Ren'Py - The Fixer [v0.3.3.21] [Sam_Tail]

There was a period a couple years ago, when I was trying to only play games with female protagonists (long story). During that period, this was pretty much the top of the list for my personal tastes. I was quite obsessed with it for a while. But I moved on, and I've just now come back to see what's changed since I played last (I believe the last version was 0.2.40; this review is of 0.3.2.14). I tried starting with Exhibitionist, because the guide said it would provide "access to special exhibitionist branches," but that was mostly just letting the character be naked anywhere, without much else being changed by that. Not only did that trait not seem to do much, but I found it annoying how much lack of impact nakedness has in this game. At one point, I had the MC walk into the landlord's office completely naked and ask if there was anything else she could do to cover her rent payments, and the landlord had absolutely no reaction at all. It kinda makes nudity and exhibitionism feel pointless and almost strips the sexiness out of being naked, since no one else in the game world seems to think it's sexy.

So I restarted and tried Bambi, and apparently it wasn't actually the Exhibitionist trait that allowed me to have the MC walk around in her underwear from day 1. In the older versions of the game I played before, the game would prevent you from doing that, but it seems like parts of it have been pretty massively overhauled. I guess the idea is that you can lose your clothes (like maybe someone yanks your skirt away while you're on the bus, and then you might be left with nothing to wear unless you can scavenge some from the dumpster). So obviously the game can't fully prevent you from going around with no clothes for that element of it to work, but it could still have a thing where it checks whether you have clothes you could wear (while also checking whether you're conservative enough to care about the exposure), and then doesn't let you leave if you clear those checks. I think with a female corruption game, there has to be some resistance to the player just immediately making the character a slut, and I thought this game did a good job of that before (almost too good; it was really difficult and grindy to ever get started down a sexual path if you didn't make sure to lose your virginity in the first scripted Fixer mission). Even back then, it didn't feel like her first time with various milestones was a particularly momentous occasion, just kinda happening without much fanfare. But now, stuff can happen without much fanfare AND without any buildup.

In the old days, I recall it being a long process to unlock the option to have sex with the soccer boys. In this version, I did one dare match (that was just for money, not even like stripping or anything sexual), and the next time I checked the additional options, the fuck button was there. And it might've been there before, because I wasn't checking it regularly, and it's not like it lights up to tell you a new option is available. So basically, all you have to do is play soccer with the boys for a few days until they invite you to drink with them behind the school, and then talk with them back there for a few days, and then there's a "have full vaginal intercourse" button that's just right there for you, despite having no warm-up or build-up or lead-in of any kind. That doesn't feel like "corruption" at all. As a "slut game" (a game where you can just look at a cute girl do sexy things), I'd give this a slightly higher rating than the older versions, because of the multiple breast sizes and some new poses here and there. As a corruption game, I would give it a very low rating.

Also, there were times (especially when the MC was very drunk) when she wouldn't take money for sex, but would give it away for free. I think that was already a problem in the older versions, but it seems more pronounced when there's a big banner at the top saying why she's not interested, and then she turns around and does it for fun half an hour later. And yes, I appreciate that "I'll have sex for pleasure, but I'm not a whore" is a legitimate way that some people feel, but that's not how I want to build my character, and I wish there were some way to tune those preferences in the game. One of the possible banner statuses when people try to solicit the MC is "I don't want to, but I need the money," and I wish there was some way (without modding the scripts) to have the RNG be more biased in favor of that result, because that's the kind of corruption narrative I personally want to play (I want her to be coerced by circumstances, not violent force).

The fundamental core of how this game works has great potential for some very sexy emergent storytelling, but it's just not polished enough. And given how much focus has been spent on elements of the game that have absolutely nothing to do with that aspect of it, it's looking like it probably never will be.

[EDIT: I went back to a fresh New Game to see exactly how long it would take to get the sex button with the soccer boys. Starting with the waif trait, I spent as much of every day with the boys as I could. It took them six school days to invite Sammy out back, and then three more days for Nate to say the thing about how he wants to take Sammy behind the bushes and make her scream. As soon as that happened, the sex button was there. When I clicked it, Sammy started saying "so guys, we have done some naughty things together," even though the naughtiest thing that had happened in the entire game for that playthrough was maybe a soccer guy groping her once during a game. But as soon as that button appears, the player can initiate full penetrative sex any time they feel like it. That's not a good corruption game.)

