VN - Ren'Py - The Beautiful Game [Ch. 1 v0.8] [Daggum]

An interesting game that could be good but there's wee issues that seem to hamper the flow.

The MC is interesting, he's almost like the anti-giga chad. He's beautiful sure but he's almost puritan in outlook. The slightest reference to sex seems to have him going red like a strawberry. Which is... fine, it's kinda fresh but the joke's played out just a bit too long. Like it seems everyone you're introduced to at the beginning is an excuse to get a sex joke in somewhere to get the MC all nervous and shy. Is the whole game going to be like this? I'm sure he'll come out his shell but it's odd. As I said, it's fresh but I worry they'll overplay it.

Another oddity is when the narrative seems to just stop following the MC about and instead jumps to a spa scene. Almost like it's an excuse to show some naked ladies. What's more is there is a lot of exposition dropped and exposition like "x fancies y and has wanted to get with her for a while." It's so odd. A good story shows rather than tells but despite having a completely normal narrative up till this point it goes off at 90 degrees. There's even lines like "Hana chuckles to herself as she heads over to the communal showers" and " Addy repositions herself so that she is facing Kalila". I know this.... because there are literally renders showing it, why does the dev now feel the need to start explaining what's happening? Very odd, feels like it was written by someone else. And then they start fooling about... cause the dev seems to have thought "oh yeah, it's a AVN". The whole bit stands out like a sore thumb and feels oddly placed.

On fear of sounding too oddly critical the intro is a bit slow. There's a whole game played between team you've no real interest in playing another team you've no real interest in. As there's very little foundation work going on it feels like random renders of models playing football. It's done in such a way the idea is you're meant to be rooting for one team over the other but as you don't know anyone, who can tell. You could probably skip the whole intro and not actually miss anything.

Beyond that the game's ok. The girls are varied and pretty. It suffers from issues that are hardly issues but at the same time all too common. The cast list is massive so you are left wondering exactly who's who because you barely get any time with one character. All the girls look beautiful but at the same time too samey. Some of the girls are almost double your age but they look identical to ones younger than you so you're left with characters that have grey hair but at the same time rocking the body of a 19 year old gymnast.

I mean, the game's well made, I'm sure it will be fun to play but it could be a lot tighter in areas
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I've played some more and really my initial feelings are very much entrenched. It's a fun game to play but there's hangups. The MC is clueless about sex which is.... fine... it's a bit different but he is continuously clueless despite getting into sexual situations so it starts to feel odd.

Another issue is the absolute overload of characters. There's simply no need for the quantity and it'll act like a cancer going forward. Too much time spent on so many secondary characters. There's a menu for "Love Interests" which show 9 slots. Given it's a game about football I'm assuming there'll be 11 in the future. But there's like 4 or so "secondary" characters. There's just no need for that many when there's other characters to flesh out. The game starts with a childhood friend and you have a scene with her then boom, nothing. What was even the point? Probably going to come later but. Too. Many. Characters

The highlights of this game are the dialogue, story and renders. The dialogue feels realistic and meshes well with the more grounded story. It helps that the dialogue is amusing, intended or not, and has the proper grammatical rules.

Storywise, it builds on well-established tropes but is distinct in setting and plot lines enough. The immersion is helped in my opinion by the technical terms and know-how that the characters possess. I enjoy it when the MC is a smart or talented individual and it's shown instead of told. I like the depictions of autism too, it feels realistic and familiar, particularly the blunt way of speaking. The renders are all well-made and hot, especially Hana and her beautiful tattoos. I am a bit (quite) biased because of the amount of duchies in the game (I am Dutch).

The only downsides to me are the fourth wall breaking, I simply think that lame and the fact that MC is an Ajax supporter. That is a hallmark of terrible taste /s. I am quite interested in the direction the game is headed and hope to see more of it. Especially the growth of the MC`s character and his spine. 10 out of 10, would rate again.

Hi like the setting as its something new and unique aside the usual I have a landlady and go to collegue/go to new town. So inculding a womans soccer setting is really something refreshing. The story is however developing a bit bumpy and not really smooth which I forgive usually as its not easy to find the start from the beginning so it may need some refreshing later on. So story starts somehow but what I dont really get is why on earth do you choose a setting in the world of soccer when the dev seems to have no clue on the way you play that game nor what kind of dress you wear (even as a woman). I understand that this is an adult VN but honestly, also a soccer jearsy can be quite nice. It would bring much more authentic feeling into it. Anyhow lets see how this will develop so its average now with so much potential unused at the moment which I hope gets somehow fixed. So if you are into soccer, dont expect anything authentic and dont let this annoy you.....expect a bit more freestyle so to say on that particular sport and then I think you are all set. If you are however a authentic soccer nerd, this may be something you avoid

I am sure I am going to be in the minority here, but this AVN just is kind of meh. I might have rated it just 2 stars but the dev is talented and produces solid, regular, significant updates and we have to reward them for it, hence the extra star.

