VN - Ren'Py - Shattered Dreams: Redemption [v0.4] [Nebula Dreams]

Renders are really good not spectacular but really good.
Animations are there and looks good enough, some voicing is good and immersive.

Story is all over the place and characters talk like robots not like people having actual conversations.

MC makes so many stupid decisions that you can´t choose or choose not to. Because if he didn't the plot couldn´t happen.
Cheap way of controlling the narrative but becomes boring very quickly.

Another example of a non-harem game with bad execution.

The story is intriguing and on the higher quality side of porn games. It is worth playing for it, although brought down by various bad decisions from the dev.

The MC is an unbearable pretty boy, smoker, and feels detouched from the player. It doesn't help that you're thrown into a FWB "relationship" with one of the LIs. Throughout the game I couldn't find a single moment where I could relate to him. He is not ugly, but thats about it. Since the player makes no real decisions throughout the sex scenes, it is more like watching some playboy fucking someone.

The LIs vary, but wasn't important to me because of the worst set up you can give a player in games where you have to choose a LI: forced relationship and sex scenes.
Nothing of that was necessary, it was just the typical dev decides for you nonsense.
In a harem game it is somewhat tolerable, because the building of other relationships benefit most of the times from such existing relations. Here it means hurdles to get with every girl on separate routes, because of baggage.
I found the LI in question rather disgusting (especially with the repeated talk about her boyfriends while pausing their "relationship").

Decisions about friendships etc are handled for the player as well, so might as well make it a kinetic novel for each of the girls. It is disappointing.

The graphics are beautiful and unique.

A proper rework, with decisions before forcing the first LI on the player, removing the dumb drug addiction, and proper player choices in general, and this could become a really awesome game.
At the moment it is mediocre at best.

Well I can honestly say that I was very pleased with what I just played through. I did not even need to skip my way through the storyline as it was actually interesting enough to keep me focused. That is saying quite a bit. The characters are interesting and even though I felt like they could have stood to have a bit more development and lead in to get to know them better I am not complaining about them. The LI's, and there are apparently a hell of a lot of them, are nice and interesting people in the story. As with the general characters they too could have stood to be more developed and have more of an introduction and lead up. It was nice to see that most were not fuck on the first day LI's though. But still it was way too easy. True one was a crush from high school and one was the easy piece from high school as well. But aside from nitpicking every little detail, it was an enjoyable overall experience. I look forward to seeing how things turn out. I would suggest the Dev do a bit more research on dirty cops and drug activities though. The interactions don't match what has been experienced in real life even closely. But for fiction it is nothing to bad that it is worth complaining about. Looking forward to future updates just to see how things go with the story even though I already have some predictions already in my mind.

The game looks beautiful but the story while it has potential is lacking pace and action. The main plus to the story is the LI's are beautiful. I know it will be subjective but I think one of the LI's is the most beautiful I have seen in a VN, so it gets a bonus half star for me. I'm hoping I'm surprised in the future episodes but I feel we are heading in a certain dark direction to one or more of the LI's to create a decision from the MC or to add drama with this one but I hope I'm wrong.

Review of version v0.4
I ended up downloading the game through the latest releases and it was a pleasant surprise for me, the story is very good and engaging, the relationships are good and I don't think they are unrealistic, with the exception of one which is the reason I didn't give the game 5 stars.
Madison is the only negative point I saw in the game, even though she is the girl on the banner, I think she is a bit confused, she seems to like the MC, but she literally disappears from the game, only returning out of nowhere.
Leaving me with the impression that she was only created so the game would have a sex scene at the beginning of it.
For one of the few people who stayed by the protagonist's side after his injury, she is a bit different, even his friend is more present than her, look how she still criticizes him as soon as the game starts.
But apart from that, and the game is still in its early stages, she can shine more in future updates after all.
(Sorry if there is any spelling mistake, I am from Brazil so to write a review I had to resort to Google translate)

Versio 0.4

I am not a fan of realistic crime stories in VN setting. Writing is ok, but the story feels unrelatable and hard to take seriously. I personally want more from stories that try to create realistic setting. Or maybe i just see everything less than Braking Bad/Sopranos quality not interesting enough in this genre.

