Ren'Py - Shattered Minds [v0.16] [eXtasy Games]

I want to like this game, I do, but it's essentially a glorified scene collector. There's a decent amount of grinding in order to get scenes with the various women in the game as well as a bunch of minigames and an alternate world section? (I didn't play long enough to know if we go back).

There's a pregnancy system (sort of), that involves a loose fertility system and once you get the girls pregnant, their models change but I didn't find any other interaction (either with them or other people) so all in all it was a little dissapointing.

Average game with mostly decent models, and quite a bit of (repetitive imo) content.

This game is a little underrated in my opinion. The models are hot, and the writing--while at times almost cartoonishly simplistic-- is clear, efficient, and free of major errors. It feels like a return to erotic games of years past, which isn't a bad thing. That is also not to say the main story is uninteresting.

The gameplay loop of corrupting different characters is pretty entertaining and doesn't waste your time. I find the characters consistently extremely appealing. Even if some of the girls aren't to my taste, others more than make up for that.

I also want to emphasize how consitent the updates in this game are--a very rare quality. It updates frequently and new content typically feels substantial without being overwhelming. The quest guide is also great for getting back into the game so you don't get stuck or forget where you left off.

I look forward to every release of this game, and probably check out new updates more consistently than I do for any other game.

A good game if you share the mind control fetish (which I do). Story-wise it's kinda all over the place, so don't expect a deep narrative. It's a pure power fantasy with some pretty girls.

The "subdue" mechanic is especially neat, not because it's realistic, but because it really nails the mind control fantasy of completely taking control over a person. But there are weak points as well, e.g. Eleanor's story which made me quite uncomfortable as it crosses the line into non-consensual territory clumsily. Generally, the MC is really lackluster, he's basically a boy trapped in a young man's body. He thinks very immaturely which leads to some weird scenes, especially with the "mom" character.

The game is a sandbox with built-in hints and cheats, so grinding is reduced to a mininum. The hints are detailed, so you never get lost. Choices are mostly linked to the subdue mechanic.

Sex scenes occur frequently, but they're not exactly hot. Some poses are a bit awkward and the animation loops are short and somewhat stiff. On the other hand, I really liked some of the facial expressions of the girls. The girls are all really pretty, especially Sarah is incredibly cute. Sadly, her story is really dumb and ends before it gets interesting, at least in the current update. I also liked Alice and Chloe.

The dev seems to want to expand the scope of the game which can be dangerous. There are already a lot of women in the game, I'm not sure if adding a truckload of side characters really is necessary, especially if the "corruption" consists of repeating the same thing over and over again.

Graphically, the game is alright. Renders are a bit blurry at times. There are sound effects, like some moaning during sex scenes which is a nice touch. I don't care about music in adult VNs, so you've got to check other reviews for an opinion on the soundtrack.

I'm not sure where this game is going, this could be one of those "gets updated for a few years before it slowly dies" games. There already is a lot of content and most of it is good - if you like the premise. If you're looking for actual romance and/or engaging drama, this game is not for you. It's a fap game first and foremost.

underrated. actually when I saw the version is just 0.15, I did not expect such complex story. basically, it would let you fuck every female you met, pretty cool harem game. although some people pointed out that the story has some flaws, I agree, but overall this game is great.
a small advice, add more interactions between different girls, instead of just finish after full control, it is a kind of waste.
anyway, your work is great, keep up

This is a very middling game with a plot that barely services the "mind control" storyline. The only reason why I supported this game is its pregnancy mechanic but it really is held back by the ugliness/generic nature of some of the character models. Also beware of the promises of this project since promises made by the dev have been broken (even if he explicity stated that certain fetishes can be avoided). I have since stopped supporting and I encourage you to do the same.

