VN - Ren'Py - The Arson Betrayal [v0.8.0] [Crispy Chicken Productions]

Review of V0.8.0:

Arson Betrayal is an adult visual novel NOT about arsonists, but has a lot to do with betrayal. It has a solid plot with pretty impressive visuals for when it initially released, to now at it's current stage (they gradually improve as you pass each chapter update). I initially didn't give this game the attention or time of day because of the hiatus the developer went on, but now that it's back and ready, I gave it a fair try.

The story is really decent. It has the atmosphere of other VNs with a rather serious story, that is mostly grounded, but then works off of a ton of suspension of disbelief at key moments. The key gist of it is that the daughter of a very essential breakthrough scientist is on the run and you suddenly get involved because you're meddlesome and spontaneous. This snowballs into you getting involved, but soon realizing that everyone in your life is also a key player in this somehow. The main character isn't some kind of ex-military spec ops action jesus, but he's juggling so much over the course of the story, he might as well be. If that sounds stupid to you, I don't think the game is for you. Whether the other elements in the story are worth trudging through for is up to you, with a secret society aiming for your groups' heads, everyone being connected in some way or another, and the dialogue/pacing giving that 2000s action drama vibe. Act 1 is a 7.5/10 and Act 2 (as it is now up to chapter 3) is a 6.5 or 7/10. The interlude chapter is also decent, but is too short for me to comment on.

The character writing is alright. I think the plan is to have 9 female leads, being those on the game's banner. The game lets you aim for everyone without any real consequences, only losing out on who gets sex scenes here and there. Right now, 3 girls don't have any scenes, but that seems to be changing soon, as of some key plot developments. The characters with the most meat and writing to them seem to be: the main trio batch of gals involved with the conflict of the plot (Alice/Sydney/Luna), Tiffany, Heather, and Bailey. The game seems to swing heavily in favor of moments with Tiffany, unsurprisingly, as she is technically the "childhood friend" option (as well as your best friend's sister). This sits fine with me, because I love characters who are harsh but sweet like her. I do think it's a little silly that they allow the MC to just get away with having a pseudo-harem through the entirety of the game so far, for no other reason than seeing it as competition, but the justification could be worse, so I don't really care.

Many of the love interests have "Lover" and what seems to be a more "Corrupted Lover/ Sex friend" route. Not much to note here, just slightly different to major differences with some sex scenes, while keeping the relationship ambiguous. The sex scenes and animations are great. They're smooth, fluid, and numerous throughout the entire game, so far. The Act 2 and interlude scenes are especially nice and crisp, but many of the earlier scenes in Act 1 have aged well.

The sound design is good, mostly because I find the soundtrack really fitting for many of the moments throughout. Not out of place or too corny for anything in story that takes itself relatively seriously. The sound effects are there for most things, except the voices or anything sex-related, which may drive away some people.

I find that this game is worth keeping an eye on. V0.8.0 is sitting on about 8-9 chapters of story, if you include the interlude. 5 chapters in Act 1, 1 chapter for the interlude, 3 chapters for Act 2. The character interactions feel pretty real. Every "main" girl so far is given a pretty good amount of dialogue and relationship building. The sex scenes are great, though some girls are still waiting for their moment in the spotlight, while others receive ample time. A solid 7-8/10 as a package. I will say that it has some writing issues that I dislike in other VNs as well. The MC being action jesus is slowly being built up to eventually being explained in the later updates, but I think it also risks bringing the story up to an insane scale. So, how it pans out will be anyone's guess.

It's rare to read something I actually hate, this is easily one of those times. I'll still give this an average score since key production values are actually quite good and the whole is probably really good if you're 12 and in the habit of lying about your age.

The interaction with Alice is just immediately not good; you're forced to make stupid choices to not get a game over and if you make choices that are "wrong" based on the walkthrough, but won't give you game over, it still doesn't stop the MC from being a doe eyed retard about her.
Within minutes you have MC empathizing with a killer who threatened him because "he knows what it's like to go it alone in this bitch of a world" (paraphrased), and then him thinking the worst part of his life is locking up at his work. And he's not even alone, he has a childhood friend come over just minutes later. There is zero thought process behind this writing.

Then you have the other characters falling over themselves for MC, one pretty much randomly, out of nowhere, sucking his dick and letting him take her virginity behind the counter at his work. I liked the part where afterwards she doesn't understand why she did that. Even the characters can't comprehend the devs reasoning.