The girls are beautiful. Still, the whole "failed super athlete turning to gold digger" setup, combined with how emotionally distant and guarded everyone is, just doesn’t do it for me. Everything feels so depressing.

MC: "Exciting? When i saw your face, I saw everything but excitement."

Visually game looks good. Those sex scenes that i did see were just average mundane sunday sex. Sex and sexy are clearly not the main things in this AV and it does show.

I can't get over the fact that it seems like the text is written by AI. Nobody talks like this:

"You are here early"
"I wanted to be on time this time, since you often blame me for being late. I've already taken the seats, do you want something to eat?"
"No thanks, how about you?"
"I'm not hungry"
"Shall we go?"
"I'll follow you!"

This is how robots talk. Otherwise the story seems to be good, though the animations are bad.

game is literally perfect...

you got a real interesting story, that feels realistic too for the most part... characters that feel real and genuine... beautiful renders and the right mix between teasing and naughtiness

and of course crazy baddies

I like it. I love the pacing. It's fast. In a good sense. You dont have time to get bored. Characters and dialogues dont feel dumb.
I liked Jennie, but we know the least about her among all LI.

Sex scenes a bit short and animations could use some polishing. Also, please add optional butt stuff. Not everyone into it, but having the choice is win-win.

Lena scenes are wild. Love them.

The only thing that could possibly brick the plot for me is the mobs story line. So far it's okay and I love dedication of the old detective. We'll see where it leads.

As of v0.3 there isnt too much content, I was hooked and finished game in one go after maybe couple of hours. But I liked it and again I wanna praise the game and dev(s) for pacing. Feels great. I might skip several updates to dive for more.

This... is difficult to review accurately, honestly, but I'll try.

tldr: can recommend if you're looking for a game where your bar for writing is "decent enough that I don't want to poke my brain out but not taking too much time reading to get to the good stuff".

Game begins at a breakneck pace, conversations between characters are damn short, then there are time skips between them, sometimes quite considerable ones, risking causing a reader whiplash, like

THE FUCK IS THIS
THE FUCK IS THAT
THE FUCK ARE YOU

...but at the breakneck pace the game begins, the characters you meet are seen repeatedly before adding new ones into the rotation so a total whiplash is avoided.

It slows down a tiny bit as the MC starts to form relationships, but only slightly - scenes, dates, sex, etc., everything goes by quite fast, and on one hand - that way no character overstays their welcome nor it gives you time to start hating them.

But that's also the reason I can't give this one 5 stars, and unless the dev changes considerably the way they go about the project, it won't ever reach 5 stars for me. We are at 0.3 in and due to the short time we spend with the characters, we still barely know them.

If you've come for amazing character development and lengthy stretches of time to get to know the girls, look elsewhere. Character development IS present, but isn't given nearly enough time to appreciate or shine. The gals are not soulless copy-paste bimbos that lust for MC's cock, they are distinct enough from one another that you can enjoy variety, I just wish there was a lot more time given to each of them.

However, if you came here to goon first and not receive second-hand aneurysm from dogshit writing second, I probably can recommend the game. The girls, with no exceptions, are all gorgeous, and not difficult to understand or interact with, but also keep in mind, there's only one main girl and one side girl that have full sex scenes, others relationships are still in their earlier stages.

I disagree with our honorable friend below that the plot is messy... we are talking about v0.3 here, and I find (one path explored so far - Mina) that it is extremely coherent and almost elegantly well thought out.; I find this VN is cleverly constructed. Try it and judge for yourselves.

I liked the game very much and the story is heartwarming and the atmosphere in the game has characters very nice and nicely made music good environment and choice of actions good in the game in general the game is very cool done

To be honest, this is not a plot, but some kind of mess. There's the first number of the NBA draft, the mafia, and a famous singer. The story is incoherent and not at all catchy. There are beautiful pictures, but it's not enough for a good game.

