VN - Ren'Py - The Silver Lining [v0.8] [Namuswill]

I like this game but come on, the other reviews are a bit ridiculous. This is NOT a 4-star or 5-star game. It is mediocre especially at this stage. I expected some masterpiece because of the other reviews and was very disappointed.
It's very short (1 hour or so), only 2 short sex scenes with the same person. So it's very very incomplete. There are frankly NO corruption mechanism so far. The writing is average, people speak and behave as if they're in the 21st century, not at all like in the 1940s. The story isn't that engaging, I mean there are only a few characters and really only 2 possible unresolved conflicts at this stage.
There's a clear mafia 2 influence which is fine, and the creator really seems to want to make a mafia story first and a porn game second. The problem is he also seems to have trouble involving the main protag into this story. Maybe that's why the development stagnated!
What the creator probably should do: Don't take the story too seriously, make it a dating sim without complex story. OR let the protag take a more passive role, as more of a spectator.
All the game has is POTENTIAL. Even though the title says we're at version 0.8 the game is FAR FAR from completion. Get your expectation straight before playing the game is my recommendation...

This is my favorite game on here. I joined the Patreon after I tried it out!

The writing is top-notch. The characters feel like real people, including the protagonist. Each one has a distinct voice that comes through the writing; I read their voices like out of an old film noir. There's the immigrant family that I read like Polish immigrants. Then there is the mobsters that I read as Italian-Americans. You know the tropes. They come through in a good way.

It is a corruption game at its core. The player's choices determine how she reacts to certain situations she finds herself in, and oh the situations she gets into. It's the story of a naive immigrant girl that gets tossed into gang-land NYC. She wants to help her poor family, but the people she meets want to use her. Navigating these situations reveals who she is. Does she resist the temptations of the city, or does she give in? Is she just doing it for money, or does she learn that she likes it? Whatever you choose, it feels natural and believable.

The writing is center stage, but I love the art when it makes an appearance. There are only a few artwork stills (no animation), but it's all high quality.

I totally love the 1930s gangster style of this game. I love the grafics that really fit to the theme of the game. And I like the slow corruption in the gameplay. I am really looking forward for the next updates. One of my favorite games!

Even though it's still an early version, you can already see the great potential in it. Everything has a curated feel, from the narrative to the graphics, and updates come at a decent pace. I'm eager to see what it will become, and so should you.

Excellent arts, MC, story everything in game. Some nice moments, that take you to the 40`s is most interesting moment. At the moment it`s not soo long story, but im sure that in few updates it`s become the one of the most interesting threads

Excellent progress for a one year old game (2023), and decent amount of content so far. Keep up the good work, highly original setting.

Current ending 0.6 is quite abrupt, so don't expect many scenes. The world building is just right, very much worth a play

The Silver Lining [v0.6]


I would normally give games that are that early in development a placeholder rating of 3*, but I think this game has been really good so far.
I love the artstyle which looks beautiful and original.
The story is great, is very well written and the Dev did a great job so far in his storytelling, pacing, the introduction of characters and building a immersive and cinematic atmosphere.
I absolutely hate using the words promising or potential because those words are way overused and overrated on this site.
But those words would fit to this game because it is very promising, has huge potential and would be a game to follow for this year.

Cons:
The only thing that I would change in this game are the sex scenes.
Sure, it doesn't need to be hardcore fuckfest scenes but it would add so much to this game if those scenes are longer, animated or multiple picture put together to make it look like there's movement.
Tags should also be updated.
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There is not much content yet but I think this game is one that you should follow pretty closely and I can totally recommend playing it.
There is one BJ scene (one picture+cum) and one Sex scene (one sketch, not colorized)

A very well written story with big potential.

I generally dislike stories where the female protagonist is treated like an object and the aim of the game seems to be "corruption" purely for the reader's sexual gratification. I usually find these games pretty shallow, especially when contrasted to male protagonists who are usually given more agency and choices in their personal narratives. Why, after all, must every female protagonist be "corrupted" on her journey?

