VN - Ren'Py - The List [v0.12] [Uncle Loco]

This is an otherwise excellent (adult) visual novel held down only by a few weaknesses. I will start with why I am not giving 5 stars:

• Excessive framing. I am not sure if this was ever a good idea even in theater, even though Shakespeare did it. But for a visual novel it's generally problematic, and this instance is not an exception. The VN has two presenters (the main character and one of the love interests) who comment about the action as something that happened in the past. This framing always happens between chapters (of which there are 12 so far) and is mostly skippable. Still, The List would be improved if this framing was simply removed without replacement.
• The explicit scenes are good and varied in terms of writing, but quite schematic in terms of the visuals.
• Something is slightly off about the connection between images and text. Very often when two people speak, the one in the image is the one not currently speaking. To prevent confusion, this should be the exception for when there is an interesting reaction to observe, but here it happens far too often without good reason.
• There are a few minor plot weaknesses such as one of TKA's twins having an obviously anachronistic haircut in the statue in the museum.

That said, what we have here is a thriller in the vampire milieu that would totally work as a printed book. Similar to that well-known AVN named after a fictional VR game, you come for the porn and get drawn in by the plot. The main character is likeable, the love interests are likeable and beautiful, and I just want to know how the story continues.

As of this writing, the latest version is 0.12 (Chapter 12), but the latest part of the story is actually version 0.1 (Chapter 1) of the side story The Perfect Town (by the same developer), which tells us what happened simultaneously to Chapter 12 of the main story.

One of those devs that think their game is exceptional and tries to explain to you why for hours instead of just telling the story.
The game starts with 2 characters talking to the player, breaking the 4th wall. Making stupid jokes and how the game is story first and porn second. And it goes on and on.
You skip it and start the story. The problem is something similar happens again, completely ruining the immersion. At that point I just deleted the game despite tags/genre being to my liking.

The List is one of the most comprehensive stories you will find in the AVN genre. It reads a lot like an action-adventure story. Now, you will need to read quite a bit, but stick with it. Uncle Loco likes to sprinkle in hints.

The girls are cute and very varied, from sassy virgins to milfs and the in-between. Alexis is my fav all the way!
As does the dev's skill throughout this very long AVN, the animations improve by leaps and bounds.

Top recommendation, go! Download it today

You can tell that this AVN is a passion project. The developer is committed and approachable at all times. Whether praise or criticism, ideas or to clarify your own questions. Renders are good, the girls are cute.

The game itself is a Its a kinda goofy, at time semi kinetic novel with the flair of an 80's action movie. It doesnt takes it self too serious. Then again, the plot has a fascinating depth which is obviously overlooked easy if you skim through it. At times the goofyness dissapears and it suddenly gets very dark.

Regarding the 4th wall elements mentioned in other reviews, those are skippable if its not your cup of tea.

Overall i fully recommend this AVN.

I'm really digging this so far. I like the MC, which is rare because I'm normally a self insert kinda guy, and I'm normally not a fan of an MC that is his own established character.

The LIs are all attractive and interesting

The writing, in my opinion is good, I like the humor.

One star is knocked of because of an issue that has been talked to death in the forum... the twins. It's just a porn game rule, you don't make attractive female characters that you can't do porn game things with. Period. The dev gave a perfectly reasonable excuse for this, but at the end of the day, they still broke the rules. Just find another way to pay homage to your dead friend. It's not that hard. Have those characters show up on the tv screen or the MC's laptop like all the other references made to other characters from other games. Sorry for your loss and all, but this could have been handled much better. Hopefully someone can make a mod that replaces the twins with like, two gay dudes or something. That way all their lines can pretty much stay the same.

So far, so-so. I'd give 2.5 if I could.

The renders are ok and the models are excellent - no exaggerated features. Unfortunately has the ever-present shaved head girl that supposedly there must be an audience for, but she still remains somewhat feminine.

The writing doesnt have obvious mistakes and there is a plot.

We seem to play as the awkward brother from Entourage (TV). The MC is an absolute sadsack. Incapable of most things and pretty dumb. When his sister is beign murdered he can only think about whether to pack socks. When he needs to walk down fire escape staircase we discover he is SO weak that he cannot even carry his 'heavy' backpack with laptop, which is sad.

Luckily despite the woman-repellant facial hair he somehow has women throw themselves at him. This is the worst part of the game. Every woman has an empty head and is instant bimbo. I'm not sure how people can claim this is a slow burn.

I want to like it becasue of the girls' models. But there's nothing to get me invested.

Oh right - also has 4th wall bs

I stuck with this game for a while because I did like the love interests, and to me that's the only good thing about the game. There are NO choices involving the story at all. Some games will at least throw in choices even if they won't impact the story , whereas here the only options are which girl you want, and where you want to 'finish' during sex scenes.

The renders aren't great, but definitely not the worst I've seen, and don't think they are bad enough to avoid this games.

The story at times feels super rushed, and personally felt it was poorly written, along with a very dumb MC. Didn't notice any glaring grammar issues.