It's one of those games where the story keeps you so entertained that the sex scenes are almost secondary. The plot is very engaging, with well-developed characters and a promising narrative that hooks you from the start.

This VN is an example of how being good in every aspect leads to a great final product. It has a simple yet surprisingly well written story. The writing isn't novel or ground breaking, but it is very competent and enjoyable.

I also like the characters - the women are varied, well written and memorable. I also like that the MC isn't a blank doormat. It excels in the visuals department too - the character models look great and the lighting and backgrounds are very well done.

This VN is an example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts and I'm really looking forward to future updates.

Shattered dreams v0.2

Renders and models are good. Plot seems good. Mc is not a creepy asshole either. Girls are pretty and got their own characteristics. There's character development. Main LI is also gorgeous.
Writing is also good. This one's not a fuck fest but there are fair amount of scenes for a v0.2. Dev did put a lot of work in renders part.

Overall i enjoyed this one. Keep up the good work dev looking forward to next updates.

OThe game is very good, congratulations, thank you, it deserves its place among the games I play, everything is perfect. I hope the image and sound transitions don't take long to update. I can recommend the game to everyone. The MC and other player characters are very nice.

At the moment it's basically a demo but it does give some insight to the future of the game.

I have no idea why the MC doesn't just dump his father and move on, it would probably be better for the father as well given his gambling started around the time of MC's injury, that would also eliminate the MC's need to work(problem solved the end).

Sex scenes are nice if a little standard, the character models are great, there is not enough content to get a good grasp on the characters personalities but at the moment i was put off three of the girls.

Not enough content to tell if the choices are effective or not.

Story 3/5 (simple to solve)
Art 4/5 (good)
Sex 3/5 (fine)
Fetishes 0/5 (none)
Choices N/A (too early)
Characters 3/5 (ok so far)

This is a relly good first attempt of the game with a generally speaking good story, interesting characters, (mostly) good dialogues and impressive renders.
Pros:

• Nice athmosphere of the game
• Likeable MC
• Fantastic renders
• Nice animations
• Good, atmospheric music
• Okay and enjoyable dialogues
• Interesting and various LIs
• Interesting main plot

Cons:

• main plot has a few doubtful moments: like the mafia boss giving the MC a pile of money for nothing... and then off he goes and shoots two people
• Dialogues not always are smooth. There are a few awkward moments - not many though
• Translation is good for a while and then out of nowhere you get a lot of weirdly translated sentences. It needs another proofreading by the actual native English speaker
• That insta girl is out of place. An insta model who decides to rent out the rooms to 2 athlets. This sounds like a cheap porn. Oh wait...
• empty locations. I get it that it is timely and expensive to fill up lcoations up with the actual 3D characters, but the dev didn't even bother to use those cardboard characters you see in every AVN

All in all, good game and I look forward to another update

VERSION: 0.1
SUMMARY: Solid start, decent content, worth checking out.
RATINGS: (out of 5):

1. Models: 4
2. Animations: 4
3. General Visuals: 4
4. Characters: 3
5. Story: 4
6. Writing: 3
7. Pacing: 4
8. Content (amount): 4
9. UI & Sounds: 3
10. Lewd & Kinks: 3

Average: 34 of 50 possible points giving a 70% rating i.e. 3-4 stars.

PROS:

1. Good looking MC and love interests.
2. Animations are nice and smooth.
3. Optional POV during lewd scenes are nice.
4. Music is not bad, sounds in general are a nice touch.
5. Writing is generally decent, flows nicely and is structured relatively well.
6. Story is pretty good, has some intrigue and drives my curiosity at times.
7. Decent amount of content for an initial release.
8. Seems like a decent amount of love interests that are available to the MC

CONS:

1. Dialogue needs some review, phrases like "i barely forgot how big you are" that's just bad English
2. Lewd scene sounds is a tad disappointing, great that there are some though. Just a nitpick not exactly a con.
3. No choices really, more story driven, no choice on some of the MC love interests (at least so far)

FINAL THOUGHTS:

• Really good start with a decent amount of content, I really hope this one goes far.
• Hopefully we can expect some more tags and kinks in the future.