VN - Ren'Py - Abandoned - The Intoxicating Flavor [v0.10.6] [PixelsLab]

As of 7/13/19, it is tagged as abandoned. The creator says it's just on hold.

Now that that's out of the way, I LOVE this VN! The rendering is some of the best I've seen. This is probably my all-time favoriote MC. The story is fascinating. The twists are truly great. The dialog writing is sharp and funny. There are several laugh-out-loud moments for me. It would be tragic if this great story doesn't continue.

I may be over-hyping it but this game is interesting with all it's characters, especially interesting story line, and dialogue is funny. Well I'm not good at this but I need more than 200 characters so, the MC is a badass dude and the plotline is developing and it is intriguing to make you want to stick around to see how it ends up. Also the MC is a pretty dark but funny dude, which is a good contrast to how the other characters are.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE QUIRKY

Now three chapters in, The Intoxicating Flavor is a supernatural virtual novel that focuses on storytelling rather than gimmicks to convey a deeper message about people and what drives them to act the way they do. Though not finished, here are my impressions thus far. This information is current as of version 0.3.5.

THE GOOD

THE BAD

THE QUIRKY

PixelsLab's The Intoxicating Flavor is an interesting if strange walk through the supernatural when it interacts with volatile characters. The island, in many ways, seems to mirror the characters. We know very little about their pasts, we don't understand yet the purpose of their associations, and we can't tell where they will end up. What is obvious, however, is that this developer has created something unique. Nowadays that is something special, and in the world of adult visual novels, this may prove to be an as-yet unpolished gem.

You know, I really really wanted to like this game. Shows a ton of promise, and has outstanding art. The women are smoking hot.
But dang, the story is all over the place, and makes no sense whatsoever. Worse, the English is horrible, making it even harder to follow what is going on.

Review of the game as of [v0.3]

Pros:

• Gorgeous renders. Although, some of the female characters in this game are just terrible looking, but for most it is good enough.

Cons:

• Lots of teasing and very little sex.
• Short updates.
• Dialog options have very little effect.
• Generic plot.

CONCLUSION:
I would say skip this game for now and play it after this game has had a lot more updates; as, so far this game lacks good content.

1 min in -.-
10 mins in oO
60 mins in O.O

I am hooked now, interesting story with a not beaten to death theme, great visuals
sex theme is toned downed to a part where it is almost believable but not too little.

only negative I have the choices are rare and dont really make a difference except missing a scene or part of it. I would wish for a couple more choices with actual impact and a minigame in a VN is kinda a no go for me.

Amazing. Combination of scenario, dialogues, story by itself and renders are simply marvelous. REAL Adult Game by any means with focus on interesting story. There is very few games like that and closest thing i can remember is Acting Leassons which is top tier game.

(v 0.2.6)

This is a beautiful game with a very slow paced and linear story.

There is a prominent supernatural element to the game, which is very confusing at first since the rules of the universe aren't explained to the player. Instead, we have to sort of figure it out as we go along. This is also the case for the main character's background, as well as the details of the supporting cast. I found this to be rather frustrating at first, but lately I've been having a lot of fun trying to piece together all the clues and speculating on what will happen next.

The story is about an eighteen year old with a mysterious and violent past who has been sent to stay on an Island by his mother. His solitary stay is interrupted by the arrival of a beautiful woman and her two daughters. They don't get along initially, but that changes as they slowly get to know one another.

The main character is very unlikeable at first, but he mellows out as the game goes on. The youngest daughter looks a little odd and much too young, but the the other women are stunning. There are very few choices in the game, but you are allowed some control over the main character's relationships with the three women. The translation can be a bit rough at times, but it's not a big hindrance to the game.

Despite its flaws, I can't think of another game here that I look forward to seeing updated more than this one.

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(v 0.3) Update
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Well, it looks like I spoke too soon. Another girl was added to the story as a past love interest and she looks to be very underage. So I'm going to have to knock a few stars off my previous review because I'm not cool with that. She also doesn't fit well with the story so far, so it's a bit of a double whammy.

Really sad about this update. It turned my favourite ongoing game into one that I'm hesitant to play. The rest of the update was great, but the new girl is a poison pill that I'm not willing to swallow.

One of those games that tries to be more that what is necessary most of the game skips between fantasy and reality with all the wordplay involved between the player figuring out what is real and what isn't.

Now it really depends on what you are looking for a mind fuck or some porn to fap to. For me it's the latter reading 300 words between every naughty scene is tiresome I've gotten to the point where I don't care what is happening at all story wise and just skipping to the sexy content which makes me further realize what little is actually there. There was no sex at all this update. A boob reveal and a kiss. Sorry but this isn't a porn game. It's a VN with a couple of sex scenes.

Definitely not your average generic adult game, this one.
The story incorporates supernatural/thriller elements, and the way it is told is a bit disjointed (quite a lot of flashback and "dream sequence" scenes) but still very interesting.
The good:
- mystery/supernatural story
- beautiful renders and locations
- characters with lots of baggage (yes, I like that )
The not so good:
- english translation can be a bit off at times
- transition from scene to scene is sometimes a little weird

Overall an interesting game.

this is a game you should play,
the plot, the story, the amazing and cute girls, the charácter development and the dark twist makes this game for my opinión one of the best in this website, awesome dev on top of that too.