However, The Silver Lining does this trope very well, in large part because of its commitment to telling a coherent story. The protagonist is not simply a sex object for the reader to control and puppet around. The developer puts great care into worldbuilding and character building, which results in a genuine desire to see Mila's story receive a nice ending.

Period media is often very difficult to do well. It's a genre filled with derivative and tropey writing and anachronistic atmospheres. With Silver Linings, there's a genuine attempt at creating a fictionalized forties, featuring an immigrant family that's forced to move into a grungy old tenement building. The backgrounds, in particular, are rendered very well and immediately immerse you into the cold and sometimes unforgiving tone of the story.

Mila's story starts off innocent, even sweet. You immediately get a sense of her circumstances, if not her character. She's put into a difficult position, young and naive yet wishing to pull her weight in a struggling family. The characters, and their apparent motivations, are believable even if they are occasionally pulpy.

The MC, for her part, is also rarely annoying. She's not some brainless idiot who can't have her wits about her—she's aware of her surroundings and can respond appropriately to them. She's not some horny dog who can't control her hormones, but neither is she a puritan who jealously guards her sexuality. She just feels like an actual person, which is refreshing in the universe of awful adult visual novel protagonists.

As of version 0.6, there's not a ton of content. You can play through this game in a half hour, but what's currently available is done at a high level. The world building is done with care and an appropriate attention to detail without feeling overwhelming.

The art style is original and distinct. Every panel has a distinct vibe. This game is guaranteed not to look like any other, and the distinct and handcrafted art style is what you want from a visual novel in a period setting. It would look hugely out of place if they used generic DAZ models (or worse, Honey Select).

The sex scenes thus far are very limited, bordering on nonexistent, but the renders in place are erotic without being over the top. Mila isn't some big-tittied bimbo or va-va-vroom goddess. She feels like a normal, well-meaning girl next door put into a reasonable-enough situation that none of your suspension of disbelief is cut.

What really sets Silver Linings apart is its genuine artistic focus. It seeks to create a narrative and build up an atmosphere. It develops its characters. It rewards readers for going on a journey. It uses the visual medium to create an immersive, cinematic feeling. All of that puts it a cut or two above the average game on this site or in this genre.

Delicate story delicate game delicate early version of her game is so let people linger hope that the animation on a little effort to perfect, perhaps continuous static pictures can let show more expression. I struggled with the idea of the character being corrupt all the time, but I didn't want him to fall into porn. You have successfully brought the paradox to the player!

I know we are not supposed to mention other games in reviews. But let me just say that Silver Lining has a very Summer's End feely vibe to it. And that's a good thing!

This game is marketed as a corruption game and some of the tags show some dark pathing ahead. But the way I play this beautiful soul Mila has nothing to do with that debauchery. It is a beautiful tale of a girl in a new country that tries to keep her family together, grow as a woman and to make acquaintances and explore without getting lost on the way. All this before the backdrop of traditional role models and expectations, criminal environments and temptation.

Silver Lining manages to convey Milas fragility very well, while also showing her potential, her beautiful humanity. She is very relatable all around. With Jueliette there seems to be a very sensual lesbian path as well.
The sound effects and music are subtle but well done, the dialogue, despite having some grammar and spelling errors, is convincing.

I truly hope that this game will have wholesome routes and won't railroad the female protagonist into corruption. But the way it is done so far offers a rich and tasteful coming of age story with plenty of eroticism. Or porn, if that is your path.

Good: Interesting story, don't think I seen a game set in the 1940. The art is good too, I really like the art style, fit the game.

Con: The only con I can think of is that it's still pretty barebones, but since the game is still quite new, it's not much of an issue.