The graphics are good, settings are well done and the MC is pretty okay. Lots of eye candy and a lot of opportunity for the MC to have some fun. Sounds pretty good, right? You would think so, but it falls short in the implementation.

For example, there is a spa scene where the MC goes and gets this odd, naked massage and he is not allowed to open his eyes. If he does, the tech gets pissed that he does not respect her, even tho she is completely naked with her pussy basically in his face. Whatever. There is stuff like this throughout like the MC getting wracked in the balls in a fooseball game and all the girls massage his balls. What? Or the bike chick will only be interested in the MC if he does not like Lance Armstrong.

Of course, there are a million LIs who's names you forget and a lot of the choices the MC does make, are a bit odd and do not make a lot of sense. Let's not forget the only other male in this entire organization is gay. I mean, what about groundskeepers or maintenance dudes? And you're going to tell me none of these players have boyfriends? I have come to dislike AVNs where the MC has zero competition and all the women fall over each other to be with him. As far as I can tell, the only thing preventing the MC with hooking up with a LI is just a choice. You can put the MC on the path or not. It's that simple.

The AVN started off pretty good, but this last update is the beginning of the de-volution of what started out pretty strong.

IDK, it just feels like devs and even players who like these kinds of AVNs just mail it in. There is no thinking involved. There is no trying to figure out what makes the LI tick. Nothing. It's just a big fuckfest. Which is fine if you don't like a challenge and just want to get to the fapping. It's just... if I just wanted fapping I would go watch porn. But whatever... to each their own I guess.

If you are looking for yet another harem game where all the LIs are easily available, or if you are looking for a fuckfest with little to no story, then you should download it and play. You will not be disappointed. If you like a little story with your fapping, then you will probably be disappointed.

Regardless, it's good enough to download and give it a shot.

Good luck to the developer.

Review:
I'm giving this a 5 because I can't give it a 4.5.
It isn't 5/5, but it deserves a higher rating than it has.

First of all, If I wasn't a massive fan of football / the passion around sports in general I would have never made it past the initial football match scene. It felt wrong starting with an important match for the team before I had any connection to any of the characters. I would have been just as happy if they just mentioned it briefly when I was introduced to the team that they suffered a devastating loss last season.

However, I understand that doing a match was probably something you really wanted to do when starting out to make this game, just wish it was later. In addition, the commentators constant unprofessionalism and drivel just felt off and ruined any tension I could have taken away from that first match.

That being said, I really love football. So I soldiered on past that to the intro of the MC. At that point the game instantly get's a lot better. However, throughout most of my experience the dialogue can be a bit too descriptive, matched with expressions rarely changing and same render having a lot of dialogue associated with it at times.

Overall it took a while for the game to click with me, I didn't particularly care for some early side characters like the clothing store owner, I found the MC's complete lack of knowledge on social and adult topics a bit over the top at times, and was worried he was going to be a generally weak MC.

However, once I got to the scene with Hana everything changed. I started to really like some of the characters such as Hana, the MC proved himself to actually be competent at work even if he with good reason can be lacking socially sometimes. I felt like an MC with an actual personality and skillset, and I got invested in his journey. And characters like the clothing store owner and others that showed up later all have fairly easily closeable paths.

So there are some minuses here, the dialogue can still sometimes be overly wordy. There can be a tendency to tell instead of show as there aren't that many renders per dialogue section. And the MC's awkwardness can be a bit over the top, though reasonable story-wise. Add to that the fact that while some of the H scenes, specifically one towards the end was quite erotic, I wouldn't really say any of them are all that hot, they have little animation and no sfx.

However, I'm very invested in the journey of the MC, and at least a handful of the potential LI's. And I find myself thinking about the game. Which is a very good sign. And while I wish expressions changed more often, if staying with the current amount of renders per dialogue section will allow huge chunks of content like this to be pushed out in reasonable time, I'm excited for the future.