V0.15

i am not a big fan of sandbox games with regards to indie/small devs. they more often than not get it so badly wrong you end up grinding to boredom for hours for a couple of moments of mild excitement.

luckily, this one is not one of those. it is not brilliant by any stretch but at least it is well above average in it's design and implementation.
there is enough to keep you interested within the grind as it is not big. there are plenty of quests and always one available should you hit a wall with stat checks. the daily grind is also short and can easily be skipped from day to day so not a brain bleed of hoops to jump to reset needed daily energy.
navigation is also not over much.

plot is neither original nor the usual overused been-there-done-that commonly used here. a mix of tropes, some more common than others.
art is good enough and writing is above average too.

makes for an enjoyable enough player experience. not terribly engaging if you are a big reader or have played decades of games, but certainly not one to miss out on.

[v0.15]

I had played this game at first and second updates. It showed some promise, but appeared to be too slow a burn.
Now I stumbled upon it again, and it has certainly grown!

I would love to give the game more stars, but there are a couple things that are frustrating enough to reduce the score a lot.

So.

PROs:

- Good plot. A common power fantasy premise of supernatural powers, but quite enjoyable and made reasonably well. 4/5

- Good visuals. Even if the characters are visually distinct from backgrounds, which makes it a bit weird (you can in many cases see them sorta pasted above the scene); nevertheless the bodies are well made, there are different body types, and not too unbelievable physique (apart from MC's huge cock, which is an issue in most games though. I think it's to do with how to keep it visible in sex scenes). 4,5/5

- Good dialogues. Characters well developed and interesting. Different personalities (until enslaved). 5/5

- Nice features. Pregnancies and visuals of them, different roles for harem. 5/5

CONs

- Sandbox issues: During much of the playthrough there is nothing to do in mornings.

Only some characters have interactions in the morning, and while it mostly makes sense from story perspective, if you haven't progressed them to the point where you start getting them, you'll be stuck with skipping half a day. Not a biggie, but a very common occurrence and therefore frustrating.

It appears that mornings were mostly meant to be used for raising your stats. That would take too much time, however, due to the amount of repetitive 1 thing you can do 1 time a day only to get some xp to eventually raise them a bit.

Clicks for clicking's sake. Wouldn't have finished the game without the mod.

There are 3 stats, any of which is sometimes needed at certain level for different things, but have no impact on gameplay otherwise. And you need to raise them ALL at some point, so basically it doesn't matter which order you raise them.

Thank goodness, money is easy to come by via save-scumming blackjack, you don't even need cheats for that.

Nevertheless if you play the game the way it's meant to be played, it would be a real slog, artificially inflating playtime behind chores which become dull very fast. It's hard to do a sandbox right, I know. Only a few games manage it.

- H scenes. Despite nice renders and good frames, very short animations. Despite there being multiple poses to choose, very little difference among characters. Very little individuality to H scenes, this is one area where developer has been in hurry. Also H scene dialogues very schematic and uninspired, especially compared to very decent normal dialogues. Sad. 2/5

In addition, you essentially get a set of scenes after enslaving, which are "the scenes" -- always same, always same dialogue, always same location. Drones, servants and girlfriends all have exact same H scenes, just different dialogues. You do get some scene additions (eg. Alice in classroom), but they are few and far between and seem to have very little variation.

Essentially after you've added a girl to your harem and watched her scenes, you must switch to next one in order to get anything new. Technically understandable, just makes it feel sort of strange. Definitely missing a feeling of significant enjoyment for having added a girl to harem.

For a maledom game MC is a very soft dom. It's author's choice, my cup of tea would be something a bit stronger, but I find it strange that once a girl is very pregnant, you can't even get a blowjob. Even if she is in drone role. Maledom: 2,8/5

PS. For the last 2 points -- enjoying the power, and stronger maledom, recommend checking out The Regional Manager.

Just read the Changelog and understood that I never saw a single "Open world" scene. Will try to have a look.

All in all, would probably be 4/5, if more inspired in H scenes and H scene dialogues. Definitely got potential to become 5/5. Will keep watching.