I am actually all for some guilty pleasure reading, not everything has to be actually good. The Arson Betrayal though, tries to be good and that just makes it feel like an insult.

I felt like everything about MC's interactions with Alice was terribly written. How he feels about her, how he thinks about her and how she acts towards him, all bad. MC literally witnesses some girl killing 2 cops, the same girl who then a little bit later shows up at his door and holds him at gunpoint threatening his life if he doesn't lie to the cops and lets her stay the night, and he still feels compelled to help and worry about her. He literally jumps in knee deep in shit to help her, killing people and everything else without having a single proper interaction with her before. This story would've been several times better if only they had some proper connection prior to everything that happened literally 10min into the game, even if just some old and almost forgotten childhood friends.

Another point is how the MC, a barista at a coffee shop without seemingly any background in actual combat or even how to handle a gun, is suddenly going all Rambo with aforementioned girl and getting rid of experienced, elite mercenaries. The girl's revolver is also some kind of hand cannon that pierces heavy armor clean through. Everything is so farfetched and exaggerated that it's hard to keep it all grounded. And in the middle of all of this, the guy still finds time to date girls around town and risks their safety at the same time by doing so, which is all so unbelievable.

The sound work, renders, animations and the girls are pretty good and most characters actually make you want to get to know them, but I feel like the beginning of the plot and most stuff surrounding Alice's interactions with the MC (at least where I stopped for the time being) are holding this game back.

-Story: I think it's too far-fetched , so much that I had to stop thinking about the plot from time to time, not saying it was boring, but... a boy with a pistol against an entire army of well equipped mercs... well you have to be a really good writer to make it "somewhat" believable.
-Characters: MC and LIs are Ok, but, I'm not gonna lie... I feel like they're forgettable (nothing special, except for Tiffany I kinda liked her)
- Music: Nice tunes.
- Animations: Very good.
- Renders: Not bad.

So far I'd give this game a 7/10, despite everything I think it has its moments and there are not many "modern action" AVNs out there.

Amazing game. Story is engaging and intriguing. Had a blast *wink wink* playing this game. Looking forward to the updates. Depth to Main Character also keeps the choices interesting. QT events are also fun. A bit annoyed as the update ends right at Act 2: Chap 2 as story was picking up. But lots of content for peeps to enjoy. Great Game.

I love the game a lot. The plot is great. Full of drama and it is intense but also there is humor in the dialogue. Every character was involved in the plot and blend in smoothly (other than the "dare").

This AVN is about an unlikely hero, fighting against a corrupt government. Certain events in the story are a bit ridiculous, but it is overall very entertaining. The models are attractive and there is a good amount of sex scenes. It appears to be possible to build a harem and you can certainly have multiple partners. The story concept is interesting, as are the female characters. The conversations and character development are pretty good with regard to the Love Interests. I definitely recommend this AVN, but try not to get bogged down in the realism, or lack thereof. (See below on the realism.)

My only real gripe with this AVN is the details of the story. It's interesting, but totally unbelievable. The more I think about the totally unbelievable details and plot points, the more the story unravels.

1. For starters, a part time job at a cafe just doesn't pay that well. He is supposedly saving up to go to school AND supporting himself - on a part-time job in a Cafe. But, why isn't he working 2 full time jobs or a full time job and a weekend bartending gig to get ahead? We'll never know!
2. We're not told enough about the setting to explain if Student Loans, or similar, are common here. I don't even know if the MC has any career goals or a clear career path. What sort of degree is he planning on getting? Why isn't he looking for work in a related field? Again, we'll never know.
3. The backstory with his family is really odd, as well. His family and how he acquired his condo are briefly explained, but it doesn't even make sense.
4. The MC would certainly have failed multiple times over in these do or die situations. He outperforms other characters in terms of tactics and fighting, even though the MC has ZERO training and these characters are actually experienced. There are many instances of this character being given command authority, even though he's a literal nobody.
5. It's par for the course for these AVNs to have a nobody suddenly swimming in women, but here it just adds to lack of belief in the story.

NOTE: Glocks don't really have a "safety." And, the one pictured definitely doesn't.

Many scenes in this AVN would be MUCH more believable if the MC was combat trained in the military and had access to the "US GI Bill", or some similar program, to pay for his University courses. I really do like this AVN, so I don't want to crap all over it. My hope is that, if there is a revamp or new project from this dev, my criticism will help these kinds of details be looked at a bit. To any who read to this point, I recommend giving it a try.

