Ren'Py - Abandoned - The Secret: Ghosted & Thrilled [v0.4.9.5.2] [Aorrta]

I'm not here since the beginning, but from what I've learned, the dev been in a state of milking his patrons and not actually doing any update to finish the game.

Imagine if he got the dedication and motivation of NLT, even if just half as much, we definitely already get a second game. I have to say the potential is there, I think his strong point is the render and art style, definitely one of the tops in my opinion (if he got everything in check). But the reality, he got pretty much zero dedication of actually doing something substantial and finish everything, he just settles for milking state.

The Graphics are there and so is the gameplay, but the content is where this game is lacking. The secret has been remade multiple times over the years and the story and relationships keep changing. There seems no end to be in sight and unfortunately I have lost interest in this game.

This one is terrible. I expected very little after reading the comments here and seeing the problems in the overview writing. It gets worse and you know it's gonna go real down the dumb path when the default name for the MC is Jack Big Dick. And it gets worse, this is probably the worst iteration of anything you can think of.

The plot? Makes no sense. Your choices? They matter so little that the game won't even bother to ask you which they were between chapters. The girls? Either sluts who just throw themselves to get fucked in the ass in the moment you meet them (literally) or they'll blueball you until the end of the world. The content? Pretty small for the time it's had in development, and it continually mentions unexisting things (like content that says, in chapter 2, "available in future versions" and not only it's not, but it makes no sense for it to be even mentioned in chapter 2 when it's never included). Navigation through the environment? Terrible. Basic functions? A lot missing, like gallery or even skip conversations. Gameplay? Terrible, with broken things like the inventory and just everything is pointless to do.

At least character models are nice. And animations are... well, there are some, not great, but there are some. Music I turned off, can't talk about it, but sound effects are poor. And there are tons of bugs, not only the inventory but conversations happening over and over, and so on.

So, all in all, I'd stay away from this one if I were you.

This is by far the worst game i played recently. The sexism, The annoying 300 animations at the start every time, the blocking from either skipping this god forsaken dialogue or turning of the slow-motion transitions, the protagonist who is a stupid kid and unlikeable characters just pin the nail at this coffin.

I can't belive it's been since 2017 that the original vesion of this launched, there has been a "reloaded" version released in 2020, and there is still no reason to play this game. With 6 years of developement and almost no progress it's hard to believe that people are still rating this trash game with good ratings. I guess people forgot that Aorta refused to pay staff and screwed them over, made promises and failed to deliver on any of them, disappears for long stretches.

The game had potential when it launched in 2017, with really good art work and seemed to have good potential. But it never got developed and was abandoned for a long time, then this reloaded showed up, which was pretty much the same game with less content. And here we are today, a sub par game with decent graphics, that will only get updates when ever the developer needs some cash from patreon.

Please don't waste your time with this if you expect any regular or decent updates

Having first encountered problems in suddently switching from one day to another, I decided to re-download and give this version a second shot. and for the first time ever, I feel obliged to re-edit my review. I decided to be patient and play the game at a slower pace. And gues what, i now beleive that the game is very well crafted with only a few glitches that I think may not happen if you play it with a dedicated graphics card. (Mine is integrated).. For all practical reason, the game is now 5 stars for me.

If you like endless tease and promises that are never fulfilled, then this game is for you. It's the equivalent of a carrot dangling in front of you which you will never, ever and I mean never get to taste, let alone eat. Give this creator the middle finger for endless delays and support other creators that actually bother to support their work.

Starts off really good, then gets progressively worse. Episode 1 is great, Ep 3 is nonsense. The MILF ("mom") looks really good. So do some of the side characters. Too bad there's very little action with the main lady. The developer clearly has big plans for the game. There's many systems that are shown, even in the tutorial, but completely unused. Money and inventory are not used. I made the mistake of attempting to open inventory, which crashed the game. The game is very linear. You can always go just one way. Actually, the navigation is also bugged. At one point I went to work, then accidentally left the building and it was already night! Lesson learned: don't go backwards. Later on, it seems they gave up on the navigation completely and you can only go forward.

Summary: the game has a lot of potential, but at the moment, there isn't much actual content.

Good:
* Awesome renders
* Good animations

Bad:
* Bugs and glitches
* Not much content with the main characters yet

Obviously the start looked promising

But this Dev is lazy and morally flawed

Don't expect this game

Don't patronize him

Don't waste your money

Turtles are very fast and even honest compared to games.

Wel... graphics are good ...... and is the only good thing is this VN.
MC is... bad.
Gameplay is Bad...
Story is........ really stupid.
And ...the chapters are downloaded separately??? really...?
This look like a child MASSIVE foot fetish VN and nothing more.
Sorry but this is awful.

Navigating the house is horrible
no hints i had no idea what to do
Had to use unren to add a way to skip text
I saw the game had 3 chapters you had to download separately
Games has lot of coming soon features I have no idea how the story is because i had no idea what to do I kept navigating the house and keep ending up back where i was
i tried the first two chapters both gave a error when you clicked the bag
Renders are best things
Would be better if it instead of three separately chapters just one game

This title should have permanent "Onhold" tag.
That sums up the progress made in years not to mention the censorship, devs avalanche of excuses, small buggy update once a year(if any) just to remove abandoned tag .... enjoy day 1 of the game & fanarts & forget about any progress in the future.

