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Ren'Py - The Awakening [v0.4.5b] [SLim Games]

  1. 3.00 star(s)

    Zippity

    The following review is based off my personal experience with playing this Game/Visual Novel... I try to be as brutally honest and detailed as I can, and these are my own opinions and thoughts, from one or more play throughs...

    (Review Update - 05/16/2019 - v0.2b)

    I was asked by the developer to take a gander at the latest update... So, it's been over a year since the last time I played and reviewed this VN/Game... And a lot has changed in that time... The biggest change is that all prior content has been relegated to just being a Prelude to this newer version of the VN/Game... All the prior content is now a completely seperate download, which I have not checked out before downloading and playing/reading this follow up content... So outside of what this current content talks about, in it's introduction, I have no clue what transpired in prior content, beyond my last chapter review, for that prior content... And as this is pretty much a different style and take from prior content, I'm going to treat it as such in this Review Update...

    Just as a heads up, this review will include some Spoilers, so be fore warned...

    Visually, the game is far superior then it's prior content, with high resolution models, backdrops, and user interface... That being said... The visuals also now include lots and lots of x-ray shots, where you have an option of hovering over a UI icon, in order to see through layers of clothing on most main female models, all throughout the current content... While being a more unique feature, that you don't see used that often, in my opinion it pops up way too often... It feels like just some pointless crutch meant to cater to the porn watcher crowd, rather then playing into the other strengths of the game play... It's more or less just a perv bonus feature, that is always there... The heart icon in the lower right corner is really meant to be a smart phone texting feature, which is cool to have, but it did have some problems, that I'll go into later... There are also a lot of animations, most are short and some are just there to add flavor during dialogue and/or events... Some were very well done... Which adds a lot of production value to the visuals overall... I can definitely tell that the visuals are the strongest feature in this version of the VN/Game... Even though some scene events felt slightly odd...

    I was a bit confused about the protagonists home, since in prior versions I played, it was a house, but now it's an apartment in a seedy part of town... Also, some of the backdrops in this version, I've seen many times in other VN/Games...

    The script for the most part is ok, but there are some issues with spelling/grammar here and there... As well as a few moments now and then where the English sounds a bit broken... I don't play any VN/Games with sound on, so I have no comments about them, if they existed...

    The introduction goes over some basics from prior content, in an attempt to give new players a tiny insight into what is going on... In some ways it does a very good job, but it also misses out on some points, that might require the players/readers to play/read prior content if they truly want to know what is completely going on... It wasn't a huge deal, but it could confuse some folks... You then get to select relationships and names for the primary characters... And of course, as I've seen many times before, some of the defaults fall into the landlady and roommate setup, even though those characters personalities play out more like they are actual family members, rather then it being a tenant renting a room type setup... Even some of the events with them are what you typically see in many other Incest themed VN/Games... Such as having the landlady walk in on the protagonist masturbating, with options to somehow convince her to help him out... And stuff like that...

    Beyond the introduction, you eventually get to a grind style setup, with a navigation map and so forth... This is where you determine that this version of the VN/Game is being designed as a relationship grinder... Making choices and going places as you see fit, to either build up certain relationships or to dismiss them... I'm sure this then gates certain content behind a love stat (in the form of a love bar) for each of the primary characters...

    As far as the heart icon that opens up a, smart phone, texting style user interface... It blinks when a new text arrives, but you can continue playing/reading without even looking at it... But be aware, that it does reveal some story related content in it... The issue I ran into, was when I ran into story continuity issues with regards to it... Such as when the male protagonist walks home, that first day, and finally gets there... After visiting the roommate in her room, you get a text that she is waiting for you at school to go through with your spy plan... But the school day is done already, and you never went to sleep for a new day... And yet, you can then navigate to the school, where everyone is back at school? What the? School is done for the day, the day has not changed, and yet that part of the VN/Game is acting like it has? I was so darn confused, and finally just determined it as a continuity mistake made by the developer... The text should not have arrived, and the event should not have been able to be activated, without the day changing... Also, the landlady texts the protagonist (who is in the same apartment as the landlady) to thank him for his help? Why wouldn't she just say it herself, as they are at the same location? Another case with the landlady, if you select the right choices and she decides to come to the protagonists room that night... She texts him right after the conversation, to confirm their meeting and to ask him not to tell, when she already said all that to him already, to his face? Why would she do that? I just felt confused... The texting idea is a neat concept, but I think it has a time and place, and shouldn't be used for everything that goes on... As it then takes away from everything else, and is just another mechanic you have to ensure is kept in sync (continuity) with everything else...

    As to the story itself... At times it is evenly paced and told well, but other times it is fast paced and feels a bit artificial and over the top... Such as the non-sense with the bully club... Or how Linda has to pay for school, when it's supposedly just a high school, not a college/university... People who pay taxes, are how most high schools are funded... Unless it's some rich kids private prep school, regular high schools only charge for things like uniforms, school supplies that don't cost much, and maybe a couple hundred dollars for the use of a school supplied laptop... It's not a huge amount, and even then some high schools charge nothing at all... The paying for school stuff felt like a complete stretch, and sort of kills part of the immersion...

