Ren'Py Serenia [v1.0d] [OffWhite Studios]

[Sxythe]

All the non-con voyeur scenes, and the supposed MC focus really butt heads.

I personally don't care for all the voyeur non-con crap, it is one of my most hated tropes in fantasy genre games along with sex-on-loss, and here it just smacks you in the face for the entire first chapter.
It does succeed in making the MC feel weak and useless, but after a few I find myself do I really want to stick around for the MC to eventually maybe stop some things and have some agenct and power?

With the current first chapter, not really.

Which is sad, because the rest of the story beats and ideas you've talked about in the thread seem really cool, but honestly I just want to ignore 90% of ther first chapter, and that's not what you want new players to be feeling.

Right now this just feels like another weak NTR/Voyeur/Cuck MC game, and the statements of it getting better next chapter just ring hollow when that's the same type of shit a lot of other devs have pulled to keep the funds and publicity coming while never actuially delivering those, and in fact usually doubling down on the tags they say they "aren't really" doing.

 

[OffWhite Studios]

Entire game was torture, you made it where our MC had to take a backseat and watch rape scenes(which went on way too long) which was what 95% of the game is.. with the last 5% being our guy finally getting any action.. yet it was with a character he knew for a measly 1-2 days while they banged like rabbits and says hes in love, before the "plot" happened. It would have made more sense for attachment/revenge if it was his long time childhood friend.

Like really.. a good portion of those forced rapes could have been prevented by our guy instead of him watching, especially the freakin elemental one.. "nooo stop it, you werent supposed to do that! butbut i thought this.." afterwards "erm are you ok" made me want to bang my head against the desk, you at least gave a weak excuse for the other ones "im not strong enough. well shes not in any danger. i swear ill find a way to save you when i can. wait we need information. well she tried to kill me, ill just let a giant rodent smash. im almost there!(could have used any magic but just decided to let it happen to jester)" :|

And choices.. literally dont change anything? besides some slight dialogue change before it goes back to the unchanged path, i guess we could use the plot as a excuse and say "you cant change fate" lmao but seriously. All in all for a ai generated game it wasn't too terrible as i liked the whole mystery plot which is probably the only thing that kept me, im assuming the whole "cuckholding" for chapter one with a nothing burger of events happening with the side characters was because "chapter 2" will be the guy corrupting and slowing changing himself?

Thanks for taking your feedback, and I get where you’re coming from.


A lot of what you said has been common feedback from players, so I’m making changes in the next update (v1.1) and for Chapter 2.

As for saves — yeah, I agree. There are several scenes where Anno should reasonably be able to intervene, and in the update I’m adding options to save characters like Jester, Statue, Slime girl and adjusting other scenes so players don’t feel locked out of helping. You’ll still be able to view all the content if you want to, but on your run, the girls won’t actually be harmed. That should help with the “banging my head on the desk” moments you mentioned.


In Chapter 2 the MC finally gets to be the center of the action. That’s the corruption arc you guessed — Chapter 1 was basically the setup for why he changes, and Chapter 2 is where he actually becomes the guy players signed up to play.

Choice impact is another focus. Chapter 1 was mostly linear due to how many systems were being built underneath. Chapter 2 will branch more, especially around who you care about and who you’re willing to betray or sacrifice. The decisions will matter more.

Thanks again for the feedback. It reinforces what I already planned to fixed based on similar comments.

Hope you come back to check out the changes in future updates.

 

[OffWhite Studios]

All the non-con voyeur scenes, and the supposed MC focus really butt heads.

I personally don't care for all the voyeur non-con crap, it is one of my most hated tropes in fantasy genre games along with sex-on-loss, and here it just smacks you in the face for the entire first chapter.
It does succeed in making the MC feel weak and useless, but after a few I find myself do I really want to stick around for the MC to eventually maybe stop some things and have some agenct and power?

With the current first chapter, not really.

Which is sad, because the rest of the story beats and ideas you've talked about in the thread seem really cool, but honestly I just want to ignore 90% of ther first chapter, and that's not what you want new players to be feeling.

Right now this just feels like another weak NTR/Voyeur/Cuck MC game, and the statements of it getting better next chapter just ring hollow when that's the same type of shit a lot of other devs have pulled to keep the funds and publicity coming while never actuially delivering those, and in fact usually doubling down on the tags they say they "aren't really" doing.

Thanks for the feedback. I agree with a lot of what you said. I didn’t intend the game to have any voyeur or NTR vibes at all. I just did a bad job of anticipating how some of these scenes would look. Anno being in proximity doesn’t matter to me — I’m totally fine removing him from those moments. I only used him like that as a mechanic to move the player from one scene to the next, not because I actually wanted him to stand there and watch.

