VN - Others - Completed - Shale Hill Secrets [v0.18.9b] [Love-Joint]

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!

Only reason i dont give this 1 star is due to the good graphics and animations but story is the main thing for me it has to hold up and this feels so flawed.
There is alot of kinetic story line in this as well and alot of fake choices, like sister ask MC which one of us should go to A and B, you click MC to go to B and MC will go to A which makes it pointless to even ask if its just a set line anyway and also since MC just does what hes told by others constantly hes without any kind of backbone or brains, even up to chapter 16 hes an complete idiot walking stright into a trap that anyone with an IQ of 1 would see coming....and you never get any feeling of revenge since MC would never hit or kill someone....

Graphics 5/5
Girls 5/5
Story 0/5 = game unplayable.

Why couldent MC have bigger balls and more brains....from chapter 4 MC went totaly brainless.....

Leah said it perfectly that MC should feel betrayed, but MC dosent like that word even though he should absolutly feel that way.....get pissed do something ffs.... she stalked him for days, researched hes creditcards, tricked him so she could look into hes computer, how could he ever feel any diffrently.....and how would he ever be able to trust her again....

And how can he not atleast try to talk her out of a lifestyle that easily can get her killed or jailed for life even if it is futile atleast fucking try.....when he dosent it just shows how very very little he even cares about her when he just accepts that with out questioning it.....

Hell he should move out of that appartment knowing how she is and what she has done and cant be trusted, and if he likes her to much even after all this he should still move out to protect her since he would 100% know she wouldent stop looking into hes things....

Insted MC says she has him cornered? (wtf?) and he has to tell her? (wtf?) he dosent have to do any such things...where the fuck is the option to not tell Leah?

Insted MC just tells Leah every thing every secret, knowing she has 0 trust in him and knowing she cant be trusted and not knowing what she will do with that information, its when a MC is this brainless it ruins the game totaly, and this kind of stuff happens constantly.

And the problem is MC never learns, hes complete brainless fool every time hes with Leah, he trust her no matter what, even when they talked in the car when he opens up yet again and tell Leah everything and she openly tells MC she wont tell him everyting he pretty much just accept that fact......how can he keep telling her everything and trust her constantly knowing she will hide stuff all the time, even if shes trying to somehow protect MC its no diffrendt to MCs reason to hide stuf but yet he tells her everyting anyway, and dosent even get pissed at Leah it just make no sense no one is this stupid or calm when getting a knife in the back....

Heres another small hint on how many braincells MC has, leah is breaking into a police station, she records the code for a door with her phone when a cop uses it, MC is watching on cams and this is what he thinks "What i dont quite understand is what Leah is doing with her cellphone" i am not even kidding when i say this level of IQ is how MC is doing the hole game, are people supposed to find it funny when MC is this stupid? dont get it, it feels more like they just add and add more stupid text to fill out the game to waste the most time for the player/reader to make game feel bigger.

Even when MC finds out who silent1 is, one whos been a huge part of hurting hes friends, it takes him 2 seconds to trust that person again to just get knocked out by that person.....if this game does one thing it never stop supprising me how clueless MC is.

Even Leah hes own sister puts him in danger, lies to him and hide extremly importen information that could save hes life instend of risking it, also just dosent make any sense, she even says shes using him as a tool...prooving yet again MC is clueless and has 0 backbone, hes like a little puppy that blindly trust everyone.

Playing a MC with this level of stupid just broke the game for me, nothing of it made any sense to me at all, which is really annoying since i wanted to support this game, loved the chars the graphics, but with a broken story i just cant.

On a small sidenote for the virgin fans, virgin scenes are truely pure shit in this one, MC talks about deflowering but theres 0 blood and girl has absolutly no pain, so theres nothing to come for on that issue.

Problem is as the player/reader your supposed to put your self in the shoes of the MC, doing that in this game is painfull and nothing else, cant recommend this game at all.

Shale Hill Secrets 0.12.1

I played v0.12.1 a long time ago and generously gave this game four stars even though in my mind and heart it was only two or three stars because it was so boring. I gave it extra stars because there was a lot of gameplay and you can lose yourself in the game. And the quality of the art was really good. But since I haven't played it at all during all this time, I'm going to drop it down to three stars and that's being generous.

AAs many have said, this game just drags on and on. It just felt like billions of hours were going by and all I was doing was following a story and its events. Like watching a TV series, episode after episode, for hundreds of episodes.