    Another event, with the delivery woman, when she fell... Who falls into a position where she's just sticking her butt into the air, and then keeps it like that, all while the protagonist approaches her and even tries getting her attention... Another over the top event, just meant to add porn value... Or how about when the protagonist is following his roommate at the school as she follows the bully to his home... They had just got outside the school building (which is your normal school size) and the protagonist begins complaining to himself, that he's really out of shape, and acts like he's out of breath, from walking to the exit door of the school? What? It's not like he just ran half a mile or a 200 yard dash... The person they are following isn't running, he's just walking... It's a lot of these little things, that seem a bit over the top and questionable, that keep stacking up...

    Some nice production value that I ran into was some hidden items you can click on, adventure style, in some rooms at the protagonists home... And although I'm not always a fan of mini-games in these things, the very easy mini-game of picking up the protagonists clothes in his room in order to do laundry was a nice touch...

    Overall, I really liked the quality of most visuals, outside of the meaningless x-ray choices (never been a fan of x-ray stuff)… The story overall is sort of ok, but there are a lot of over the top events/themes, and many characters felt either odd and/or seriously stereotyped... I know in prior content, I could tell there was more focus on good story telling (at least in the content I played), where the sexual stuff came second... But in this new version, it feels like the complete opposite... Now it's more about the porn like sex stuff, then good story telling... Which now puts this VN/Game on the porn fest side, and only a small focus on good story telling... Sure there is plenty of text that includes dialogue, monologue and so forth... But the focus is a lot more on the sexual content, rather then a well told story that just so happens to include sexual content... It's even using lots of themes and scene setups very similar to ones we've all seen used before, too many times already, in other VN/Games... And even though it looks nice visually, it can't stand on good visuals alone... It's about the package as a whole...

    I wouldn't necessarily say that this VN/Game has lost it's way, entirely, but it has definitely changed gears, and I don't feel about it the same as I once did... In some ways it has improved, and in other ways it's taken a turn for the worse... And I'm not even counting the errors that can be easily fixed... This new version is still in it's early stages, and shows promise on the visual front... But not on most other fronts... Will I revisit this one again? Maybe... I'm not sure for the moment, as I'm not really interested in porn fest VN/Games, which this VN/Game is kind of leaning towards now... But only time will tell, as this version is still in it's early days...


    (04/09/2018 - Review Update - Chapter 2)

    This new chapter is pretty good, as you learn a LOT more about the mystical stuff regarding the protagonist... You find out about his connection to a magical fairy and you also find out about his prior relationships, before his accident...

    The only part I really found issue with was the new introduction of mini-games... They are simple to figure out, but you have to be extremely "johnny on the spot" to get them done correctly... And each time you have to do mini-games with different characters, it doesn't always play out the same, which increases the chances of failure by a lot... I HIGHLY recommend saving game before doing any steps of the mini-games, because there is no BACK button for re-attempting the mini-games... They require a high amount of dexterity when using your keyboard, involving very fast clicking of arrow keys, followed by spamming certain letters, and maybe even more arrow key clicking afterwards... For anyone with carpel tunnel or any other speed typing problems, these mini-games are gonna be a complete annoyance, so be for-warned...

    In essence, you pretty much learn that this VN/Game is going to be a corruption game built on mini-games... For the purpose of keeping both your fairy alive and the protagonist alive... It's an interesting system, but not really a fan of the overuse of mini-game... Especially ones as unforgiving as these... The story itself in this new chapter was fun to read, with barely any proofreading errors... There is even a new choice on how you want to view the visuals, as normal 3D or more cartoony 3D... Interesting touch... I look forward to future content...

    (03/04/2018 - Review Update - Chapter 1 Complete)

    Well, there have been some definite improvements... Such as the hospital stay is a lot more believable now then before... The protagonist stays a bit longer, and the doctor mentions how miraculously quick he is recovering... There was also the addition of being allowed to name the primary characters and select your own relationship type with each character... There is also some additional content after the protagonist returns to his home... To include another fantasy type twist at the end...

    There are still some issues I ran into, to go along with the positive changes... Such as while the protagonist is still in the hospital there is a reference to his mother leaving his clothes and so on, before you get to select the relationship... That probably needs fixing... Also, the doctor looks like she gets mad at him for something, after eyeing him up and down, half way into a conversation... I'll assume it was because he was undressed, but she should have started off with that issue, not had the issue after already talking with him for a short bit... It was a bit confusing...

    There were a few grammar errors I ran into as well, but not many...

    Also, it's just a minor issue, but the mother and sister type characters that the protagonist lives with still act a bit off at his return... I mean he's been in a coma and away from them for 2 years, you'ld expect a lot more emotion and caring for him when he first gets to his house... Instead the mother character leaves him unattended to go shopping without ensuring he is ok with getting in the house first... And the sister character hugs him (if you wait for the mother character before going in) and yet she is not very emotional about his return and very dismissive of him just because he forgot some promise, even though it's normal for head trauma patients to have memory loss... But overall, I can dismiss most of it for now, as creative license on the part of the author... Perhaps something will explain it later...