I also don’t want him to come across as super weak. The goal was to make him a bit morally grey — someone who avoids major fights like Fawn or Statue because he sees his mission and his life as more important than risking himself, unless he has the upper hand or absolutely has to step in. One of the big themes is questioning the “greater good” mindset and where that reasoning leads. If he’s just coming across as weak instead, that’s my fault as a writer and something I plan to fix.

As for the concerns about “it’ll get better in Chapter 2,” I understand why people doubt that based on other devs. I’ve been working on this project for a little over two years now — a long ramp-up since I didn’t know how to code or animate or do any of this when I started — and I’m not planning to drop it. I want to finish it, and I want to improve the parts that aren’t working. Especially the ones where I fully agree with the player feedback.

Also, regarding the game being a cash grab or bait-and-switch: I plan to keep it 100% free. I don’t intend to gate any game content at all. Anyone supporting me right now is doing it because they enjoy the game (and I really appreciate that support, of course), not because they’re forced to.

Thanks again for being honest about it. I’m taking this feedback seriously and using it to make the next update and Chapter 2 closer to the experience players expected going in.

 

[kore1337]

I only played for a few minutes, and the two scenes I saw were enough to make me drop the game. I guess it's my fault for being too trusting since I didn't see the NTR tag or the game's preview images. It definitely looks like an NTR/vouyer game. The tavern scenes and the mother-daughter scene... after seeing those, I dropped it. idk if later the MC will fuck with the cum bags that all those men fucked, but I don’t plan on playing it again xd

 

[OffWhite Studios]

I only played for a few minutes, and the two scenes I saw were enough to make me drop the game. I guess it's my fault for being too trusting since I didn't see the NTR tag or the game's preview images. It definitely looks like an NTR/vouyer game. The tavern scenes and the mother-daughter scene... after seeing those, I dropped it. idk if later the MC will fuck with the cum bags that all those men fucked, but I don’t plan on playing it again xd

Hello,

Thanks for checking out the game. You can find out whats in the game in the Dev Notes. The scenes you mentioned are not love interests of the MC, now or in the future.

There is no NTR, but there are many scenes in the game not with the MC, so if that’s not your thing, I’d agree the game may not be for you.

 

[Nick_Rock90]

Damn, nice game actually, while I agree there is a lot of voyeur scenes, there are scenes that are way too long without a skip button like the rabbit rape scene. I hope that in a future update or in the chapter 2 you can save the girls that are being raped or at least skip the scenes, its not about "protecting the harem" but more about just protecting the girls about a horrible thing, sitll nice chapter, im really looking for chapter 2!

 

[OffWhite Studios]

Damn, nice game actually, while I agree there is a lot of voyeur scenes, there are scenes that are way too long without a skip button like the rabbit rape scene. I hope that in a future update or in the chapter 2 you can save the girls that are being raped or at least skip the scenes, its not about "protecting the harem" but more about just protecting the girls about a horrible thing, sitll nice chapter, im really looking for chapter 2!

Hello, thanks for checking out the game! Glad you liked it.

You will be happy to know all the changes you suggested I agree with! They are planned for v1.1 which I plan to release late Jan along with the music/sfx/voice update.

 

[Nick_Rock90]

Hello, thanks for checking out the game! Glad you liked it.

You will be happy to know all the changes you suggested I agree with! They are planned for v1.1 which I plan to release late Jan along with the music/sfx/voice update.

Thats cool af, it certainly was a little worrying the lack of control that the mc had, even if the scenes are important for the plot, for example the prologue, where after the first creampie on millie and her mother one certanily got the point of what would happen to them but the scene went on and on until the very end. Im really glad about the changes you are gonna do and I will wait to play the game again in the next update, but just out of curiosity when will the chapter 2 would come?

 

[knyght]

Huh... did all low score reviews get deleted?

 

[OffWhite Studios]

Thats cool af, it certainly was a little worrying the lack of control that the mc had, even if the scenes are important for the plot, for example the prologue, where after the first creampie on millie and her mother one certanily got the point of what would happen to them but the scene went on and on until the very end. Im really glad about the changes you are gonna do and I will wait to play the game again in the next update, but just out of curiosity when will the chapter 2 would come?

Regarding Chapter 2:

It’s a bit hard to give a firm release date, but I definitely don’t want to keep people waiting forever. I’m setting a personal max goal of around 6 months — ideally finishing sooner if everything goes smoothly.

