VN - Ren'Py - Twisted Memories [v0.9b] [BaiBai]

Well, this was a pleasant surprise.

Story:

The story is about a middle-aged man, living alone in a stinky apartment, his only joy is masturbating to pornography. As he appears to be having a heart attack, ready to accept death, he wakes up as a child once again, to be given a second chance in life.

Let me start by saying I think the game’s description is a disservice. I almost skipped this, expecting some dumb story about some bastard doing whatever it takes to fuck some girls, but what I found was a pretty relatable tale of regret. Most of us, on some level, have wondered how our lives would turn out had we known what we know now earlier. Had we not made that critical mistake. Had we not let that golden opportunity or that platonic love pass us by.

While the game describes the MC as an “ugly bastard”, from a porn medium standard, he isn’t really that much of a bastard. He's a pervert, sure, but he genuinely cares about those around him and tries to make amends with the people he neglected in his previous life. He forgives people that wronged him, and he even gets pissed at his classmate for cheating his exam. Not the MC I was expecting.

The game does a great job at letting you inside the MCs mind, and the way the situation plays out is fairly believable. The MCs memory of childhood is imperfect, his perception of some characters is tainted by things that are yet to happen, and his sudden change in personality and maturity does not go unnoticed by other people.

Design:

It is a very straightforward VN. There are choices, but so far they don’t seem to have a major impact whether you choose the bolder “corruption” options or the softer “seduction” options. It doesn’t seem like you can turn down any girls either, so if you’re looking for a choice-driven experience, you will be disappointed.

Presentation:

The game looks pretty good, has some custom animations and the music generally fits the scene. I prefer thick proportions, and the girls do look good, but even for me they seem too exaggerated at times. Some more variety would be nice.

Conclusion:

Overall, I was surprised at how invested I was in the story. Came for the hourglass shapes, stayed for the plot.

I’m personally tired of tree branch games where you’ll miss 70% of scenes if you don’t play the game 3 times with a walkthrough on your lap, so I’ve been enjoying games like this. But keep in mind if you want your every decision to have big consequences, this isn’t it.

I haven't been engage in a story for a while now. Can't wait too see how it turns out. From the animation, to the design of the characters, this game has a lot of potential. I hope the dev doesn't abandoned this game.

As of 0.5:

This is actually pretty good. There are two routes, corruption and seduction, and I always chose corruption.
Interactions between characters were decent. At least, as someone who's been whining about how the interactions between characters in Anime lack any social tact, this is better than that. Can't vouch for accuracy, but definitely gave me some hard nostalgia for high school.

There was one animated sex scene I saw, it was actually pretty darn good. Props for that.
I can't say all the characters have beautiful faces, like some of the newer stuff does, but honestly I have absolutely no complaints. If this is what he can work with to make good animations, keep at it.

I will say, though, the real test of an animator's skills seems to be fellatio. Very easy to have clipping or weirdness in those scenes. Or blatant resizing of genitalia to avoid said clipping, which is kinda obvious too. So I think when there's a scene like that, you can really judge.

For now, worth supporting for sure!

Game version: 0.5

Tease. This game is nothing more than a big, beautiful looking tease.
There are giant boobs everywhere, mostly in front of your face, YET nothing is happening. This is called a "tease" and this is okay and kind of exciting AS LONG as you get your reward shortly after. That would be the kind of game I liked.
This game though, does only tease 1000% and stops right there. Which is annoying af and definitely a huge turn-off.
The story might be okay (better than many similar games here) and the design/ overall looks are good, too. BUT all of this is redundant when there is nothing to *f95* to. No scenes after ~ 5K lines of skipped text.
Instead, another pair of xxl tits in your face.

I cannot recommend a game, that (almost) has no content but "teasers" all over the place.

A great game with a great story & writing that really carry the story. The renders are great too. I love how this game has pretty frequent updates. The hot scenes are really hot due to the writing as well as facial expressions, blushing, hot bodies. And this all complemented by music very well.

An alright corruption game so far.

Pros:
Graphics: For a HS game, the models and renders looks really good.

Neutral:

Story: While this is not an original story, it is told alright.

Cons:
Main LI Choice: So far, you are forced to spend time with the LIs and cannot reject them yet. Worse yet, forced to use condoms and stuff with sex scenes, and some of the LIs are meh with the MC's knowledge of the future.

MC: Too much inner monologues, and his origin story is pathetic.

Average game, but too much forced stuff with LIs.

the game isn't bad, the story is surprisingly good in my opinion, at first glance I didn't expect that, at certain points it gets to be quite sad the story, liked.. that part left me with tears in my eyes when his mother comes home from work late at night, or when he wakes up again in his old apartment and they bring him back, I identify with him in certain aspects of life unfortunately. my only problem and which is making me wonder if i will unfollow the story is victoria screwing with the mc, that scene of her in the classroom she hitting him and he's the one taking the blame was too much for me.. and the " irritating best friend, Leo, I don't know if it's because he tries to hit on mc's sister.. or because he's too immature not to realize the real problem going on, after the scene in the classroom he kept talking about the victoria and the mc where clearly even the mc couldn't take it anymore until they sent him to the library to stop talking. so my problem with this game is some characters with very annoying personalities...but i like the style of the game about not being just sex all the time. and from what I've seen some commenting there will still be a rival who isn't as nice either.. luckily I don't think I'll get to that part. then that's it.

