VN - Ren'Py - Thief of Hearts [v0.0.1a] [MrDots Games]

[0.0.1a] - 3.5/10

As flavorful as a bowl of porridge.

THE GOOD

The 'family of thieves' is a cool concept and should be explored more.

The GUI is pretty good.

The animations are surprisingly solid.

THE NEUTRAL

Locking sexual content behind a paywall code is understandable, but also pretty shitty.

THE BAD

The renders are simply terrible.

Reading up on other reviews and some comments, I was confused whether we were playing the same game. This is MrDots' fourth major title and the render quality somehow regressed compared to their last two games - Sunshine Love (2020) and Melody (2018). The framing is super basic, the lighting is pretty much non-existent, the character models look dated, and the compression level is so high, I can easily count the pixels in every shot. If I was to judge the game solely on the visuals, it would be the easiest 2/10 of my life.

The pacing makes no sense.

Whoever thought putting no transitions between shots is a good idea, should be flogged and thrown overboard. Every click makes me feel I'm being teleported rather than smoothly transitioned to a new action/location. The same goes for the animations - every click feel like I'm hastily opening a new video file rather than having a curated experience. Ugh.

The writing has an identity crisis.

I did not have high expectations given MrDots' previous works, and maybe that is why I am not completely disappointed. The dialogue and storytelling in this game is in this odd superposition where it is both pretty good and utterly dumb. In the span of a single scene we can go from a logical conversation between the 'family members' to straight-up oversexualization of every female character by the MC for no apparent reason.

I believe the problem lies in that the writer is mixing up the words 'implicit' and 'explicit.' Instead of the story being told in an organic way, we are presented with the same old 'Here is X. Their were my Y, and did Z." It assumes the 'main cast' has had no interactions and lives prior to the game's start. I like to call it the 'spawn problem' where the characters are spawned/forced to appear in a specific point of the story rather than being "born" gathering experience along the way.

Conclusion: Avoid if you value your time.

First time (and maybe last time )that I will share my POV on a game
MrDots...

-Melody was great (despite the rushed ending),

-DMD was great also (despite the abandoned sharing narrative arc about Olivia/ Graham and Ryan / Margo and again, the rushed ending,

-then it was Sunshine Love and all the babbling inherited from Beverly hills 90210 and the hotel and...
I never finished SL because kind of boring for me.

And now the new Thief of Hearts...

Main protagonist a fucking teenager: come on !
Fucking teen with a fucking duh face...
And with a new babbling try to look liked Mission:Impossible but for teens...
All the girls are identical to most of all others one: kind of Barbie style made for...well, tiny teenz !
Come ON !!!

Most simple story (like Melody and a bit DMD) allowed to build believable relationship and empathy for the characters.
Since SL, it's just intrigue & Co, like a damn soap opera or any teens TV show !

I lost most my Interest for MrDots games since the middle of SL but with ToH, I guess this is the end !
I'll be support Naughty Road's Light of my Life or even Zetan and his Desert Stalker but MrDots lost his mojo since DMD part 4...

Good luck Dev.

Review as of Version 0.01

The comedy parts in this game are going to be hit and miss. As I find the comedy the more stupid / cringe kind of comedy which doesn’t really work well for me. There are even some cringe worthy scenes but not alot of them. The story in this game reminds me of some heist comedy movies I saw in the past. Where they aren’t good but enjoyable for what it is.

I’m not a fan of incest games all that much and this very much a incest game 3 of the main LI are your family. But for someone that doesnt like incest I don’t mind it here because all the characters are very likable to me and I just love them so far. So I can get past any gripes I typically have where I think most games fall short when it comes to taboo topics incest . But it’s worth mentioning all the same.

The animations in this game are probably some of the best ive seen in an AVN. Which does make the extra unlocked non scenes a bit of a disappointment after seeing how good they could have been. However it’s understandable why extra scenes wouldn’t get the same amount of effort and time spent on time compared to something that is part of the main storyline.

I typically dislike using walkthroughs but I activated the walkthrough since it was part of the game and I noticed it was very much needed in this game. As to get a perfect A+ score some the choices aren’t all the obvious to which one you have to pick.

One final thing to mention as this could be a big deal to some people. One part in the story there is a lewd scene with I assume 2 side girls one we might see again unsure about that. But it’s forced on the player for plot reasons as I honestly would of turned both of them down if I could ( you get to pick which one based on your choices)

Overall a very strong first episode with alot of playtime, for once I actually look forward to the next episode in a Mr. Dots game. As it’s very enjoyable for what it is but if you take it seriously, something not just to have fun with it’s not that great.

great renders, great story and more content that i expected for the initail instalment. the models look amazing just lilke thier other games and i really lokk forward to seeing where this is going. not much spicy content yet but its setting up way better than some other games do and its a massive credit to the writer

Story 4/5: good and relatively unique premise
Writing 3/5: lacking, but not terrible. main problem is the terrible humor
Renders 4/5: good, but not exceptionel
MC 2/5: he is a coward, overly perverted and lack self-control
Girls 3/5: decent variety, but a lot of them are dislikable
Choices 2/5: quite a severe lack of choices. MC is often very interested in a girl/woman, without giving the player a choice, and with a lo of the girls being dislikeable, that makes it a severe problem.