This is weird, because I really like this game. If a few numbers got tweaked here and there, it would be a 6/5, but there are a few things that just bog down the experience for me to around a 3.5/5

Pros:
- INSANE customization. Skin color, nipple size, eye color, body shape, clothing, clothing colors, clothing transparency, passive effects gained, etc. You can mold your character how you want to a stunning degree.
- Multiple ways to "finish a mission". You can be buff, smart, charming, witty, or even slutty to achieve your goals. How you want to finish a mission is all up to you. Some ways are much more difficult than others, but that makes it all the more worth it.
- Multiple "statuses". Energy, mood, health, attractiveness, horniness, etc. It's honestly pretty fun to balance everything.
- Corruption is great! You start off fairly innocent, but the more depraved actions you take, the more your dialogue and actions change.
-No time restraints, so you're free to play at your own pace. If you wanna do crunches for 2 months straight to get abs, you can.

Cons:
-Its WAYYYYYYYYYYYY too easy to become slutty, and once you do, there's no turning back. My character got raped after blacking out drunk, and after getting raped, she was completely fine with sex. She went from "Showing my stomach feels scandalous" to "I will go to that group of men in the bus because I am horny and want to be gangbanged" overnight.
-The grind sucks. Getting money sucks, exercising sucks, raising your mood sucks, spamming "explore" to look for new clothes sucks, etc. There is an ingame "cheat" menu, but that flat out feels unearned. However, when working a shift at the bar gives 5 bucks (AFTER being molested) and weekly rent is 400 bucks? It's nearly mandatory to cheat.
- Its a bit unclear what you need to do to raise certain stats. It took me a few hours to understand that you could study in the library to raise your IQ, because the game doesn't outright tell you what's to be expected in certain locations. You can this a skill issue on my part I guess, but I still don't understand how to obtain willpower.
-Some places open at certain times. That isn't a problem. The problem is that waiting for those places to open sucks, since the "wait" option makes your character take a random action in the area. For example, if you choose to "wait" for the hospital to open (which is where the main questline is), you might end up accidentally walking into the bar and buying a drink...which costs about 4 bucks...and if you plan on playing this game with no cheats, thats an entire workshift of pay you've wasted because you were waiting. Furthermore, that drink makes you drunk, so you might end up having to wait even more to "sober up" before you can enter the hospital.
-Because there's so much freedom with time, you might end up sleeping/waking up at random times of the day. So you'll be awake at 2 am, not sure of what to do, and then you'll just do crunches for 4 hours to get tired again, take a shower, sleep, and by the time you wake up you missed school.

Overall, many problems are tied to numbers. Tweak the numbers, and the game is excellent. Hell, even with these issues, the game is still excellent...which is why I would love to see these issues fixed, to turn this excellent game into an untouchable game.

This is on version 0.3.1.60.

So let's be honest, some of the biggest issues with games as a whole are the limitations of player choice. This is even moreso true with adult games, the vast majority of which are garbage shoveled out with little thought.

From that perspective, "The Fixer"'s stance on player customizability and dedication to tracking events is alluring. To be honest, it does a pretty good job on that first part - offering the most options for the visuals of a player character I've ever seen in a Ren'Py title - and the attempts at maintaining these customizations throughout the game and acknowledging them during scenes are outstanding.

Something you need to understand before you play this game is the setting, because the description on the title page is very, very misleading. This is actually a mid-apocalypse game, where humanity and modern technology has been greatly disturbed by...a bacterial disease...which...took out the internet...ok the premise is shit and I honestly feel it's just the usual "oh no the birth rate gotta get people pregnant" gimmick you'll see all the time...and never mind the advanced technology on display, that's all an illusion...but don't worry, even with the "collapse of society", as the game likes to put it, the bus system still exists? In fact, were it not for the setting being shoved down my throat, nothing would seem different at all...with the potential exception of every female character constantly wanting to be molested and gangbanged for some reason...that one is weird but has nothing to do with the setting they're just that way.