Very good game. It's a bit of a slow burner, there's a lot of dialogue, and there's simply not much content yet, but the potential is huge. Every character looks good, too. There are a lot of typos and other writing mistakes, too, so beware if that annoys you.

Man, another "hidden" gem, honestly, i thought i would be staying for the incest because the sister are absolute bombshells, but god damn, i really like Stephanie, to the point i even forgot about the sister tbh, until i got hit by the end screen

5* Keep the updates coming, dev!!

v0.4a

Good game!

Good:

• Stephanie story is amazing
• Very nostalgic atmosphere
• Some characters like Viki have interesting undiscovered mysteries in their stories
• Easy to follow routine (wake up, go to school, come home)

What I didn't like:


In short, the MC has a hypocritical/ dishonest and incongruent personality. (He's a mature old man, but acts immature. He's kind and empathic, but only to the girls he likes, to guys he is rude and intolerant. etc.)

Just an unpleasant MC whose thoughts and philosophy, constantly vomited onto the screen is hard to endure a lot of the times.

The atmosphere, setting , story and other characters are very interesting though, and will keep me drawn to the game.

Excellent Game. At least till now, the flow and how everything is conveyed feel pretty good. Stephanie is really endearing and a strong LI. Really recommend it.
The graphical aspect i think is also really good and if the dev can push out updates in the 1-2 months guideline, that would be a godsend.

Review for v0.4

It really feels like I need to write a review because, even though there're some annoying aspects, the overall quality of this game is really unexpectedly GOOD.

The title itself pretty much says it all: An ugly bastard turns back into a teenager and corrupts the woman of his past. You play as an ugly bastard in his fourties with no wife, no child, no stable income, and certainly no future, yet after some accidents you somehow travel back to your teenage years.

Even though this theme might have been a bit cliche in AVNs already, the story itself says otherwise. Before and after MC becomes a teenager again, the feeling of regret, loss, confusion, and dedication is conveyed really well especially in the Prologue and the first in-game day.

As MC starts to be accustomed to this new situation, he recollects his past memories and compares it with the present ones and finds out how many opportunities he've missed, how many people that once cared about him will slowly drift apart because of his neglect, cowardice, or mistakes. I think this is something that we as human beings are all able to relate to: what would we have done if we are bestowed with a second chance? Even though I'm still in my early twenties, it really makes me think about the past and some of the choices I should've made or not made, and I don't think there're too many AVNs that manages to make me have some retrospects in real life. Even though the "task" of seducing/ corrupting the LIs is still the main focus, I'm glad that the dev manages to keep MC's feeling of nostalgia and the determination of change intact, since this is one of the highlights of this game for me.

As can be seen in the thumbnail the LIs are divided into two groups: families and classmates, and even though this is still an early development and thus there ain't much contents in it, I really think the dev balances the screentime of each LIs and the interaction between MC and them pretty well, like it's natural that Stephanie will be the first and chief focus in the early stage, the family members are given relatively equal screentime since they live together with MC, and it's reasonable that Cathrine receives less contents than others since she's taken already.

For now there's only one actual sex scene but the buildup of it is realllllly satisfying, and both the dialogues and animation are done fantastically to make this scene special both for relationship and story progression.

Now there're some parts that I really cannot say I appreciate:

1. Typos, typos, typos everywhere. It's really distracting especially when you're reading an impressive story and somehow there're tons of typos that are all over the place. This is perhaps my biggest complaint of this game and the dev should seriously spend some time proofreading or hire somebody to do so.
2. The body configuration. The balloon breast is also all over the place to the point that only one LI doesn't have that but it's because she hasn't experienced proper physical development since she's a minor. Even though I'm a huge fan of big breast, I do wish there're some variety in terms of that. Also, there're some scenes in which MC's body isn't the same as he should have, like in the Stephanie sex scene he somehow becomes a muscle guy which is too absurd that it makes me laugh a little bit.

Overall, Twisted Memories is the first AVN I've played in 2023 that I could call "close to perfection". Even though you might not be a fan of Honey Select models, the story alone is already enough to get you engaged. Hope future updates can be as good as the current contents.

[v0.4]

The "I was reincarnated as a..." premise might be pretty stale at this point, but this is by no means a cookie cutter story to add to the pile. 5 stars here means "excellent" rather than saying it's a perfect game.

The writing is actually extremely compelling. The main theme that is explored is how our memories of the past might not always be accurate. A middle aged incel loser with no meaningful relationships left lives life on autopilot. He gets a second chance at life and is reminded that there was once a time in his life where he had people to care about. The sad state of his existence which he might have blamed on other people doesn't seem so cut and dry when he lives through his memories with a new perspective.