Version 0.2.4

"Smile MC, she doesn't have to know that you really was about to hit her." [sic]

Wow. All because the MC's bowl of cereal was dumped out? That was pretty much when I gave up on this game. As others have pointed out, the MC is a raging asshole. In actuality, nearly all of the characters in this story are assholes. Is this setting up tsundere but failing completely? I don't know. All I know is I don't like any of these characters.

The story is boring and nonsensical. The characterizations are terrible. These characters rage at each other and almost have physical confrontations for silly and trivial reasons. The MC apparently wants to kill everyone. Perhaps this is going somewhere, but the tone is so off-putting that I don't give a shit if there is any point.

The gameplay is almost entirely linear but still makes the user click on single option "choices" to progress the story quite often. Why? It is pointless and frustrating for the user. If a click won't change the story, then why have it in the first place? Is it really necessary to click on "Go faster to the kitchen" when there is no other option?

The renders are nice and kept me hanging on for longer than I would have liked. Beyond that, I can't find anything redeeming in this game.

Not recommended

I personally think this is worth 2 stars, maybe. But I'll be fair and say it's probably 3 stars or better for most people. But let's just say what my problems with it is: Nice renders, garbage story, minimal choices with minimal impact.

Basically it's an okay game, but honestly I find these amateur writer's (supernatural or not) assassin badass main characters weak as hell. But if you're young, or indiscriminate, I suppose this isn't that bad. At least the art is nice (as far as using premade DAZ models goes, anyway).

Very good story. A bit supernatural but nothing too crazy. Writing is also very good quality. Proper backstory. Renders are also pretty damn good. The little sister being that small kinda puts me off but assumed to be 18. Otherwise cant wait for the next update!

Excellent and unconventional story. Great Characters. As of now there isn't a lot of sex content, but the focus has been on building the characters relationships. The game is somewhat linear and the choices don't seem to have any strong impact in the story as of yet.

This is not your standard wannabe rpg with lots of nonsense sex scenes spread around; presentation made like a visual novel (like many others)

This game looks more like an interactive novel, and a very good one i must add. It have a VERY GOOD plot. No i didn't meant boobs while writing 'plot' it have a real plot, it makes you wonder on the things happening in game...you will fail to understand wtf is going on for a long while. You'll say 'ahh, now i get it' but you'll be wrong, i liked how that felt. Game kept ME excited, not just my boy.

Play/Watch it; highly suggested. It is Supernatural tv show+Adult game.

Only thing i can call a downside is some broken English used in here and there (My native lang. is not English but still can see that easily)
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TLDR: It is not about your preferences/fetishes on sexuality or your expectations on an adult game, it is a very good sucky fucky creepy interactive novel.
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It is still too long to read: Play it -_-

Renderings: 9/10 - some of only very good quality, most are excellent.

Story: 1/10 - I guess the author tried his best to make an interesting story, but to me it just comes across as pretentious bullshit, lacking any cohesiveness or plot, and makes me actually enable skip for unseen text just to skip it, something I almost never do (and usually just for terrible engrish translations)

Overall: 5/10 - Eh, its ok

Fine art, but terrible plotting. The prose itself is ok, but nothing makes the least bit of sense. The opening makes no sense. The "dreams" make no sense. The 'ghost' makes no sense. Having portions of the plot seem to be redone differently in dreams makes no sense. It's just really bad from the start.

Add in that the character we are playing is a complete asshole. The sort of man who hears that a girl is locked up for six years and asks her what she did wrong. The kind of piece of shit who finds a woman, bloodied, tied up, and locked in a cage, and sits around wondering if he should bother freeing her.. or even ungagging her so she can say what's going on.

I imagine the story they are attempting to tell is interesting, but with the current writing and characterization, you'd never know it.

Renders are really well done.

MC is a dick yet does the right thing.
Women are hot even the little sister but not my cup of tea to be honest.

Mysterious and captivating is the word for this game.

Every update I look forward to with anticipation. Hopefully the MC finds love at the end...

Great work dev...

This is more mystery/supernatural, then sexy/porn just so you know. Which means there is not much sexual content and lots of reading involved in this VN.
What sexy content there is has some 2 or 3 frame 'animations' and they are well done.
Visually it all looks high quality, renders and models are nicely done.
This dev also took the time to get some music and sound in there and it is really good but also quite LOUD, so turn it down.
Story wise it is also weird AF, like, take some Twin peaks and then go inhale some 'American Gods' from Neil Gaiman while thinking of 80's and 90' soft-core erotica. If you don't know anything of those, then you will be just as confused in the beginning as when you do, so don't sweat it.
All in all, this is a very enticing mystery, butt...
The problem is that the actual grammatical writing in these kind of stories needs to be on point and it isn't. The script needs an editor for spelling errors and lines that are hard to understand because of the way they are build. Proper English it is not. More broken slang American in some places and that is confusing if ~yous~ aint native. It doesn't happen often but you notice it right away and takes you out of the mystery and wondering why you are having a hand shoved down your pants again.