I made it to around the middle or end of Episode 3, which required me to play all day for two or three days, and I just gave up. I was curious about scenes with the sister Leah, so I used the Scene Gallery and found out that there is no sex scene with her until Episode 10. Well considering how long it took me to finish the first three episodes, and there are only two sex scenes with Leah by the end of Episode 11 is very discouraging. As I stated before, I played to like the middle or end of Episode 3 and then I just fast forward through most of an episode. When I did that, I was surprised that there were finally sex scenes and it was like one sex scene per girl. But strangely, I did not get excited for that. I didn't feel like rewinding and playing the game slowly so I could appreciate the lead up to and actual sex scenes. I don't know why. The game just kinda killed it for me. It felt like the sex scenes were scheduled robotic events and not naturally occurring ones full of passion, interest, or lust. And I like how good the females look and how they dress, but it started to feel like a lesbian game where I was a female making out with other females or something.

Other than that, this game is very deep. I mean the intelligence and wisdom involved in the story, dialogue, personality, life choices, etc., it's apparent to me that the person writing this game has a lot of understanding about life and spirituality and stuff. Like years of knowledge, experience, and wisdom.

This game is insanely good. The story is really well written, got me invested, and enjoy interacting with all the characters. The character models are absolutely amazing, animations and facial expressions are 15 out of 10. This game is a fun journey that will leave you wanting more when you are done. The game is already full of content and fun, my only small disappointment is that some characters do not have anal scenes (yet)
Gameplay 10/10
Story 10/10
Fun 10/10
Art 15/10
Animations 15/10
The last thing to say about the story arc with sister/roommate it is an absolute nail-biter, the character is fun and perky the way you slowly develop a relationship with her is bliss. I am totally in love with her now.

DNF'd somewhere in episode 3. As others have said, the renders are pretty, the writing (in terms of actual prose) is reasonably polished, but... the story just drags. The MC is not particularly bright, he spends a ton of time navel gazing, and we keep having flashbacks that don't really add much of value, with vague free roam/sandbox elements that add even less. Oh, and I think I had one lewd scene in total so far (which was admittedly fairly hot... but sometimes quality does not make up for the lack of quantity). This one is not for me.

The game is really good!
Such a stable engine, beautiful animations, nice story
I just think it could explore Leah some more... since there's so many characters, it gets confuse how progression should work...
You end up with a lot of non-interestering events going on, with good scenes of course, but that can't really relate to whatever premisse the game rely on...

The game is pretty boring. The premise is fine, the characters are likeable but the writing is waaaay too boring and sometimes you wonder if it's an nsf game at all, pacing is way off and the game couldn't be further from sandbox. If you wanna read a story (not a great one, not a horrible one, just A story) - go ahead but it might bore you even knowing what your'e getting into. Visually the game looks good but the amout of content is not enough to justify reading allat.

This game really goes above and beyond what is expected from these types of games.
Has quickly become one of my favourites!

Story
I am genuinely invested in the story. Some times i forget I'm even playing a NSFW game. There is not only a mystery to find an answer to, but it quickly develops into a web of complexity. Multiple stories and event going on at the same time and at times overlapping in surprising ways making it even more interesting.
The sex scenes can be a bit far spaced at times compared to other games on here but i really don't mind it. Especially due to how good the story is. Also makes the reward so much sweeter when they finally happen. They feel well earned in most cases and you have really learned to care about the characrter at that point making it extra special. A preference to be sure, but especially well motivated in this case.

Writing
The writing is superb! I'm honestly inspired, some quotes even stick with me. This is all helped by the characters which are really fleshed out.
They all have their own quirks and ways of thinking which should be considered a minimum honestly. But they go far beyond that, giving them all detailed backstories that really motivate what kind of person they are. And of course all this is revealed at a very natural pace making for an optimal experience.
The themes expressed are also wide ranging. From philosophy and politics to crime and morals. Also has some good humour thrown in at times. In the same way a classic movie does it, without distracting from the story but instead adding to it. In other words, it does not feel forced. Its a well placed break that benefits the pacing.

Sound
This game has music! And it not the stereotypical early 2000 edgy rock stuff or club music that a lot of the "university" games use. This is a more tasteful selection which are meant to instil specific emotions and moods in sync with the story beats. And it works well! Never feels forced, just ties the experience together really nicely.
There is no real audio effect for the sex scenes or stuff like that, which again is a preference but i think its best this way. A lot of time it can feel out of place and not really match the rest of the experience. At least there is music to match the mood.

Art
There is a good amount of diversity in terms of looks. Renders are all really clean and the light setup is professional, which is really the thing i think a lot of these pre-rendered 3D games fail at.
Poses and expressions are really good as well, feeling very natural while still expressive and allowing for some exaggeration at times while still keeping it tasteful. There have been a few instances where it felt a bit off but too far and few between to really take issue with.
My biggest gripe with the game are the animations. Sure they get the job done but they really don't fallow any animation principles. Most of the time is seems to be a simple case of two poses and some curved interpolation between them (At least its not linier!). There is very little weight or rhythm to them which is a shame.

Final score:
9.5/10!

Will likely be the first NSFW game i actually purchase on steam just to show my support for the craft.

