VN - Ren'Py - Shroud [v0.2.7] [KEXBOY]

Played Shroud v0.2.7. Thought about whether it was even worth writing a review, but since I spent time on it—here we go.

Let’s start with the big one: atmosphere. When you say "post-apocalypse," I expect a harsh, oppressive world full of danger and hopelessness. Early on, I wasn’t feeling that weight, but as you dig deeper, you start realizing it’s more layered than it seems. The airship isn’t floating in the damn stratosphere, and people aren’t just strolling around on deck for no reason—there’s tech and adaptation at play. It’s just not spoon-fed to you right away. That’s actually a good thing. It means the world is being built piece by piece instead of dumping everything on you in the first five minutes.

Now, the story. The dialogue? It’s fine. No over-the-top drama, just people who clearly know each other and act like it. But when the action starts—that’s where the game picks up. The descent to the surface isn’t a walk in the park. And yeah, there are mutants, there’s a goddamn dragon. But let’s be real—why would a dragon be any less believable than giant cockroaches or other mutated freaks? The world collapsed, ecosystems are screwed—who knows what kind of monstrosities crawled out of that mess?

Mechanically, v0.2.5 was just a kinetic novel—fair criticism. But in v0.2.7, now we’ve got choices, inventory, stat tracking, and relationship management. That’s a solid step toward actual RPG mechanics. Now there’s a reason to pay attention instead of just clicking through the story.

What didn’t sit right? The balance is still rough, but that’s expected. Some dialogue could be tighter, and more interactivity wouldn’t hurt. But calling this game "average"? Not yet. You can tell progress is being made, and if the dev keeps at it, Shroud could turn into something really solid.

Bottom line: not a masterpiece yet, but nowhere near forgettable. Worth keeping an eye on.

This is a great game; it really impressed me. I have no complaints about the sound or music — the graphics and animations are at a decent level.

I have so many questions after playing, and I’m eagerly looking forward to the update.
What will happen on the ground? How many relationship options will there be? And most importantly, who will you be able to build relationships with? I’m excited to see all of this in the next update.

Overall, the game’s pacing is excellent, and I’m curious to see what happens next.
Since I’m very impressed, this is a well-deserved 5!

As of now (v0.2.5) it's maybe too early to judge a book by its cover plus a few pages of introduction. But there's already enough to constructively criticize with the intend to improve the current and future content... so let's do:

1) The whole apocalyptic story premise has some logic holes.
Could be a kind of limmerick, but in other words:
so high above the clouds that there would be not enough oxygen to breeze without air masks or a proper air ventilation system. And yet people frequent the open deck "outside" on that airship without any indication of this kind of tech. Under these circumstances they should all be dead within seconds - but not here. Is is magic? Or just ignorance?
In any case it's a huge issue, isn't it?

2) Furthermore, the writing of the whole introduction does not leave any mentionable impact on me. Maybe it's for the mostly trivial and almost jovial chatter between characters (with really weird names like "Daust" or "Narone")?!
Maybe it's for the somewhat stiff dialogues sometimes and the lack of substance that could build up the plot in any immersive way?!
Or it's for the absence of the horrific feeling of the apocaplytic situation and surroundings these characters are constantly confronted with?!
Or the almost absurd cliffhanger preview at the end of this version their next destination on the toxic fogged earth inhibits... a DRAGON !!!. Because logically every apocalyptic plot needs some serious thread out of fairy tales and fantasy
Feel invited to choose your favorite here...

3) Also, in its current state, this VN has no choices and is purely kinetic so far. Don't know about the intention to implement them in the future, but I can only hope for at least some player agency.
For example, the one and only sex scene so far happens without a choice and is therefore forced - always a no-go for me!
I prefer consent - for the characters and for the player.

4) A minor issue, but: You can't rename the MC. I personally don't like to be "Daust" the whole story. Sorry, but that's player agency, too, so please give us an option to name the MC as we like!

Conclusion:
"Shroud" in this very early state of development is not outright bad or poor, but lacks quite a lot to be an interesting story with the right amount of immersion to be more than below average.
The visuals aren't an issue cause the renders and the few animations are mostly okayish, some of them up to quite good. Can't say that the music or sounds were annoying or distractive in any way, so that's no issue as well.
But the writing and character introduction is just not interesting, the apocalyptic setting kind of absurd and not well developed, world building non-existant so far.
The lewd scene is okayish, but I've seen better. There's only one potential LI introduced at the moment - too early to say anything about her.
So because nothing's really outstanding or picking my interest, that's only 2.5 stars.

As a fan of everything steampunk I was really really happy to find this one, the banner immediately got me interested.
But as so often is the case with these things the happiness dissipated just a few minutes after starting the game.
As soon as you start the game before even beginning to play and you try looking at settings to get full screen mode you hit a wall it doesn't exist, Not untill you start a game and see the in-game menu at the bottom of the screen can you find an option named "screen" and this will let you enter fullscrene mode.
Fine I found it! not where I was expecting it but it's there at least.

Then you start playing the game and the second thing you try to immediately find is the setting to turn off the horrible voice. This one you find where you think it will be so now you feel all set to enjoy a possibly great game.

But the dissapointments just pile up, the pace of the story is slow. Then we have the lack of choices having a meningful impact on the story.
Graphics are good but far from great and i really hate that i have such a negative response to a game that could be amazing if done right.
The story is there but burried under piles of meaningless text and the scenery is ok but far from what the banner implicates.

I've been playing porn games forever, but this ain't one of them. This isn't a porn game. Heck, it's not even a game! At least not the first part. Hard to say I played anything, but damn, I listened and watched. In this part, there's no choices affecting the storyline, no need to search for stuff or do anything (except for the sex scene). I just kicked back and enjoyed the characters and how the plot unfolds. It's a classic straight-up visual novel, but I'm really hoping for more interactivity and varied gameplay in the second part. I'll be keeping an eye on this project—good luck, KEXBOY.

P.S.: Big thanks for the wind in my ears.