This is not a game where your character is a "Fixer", this is yet another game where your character is meant to become a whore. The vast, vast, VAST majority of the content revolves around getting assaulted/raped or using your body to solve minor problems, typically in the form of prostitution. You are quite literally not given any other option you'd expect of a "Fixer" character, especially considering that your character is completely untrained and unexperienced in such a role, despite the front page really giving an impression of capability.

Beyond this, the story is largely non-existent. You aren't given many detailed objectives of things to "fix", the "story" is basically "look into this and don't forget to get raped on the way out".

And this is sort of where I'm left confused. Why put so much effort into the character visual customization...when there are no options for character definition? You're left with a detailed character that you put time and effort into building visually, but with no ability to guide her.

The gameplay systems are...oh no...oh no no no...so you know how a lot of people dislike sandbox games because of the grindy stat elements they like to include? Think of that, but this time your stats regress after you grind them, so you have to grind them again. I'm completely lost on why this is a thing the developer decided to do, but it is awful, and I'm generally pretty cool with sandbox games.

And this all brings me back to my initial point: "It does a pretty good job on that first part". The second part however, "dedication to tracking events", is problematic for a huge point of contention with the game: bugs. "The Fixer" is a pretty buggy game, your character will often have slight (or major) appearance changes somewhat randomly (for instance, suddenly looking pregnant or having scars) when something happens, perhaps the text for an event is displayed incorrectly for what transpired, or a value isn't actually being tracked. And look, these things happen, especially with "The Fixer"'s attempt at variation and tracking that variation, there are a lot of flags to check...but to be honest, I think the single greatest symptom here is "overengineering". Looking at it, the code is generally a lot more complicated than I would have expected for what it is and I feel that's where a lot of the bugs stem from.

"The Fixer" is interesting, I like a lot of what it does...but the lack of alternative solutions and substantial player choice, along with an insane and repeating grind, really make it pretty unbearable to play.

One of, if not the, best Renpy games I've played and it's created by a solo developer. The game is a well done sandbox with a lot of thought and effort put into the characters and world. Developer continually works to improve the game as well. Dev pushes the limits of what a Renpy game can be with their sandbox, and game mechanics. While the game isn't perfect yet, and still needs polish of course, it is one of the most fun and engaging porn games I've ever played. 10/10 would recommend even while unfinished. I'm excited to keep following this dev and see what they do next.

On the surface, The Fixer seems to be the perfect example of a competently-run Patreon project. The core foundation of the game is solid enough, and updates have been flowing in at a steady rate for years. Character customization is its main selling point, and this is also reflected in how well the game keeps track of your character details in cutscenes. However, this all doesn’t amount to much in the end. The art is horribly bland, owing much to the fact that it’s just traced-over Koikatsu models, with backgrounds being a blurry afterthought. There are no sound effects or music, and trying to play this game normally will result in having to deal with a mind-numbing grind that is further hurt by the fact that stats realistically decrease over time.

Use the debug mode if you want to bust a nut in a timely manner. Otherwise, don’t bother.

The amount of freedom granted in this game is top tier. It quickly opens up to a very free experience, not forcing you to go to many particular places. It also has an engaging story, which quickly branches off into some smaller side quests. Unfortunately the main story isn't yet deeply developed, but what is there I very much enjoyed.

The clothing system also works well, with a lot of variety. I also find the stats well balanced, in that it takes time to improve them and you don't instantly lose them for ignoring them for a few days, even though they do slowly decay.

I also like some of the more novel things in the game, like the diary where the MC writes about various things as they experience them in the game.

The game still has a ways to go before being anything near completion, but with weekly patreon updates the developer has impressed with good progress and consistency.

one of the two renpy/visual novel game that i really enjoyed the other being uni, it is kinda grindy but there's built in cheat which really appreciated
the story/writing is good, interaction between characters is good.
the only nitpick that i can think is i dont like my mc using swear words many times, i like my mc to be like a little shy, that's just personal preference tho.

Extremely nice sandbox.
Some quests thrown in to spice thing up, but you can do whatever.

Extensive dress selection and character customization, even during gameplay.

You can play as submissive or strong willed but there's always someone trying to feel you up (or worse). Feels realistic enough, unlike most japanese games with wet cardboard heroines, but not so realistic to turn you off.