This is a game that had a lot of potential in my eyes and I enjoyed myself playing it in its early days. Unfortunately, that's no longer the case.

To start with the good:

1. The renders are pretty good. Not amazing, but better than a lot of popular games out there.

2. The main story is fun and good enough for me to stay invested in it.

3. Even though it's a mind control game, there's decent character development and backstory for each girl. This is Shattered Minds' greatest strength in my opinion.

The bad:

1. The sex scenes feel bland. Half the fun is to see the aftermath of sex, especially when it's supposed to be rough sex between a dominant and submissive partner. The game has the "male domination" tag but there's very little of that in the game. Most sex scenes involve slow and gentle sex. In terms of the aftermath, you won't see a lot of creampies, facials or cum filled mouths. The harem scenes are the worst offenders here. The girls have near identical harem scenes most of the time, which makes them feel lazy and repetitive.

2. It's quite grindy unless you cheat. Combine this with the lackluster sex scenes you unlock when a girl joins your harem, and it feels entirely unrewarding. There's also very little variation here.

Summary: Shattered Minds is a rather grindy game with decent visuals, and an above average story. But sex scenes come across as more of an after thought than a core element of the game

very good game , i had a lot of fun , ofcourse there are some flaws which is why i give it 4 instead of 5 stars .. ill mention some of them , but it might not be a big deal for other players though .. its only my perspective :

1- there is no skip button somehow .. i don't know why

2- it glitches some time when you suddenly reload the save fast

3- the control is confusing some time in the mobile .. scrolling up & down is annoying specially when you click back from the quest or contact , it always return to the top of the list again

4- the sex scenes are very short .. its just 1 single scene that keeps on looping over & over until he cum .. & the camera angels are horrible , it's always either put in a wrong position or inaccurate direction . it never gives you the full view , some time you end up seeing only their shoulders or upper half of their bodies

5- the MC is kinda ass hole , and he always make you feel guilty & regret your decisions , that are based on his bad available choices .. like fucking up all the male characters in the game including his best friend

6- having the same generic ideas that are copied from every other game , which has nothing to do with adult content any way .. such as ( yoga , true or dare , massage , gym ) like , did they run out of ideas ? be creative for gods sake , yoga is not even popular or common between people , why they have to be included in every single sex game !! its getting old , i skipped all these nonsense , & i swear to God , next time if i see any game that contains freaking ( true or dare & yoga or massage ) its gonna get minus star from me automatically . like , what the Heck! bro

7- having unfackuble characters , who i actually liked a lot .. like the ( barista & bartendress ) or ( Sarah's mom & Luna's mom ) Etc .. but im gonna give it a benefit of a doubt .. lets say the game is still unfinished & hop the Dev will make sex scene with all of them in the future updates before he ends the game , i really like those girls a lot even if they were just a side characters .. its kinda a big deal for me

8- im not a big fan of a first person view the whole game to be honest , it makes the females talking to the camera the whole time as if im watching a weather reporters from a TV News , i like to see the both characters together some times , specially if they are kissing , it doesn't make sense to see the girl kissing my empty screen as if im an invisible man

9- Sofia & Chloe they are only giving me ( handjobs - titjobs - blowjobs -nosejobs ) around the house , but they don't actually Fuck unless i summon them , like , whyy ?? why all these waste of time Jobs ? im sure their pussies are more important .. all these " jobs " are just foreplay they not supposed to have a stand alone scenes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
that's some of the flows i remember ,, but i can still admit that i was 80% satisfied & was having some fun playing this game .. so ill mention some of the positives :

1- creative story
2- great graphics
3- good amount of side characters ( still hopping for more though )
4- the models there were mostly attractive
5- it gives you an excitement & thrill some times
6- it has some humor in it
7- 1 update from 14 to 15 added a huge amount of content , it's amazing , im really impressed , i never expect that
8- the map is easy & the quest hints are straight forward , you wont be lost .. in other word , no walk-through mods needed

in conclusion :