Love this game and all of the characters. The story is awesome and follows a unique story. Incredible game. You really get tied into the main character and feel the pain and triumph as he weaves his way through. Only wish as of now you get a choice on if his voice comes back or what to do about. That’s my only real beef though.

If you like to read a lot of text for a long story, look at beautiful girls and some strange persons, this is the right game for you.
If you are looking for a lot of xxx-action, look somewhere else. ;-)

The renders are great and the girls do look good. Though they also look younger than they should. I think it's the body proportions.

The premise of the story has some merit but the execution is poor. It meanders about and is filled with a lot of the MC's pointless inner monologue.

Over all, pretty but boring.

Artistically, this game is pretty nice to look at. Although I will say the girls look fairly young compared to what age they are supposed to be, it's not that bad. My problem is with the story's writing. Simply put, it's boring. The premise isn't boring, but the dialogue and interactions are.

This....is not quite what I expect from AVNs.
The good parts are the artstyle, the girls themselves are all gorgeous and unique, and I like how you get to choose how you pursue or don't pursue each relationship. Choice like that is something you don't usually see in VNs.

However the rest of the game, namely the 'sandbox' elements ( which are unintuitive ) as well as the story ( which was boring ) just sorta weigh everything down. There is supposed to be an overarching element of intrigue and mystery, but honestly the conversations just go on for SO LONG that I ended up skipping a lot of it, and the scenes you do get are so far spaced and not that well designed, everything looks jerky and awkward.

Ultimately this game was just not for me. I didn't enjoy the story, I didn't enjoy the gameplay loop, and clearly I didn't enjoy the girls enough to stick with everything else.

The characters are well fleshed out, all of them have different personalities. The story continues to intrigue me. The mystery behind shale hill keeps the thrill going. In addition, the updates keep coming every other month so it is well worth the wait. The only downside I can say is the lack of choices. However, I do understand that having multiple choices extend the development time.

This is literally my favorite porn game of all time, there are some points where you get railroaded into choices you wouldn't make to progress the story but it's still amazing. The best girl is Valerie and it's not close, and I can't wait to see her betray me

*spoiler*

I was right she betrayed me and I loved it

One of my favorites. Certainly not the typical story that you might find with the average game on F95. I think it's very well written as well. The renders are the type I really like. Some girls look pretty similar, but there is enough of a difference in art and attitude that it doesn't detract for me. Great sex scenes, though I would personally appreciate more of a departure from the vanilla. More kink stuff, etc. But that is a small quibble. Love it and always look forward to the updates.

Playing through this again.

Because... I love the renders of the characters. Its one of the few games that doesn't force Milf content on you, and its nice to take a breakfrom that.

That being said, its an average story at best. I'm hesitant to call it a game because a game requires some level of interaction from the user. This is more like a kinetic novel, with the only choice being will you unlock lewd content with a character or not.

Even the sparsely placed choices are not real choice. Go back and pick a different one and you get the same result, just slightly different text.

The thing that really makes this a slog is the writing. I feel this is where the loss of Palmer (RIP) is most keenly felt. It it unnecessarily verbose, and then drawn out. Started Episode 8, read through 50 minutes of the Protagonist doing basically nothing..... lots of navel gazing and being an absolute jerk for no real reason apart from a messiah complex that is almost unbearable.

For the few sex scenes that you get, the render quality is good, the animations are ok, but please don't hide faster and slower behind a menu when there is never anything else. The writing on other hand for the Sex Scenes... Mills and Boon would be envious, this stuff is right up there with the Bodice Rippers of the 70's and 80's. Overly flowery descriptions of cocks and vaginas, with some questionable adjectives (I would never describe an erection as turgid during a sexy scene)

However, it's piqued my interest, I want to know what the secret of shale hill is, so I shall no doubt click on through.

Hopefully the devs learn some lessons for the next game as they do have a lot of potencial.

This one surprised me.
I was a little apprehensive about trying it, because all the girls almost look excactly the same. Baby faces, too big eyes. Just different ethnicities and hair to set them apart.
But the cast is still diverse, because of quite good writing. Even though most were tropes, the overly done and simplistic personalities works, because again... good writing.
It has good storyline, thats a bit overconvoluted, but it works.
And there is a LOT of story, hours.
For those where this is important. There isnt a lot of sex.

The only drawbacks was the feeling of just reading a story and not playing it.
Choice was not existant. You just click something and slowly you progressed the storyline. It didnt feel like I was the one steering the storyline further, but rather that I was lead by the nose.
Also a bit too much similarity for sexscenes. It seemed to follow the same formula almost every time. Different dialogs, but same 4-5 acts in a script.

Extra plusses:
Not a single overly voluptous or overly fat bottomed girls. None of that body-dismorphia(most likely not the right word) at all.