Interesting how far away the opinions differ about this vn.
I myself like the story, the setting, the renders and yes, it´s not a slowburn, but most harem vn´s are the same.
So i would recomment to try this and judge for yourself.

There are conspiracy theories about 5g covid alien cow abductions with more stability and coherence to their plot. If you like being a delusional schizophrenic that's off their meds with sociopathic tendencies well this is the game for you.

First chapters kind of interesting past that it's crazy town. Unrelatable plot, with unrelatable people, who are generally less interesting than paint drying.

great vampire game which you explore more the story line of him getting powers by killing other vampires who are his enemies and absorbing it until he becomes a new dracula.

Also he get to fuck more and more girls and turn a few eventually as part of his harem.

Simply one of the very best VNs available.

I launched it without knowing anything and was hooked on the story within a few minutes.

It's extremely rare that I don't use the skip button on a VN, but this one is so excellent that it didn't even cross my mind. In fact, I would almost blame the lewd content for interrupting the story.

I, for myself, are playing several dozen VNs from this Site (F95) and must say, this game is one of the better ones. The girls are mostly cute IMO, my favourite ist Alexis btw.
Renderings are OK (but there are a few lighting errors in the first chapters), the Animations are mediocre at best. But I am more focused on the story, and this is interesting to me. In the moment I am at the beginning of chapter 5 and I am very excited about the rest of the plot.
So I recommend: try it!

I like the game overall, the storyline is not very deep (yet), some romances seem rushed but that does not have to be a bad thing, so we get alot of "action" if you know what I mean.

However the storyline currently unfolding with "the book" seem very interesting and show potential, I am looking very much forward to it.

TL: DR Currently not very deep writing, lots of action and movement. If you prefer a slower buildup maybe avoid this one

Story 1/5
I dident really find the story all that good and it feels rushed when it comes to relationships, you meet the first girl at a poker game and take her out for a buger after the game and fuck her in the bathroom stall, you do have an option to say no to her but then shes out of the harem, so yeah you need to make dessions pretty damn fast.

Story/MC feels a bit to brainless, MC stands at hes bedroom door listening to someone threatening hes dad and saying he will kill the hole family and instend of being greatfull that the dad dident mention MC hes thinking the dad dosent like him since he dident mention him? i mean wtf.....MC just stands there like a brainless idiot behind the door doing absolutly nothing to help or save hes family? he just stands there waiting to hear gunshots? and then MC flees.....thats some low lvl writting right there, anyone normal would try to help their family, MC even has the element of supprise but does fuck all.....

To make it completly idiotic MC then takes he time to pack hes bag thinking about what to bring, like "better remember socks and underwear...lets just forget about hes family being killed and the blood coming under he bedroom door...lets take our time pack a bag and not forget the socks? after packing hes bag he flees through the window/fire escape while hearing the door to hes sisters room getting kicked in by the killers......
Then a bullet came to close to hitting MC to make him fall? huh? he then lands on a car blacks out and the killers dident finish the job even though someone was close behind him shooting at him?
It just got to the point where story became one big joke and i couldent take it seirous what so ever.

Then he wakes up with memory loss in a hospital....then MC desides to trust a total stranger that looks like the same age or younger them MC but is supposed to be hes mother? and hospital staff belives that?
MC dosent even speake to the docs before making sure its ok with the strange woman that he knows nothing about and who is lieing to the staff by playing hes mother.....how the fuck does this make sense to any writter? any normal person would tell the docs that he has no clue who that crazy woman is...but nope not MC....even after learning hes hole family has been killed all MC thinks about is how good this woman look and how nice her voice is...
and here i thought this was supposed to be a story focus but feels alot more like the run of the mill porn with an weird childish mindset of the MC.
Oh and him falling down from a pretty low hight was apprently enough for him to go into a coma for 5 months and get a shit ton of damage....

i think this will be enough to show that plots are poor and seen a million times over and MC will stay brainless with or without hes memory.

Oh and cant rename MC either not even after he dont remember who he is... which is idiotic on its own, i know the devs reason but its just not a valid one, it could be done just like the mod does where you can put in your name and nickname and full name and it would be the same storywise.

MC is the standard childish kind with a mindset of a 12 year old, so when looking at any woman he constantly get cringy thinking about how hot they are hot fit their ass is and so on you get the idea, and ofcause he gets boners from nothing as well just like a very young kid.
Even being in a wheelchair barely able to walk its all that is on hes mind, once again story based or pure porn game? mindset pretty speake on its own....

I think you can see the level of details in the game or should say the lack of them which makes for a pretty poor story and it only make it worse that its supposed to be a story focused game.....and it sure dosent feel like it.

Girls also trows them self onto MC, theres 0 relationship build up and it wont matter if a girl knows MC or they just met, all they are there for is to fuck MC, its boring and mindless and you will never get to feel anything for anyone.