----------BAD---------------OK----------------GOOD---------------EXCELLENT
STORY :

SEXY GIRLS :

SIDE CHARACTERS :

CONVERSATIONS :

SEX CONTENT :

SEX SCENES :

CHOICES :

GRAPHICS :

HUMOR :

CONTROLS :

TYPOS :

GLITCHES :

DIFFICULTY :

V16
Update 16 was one which you can just skip. There you have 2 quest lines with girls that are so ugly, not sure what they are doing.
Literally added the best looking model as a side character to the cafe to work for you, use this god damn model

V15
lmost all models are looking great besides one girl where the made her boobs almost the size of her upper body. People wrote negative feedback below the patch and the dev went crazy.
Like if you like big boobs, alright, go for it but these arent boobs anymore, these are 2 extra heads below the shirt. Befor the update I would have given 5 stars but that 1 update ruined everything.
Like wtf is that woman in the candy store lmao

Note: Recommend deleting Bill's memories.

The character models in this game are absolutely stunning! The story is really engaging, and has a ton of potential. But my favorite thing about the game is the mechanics behind it. How you get the women feels very intuitive, and the questing system and open world is just so well done. This is an impressive game in every regard, and I highly recommend it.

the game is quite lacking in many departments, story is not very well written but most importantly, there is something eerie about the models - they look kinda wrong and the boner goes away. A bit difficult also to navigate with all the buttons, maybe better as linear type visual novel.

Truly fantastic game. Great models, great animations. I haven't completed to the end of 0.14 yet, but enjoying the story. Most of the characters are really good as well. The best friend is a fun character and seems to actually have chemistry as a legit good friend, which is always nice to see.

Only downside is the main character. Huge jerk at the beginning (poor Luna). Seems to become a more reasonable human as the story goes on, but is still kinda rape-y (Eleanor's plotline got pretty yikesy at the end). But it is a mind control game after all, so I guess that just comes with the territory.

Some of the plotlines are basically fully consenting, just needed some nudges in the right direction (Alice and Cara). Which I always appreciate in this genre.

Caveats: I am cheating my way past any grind, it would likely be painfully repetitive without that. As an earlier reviewer noted, like half the quest events take place at the afternoon, which means some quests stall for a long time while you progress others, even with cheating past any grind.

Version 0.13

The story is interesting, and each character clearly have their own personality. Those are good points, as is the overall quality of the renders. Even the gameplay isn't bad, with a special note to the fact that each mini game can be skipped without really penalizing the player.
All in all it could be a really good game it there weren't too many drawbacks...

The first that will be noticed regard the renders, that clearly suffer form Daz Studio autofit. This is especially visible with big boobed characters like Alice. There's more than enough helpers nowadays for her clothes to fit more naturally. And there's enough boob morphs for her bra to offer some support.

The second regard the sex animations. Their low number of frames isn't really an issue, and they feel natural enough. But they tend to not match the narrative. By example, Eleanor going full wild while riding MC like an arthritic grandma isn't really a turn on.

The third one is the fact that the personality of the characters isn't really exploited as a gameplay element. The MC will corrupt them accordingly to their personality, what is good point since most games tend to follow an uniform corruption path. But with such variety of personality, it would have been more interesting if the player had more say in this.

What lead to the fourth point, the lack of choice. I understand perfectly that the game is still in development, and that more will come, but "Girlfriend", "Servant", and "Drone", isn't really an appealing choice once you can get the girl under your control.
It's a finality, but it totally lack of variety. A girlfriend could be romantic, or slutty. A servant caring or totally submitted, and so on. And this should be a choice offered to the player. Do Scarlett really have to be the same kind of servant than, let's say MC's sister ? The first deserve to be treated as a pure cock sleeve, what isn't necessarily what the player will want for the second one.
But instead of that, once subdued they tend to become a carbon copy of each other. What is a pity since it tend to erase all the benefit from their well crafted personality, as well as the feelings that players have grown for them through the corruption process.