Pros and cons:
+ Great sport-focused storyline
+ Great control over which paths you want to spend more time on
+ MC with a very defined personality with strengths and weaknesses
+ A lot of likeable LI's and support characters
+ Good-looking LI's.
+ A lot of content for ch1
- no h sfx
- sometimes too wordy dialogue
- text describing visuals instead of new render
- ok animations but not many of them and not very long

TLDR:
If you can accept that the MC grew up sheltered with little knowledge about adult life, and therefore is learning and not instantly a dominant figure, however has redeeming qualities such as being clearly good at his job, generally earning his spot, being hard-working etc.

This game has a lot of likeable characters, a good amount of content and an interesting football-focused storyline. For me personally it scratched my itch of wanting an adult storyline focused around the day-to-day work that goes into a football team (though ofc the H game equivelent of that).

This is a review for Ch.1 v0.7, and if I remember I will update this as game develops. Reviews are interesting, some obvious trolls talking nonsense and some obvious fanboys/girls. But there's some truth spread across the range.

I played this when it was early on in development and nearly stopped. Render quality wasn't great, writing was fine, story was slow but because it was unusual I stuck with it. So... not a great first impression.

Fast forward to v0.7 and wow a lot has changed. Renders are good. Writing is still good. Story is still slow but lots of small things have changed as well as some big things early on. What a surprise when I get to the v0.7 content. I am really hoping this is one of those games that builds and builds in quality. I am hopeful, but not totally sold yet, and so I am hesitating with the star rating.

A quick summary or warning for others.
1) If you want to play out a fantasy as some male chad and be smooth and nail every woman, this isn't the game for you.
2) If you skip over story to get to what you think is the good stuff, this isn't the game for you.
3) If you're too stupid to realise that the protag walking into a woman-dominated world means that he will be a bit sub initially, then don't bother playing.
4) If you like slow burn and character development, and actually read the dialogue, I reckon most people will like this game. I think the haters come in expecting a smash fest because it is harem tagged, have fixed views on what they want from a game, or maybe are just a bit stupid. Not saying you have to be clever to enjoy this game, but I think it helps players to properly 'get it'. Anyway, really hope this keeps improving, the latest content in v0.7 is a major saving grace as they say. V good content after an unusual beginning to a game.

+ avoidable lesbianism
+ music and sounds
+ idea for the story
+ renders

- main story and this whole sport stuff is boring. I really tried to like it but it's not possible.
- pathetic & submissive mc. The most embarrassing moments is when he is about to fuck someone. He screaming in his inner thoughts like teenager who is about to lose his virginity. It's literally looks like: "omg omg im about to fuck her, omg omg omg i can't believe that" If you consider his age, this behavior is so immature
- sex scenes is the essence of every avn. Unfortunately in this game they are definitely too short and written without passion. MC is often sub in them and girls do all the work. Cmon.. be a man once and take the lead
- girls.. yea they are hot but that's all. Too many bland/uninteresting personalities. Exception is maybe Priya and Jas

I think i expected too much from this avn. Football theme is something rare in this genre. I thought it would be more interesting.. 2 stars

I'm really enjoying The Beautiful Game! The story has me hooked, especially because the characters are so interesting. All the girls are definitely standouts; they are gorgeous.

The game's visuals are impressive, with detailed character designs and realistic skin textures. Although the animation is limited, it doesn't detract from the overall experience.

Overall, this is a fantastic game! It easily gets a 10 out of 10 from me. The characters are engaging, the story is interesting, and the visuals are top-notch. Definitely worth checking out!

Story is ok but you need to be into football since theres alot of that in the game, theres also alot of training, massage talks and such its not really helping the game since i found it mostly boring, story needs more fun dialogs and more relationship dialogs to make it more fun to play, right now i only really remember the dildo talk in the elevator which was pretty fun, need more of that stuff, less training/massage stuff.

MC is also a very childish type that goes crazy just from seeing a pair of tits or a girl in her panties? not sure what that is about just weird, but i guess MC is just a pure virgin with no backbone and affride to talk to girls or tell hes best friend he likes her its just a bit boring, MC is also the type that finds every girl hot which kills the Immersion when you as the player think someone is ugly as fuck, ive always thought this kind of tought process for a MC is idiotic and should be left up to the players what to think, even more so since you have the choice to pick in this one.

It also feels so idiiotic when you have a MC lusting so badly for girls and 2 seconds later you turn her down, it makes for a poor and weird story.

But atleast game has done one thing right, you are able to close down paths wth girls you dont want to be with so thats really good.
There is one issue though, you get to open or close the paths with some girls waaaay to fast, so your given 0 chance of getting to know them before being forced to make the choice.

Also a note to the dev, girls shouldent start thouching MCs dick (Dina) if your not on her path its weird and stupid in a game supposed to be choice driven.