Great game, lots of variety in character art and decently entertaining gameplay loop. Lots of different niches and the art style is clean. Seems like dev is pretty consistent with development. The amount of modifications to the character is one of the best features.

The Fixer v3.00.01

Pros:
Nice Artwork
Create your Character/Character Customization
Cheat Menu

Cons:
There is not much content.
There is not much you can do in the game except work at a bar, go to school, beach, dress up, train, searching for trash that you can sell, getting raped, be a whore to make money.
World feels small and empty
You can only travel by Bus which often times forces you in to being harassed which feels repetitive.
Character Stats drop way too fast which forces you to use cheats.
Game feels grindy and unrewarding.
No Sounds
“Sex Scenes” feel dull and are basically the same image with no Animations.
Scenes feel repetitive/No Animations, just static images.
There is not a real corruption system. If she is a whore she can suck and fuck dicks left and right, but then automatically denies being touched in school or at the Bus because she has willpower which doesn´t make sense and I hate it.
The story is original but doesn´t feel really interesting due to the lack of content.
Dialogues of other Characters lead you to paths you can´t do. Not sure if it´s because I used cheats, but if you are in school for example and listen to conversations of other students talking about the beach or the Boy's Dressing Room there is nothing you can do really.

I think this game has the tools to be a success and be a great game, but there is still so much that is missing and stuff that needs to be reworked.
It feels like a demo that was stretched to the length of a full game which forces you to use the cheat menu to skip the tedious stat grinding.
The game feels empty, but grindy and doesn´t offer much variety and lacks creativity and that´s why I can only give it 2 stars.
I will follow the game's progress and update the rating if needed.

I love the way game agrees you to playing the role you want, whether it virgin or whore, childfree or a broodmother, only dom or sub elements may be missing

Really appreciate that game allows to do such things as going commando, do exhibitionism, walk around in sperm at open bodyparts, just play as "Hope in public" but looking, and all the way you want. That's a dream to see progress in it, to be more interesting!

That game reminds me "Raven's quest", but I hope this one will be in a head above (and it seems to be like that!)

Unfortunately can't do support. Just as I can, I wish endless success to this project ❤

As this game's current rating is way too enthusiastic, I will add my poor rating to add some badly needed balance.

The game has been in development for two years now and it's really dissapointing to see so little content waiting for the player behind endless hours of mind-dumbing clicking between locations and activities in order to grind the ever degrading stats. Sometimes I wonder if this is some sort of a sadistic psychological experiment to see how many hours one is willing to sink in the vain hope of seeing some action, anything... Even with delibate use of in-built cheating engine, you must suffer through scores and scores or repeat events, additionally prolonged by identical dozens of dialog lines and GCs in order to get somewhere... which turns out to be nothingburgerwhere. The biggest offender is the bar work shift, where you get to see arms and legs and torsos having a pointless banter. We all know that bar work is just a front for whoring and not much else, but we have to grin and bear through that anyway, even if it's the 100th shift and your MC is a well-known prostitute, with her title written on her forhead in permanent marker, just in case. Whoever thought that repeating the same long-winded scenes ad nauseam is even remotely sexually arousing or otherwise exciting?

Thus, if you get through all that ordeal of exploring all content there is, you're left with one silly story (which the author doesn't know where to go with, judging from the newest revamping which removed stuff present earlier) of a secret agent of sorts, uploaded into a body of an adoscelent schoolgirl living in some dystopian realm where there's not much to do after school, besides collecting recyclables and seashells, jogging in the park, drinking beer, watching TV, working in a bar pretending this will not turn into prostitution eventually and embarking on secret missions which constist of pointing and clicking for the mentally handicapped. Oh yeah, and getting randomly raped while using public transportation and having to live with the consequences (which some pervs out here fondly refer to as 'preggo fetish'). So that the player doesn't miss out on bus molestation and non-con content, using public transport is now the only way to explore the area. Your secret agent heroine apparently hasn't discovered the art of walking to places, even though her PE lessons include soccer and dancing, activities which surely require deliberate and coordinated use of lower limbs.