Then game goes to shit and start forcing girls on you, some i wouldent want to touch with a 10ft pole, making it even worse that it all seems like a plan and MC blindly follows along not having a care about wtf is going on.
Also forces the red head on you aka Alexis whos the one you shouldent trust and making all kind of weird plans behind MCs back...if you dont add her to harem its game-over, so yeah game it simply just not worth playing and its a full blown kinetic storyline so you cant change anything story related.

I just lose interest in the game after having LIs forced on me, i can tell you it will happen more times after that as well forcing more girls on you also forcing you to accept what Alexia says or it leads to game-over yet again, so you really dont have any choices and it should have been made as a kinetic story, it could have been done in so many other ways instend of forced relationships but its more or less just a fuckfest where story comes last.

Girls 2/5
The quality is just not that good, i liked a few of the girls but had some i dident forced on me which dident help.

Animations 1/5
They really arent good, very jumpy/choppy and short, also its pretty low quality as well like grainy, loops resets in a very poor way, they get a little better late in game but at the point i just dident care about the girls or the animations.

Music 0/5
Game is silent which always makes a game alot more boring, atleast to me.

Choices 1/5
It lets you add or remove a few girls but some are forced on you due to having a kinetic set story, not following that preset story leads to game-over.

Ok let me say this has the makings of being a very good game the storyline is interesting and the characters are diverse beloe is just some of the things i liked and some things that could be improved on but by no means can i criticise the concept.

Pros:

1. Storyline 9/10 solid so far plenty of scope for many more chapters
2. Models 9/10 i know many will say there are better in other games but for his first VN they are very nice, Especially Alexis
3. Writing 10/10 very good grammar hardly any typos very good
4. Game outlook 10/10 - this has the makings of being a top top game

Cons:

1. Animations 5/10 - they are very choppy and jumpy, however again i have to say this is his first time so he/she will learn as they go and these could be made better in future versions or even remade in the future. This does not detract from the storyline and therefore i am not to worried at the moment

Verdict although plenty of room for improvement this will come with experience, i am not going to drop stars because of this because i found the game engrossing and i played it all the way through without looking at any other games which is rare for me. SO well done and those that look at reviews let me say this is a very good game as long as you dont judge it against very experienced devs, remember this is a start point and its a very good one. Thank you

This is good and i though the choice always get ending if i declined to add the girl join harem but when i want to refuse charlote the game didn't get the ending.. keep it up bro and waiting the next update

Firstly, this game good at mimicking a decent game, but the truth is, this is a bad game.

Plot. They're a good idea realized in very bad shape. TOO MUCH narrator's speeches - this ruins third wall to the ground, and make storytelling just a bad joke. It's good in small douses, but when it is literally a quarter of the game it's just disgusting. And if Dev need to use "(Flashback)" to specify to players what part of story it is, this is just a disaster for storytelling. Characters not development, they are that they are. Two people don't know each other, next scenes they fuck. And if narrators saying there are millions of years between these scenes, it's not going to work. Some scenes not even split with dark screen, just dumb teleport without anything in between. Twists, well, you need to be a caveman to not predict what's going to happen next, it's all so obvious.

Visual, hilariously bad. Renders and especially 5 fps animations ugly. First time I have seen animation where movements so wrong and mistakes so obvious. Some animations look even like crime against 3dgc. Half women characters in game looks like cheap whores from the darkest streets possible. And there is no logic behind it, just bad taste or laziness. MC, who must be in height school, looks like a 35 years old potato. And characters in mid 40 looks like 18 years old. Every emotion on characters faces looks uncanny and wrong. At the end, it improves a bit, but only a bit.

For some reason, you need mod to change name (hello 2024). UI made in strange resolution. Some other small problems.

And as a final, developer hints that he does not give a f about what ppl (players) on this site are thinking about his game. Nice demonstration of respect to players...

Boring, unsightly game. 1/5

{Chapter 7 review}
I could barely get through the first 30 odd minutes, how people are rating this 5-stars is genuinely insane to me. Visually it's passable, but the sticking point is the writing. The kind of dev who thinks a woman would just lore-dump her sexual traumas onto a total stranger, is the type of person who rarely talks to women. It's the type of game which speaks a lot, but says very little. There are hundreds of other options, so I feel no need to promote this one.

Is there a chance it gets better in the latter seasons? Entirely probable. If you want to slog it out, you can certainly go ahead. Read the other reviews to form a more educated opinion, or try it yourself. But there was simply nothing to grab me, and I see too many telltale signs of mediocrity to want to engage with it longer. I think every dev who KNOWS their previous writing is subpar, should absolutely take the time to go back and correct it. Most good devs will constantly be re-reading their previous work and looking for mistakes they may have missed, so the fact something that big is still there just doesn't interest me.

The story and renders are ok, but nothing special. The game really fails in my eyes because it is essentially a kinetic ovel without being tagged as such. Most of the LIs and lewd scenes occur without any consent or input from the player, and I do not believe there is a single story-based choice in the entire game. You can just hold down ctrl and skip entire chapters without needing to decide anything.

Great engaging story. Good renders, good animations, and the game is much easier to play now that the game has an official proofreader. I especially like Kelly. I have a thing for interesting-colored hair and freckles