VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Sunshine Love [Ch. 3 v1.01i Extras] [MrDots Games]

I first decided that I didn't like this game when the MC thought his sister/childhood friend wanted to kiss only for her to be disgusted by the very thought. This wouldn't be a problem if the game hadn't spent the entire prologue and first third of the game setting up the sister's supposed crush on the MC. In an attempt to make her character more "realistic", the game diffused any romantic and sexual tension very quickly and refused to be a straight-forward romance. Instead the game continued to circle the drain of their relationship happening in order to drag out disgusting amounts of useless dialogue and end up with them fooling around anyway.
The dialogue is terrible. Everybody's talking and most of it's useless. There is so much talking and so little fucking that the game does what every boring game with no real sex scenes does to string you along; in place of real sex, the first half of the game is filled with fantasy/dream sex that is all in the MC's head, stuffs the gallery full of useless collectible still image pin-ups that you have to scavenger-hunt through the actual scenes, and even implements an entire "peeping tom" mechanic to look through characters clothes just to keep you paying attention during the massive amounts of time the characters don't actually fuck and just stand there talking to each other. It has many different forms of distracting you from the fact that the main character is not actually having sex but it's still supposedly a porn game. This is an attempt to make relationships develop naturally by easing you into it, but instead it means the main character does minimal physical contact with a woman for six or seven scenes of "flirting" and then they eventually decide they want to fuck anyway.
I remember early on in development somebody else said in a review that the choices were worthless, so this time I enabled the in-game walkthrough and chose every wrong answer. I had negative relationship scores with every character it was possible to get a negative value with, and I still had every romance route available to me. The only real choices of consequence were opting in to scenes/routes. Nothing was unavailable unless I explicitly picked it not to be. My main character could be as rude, openly hostile, or just plain disinterested in each of these women as he could be and he still had most of them wrap their hands around his dick.
Sunshine Love is not a good game, nor is it a Visual Novel worth reading. I will continue to keep up with releases simply to skip through to the sex scenes because at least it looks nice.

Characters and scenes are fine. Story had potential, but it might be taking a nosedive after few last events.


Fun game to sit down and relax a bit.

Do find it funny character can be rude to everyone except the two people who caused the whole mess in the first place, his dad and step-mother. He just listens to insults from one of those and acts super friendly towards another. What a weird guy.

Really fun game, with lots of choices. Didn't know I was going to enjoy it as much as I did but it was really fun. Played through a few times now and still enjoyable with all the choices. You can pursue as few people as possible or try for all for some major fun.

For me this game hits all the boxes. Choices in way to say and plenty of PC inclusion. I good amount of background on all characters and an excellent storytelling. Most of the characters are believable and the player is made to feel invested in the story as a whole.

It looks good, but everything else about it is mediocre at best.

The dialogue will make you dumber coming out than when you went in. Seriously, this isn't me throwing shade at it. If you took all of the dialogue between the characters out, and were only left with the character thoughts in parentheses, you'd call this game Brain Death Simulator.

The way these characters think is fundamentally flawed. They're about as far away from a normal person as a billionaire is. This game is perfect for illiterate people seeking a picture book, but you really gotta click to see the next picture.

TL;DR: Turn on unseen text and skiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip if you really gotta keep your hands busy.

Good job making the MC a potential cuck with this open relationship nonsense. Would've appreciated a choice to straight up break up with Nicole. The sister is not that appealing as well. The only two likable characters so far are Victoria and the cousin.

When I first played this game, I loved it. Great images, good story, lots of options... nothing earth shattering, but still it was a good time.

After finishing chapter 1, I just can't help but be dissappointed in the story. If you want the MC to fall in love with your childhood friend, then it's a pretty great story, but if you want any deviation from that, it's just awkward. I tried a couple different paths and one of them was to stay faithful to Nicole but no matter what choices the MC makes with his childhood friend, he always ends up messing around with her. There is no way to opt out of those scenes.

The other relationships are also kind of awkward... especially with Ashley and the chapter end with her was just odd... but all the relationships are that way. On one playthrough, I ended up with Ivy and Lily... which was a great scene, but the hookup didn't make any sense. Again, there was no way to opt out of it. Basically, you can chose to fool around with other girls with Nicole's permission or you break up with her. Regardless of the decision, there is very little impact to the story.

It's like it's a harem game but it's not. It's like a true visual novel but it's not. It's like a love story, but it's not.

It's unfortunate because the dev is clearly talented and the story started out great, but somewhere it lost it's way and now it seems to be fragmenting at the edges and has become a little messy.

Anyway, I will continue to check it out, but will probably wait for a few more updates.

I will briefly explain why from my note the truth that the game only has great graphics I repeat GREAT GRAPHICS only that since at the level of history it is poor and at the level of characters it is also poor, especially the protagonist, a rock has more charisma.

I'm gonna keep it short. The game is not bad, the renders are good, the animations are good, there are no bugs, the choices are fun and some do matter but the story is just very very weak, dull, and boring. The biggest problem I have however is the mc. My dude doesn't talk like a human being, starting every goddamn sentence with an "uh". It really kills the immersion for me. I didn't like the game in the beginning and I was hoping that something would change but no, even after so many updates the story is still very weak and boring af.

