VN - Ren'Py - Abandoned - The Blackout [v0.5.2] [AfterLust]

PROS
+ Visual/Texture quality looks good.
+ Sex scenes have animations, and they are decent.

CONS
- First of all the game story is simulation, and MC not knowing it is quite disappointing, and makes you feel like you are doing everything for no reason at all since they are not real. Secondly, there are some uncoherent problems with the story. For the third most stuff is cliche stuff you know from a lot of other games. Fourth it has too much unnecessary drama for no reason.
- MC is not really a like-able guy.
- Some basic features like gallery, etc, are behind the paywall.
- MC is literally copy & paste from quite well-known assets.
- The choice system is quite bad.
- Even tho you choose VN mod the game puts you in your room after certain events, quite weird, and unimmersive.
- Content-wise it fails short for a 4 year old game.
- It's abandoned.

VERDICT
Honestly, this one seems worse than DEV's other game, and again has some serious rewrite need, it's sad both of his games had potential but have problems with the story, it seems whoever writer of these games is not talented enough, even tho artist is quite talented with visuals, animations, etc.

meh, nice art but the long drawn out lesbo setup made me lose interest pretty much in the beginning. I usually dump games that show LIs fucking other people before the MC. It's always cuck city when the MC is waiting for their turn. Either make a game for lesbos or for the male players who aren't simping for gay sex. I don't care about lesbo moms which always come with the same tired stories. So many of the lesbo games are really ntr games since mom doing her GF is the same as mom doing some guy, there just isn't a cock involved. If she isn't doing you it's ntr barring the typical harem type game but the Mc is usually the center. There is no point investing in the game when the dev can't decide whether the gay sex is the real game and the player is just along for the crumbs. I think average fits for the art which is pretty good but the same tired "giggle" lesbian moments make it tedious instead of interesting.

This game exhibits significant potential, marked by the undeniable allure of its female characters, albeit acknowledging a personal inclination towards well-endowed women. The writing demonstrates commendable quality, with only sporadic errors.

While the narrative embraces conventional tropes such as voyeurism, yoga, and the dichotomy between a kind sister and a mean sister, it is distinguished by enigmatic elements that add a layer of curiosity, compelling me to closely monitor the game's ongoing development.

Regrettably, the current state of the sandbox mode appears somewhat lacking in substance, leading to the consideration that a conventional visual novel format might be more appropriate. Nevertheless, my anticipation remains genuinely high as I look forward to observing the game's evolution in the future.

I was kind of excited to try this one out and it's not bad but it's just kind of meh... The women are hot, the renders are good and the production in general is really good, but the writing and the story is just kind of meh...

There is nothing really wrong with the writing... technically... but the dialogue is kind of stilted and awkward. Nothing obviously wrong, but the dialogue doesn't feel natural.

The biggest problem for me is there is nothing original here. The MC has a horse cock, he gets hard just by watching women who are close to him. I don't know he is going to do his new job at the yoga studio without walking around with a boner the whole time. I mean, even when I was in my teens in highschool, I never popped a boner like this guy does.

I know... there is some serum thing happening and he even wonders why his dick is behaving like this, but so far, the sci-fi stuff is just there to make way for the same boring stuff we have been watching in AVNs for years.

You have the brainy, hot roommate who has no friends and has never had a boyfriend, the angry hot older roommate who has a secret and the hot landlady struggling financially. Sound familiar? Insert a yoga instructor and some changing rooms scenes and you have just about any other AVN out there.

To be fair, the dev is talented and the production looks really good. I think there are the bones of something that could be really good so I plan to keep checking on it.

I would encourage you to download it and check it out for yourself.

I think the VN would be better with the other guys also getting a go with the girls, but know all the NTR haters won't be happy with that at all... Otherwise it seems a little dull and predictable... Must say the graphics are nice and sharp as well as the the angles used to see what's going on... Only reason I played the game was to see the redhead naked or have sex but no such luck so in the end I was very disappointed with the game as of v0.5.2...

