VN - Ren'Py - The Nexus [v0.5] [Silent Raven]

Sadly I had to put a 3 instead of a 4, but the game really feels like a 3.5. As the game went on, I felt the game get worse and worse. The beginning was awesome, and it driplined you into this fantasy world. As the game goes later, it completely shifts in tone from this fantasy mythical world to being this save-the-world-with-my-harem-esque games. Kinda dissapointing. I think the writing and story is.. fine... for the most part, except that sometimes the dialogue just goes on and on. It feels like that filler dialogue in animes or something, where the characters just talk about nonsense or unrelated stuff to pad the run time. It's a real shame too because I really enjoyed the setting. The game also throws a lot of darker elements in there, but it feels like they are thrown in just be there, instead of it being tied in to the story. I mean you could definitely have gone a different route, it's not like these dark elements were weaved into the story. Feels like it's trying to be edgy just to be edgy.

The graphics though are crispy as hell. You can tell there was real attention to detail in creating the scenes (at least initially). Clouds and sunbeams through the windows change between scenes which show that each slide was crafted for attention to detail and not just a subtle move of the characters arms or something. It looks really nice. However, as the game goes on, I feel like that attention to detail starts to fade out a bit. Though the scenes with Hannah when she invokes her angelic powers is cool as hell. Really great looking. The girls are what you'd expect from honey select models, but they are well done and crisp looking, they don't look copy pasted. However, the animations are all stock. There's nothing custom here or any type of interaction during the sex scenes. It just plays a short animation and then it ends. There are no controls or options or POV settings or anything, so that's kinda bland.

The game also shifts throughout the game from making more meaningful choices to just accumulating points for your girls. The gameplay is stagnant, and it seems to become more stagnant later on when it suddenly transitions into a who dun it murder mystery sandbox. Lame. Hope that doesn't become the new norm.

Not sure what else to say but, overall it's not bad but it does decrease in quality over time and the graphics and art are definitely one of the games strongest points. If you are ok with a slow burn OK story then you'd probably enjoy this.

A solid game that gets better as it goes, positives:
- Decent amount of erotic content.
- The girls have good characterization and their models are good and varied.
- Plot is mildly entertaining and the English is good.
- Decent renders and animations.

The negatives:
- MC has the baby face syndrome and is inexplicably a women magnet.
- Too many love interests (9 regulars + secondary characters).
- Sex scenes are on the shorter end.
- A few poorly lit scenes.

Worth mentioning is that the game broaches a few darker topics namely suicide, rape and death that might make you uneasy.

It's a very good game. The girls are hot, interesting, and diverse, and aren't just one-dimensional sex-crazed nymphos. The story is emotional at times, and almost always well-written. But the thing that makes it an easy 5 stars is: sex magic.

Plenty of games have magic and sex, but not magic during sex. I'm talking having a floating threesome with a girl and her magical duplicate, or getting a second dick to fuck two girls at once. (And, optionally, letting one girl borrow the second dick so you can spit roast the other, if you're into that, and I know a lot of you are.)

That makes this game special, and that makes it great.

at 0.4.1 the game is already off to a nice start. the story is interesting & the characters are fun and pretty & the game looks really nice with great animations. i am really looking forward to future development.

Cool game, a lot of content in version 4.1. Different characters and an interesting plot with sad moments. There are already enough sex scenes. In general, it's a very high-quality game. I'm waiting for the sequel.

As of v0.4.1

It's a good game, well worth the time, imo.

The characters are a bit flat, especially at the start, but once they get some characterization, they do the job. MC needs a bit more character, imo, but that's my only real criticism. Well, that and I don't really like the angel ad the demon, but that's purely subjective.

The story has the balls to go some deep places, I honestly debated one choice for quite a while and am still not sure if I picked the right option. Kinda stuck with me.

Visuals are HS and not really exceptional ones at that, but they do the work and the sex scenes are decent. Not much depravity, tho there are some interesting places some of them go.

All in all, it's Supernatural meets Buffy, meets a lot of similar stories. I had fun playing the game and recommend it - you won't waste your time. If the story continues to improve and the choices continue to be as hard hitting as that one... will get to 5/5.

v0.4.1

Kind of conflicted on this one.
Not a bad VN by any means but a few design choices that could have been done better in another way.

The setting is its biggest strength, fantasy in a modern day world although hidden from society. What i honestly feel could have been done better if it didn't use a school setting.
With school settings and adolescents for the cast, the entire narrative and character building boils down to haphazard writing & plot contrivances, impulsive decisions, dreary teenage drama, girls queueing to jump on your dick and MC thinking with his dick.
So yea, certain parts of the narrative, mainly the premise and world building are good like with the entire societal structure of the hybrid modern fantasy world, its realms, fantasy elements and races. But the writing just falls flat.

