VN - Ren'Py - Wild Cats [v0.1.1] [LopaPhi]

Its Very good VN so far and its quite promising to be one of the best stories .
Moreover the title is very fitting indeed, visuals are very good (though they need some polishing especially near the hair) and the story is quite interesting and nice.
MC is quite good and i can see the character development and the inner struggle even in 1 chapter.
The LI are beautiful ,unique and yea wild cats ..... (Mc gonna have a hard time)
Thankfully is Harem because the choices are many and diffucult... though personally im gonna go for Eve and Zoe for sure and perhaps Lexi and Saki.
Moreover i don't see any lesbian tag and i personally liked this (i hope though if there is any change in the future to be optional)
Nonetheless i believe if it continue like this it would become a great VN and personally i enjoyed it a lot.
Highly recommended and i cant wait for the next chapter.

The game looks great. The developer clearly is pushing the Honey Select 2 engine to its fullest capacity and the results are very nice. The writing is good and all the characters are likeable. The one problem I have is that it's been 5 months since the last update and we're only at the first chapter.

I understand it must be hard to get make your game as high quality as this but its hard not to forget the game when it has this little content and this long of a wait for more.

A really well-written story, great renders, hot scenes, and no grinding. Everything you want from a great AVN. It's rare you see this good writing in actual sports movies or anime. Really looking forward to next updates!

Sports based AVN and it's executed well. Good looking renders and girls. All got their own personalities. Story moving in good pace too. On the lewd part it's slowburn another plus for me. I'm a huge haikyuu fan so I'm glad volleyball is getting attention here. Hoping to see intense matches later in the game.

+ Story
+ Visuals
+ Girls with unique personalities
+ Mc ( he ain't a creep )
+ Sports based

Keep up the good work dev looking forward to next updates

Review for v0.1.1

Sports-based AVNs are a genre I'd like to see more of, and it seems like Wild Cats might fill that particular craving I've been having for one. The previews and concept of being a coach for a volleyball team are what drew me in, but what I didn't quite expect is just how deep the writing gets in regards to the characters.

That's not to necessarily say this is a literary masterpiece, but it would have been easier to throw together a basic underdog story with some quirky girls and call it there. The game takes that deeper though, and lets the characters have real flaws and conflicts with the MC, the MC being a very flawed individual himself. And while I do think some of the dialogue and story beats are perhaps a bit on the unrealistic/played up side, there's still a lot personality shining through that's essentially capturing me into wanting to play more of this.

The overview gives you a decent idea of what to expect, but this really is a rising from the ashes story more than anything. The volleyball team your future now resides on coaching isn't just some group of diamond in the rough players you have to train up, it practically doesn't even exist. As the game puts it, you're starting from rock bottom. Your first task is getting the few players on the roster to actually train, which becomes rather monumental task itself.

What makes that task harder is the MC shooting himself in the foot left and right, which clues you into his character flaw. Truthfully this is an aspect I'm pretty mixed on. While it is nice to see a character have flaws and have to deal with real conflict, I've never been a huge fan of making MCs purposely unlikable. That's kind of what this game does, and I mean it's working, but not necessarily in a way where it's making me want to see him fix himself and succeed if that makes any sense. Rather, it's just a bit annoying? After the MC has a career ending injury and seemingly spends a year of his life crashing out, we learn the main consequence of that is he now doesn't have much of a filter and is kind of an asshole. He actively makes his own life harder by being a dick, which to be fair he recognizes and attempts to fix.

I think my problem is stemming from the fact that we don't really see any of his struggles portrayed to justify the way he is now. We kinda get a time skip where the games tells you "yeah the MC went through some shit" but we don't actually see that, which makes him hard to empathize with for me. That being said, when he's not an asshole, I'm liking his character and how he's trying to dedicate himself to this coaching thing (mostly for his benefit right now, but I'm sure it will grow). There's a couple cheesy/cringe lines here and there too but that's just being nitpicky.

I like the girls a lot too actually, partly for the fact that they don't let the MC walk all over them when he's being a dick and actively oppose him at points because of it. Which again he deserves and even gets a punch in the mouth for. It's surprisingly realistic in that way. It's not just the common AVN trope of the girls immediately falling for him and doing what he says because he has "something special." We get focus on some more than others, but they're all endearing in their own ways. Enough for me to want to see more of them anyway.

It's got a lot of other solid AVN staples like music and sound, plus the renders and character designs have a pretty unique feel to them. Some of the renders are pretty grainy or low quality maybe is the word, but the core part of them is good if that makes sense. Like they look good but need touch ups. There's also some very good animations not just for sex scenes but for moments like volleyball stuff as well. All great things to have. I have some smaller complaints, like the choices and bad ends being kinda pointless, but nothing so bad as to really go into a rant about.

All in all it's still early but this is a very good start. I'm pretty eager to get to the point where they actually start practicing and playing volleyball, but this is almost a slow burn in that it's taking time to really detail the girls before getting there. We're in the problem solving stage where we gotta deal with outside factors to get the team together in the first place. I do hope this doesn't forget it's a volleyball AVN down the line though, because as much as I'm here for the sex, I'm also equally here for a good volleyball story. I want to see them succeed man.