One of the biggest letdowns... I've ever seen.

Renders:
Top of the food chain quality

Dialogue:
Harsh

Story:
This story is never getting finish, not in my lifetime but let's dive into it anyway. We're first this horny little midget trying to save his Mom and her business and literally the only thing that's changed is he's taller now. I still don't know how it was physically possible for Mary to lose her company and it this point I can't say I care anymore. The gameplay is buggy and seems as if it's never tested before released, some of this scenes are just completely random and don't mesh well with the story. It's not a fun experience, I just can't understand having potential and.... Nevermind.

Overall unwatched.

It's not really a game, not really a VN. It's stuck in some awkward inbetween where there are no choices to make that are relevant. When there are choices it's that same trash low-effort games make where you get 4 lines of branching dialogue then it funnels you right back into the same shit you would have gotten if you had picked any other choice, regardless of it making sense.

Poor coding, it's very common for loops to bring you back to an inappropriate spot. For example, you need to explore your new home so you go into the hallway and there are a bunch of rooms for you to explore. Every time you leave a room to go back into the hallway the MC is amazed all over again at how big the place is. Talking to a person? Well guess what after every dialogue topic is over you will ask them again if they have a spare moment and would like to talk. Very sloppy for a "reloaded" game.

There are a lot of mechanics introduced that have absolutely no implementation and I guarantee you they never will. It takes all of 10 minutes to slap some non-functioning hearts or money or time of day icon into a game. The actual work and effort is in finding a reason, balance, and fun in those systems. The dialogue is garbage and the MC fluctuates between a naive pubescent and a psychopath. I don't mean to shit all over the person making the game but all the focus seems to be on the visuals and that is just not going to work. A strong story or great game mechanics can hold up over the years. All this has going for it is the visuals and they are not going to prop this up for long.

I guess my first review of this was a littl too harsh. This game has fabulous renders. Beautiful backgrounds. including the fruniture, decore, and every little detail in the rendering, which speak of high class and refined taste. Animations are good and the story is half decent so far. Strangly enough, I aslo liked the imterface design.


Having first encountered problems in suddently switching from one day to another, I decided to re-download and give this version a second shot. and for the first time ever, I feel obliged to re-edit my review. I decided to be patient and play the game at a slower pace. And gues what, i now beleive that the game is very well crafted with only a few glitches that I think may not happen if you play it with a dedicated graphics card. (Mine is integrated).. For all practical reason, the game is now 5 stars for me.

I don't mind longer wait between releases. Let the developed take her/his time as long as the product is worthy.

Seriously, so much absence and that's it? The bugs are endless. Nothing opens, no phone, no map. The game just freezes periodically. Also a political agenda in a porn game? I don't play this game to get involved in politics. I get enough of this crap all over the internet and on the TV.

Art/CG3d: simply exquisite Story: I love it, it's a very detailed story of a visually aesthetic world. Every detail of the characters is excellent, I think Mary is a memorable character and that alone is more than enough to say that we all LOVE her.

Poor storytelling with top-notch renders and animations. No idea why this is sandbox. Quests? Different paths? Or just to make player click around like a bot? Dear Dev, do you have a story to tell in this game or do you just want to introduce characters left and right and create a clichee where MC goes around and bangs the paperdolls? There are no interesting characters, just beautiful renders. Even the milf has no character depth whatsoever.

Game starts with banging a hot stewardess and proceeds for non-stop HJ/BJ fest and occasional fodder banging? Started like a chad, proceeded to become a virgin or someting.

Renders got me to play this game but it is not really worth playing. Reeks of cliches. It is like eating a gorgeous cake and realizing it is tasteless.

It makes no sense what so ever to create a linear game in a sandbox environment. I get that Devs want to provide a free roam experience, but when you don't have any real choices it just makes the game play very clunky.
This game should have been designed as a VN and even as a VN the MC has very few choices.
Truthfully the only thing this game has going for it are good renders and the Dev is good with animations. Although the scene transitions get to be a bit much.
I'm sorry to say but the story is a real trainwreck. For starters the English translations are very poor. But even understanding what the Dev is trying to say - the plot is still pretty ridiculous.
This game is a prime example of when people say - porn world logic. Basically everyone wants to fuck the MC, despite the fact that he has zero charisma and mostly acts like a sixteen year old boy. Another part of the story that doesn't add up - everyone in the game treats the MC like he is a young boy, in fact he looks like a young boy and he is about a foot shorter than everyone. But if you read through the profiles on the computer in Lola and the MC office you will see that the MC is 23 years old. Which is the same age as Vicki, Shannon and several of the clients. Even Vicki treats him like a kid and tells him she is into younger men and then are the same age.
But the age thing is just one aspect that doesn't make any sense. Really the whole story doesn't make any sense.
Also the Dev clearly has a MASSIVE foot fetish. Which is fine, but it gets a bit annoying when the MC can't have an interaction with anyone without obsessing over their feet.

The only reason I gave this 2 stars, instead of 1, is the renders and animations are very good. But the game play and story are really bad.

Just finish playing the update. Significant improvements to the character models and panel composition, better character or more defining features were added or improved on.. There seems to be some focus on feet this update. The story is picking back up nicely. A few interesting new characters. I like the progression with MC and mother. Loved the sex scenes in this update. The scene with MC and mother was nice... looking forward to what happens next.