I’m aiming for Chapter 2 to be at least the same size as Chapter 1, if not bigger. Chapter 1 ended up with 33+ animated scenes, so you can imagine how long that took. The good news is that I work much faster now. I can reuse a lot of what I already built — backgrounds, character sprites, UI, and systems — so most of my focus can go into new content instead of building everything from scratch again.

A lot of the art for Chapter 2 is already done as well — most backgrounds and a bunch of scenes are ready to be written and animated. That alone should save a ton of time.

Player feedback has also been hugely helpful for me. I agree with a lot of the tips and criticisms I’ve received, and I’ve realized I had a few blind spots. Listening to players and polishing the parts that didn’t quite land will make the game much stronger. Chapter 2 will benefit from that input in a way Chapter 1 couldn’t, since I was creating that without any real player direction.

I’d really prefer to release one large update with hours of content rather than drip-feeding tiny updates every month. Still, I’ll keep people engaged with regular dev posts, preview images, and progress updates. I want supporters to feel involved as things move along.

I’ve been working on this game for over two years now, so I’m definitely not stopping — especially since the hardest part (learning how to make a game) is already behind me.

 

[OffWhite Studios]

Huh... did all low score reviews get deleted?

I’m aware of one review that was removed, and just to clarify — game devs can’t delete reviews on F95. If something disappears, it’s because the moderators removed it for breaking site rules.

In the example I know about, the person openly said they didn’t play the game and were only leaving a negative review because they dislike AI. Since actually playing the game is required in order to review it, I assume that’s why the mods took it down.

 

[JJ993]

Given that this is a game that is being made for FREE by someone else in their free time there are a lot of pretty unfairly entitled comments being thrown around. It is very clearly not NTR; the dev has responded to feedback (with commendable restraint...) and planned changes to chapter 2 sound like they should address the sense of lack of agency in certain scenes. This is a story, character development is a part of that and it would be pretty underwhelming if we started off omnipotent on day one.

Yes there is significant non-con content and some of it feels voyeuristic - this is made completely clear from the very begining of the game and no one is forcing you to play it if you don't like that content. I'm all in favour of Anro gaining more power/agency as the story and his own corruption progresses and if people want the option to avoid scenes or take a different route then great but honestly I think the current dark theme is great, the art is great, the storyline is great and I can't wait to see what chapter 2 holds.

 

[OffWhite Studios]

Given that this is a game that is being made for FREE by someone else in their free time there are a lot of pretty unfairly entitled comments being thrown around. It is very clearly not NTR; the dev has responded to feedback (with commendable restraint...) and planned changes to chapter 2 sound like they should address the sense of lack of agency in certain scenes. This is a story, character development is a part of that and it would be pretty underwhelming if we started off omnipotent on day one.

Yes there is significant non-con content and some of it feels voyeuristic - this is made completely clear from the very begining of the game and no one is forcing you to play it if you don't like that content. I'm all in favour of Anro gaining more power/agency as the story and his own corruption progresses and if people want the option to avoid scenes or take a different route then great but honestly I think the current dark theme is great, the art is great, the storyline is great and I can't wait to see what chapter 2 holds.

Thank you!

Yea, I’m trying to make some updates to improve player agency, and put content warnings in the Dev Notes, preview pics, etc.

At this point I’m just wondering if I should add the NTR tag. Even if the game does not have NTR in it. Almost every angry comment/review I get is from an Anti-NTR person. Im just getting tired of it lol.

I think the game has gotten a lot of valid critiques and I’m happy to take feedback and make changes. But a majority of the criticism is regarding NTR, which isn’t even in the game. If people dont like those scenes, that’s ok, but I don’t like when they get labeled NTR when they are not by definition. (If you stop a random woman from being attacked in an alleyway - is that NTR? I personally don’t think so).

That said, I’m wondering if adding the NTR tag would scare people off who might actually enjoy the game though. I don’t personally like NTR and don’t think it’s in this game… so feels odd for me to tag it that way.

They need a new tag for “scenes not including the MC but not NTR”

 

[Bowlcutcultmember]

IMO adding the tag won't actually stop people from getting angry and instead bring it people expecting a full NTR experience to get disappointed/annoyed.

The orb scene is where the tag could arguably be justified, due to the mother character's recently slain husband getting derided/humiliated while his wife and daughter get raped (IMO I kinda thought this was supposed to be part black humour because the Dark Lord's soldiers were magically endowed, so not really classical humiliation.) Neither of these involve the MC having attachment to them, but the friend's girl getting stolen kinda counts since he's a named character.

