VN - Ren'Py - Abandoned - The Lust Hero [v0.21] [Alteus]

Nice concept but very badly executed.

The characters have pretty much no personality, the renders are kinda boring.

The sex scenes have some ( with that I am very little) animated and they look bad, usually they are just images.

The worst part of this game is the gamplay, you have to grind so much without mods this game is a nightmare and I was stuck in a lot of places because I never knew what to do, I think there isn´t even a hint system and if there is I didn´t find which would be just as terrible.


Don´t play this.

This game has a really good graphics and a lot of great scenes. There is not much story just corrupting characters in the game. The way how this whole works could be a bit better. Too bad it will not be finished.

This really is a great game, very sad that it was abandoned, and surprising that it has such a low rating.

Great selection of models, cool story, good mechanics, I hope that one day it may be picked up again.

Not sure why the score for this one is so low. A fun game with an interesting theme and creative characters.

Never stops moving, you start out corrupting your coworkers in an office then move to superhero shenanigans. Kinda reminds me a bit of four elements trainer in how the scenario keeps changing. Really solid game here with a bizarrely low score.

Good Points
+We have animations and they are not that bad.
+Have interesting story.
+Girls looks hot.

Bad Points
-Getting scenes is pretty odd and weirdly callous. ''Sprey pheromon, wait 1 day, go and talk them, get scene with fast and callous.'' and thats it. Not any logical dialuge, character development or anyting. Its feels so empty.
-You need make fair amount of grind for money, getting items or PP points.
-Sex scenes dont has enough angle and their animations have doll looking. They need more soft maked (With making more picture.) and more better physics.
-Not all sex scenes animated. We just have only 2-3 animation for those sex scenes and we have lots of sex scene. So basicly ''Animated'' tag is lie. And its damn shame cuz that sex scenes is not that bad. It could be realy good if they have animations.

For The End
Its not bad game but its not good either. Have lots of bad point and have good points to. If you ask my opinion i would say ''Play for story not for fap or arrousing purposes.'' cuz without animations this game is not that good for fap or anyting.

Cons:
-The sex scenes are awful. Seriously, I give them a 0/10. Bad angles that don't really show anything most of the time, bad grainy quality, bad (and very rare) tiny animations. Awful.
-There's basically no story. You go around collecting pheromones and spraying them at chicks to make them horny and they instantly fuck you.

Pros:
-There are no pros. This game is just a horrible waste of time.

Pro:
- humor - game does not take itself seriously
- lots of fetishes
- non-cliché plot
- little to no grinding
- good graphics
- zero bugs

Con:
- can run out of money in initial game phase (no warning, needs restart)
- simplistic animations (and some scenes are static CG only)
- few character interactions outside of "increase PH level/corruption" -> "resultant scene"

(original) The renders are attractive if possibly needing a bit more diversity in their body styles, the game play doesn't feel too grind or complex for what it's trying to achieve, the story is serviceable still, I've enjoyed it so far. I'd call it the cusp of 3 and 4 stars but I'll give it the 4 since the pace of updates, even if small, is impressive. The dev is really active about adding new/upgraded content.

(.18 era) Following up a few months later, game is still decent and worth following. Updates are small so generally you can skip one or two but what's being added hasn't dropped in quality. Above average game still.

(.21 'completed' era) I wish the dev's the best of luck gratz on the kid and all but this is a review of their game not their lives... it is 'complete' in a rushed sense, barely beyond 'abandoned', they did good enough work it's still 'average' but as a final game this has to go down to 3 stars tops.

I truly don't understand the perspectives of the other reviewers who garnered 4/5 stars for this game. To me, whatever you think of the renders (fine, and the characters seem unique), this product commits the cardinal sin of gaming...it is boring.

I imagine many have become inured to the repititive grinds that keep you doing the same boring click throughs over and over. It is, unfortunately, a feature of more than a few items in any fapster's library. Sadly, the payoff is nowhere near good enough for the time spent.