The characters are about as average as it gets. Our protagonist feels soulless for a lack of a better word. Doesn't have a strong character, but not unlikeable either. I guess the defining thing about him is he magically gets pussy. His character just lacks substance overall.
The love interests are your standard archetypes. Shy one who has been in love with MC forever, the horny slut ones, the nerd ones, the tsundere, the girl with a dark past etc. Lots of variety but again, like the MC, they lack substance or a defining personality and don't leave a lasting impression.
All in all the characters feel one dimensional and are forgettable.

Models and renders are pretty much the same across HS2 games. They look nice. Its HS2 anime gfx, what'd you expect? They all look the same lol. Dev did put in effort into environmental design in the scenes so they feel lived in, that's a plus.

Lewd scenes are above average. Better than most in terms of choreograph, directing and animation. Nothing impressive though.

Probably repeated countless times in this review, this VN is very average, maybe a little bland too. Nothing that shines while not being extremely horrible in anything. I guess dev is going the safe and mainstream route with his VN, instead of pushing boundaries.

Really liked the story so far, besides some dark revelations, the writing is good, so is the pacing so far. Sure it's not perfect, but better than your average AVN here, so that's a plus in my book.
The renders and animations are fine, your usual HS 2 renders and animations, sometimes the hair looks weird but other than that it's good.

Sadly some of the LIs are not to my liking, but they are not forced on the player and it's possible to reject them so all is good, hopefully I don't need to reject more of them later on.

Let me share some of my thoughts about the LIs, be warned there will be some minor/major spoilers below..


Not sure why the dev had the idea to have twin characters if one of them is going to end up with another dude, unless the MC will be able to steal her from him, but it doesn't feel like that's going to be the case, so it felt pointless to me and quite a bit of a letdown and leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
Not sure what's the purpose of Naomi and Daniel since we barely see them, they don't add anything to the story other than seeing them in a few renders and getting reminders that they are off somewhere else... Makes me feel sad and kinda upset that MC can't have both sisters, it's just cruel..

All in all the LIs are mostly a miss for me, not your usual wholesome harem game LIs, at least for me this is the case.

I'd rate the game 3.5 star but there is no half points, so 3 star it is, since the most important part of the game for me, the LIs is a miss for me.

Good luck to the dev and keep the good story coming.

(EDIT: forgot about Cassie, added her to the list)

This game has few reviews, so I'll leave mine, I'm writing this review during an insomnia moment, so don’t expect anything too elaborate.

There’s a good amount of content, even though the story is still in its early stages; At this point, I believe we’ve learned everything we needed to about the characters to feel like we know them well, from here on, it seems like the main plot will receive more focus.

The characters are interesting, each one with their own story and personal drama; The design is also good, for a Honey Select, I'd say the quality is above average.

The game already offers a fair amount of sexual content, there doesn’t seem to be any doubt or indication of drama related to the harem, everyone seems okay with it; That was unexpected, but I consider it a positive thing, forced drama around this would just be a waste of time.

The game allows the player to choose who they want to get involved with, although the girls usually take the initiative, the player can always interrupt and end any romantic or sexual development with them, the characters understand these choices and don’t get upset if they are rejected.

Even though the story is just beginning, it seems interesting and well-thought-out, you can tell the developer prepared well and enjoys what he's doing, so he deserves a vote of confidence.

My only criticism would be about the dialogues, but it would take too long to delve into that here, to wrap up, I give the game 4 stars.

The game has potential if indeed the dev follows through with the amount of choices available. Down the line you could steal the girls from your best friends which will be very hot. Making the girls dump their BF to be with you would be great. Renders are good. Nott a single sex scene so far but that will change soon.

I really liked this kind of modern fantasy (urban fantasy?) theme and the story is well crafted for the most part. Some reactions by the MC are definitely not what I would've expected though, like he's met a sorceress, a vampire and know there are other monsters near him but he suddenly freaks out at the mention of demons and angels.

Overall I like the girls but I have a few nitpicks with some of them. Sasha is obviously the bad tempered tsundere type that you need to win over but she does sound excessively bitchy at times and both Nicki and Morgan are way more slutty than I expected. I also think that Lily's facial expressions need some work especially early on. Another thing is that I was a bit disappointed that there are twins but only one of them seems to be a LI at least for now.

Despite all that, I think this is a nice game and the story has potential.

It should be noted that this review was only started after a "moment" (presumably in chapter 2), but if the following spoiler is correct, then the game is undoubtedly "below average" considering the looks and the story/direction.


I am not kidding when I stopped the game right there, like literally that line of dialog, because given the quality of the writing/renders (in terms of little details), I feel like I not only know what will happen involving multiple characters but also the "behind the scenes" reasons why, which really deflate a story trying to be told.


Moving onto the reasons To put it cynically, the reason all of this very poor storytelling is happening is because both need to be "safe" LI for when ole "Horsedick MC Orphan #15645" gets both of them in his harem, which going by the lack of choices/how much the choices you get don't matter early on is going to happen (if you say no, the story will skip over scenes instead of writing narratives around you turning down all/various LI).

