VN - Others - Completed - Shale Hill Secrets [v0.18.8] [Love-Joint]

: Writing a mystery like this you need really high mystery IQ and intelligence but the writer lacks that. The wrap up and starting was good, the plots were good too, the problem was with the plot connection and the irregular intelligence level of Leah and MC. Once they act genius and just after they act dumb. It improved in the last few chapters though. The VN is full of unnecessary lengthy conversation and I had to skip a lot of uninteresting events.
Overall the render was great but the model art were disappointing. Only Emily had a good body. The middle part were extremely boring and I'm sure most of the novel were too, I found it interesting from the middle only because I was deeply in love with Valerie. Leah most of the time was annoying, she represented as my caring person but her actions are totally opposite. Whatever the mystery of Valerie kept me to it even though the art was bad but the render quality was world class. The effort they have put into the VN is really admirable.
3.5 stars for me.

suggestion: Cutting the unnecessary middle section and making Valerie's mother one of the captive scientist of Arthur and then continue it some more rather than abruptly ending the novel. Then making them working together to free them or something. It would have been much more coherent to the story and more exciting. Because Valerie's coming in possession of The Malware isn't really relevant.
Whatever, a great plot and great effort fucked up by bad execution and finale.

This is a really weird game to review because the individual elements are way above average: renders, animations, music, UI, LIs. Really can see the love the dev has for them.

So why only 2 stars? Because it's boring, and it's confusing to fall asleep when you're supposed to feel excited. The story is just draggy, the villain has no motivation, and even the sex scenes feel repetitive at times.

My suggestion: scope the plot tighter in your next game and maybe halve the number of characters so the pace is more brisk. And have higher stakes than school life maybe?

It's been a while since I've played a WEG that puts so much effort into its story, more often than not, the story is just an excuse to get from one sex scene to another. In this regard, it's really commendable that the writers put this much effort into the intrigue and especially the characters.
All of the girls are really fun, maybe some are a bit bland, but those that stand out, really stand out (we'll get to that). Which is a shame that after some point of the story, the devs preferences are starting to kick in, and some girls are getting more and more sidelined. I hope you really like either Valerie or Leah. I personally didn't care for Leah, which created a bit of a problem.
Speaking of which, let's address the elephant in the room and talk about Valerie.
But I guess I shouldn't be complaining, because one can say that Haley was shafted even worse.
I have a feeling this sounded more negative than I intended, because overall, despite some minor hiccups (like some girls getting shafted and some endings being lackluster), I really did enjoy this WEG. It's the first of the kind that I played for the well-delivered story and not necessarily for the sexy parts. 4/5 stars from me and I'm looking forward for more content.

This game revolves around a mute college person who suddenly gets access to a software that allows him to see all the very recent electronic footprints of anyone in his college i.e. texts, pictures, etc... The game starts off with a really interesting premise of trying to uncover the mystery of a hacker who is ruining people's lives. The love interests all have distinct personalities but several of them are so extreme that they are so unlikeable. The biggest issue is that midway through the game, it gets very convoluted and the writing really drags on and on with random added plot that doesn't make much sense. This is not to mention that the MC is not so smart either which makes the plot a bit frustrating to follow. Then there's the big reveal that the antagonist is The sex scenes get very repetitive when you realize that a large majority of them follow the same format: get naked, kiss, get a blow job, MC eats out girl's pussy and ass, vaginal sex, more eating out and licking feet, and jizz. All of the sex scenes include the same type of very long inner monologues too. And yes, for those of you guys who are not fans of feet or eating ass, you'll have to see it often. This is a darn shame since all of the girls have quite distinctive personalities so you'd expect way more variation in the sex scenes. All in all, there's a really good base for a good story and characters but it really all just falls apart the more the game drags on and just becomes a frustrating mess.

I can sort of understand the criticism, but at the end of the day there is so much in this game that is leagues above anything else you find on this site that you can't really warrant anything other than 5 Stars.

The art and the animations are excellent (and plentiful). The production values of this game are unlikely to be matched by more than a handful games here.

Also while the story is (a bit too) wordy and the plot armor is impenetrable, it actually has a storyline that makes sense and builds tension.

The characters are well developed and unique.

Can you name 5 games that combine these things here? I'd have a hard time.

It is an excellent game well worth playing from a dev team with a good track record and deserves your support.

