VN - Ren'Py - Abandoned - The Collector [v0.1 Alpha] [Heartgear]

sound and music: amazing.

story: amazing.

draws and graffics: amazing.

characters: amazingly well done.

scenes (all of them): really well done.

gameplay: you can feel it there, but there is not much...yet.

conclussion: what i expect? a low quality porn parody that help me to fap some steam away.
what i get? an a amazing story, full of suspense and mistery, that feels so good and with a lots of tough
in the details, and also with characters so well done that you are gonna get lured by them inmediatly.
wich it was a DISSAPOINT, i was here for some crappy draws of pokemons tits, not this
"best movie award nominated"...i get my dick ready for nothing.

this game TOTTALLY deserve your time and money.

psdt: if you are a DEV, i higly recomend you to play this game and take notes.

[This review is based off the 0.1 Alpha and hence may not accurately depict later versions of the game - discussed below]

In short - I think this is probably one of the best introductions to a VN that I've ever played.

I really like the art in general; It's not the absolute best ever, I guess, but there's some nice flourishes, and it's generally well put-together. Character and background designs are pretty good on the whole. Scenes are very well directed, with the character sprites moving around plenty and easily conveying the idea of what you'd be seeing were this a video, without drawing too much attention to the fact that it's not. It also gets the player a little more involved than with Ren'Py's usual "make choice, watch scene, repeat" structure, which I do like. (not to knock games that do do this; just nice to see some variation)

The story... I actually really like, but am reluctant to describe, because I feel like the shorthand doesn't do it justice. Just promise not to leave right after I describe it, OK?
Right, so. It's essentially a more grown-up take on the Pokémon worl- WAIT COME BACK!
Seriously though, it uses that setting to good effect. While the intro is fairly sizeable, it uses that series as a touchstone to provide a lot more backstory without flooding the player with exposition. Most of what it outright says is just to cover what's different in this interpretation, and it's presented in a fairly natural way.

Additionally - I am a sucker for harder Damsel-in-Distress-type stories, and I don't think there's anywhere near enough of them. This sets one up masterfully. I was tempted to give it 5 stars for that alone. But... I didn't.

The main stumbling block to me is where the VN on the whole seems to be going. This isn't something the game tries to hide - there is a massive disclaimer at the start that proceeding with this level of design isn't viable, and that's fair enough. It does seem like this version was published once that decision was arrived at - there are a few moments where art doesn't appear to be in a "finalized" state, for example. I'm not sure whether this means the intro is going to be re-done for the main game to remove elements, or to bring it in-line with the rest of the game's production values, or what. Because of that (and the fact that it's just an intro), I am a little hesitant to give it a full 5.

That said, even with a massive downgrade, I'm still excited to see where this goes. If I ever get to a point where I can comfortably donate to stuff on patreon, this is definitely one of the first few projects on my "to back" list.

(addendum: the "no sexual content" tag is definitely true for this release. I am hopeful that won't be the case in future releases (again - I am really big on the DiD theme) but I like the story enough that I'm not going to knock it if it doesn't change. But, y'know, wrists and ankles crossed that it does.)