    Another addition that players/readers should be careful of, is the addition of player punishment dead ends... Yes, if you take some things too far, you will be punished and the game will end... I'm not a real fan of this, but hopefully it is just something that stays near the beginning of the story as a motivational tool, rather then something that sticks around through the whole visual novel/game... Otherwise you just end up pushing players down a more linear path or requiring folks to beg for a walkthrough, just to avoid the pit traps... And I tend to find that walkthroughs ruin the immersion...

    Overall, I'm impressed with most of the changes... It's a big improvement in the believability of the coma aspect of the story then before... It still has some quirks, but so do a lot of these things in their early stages of development... A big thanks goes out to the author for working through the fixes and other things, in order to improve stuff... It shows way more potential then it originally did, and I look forward to seeing how this VN/game progresses...


    (02/12/2018 - Original Review - Chapter 1)

    This visual novel/game has very little believability...

    The visuals of the characters are decent looking... The backdrops are not very believable as I've never seen a coma ward room with couches and a coffee table before, as most long term care or coma hospitals don't have rooms that big for their patients, as it isn't fiscally feasible... Also, when the protagonist leaves the hospital (another issue I'll get into) he is walking on a dirt road leading to a car parked on a dirt road, with no parking lot or anything that would resemble a hospital type location... It's like it's a crazy hospital out in the middle of nowhere... All of this just blows the immersion out of the water...

    The script was pretty good with only a very few spelling/grammar errors... The plot revolves around a male protagonist who just woke up from a 2 year coma... He had been in a car accident, and something mystical seems to have happened to him... From this point all reality gets tossed out the window...

    When he first gets woken up and the nurse begins cleaning him up, you can somewhat believe what is happening... Even the mystical event with the BJ is not an issue, because it's magic... But then the nurse leaves and he is able to get up, walk to the other bed, and get dressed by himself? What the? Everyone should know that when a person wakes up from a very lengthy coma, and has atrophy of his muscles, so it is physically impossible for a long term coma patient to do practically anything for themselves, for a long while, as they go through physical therapy, to gain any resemblance of strength and motor control back... And what nurse in their right mind would even ask a coma patient, who just woke up that same day, to even do all those things, like getting dressed on his own, without a lot of assistance?

    Then we get to his exit of the hospital, as he walks out to the car and his mother drops her car keys on the driver side floor board, and she asks him to help her get the keys? Really? Once again, all on the same day he just woke up from a 2 year coma, he is able to reach down and get the keys without any issues at all? Also, what hospital, in their right mind, even authorizes a patients release on the same day after waking from a 2 year coma?

    Then they get to his house and she leaves him to go shopping while he walks up, unassisted, to his house door and knocks in order to get inside? Why didn't she walk him in, or help him get in the house? What kind of mother does that, when her son is just getting home after 2 years of being in a coma?

    Overall, everything about the story and play through of this visual novel/game screams way over the top and has no grounding in plausible reality at all... This VN/Game may look visually good, but the author's must have no clue how coma victims recovery works, or how a real hospital treats newly awakened coma victims... Or how a real mother would normally pine over a son having gone through what he went through... Plus, something about the beginning of this VN/game is very familiar, as though I've seen a similar plot in another VN/Game that was just as bad with all this stuff...

    In any case, the game looks nice and has an interesting plot concept, but the authors are asking for way too high of a leap of faith, with regards to how the story plays out, so far... Perhaps they might fix it, but I don't know... Will I revisit this one? I don't know right now, as the immersion, so far, is completely shot full of holes... Have to wait and see if it gets improved...
  2. 4.00 star(s)

    zazezizozu

    I think the game is very good. It is not overloaded with text and is moderate. Graphics and animation are very good. So far we can not say anything about the story, because the beginning and how we do not know how it will develop.
  3. 2.00 star(s)

    hopeless

    I don't get it...

    These "devs" develop a GAME, but they are unable to optimize their files?!... is there some data-autism?

    The Animation is build up by about 151 Pictures and contains 115MB of space. It's ridiculous!
    A .webm clip would be like 1MB. *facepalm of epicness*

    Topic: Sound convertion.
    Really? 11mb for 1min underwater sound bit? WTF!!!
    8 sound files over 40MB...
    Converting into mp3 on even 112 bit rate would make the end size of these to 1MB.

    Mainmenu: you can't come up with this...
    The main menu eats 40MB space. its single gif file pictures... converted as video webm it would be about 100kb.

    So we have about 200MB to much with no profits.
    Does the dev wants to let his game look more professional because its 360MB and mass is better then class?

    The true game is only ~160MB and it's nothing to be ashamed of. Because:

    The Story is insteresting and the pictures are very well made and they have good file size about 600kb it's very good!

    Many pictures with good surprises. I give 2/5. Because it's chapter 1 and i hope the dev reads this and try to optimize the next chapter to get his really earned 5/5.