Another gamer from MrDots definitely shows improvement when it comes to models, although there are still problems with facial expressions looking exactly the same.
Player can chose to romance plenty of nice looking girls and women that thankfully differ from each other physically (body variety should be encouraged in all games) and somewhat emotionally.
Plot is sadly pretty average. MC is suppose to help his half sister relaunch a hotel - one would think something that complicated would call for mini game inside actual game but instead there is a table with tasks which are purely linear with no meaningful choice whatsoever. The whole relaunch plot comes of like a childish game of make believe - MC just happens to meet attractive girls who happily join his hotel crew. Maybe this could work if plot was about some small restaurant joint, but huge hotel that has to compete with less than fair competition? That is just silly.
Of course one could ignore credibility of this plot but then comes the matter of MC and the whole cast of characters. MC is, simply put, a clueless idiot. He cannot read obvious sings of girls being into him (then player has to read this painfully naïve inner monologue where MC wonders why a girl wants to spend time with him, over and over ad nauseum) shows little drive, emotion or ambition besides the the beginning of game. Wooden plank with a smile on it could play the MC role.
The other thing is that characters are almost all friendly with MC and show immediate interest in him. I get this is porn VN and this element is a part of the whole fantasy but again, as with hotel plot is just boring. You have standard arbitral point system which determine if a girl with continue hanging out with you but that's just basic stuff with no depth. This is certainly not something that one could expect from developer that has two (well, almost) full games behind his belt.
Play it for an eye candy but nothing more.

The game is spectacular in every aspect, be it the models that are great and the unmatched sex scenes I hope the game is long-lasting and it will not end soon the last scene of chapter 0.8 was great I hope the MC has more scenes like that with the same model and stay that way without being selfish with the other models.

So, I don't usually write reviews for games but this one has me wanting to.

The graphics are good, the girls are pretty and have their own characters, the hotel story is interesting, I don't know about the H scenes because I've only been playing for a couple of weeks and all I have are one domestic with the gf and some dream sequences which I loathe on principle.

My only complaint is with the script. The story is interesting, the script is turgid, slow, repetitive and meandering. I don't need to know what a fridge is used for in a kitchen. I don't need people to explain three times the same concept or emotion they're feeling. While all in good English, it seems MrDots has forgotten the value of brevity.

Otherwise, I'm learning so much about how to make a good taco, in detail, and chaacters are being pebble dashed with great speed into the story so I'm feeling at the moment like I'm getting flashbacks from WVM, but overall I'm hopeful this turns out to be a good game.

I kind of want to like this game. And I kind of succeed. I kind of like this game. But it also rubs me the wrong way a lot. By which I mean a lot.

To start off, I had high expectations. Mr Dots made one of my all time favorites with Melody, and DMD's first two chapters were good. Let's just pretend 3 and 4 did not happen just like there never was a sequel to The Matrix.

To start my review off with the standards: this game works. There's no bugs, no hundreds of typos in a single line, the renders are professionally done, good lighting, you get the idea. The story has an overarching goal in saving/growing a hotel, so you're not just hunting down girls just to hunt down girls, which is a huge plus in my book. I could go into all kinds of details about the central mechanics but the bottom line is: it just works, nothing to complain about.

There's a couple of typical MrDots quirks which I do not particularily like, like the introduction of character sheets and a "hotel development" page which feel like your decisions matter on this but will just go forward in the usual style of a VN so there's not much more information than how far you went along in the story. There's a "task list" but unlike in a sandbox you cannot do anything to advance specific tasks, it just happens by continuing the story, so in essence is meaningless. Well, this is not unlike the "corruption meter" in DMD or the "still a virgin" character sheet entry in Melody. Not too bad. But it is more of it than in those games, which brings me to my main criticism, and I would have written it earlier if I could have pointed my finger.

This game is "overproduced". Most of it is just too much of whatever it is. It isn't bad individually, on the whole however it just doesn't flow for me. Posing of characters often does not feel natural but seems to be done for the "camera". Texts are unnecessarily over informative. You don't say "I'm gonna ask her whether her mother will come over", you will say "I will use the messaging app on my computer to ask her, Shortcake, whether her mother, Trisha, will come over to this location, which is here." (Not an actual quote but an amalgamation of three. Yes, the "messaging app on my computer", the unnecessary names, and the explanation of "this location" all do exist in the game. Within 10 lines of dialogue or so.) Every render, every line of dialogue is trying to grab your attention. Of course they should somehow grab it but it feels too obvious here, it's just not natural.

This pattern continues with the music. Since the game is overproduced you have skip forward and back or choose your song of around two dozen songs. But they're not chosen to complement the mood of the scene, they're just on a rotation, often attention grabbing as well, especially when they include actual singing. That's not game music, that's a greatest hits album running in the background of a movie without care about what the movie is about. (Edit: the tracks with singing were removed in a later update for this reason)

The next thing is the characters. None of the girls has any major depth. They get some backstory and some characteristics, so it is not all bad. Then again, there's not much beyond some cardboard cliché. Innocent virgin (including all kinds of overdone "No that cannot be" reactions by MC). Self confident helper who "has been around". MILFs and 18 year olds galore, rarely inbetween. Every girl serves her purpose - but that is all she does. There's nothing unique.

