VN - Ren'Py - Abandoned - The Changing Season [Ch.5] [Storyteller97]

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.

In my opinion, this novel is pure class and an absolute delight to experience. I'm sure St97 must be very proud of all that has been achieved so far. I do so hope he/she has the opportunity and the drive to finish this superb story sometime in the days to come.

I am happy and grateful to have discovered "The Changing Season" and would become a willing subscriber if possible at some future date. We must support (where possible) our creators honestly and properly.

Whatever happens take care St97. Always follow your heart and never your head...which I hope one day leads you back to concluding this wonderful creation both for yourself and for us all.

And for me, Jane is absolutely down-to-earth, drop-dead gorgeous, both personality and looks. Jenny and Lana are also incredible, not so much the others and definitely not the male mc .

Its a porn-game, just that, nothing more... story is dull, nothing to say about, just an excuse to throw the MC in a house full of woman who cant wait to get a hold of your cock after you say "hi" to them.

The renders are decent, but i cant stand baloon tits anymore... they are getting so big the woman must bent over to stand or walk, it looks ridiculous, but to be fair, every second game around here got woman with such ridiculous boobs... dont know why.

If you want a game with not more story in it than just most of any porn scenes in the world, than youre at the right place. The dialogues doesnt matter, there is nothing interesting to read or going on.

The choices do matter though.... kinda, they dont influence the story here (cause there is none) but every choice gets you either in the panties of the girl, or not. Thats about it.

Really, there is not much in this game, just getting in the panties of the girls, fast and without anything to worry about.

If youre looking just for porn, i recommend... go and watch porn, cause the sex in this game is not really nice to watch. If you want romance, story, or interesting interactions between the MC and the other characters, this is the wrong game.

So i dont know... its not terrible, cause the game is not a mess or anything. Its just boring, not much going on besides to chase pussy. (ok chase is the wrong word, you cant fail to get all the pussy in the game, and that very fast)

The good: Renders are fine. Writing is OK.

The bad: Story is rather dull and standard. (O god, another ridiculous photo shoot.)
The atmosphere sometimes fails: Kitschy piano music and kicked puppy looks all around, somewhat clashing with the usual "cock hanging out of shorts" themes .
Dialogues are sometimes a bit painful; I would prefer not to listen to
juvenile religion talk; or hear discussions on how "creative writing or psychology" is a preferable curriculum to "sciences" because of job prospects (sic!), etc. Somehow all the characters seem not terribly bright.

On the plus side there are moments of sweetness.

The models and renderings are OK (if somewhat bland for my taste). The mother looks like 16 in many renderings. (As usual, age seems to be encoded more in tit size than anything else? Huge Tits = Teen, Ridiculously humongous non-human tits = MILF)

I do not particularly enjoy the premise that the other males are naturally inferior (which extends to MCs dad, which I find a particularly strange setup). And as usual, the MC is on a mission to fuck everything that is female and has a pulse, but when the MCs father receives a flirty text message he is a disgusting pervert.

At least there seems to be one OK male (Alan), and a talk between MC and his dad actually turns out reasonable.

Another plus is that at least the MC can keep his hands of LIs that are drunk.

Somewhat frustrating that some choices are restricted to "comfort her"(meaning: try to have sex with LI) and "leave her" (feeling like "MC doesn't give a shit about LI). Also, there is no choice to avoid some actions that seem unreasonable to me.

The game is really interesting and the characters look really really good. I'm curious how the story will continue . There aren't many games that I like and there are far too few characters that I like. And I hope we get to see more because the game really has potential .

The Changing Seasons (chapter 5 version) starts with the generic story that happens all too often in these games: MC has to move from his house to the house of a female group. In this case, his mother has passed and his father is trying to rebuild his life by starting a relation with a woman who has daughters. It's not a bad starting point, albeit it is just too generic, both in the starting point as well the characters and developments.

In technical aspects, renders are decent but not incredible, and sound is as it often is in this games. No bugs to report as far as I went, which is good. I dislike something in the character's faces, though, probably the eyes being too big, that makes them look "off" to me, like a little bit alien-like (like the PS1 announcement with the strange girl, if you remember that one). This took me way off of the game, and made me unable to enjoy it because in a game like this, character models are very important.