It's a mrdots game so you already know what to expect.

The renders are good but they feel like a downgrade from the previous game, which is surprising because one of the things they were talking about during the development was improving the quality and the expressions (which to be fair they did improve).

The models and characters are fine, unfortunately they had to go with the bitchy older sister trope.

The writing has been improved from the previous games but it's a bit jarring because one scene feels reasonably grounded in reality and the next scene is pure porn logic that looks like it was written by a horny teenager.

Having the players input the relationships instead of using a proper incest patch is also a downgrade, on top of that it's also not very polished, there are multiple instances of you calling your dad by name.

Still, an impressive first release just for the size alone and despite these flaws a solid game

Well, I tried this one despite my better judgement, just to have a discussion with someone. And it went as expected. Just the usual formula from this team, great renders and weak everything else, from characters to writing to the conversations, etc. I see many reviews saying it got much better, but I honestly dont see that much of a change, maybe compared to the mess that was sunshine, it does fare a bit better, but overall, mediocre.
Then we have some "extra, non canon scenes" that at this point it is a staple of Mr dots, I would complain about the lack of a notice or warning for this kinds of "controversial" scenes but honestly, it was to be expected so cant complain.
Not a game I would enjoy or plan to keep playing, but I am sure Mrdots fan would love, since it keeps mostly the same formula they have been using since DMD chapter 3. So if you liked his previous games, you'll probably like this one as well. But for me, personally, it is a 2/5. Pass.

A big improvement over the previous games.

-Better dialogues, intriguing characters and interesting story.
-Good looking females.
-Really long Episode 1. A lot more content for a first release than any of the other devs.
-Not a tedious gameplay. It has some really light minigames, nothing fancy.

Overall, for a first release, this is as good as it gets. The dev offers something unique within the usual family incest genre. I just hope they can finish the game as strong as it started.

Professional grade entertainment! First rate artwork, very likable characters, and a captivating story. The right balance between lighthearted comedy and thriller. Lots of content for a 0.01 release.

As far as opening releases go for a new game, this could well be up there with the very best.

Not only is it a HUGE update, the writing is great (as others have said) and there's a clear progression with the standard compared to their first three games (DMD, Melody and Sunshine Love). Love the MC's sense of humour which makes him quite likeable ( a rarity with MC's).

There's a big improvement in the quality of the animations.
There were glimpses in SL that they were getting better with them and you can see the full extent of that in this new game.

The approach to how they've crafted each scene is more focused: you can tell that more time and care has been taken in the detail shown for each scene.

This dev team gives you more than enough details about all the main characters in the game while also leaving some mystery and intrigue with others. Basing the story around a group of thieves definitely helps in this regard.

There's a decent mix in terms of the age of the love interests - two of which are only a couple of years in difference, either side of the MC's age (21).
It could do with another younger character but it's still only the first update, so plenty of room and time to add more.

Some of the MrDot formula still remains, but it works for Thief of Hearts and most mistakes of previous games haven't shown up in my playthrough so far.
Look out for the odd references to well-known films and TV shows - something I've noticed with their previous works.


There are a few inconsistencies with rendering details/errors but that would be purely nitpicking.

As for extras in the game, there's a stack of bonus images and quite a number of hidden and bonus scenes which gives players a reason to go through the game again. It's not for everyone, but it's a nice inclusion nonetheless.

Anyway, try it for yourself and come up with your own opinion.
Forget about their previous work or what the negative Nancy's are saying -
if they had anything resembling actual talent they'd make their own game.
They wouldn't know what hard work and putting in plenty of effort looks like, which is clearly evident in the creation of this first update.

Thief of Hearts is something fresh from this team, and there's a clear progression in quality here.

Looking forward to the next update already!

Excellent renders, great writing, fresh story that hasn't been done much in the past. This seems like it has the potential to be this devs best game. The character models are all amazing, with Ariel as my favorite. The thing I would say that stuck out to me the most was the writing. Dev has improved since the last few games and there were some funny and some touching moments. There was a good amount of content for a first release, and judging by the devs track record we can expect consistent quality. Definitely recommend!

-:
I thought there will be more loli(semi-loli) characters. So far you have only 1, - Ariel. (in SunLove there were 4) Maybe they will fill up empty spots in menu LI-relations with this type. ONLY. since there already, besides nice mom, a plenty 30-ish old girls.
btw, graphics looks worse that on 2020-23 Sunshine Love, wtf
+:
dialogues are better, even it was interesting to read encyclopedia dialogues from SunLove.
good chunk of plot for 1st update.

Great start to this game. The writing seems to have improved compared to the last games. Plot of the story is very interesting and the group dynamic is intriguing. Animations also seemed to have improved and the renders are great as always. Looking forward to the story unfolding.

Nice renders, bad writing and bellow average story. For better or worse MrDots team has a formula and they stick to it. This can be good if you want to play the same game over and over, not so good if you're looking for something interesting or exciting.
Landlady, roommates, magic dick, you know the drill.

The dev returns with a bang. The setting is pretty intriguing. Renders are great but is expected. The writing is stepping above compared to the previous game, quite entertaining in fact. Still early, but all main characters seem to have a great introduction so far. Looking forward to more.