Similar the MC. Some have described him as a weak simp or other non flattering remarks. I tend to disagree - for his backstory and similar he performs reasonable, he isn't supposed to be some alpha gorilla. However, that is all he does. If he gets challenged (talking like he is an actor here) he is out of his depth. When confronted with the personal background of a girl he is cringeworthy. His (justified) breakdown in one situation is acted out in a way that would make regular porn actors decry the lack of believability. He is incredibly stiff and whenever shown has the most artificial smile imaginable.

Yes, a lot in this game is right. There are choices which matter and it's not just scoring points, it's also "Do I want to go route A or B?" stuff. And it is logical. But in the end it just doesn't gel for me. For months I have been loading this game, playing a bit, and found me tabbing out to read the news because I couldn't bear the plastic artificiality of it. Just as I am writing this review right now out of the need to get away from the game. I want to like the game. Some of the girls tick all the boxes I want. And yet ... it always is off, in an uncanny valley kind of way. It just doesn't feel natural.

Then of course there's the "Peeping Tom" hunt and the "Donut" hunt, where you can get extra scenes/images by finding the correct spots. Which are a nice idea but distract from the actual proceedings. Also they will give you lewds of girls you haven't lewded yet which I consider a cheap cop out. And to unlock all, well, let's just say there are twins in this game but you can only date one of them - with identical scenes apart from the dress color and the name. But you'll have to play through both of them.

It isn't a bad game and I see myself continuing my pattern of loading it up and playing for 15-20 minutes only to save because I've had enough. This game does everything a VN needs to do, but it lacks soul. There are a few games out there with bad renders, loads of typos, unlogical stuff happening, but they have a certain je-ne-sais-quoi which makes you care. I don't feel it here. It is extremely polished but it is lifeless.

(Should be 2.5 stars, but rounding up to three)

I'm going to keep this simple and hope this helps people to decide whether or not to invest time in this game:

Do play if -

• You like playing games in the "Mr. Dots" universe
• Your primary reason for playing games is to see well-rendered sex scenes with attractive models

Don't play if -

• The quality of the dialog matters to you
• The story matters to you
• It bothers you when none of the characters behave the way a normal human would
• It bothers you that the MC is a wimp that starts almost every sentence with "uh"

The thing that puts me off the most is that the MC doesn't even remotely behave like a normal human male, even a really shy guy that doesn't have a lot of dating experience. His behavior is more high-school sophomore than law school graduate and, while I don't expect him to act like Don Juan, he often seems to be pathetically resigned to the cruel fate of having hot women want to fuck him.

It's tedious, it takes people like me out of the immersion that the game should provide and it's just not enough fun to justify wasting time on.

I'm not going to bore you with a big review of this game. I'm going to focus only on what I don't like, which is not much, because I love it... so far.
The "only" thing I don't like is the presence of children as love interests. As I said I love this game and I would give it 5 stars as it's in my top list of favorites along with no more than 10 others.
So yeah, my rating is based on the presence of children as LIs and because they annoy me as hell.
You might ask: Three stars for a game you love? Yes. Punishment for saying children that look no older than 14yo, at most, are 18, 19 or 20. Not much else I can do besides exposing and underrate it.

Thank you and good luck.

mr dots best work so far. The characters are diverse and well written and there's already so much content and it seems to be less than halfway done. The writing is obviously good or the characters wouldn't be so amazing. They all have their own unique voice and style. That said i think a lot of the humor falls flat but i just blame it on the protagonist being unfunny

This VN introduces some game-like elements which are infinitely shallow, but i like them. They're nice And I really like the structure of the story. Feels like it has defined arcs which is very fun.

Ok this is one of those games where i cannot wait for the updates, and once they come i end of blasting through it in one sitting and then left waiting again, but this is by far one my top list of games. Other Mr Dots game are also in my top list he is a talented creator, Melody is awesome, i played that a few times through, this will be another one that will be played many times.

Awesome music, models are amazing, animations are great, but i fear than my MC will end up with nobody because he is such a dick going around shagging them all he is going to get caught soon and have his dick chopped off by one of them.

Please keep the updates coming and thanks so much for many many hours of fun playing this.

Ch2 .06.1

Game really is better then the last time i played

Renders are good
Sex scenes could be better with some girls
There was a emotional scene in the story I see not much devs dare to put in
No bugs
Story is good not perfect
Renders are good
I love how the game has some character renders from the dev his other two games

I think it is currently the best game from Mr. Dots. DMD become more and more annoying with every update it get. Here we have a good written story...well quit unlikely to the RL. But I have fun and I love the characters.

Valeforish really hits it right on the head.

Very weak story with characters that feels very far removed from how anything human would speak or interact.

While the renders are of high quality, the characters all look alike sharing facial expressions and body form, this coupled with the art style that oozes "plastic fantastic" results in making the characters feel even more inhuman.

Hopefully this won't be another marathon game like their first work, and they will move on to something better in a not too far flung future.