Even the paperdoll dressup play - which is the core plaything mechanism in this game - is paper thin. Wardrobes seen in other games are much more impressive. Not that I am into spending hours selecting the most lewd attire for my doll to jerk off to, but there isn't much else to jerk off to. The actual several sex scenes are graphically underwhelming, repetitive and filled with unimagintative walls of the usual smut, with emphasis put on getting or not getting pregnant. Geeez, real sex life would be so miserable if every time you wanted to fuck, possiblity of fertilizing an egg was put in front of you...

[v0.3.00.01]

Good work so far, there's a lot set-up the setting, plenty of characters and their interactions, BUT it still feels lacking and tedious at times.

Grinding stats feels weird- it feels entirely inconsistent as it progresses from very fast to very slow around some weird, non-specific numbers.
The Institute can alter my already premade body, but its impossible to keep stats for more than a few days before they start regressing? I know that story wise, the body started to decay, but that took months. That just makes me miss a lot of actual gameplay that isn't stat grind.

There's lack of control at moments as stats like willpower are invisible, yet change the outcome of events, so does some sort of promiscuity, making me feel less in control, as well as not having options get fight back while being the pinnacle of humanity (so say stat descriptions) stats wise.

Even basic sounds would be nice, spending the time in silence makes it feel a whole let less engaging, even just having a click for options, or background noises to make areas feel different would be enough.

Perks are weird- some are just hard mode (like bambi), some irreversibly restrict gameplay (no underweared, no feasible intelligence), also currently bugged?
'Bimbo' perk is attainable, yet seems to ignore self-study at library or being 'average' academically wise.
Since they are so restrictive, shouldn't perks enable (stripping, creaming, whoring) as a choice, rather than forced story option?

Currently not that fun due to grind and not being player oriented with choices, but the progress is promising.

Version: 0.2.108

Story: The story is actually interesting. I intend to return when the game gets better polished in the future because of the promises. (4/5)

Originality: I like the concept, and I think that the game has its originality points. The customization is a strong point in this one, and I'm intrigued to know what will happen in the future here. (4/5)

Playability: I think that the game is very stuck right now and incredibly broken. I tried being patient, but I simply couldn't continue playing the game after I got stuck in an infinite loop inside Haven's end. (2/5)

Performance: The bugs bro... (3/5)

Bugs: The game is extremely broken (1/5)

Amount of content: Because of the bugs, I wasn't able to confirm this point, but it looks like it is getting a proper amount. (3/5)

Woaw I'm least 4 hours in and still did not have any single sex scene. Barely a handjob in the school bathroom as a mini rape scene. I just don't have any will to play it anymore. I'm not against slow corruption, but this is VERY slow.
Don't know if I'm doing anything wrong. Pub job doesn't offer much as long as she's a virgin, and main quest was going too slow to get any lewd scene. Same for Dance group, barely showing her ass with her mini skirt.

Too bad, the sandbox part of the game is okay, and the game seems to check some fetish I could have regarding pregnancy (but did not experienced it though...). I might come back when the game have more content, and hopefully more spread out too.
It has potential, but it's really frustrating in the current state.

It's a brilliant game, and one of the few games that actually gives enough agency to the player to be considered a real sandbox.

Unlike the user below, I particularly enjoy how the game unabashedly has normal rape scenes. No "rape by corruption" or anything, just sensible and grounded rape scenes that carry the weight of their consequences. Our protagonist is distraught when she's unexpected violated in a heinous way -- this is a good thing -- don't shy away from it, but lean into it. As long as the player is always given the option to avoid these kinds of sequences, which is currently the case, the implementation is fantastic. It is also worth mentioning that the games does feature plenty of corruption content through a combination of the desire and confidence stats.

Flattened 3D models are genius and look very sleek.

It's also one of those games that I would recommend to people who are looking to play a proper visual novel. It's fun, and well written.

TLDR: This game has a ridiculous amount of potential, but doesn't really capitalize on much of that yet. I played it for a pretty long time and actually had a decent time with it, but it's just so rough around the edges. It's basically just a dressup simulator without much else right now.

The good: It's honestly genius to use flattened 3d models for a game like this. It's a pretty good dressup game, and there aren't a whole lot of good games in that category. If that's what you're looking for, you should give this a try. There's a lot of different possible outfits and some of the components are pretty cute like transparent stuff, crop tops, etc.