As for the girls some look good some ugly which is normal and down to personal tastes, the diversity in builds is not the best since its mostly bimbos with big tits but atleast there are a very few girls with more normal to small sizes so game is still playable even when you dont have a big tit fetish, the ratio is one small sized milf and one small sized younger girl, the other 6 girls are big or huge tits so its clear to see games aims for players with big tits fetish, which i just dont have so the diversity is pretty shitty in my eyes when it comes to LIs.

Then theres the relationship overview, not really sure i get it since there are only 9 girls on the list even though you can start a route with girls not on the list? dosent really make much sense.

Game also needs ALOT more choices, right now its 100% kinetic and the only choices you ever see is open or close a path with a girl and thats it.
Like when MC meets the cam whore why the fuck cant we say no to helping her if we arent into those types, MC feels more and more submissive and just follows along with whatever people ask him and thats just not good, you cant even tell the truth about the cam bitch because MC has no backbone.

As for animations i cant say anything since i saw none, theres just not enough content with each girl yet so apprently the ones i went after hasent gotten any screen time yet, there was one forced BJ scene though but it wasent animated? so yeah ill have to revisit it once it has more adult content.

Also i got quite pissed when game started to forced girls on you, Dina is in my eyes so extremly ugly and boderline whore so i truely wanted nothing to do with her, but yet even when you select "no to risky velodrome shower scenes" it still forced the BJ on you in the velodrome lockers, might be a mistake in coding atleast i hope it is and not a sign of game becoming a forced girl game and removes relationship choices, time will tell though.

On a side-note it also made absolutly no sense for MC to allow that BJ risking hes job and its simply just not how MC is, hes personality is very shy virgin type with 0 backbone so theres just no way he would ever do that, if any he would run away, but it does seem like game is turning MC into a big pervert which isent a good thing either.

Story does have potential to become good, but it really comes down to how it will progress, it needs alot more choices for the players to feel like they are part of the game and not just following a kinetic story, it also has to remove and not use forced sex scenes going forward, why give the players the choice to close down a route with a girl and then force others its just idiotic, also MC needs to improve and not into a perverted idiot but into an alpha man not a chad type but atleast one that can say no.

I will have to revisit ths once chapter 1 is finished and see if the bugs are fixed or if it will become a mindless fuckfest with no choices, i truely hope it will become better instend and give more choices to the players but like i said time will tell, but for now i cant give more then 2 stars theres just to much counting down right now.

This game is not like many others in that it doesn't follow the same overused tropes, such as asshole MC or so dumb as to be offputting. He seems to be just a naive country boy who lucks out getting a dream job straight out of University.

It is often hard to balance the wire of whether it is porn with story or story with porn; as someone who prefers to have the big brain stimulated at the same time as the little one, this game balances it very well indeed. There is lots of technical stuff about football and the science behind it. This may be offputting to some but the balance comes with the good amount of lewd content and humor. Some scenes are laugh out loud funny, others are tender and quite loving.

The artwork for a first time dev is excellent. You can really see the progression of learning for the dev on this, and when you get to the latest update (v0.7) it is taken to a whole new level (this is the update where the lewd stuff really takes off). The animations are very good too, knowing the limitations of DAZ in this area. The dev has taken the time to find out how to improve on what is one of DAZ Studio's weak points. All the LIs and other women in this game are very beautiful and as the MC states a few times in the game, how nice it is to have such a lot of diversity in looks and personalities. There is even a character with autism, which is handled with kindness and humor.

Consent is a very hot topic these days, especially with some of the subscription sites clamping down hard on this. No where in this game is there anything that could be construed as non-consensual (and the assertation of one reviewer saying the MC is essentially a rapist is so far over the crossbar that the back row in the stadium couldn't catch it). The MC is naive for sure and the atmosphere of sexy in Ocean City is dialed up to 11, but it's a fantasy game, so it isn't going to be anywhere near real life.

In summary, great story that is nowhere near finished, beautiful sexy women with interesting personalities and backstories (still to be revealed in a few cases), MC who is not a dick and nice to look at, and football. Lots to like and I will be following this knowing the level of production will remain high and will continue to improve.

I gotta say, I'm loving the game so far. Apart from a few spelling errors, the writing is great, found myself grinning whilst playing. There are quiet a few hot scenes as well and the LIs are all gorgeous. Hoping to see more of Hana, I'm a sucker for tattoos. Whilst can see the list of LIs, I'm hoping I can still interact with some of the other ones that aren't on the list. Will definitely be keeping my eye on this game, Great job!