Not sure why this isn't reviewed better as to me it's one of the top 5 VN's I've played so far. Fun characters, silly but entertaining plot, great LI's with lots of hot sex scenes. I guess maybe the rating reflects the dev's choice to paywall some of the bonus scenes? Personally I'm fine with whatever helps the developer raise funds to ensure quality production, which this certainly is, both in terms of quality and quantity

There are three things that hold this back from being a top rated VN for me:

1. The engine. I just don't like the way it sets things up and the way certain things, like its own cursor customization, screws with your operating system and makes things work less efficiently when you pop out. It also closes your game window and makes you manually save each screenshot, rather than doing so automatically to either the game's primary folder or another folder you designate. Porting the saves from one episode to the next might be easy if you're only playing one or two routes, but is time consuming and annoying when you have more than one since you have to load from the old Episode, start the new, save, then go back to the main menu, back to the old episode, and repeat for each route played.
2. The, what is it called, "background and sprite"? method of display (static backgrounds, characters standing going through the same few poses for each conversation) for most of the VN. I read that this is the most popular method for the Hentai games that inspired this type of VN, and I also realize this allows them to get out updates much faster rather than posing every interaction, but it just isn't appealing. The custom/action/lewd scenes are VERY well done and it's just a shame that the rest of the VN isn't done similarly.
3. The dialogue. Well, specifically, the lewd scene dialogue. It puts me in mind of an adolescent boy that got into his dad's collection of old Penthouse Forum magazines and thought that was the pinnacle of sex writing. While this is true for the whole scene, it is particularly cringe with respect to the MC's internal dialogue/narrative of the scene. In addition to the stack of Forums, think they must also have two charts on the wall: one with the adolescent synonym list for "penis" and another for "vagina". They seem to have them numbered, and at times it seems they use them in a predetermined rotation, while occasionally just throwing a D20 to pick. The story itself is well written and well put together and the general story dialogue is a solid B+, but the lewd brings it down to C. It also seems that the QC for grammar and spelling has suffered now that they are nearing the end (this is as of Episode 16 - started following around Episode 4) and starting another project.

Overall, I enjoy the VN: the LIs are all exquisite and the action/lewd scenes are rendered wonderfully. The story is interesting, and the side characters bring variety and some amusement (TOASTERMAN!).

I recommend playing, just maybe temper your expectations and prepare to go from being extremely pleased with the VN to eye-rollingly-disappointed as you go through different segments.

I've grown to like this game the more I play it. At first, I was just playing for the LIs and the scenes, and that's still the case--except I now appreciate the story more.

At this point, the best part is the amount of content in this game and the phenomenal animations and poses.

I appreciate the writing and the vision behind it, but I also wish it moved much faster. Some times it really meanders back and forth between events before anything even happens. I frequently hit the skip button when it's clear the characters are just speaking for the sake of it, and the interaction has nothing to do with the overall story. At some point, I just need it to move faster and get to the next scene or event.

I like the chapter structure overall and how it wraps up each part of the story. This is great for its release schedule, and it makes it much easier to follow due to how long and winding the story is.

The game per se deserves a five star

Implementing methods to ensure that people dont mad skip - Amazing
Quality of Graphics - excellent
Reasonable differentialtion between characters - good
Story - Good
Sex scenes - 360 and animations - excellent
Predictability - Not so high but I think there is room for improvement there

There is only one reason I wont support this developer - paywalling chapters

I give one star because of the character design, I really can't tell the difference between character. to me they look all the same with different hairstyle.
The game mechanics are boring and even if the render (background) is good it's not enough to raise the game

Dude actually went and bricked his own game. A bit like that meme of the guy riding a bike that puts a stick in the wheel and then falls off to the side of the road, writhing in pain. He had a good thing going, too. You see this now and then with different devs. They write a story that starts off interesting and then ends up meandering around into a convoluted mess full of contradictions, clichés, and monotony. It's like what happened to [insert basketball game here].

I'm not sure if the dev simply lost touch with the premise and scope of his own story (bro they're just college students), or just ended up so far up his own 007 fantasy that he's turning everyone into a Bond villain. It's like the discount version of M. Night Shyamalan. "What a twist!" he proclaims --except it isn't. It's just uncanny, and it doesn't fit the personalities of the characters that you created and laid out from the get go. Nobody is intrigued or impressed with what you did to Valerie. We're all just kinda rolling our eyes on how yet another character is going full bozo and the whole story is suffering as a result.

In short, it feels like the dev is just making shit up as he goes. Changing the purpose or qualities of characters to meet the terrible ad-lib improv that is this mess of a story. And that's in essence the crux of the issue here. The renders are great, and the characters are cute, but that's really it. It's so much text, and so much dredge of boring nothingness at this point. Even the saving grace (the sex scenes) are so sparse that I've genuinely stopped caring about the story, and by extension the characters, altogether.

Damn shame, really.

It's soooooooooo boring.
Art is great, I really like that, and that's why I gave it a try. But thats all, you'll get some really nice models not doing anything.
I'm used to slow burn games, and have no problem with them, but at least sex scenes are worth the slow burn. Not in this game, you'll get tons of text before reaching a lewd scene, and then you'l click through it, not worth.
Additional mention to the worst MC I've ever seen, makes no sense at all, his motivations, his interest, nothing

This game has so much potential. It does so many things right. The girls are all great and very well written with a variety of body types. The story is engaging if a little drawn out at times. The sex scenes are incredibly well done as well.

So why only 3/5?

The MC in this game is the worst MC in any game I have ever played. There is no logic to anything he does. And he is CONSTANTLY monologuing about every little thing. Sometimes he even KNOWS his logic isn't any logic that any actual human would ever have, and that's beyond frustrating.