This was released back in mid 2021 and this is only the sixth update with the last one being a year ago.

The story is very bad and almost embarrassing to read...
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The mc is 'brought to life' in a lab somewhere then dumped out on the street at night where he goes into a coma. Since he is about to die the ER doc gives him an experimental drug that has strange side effects. The next morning a nurse informs him he is a 'John Doe' so he gives them his first name. This is enough to find his mom and get her to the hospital. One moment she is worried, then the next she says "Oh I almost forgot, the doctor released you and you can go home."

He gets home and we find out he has sisters who don't really seem to know/care that he almost died and was in a coma............ Doesn't matter because he's in perfect shape now like nothing ever happened.

And on and on. So, this happens within the first 18ish hours? Less than a day you go from being awoken in a lab, to a coma, to being in great health and can go home.
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The puzzle mini-games are simple but poorly done and should be much better for a game that was released two and a half years ago.

Images and backgrounds are very simple and bad.
The ladies are good looking but not so much when compared to modern games.
Navigation is simple yet clunky.


Really the only thing to help this game is a major rewrite and complete update on the artwork.
The first parts about the lab, coma, and home are, sorry to say, kind of dumb and need to be taken out/redone.

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It's a good game, at first I didn't like the main character's face a bit but from the third chapter they improved it. It's like playing Tremolo but in an alternate reality. I am very anxious with the updates of these visual novels, too bad that they take so long!

EDIT: Should probably get a .5 star added on for giving the option to not have to play sandbox. Fuck do I hate non-optional sandboxes. Great design choice there to let players choose.

Worth it just for the insane renders alone. Basically "my life is surrounded by hot instagram models who all want my dick" the game. Which is more than fine by me.

Kylie is smoking hot, but would love to see less reuse of the same animations AND outfits with her. I mean she works at a clothing store and tells you she's going to tease you with outfits, and then proceeds to wear the same (albeit very sexy) lingerie set both times you fuck her, and both times you also do it in the same downward doggy floor fuck. Why not bend her over a table, or PLEASE some missionary, so we can see her sexy face. She should be in a new sexy outfit showing off those curves every time. Gimme a virgin killer sweater. Or a slutty business casual blouse and skirt. Or a skintight dress. Same with all the ladies really. When you're doing teasing in these games, hot outfits are a must.

Otherwise, some solid teasing and buildup with sexy scantily clad models and a passable plot stringing them together. I personally don't care much about story when the women are this hot. Just give me more reasons to get teased and fucked by them. Definitely enough there to make anyone want to check back in to see how the story progresses.
Keep up the good work dev.

The game itself is great, but the sandbox design is a failure.
The reason for this is simple. The design of the game is based on a linear story, a visual novel that follows the storyline.
The author may have built the sandbox to cater to some players' preferences, but the results were poor and the story in sandbox was fragmented .
The graphics and animation are good, hopefully the writer will concentrate on visual fiction, there is no need to put a complete story in a sandbox.

The game looks great. As mentioned much already, the renders are excellent. The girls look good, though too heavy in the chest. Need some variation. The story, it has potential but I think needs to be fleshed out more. Right now, the biggest peeve I have is the "Later..." and fade to black screen feels way overused. I would ask that some of the black screens be taken out. Aside from that, I look forward to seeing where this game goes.

This is a very good game. The animations and renders/models are absolutely fantastic. The story is not bad either. I'm curious to see how the story continues. I don't often invest in games like this, but I'll make an exception here.