Story is pretty decent but nothing you havent seen before, the writting is ok with some worng words or misspelling but all in all not that bad.

The start of the main story is on very thin ice though, MC is a normal dude trying to survive and save up for college, one night he sees a girl shoot and kill two police officers on the street, then he runs home and she follows MC to hes appartment and hold him at gun point so she can stay there for the night, there is no romance no relationship build up since she leaves the very next day, MC will then go on to worry about that girl for unknown reasons and he wants to help the cop killer he knows nothing about, it really dosent make sense in any way and that is the hole baseline for the story.

The promiss of being a choice-driven story is a fail its no where near that, you get alot of choices but when 1 out of 2 choices leads to game-over its not really a choice, or when given 2 choices like leave or intervene and both leads to intervene its not a choice, and game is packed with those kind of fake choices, ive seen one choice in all of act 1 that made a diffrens in story where you can pick which male character gets killed but thats about it.

The only choices that seem to matter is when it comes to relationships.

Some times story is a bit messed up, MC has a phone call with Sydney at one point where he is supprised that shes a cheerleader, but MC has already talked with Jess and Syd about her being the captain of the cheerleaders so that phone call makes 0 sense, its like game ignores eailere choices you made, not great for a supposed choice-driven game.

Even though story is pretty decent it still feels a bit weird considering MC is helping Alice that has criminals and the hole police force after her to kill her and anyone shes with, but still MC has the time to build a harem of girls, go on dates and so on which is a bit wierd, not just that he does it but also that he knows anyone whos with him is risking their lives, in other words MC is perfectly fine with that which dosent really give the feeling of him careing about anyone but him self.

MC is supposed to be this normal guy getting ready for college, yet he turns into a one man army taking on the hole police force and mercenaries together with Alice, killing people left and right without ever having any experince in such things, if he atleast had an army background or something to explain it, then it wouldent feel so stupid but a normal college kid hmm.

Also why is MC constantly saying girls arent hes girlfriend, its starting to be idiotic since he kiss girls in the open infront of other girls, they cant be so brainless that they dont know, and if he want a harem wouldent it be about time he did something about it, told people about it, instend of trying to hide it behind everyones back which he also fails at big time......its starting to become boring and stupid.

As for the girls/LIs i found them a bit bland and boring, the only one that was remotely hot is Bens little sister, the rest is close to being the same builds with somewhat big tits seen one seen em all, would have been better to even out things so its not just big tits like every other game.



Animations are pretty good for this character type.

Music is good as well.

It has some flaws and some weird story parts but its still worth playing, cant really go above 3 stars though, story feels to drawn out with MC never talking about anything with anyone, girls that arent girlfriends and he keeps on adding to a harem even though hes still single....feels stupid, its like hes trying to cheat on as many girls as he can before anyone finds out, dosent feel like hes building a harem when he hides everything constantly.

This game feels like a diamond in the rough. On the one had there's a lot to like including the the serious tone, the grand conspiracy in the city, the actual varying models of the girls, & the fact that the MC has some caution, but can also make up his mind. Unfortunately that's where the problems begin too many unnecessarily long pauses I almost found myself rage quitting. Then there's the story which gets cheapened by trying to do too much at the same time and not allowing the story to fully develop. Finally there are small bits like the mentioning of the codex and how it doesn't seem accessible or the fact that we've got an amateur guy being effective against professional mercenaries. It's a game to watch, but it still needs fixing.

Wow, that's quite a lot to process, Dev, but I'm thrilled to have such a satisfying amount of content all at once—excitement overload! This game should rank among the top adult visual novels out there. It's hard to know where to begin, but it encompasses nearly everything you'd want for hours of immersive gameplay. So much so that I forgot I was playing an adult visual novel.

A major kudos to the dev for not pushing frequent explicit scenes but integrating them seamlessly into the story. The protagonist's complexity and likability stand out as strong points. Playing as a character with genuine development, not overly powerful or weak, feels just right.

The diverse cast with convincing backstories adds another layer of enjoyment. I appreciate the realistic touch of having a variety of male characters rather than being surrounded by an all-female cast with the MC as the sole man.

While I enjoyed the music, I have a suggestion for the dev: there are certain parts where it becomes quiet, so please look into that. Overall, I'm grateful to have played and discovered this gem. I hope my review helps others find this hidden treasure. It's not just an adult visual novel; it's a proper visual novel with a deep and engaging story. Best of luck to the dev, and I'm eagerly looking forward to future updates!