I'm a perennial cheater and even knowing some of the console variables did not bring me any decent content fast enough. It doesn't help that the one scene I got before it was too boring and frustrating to continue wasn't even animated. Yawn yawn double-yawn.

Not even the "superhero" hook can save this, especially since it is just another dull variation on the "sex pheromone/drug" theme we've all seen in numerous mind-control and harem games. At this point, the story does nothing but make me want to say "give me a break."

This could rise to the level of average with better seual content and a reduced grind. In fact, I'm going on record to say that any game where you notice the grind in less than five minutes of actual post-tutorial gameplay deserves to fail.

Hope this gets better.

The following review is based off my personal experience with playing this Game/Visual Novel... I try to be as brutally honest and detailed as I can, and these are my own opinions and thoughts, from one or more play throughs...

(Review Update - 17 May 2020 - v0.20)

Well, it's been over a year since I last tried this VN/Game and beyond the revamping of the version numbering (almost feels like the numbering goes backwards from a .8 to a .20 which in math means .2), but I understand that technically what the developer is doing is going from an 8 to a 20...

In any case, Originally I felt that this VN/Game had more potential then I do now... Yes, it's still a farcical super villain versus super hero story arc, and it doesn't take it's self serious at all, which is fine... But the sexual content feels lacking in some ways...

Visuals have pretty much stayed the same... That being said, all the sexual events feel like they are super rushed sometimes, very few animations (which are extremely short), and in some cases feel somewhat unrealistic... You can tell the developer/s are pushing for a Porn Style VN/Game that caters to many varying fetishes, probably in order to draw in a more diverse fan base... Offering up a bit of everything... But in most cases, it's like taking what in reality would have been a lengthy sexual event (maybe lasting hours in some cases), and only taking occasional snap-shots here and there, to show the viewer/player/reader... In essence, all the events are a short series of still images (from a sexual event) that switch from one position to another with little to no depth... Some positions are realistic, and some are not... Every new event feels rushed, from one picture to another, then it's over...

Now do not get me wrong, the pictures themselves are of decent image quality, and it does appear some time was spent making them... But the events overall, just feel like they play out way too fast, and with so few shots per event, leaving more to the imagination to fill in the blanks between shots, with only a line or so of text per image... In the end, that format makes the whole event feel rushed and lacking any real substance...

This really is the biggest qualm I have with this VN/Game... It just feels lacking of any real substance... The grind itself is rather simple, although it does lack some variety... You gather semi-random materials from the same places all the time, then craft the items needed to corrupt people... When you need money (to buy some parts from the shop), you deface the posters around town, and then go to work to make new ones to replace them for some money... Rinse and repeat...

The main story itself, I actually felt it was funny sometimes, and is the only real substance to this VN/Game in the end... But it takes a while sometimes to get the main story to move to the next step...

There has been some new content added over the last year... A years worth? Perhaps, maybe... It really depends if the developers work on this project full time or part time... If full time, definitely not a years worth, in my opinion... I've seen far more content added to these sorts of projects over a given year, when the developers give it their full attention as their primary job... But it is what it is...

Overall, it's an average quality porn fest style VN/Game grinder... The images are good quality, but the erotic events feel subpar, rushed, and in some cases over the top and/or unrealistic... The story premise is unique and fun sometimes, but it does not make up the bulk of the content... You use chemicals and technology to corrupt the various characters, which opens up some new erotic events for those characters, but the events themselves feel rushed...

I originally gave this VN/Game 4 stars, as I thought it showed some potential... But that potential has dwindled somewhat, so I lowered it to a 3... It's an o.k. overall product for a very porn focused VN/Game, but not a diamond in the ruff... I don't see a reason, for the moment, to revisit this one...


(Original Review - 04 May 2019 - v0.8)

This VN/Game is primarily a porn fest grinder with just a tiny amount of plot/story...

The visuals of the characters are fairly decent, especially for being a not so serious Superhero/Supervillain type setup... The backdrops appear to mostly be all unique and decent quality as well... There was definitely some production value added in with visuals for some of the powers being used... There are some animations now and then, but they tend to be short and look a bit robotic, which is probably due to how short they are... Most sexual type encounters are primarily stills rather then animations, with a couple of the sexual positions looking a bit impossible, with regards to angles of penetration and so forth...

