VN - Ren'Py - Shackled [v0.1] [ErosNyx]

i found it interesting for the little that was there and i am interested to see where it goes in the future, what's there now is little more than a demo but from what little is there i enjoyed enough to bookmark it though unless you have 5 minutes with nothing to do i would suggest waiting a little bit for there to be more content

If you have 5 minutes to spare out of your life the demo is interesting. 2 and a half if you skip the intro. The thing is a a gb and a half to download. Not much to the story yet and spoiler alert.... you don't get shackled yet either. There is a short sex scene with the slut he is dating but that is it. Take about 5 updates before I care to play it again at least. Unsure what to make of it yet. There is not really enough exposed to determine jack crap about the way the game will be actually playing out. It could be just like a million other games on this site where you think you know and then 2 updates later you see exactly how wrong you actually are.

That said, I will check back in a few more updates. The Dev has managed to arouse my curiousity about how things will play out.

Review for 0.1

Overall, it's a good start for a first time developer.
I tend to be slightly less critical than some others when it comes to the highest quality graphics and animations. I'm much more interested in the storytelling than anything else.

Music/Sounds: I'm deaf and have no clue if any were included.

Renders: The renders, as shown in the previews are slightly dated, but that's not really a problem for me. I can see how it might not be to everyone's standard or style, but I don't think renders are as important as other aspects of the game.

Grammar: The grammar is good, if there were any mistakes, I didn't notice them.

Writing: The writing is fine. So far, all of the characters have been very cookie cutter (bitchy step sister who tries to dominate, caring mother, sweet girlfriend.) The one dimensionality is fine for the intro, but in order to pull off the betrayal/intrigue promised in later sections, the characters and dialogue are going to need to be a bit more nuanced, which as an amateur writer I can attest is harder to pull off than one might think.

Choices: The choices seem to be well done. I use URM by default, but the choices were written well enough for me to know which path I was taking. I also enjoy the flavor text options of nice, humorous, and aggressive to make the mc my own. With some characters, I'm an ass, with some I'm sweet, with some I'm sarcastic. Just like in real life, we don't always talk to everyone in our lives the same way.

Story: The concept is interesting. I've seen similar in other games done to varying success. The risk with this approach is satisfying everyone as the story goes on. Basically, by making a dom/sub system, you're making two or more games at the same time, doubling up on your renders and writing. I can see the workload becoming an issue for the dev as the story progresses. Personally, I prefer being dominate, so that's the route I played. It will be interesting to see if the dom/sub routes will remain separate, or if you'll have the option to turn the tables on characters who try to dominate the mc. It would be interesting if the mc goes to the capital, becomes a dominate badass, then comes back and puts Stacy in her place, but maybe that's just my vindictive side talking.

Overall, I'll be keeping an eye on this game and will consider supporting this dev if they stick with it.