The bad: There are quite a few things I think this game still needs to get nailed down before it's really good though. Right now the cheat menu is an integral part of the gameplay experience, which is a huge red flag. Mood drops way too fast with no easy way to bring it back up, so you have to cheat to raise mood constantly. The protagonist starts out pretty unappealing and it takes too long to make her look good, so you kind of have to cheat fitness at least in the beginning. Money takes too long to farm out for the outfits, forcing you to cheat for money too. Hygiene drops too fast, sometimes you don't sleep for long enough randomly and have to skip time, etc etc, these systems just need polish.

Progression/pacing is pretty rough for all the events, like they take too long to get anywhere but when they do suddenly your character starts getting raped. Rapey games don't do well in my experience. Let the protagonist get gradually corrupted. Ever play the games like ambrosia/celesophonia? A gradual corruption system like that would make this game so good. And outfits could be gated behind a certain lewdness level.

The outfits system is the best part of the game but still needs some work, although less so compared to game balance/progression as mentioned before. I'd really like to see some more school clothes like a transparent or low-cut shirts. You should be able to save certain hairstyles with certain outfits. More high-waisted bottoms would be nice to complement some of the shirts. More swimsuit options would be nice as there's only a few one-pieces. The colors don't go well with each other because they're too bright and don't match, and some muted or pastel colors that go together to make a color scheme would be nice. I also think a breast size customization option would be really nice.

Overall I think the game just needs more work and time. I think the dev and I may have different ideas about the best way to take this game, and it seems to be moving in a sort of gritty, dark, and rapey direction. I think it would be better with a dressup-focused/perverted-but-not-dark setting/gradual corruption direction. Hopefully it ends up good but it might just get worse, but still might be worth a play if you like dressup games without much else.

Feedback on version 0.2.36.00. A lot has changed since the last update and that's a plus. It can be seen that the developer is trying to make something new in the game and diversify it. But after 30 minutes it becomes boring to click. But this can be considered as a trifle.
Here are the pros
Graphics
art
Character customization to suit your style
Minuses
The game has the illusion that it has a lot of content. It seems that the game is long and will drag you out for hours or days of passage. But the game is short. And with the help of cheats, you can understand that there is main content and quests for 30 minutes. You can go through everything quickly. I think that the game needs to come up with something interesting and original. The game is good but not great

v0.2.35: The game has potential, but needs a lot more time in the oven. I'd recommend holding off 2 years.

My main issue with the game is a that the dev takes a post-apocalyptic, sci-fi setting... and largely sets it aside in favor of yet another h-game where the protagonist gets molested and raped with neither the wherewithal nor the ability to fight back. Isn't Sam supposed to be a fixer? Someone who solves problems using potentially-questionable methods? For example, if the target is being a nuisance you would expect to have the options of honeypot, paying him to disappear, or perhaps the judicious application of shovels. But her handler comes straight out and says Sam is designed for sex and sexiness, not punching. Not punching? In a world where society is half-collapsed and law enforcement are busy with other things, a protagonist with speed healing and the ability to change her appearance seems more "post-mortal berserker" than "yet another schoolgirl 'corrupted' into prostitution." It's not just Sam's status as fixer that would encourage increased ruthlessness, but also the mind-transference theme. The Institute grabbed some rando, shoved her into a body they engineered, then many of the people responsible for this died to the plague. So much creative space! Was Sam always a sociopath? Did her change of circumstance release her inhibitions? Did the procedure jiggle some wires that really shouldn't have been jiggled? Was her new body maybe not as "empty" as the doctors though? So. Much. Potential. But no, we leave all that on the ground in favor simply hoping the dude who cornered her is only a half-misogynist.

Other tidbits:
- If you don't have the stats needed for a certain event, the option is not presented to you. It's a lot better for replayablity and going "look at how deep my game is" to have the options be greyed out instead (perhaps with a "Need 30 Fitness" tooltip)
- The customization options are quite nice
- Somehow, a bacterial plague caused the Internet and GPS to also die. Except the "S" in GPS stands for satellites. Is this bacteria actually nanomachines from space who munched on global communications networks on their way in or something?

Really great story and art. And I love the concept of transformation and the dystopian world. Promising start to the game. Looking forward to future updates, one of my favourites on the site.

The only downside for me is that updates aren't very frequent and not much changed in the latest version.