved the story at the start, with that great writing and build up it could've been a simple revenge story or an NTR story (or both with routes) and both options would've been really good but it turned into a weirdly written comedic rush and cheat to sex game. Still above average and will follow cause the girls are cool

Protagonist Swap Simulator – From Cringe to… Almost Cool?

Let’s address the elephant in the room first: the prologue. Picture this—a protagonist so painfully spineless, he makes soggy toast look like a symbol of unyielding strength. Watching him grovel through life and school was like being forced to attend a self-help seminar hosted by a wilted houseplant. I hate weak protagonists more than I hate stepping on LEGO bricks, but just as I was about to rage-quit… BAM! The game yeets Mr. "Please Walk All Over Me" into the void and replaces him with a protagonist who actually has a pulse! A twist so bold, it’s like swapping out decaf espresso for a shot of liquid chaos. Bravo, devs. You saved this trainwreck from derailing… mostly.

The story and characters race by at breakneck speed, leaving a lot to be desired in the way of development. Everything unfolds so rapidly that you’re left wondering if anyone bothered to breathe between scenes. And the MC’s obsession with skipping scenes? Dude’s abusing the fast-forward button harder than I skip ads on YouTube. Convenient? Sure. Immersive? Not so much.

Now, the ~vibes~. Despite the game’s insistence that it’s not a netorare fest, the prologue’s OG protagonist practically gift-wraps his love interests for the bully. And the devs double down post-prologue, teasing that unchosen girls will… gasp… move on with their lives. The audacity! Why craft a harem-shaped plot hole if you’re just going to blue-ball us with realism? Let me live my polyamorous fantasy, you cowards!

The good stuff? The girls. Oh, the girls. They’re gorgeous, well-designed, and could star in their own anime spin-off titled “Why Are We Here?” Their personalities? Let’s just say “predictable” is their middle name, but hey—it’s early access! The art and animations? Solid enough to make my eyeballs do a little dance. The story concept? Intriguing, like a Netflix show you hate-watch but secretly enjoy.

Final Verdict: A chaotic, almost-brilliant mess. It’s like eating a gourmet burger… but the chef keeps snatching bites off your plate. 3.5/5, bumped to 4/5 because the protagonist swap saved me from rage-quitting, and I’m a sucker for dumpster fires with pretty girls. Play it for the art, suffer through the emotional whiplash, and pray the next updates includes a “harem mode” cheat code. #JusticeForMeProtagonist (Just kidding. Bury him deeper.)

Insteresting concept and nice twist in the prologue. It seems like the game is going for some kind of parody of the whole romcom harem games and, althought I find that a good start for the story, I hope the characters don't become two dimantional just for the sake of the bit. It might be kind of hard to be invested in any character if the games continue with fourth wall breaks all of the time. As it stands right now, I'm actually more interested in the "Me" from the prologue and if his story will go anywhere after this, than the "player MC" and his the whole harem conquest, but i digress.

Anyway, the game has a lot of potential, the characters desings are really nice and the writting is good (althought there were a few spelling mistakes, but I'm not someone to judge, not even being native english speaker. Lol).

Hoping for the best for the dev and the project.

Another clear LiL inspired game but not bad for it.

It's got a distinct different tone to it, and it looks to be far more... I'll say simple and to the point with being a porn game. But that's not a bad thing either. There's a dozen Lil-like games with in depth character development and dozens of LI's whose slower burn mean that there's barely any actual sex scenes between all those games for the time spent on them.

The existential horror with "me" was a nice moment, though personally that level of fourth-wall breaking to reveal the whole 'reality' I'm trying to get invested in is fake even from an in-story perspective tends to rub me the wrong way. Others may like it though, so it's a matter of taste.

There's more than a few english errors here and there but it's nothing worth getting up in arms about. If the game becomes more successful though the developer might want to consider getting a beta-reader for their script just for a second pair of eyes to smooth things out.

I will say though: I was actually more invested in "Me's" story and emotional turmoil than I was for the twist. The premise of an emotionally damaged boy in a dark but realistic helpless situation seeking revenge/freedom (through porn antics of course) was very easy to get invested into. But I suppose that's also a matter of taste.

The dev has a certain idea of what they want from the game and that idea doesn't look like it's a bad thing.

It'll be interesting to see a "Hot burn" Lil-style game come to fruition.