VN - Ren'Py - Abandoned - Taste of Life [v1.0] [Daruko]

It still has a lot of potential despite its shortcomings.

The game does a superb job of letting you play anyway you choose. Do you want a challenge or to be cucked? Play with more tough settings. If the MC wants vanilla, he can truly have affairs with his LIs, have their children, and then wed them.

The game's poor translation is one of its biggest flaws; while generally understood, it is hardly amusing. The minimal sex scene, with the male primarily being a reskin or switch of the same couple scenes, is the second factor that prevents this game from being as fantastic as it potentially could be. Additionally, they appear to be animated but are not.

So I like the animations and the content so far. I thought that Daruko had abandoned to project before because there wasn't any updates in so damn long and my suspicions with the story were spot on. I definitely excited for the next chapter

I like the story so far. As I've said in a post, I didn't think it took to sshort time for stepsis. She was in love with him since they were kids.

I also like the story with the neighbor, but I think she looks too young in the renders, She looks in the same age as step sis, not as some mature woman. Still, she's a sexy one.

Also great that we have the choice to let the MC do things without overthinking (I've stopped playing some where the MC have to think 25 times before even give a LI a kiss).

So, not far from a 5*. still some small things like how the neighbors age, some blurry feeling in some renders (but good lewd scenes) and some others that take away a *.

As of v0.7
Just gonna dive right in, some spoilers btw (TLDR down below):


Renders/Models:
Ive always loved HS models, and the ones in this are no exception and I like that they’re different than what we usually see nowadays in other VNs. The girls shown so far are incredibly beautiful and sexy. The MCs design is very interesting, not generic like other MC designs, tho not sure if I like the face or not.
Score: 5/5


Animation:
Nothing too innovative, but when it’s done for sex scenes, it’s done really well. Feels natural and fluid, which I feel can be a hit or miss when it comes to HS.
Score: 4/5


Dialogue/Script:
The writing is competent, nothing too noticeable with grammatical errors. The conversations between characters feel like actual people talking instead of a porn video.
Score: 4/5


Characters:
The girls so far are your typical neglected, horny, married neighbor and your affectionate non blood related step sister. You know where it goes from there, but they at least are shown to have their own lives going on, though they seem to just throw themselves at the MC. This is the case with the stepsister, as we delve into how she didn't like other boys because they wanted to move too fast, but then she does the exact same thing with the MC. I guess its been implied shes always harbored feelings towards the MC, so it works i guess. Moving on, the MC seems to atleast not be a blank slate, his whole schtick with vtubers was somewhat amusing.
Score 3.5/5


Plot/Gameplay:
The story is linear, the dialogue choices are pretty much pointless as they all lead to sex with one of the LI whether you want to or not. For sex scenes, I’ve always liked being able to control the pacing of the sex so that’s a plus.

The MC is basically finding his place back home after being gone for so long since the accidental death of his mom and sister. He returns and bumps into his old neighbor who is sexually and emotionally depraved because of her constantly working husband (you know where this goes), and you have a reunion with your stepsister who has been very affectionate to you since both your parents got together, who also has classmates/friends that want to meet you (you also know where it goes from there). While the MC is here he’s trying to look for a host family to offer tutoring to, in preparation on going on a worldwide trip to find himself.

There is the unexplained hair and eye color that is just glossed over/mentioned here and there, hoping we get more background on that. There also seems to be some sort of foreshadowing or some underlying plot in dream sequences we get when the MC sleeps. Overall there seems to be some sort of mystery behind this rather straightforward bare bones plot. Only time will tell at this point.
Score 3.5/5


TLDR: Overall its a decent game, as of right now there’s nothing too awe inspiring with plot and characters are typical as with most VNs, but if you’re lookin for some good sex scenes then go for it. Sexy models, competent grammar, feels like real people talking, decent animation.

Final Score: 4/5
There’s potential that’s for sure, looking forward to more as well as looking forward to any new girls introduced, some diversity would be greatly welcomed.
This is the first review I’ve ever made, I’ve played a good amount of these games but I’ve never actually analyzed them to the tee, so I hope this was somewhat competent and made sense lol

Looking at it right now, I do kind of feel it is a little early to review this. I only say that because the scope the Dev has for this is too large and overly ambitious. "Episodic" is a very strange story to strive for when episodes of every episode are put out sporadically themselves. And It's not bad, I guess, but so far it's boring. And I don't say that because of the amount of sexual content, I say it because the story so far is boring, banal everyday nothings. The characters' only traits so far are that they like the MC. And that includes the MC. There are only three people in the story at all, at the moment. So if nothing else you should write decent interactions between them, but nothing's there.

It starts out the MC returning home after university to live with his family again. His dad and stepmom and step sister. Dev has him visit the grave of blood related females to cement that it's not real incest. Which I appreciate, but I'm still tired of that fetish. Anyway, MC bumps into his flirty neighbor, Grace. He flirts with her, she flirts with him, she's a lonely housewife that's lost attraction to her husband. And that's her whole story. Then he gets home and his step sister is there, she happily greets him then both of them suddenly think "wow they're attractive now." The sister is in her last year of high school, studying hard and is in love with MC. That's her whole story.

The inbetween moments in this is the MC watching VTubers. Or scrolling through reddit. Or he says "I made money in crypto." because he's already planned to leave home again, to meet other girls whose only trait is they find the MC attractive. These kinds of things aren't fun, interesting, or even worth reading. I wouldn't talk about this if it only happened once to illustrate the point that MC "is just existing" his own words. But to repeat the point and advertise dumb VTubers or just have MC essentially saying "I'm already done with this place and looking for something else" why should I care about this myself? I could understand if the WHOLE first chapter was done and a preview for things to come was there. But it's not and once again, it's boring.

