The Changing Season is more or less your standard "young man moves in with a new family" game. Only real difference, they are not blood relatives and the dad is still alive and is actually the reason the MC is moving in with the new family. The dad has entered a relationship with the mom character Jane after his wife (the MC's mom) died 6 months ago and he accepted a new job in the town Jane lives in.
The MC has some reservations about the new living arrangements, he also resents his father somewhat for finding a new partner so soon after the mother's death. Which is pretty understandable. But the MC almost immediately warms up to his new family, since they are all very nice people actually. Only the older daughter June (who enters the game in a later chapter) is somewhat reserved, but not hostile or bitchy and she also warms up pretty soon.
In true VN fashion the father never has time for his absolutely gorgeous looking new partner. This is of course silly since Jane is absolutely stunning with a sweet disposition. No sane person would neglect her.... Instead he stays at work all the time and it eventually is revealed he has kind of an affair with an old friend who works at the same company.
So there are really no surprises here, it's a pretty standard slice of life story. One big difference, the father is not a complete scumbag, he does like his son and the son also loves him, so there is not all that much animosity here, but they both compete for Jane. But it's apparent that the dad will have no chance of course.
The MC can date or at least try to romance the mom Jane, her daughters Jenny and June, Jane's sister Lana, Lana's daughter Lily, Jenny's friend Alex and Krista, someone the MC will meet at his new workplace (some kind of escort service, only without the sex). So it's a pretty busy roster, and that means you will probably never get as many scenes as you'd like with your favorite character. The bane of all games with multiple love interests.
For example, one episode focuses on Jane, things heat up... but then she disappears (more or less) for some time so the MC can interact with Jenny or Lily or any of the other girls. Even if you would assume the MC may want to spend a lot more time with the extremely hot quasi step mom after a rather interesting movie night. Especially when said mom is probably the prettiest woman in the entire game.
Oh, and the game is also permanently on hold for now. So it's one of those VNs, of which there are too many.
It's a pity. Even though The Changing Season doesn't really offer anything new and thus is more or less your standard slice of life game with a (non blood related) family focus, it's actually still quite a lot of fun.
The characters, with a few exceptions, are pretty well developed, there are also some non standard story elements. Lana's daughter Lily for example has psychological issues and resorts to self harm, which is pretty unusual stuff. It would be interesting to see what the game does with that.
Also, the mom character Jane does have some reasonable reservations and moral qualms about getting too close with the MC. While they kiss and fool around a bit, she is not willing to take it any further, because she is still in a relationship with the MC's dad and she's angry at him because she believes he's cheating on her... so she's not ok with being a total hypocrite and cheating on him with the MC by having actual sex.
Although you may argue that intense kissing and some groping is still cheating... but the game apparently plans for Jane to be a slow burn character.
But of course the game also sets up a way for the MC to have his dad leave Jane for good and to get romantically entangled with his old flame from university days. I mentioned before that the dad is not a complete scumbag in this game... and it's nice that the MC will - of course for very selfish reasons - set him up with his old flame who has a plan for winning over the MC's dad. But if that means everyone will be happy, all the better.
The five chapters give you an ok amount of content, but be warned, nothing here is even close to conclusion. The MC can go all the way with Lily, he can get very close to Jenny (I did not pursue Alex and instead focused on Jenny who I found a lot more interesting), he fools around with Lana who tells him that next time they will do more and the MC is on the very early path for June, the bookish (but pretty) older daughter.
And of course he's also on the path of Jane, they share a few intimate kissing and groping scenes and it's pretty obvious they want more, but as mentioned before Jane is not ok with that as long as she's with the MC's father. But as mentioned the game is in the early stages of getting rid of the dad for good by setting him up with his old flame. Win win for everyone!
Character design is good, all the female love interests are pretty. They are your standard DAZ models, even the MC is someone you have seen in a very popular game (he has been used in several games, the VN makes fun of that in a scene even and references the other game by name). This does not bother me though.
For me the standout character is the mom, Jane, even though she's a bit too busty. But at least the sliders were only pushed to 9.5 or so and it's not completely ridiculous. But I like her overall appearance and character and of course she's also an adult. And since I am an adult I usually prefer them over the teens. That being said the teens in this game are also pretty good. Jenny and Lily are both interesting. There aren't many scenes with June yet (she's in her early twenties), but I suppose once she would have come out of her shell in a future update she'd be pretty interesting too.
Not that you have to make many real choices as of yet, you can pursue pretty much everyone... but you do have to choose between Jenny and Alex, you can't really pursue both as it seems. Didn't bother me since Alex, in my opinion, is the only somewhat boring character, Jenny is definitely much more compelling.
You also get varied bodytypes here... from more petite to more or less normal and quite curvy.
The renders are ok. Nothing that will entirely wow you, but everything looks fine. There are animations, they are ok, again, they will not wow you, but they do the job, these are your standard animation loops seen in countless other games. But it's alright here.