The script is pretty good, as I don't remember really running into any spelling/grammar errors all that much... This VN/Game definitely does not take itself too seriously... The plot revolves around a male protagonist super villain in a near futuristic setting with super heroes that protect people but also seem to have a not so good hidden agenda... The protagonist is basically trying to have his way with the women of the world, while also getting revenge... He does this through researching various ways of sexual corruption, and other technologies that he may need... In order to trick, corrupt, and defeat his enemies, while also being a major pervert...

The game play mechanics are your typical Place, Time, Money, Corruption grinder... You have to work (making propaganda posters) to make money, in order to purchase supplies and items needed to research and create the various techs and chemicals, needed to carry out the protagonists plans... Money being the major limiter... Most content is gated behind the progression of his tech (which is basically the main story line), along with side content involving the sexual corruption of most women around the protagonist... Most of the women characters only have 2 stages of overall corruption (a tease phase and a sex phase) which are pretty much repetitive... The main story does have some occasional story based puzzling to work out, but it's not too difficult to work out, the couple times it happens...

As a side note, if you are unable to perform the Work function... That is because all 4 of the major posters, found once you can go out at night, need to be graffitied so new ones can be made to take their place... For each poster fully defaced, a new poster can be worked on... That is how you can keep the work option available as needed... Since money is the number one thing limiting content... There is also another renewable resource needed, but it is very easy to get, mostly through internet trolling at the protagonists home/HQ...

Overall, this VN/Game is primarily meant to be a porn fest grinder with just enough story/plot, to keep it interesting, but story telling is not really the point of this VN/Game... It doesn't take itself serious too often with the story/plot, as it is more or less there to take you from one erotic scene/event to another... The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 3, is because the visuals are decent, it has some humor, and it's better then most other superhero/supervillain VN/Games I've tried... The visuals are 100% in keeping with the overall superpowered people theme... Sure, the characters are all primarily over the top and/or stereotyped... But again, this VN/Game doesn't take itself too serious in either the visuals or story/plot, so it doesn't really need to have much realism...

Will I revisit this one? Perhaps, way later down the road, once a bunch of new content gets added... I don't really see a reason to keep up with every update...

EDITED for version 0.7: I haven't played it yet, but the dev has implemented all of the quality of life features I asked for in this review - in the very next update of the game no less: searching no longer costs time, searching gives a fixed number of items (yes the searches reveal slightly fewer objects, but given they are now free that is reasonable), trolling gives a fixed amount of power, and there is now a button to move time forward by an hour on the UI (I have suggested a second button for moving forward half an hour). Seriously impressive responsiveness from the dev.

I will update my review again next time I replay the game. I usually wait a few versions between playthroughs of games here, just because new content takes time.

TLDR: A game with heaps of potential. Good renders and models, interesting story, and a generally reasonable gameplay loop. But held back by some really poor quality of life issues, lifeless animations, and some repetitious elements.

I was on the fence about giving this 3 or 4 stars. This game has 5 star potential definitely, but there are a few things that are holding it back - many of them easily fixed.

Let's start with the positives though. The models are great, the costumes are varied and titillating, and the renders are generally of a high quality. I would say there was a bit too much bloom on a lot of them though, particularly the brighter indoor scenes. The only big negatives are that some of the poses look quite unnatural (the lolipop bit with the office girl for instance), and the characters often don't blend well with the background (the older social media manager looks really odd leaning on her desk). All of the scenes with pixia however are amazing with the darker lighting and more matted costume. Her costume after her change however is a bit too garish for my taste, particularly the helmet, her freeflowing hair is her best feature imo.

There are animations, which is a plus, unfortunately they mostly look like two stiff mannequins being jammed together repeatedly. Some of the poses for the stills look a bit odd, but the animations are really jarring.