Review for v0.7.2

The Arson Betrayal is a story based AVN before anything else, and is the main thing I'm really looking at with this review. Being more objective there are a lot of elements more deserving of a 4 star rating. The love interests are cute, the sex scenes are hot, and there's just a general level of quality that would require the dev putting effort in to get to.

My issue comes from the writing. I played up through chapter 5, and through most of that time I had a hard time staying invested in the plot. The dev is trying to tell a story, and I wouldn't even say it's a bad attempt or anything. However, there's a lot of points in the plot that just feel very weak narratively for me.

The very serious tone that this game tries to establish is many times betrayed by the fact that, when boiled down, the plot is just college age teens take on the corrupt city government. It's hard to take these intensive situations seriously when by all means the MC and friends are just a bunch of regular people with absolutely no training or background that would enforce making it through these situations. Suddenly the MC becomes a marksman ready to kill multiple times for a girl he knows virtually nothing about.

And that's where another problem stems from. The MC has absolutely no personal investment in this story. Before anything, he was simply a young man cut off from his parents and was trying to save up to attend college. That's it. Now you might say his reason for getting involved in this whole mess is to save a girl he cares about, which is true, but leads to my final issue.

There's no reason the MC should care about Alice. How do they first meet? The MC sees her being stopped by cops, and she proceeds to shoot said cops. MC dips home, she shows up at his door and holds him at gunpoint in order to stay at his place for the night. There's no past friendship, romantic moments promoting feelings of care, or anything really. The MC's whole reason for wanting to help her is because of an obscure "connection" he feels to her that even he can't really explain.

Sure props for basic empathy, but I need more than that. Even after we got involved with Alice there's hardly any moments giving me any real reason to care bout her besides her just being in a shitty situation. Because the game is so plot focused, it does not leave a lot of room for more meaningful scenes with a lot of the love interests. This leads to rather quick relationship development, and while I wouldn't say it feels unnatural, it still leaves me wanting more time with the love interests rather than this corruption plot that I'm finding hard to care about.

There's other things I can nitpick about, but those are my main problems. I like the girls for the most part and want to see more of them, but I'm finding it really hard to keep myself invested in the plot enough to do so.

One of the joys of this site is bumping into a gem while simply hoping for a timewaster. The Arson Betrayal is one of those gems.

The plot is strong and engaging. MC is thrown into a huge conspiracy when trying to protect a LI and it all kicks off from there.

The Arson Betrayal quickly reveals itself to be a fast moving, action packed and gritty thriller that also manages to pack an emotional punch. I've already shouted "NOOOOO!" at the screen a few times as the twists hit home.

The LI's are distinctive and attractive and some of the better HS models I've seen. You can pursue one, several or all and the animated scenes are good.

I'm also impressed by the choices. It balances difficulty of decision and consequences well.

Overall it's easily one of the best HS games around, give it a try.

There is a scene in Miyazaki's Spirited Away which for me is one of the most memorable and beautiful scenes in any movie I have watched. It's the train scene, which in Spirited Away brings about one of the transitions between different worlds. The scene in itself is a masterful depiction of the concept of Ma, or “negative space,” something that exists not to advance a story but to evoke a deeper sense of time and place, that gives you an opportunity to reflect and that gives new shape and meaning to the whole. There is a small scene in the Interlude between acts I and II of the Arson Betrayal game that, for a moment, took me back to the Miyazaki animated movie. That moment elevated an already great game in a way that is hard to describe.

The Arson Betrayal is so far a triumph in almost every aspect I can think of. The story is gripping and the writing is very well done. Pace is pitch perfect, scenes and settings are very cinematic and well constructed. renderings, while still showing some of the limitations of HS, are excellent, in special many of the assets and backgrounds which are outstanding. Animations are well done and actually add to the game's immersion even outside lewd moments, which is definitely a plus. Sound design is another highlight of the game, with many background sounds being well placed and adding to the immersion. Music is very good as well, with a soundtrack that actually fits the moments and adds depth to the scenes. Characters are great all around, well constructed and developed for the most part. Most characters also have this a Noir vibe that really fits the story setting and that I enjoy very much.

