Ren'Py - Shattered Minds [v0.13] [eXtasy Games]

This review is on version 0.05.

I'll give the game this: I certainly walked away with my mind shattered.

At this time, "Shattered Minds" commits just about every sin of its genres in spades, with very little in the way of redemption.

Let's get this out of the way: The renders and most of the characters are overall quite good looking.

Something many developers can't seem to understand is what "mind control" is all about. I don't think it's a very difficult concept, it's right there in the name, "control"...so why do so many of these games feature such a lack of it?

"Shattered Minds" is yet another game which presents itself as a power fantasy, yet strings the player along without input. Unless this is meant as a meta commentary on how lust controls the player, willing them to go along with whatever the game fancies, there is no "control" in this "mind control".

This aspect of the game is heavily emphasized by the next sin on the list: the main character. I hope you're prepared to insert yourself as the wimpiest, second most obnoxious neanderthal in the universe, because boy does "Shattered Minds" require it. The main character is insufferably cowardly and dumb, only a possible second to his sidekick, who is also insufferable and stupid but...not as bad on that second piece, to be honest. Actually, thinking abut it, it's more like the main character is the sidekick, considering who makes the calls in the relationship. Spoiler: It's not you. I can't stand either one though.

As a third sin, let's take a look at the gameplay systems. Sandbox, huh? Not a bad call for the genre, to be honest. Sandbox games can be tedious, but giving the player the option of what to engage with is an oh-so-important part of that "control" mentioned earlier, so it works out quite well for this genre...but wait? It's actually linear? Yes, "Shattered Minds" is a linear experience disguised behind the sandbox tag, and yes, it does have all the grindy stat elements you've come to fear from sandbox-style games.

Look, sanbox is not always bad. Sometimes, it's very good, but it needs a reason to be present, and the best possible reason in a "control" game would be providing that control.

The challenge of writing a "mind control" protagonist is in the power they have. If they can flick their wrist and someone is theirs, where is the conflict of the story? There are many answers, and "Shattered Minds" primarily chooses the one where the protagonist cannot do this because of an apparent mental shortcoming. Here's an alternative: Opposition. Instead of the MC not doing so because he's too stupid, have him not do so because doing so would be stupid. Mind control powers are not going to save you from an uncontrolled sniper 2km out. No matter your super power, you need to be clever about it, something this game is not at all capable of.

The last thing I want to touch on is what I said near the beginning, "most of the characters". There are many elements that simply look weird, but given what else I've said, I think you know where I'm primarily targeting with this: it's the main character again.

Look, all of these pre-rendered ren'py harem male protag games sort of share this issue, of the main character just being visually really low-effort and cringy to look at, but "Shattered Minds" blows many others out of the water here. He's supposed to be a college kid but looks like a middle-aged Ken doll. I'm sorry, there's no other way to put it. Nobody wants to look at that and he's plastered on the title screen.

I've given out one stars rarely for games, and it's usually due to some major technical shortcoming or misleading advertisement of a game...but "Shattered Minds" is the first one that was just sort of...bad. It looks pretty for the most part, but as a game? No, the writing and gameplay systems are either incredibly lacking or absent at this time, and while I want to say I'll revisit it to revise my thoughts in the future...I don't really have much desire to do so.

Other than the renders and character models, everything else sucks. The plot is cringe and cuckshit even tho Dev said no Ntr (lol, then why do MC feel like a cuck?), Unlikable girls and best friend. (Dude why even add him?) While kink is probably about corruption but the pacing sucks so much pretty sure it would give vanilla harem a run for it money lol. Honestly, if there was a better writer. I would probably enjoy it and honestly without the cuckshit.

A sandbox game that doesn't let you go where you want and do the things you want. It's told in a linear fashion, so why make it a sandbox at all? Maybe the dev will transition into a more full sandbox experience, but honestly I hope that isn't the case. The sandbox interactions are all short and generic, "How's your day?" "Good." type of stuff. This game is at its best when it's telling the story. You don't have to be sandbox in order to pick and choose which LI's you want.

pros:
solid foundation
good visuals
diverse characters and body types
interesting premise

cons:
grindy as hell
waaaaaaaaay too obsessed with minigames
bland as hell dialogue
mild case of 'porn protag disease'

The renders are really nice is the main positive I have from it as you can see in the preview images. It's otherwise unfortunately a bit rough.