My thoughts on TBG - just an epic journey so far.

In my opinion, you can tell from the game that the game developer has invested a lot of time and love into his game.

The story is great, you see how the character wakes up from his sleeping beauty and still retains his "naive, innocent" part. He grows with the situations, it's exciting what's to come.

The ladies of the game are real beauties, I'm excited to see how the club develops due to the player's influence and what happens in the new season.

Without giving any spoilers, the dates are really hot - check it out.

Conclusion: Great game with a lot of passion, with great characters in an interesting setting! In my opinion it's simply epic and it definitely stands out from other VN's - keep it up!!!

This game is a microcosm of every game on this site. From the ridiculous machine-translated “Son-Mom-Sister” games to the grammatically correct “slow-burn” games.

This is essentially a gallery implemented in Ren'Py. The vast majority of the time is spent simply clicking to see the next scene, and no more than 4 times the player is asked do you want to see erotic scenes of a character at some point in the future.

With a design like this, the game would need to have strong, well-developed characters — from the main protagonist to the love interests. Unfortunately, this “gallery” masquerading as a game has too many love interests, and none of them are even remotely close to low standard of being one-dimensional. This lack of character depth extends to the main protagonist as well.

There is no overarching story to speak of; the narrative simply follows a man who wakes up and experiences the same trite “erotic” situations that have been seen in countless other games on this site.

The author of this game would greatly benefit from taking some creative writing courses or exercises, either online or at a local community college. The game would be improved immensely by having fewer love interests, and by fleshing out those characters, as well as the main protagonist, in a much more meaningful way. As it stands, this is little more than many ill-defined characters having some of the most half-hearted dialogue, lacking any meaningful player input.

V.0.6 (CH.1)

lets start with my weak link, the art.
truthfully i did not find some of it appealing to look at but most is quite good. the effort into making the animations of football being played is commendable. sure they could look a bit better but at least there is some. cannot be easy to do.

the writing is well delivered and is not childish. a huge plus. unfortunately it seemed to drag on a bit as the writer got a bit anal in expressing their knowledge. it stepped just over the line from entertaining to TMI for me.
also, why go long-winded when every female seems to be quick to drop her knickers? rings a little hollow.

plot of being the rapist in a women's football club is a hook for a spank bank game, but the writing, that's slow when it should move on and quick where it should deliver subtlety, has me confused what it wants to be and currently on the fence.

I have been looking for a game to get in on early and I am so glad I found this one. I love the writing, the characters are wonderful and the story is engaging.

Pro:

• Models are great
• Engaging characters, I'm excited to learn more about pretty much everyone
• Player Character is great, nice not having an asshole or a sex fiend for once
• Story is interesting, I love the sports talk, it feels like it comes from a place of knowledge which I love
• Did I mention the characters are great? I love them all
• I LOVED the short animated clip of Jasmine masturbating, it looked great, keep that stuff up!

Cons:

• Inconsistent renders early on, kind of washed out, there aren't many so maybe they would be worth re-rendering?
• A few grammatical and text errors, nothing that removes immersion, I'm a grammar weirdo so most will probably barely notice it.
• My only model gripe is Ivy's boobs, they look weird, idk what it is, but everything else is perfect.

So, as you can see, th negatives are very minor. Definitely recommend this one for those that like good stories mixed with sexy ladies. Excited to see this one grow into itself.

I am impressed, a naive MC that isn't a full creep or a door mat, I don't think I have ever seen someone succeed writing an MC like that, that alone gets my respect, plus, it gives a lot of space for character growth.

On the art side, renders are pretty good, a bit overexposed here and there but nothing that bothers me, the models are beautiful, Ivy is my favorite but each model has its own charms.

I am not the best judge when it comes to stories, I only judge if I am having fun and if it manages to keep me interested, so based on that the game has been very successful so far. Dialogues are just as good in my opinion.

Overall I am impressed and looking forward to more.

Interesting game, simple but fun. with many hot renders. The girls are beautiful, and there is a mix of nationalities, personalities, and body types.
Enjoyable gameplay overall. Needs some work, like more images used in conversations. The game is just starting, so I feel it will get much better.
More like 3 1/2 stars but rounded up to 4 because the DEV is very active here answering questions. Differently worth a play, IMO.

Edit. 06-28-23
After playing the following updates, I have changed my rating to a 5. The updates show much improvement on an already good game. The quality of the renders is much better, and many changes have been made based on members' suggestions showing the devs flexibility in all aspects without compromising his vision. Differently, a must-play, IMO.