What else... this is your standard game with sun screen scenes, yoga scenes, taking quasi mom out to dinner scenes and it's filled to the brim with eager women who fall for the MC almost immediately. There's also one very early scene where Jenny meets the MC in the hallway, his penis is showing and she immediately gets horny and is infatuated the second she sees it, but fortunately it gets better after that and this silliness is a rare occurrence...
I wish those overused tropes would be retired though, but despite all that the game is still fun. It's also pretty wholesome and romantic, each and every relationship (so far) is based on romantic love and respect. Which is great if you like vanilla.
So the big question: should you play the game?
That entirely depends on your tolerance threshold for games which are on hold (indefinitely?) and which offer some promising content but where everything is of course left hanging in the air with zero conclusions.
If you can accept the very unfinished status The Changing Season can still be a fun experience, the interactions with the women are all pretty sweet and nice (even if not always entirely original) even though the game does utilize the patented sexual progression route with some characters. Saying the usual things like "I am not ready yet, but ask me later...", well at least the character will eventually say she's ready for more... just not all the way, but pretty close. There's nothing left on Jenny's path but actual sex, since the MC and her covered everything else by the end of chapter 5.
So not too much time is wasted with repeated scenes of handjob or blowjob after blowjob, something so many other VNs are guilty of. And there is zero grind. I.e. each scene with a love interest does give you actual progress.
I think the mix of slow burn (June has zero scenes, Jane will leave you wanting for lots more, Jenny less so) and somewhat more eager characters (Lana, Lily) is ok here. It makes sure there's always some action, for those who want that (you can avoid characters if you want!). And things are not entirely casual here, other than with Lana maybe, but the relationships with all the other girls and women, despite the absurdity of the MC dating so many of them at the same time, are not too superficial.
But back to the main question... Should you play this game? If you are ok with yet another game on hold... yes, absolutely. It's fun.
If you are sick and tired of games that are on hold (and which will be on hold for a long time probably) then you should of course avoid The Changing Season. Getting to the end and then realizing that when things start to slowly get together it's all over and you will probably have to wait years for any potential updates can be very frustrating.
I believe that the VN could be a pretty fun experience should it ever get picked up again and receive more content. It's one of the better VNs I played and with maybe one exception (Alex) I really liked all the characters, each LI is unique enough to make her interesting in her own way and with Lily's self harm problems the game even has some less common story elements.
So if you are ok with unfinished games that aim to give you a warm comforting feeling inside, where everything is sweet, wholesome and based on romantic love... give it a try, you will most certainly enjoy the content that is available. You only have to deal with the frustration that 5 chapters is all you will get and that you will almost certainly have to wait a long, long time for more.
The MC has some reservations about the new living arrangements, he also resents his father somewhat for finding a new partner so soon after the mother's death. Which is pretty understandable. But the MC almost immediately warms up to his new family, since they are all very nice people actually. Only the older daughter June (who enters the game in a later chapter) is somewhat reserved, but not hostile or bitchy and she also warms up pretty soon.
In true VN fashion the father never has time for his absolutely gorgeous looking new partner. This is of course silly since Jane is absolutely stunning with a sweet disposition. No sane person would neglect her.... Instead he stays at work all the time and it eventually is revealed he has kind of an affair with an old friend who works at the same company.
So there are really no surprises here, it's a pretty standard slice of life story. One big difference, the father is not a complete scumbag, he does like his son and the son also loves him, so there is not all that much animosity here, but they both compete for Jane. But it's apparent that the dad will have no chance of course.
The MC can date or at least try to romance the mom Jane, her daughters Jenny and June, Jane's sister Lana, Lana's daughter Lily, Jenny's friend Alex and Krista, someone the MC will meet at his new workplace (some kind of escort service, only without the sex). So it's a pretty busy roster, and that means you will probably never get as many scenes as you'd like with your favorite character. The bane of all games with multiple love interests.
For example, one episode focuses on Jane, things heat up... but then she disappears (more or less) for some time so the MC can interact with Jenny or Lily or any of the other girls. Even if you would assume the MC may want to spend a lot more time with the extremely hot quasi step mom after a rather interesting movie night. Especially when said mom is probably the prettiest woman in the entire game.
Oh, and the game is also permanently on hold for now. So it's one of those VNs, of which there are too many.
It's a pity. Even though The Changing Season doesn't really offer anything new and thus is more or less your standard slice of life game with a (non blood related) family focus, it's actually still quite a lot of fun.
The characters, with a few exceptions, are pretty well developed, there are also some non standard story elements. Lana's daughter Lily for example has psychological issues and resorts to self harm, which is pretty unusual stuff. It would be interesting to see what the game does with that.
Also, the mom character Jane does have some reasonable reservations and moral qualms about getting too close with the MC. While they kiss and fool around a bit, she is not willing to take it any further, because she is still in a relationship with the MC's dad and she's angry at him because she believes he's cheating on her... so she's not ok with being a total hypocrite and cheating on him with the MC by having actual sex.