Now that the valid rant is out of the way, the game is graphically a few years "behind," even less than stellar games, but there are multiple instances of small things (characters moving eyes, etc.) that do go quite a bit in keeping the graphics as being a significant negative.

The story starts off competent, if very generic (MC family dead/killed, family friend Milf with daughter "adopts" MC, moves back to home town on first day of school year (college), spooky girls are here now, etc.). Sadly, it quickly (instantly) devolves into below porn logic levels once the "mystery" of the game kicks off, with the first example being the above spoilers and if the bios are correct (they seemingly arent for two girls?) she is just a human which means any human should be able to see her clear as day vampire fangs and if is not human than why does the human vampire myth (uses blood, weak to sun ETC) fit real vampires so well?

The sex scene (only saw the first one) is about the same level as the graphics overall, slightly behind the "curve," but probably fine for someone who cares deeply about those.

Unfortunately, I can't rate this game higher than 2 stars because I do think that no matter how you slice it (AVN, involving college, AVN involving moving back to hometown, AVN involving monster girls, etc.), it is less than average, with its main issue being more "character focused" (usually a good thing) but not having the plot or character writing to back it up. While "failing" as a pure porn experience due to it wanting to get you invested in the characters and the animations/scene(s) themselves being good at absolute best but nowhere near games known for their animations.

The synopsis also does not help as partway into chapter 2 the only choices with any impact haven been a couple +1 LI choices (nothing gated off yet), while none of the other choices have variables attached and URM has never defined a path split, and finally any time you say "no" to a choice involving an LI nothing changes (the next scene is literally 100% the same) or it is a false choice and a few lines are said before you are forced to make the ONLY real choice, meaning "the choice being in your hands" is right now a downright lie and the game just avoids the kinetic tag.

I would be more than happy to eat crow and update this review if the rest of the game somehow dramatically improves, but I doubt that is going to happen.
Overall: far from the worst game but fails to reach an average level (for 2024).

Edit: My predictions were 1:1 100% absolutely correct, as of chapter 3 the writing is still pulling the game down, telling you how to MC feels consonantly (little to no choices in dialog), while having him spout illogical justifications while perfectly logical ones are ignored
At the end of the day this game unfortunately earns its below average rating, with it failing as both a slow burn/romance/mystery/compelling and a fap game due to the amount of content and their quality relative to the amount of reading/skipping you have to do.

All the girls are cute and feel like real people instead of fleshlights with names. The story is not to be skipped or slept on, do yourself a favor and give it a play.
The opening flashback may drive off anyone whos worried the game has excessive violence or the like, but what violent scenes are in the game are varied and typically dont get into any detail.

v0.2 Review

I've always though that if you plan to use Honey Select 2, you need to edit the characters and rendering tech a LOT, as HS2 women tend to look very samey, and have a lot of issue with torpedo tits and such.

There's been some editing of the characters, mostly clothing and hair, but it does show that this is an HS2 game--the eyes are enormous and always overglossy, faces are blemishless and bland, etc.

That said, however, one of the main issues I see with a lot of HS2 games is improper facial/eye posing, and this game does at least focus a bit on fixing that.

The story for this game is fairly solid. A simple premise, which quickly unfurls into a whole shitshow. I do think the game could probably use a bit more story or days before we get to where the 0.2 version leaves off. I enjoy a good cliffhanger as much as the next guy or gal. But this one pops off almost immediately. And I didn't even see everything.

The content is somewhat cliche, but in a way that is mediocre at worst, and decent at best. Some mythos from other properties can be seen here, but not much.

It DOES feel like the MC and his blonde partner are more like 15 year olds, rather than 18 year old young adults--not in appearance (thank god), but more in attitude and approach. This doesn't mean it's entirely told through the lens of a teenager, but moreso that it feels almost like Supernatural and a Hardy Boys book. Not sure if that was the intention.


Outfits are a tad overdesigned, but they are each evocative and unique, so kudos on that.

UI/UIX is more or less default Ren'Py, so not really anything to say there.

Sex scenes (I don't think I got all of them) are good, not great. HS2 has some decent anims if you look hard enough, and the only one I was bored with was the succubus scene in the beginning. It felt like the same exact scene as in Ring of Lust/Murmur/etc. The others seemed fairly hot.

All in all, I'd probably give this a 3.8 score if I could get that granular. It is a fairly solid premise, decent sex scenes and fairly interesting characters, but is dragged down by a somewhat mediocre plot execution, premature pop off, and some of the same issues as any other games rendered in HS2.

The game is pretty good. I liked most of the characters, and the story is decent. I'm definitely looking forward to more updates. One improvement I would love to see is better graphics and possibly less cheesy dialogue. Overall, it's enjoyable for first-time players. Keep up the good work!