This game is superb! It has an excellent and interesting story, it kinda promises a lot of anal sex, the girls and the art are beautiful. I am very happy after unexpectedly discovering it. Can't wait for future updates and see how everything pans out.

v0.4.0
Visuals

• High quality renders using unimaginative models, for the most part. This isn't bad, it just makes the game more average.
• Animation is present, and - at least speaking to the very first one we see - is actually pretty unique. I like it. Sort of a psychedelic aesthetic to some of it.
  • Future, actual animations of lewd scenes are more the traditional "carousel" type where the characters move in a circular pattern.
• The chapter intros are especially imaginative. Seriously great work there.
• The animated "LATER..." between some choice scenes (seems arbitrary, btw) is overkill. It should either be reserved for cliffhangers or removed entirely.
• I feel like there's too many black filler images between rendered content. Within the first 5 min of the game you encounter at least twice as many.
• MC's mom is a knockout. Reminds me of the ladies in Apocalust.
• Ashley is also a knockout. Great ass.
• Kylie, also a knockout. Although her hair looks like a wig. I'd have gone with something different there.
• Whenever MC is "surprised" by the hotness of whomever is in front of him, he has this really dumb fucking look on his face. It's a mix of horror and surprise. It's really off-putting, and I hope to never see it again in a VN.

Story

• We start off with MC as a lab rat, but we don't get context. I feel like this particular issue plagues a lot of VNs; the player is just supposed to accept the premise.
• Nurse in the recovery room states MC didn't have any belongings, so they had no idea who he was...then proceeds to tell MC she'll contact his family after you give the MC a name? If they don't know who he is, giving him a first name doesn't suddenly fabricate his entire family history.
  • On the subject of a medically-driven plot; it's usually obvious to anyone in the industry when a writer takes a lazy or ignorant approach and expects the player to accept this. For example: if MC had alcohol poisoning, no medical facility would administer a "serum" (they wouldn't call it that, either) to magically cure it. There are existing treatments for people with elevated blood alcohol levels. Tl;dr - use a different angle/premise when you aren't well-read on something. Maybe MC has a rare disease that has no known cure, and he opted for an experimental vaccine? That is far more believable.
  • RNs and MDs don't get transferred to a hospital in a small town (at least, not in the US). They might volunteer to work a shift elsewhere. Otherwise, they would have to voluntarily leave their current organization, apply at the small hospital, and be offered a position. The only exception - and it still wouldn't involve a forced transfer - would be if it were a larger healthcare entity with several hospitals, clinics, and staff were needed at said smaller hospital.
• I know this is nit-picking, but it's endlessly annoying when you have a character model whose hourglass figure rivals most real women, and then she goes on about how she's "put on a few pounds". Just don't do it. If you're going to do it, make the character LOOK like she has. BTW - yoga does not = weight loss. If it did, every fat person would do it because you don't have to run or lift anything.
• The choice system as-implemented is pretty bad. i.e. Choice 1: Discreetly check on her (sister), Choice 2: Just go to bed. Like, who's gonna think to themselves "nah man, I'm not playing this for inappropriate scenes." And again when MC is front of Kylie at the store. These have got to be the most useless, unoriginal, inconsequential choices I've seen in a while. The whole purpose of a choice system is presenting the player with 2 or more equally (or at least by appearance) appealing options, forcing them to choose which they think either brings about the least negative or the most positive outcome.
• Literally every time MC enters Ashley's room, she's scantily clad, vainly staring at herself, and posing as if there were an audience. At least TRY to make it believable, introduce a pinch of variety in her personality.

Dialog

• WAYYYYY too heavy use of ellipses. Like, holy shit pump the brakes with these.
• Gonna guess this is ESL, since most are. I'm starting to feel like myself and others who have a firm grip on the English language should do consulting/contract work for translating.
• I think dev would've been better off using italics for internal thoughts/monologue instead of parenthesis.
• Most of the conversation between any 2 characters is boring, predictable, unoriginal, and unimaginative.
• There's zero humor.