The character writing is very strong. Everyone has some depth to their character and people act believably in any given situation according to their knowledge and personality (with some obvious liberties taken for the incest tag).

The MC still harbors the pervert nature, but he undergoes a lot of character growth and introspection. Through the player's choices, you can subtly nudge the characterization of the MC into a more redemption focused story or a slightly more deviant side. That said, the difference is very subtle. In both cases, the MC will grow into a better person and still harbor some sexual motivations.

There is a lot of sexual tension building up. It's expertly done. There is only 1 full sex scene so far, and it was executed very well. Lots of dialogues, narration, animations, different positions, and very good flow to the whole thing.

Just 2 complaints after finishing the current release.
Absurd balloon tits. Not a fan, but nothing to be done about this. The general overall aesthetics of the game is still quite pleasing to me.

It feels like the game had an excellent proofreader in the early portions and then they quit or something. At some point, the grammar, word choices, spelling, and phrasing takes a noticeable dip. It's not bad enough to detract from the story telling, but it's definitely distracting enough. Easily fixed by another pass of proofreading.

I'd like to say just one more thing. There's a decent amount of well written stories in the adult gaming scene, but it's a bit rarer for those stories to also make you think about things beyond the scope of the narrative. I won't go as far as to say this is some super deep masterpiece, but it does have the power to invoke some self reflection about your own life or think about the human condition in general. After all, what are we if not the collection of our memories?

Review based on 0.4:

Overall, a really good game. Might not deserve the full 5 Stars since I have some issues with some parts, however, those are minor things and I have the feeling that the potential of this game is really big.

Story is not new, but also not bad at all. MC gets set back in time and has a second chance in life. MC comes of as a really disgusting person at once, but is actually quite a deep character, who is grateful and wants to help on the one side, but is also aiming for his own personal benefit on the other. Not a bad guy at all, but also not a completely good guy.

Female Characters look great. Most have really big boobs, which is a total win for me, but they will be offputting for people who are not into that. But overall, really good-looking Love Interests and totally my taste.

Dialogues are well-written. The Dev writes on a high level when it comes to the actual meaning of the Posts and you get the idea that the MC is really intelligent, but for some reason had some wrong turns in his previous life. Story in its own is also good, it keeps you interested and you want to know what exactly happend to MC, since he has some memories about some things, but also some things are missing.

Regarding things I dont like:

Spelling. Lots of mistakes, which show that there is some work to do. A proofreader would be great, because the actual writing is good and does not need to be improved, just a look for typos and similar mistakes.

Some Characters are pretty annoying. Mainly the childhood Friend Leo, but also the rival Aden. Later one will most likely end up being redundant anyway.

And, last but not least, there is not much difference between Corruption and Seduction, at least at this point. The dialogue is different and sometimes the MC comes of as somewhat rude when doing the Corruption-choice, but thats about it. However, I am very sure that it will play out in future Updates, since obviously there will not be much difference at the start.

So while I have some points which I dislike, I feel that they are either stuff which can easily be fixed (Typos) or will change (lack of difference between Corruption and Seduction) or are just things which you have to deal with due to the nature of the game (Leo being annoying, but he is a young character, so it fits).

So overall, well-deserved 5 Stars, Dev deserves every Support they get. If you are into Harem-Games and Corruption and like the Look of the LIs, I highly recommend to check out this game.

Amazing scenes and characters with a story that makes sense. Tampers a lot to the semi slow mental corruption of women and I love it as well as the story that feels personal and real. Looking forward to whatever this becomes, it has instantly become one of my favourites and I await updates with bated breath.

The only negative is the proofreading and typos. The writing definitely needs a second read before an update is released but it doesn't take me away from the story much at all.

I'm very much impressed by this game. The writing is one of the top on this site. All the scenes and their transitions have a lot thoughts put into them which give the feel of a high production value.

Among the best of characters design plus the fantastic renders make it a game that you should not ignore no matter your preferences.

They are a few negatives, tho not enough to remove a star. It's minor, but the font need to be replaced to make it easier to read. Also the girls boobs are in general too big to my taste but it's nothing compared to the ridiculous huge dick that the mc has. It looks idiotic and If there is a fellatio scene in a following update it will look like shit, but dev probably knows that since his animations are suberb. I was worried about the big boobies during sex scenes, however the boob physics were done masterfully.

Great start and a fun premise. Really enjoyed the story and the renders, while a bit too ginormous in the chests for my personal taste, are top notch. I'm really looking forward to seeing the story unfold.

This game is still early in development and has only one sex scene so far but boy, if it isn't the hotest thing I've seen on the internet it's pretty close.

The story is also right up my ally with it's Detective Conan XXX feeling.

I usually don't like the style of these games, but I really enjoy this one. I thought the story would be boring, but I really enjoyed what I played so far. Love the characters and the story so far and cannot wait for the next update. I will keep my eye on this one for sure!

The writing in this game is actually excellent; there are some proofreading issues which I'd love to help with, but I found the story and characterization compelling. I'm also not really into Honey Select models, but they work well here and the dev is adding some subtle animations that really make this VN pop. Can't wait for future updates