Although you may argue that intense kissing and some groping is still cheating... but the game apparently plans for Jane to be a slow burn character.
But of course the game also sets up a way for the MC to have his dad leave Jane for good and to get romantically entangled with his old flame from university days. I mentioned before that the dad is not a complete scumbag in this game... and it's nice that the MC will - of course for very selfish reasons - set him up with his old flame who has a plan for winning over the MC's dad. But if that means everyone will be happy, all the better.
The five chapters give you an ok amount of content, but be warned, nothing here is even close to conclusion. The MC can go all the way with Lily, he can get very close to Jenny (I did not pursue Alex and instead focused on Jenny who I found a lot more interesting), he fools around with Lana who tells him that next time they will do more and the MC is on the very early path for June, the bookish (but pretty) older daughter.
And of course he's also on the path of Jane, they share a few intimate kissing and groping scenes and it's pretty obvious they want more, but as mentioned before Jane is not ok with that as long as she's with the MC's father. But as mentioned the game is in the early stages of getting rid of the dad for good by setting him up with his old flame. Win win for everyone!
Character design is good, all the female love interests are pretty. They are your standard DAZ models, even the MC is someone you have seen in a very popular game (he has been used in several games, the VN makes fun of that in a scene even and references the other game by name). This does not bother me though.
For me the standout character is the mom, Jane, even though she's a bit too busty. But at least the sliders were only pushed to 9.5 or so and it's not completely ridiculous. But I like her overall appearance and character and of course she's also an adult. And since I am an adult I usually prefer them over the teens. That being said the teens in this game are also pretty good. Jenny and Lily are both interesting. There aren't many scenes with June yet (she's in her early twenties), but I suppose once she would have come out of her shell in a future update she'd be pretty interesting too.
Not that you have to make many real choices as of yet, you can pursue pretty much everyone... but you do have to choose between Jenny and Alex, you can't really pursue both as it seems. Didn't bother me since Alex, in my opinion, is the only somewhat boring character, Jenny is definitely much more compelling.
You also get varied bodytypes here... from more petite to more or less normal and quite curvy.
The renders are ok. Nothing that will entirely wow you, but everything looks fine. There are animations, they are ok, again, they will not wow you, but they do the job, these are your standard animation loops seen in countless other games. But it's alright here.
What else... this is your standard game with sun screen scenes, yoga scenes, taking quasi mom out to dinner scenes and it's filled to the brim with eager women who fall for the MC almost immediately. There's also one very early scene where Jenny meets the MC in the hallway, his penis is showing and she immediately gets horny and is infatuated the second she sees it, but fortunately it gets better after that and this silliness is a rare occurrence...
I wish those overused tropes would be retired though, but despite all that the game is still fun. It's also pretty wholesome and romantic, each and every relationship (so far) is based on romantic love and respect. Which is great if you like vanilla.
So the big question: should you play the game?
That entirely depends on your tolerance threshold for games which are on hold (indefinitely?) and which offer some promising content but where everything is of course left hanging in the air with zero conclusions.
If you can accept the very unfinished status The Changing Season can still be a fun experience, the interactions with the women are all pretty sweet and nice (even if not always entirely original) even though the game does utilize the patented sexual progression route with some characters. Saying the usual things like "I am not ready yet, but ask me later...", well at least the character will eventually say she's ready for more... just not all the way, but pretty close. There's nothing left on Jenny's path but actual sex, since the MC and her covered everything else by the end of chapter 5.
So not too much time is wasted with repeated scenes of handjob or blowjob after blowjob, something so many other VNs are guilty of. And there is zero grind. I.e. each scene with a love interest does give you actual progress.
I think the mix of slow burn (June has zero scenes, Jane will leave you wanting for lots more, Jenny less so) and somewhat more eager characters (Lana, Lily) is ok here. It makes sure there's always some action, for those who want that (you can avoid characters if you want!). And things are not entirely casual here, other than with Lana maybe, but the relationships with all the other girls and women, despite the absurdity of the MC dating so many of them at the same time, are not too superficial.
But back to the main question... Should you play this game? If you are ok with yet another game on hold... yes, absolutely. It's fun.
If you are sick and tired of games that are on hold (and which will be on hold for a long time probably) then you should of course avoid The Changing Season. Getting to the end and then realizing that when things start to slowly get together it's all over and you will probably have to wait years for any potential updates can be very frustrating.
I believe that the VN could be a pretty fun experience should it ever get picked up again and receive more content. It's one of the better VNs I played and with maybe one exception (Alex) I really liked all the characters, each LI is unique enough to make her interesting in her own way and with Lily's self harm problems the game even has some less common story elements.
So if you are ok with unfinished games that aim to give you a warm comforting feeling inside, where everything is sweet, wholesome and based on romantic love... give it a try, you will most certainly enjoy the content that is available. You only have to deal with the frustration that 5 chapters is all you will get and that you will almost certainly have to wait a long, long time for more.
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