You've honestly been more than accommodating to the player's concerns and annoyances with the suggested changes, I really didn't expect revisions at all since they made sense with how you described the story, but I'm still very appreciative of you making them. Still wish Bunbun was save-able, but that's just because I like anthros, I'll hope that Chapter 2 adds some that have clean states and get involved ONLY with Anno.

 

[OffWhite Studios]

IMO adding the tag won't actually stop people from getting angry and instead bring it people expecting a full NTR experience to get disappointed/annoyed.

The orb scene is where the tag could arguably be justified, due to the mother character's recently slain husband getting derided/humiliated while his wife and daughter get raped (IMO I kinda thought this was supposed to be part black humour because the Dark Lord's soldiers were magically endowed, so not really classical humiliation.) Neither of these involve the MC having attachment to them, but the friend's girl getting stolen kinda counts since he's a named character.

You've honestly been more than accommodating to the player's concerns and annoyances with the suggested changes, I really didn't expect revisions at all since they made sense with how you described the story, but I'm still very appreciative of you making them. Still wish Bunbun was save-able, but that's just because I like anthros, I'll hope that Chapter 2 adds some that have clean states and get involved ONLY with Anno.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts — and yea, at the end of the day I don’t think the tag would actually stop people from getting upset. It would probably just attract players expecting a fully NTR-focused game, which would create a whole different set of complaints. So I’ll just keep doing my best to make things clear up front and hope the improvements in v1.1 help reduce the frustration some folks had.


I’ve definitely been rough on the anthro girls in Chapter 1. While I don’t have plans to introduce a major anthro love interest in Chapter 2, I do plan to include some side scenes where Anno can be involved with anthro characters — and those will be “clean” routes where he’s the only one. Going forward, if Anno is around, I really want to give the player the ability to step in and change the outcome whenever possible.

That said, I still enjoy my orc/bandit/monster scenarios, so those won’t be disappearing — just balanced better with agency and options for the player.

 

[JJ993]

I honestly don't think you need an NTR tag; it might put some people off that don't like NTR and as pointed out above you will potentially then take flack from those that download the game expecting an NTR experience and are sorely disappointed.
Adding the potential to rescue jester/romance her in chapter 1 should I think address the feeling that the MC doesn't get enough action and if you have the option to save some of the girls then great. I guess it would be easy to add a choice to release the orb/stop looking during those scenes once the rape of Millie/her mother has started so that the impact of the scene on the story is not lost but players that don't want to see the non-con don't have to.

Ultimately though this is YOUR game; we are all enjoying it for free currently and I think you should make the game that you want/set out to make and not lose too much sleep over the odd negative comment. Someone will complain no matter what you do because they are entitled idiots and or trolls that just want the reaction.

I quite like that he feels relatively swept along/powerless in chapter 1, it fits with the narrative arc of a fundamentally good character desperately trying to achieve the power necessary to control their situation even as it deteriorates around them, to the extent that they sacrifice their morality along the way - maybe even to the extent that they become the very thing that they are trying so hard to prevent...Socrates would be pleased. My point is that the relative weakness/lack of agency in chapter 1 establishes the narrative impetus to seek out power which ultimately corrupts and which will I suspect make it all the sweeter when you come back later as a force to genuinely be reckoned with and start getting some payback - this can work for either good or evil playthroughs.

You should definitely keep the orc/bandit/monster scenes

 

[Bowlcutcultmember]

IMO it's the sandbox and RPG Stat-based choices that made the lack of agency much more obvious, or at least that's the impression I got. Then again, people might be complaining just as much if this were a Kinect Novel, I don't really check that tag too often.
There's really no perfect solution with a story like this. You HAVE to have at least some powerless moments in the first chapter, or else people will wonder why the MC's worried about not stopping something when he's level 30 and can AOE wipe everything, but you also have to get people used to the sandbox/stat system for later.

JJ993 brought it up, but I do hope the ending isn't as super obvious as it seems to be leading to with the intro, what Anno said about prophecies, and what happens to him at the end of Chapter 1. From what you've said about the future choices, I feel like it's going to be one of those "you end up in the same or similar place no matter what, but the circumstances/siutations are different" endings.

 

[Ka1tzer]

Hey there! First off, kudos to the dev for interacting with the f95 forum dwellers like he has - I know very well how difficult it can be interacting with folks here.

I've been mildly interested in the game from the thumbnail alone, then the description nearly hooked me in, some of the preview pictures ignited several alerts for me (which prompted me to re-check the game tags and comb through the thread).