The writing takes a long time to get anywhere at the moment and when it does the sandbox section has no clear direction. I wandered aimlessly for a little while looking for something to do other than ask characters two questions over and over. the story has an annoying best bro friend character that doesn't add anything and I found the initial pacing a drag. Gameplay wise moving around is irritating because the screen shakes for no reason whenever you move the mouse which got on my nerves almost immediately.

I think there is some promise here, I like a good corruption / mind control game but the initial pacing, overly long writing, screen shake and cumbersome route to do anything means at this point (0.4) I wouldn't recommend it but I hope the dev can tighten up these aspects.

The game is good and solid and all but it's hampered by wee annoying things.

Firstly, the game seems to react to the motion of the cursor. So a completely static image will shift in relation to the position of the mouse. Why is that even a thing? It offers nothing to a gameplay experience.

Secondly, there are bits of the story which are... a bit thin and make you want to roll your eyes. The best friend is annoying and the MC is a borderline idiot at times. Yeah I get it they're still at school and who wasn't at that age but really just cause I was those things doesn't mean I like playing a game where he's also that way. It feels like the the writer had a plot in mind and it was going to happen no matter how absurd it was

There's a scene early on where the MC is stealing a bra. Now, the reason for this is the aforementioned annoying friends needs to see these so he can get the measurements for a comic he's writing. The MC gets caught TWICE with them and then plot happens.

Now first of all that's absurd. Even if he knew the sizes so he can draw it exactly he's not going to draw it to the exact level so just do a rough guess. A normal person would but the game demands the MC gets caught with it so it happens. The MC gets caught TWICE with the offending garment just sticking out of his pocket/under his bed. You'd think they'd learn but no, the plot demands it so of course it happens.

Are we really thinking that the writer couldn't come up with a more plausible scenario to justify what ultimately happens? It's weak to say the least and if that's the level of expectation I worry the rest of the plot will be equally implausible.... well... as implausible as a game is where the MC has powers. Allowance have to be made but jeez

I'm being harsh here I feel. The game's beautiful. the visuals are top notch. It's just the story . it feels at times it draws attention to the absurdity when it could have been done a bit differently. So you're speaking to someone in your head and they're basically explaining the game mechanics to you, but despite it being in your head they tell you that they've updated your smart phone so you can check your progress. Like as a game mechanic it's fine but by having the game draw attention to it it feels a bit peculiar. Kind of meta but at the same time it's not played off as such so you're heading all this exposition but you're left wondering how someone who is in your head could have updated your smart phone. Like how would that work?

Reviewed version: v.0.03

This has the makings of a great game. I really enjoyed what's already there and am definitely looking forward to what comes next.

The renders are good, the story has good pacing, and the scenes do a good job at building sexual tension. The corruption seems to be well paced and I love the fact that the mind control aspect in here isn't just a magical button that will turn any character into a sex-crazed slut from one second to the next.

I'll be looking out for future releases of this game for sure.

I gave a whirl but after the third installment I just can't find any pleasure in Shattered Minds.

Story:

The good news is that the main character isn't some typical loser high school student. The bad news is that he's a loser college student, which makes it worse. The setup up is he has a equally dorky friend who already has too much say or influence over the main character. Add to the fact that he now has now has super powers it just becomes a "meh" type of game. Once the main character was easily convinced to perv on his "roommate" it sort of set the tone for what type of character I'd have to work with. And after the third update it still hasn't really sold me. Mind control can be fun when not overused but can also be too cliché.

Gameplay/Dialogue:
Asking people "What is important to you" right out the blue is weird. Might wanna change that. "How are you is ok" is okay and shows kindness.

Other than that I had no real complaints on the gameplay, it's a sandbox, you click until you get your scene. That's the drill. You can level up you abilities and what not.

Renders:

Decent.

Models:

Decent.

Overall:
I didn't like the setup, hate cliché side kicks that add nothing to the story but make you get into trouble, make you look weak or like a idiot. The high school setting probably would've been better considering how the main character acts but I get it. The H-scenes will probably have to carry this game to the finish line. GL.

Games have been getting better in the past few years with good graphics and compelling stories, but I think that this game does a really good job of combining it all and actually having a quality game on our hands here. Nothing is over the top, nothing is silly or downright weird, but that's the thing when you have a good game like this is that if that ever gets added in it'll be all the better because of it. I'm definitely waiting for the next update to play this game asap.

