VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Something to Write About: The Author [Ch. 7.1] [STWAdev]

I really enjoyed this game! The premise is straightforward, but the game takes its time establishing the Main Character's backstory, allowing us to get a sense of who he is now and how the trauma in his past shaped him.

Likewise the girls are all well realized, both visually and as characters. The game is definitely on the slow-burn side of things, but the build up was enjoyable and the heat at the end was worth the wait. As I'm a big fan of romance in AVNs, this game definitely scratched my itch. The game even has one of the more credible throuple paths I've come across (though personally I still think the two girls work a little better on their own).

Beyond the characters, the game is - appropriately enough - well written. There are minimal grammatic errors, character "voice" is consistent, and the narration does an effective job enhancing the scenes without overshadowing the either the dialog or the events on screen.

From a production point of view the game is very no-frills. There is no music and minimal animations. Likewise there are no additional gameplay elements - mini-games or grinding activities. If you enjoy those sorts of things this game may not work as well for you, but for myself I'm happy to let the game focus on the story and characters.

If I had to name any weakness in the game, it's that the game sometimes falls into a pseudo-harem feel, and that the ending is a bit sudden.

On the first, the game definitely plays up the cliche of women throwing themselves at the main character, which does get a bit monotonous at times. It will also tease the way the MC has built his own harem on several occasions (even if the MC has declined to romance multiple girls). I'm not really a fan of the harem style, so this fell a bit flat for me, but as we do have to choose a girl in the end it never bothered me much. I can see how harem fans might find that more frustrating, though.

On the abruptness of the ending, it's not that the game feels rushed. It ends at a logical point and addresses the main points that had been raised. It's more that the game ends when there was still so much left to explore. Yes, the MC has picked his girl and written his book, but it does feel like we could have seen how the changed dynamics played out a little further before the curtain fell. This is particularly true with Camilla May: her relationship with Aoife, Beatrix, and even the MC is setup in great detail, but the resolutions are very quick. The resolution to Kimberly's story likewise leaves a lot of material unexplored. Again, this is a minor complaint, as it could be argued those details are beyond the scope of this game, but it is disappointing that they were raised only to be left to our speculation.

Still, minor concerns aside, I consider this one of the better games I've played so far. Well done!

(For the record, I played the completed Ch 7.)

Great story i really enjoyed it.
I have only played a few vn's that hit on the mental health topic before but as someone who has people i am close to with different mental illnesses and bipolar disorder i think the dev did a really good job at developing the story with those aspects it is really light hearted and isn't to dark or overbearing.
I look forward to seeing the future projects from this dev.

Finished this beautiful beast today and I have to say I loved it. A bit of drama and stuff about mental illness but nothing off-putting for my taste. There are certain endings I couldn't get and not really looking for a walkthrough so I can check them out, I'm more than satisfied with the poly ending with 3 beautiful girls that I love and feel like a family. Best ending imo. The other 2 endings I managed to get were also cool. This was quite a ride, I'm happy I got the complete experience out of it and I will definitely check out Unbroken from the same dev, if it's anything like this then wow.

Incredible AVN, did not know what to expect coming in and after a few chapters, but as it went on the story fleshed out perfectly. The cast was filled with great girls, the choices had effects on the game, and the separation of routes was done perfectly. Great balance of surprises that werent too over the top, as well as its fair share of emotional moments. The endings all seemed near perfect and were worth playing through. cant wait to start unbroken.

Incredible game, the writing and the friends' group made me so immersed I thought I really was in.

The girls are really nicely fleshed out and varied some have really great designs (Dru & Lyndie), this game is beautiful in its story.

Was really engrossed all the time I read.

I'd really recommend, to get an even better experience, to use the Koga3 sounds mod that has great soundtracks.

5/5 well-deserved.

Good story, tackling matters some dont even dare to mention in adult games. A LOT of paths with nice endings. Amazing models/enviroments and animations are good. Worth playing ever more so for the story.

Was ok, just not what I was thinking it would be, the story was very shallow and didn't have anything that really grabbed me in order to continue playing. Even four chapters in I was still waiting for something to sneak up and hook me but it never came.

An amazing game from start to finish. Which to be honest, that a game has a finish nowadays is a novelty. The characters were really loveable and the plot was interesting enough to keep me hooked from start to finish. One of the best games Ive played in the platform.

This was an amazing experience, I loved every second of it. From the characters to the story itself, there's no other way to describe it than truly excellent.

Additionally, the level of maturity in the approach to the themes broached in this game astounds me, I can honestly say this is probably the best VN I've ever played.

ch 7.1
This game has potential - cute girls, some lewd scenes, yet it has this cheap rushed feel.
Right from the start the MC said:
'I guess I've been out of the game longer than I expected, however I wasn't expecting to try getting laid tonight.' - it made me doubt his credentials of 'bestselling author'.
The conversations are pretentious and ripe with typos not worth more reviewing.
The girls are cute yet they have the ugliest smiles - lazy graphics job there.
Still the game is entertaining if you fly over the horseshit dialog.
All around poor job.

The weakest part of The Author was the quality of the writing.

The game often feels like a harem game, as the women all tend to fling themselves at you for no reason at all. The developer realized that this was a problem, but didn't do anything to address it other than to make some jokes about it that just end up making it more noticeable.

