VN - Ren'Py - Somewhere I Belong [Ep.2] [Mr Baker]

  1. 4.00 star(s)

    MidnightKing

    Review for v0.1.0.0

    I'm conflicted on this one. The game definitely has problems, but at its core there's something fun and relatively unique here that I did find myself enjoying at certain moments.

    We play as a young tourist who found themselves stranded in South America when the outbreak hit, sending the world into chaos. It's a different from your usual zombie apocalypse setting. Society hasn't completely collapsed, as things like electricity and cellphone service exist. There's still very populated cities, established governments, and people going about their daily lives. The zombies are closer to mutants with different types and ways they act, which makes them feel like more of a real threat. The setting establishes itself well.

    Fresh off a job gone wrong, the central story idea is the MC finding a place to fit somewhere in this new and broken world. We quickly get picked up for an odd job, and ex military guy sees potential in us, and then sort of takes us in under his wing. Plot moves from there. No issues on this front really.

    I'd be lying if I told you the writing was stellar, but in the first episode I was able to forgive a lot of problems I had with it. We constantly meet new people, learn more about the world, see some action on these jobs, etc etc. With the South American vibe the game has going, it was a fun start overall.

    My main problem during episode one was specifically on relationship development between the MC and the girls. Really, it just doesn't exist. One of those games where you spend a few moments with them and then they just love you. I think that's kinda ass. It wasn't that there was no time with the girls, but because the game is so forward-moving it just doesn't give itself time to develop those characters.

    Episode two felt like the game said fuck it though, and just started throwing a bunch of sex scenes at you fuckfest style. The pacing was bad, the relationship development nonexistent, and the sex scenes honestly mid. I don't think the game knows how to handle all the love interests. It's "hey here is a bit about my tragic apocalypse experience now lets fuck." That doesn't do it for me.

    Speaking on sex scenes themselves, there's no doubt the characters and renders look good. But I found a lot of the angles used just not very satisfying. Or rather they would be fine if better angles got included with them? Show us the penetration man. I think one scene had a whole blowjob segment where all we watched was the top of a woman's head. Almost every scene felt like this to the point of it being frustrating more than anything for me.

    I think this game has a lot of potential to be something great, but the writing is floundering. At present I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and keep this at 4 stars, but if the next episode doesn't noticeably improve I'd drop the rating down. I need more depth to the girls than what I'm getting.
  2. 5.00 star(s)

    Crowangel

    Excellent debut, great visuals and animation..
    Needs a good english correctness pass over as there was a great deal of wrongly used words and sentences that didnt flow like dialogue should or there was dialogue that didnt read right (wrong words or spelling)
    Overall i'm looking forward to seeing more just dont forget to fine tune the text and maybe make the sex scene guide numbers etc a bit more seeable as a few times it was near invisible to the background art
  3. 4.00 star(s)

    disp_acc

    This review refers to version v.0.01. It focuses mostly on demoing graphics and animations while introducing us into the story.

    Graphics and animations are among the best I remember having seen around. The style and quality remind quite a bit of "Life In Santa County".

    The story seems interesting enough to make curious on how it will continue. The English is ok enough to be quite understandable but still needs a bit of polish. But the game's dev already stated themselves to get a writer involved next.

    This game is definitely on my watch list now:love:.