The writing is generally good. There are a few spelling and grammar errors littered around, but nothing really obtrusive. The setting is fairly interesting, but I feel like it could do with a bit more worldbuilding. It feels like the author is aiming to position the character as an antihero of sorts, fighting (very unsportingly) against an oppressive regime. But other than one short scene and a few offhand mentions I never really felt there was enough to make that idea work. The MC mind controls people with pheromones in order to get sex. The world needs to be presented more negatively, and the MC needs a bit more charm and purpose, that would make the situation more interesting.

There are a few weird things. The pheromones are shown to make people want sex with anyone, but the characters generally only show any attraction towards the MC. If the intro was altered a bit to make the pheromones draw people towards the MC rather than just everyone, that would make a bit more sense.

There are a lot of attempts at comedy, some of them work ok, some of them fall flat, and some of them are actively obnoxious. You have an r2d2 clone named DLD0 that does things in a sexy way and fucks up a lot. That is probably the one good running gag, but it is often done to excess. Humor is often about knowing when to stop as much as telling a good joke. For example in the intro the droid fucks up how long he leaves you in prison. Thats fine. Then he gives you the wrong weapon. Thats fine. But when the weapon is a plastic water pistol that magically shoots ropes and pheromones it gets obtuse.

There are a few quips the mc makes every so often that fall a bit flat. They also disrupt the tone. The world is dystopian, there are nasty things happening all the time, interspersing bleak events with quips is distracting.

Then we get to the things that REALLY need fixing. First, the time system. There is no way to pass time in 30 minute or 1 hour increments. THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE. The only workaround is instead of sleeping, you skip to the next day which brings you to 8am. Often this means you lose an hour for no reason. And when things can only be done at very specific times of day, being out an hour most of the days is a real chore. Just make it so you can skip 30 mins or an hour by clicking on the clock. Easy.

Some things make very little sense time wise. Working or researching takes 4 hours. Thats fine. Spraying pheromones discreetly takes 30 minutes. Thats fine. Traveling taking and hour is a pain but I can deal with it. Searching a drawer or a bin should not take an hour. Limiting the searches to once a day is fine. Having an energy cost (which you could up) is fine. But an hour a pop? Not so much.

Then there is the rng stuff. Having searches give you between 1-3 things, and energy gain giving you 10, 20, or 30 is just annoying. You can just scroll back to retry it. Just make it a fixed number - preferably the highest values currently. Its just unfun grind. Some grind is nice, it builds anticipation and gives you some accomplishment, making the scenes feel earned. Too much grind, particularly rng stuff is just needlessly annoying. There is no game over state, so making it grindy doesnt increase the challenge, it just makes it less fun.

The font used in the tutorial, intro, and outside of the textboxes is pretty hard to read, I suggest changing it to a more readable font and color.

Lastly get rid of the text on the trolling the internet bit. Having to read the same four shit jokes over and over again is suicide inducing.

This is a good game and one to watch. The dev just needs to make a few quality of life improvements, maybe some slight story edits, and fix up the animations and it'll be a 5 star game I reckon.

Its more of a 3.5 for me but I rounded up. I like the humor in this game, especially with the clever names. No glaring flaws in the writing or anything. Scenes with many of the girls have a light femdom flavor to it. Not my thing, but its not ball busting femdom or anything so it should be fine for most people.

The progression with girls isn't anything revolutionary. You give them drugs until they increase in Ph level, and you see a scene. Seems like corrupting the heroines will be a little more interactive and plot driven than what we see with the office mates if we base it on the first (and currently only) heroine we can corrupt into joining our side.

The scenes themselves don't really do it for me, but I may just be too desensitized already. Hoping for some male dom stuff, but the game has an overall light hearted mood and doesn't take itself too seriously.

There is a bit of grind, but its not too bad. Trust me when I say it that its perfectly playable without pulling your hair out. I am one of those people that look for console commands if I get even slightly annoyed by the grind, but I felt like the act of looking for the console command could be more work than just doing some quick grinds to build your equipment.

Overall, Its pretty average at the moment, but the skeleton of the game is pretty much in working order and I can see it getting interesting as we start to corrupt more heroines.