Railroading is a bit of an issue at times, especially when dealing with the assistant who I personally couldn't stand. She constantly flirts with you, and then gets angry when you reject her each time. Eventually we get a scene where she asks if we will be keeping her as an employee, and we can only choose to either say yes or maybe. The lack of a definite no made it feel like everyone who disliked her could go suck eggs, and it made her role in the story feel very contrived and forced.

There are definitive choices to be made about who you wish to have sex with, so you won't ever have to deal with any mandatory sex scenes with a character you dislike. Which is great, but it would be better if the game could actually keep track of your choices instead of needing you to input them again because it forgot what you did last chapter.

Out of all of the potential love interests, there was only one that managed to hold my interest enough to actually finish the game. Most of them made rather poor first impressions, so I had originally just been interested in Lyndie. However, that came to a screeching halt when she inexplicably decided to act like an anime cat girl and turn what should've been a high point of the game into its worst scene. I honestly don't understand why the developer thought that was ever a good idea. It was so awkward that I lost all interest in her and ended up pursuing someone else instead.

By the end of the game, there was only one character that I found even remotely interesting. And even then I didn't care much because I didn't like the main character by that point. The game had potential to be good, but it just kept tripping over its own feet.

This game is incredible! The plot may be summarized as a group of friends helping each other with their difficulties, therefore it's character-driven rather than plot-driven. All of the characters were unique, interesting, and lovable. The writing is excellent, and I had a great time getting to know all of the characters, especially the protagonist. Unfortunately, there is no harem ending, which is a bummer because I adored all of these characters and despised having to pick between them. I understand why the developer didn't add one because the game is rather realistic, but I usually enjoy harem endings in games like this, no matter how unrealistic they may be.

This is one of the best visual novels that I have played, the characters are amazing and lifelike, and multidimensional, and they all have great growth arcs, even the side characters... The sex scenes are good, though lack some money shots in some places, and are mostly vanilla, and finally the choices are semi-meaningful, in that you have to choose who you end up with. Great story, I would rate it a 9.5/10. One thing i LOVED was the naming, it was poetic, my favorite ending was "Ending 6: WE FELL" I won't spoil it, but it was one of my favorite pairings due to who it was with, and the double meaning of WE FELL, being both in love, and in another sense. I also think that she would be the real pairing if it were real life, even if she isn't my favorite girl/ending, it was by far the most poetic, and would be the true end in an older sense...

Probably would have rated it higher if I only did one playthrough but replaying makes the flaws noticeable.

I get (and love) slow burn romance and real consequences but this gets a bit excessive. Did the Aolfie and Lyndie route initially and was excited to try some of the other romances. Found out how easy to lock out of romances and I was getting railroaded back to the girls I had just romanced.

The other big thing is as difficult as it is to get to the sex, it's very basic there's not very much of it. And on the Kimberly route you have to skip almost all of it to romance (and it's some of the best sex in the game).

Story is still good on the whole but the sex is underwhelming and if you actually are taking the commitment aspect seriously you have to spend too much time with the girls you're not falling for offering sex you're not going to take because you're trying to get serious about girls it's not letting you spend time with.

Well written and heart tugging. I really wish there was a Harem route because choosing is so hard. I settled on the Throuple route with Lyndie and Aoife. I may explore the Aoife solo route as she is my favorite. Big heart, kind, sexy, and rich what's not to like about Aoife? Lyndie is an endearing character but her emo/goth look is distracting. The same goes with Kimberly and that side shave with spider web. Kim does have a sexy attitude though. I love a gal who is sexually wild and spontaneous. Anyway this one is a winner.

I wrote a review the morning I had finished playing the game, but I fell asleep before posting and thought I had done that when I closed the tab.

So here we go again! Story, just loved it, had everything I want, humor and sad parts. MC, likeable and not a weakling as some MCs. Girls, too many to like, so I wanted a harem but no such possibility (only bad with the game! ). Graphics, really good all I can say. Lewd scenes, some really good and some OK. As I bought PlayBoy for the short stories, I just played this for the story and not fapping so no problem with that. (What happened to my nose, It started growing!)

All in all, 5* out of 5, but not in my top 3. Still, I'm on to the next game of the makers of this.

Really great game from beginning to end. Great art, great girls and a wholesome story. I especially like the touching backstories of the girls. Especially since it doesn't shy away from some heavier subjects in the main storyline of the MC and likewise in the story of Kimberley.

Overall, very recommended.

Holly shit an actual black character, and an actual decent plot about mental health. I was just hoping for a good wank, but color me impressed.

Three chapters in with not a lot of action, but the plot, for a porn game , got me hooked, not gonna lie, would definitely recommend.

I dropped it pretty early due to the uncanny renders of the girls. While it's not SUPER horrendous, it's enough for me to stop playing. The plot is nothing special and everything else is pretty average.

This is complete?

There are a few bugs, lots of story flow problems, spelling mistakes and bad grammar. But the punctuation is absolutely horrendous.

At least the story and art are OK. But not enough hot scenes for my taste in an adult VN, and no 'real' animations.

The endings were well done, though they could still have provided more visual content.