Other/Mechanics

• There's no auto-transition between black images/renders without any dialog, and the next render. I call this out in any VN I play because it's such an easy thing to implement and is so often overlooked. The player doesn't want to click through a transitional screen, we want the game to automatically do this after x-amount of time has passed until we reach the next render with dialog.
• Pop out helptext is really cool. A lot of VNs make it something more static that you have to dismiss, but this was well-implemented.
• The puzzles are OK, but dev shouldn't pile images on top of each other so you have to drag them away from the center to spread them out; see: Dual Family. That is how these puzzles should be implemented.
• You end up back in your room after certain scenes/events, but there's really not much benefit to this. The game has no time of day setting, which means no sleeping/fast-forwarding time, so the only reason you'd need to be in your room with "free roam" is to check your PC for images/puzzles, most of which you've already seen. When you open your door to the corridor (hall), you then return to the story and there isn't actually any free roam.

Overall, I give 3 out of 5 stars. There's just no real originality here, and every character is forgettable. Renders are great, the detail on the character models is great, but that's pretty much all this one has going for it.

At least the characters are good look in this game cause the rest could do with improvements. Okay the music isn't terrible and the graphics are also quite decent.

But the main character man... why? Why does this guy have to simp and perv on every woman he sees. It would be weird if the MC doesn't admire the beauty of a character in the game but there isn't a second that goes by without it. There are also al these cliche scenes where the MC catches a girl sitting or standing akwardly, its just really stupid and lazy to add that to the game. The MC and these scenes really disturb potential romance and more wholesome build up to sex scenes.

3 stars at this moment (V0.4) seems like the most i can give.

Played v0.3.5

It started realy nice and i wanted to know more.
But after that it went downhill for me atleast.
Its a Adult VN, but i want atleast a somewhat believable behavier.

First: I know its in the discussions, but there is NO NTR.
Also no Cheating or jealousy.

Positiv:
+ I my opinion realy beautiful Models
+ Realy nice Animations
+ Beginning Story is interessting
+ I think most dialogues are well written
(apart from some MC "thinking" sections)


Negativ:
- Too much (standart) drama on too many chars at once.
It also seems non related to main story.
A slow drama buildup and not so many chars at once
would have been better in my Opinion



To be fair, all these situations could be "cleared" and i will change my rating.
But these situations could also continue with the Mc's involvement
for stupid lewd scenes. (The ones ingame right now, are good)
Like they could asked the one Li to have a male in her vids... ect.

This is only 0.3.5 and this could all change drastically.
Everyone and everything can turn out to be fine.
Even though i have no idea how to make the absolutly braindead
sister smarter. (This is far more than just being naive )
I realy hope the story will get interesting again, when it goes on.

Nice characters. Faces are a bit wonky but that's more common than not with 3d render software.

Writing is average, sometimes very boring. My eyes were glazing over, when tried to read this story more thoroughly. Scenario isn't brand new, but still handled kinda well and I really appreciate the MC not being a super asshole. The story is straightforward as it may be, I don't know WHY there's "sandbox" option at the start of the VN, it's an absolutely useless feature.

This game definitely has a lot of potential. The women are absolutely gorgeous (although I admit I am biased to buxom ladies). The writing is pretty decent with only a handful of errors here and there.
While the story does contain your standard tropes (voyeurism, yoga, kind sister/mean sister), there are some mysterious events underpinning the plot that have me curious to continue following the development of the game.
The sandbox mode, at this point, doesn't seem to offer much; might just be better to do this as a regular VN to be honest.
Overall, I'm pretty excited to see where this game goes.

As of 0.03 not much sexual content, but amazing renders and visuals make up for it, its really a 9/10 because there is some pretty pointless Sandbox roaming with no directions, and it has nothing in the world except in locations where you need to be so i would suggest taking it out completely.

Renders/models 5/5
Gameplay 2.5/5
Plot 5/5 : generic incest
Sex scenes 5/5: good but not much yet
overall 4.5/5

The Blackout Is Great adult video games What makes it special is animation and way of movement character different from others
strange story so far I still don't understand what's going on but I am eager to know
A game that has a future I hope it continues good job Dev

Great game with lots of potential. Would be great to see it developed. Tthe number of characters is comparable to similar games but the graphics work in this one impressive. The plot seems to be different than similar games, which is always better.