I think I see a little bit of where it MIGHT be going, MC has weird dreams and he was in an accident that gave him edgy white hair and DevianArt mismatched eyes. But he's still a self obsessed KPop soft boy. And every interaction exists in its own tiny world based on the fact that the only two other characters are already making excuses to not interact with each other. I WANT to like this, don't get me wrong. It's not written in broken english, the UI is customized a bit, and it's not some messy sandbox that has no end in sight. But at the same time, it's a boring read, the UI is very light on top of bright and washed out colors that make it hard to read, and the scope is already a little too large.

I would like the Dev to if not rewrite things, at least in the future, write the characters to be interesting. MC is supposed to be a self-insert, so it can be a little excused, but the rest of them should be more than schoolwork, housewife, and "gosh he's so cool" whispered under their breath.

TLDR it's boring but inoffensive, written by someone that actually speaks english, and I guess it looks okay. I was gonna go with three stars but that was for its potential and not what's there so I went down to 2 because I didn't really say much good about what's here. I might come back to check it out in the future.

For 0.6 (dont want my review moderated for some petty reason without a chance of contesting it)

The MC looks weird and there is not much of an explanation right now and i really dont like the fact that it looks like someone hit "random" to create his face.
Another issue that i see is the lighting, its too bright and blurry-ish.
There is a person that is mentioned but is not showing, so this leaves us 2 girls. You get things going, at least with one of them, quite easily cause there is something going on between MC and that female already. This could be explored in more depth i think cause it really looks so easy that im not even getting the sense of achievement.
This girl pretty much from the starts says "I Want him" so there is not the feeling of a journey or discovery or exploring one's feelings.

Another issue for me are the sex scenes. Once again wth HS, people tend to abuse the default animations and i guess the default assets like camera angles, and animation speed menus and eveything is kind of artificial, it doesnt feel organic. Everything goes like this:
Blah blah blah. Animation 1. modify speed and continue. blah blah blah Animation 2. Modfy speed and continue. and so on. I am not a fan of choice menus during sex scenes, even less when those menus take the center of the screen.

Those are the main issues, others like the plot being a little weak, maybe get corrected in the future, so i dont give it much importance cause they can easily change.
The ones i did explained i dont see them changing cause well, i gess the whole concept of the game would ahve to do a 180, and i dont see it happening.

I am picky and i played way too many games, and i didnt get rich with crypto, so maybe thats why i dont like this so much. For those who are a little picky like me, the warnigns are there quite explained.

this is for v0.6 The renders look really good.and the animations. The pacing needs just a little work. The stepsis gave up the booty way too fast after saying she broke up with her exes because they wanted it too quick. But I understand why the dev did that because most people on here care more for sex scenes than good pacing. I appreciate the dev using different HS models instead of the same ones I see in a lot of HS games.Cant wait to see where the story goes.

This review is for the 0.6 version of the game.

PROS:
- First of all, THE GIRLS. Holy shit, I loved their innocent look, but how lustful and horny they can get! We also get to know the characters and their background stories at first, then we get to see their developments, leading into the really spicy scenes with them. I really like the Honey Select renders in this one. Could use a bit more refinement, but the renders are great, and the animations are fucking hot.

- This update showed A LOT of sex with Lily, different views and angles. Cant wait to see how things will progress with our hot and lonely neighbour Grace now.

- The story, while mostly being a "normal" daily life plot, also has some intrigue, specially the recurring dreams and the mystery behind the MC's eyes. I'm very curious to see where the dev will take this story.

- The music really adds to the different scenes and moods imo.

- The dialogue is pretty well written, it flows very naturally and has a mixture of flirtiness, humour and a fair amount of emotional dialogues. You get to connect with the girls you’re going to fuck, which made the experience so much more enjoyable. And while the MC looks like an edgelord, he can be pretty relatable, dealing with his insecurities and trying to find his answer to life, which I think a lot of people deal with. I know I do.


CONS:
- Not that much of a con since the dev mentionned he's gonna add more girls in future chapters, but I'm hoping we get to see more girls with different body types that I can nut to. Don't get me wrong I love big asses and big tiddies, but I do love some variety as well.

- The text boxes should be more transparent. For the first sex scene with Lily, it was a bit hard to enjoy it as the text box wasn’t transparent enough to be able to appreciate some of the juicy bits. It could become a problem for future sex scenes as well.

- I want MORE! And thanks dev for making me fail NNN, goddammit Lily's so fucking adorable and cute and HOT!


CONCLUSION:
I played 0.5 and found this game to be pretty intriguing, but was left a bit disappointed because of the lack of sex scenes. After playing 0.6, I can definitely say that it delivered, and got me VERY interested for what's coming next. Overall, it is both a really sweet but also a really HOT game.

good vanilla love story with a pretty nice render that acceptable to an ai shoujo based game, just sweet love story still enough for a fap-material game cuz is just to fap anyway, i guess we would have some more girl in future that make story more heated up , good job Daruko, hope to see more soon.
p/s just need a little fix about the environment light and add some wet hair model during bath would make it better, check out these text box opacity that too black that covered the scenes.

THIS RATING IS FOR THE PROLOGUE 0.5 AND WILL BE UPDATED LATER

The story so far is intriguing, it is your standard VN where Dad remarries, you leave home because you don't really like the new family and 5 years later your dad is dead so you move back home. The twist is that your mom and sister are dead in a car crash, and you started hallucinating after the car crash so there is an air of mystery.

Unfortunately there is 0 sexual content in the update other than a scene where you are seen naked, so you lose a point there, however the models are great HS models, and the story could be interesting so you get a 3.5 stars for now until you add more content. GOOD LUCK and i can see this being a great game when its expanded on.