Everything is fine, and if you're into sandbox you could enjoy it quite a bit, but I just found the whole thing really annoying.

What this revealed to me is that a sandbox AVN is not something I can play and enjoy until it is completed. The dev here makes a big mistake with the quest tracking, because it "starts" a new quest before that quest is even implemented. It is one of the main reasons I can't give this a 3 star rating, that it would otherwise deserve. I get ready to go to the next stage and then "oh, nothing is here *checks quest log in phone"... NYI..."

The writing is fine, the art is very good, some of the characters are interesting, but most of them are boring stereotypes right now. That will hopefully change with more content.

The biggest story negative is that every single time, you can put money on the developer choosing the least interesting way to explore the use of the MCs powers. I don't know how you can possibly bat a zero average on this front. Some of the scenarios are so convoluted for such a simple action (the bedroom scene with Sarah is maddeningly illogical for such a boring and simple task).

Overall, I'm going to wait for this to finish before picking it up again. It's too annoying to play right now and makes me think that sandbox devs should really get a lot more content together before their first release. It's not a bad game, it's just not ready for consumption right now.

v0.03 review

Still less than four months in development, the story and gameplay are a mess right now but will hopefully improve. Pretty average game overall.



So that's what there is right now. I like mind control. I like that the dev has instituted a lot of limits so you can't just mind control everyone into tearing their clothes off and throwing themselves at you yet. But there's just not a whole lot of substance yet and we'll see where it goes.

A game with heaps of potential but delivers on nearly none of it.

Sandbox elements are nearly always a waste of time for everyone involved, but more so here than even normally, because the game is basically entirely linear. There's no point in this game being a sandbox game, it just makes it a chore to play and you can tell it takes lots of development time away from actually developing the story.

The girls look gorgeous but for as many updates as this has, there's almost no content for them. We spend basically just as much time around the twerpy "friend" character Bill (a trope that these games has got to stop insisting on, no one plays these games to spend time with some ugly "friend guy") and ugly jocks as we do with the girls. The game completely lacks focus on this regard.

BTW the first thing I would do if I were the MC would be to brainwash Billy to completely forget anything he ever knew about me, if not just to jump off a bridge. Why would I want him around? He's a useless twerp and is only going to be liability in a world where powered individuals exists. I wouldn't want to share even a sliver of the fruits of my powers with him.

The story is truly stupid at times. So we're supposed to have brain control powers but for whatever bullshit, handwavey reason we can't just tell the boss to give our Mom more time off, we have to get a hooker for him to hire instead, but then we can also mind control him to make him not do anything sexual with her. There's no reason to make anything this headlessly convoluted and if there's absolutely no rhyme or reason to what we're allowed to force mind control victims to do, it's just whatever the game wants to pull out of its ass at any given time.

There's a parallax/screen moving effect whenever you move the mouse and I'm sure the developer is very proud of themselves but at the very best all it is, is distracting, at times nearly nauseating. It doesn't serve a purpose, it doesn't make the game more immersive and I wish more developers would realize that you don't need these useless trick gimmicks to make a good adult game, what you actually need is to focus on basics of having a good story, including a satisfying amount of actual lewd scenes and delivering it in a somewhat timely manner. Everything else is just noise, and certainly nothing you should even begin to consider spending time on until you have the basics down.

Oh and there are unskippable minigames. I'm sure some people think it's hilarious to sit there and fiddle with banal minigames that do nothing to build the story or anything meaningful, but probably most don't. It's, again, just a waste of the players time.

Pros:
- Good renders
- Mind control is implemented well. Sure, it doesn't begin with intercourse, but one needs to work to earn the more racy results.
- Sandbox implemented in a manner that doesn't detract from the player's progress.
- Development is coming along quickly, which is rare for these types of games.

Cons:
- Due to the game being unfinished, I cannot give it a full five star rating.

The girls look good and have likeable characters.
The mind control has promise but doesn't deliver at the time of this review.
It could have been a great game if it wasn't for a few problems.