Overall I'm mre than willing to give the game a try, despite it clearly having some content currently I don't appreciate. Having said that, I'd like to ask if it's best to start now or wait for chapter 2 to have a better first impression.

From all I've read, chapter 2 (which is the next update planned for late January?) will overhaul and revamp several of the things that have been criticized by players and that align with the dev's vision.

For the record, I read most of what the dev posted here and am trusting him when he said that no LI, current or future, will ever get involved with other dudes. However, the long exposition on other characters getting assaulted and raped is something I detest and find disgusting - but I can tolerate it if it's necessary for the worldbuilding and narrative, such as to motivate the MC and cast to act in the way that they will act throughout the story. Still, having to be exposed to such scenes or more importantly, making them long just feels terrible.

Imo, if those scenes/events must happen, show it quickly and don't linger in them.

Then again, all I'm writing is based solely on what I've read here as I haven't yet tried the game. Will either soon, or upon chapter 2 release.

So with all that preamble, should I just wait for chapter 2 or is the game worth trying out now?

 

[OffWhite Studios]

Hey there! First off, kudos to the dev for interacting with the f95 forum dwellers like he has - I know very well how difficult it can be interacting with folks here.

I've been mildly interested in the game from the thumbnail alone, then the description nearly hooked me in, some of the preview pictures ignited several alerts for me (which prompted me to re-check the game tags and comb through the thread).

Overall I'm mre than willing to give the game a try, despite it clearly having some content currently I don't appreciate. Having said that, I'd like to ask if it's best to start now or wait for chapter 2 to have a better first impression.

From all I've read, chapter 2 (which is the next update planned for late January?) will overhaul and revamp several of the things that have been criticized by players and that align with the dev's vision.

For the record, I read most of what the dev posted here and am trusting him when he said that no LI, current or future, will ever get involved with other dudes. However, the long exposition on other characters getting assaulted and raped is something I detest and find disgusting - but I can tolerate it if it's necessary for the worldbuilding and narrative, such as to motivate the MC and cast to act in the way that they will act throughout the story. Still, having to be exposed to such scenes or more importantly, making them long just feels terrible.

Imo, if those scenes/events must happen, show it quickly and don't linger in them.

Then again, all I'm writing is based solely on what I've read here as I haven't yet tried the game. Will either soon, or upon chapter 2 release.

So with all that preamble, should I just wait for chapter 2 or is the game worth trying out now?

Thanks a lot for the comment — I appreciate you taking the time to read through the thread.


You’re not wrong in your read of the game. The overall tone is very much dark fantasy with dark humor and non-con elements, and I’d say roughly 70–75% of the content touches those themes in some way. The MC himself is intentionally written as a good guy at the start, and his scenes are mostly romantic and focused on his relationship with his girlfriend. That said, the world around him is intentionally pretty messed up, and a lot of what happens is meant to contrast with his initial morality and set up a longer corruption arc over multiple chapters.

Chapter 2 will definitely have more MC-focused content, more direct involvement, and more agency. The upcoming v1.1 update will also introduce additional skip and “intervene/save” options in several scenes that players have criticized, which should make the experience less frustrating if the lack of agency is your main concern. If that’s the biggest issue for you, I’d probably recommend waiting for v1.1 or Chapter 2 to get a better first impression.

However, if your primary concern is non-con content in general, then I want to be very honest: this probably isn’t the right game for you. Even with improvements to pacing and player choice, those themes are baked into the setting and won’t disappear, and I’d rather set expectations clearly than disappoint you later.

Either way, I really appreciate the feedback. If you do decide to try it now or later, I hope the experience lines up better with what you’re looking for — and if not, no hard feelings at all.

 

[OffWhite Studios]

IMO it's the sandbox and RPG Stat-based choices that made the lack of agency much more obvious, or at least that's the impression I got. Then again, people might be complaining just as much if this were a Kinect Novel, I don't really check that tag too often.
There's really no perfect solution with a story like this. You HAVE to have at least some powerless moments in the first chapter, or else people will wonder why the MC's worried about not stopping something when he's level 30 and can AOE wipe everything, but you also have to get people used to the sandbox/stat system for later.

JJ993 brought it up, but I do hope the ending isn't as super obvious as it seems to be leading to with the intro, what Anno said about prophecies, and what happens to him at the end of Chapter 1. From what you've said about the future choices, I feel like it's going to be one of those "you end up in the same or similar place no matter what, but the circumstances/siutations are different" endings.

Thanks, you always make good points. I’m eager to see if 1.1 fixes some of the big issues.

Regarding the ending (not a story spoiler):

Spoiler

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