If you put it together with a very generic feel to everything else, it made me decide to stop playing and move on to other games. All in all, 2 stars.

This is an excellent game! I love the renders, which are unique, and very well done. The women are gorgeous. The plot is well written and engaging. There are plenty of choices, and they matter in which directions the story will go. I strongly recommend this one!

(v0.5)

I really liked this game; very beautiful models/renders, good story, It's all good but...

Sudden behavioral changes... While the character of June is shown to be tough and takes time to get used to, you may suddenly find yourself holding her passionately. When I pursue Alex and NOT Jenny, Jenny can kiss you out of the blue and suddenly you find yourself in 'Love Path' with Jenny. I don't understand, this game has not Harem tag but it feels like it has. I'm not complaining, it would even better for me. But It's all sudden and events unfold all at once. Even the games that has 'Harem' tag would not be that fast. I'm just sayin'.

I didn't like the MC's look. In episode 5, you have to cut your hair and beard and... It's so bad that I think it definitely needs to change.

I really liked the game as I said. But I think, this game will be better with 'Harem Path'. The tag could suit the game so well. But of course, these are my thoughs.

I'm looking forward to updates

Lily alone makes the game a 10/10. Amazing character design,
amazing renders. She looks gorgeous at all times, has a dynamic personality with multiple sides to her. Clearly has issues, like any real human being. So much potential for her story to evolve and for us to help her heal and get a happy ending.

Every girl has a fairly interesting rounded personality, especially Lily, June, and Jenny.

The dialogue never feels awkward to me, feels like something real humans could be saying. Renders are great. Story is kind of fast-paced, but i'd rather that then a 100 dialogue boxes over re-used renders.

Choices matter, I have two routes despite only caring about Lily and Jenny more than everyone else. Simply because you can't have both Lily's pool playing date and Jenny's homecoming in the same playthrough. They are both such wholesome, romantic moments. I need both in my life.

Music choices usually fit the tone of the story-telling and actually add something to the game. Only real negative point is the sex. Sex scenes or sexual scenes usually don't last all that long, aren't very dynamic or animated, and have no sfx. Honestly though, I'd rather have a game with a good story and ok sex, than one with good sex and ok story.

I don't usually like visual novels with little user input but I quite like this one. Interesting story and good visuals. I see a lot of potential here but I don't know exactly what happened to the ladies in later versions as they used to be more attractive in earlier versions.

If i review this game a year ago i would rate it 5 but after playing all the amazing games with great stories this one is a bit lacking

-Good graphics
models and places look good seen better, seen a lot worse
the eyes of the models are bit low quality

-Story is bit rushed and not really interesting
story just didnt inspire me its not terrible but its cliche and cheesy

-Dialogs are weak
They are not awful but i guess i got old and cant see from eyes of a horny teenager

-Sex scenes are not bad
I liked it that it doesnt dwell in to sex too quickly but it gets there fast
i couldnt see all scenes because story is boring but what see wasnt so bad

-Options does matter
Its very important for every game that options should matter
its good that game gives you options for positive or negative and 1 or 2
i would be much more happy if it gives me more variarity of choises not just 1 or 2


in the end its not bad, not great

3/5 is what it deserves

You can skip the whole story and enjoy the sex scenes

(ver. Ch.3)

This game has exactly what I look for.

= Captivating story (especially the relationship with Lily).
= Meaningful choices.
= Beautiful girls (esp. Alex & June).
= Charming, lovable personalities (esp. Jenny, and perhaps Jane).

(Jane looks like 25 though, but I won't complain... The MC is not "handsome" (rather scary face maybe), but I am a straight male, what do I know about male beauty?)

The only real disappointment is that this is another game that has limited monogamous view on relationships. Why can't I go to the Homecoming dance with Alex & Jenny both? They are BFF, they wouldn't mind to share! And dancing as a couple is not obligatory, trios can dance too...

Well this game is nice. Quality of renders is good, animations are above average. Story isn't much developed yet but for me looks good. I like that is quite uniqe, not the usual scenario. Thing I must praise is music in background. Very calming and fitting and smooth. For me, this game definetely should get your time, I think it's worth. 7.5/10. [Ch. 3].