1: To much internal dialog.
The game drones on and on about every tiny little detail.
From gameplay, to story bits, too aviva.
They could cut out half the current game content and it would be an improvement to the flow of the game.
2: Main character is a moron.
Plot happens because mandatory character doesn't have a single braincell.
Aviva does all the thinking for you.
3: Sandbox doesn't exist.
This is a sandbox only in so far you can click on things.
You cannot use mind control at will.
You cannot level up as you desire.
Nope.
It is all:
Go here to trigger the next story and only mind control after aviva gave you the idea.

I only give it a 4 because it does the mind control really well.
But it seriously need to cut the bloat and give the player more control.

Review based on 0.02v
Game as such is good but not without flaws. Dev chose sandbox but it seems that he is not too well versed on game development. MC is taught same lesson about his powers three times in three different missions. Story pacing could be a lot tighter as well.
Regarding positives. Each character is is interesting and has own voice. Story is starting rather slow, but I do enjoy slower burn when it comes to mind control games so it's positive for me. I'm also happy that Mind Control is main aspect not just gimick. Renders are top notch. Big plus is use of music.

At 0.02 build there is not much content at the moment but it's very promising overall.
1. The models are a cut above good and the environs do not detract from them. The animations do not fail them either.
2. The dialogues while not flawless sell the personalities well enough.
4. The characters feel sufficiently alive to make interaction interesting, of course some more than others.
3. The MC content isn't reduced to mindless obedience as is oft the case and there are hints of more depth in the future. The pace of progress is well calibrated.
4. The presence of a cheeky female accomplice shakes up the flow of an otherwise familiar setup.
5. The game looks pretty sleek, the attention to details is noticeable.

was a choice between 2 or 3 stars i chose 3 cuz it wasn´t bad but the longer i played and the more ava leads the mc against what he doesn´t want the more i started to hate ava
sometimes "you" can chose but mostly ava is forcing you even if you say no (like at the pool with the roommate/sister and the special creme)
there are thousends of mc with no backbone yeah well thousend and 1
anyway not my cup of tea

I think it´s a really good - almost great game, because

- the story is slowly developing - no rabbit porn
- the character can show empathy or not which will lead to different scenes
in the future?
- i have to agree to earlier critics, that the renders could be better
- there are nice animations in it - the quality equals the renders rescribed above
- the mechanics of the game are in different modes, so you can receive help
by tracking a certain path
- there is much potential in the map
for example there are many rooms in college with no content yet
- the sounds are realistic - as in many othe games
- the dialogues are sandbox until you solve a quest

Imagine being an abusive asshole with mind control powers, guided by a female version of yourself. Imagine convincing your family members your cock is all they need.
Now Imagine forgetting that it's only V0.2 and getting disappointed by the lack of content.

Well, that happened to me lmao.
Although the content is scarce, it's very promising. The first couple of naughty hypno scenes are making me hungry for more!

The models are fucking sexy, the writing is well thought-out.
The mini-games, though, that's a whole other level of shit. Maybe the Dev can find a way for the MC to earn money and XP by sexually abusing his Love Interests, instead of playing memory and Simon fucking says or bblackjack. Or turning MC's BFF into a sissy gurl❤
And yes, I am disappointed at the lack of sex scenes and incest. Yet, it's only V0.2 so wtf brain?!

So yeah 4/,5 because it's promising and feeds the lack of decent hyono-focused 3DCG incest games.
I wish the Dev good luck, and let's hope it gets updated regularly.

as much as I really want to like this one because of the genre and potential, I just can't rate it over a 2. here's why:

the renders are acceptably good.

but beyond that... it's a game of "wait for the quest journal to tell you what to do, go there, and if you have enough skill that you grinded for then great, you get to see a scene."

oh, and you get to play Simon a billion times to raise skill. ok.

there's not much implemented to date, what is implemented has no story (just events) and no sandbox (it's claimed there *may* be things to see if you show up in the right place at the right time, but since time usually only advances if you explicitly direct it to, trust me when I say I've been to all possible places at all possible times and found nothing outside the quest journal by way of events).

so the game right now is look at journal or grind skills, if journal says anything that doesn't also say NOT AVAILABLE IN THIS BUILD, advance time to the appropriate day/ time of day, take the appropriate actions, go to the appropriate place, and see a scene.

yay.

not sure it would have been better as a VN, but it's not a sandbox as currently implemented either. lots of teasing (people you can't click on as scenery, and others you can... also as scenery unless it's event time), but no real game to play.

not sure whether it will get better, but as is there are plenty of better methods to waste my time than this.