1. MUSIC!!!!!! It is exciting, sensual, Nostalgic, long ago, romantic, stirring imagination MUSIC!!!! I'm drifting off into the dreamy distance.
2. PICTURES!!!! This is not drab, repetitive anime, or that horrible style where you outline the video and paint over it with one colour in Microsoft Painte. This is REAL ART, the kind of art that European artists do!!!! I think the author of this game is a European adult and possibly a woman.
3. HISTORY!!!!!! This is a female love heterosexual classic romance. Like Valley of the Dolls. Or Pretty Woman. It's a rare story even for cinema but it's the kind of story WOMEN love the most. Not typical asian teenage 12 year old boys who loves anal and transformers.
4. THE ACTORS!!!!! They are perfect. Typical FATHER. FULL FAMILY. ELECTRA complex, girls LOVE older men. I adore my father, my birth father's friend and boss as a love interest is .... THAT'S WHAT YOU NEED!!!!!!!!! Young mafiosi, New York bohemian old female friend, SECRETARY job!!!! In New York!!!! It's a Dream!!!!!! This is the best game on this SITE!!!!!
5. DIALOGUE. Emotions, characters, desires, different aspirations, secret incomprehensible life of people, they feel alive. Plausible.
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I give this game a QUADRILLION stars !!!

Finally an adult visual novel that actually feels like a novel. Great work on writing and the art. Keep it going! Hopefully your project gets big with time. Dont forget to look into marketing it on Discord, itch io, reddit and other places. What you have in the current version is already good enough for hooking people in. Good luck!

I love this! (2)
Great storyline and interesting characters. I really like the illustrations. Hope this gets more audience.
Although choices could be more dynamic. There is not much content. But let's see what awaits ahead. I am really excited after seeing the planned tags.
Really one of the best early games I played. But sucks now that I am more hungry for content XD

I love this!

The developer is telling a good believable story that stands out from the average erotic novel. The main character is put in a situation where she is trying to provide a better life for herself and her family. The story is written with love and it's possible for the players to make choices that doesn't make the female MC feel like a total slut. Since we are in the 1940's it's also believable that she's dreaming of a simple life and a husband that will take care of her. The artwork is perfect for this story and I'm eager to find out where the story will take us.

The art is a delight, and the setting and time period is relatively unique and not often adopted by other H VNs I've seen. No use of shitty navigations or free roams, which is fabulous. It also seems that we're getting to see our fmc develop in a new city, and decide how she may flourish or fall. There is not a great deal of content as of yet, but what is here so far is most definitely promising.

One of the best early access games I've played on here.

Excellent art both between the backdrops and the characters. As a light spoiler version 0.2a has only one lewd scene but it showed off how proportionally normal the main character is which is great. For some reason a lot of games on here have super unrealistic looking women and I much prefer the grounded style shown here.

The story is also very believable so far. The main character is shy and it makes sense within that context that she could be influenced/corrupted by the other characters.

The developer has shown a lot of promise with this short glimpse at the game and I cannot wait to see what future versions bring.

v0.2

It is a very nice start. Story is engaging and it seems we're going to some very interesting places.

Art is very nice, characters look good. Details in the scenes, like clothes and furniture really add to the atmosphere of between the wars USA.

There's no sex scenes yet, only some mild erotica, but it is quite well done.

Dialogues are really good. The protagonist is a single daughter of eastern European immigrant family, presumably Polish/Ukrainian. It is quite easy to notice the different demeanor and tone between them and Americans. Kudos to the writer(s). It really adds to the atmosphere.

The downside is that there are quite a lot of spelling mistakes, but I didn't want to lower the score because of that.

All in all, there's not much there, but what's there now is top notch.

Hoping the quality won't be lowered and updates will be regular.

Lots of potential for this one. The protagonist is cute, the art style is interesting, the setting is unique. The dialogue could use some editing, some typos and grammatical errors, lowercase i's everywhere for example but that's just nitpicking. I look forward to seeing where this one goes.

High potential, fantastic art and writing. Completely unique setting that I haven't seen in any Western or Eastern games.

Still a bit nebulous as to what type of story will be told, but we shall see.