One scene in particular really gets me. He stays up all night (declines having sex, which, c'mon, no college kid would ever) and sleeps all day, then gets up and stays up all night again and he's an asshole because he "got no sleep." My man. Homie. You slept for like 10 hours. I'm 99% sure that he has some form of autism. It's the only thing that makes sense.

It's kind of like DFD for me - at first the game sets up a great premise and great characters, then it just gets bogged down and many of the great characters feel like they get lost.

I was a bit interested in the story, but it lost me at some point. It's pretty wild, but also kinda predictable.

Trying not to spoil, but let me just say, one of the characters I was the most interested in had this "twist" and it just feels like she's written into a corner where you can't be sympathetic to her and she feels fake.

Scenes are nice, but started to feel fake, as if inserted into each episode to have a quota.

And yeh, it drags on WAY too much, feels like it constantly has to do more and more.

I'd perhaps be less unhappy if it didn't have so much potential, but the fact it start off strong and gets disappointing makes it worse.

I played this for a while. I very much like the story and the models are great. I do thank you for the varied breast sizes and personalities. Awesome job!!! The only reason for 3 stars is I just cant passes the sandbox stuff. For some reason it throws off the flow for me. I am sure it is great for most and is no issue for most. It is just me. If you ever come out with a VN with the same story and models I am 100% all about it.

While the game stands out with impressive graphics and character design, the storytelling falls short, resulting in a disappointing experience. The protagonist's consistent lack of critical thinking and unwavering trust, even when betrayal is evident, can be a frustrating recurring issue for players. Additionally, this might be something only I might care about, but the treatment of Carmen, who was initially introduced as a potential love interest, raised expectations due to the unique dynamic between her and the protagonist, given his tendency to pursue relationships with girls who take advantage of him as he plays the role of a beta masochist. However, she was treated like a one-night stand by the protagonist, followed by her sudden disappearance, leaving me unsatisfied with her role. Despite the potential in visuals and character dynamics, these storytelling flaws significantly impact the overall gaming experience, making it challenging to wholeheartedly recommend. Also, the ending is anticlimactic...

The story is twisty but ultimately fluid.
The rendering is good with well-polished drawings and colors.
The girls are beautiful with special mention for Emilie for the sophisticated girl and Maggie for the shy and wild one.

This was originally going to be a 4-star review, but the last three chapters (as of v13.0) have sent the game downhill. Note that this review contains spoilers.

Pros:
1. Good renders and production value. One can clearly see the effort and sophistication put into making this, compared with your average crappy VN with mediocre renders, animations, UI, plot and music.

2. Story is quite good, especially in the initial chapters.

3. While the hacking is not totally realistic, the game still portrays it far better than the usual Hollywood garbage.

4. The girls have their own completely distinct personalities, and unique ways of responding to situations.

5. Some of the romances are very well done - slowly built up, and incredibly heartfelt, especially the consummation - a good example being the sister.

6. The supporting characters aren't all that bad too - Toasterman, Linus, Alfred, Dante, Stan.

Neutral:
The character art style is rather ...unusual. For me, Love-Joint's best art was in Double Homework. Still, this is incredibly subjective - there are probably a fair number of people, who find this style more pleasing.

Cons:
1. Some of the romances and sex scenes (esp. the first one with some LIs) are too rushed and lack the depth and emotion of the others. This also correlates to the level of plot involvement, screen time and character development of the LI in question - thus relegating half the LIs to a lower tier.

2. There is a certain lack of variety in the sex scenes. They all appear to proceed in very similar sequence of positions - although there are some changes in the last two chapters. Perhaps this will change significantly, for the better in the future.

3. The protagonist is an absolute idiot. He often fails to draw obvious conclusions, and makes utterly dumb plans (although self-aware enough to realize how stupid they are). He ends up getting through the game through a combination of incompetence by the enemy's minions, precisely timed rescues by other characters, a whole ton of luck, and the mysterious arch-nemeses's strange reluctance to seriously harm him.

6. the entire 'superhero campaign'? Pure cringe. Not even funny or stress-relieving in any way, and ridiculous when taking into consideration that the protagonist's life is currently balanced on the edge of a knife.

v0.13.0

First AVN I play after some years of not having the time (too busy), and I have to say this was a pleasant surprise. In the first few chapters the story and relationships do take some time to build up (it's a slowburn after all), so I understand why some people could get bored, but after episode 5 and especially from episode 10 onwards, few AVNs have managed to get me this invested in the story, and I even think this may be the only one where I don't care that much about the sex scenes, which are excellent still (that Valerie scene from the last update...)

Graphics are also top notch, as has become usual from Love Joint. It's really amazing to see how they have managed to keep going without Palmer (rip). I had already enjoyed DFD and DH, but this one is definitely some steps above.

I normally don't do this, but HOLY SHIT!
Those are the best renders and animations i've ever seen.
I must admit i skipped alot of the story so the 5 Stars are purely for the visual part.

Respect & Good job Soldier!