I'll start with that I actually like the game's plot and renders, but...!

My first reaction when I started was "Wait a minute, this is the MC who is supposed to be 19? He looks 40." I thought it was the MC's father when I saw him. xD And Jenny looks the same age as Jane, they both look like in their mid 20's! What is going on?

To me it looks like the MC and his dad are actually brothers and the girls they move in with are sisters. Hell, I'd even change the script, but it's actually not a bad story.

I like the story, the girls and renders overall are beautiful, there are plenty really hot scenes, the dialogues are nice.

If the author didn't overlook the part that the characters are supposed to look their age, I would give it a perfect score!

I actually recommend people to play it even if you're as obsessed with details like I am. xD

at first im like nope not my kind of game but then I read some comments and decided to give it a chance ill be honest I don't like the beginning but im starting to love the story and the quality of the images. good luck with this

wow, this on caught me out of left field. wasn't looking for a new game but i downloaded it and instead of waiting to finish the one i was on i jumped right into this one and it was Great. like others i was a bit surprised with the Father line instead of mother (passed) and o bevy of beauties that awaited me. i, in the mc was sus with dads descsion but W alkers were like a pre-built family to me. there is a sense of reality in the fiction here.... as if i would be handed a house of hotties

This game is like a box of chocolates with cliche filling. From the outside it looks nice, but soon after you take the first bite one porn game cliche after another is thrown at you, without the slightest hint of any originality.

If you don't care about that you should ignore this review and just enjoy the game, but otherwise I wouldn't recommend it.

So, for anyone who's interested in the recipe:
- Young guy moving in with 'hot' single mom and two daughters? Check!
- All the women falling madly in love with you at first sight? Check!
- The MC having no special skills apart from being the MC? Check!
- 'We don't really know how to make big boobs look realistic so we just blow 'em up like balloons'? Check!
- 'The MC is a teenager but we don't want him to look like a baby, so we'll just make him a 30-year-old midget'? Check!
- You apparently being the only normal young guy in the world? Check!
- All the women being immensely impressed by seemingly insignificant acts, like doing the dishes or calling a waiter to order? Check!
- Implementing a point system to give the illusion that you can alter the story? Check!

Now a few cliches here and there never hurt anyone, but this is just too much. You're basically playing a summary of all the standard porn games combined. On top of that, it's not done very well. The writing is inconsistent and the female characters (with the exception of 2 or 3) look stereotypical and uninspired.

This has all the elements I'm looking for, except the complete game. Keeps a lot within the family, but there is promise of extracurricular activities, & a propensity for sharing. Two of the characters are seriously overdeveloped in lung capacity, which isn't my first preference, all others, however, seem to be normal human beings. I have a predilection for shyness, & there is plenty to go around, even with the protagonist, despite his surprised & enthusiastic scheming, all around meets my most fervent criteria. I'll be looking for this game to come out.

Great start to a game! The renders are excellent and the play-through is well done. Dialog is well written and the MC is likeable. If the developer keeps up this pace, this could be one of the best games on here.

Updated: This game has changed a LOT in the time since I first reviewed this game and even since I previously updated my review. The developer has done a great job of improving on every aspect of the storyline, the characters, and the future potential of the game. I can honestly say that at this point that I am once again excited to see where ST97 goes with this one.


This game has a lot of promise and is a rarity in not being a game obsessed with incest. The MC is a nice though somewhat bland guy who moves cross country with his dad to live in the house of his father's girlfriend and her family. Overall, not a bad start and the various character's have solid, believable personalities. I am interested in seeing the story and relationships develop. As of the last update where the MC took a job as a male escort I don't believe this game is worth my interest and I won't be following it any further.

Pros: Interesting characters, a non-traditional plot (for a porn game), some well done renders (Jenny, Lily, Alex, and the MC).

Cons: The MC is instantly obsessed with his dad's new girlfriend, Jane, to the point of constantly thinking about her. In addition, per my comment above, the MC has now taken a job as a male escort. According to the dev this is so he can meet a woman he wouldn't meet normally. As I have no interest in playing a prostitute I will no longer be following this game.