The fifth problem is more subjective, it's the inconstancy in MC's and Ava's smartness; the last one being the smartest of the two.
Despite his own default, and after a period of trial and error, the MC always find the right words to tweak people minds to his liking. Yet he's totally blind to the obvious, especially regarding Luna's particularity. And so is Ava when it come to Luna, while she should have had a least a strong guess after the scene in the park; either Luna is full crazy, or...

But the worse drawback is the sixth and last point... Something too often visible in games with a free roaming mechanism, the lack of coherence in the story.
To not spoil, once you subdue the first girl, a threat appear over MC's shoulders. And, while being prompted to be careful, for a long time (that depend how far you've gone with the other characters) he'll act as if nothing happened. Worse, while he should warn Luna about that threat the instant he learn about her particularity, he'll do the opposite, putting her in danger due to what he will ask her to do time to time.

In the end, it's not a bad game, and anyone who've been on the adult gaming scene since long enough will recognize another game in this one; a way better version of that other game. But it, alas, have too many drawback to be more than something average.

Good game, with the obvious Sandbox drawbacks. All the required interactions for progressing the quests seem to take place in the afternoon, so that ideally you'd have to be in 2-3 places at once while little happens in quest-terms in the morning. Also quite a few actions don't progress the time-machine at all, which is odd.
But I like the story and the girls look good, so that's all relative. Well worth playing.

Overall I think this is a hidden gem of a game, in the sense that I look at new game updates every few days and I've seen Shattered Minds show up a few times but I never felt too compelled to try it. Decided to give it a try the other day and I really like a lot of what this game has going for it. Largest complaint I have so far is that if you're going sandbox, I think you have to go full sandbox. There's a sharp moment in the game after the tutorial & meeting Ava where they let you free roam and do as you please, but it also feels like a lot of the game got sucked away at that moment simply because a lot of the interactions are just clicking on the person and asking how they're doing and getting the same response each time. You're just walking around the school/town to click on people and either ask how they're doing or see a "coming soon" button. I'm all for a true sandbox, but this feels like one foot in one foot out, as in order to do anything at all in the game you have to refer to the quest log to see what you have to do next. If you're not progressing with a quest, then the game is filled with empty repetitive conversations. Which basically makes it feel like a normal VN with more clicking.

Much better then I expected.
As a sandbox game it's not for everyone by default. However the quest log is really good at guiding a player.
Additionally, it's one of the rare gems on this site that actually tries to implement some game mechanics. Don't get me wrong it's still a porn game but at least it's something noteworthy.
All in all, I was pleasantly surprised. I would recommend the game with caveats that you should like corruption, and that you tolerate sandbox.

Overall a pretty good game. Reviewed at v0.13

The story is that you have powers that let you slowly manipulate people's minds until they become completely obedient to you. I was a bit interested in the story when the government showed up suddenly, but unfortunately that story line didn't go much further in this update.

I mostly downloaded this game because of the pregnancy, but it was quite disappointing. You can have children repeatedly, but there is no dialogue about the characters having children whatsoever, even once their pregnancy is finished. Hopefully that changes in the future.

Once you completely make a girl submit, the content that is left with them is very boring, and very little. As I said before, I wanted to hear the characters talk more about their having children.

Still to be finished at the time of this rating but very promising story lines with the characters. Quite linear game, but not that big of a deal.
Has good music and decent animations for the intimate parts.
Overall very good game.

The most interesting corruption is not of the women but the corruption of the MC himself. Its one of the better male MC / female demon/mind character dynamics I have seen imo.

I will say though, the sex scenes are a bit too vanilla for me and the corruption/moral degeneration are also not cutting it most of the time when compared to other corruption games on this site.

Anyways though, I have played enough that this has unique things going for it and has heart.