My only only negative (nitpick really) are that the relationship with a few of the girls sometimes advance a bit too fast. But given that the characters are really great and the scenes are well developed and actually (with a few exceptions) add to the plot and advance the story, that is not much of a problem. Overall an excellent AVN, certainly one of the very best I have ever experienced. 10/10.

I can also recommend this AVN. I am really enjoying it so far. Liking the LI's (especially Tiffany and Jessica). The music is great, except one track (You know which I mean ). Otherwise love the characters, love the story, love the execution of it. The plot is very gripping and had me on edge of the seat. Some twists and moments of anxiety how will the story progress is something I love about AVN and here is plenty of those things. Once again, I am really enjoying it so far (I am probably halfway, just met Misfit Squad).

So, try it by yourself and see. I think you won't be dissappointed. And this AVN and developer definitely needs more recognition.

Thanks Crispy Chicken.

(Only little negative on this for me is that the girls and MC "jumps at it" too fast in many ocassions for my preference. I like rather slow burn and long romances, but I think I can totally understand why does it make sense plot-wise if anything, so, that is it.)

PS. I am adding this part because I have just finished the Interlude act... And Wow... That was... I have never been so impacted by something like this so far. This was... ...

CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED!!
Wow, OK this game is literally action packed thriller with twists and tons of fun times too. Plot is brilliant and everything like even dates with LI somehow ends up moving the plot forward which I love cuz I don't like wasting time in thriller plots.
If I compare this to Eternum, the only thing this game might fall behind is visuals but even that improved in Act II. Music, writing, LIs, animation, cut-scenes, story, lewds, and the npcs are all so damnn good. You definitely should play it cuz it had me at edge of seat literally. Try you won't regret it, this game is definitely BANGER CERTIFIED!! Goodluck dev and hope you get the recognition you deserve!!

Well I'm hooked

Lots of VNs fall into "all girls, no story" or "all story, bland girls" category.
Glad to see this game having both great story and girls with lots of character.

Story is great and I'm genuinely interested to see where dev goes with it.

Lots of girls, lots of hot scenes, and also lots of nice conversations with said girls.

Art is what you'd expect, not overly great, but every character is easy to recognize, locations are fairly well detailed.

Timed events are usually my pet peeve, but rollback works, so not a problem here.

All in all, great game.

(Version Reviewed: v0.6.4)

Love the game. Hands down one of the most entertaining stories among the AVNs that I've played. Renders and animations look good. The music suits the game. Romance with some of the LIs can be improved. I only like Alice among them. Perhaps, making it a non-harem story would have been better to enhance the relationships between the MC and the girls.

Overall - 9/10.

Interessting Story so far with decent renders and animations (typical for honey select) love that the dev wants to make every LI optional so that the player has full control if you want a harem or not and with whom.

I don't know what that game that last review is about, but it isn't this one. There is hours of content and enough lewd scenes, even early on. Someone else complained about there being schoolgirls... the MC is in his early 20's and saving up money to go to the college they go to, so... I don't see where the issue is there. Also, besides some dialogue and their uniforms, you wouldn't know they were "schoolgirls".

Actual rating is 4.5/5 but I rounded up.

The only negatives I can say are;
-The game confuses "in", "on", and "at" at almost every opportunity. There are also some other words used improperly. The script could use a once-over by a native English speaker, but nothing is too bad to make it not understandable.
-A few animations are not properly looped, including a couple lewd animations.
-Forced footjob (see below)

Other than that, I really liked the game. Story is interesting, and the LI's are likeable (eventually). They're all virgins, though, which I'm admittedly not a fan of. They're fine, but virgins usually don't like the kinky stuff. I say usually, because some of them do here. I've rejected Alice, so not sure if it's an option with her. If you're on the path with Bailey there is also a forced footjob scene in one of her lewd scenes. Personally, I think all kinks should be completely optional as I find feet disgusting and it turned me off of that scene completely.

You're not going to get every scene in one playthrough, mind you - there are mutually exclusive lewd scenes. For instance, in chapter 6 you choose between Sydney and Tiffany.

Renders are okay - not enough either way to move my rating from where the plot and branching options put it.

Play this game. I stayed up way to late trying to finish it all in one go because I found that I couldn't stop myself. Luckily the first Act didn't end on a cliff hanger, so I didn't get to sleep too late.

[edit] I will also add that the lewd scenes look like they're improving in Act II; there are no longer choices like faster, slower, and change view and there are multiple positions within the 2 scenes of this chapter.