To be honest, despite the moderate amount of content it has which is understandable since it is the initial release, my experience was quite good. Each characters felt so real and distinctive from each other. Even MC got a troublesome past and it is refreshing to see how he is struggling with his personality and trying to overcome it. A must try AVN if you play for the story.

After scrolling through dozen of games and becoming an Idol Manager to being teleported to a house in the rift and another realm with baddies that has qi, enrolling to a new school abroad just to become an op newbie in a vr, to surviving an apocalypse with two sisters and now becoming a women's volleyball coach but with a bad temper seems great.

Quite ballsy to make the main character with such a severe flaw in a genre filled with wish fulfilment fantasies and perfect protagonists.

There is only one time where I found him too whiny, the scene where Desirée tries to help him, where it just went for a bit too long. I am otherwise okay with it. It gives room for him to improve as a character and makes the story have a bit more depth. It's great.

Off to a good start, keep up with it.

This is an all-around well-made game, but the only reason this isn't a lower-reviewed game is because the author does have a warning before you start the game that the MC is insufferable but my god, I can't play the game anymore.

Yes, I know he has trauma. Yes, I know his dreams were crushed. Yes, I get that it could have an extreme effect on his emotions. I think it's overdone to the point of complete annoyance. The weird part is the MC diagnoses himself pretty well, he knows he's pushing people away because of his anger at himself and the world, but he continuously acts like a toddler and an edgelord. Yes, I know the author wants to build the MC up from being a piece of shit, but there is no reason for the audience to attach themselves to this character, he doesn't have a redeeming quality, his whole personality is his trauma. In future chapters, I'm sure he gets better, but there needs to be something there for me personally to want to play as a character, and the constant self-sabotaging is too much for me to enjoy.

That being said, the quality of the renders, the models, and a fairly unique idea definitely has potential, and my review could change, my constructive criticism is the author started the MC too low. All of the bad things that happened to him are his fault, besides the freak injury. Having a main character who is flawed is good, but not this flawed. To use a very famous example of a protagonist, Luke Skywalker is a whiny teenager, but he has a heart of gold who along with the audience, wants to explore the galaxy. I want to explore this game, but the MC is whiny, aggressive, and a bad person. The worst thing is that he doesn't want to engage in the wider world.

Calling this game average would be unfair, but it balances out. Great models, great renders, good technical skill. Absolutely insufferable MC that makes me want to scratch my eyes out. 3 stars. If you care less about story and plot development and you want to see hot volleyball girls, 5 stars.

Great characters. I liked everyone except for Fiona so far; I'm honestly not really a fan of tattooed and/or pierced girls (the face tattoo might have been a bit much imo, but the worst part about her was her attitude by straight up punching the guy). Eve on the other hand is my favorite so far as she's quite adorable.

The renders do need some work, especially the hairs, but it does get a bit better as the game goes on even on this first chapter.

Speaking of first chapters, I was pleasantly surprised by its length. A lot of content and we can clearly see the MC struggling with himself and trying to do better. I do think a lot of what he does is pretty human and doesn't come out as not genuine considering where he's coming from, so all in all, I think he's also part of a great cast.

The story is pretty good too. I'm a fan of sports anime, even sports I know nothing about and end up learning while watching, so I'm curious to see where this game takes it.

Characters: The LIs as of the first chapter are insufferable and unlikable. They treat MC like trash and MC is forced to grovel to them in response. Just a gross situation to open with.

Renders: Not great as of the first chapter, but an admirable effort from a dev who clearly is trying to get started.

Story: Intriguing, but honestly completely derailed by the horrid characters and constant groveling the MC has to do to them. Every time I started to get pulled in to the story, I got pulled out by one of the gratuitous amounts of game-over screens or the complete abrasiveness of a potential LI's personality.

Overall, I will probably wait for significant development to attempt to play again because the potential is there. The characters are just so insufferable and the way the story is presented is clunky. I understand the attempt of the constant "give up?" screens is to convey a feeling of overcoming the MC's nature and become better, but it instead just presents a frustrating mechanic that pulls me out of the story every time I start to get past how actually awful the characters are. Maybe the characters will improve with time and the first chapter is just showing them in the worst light, but it doesn't help the overall narrative forces you to grovel to them no matter how bad they treat you.

Great start, way longer than I expected as well for a first release. Love the characters, the writing's nice, so are the LIs and I like the way the MC is written too, it's kind of unconventional for an adult visual novel but it's interesting. The renders and the overall art style is enjoable as well. Definitely recommend this one.

This is really good, maybe it's a bit early to say something like this, but with ch1 alone it reminds me more of normal jap VN than the typical porn plot fuckfest AVN you see. Honestly, if it was already completed and it kept the level of quality that CH1 had, I'd be willing to buy it.

The plot is pretty good. The subject matter itself (volleyball) doesn't appeal to me, but it seems the focus is a lot more on the characters and creating a compelling narrative surrounding the subject matter rather than the sport itself, and it does a good job at it. I was very much invested.

The characters take the spotlight here, they are definitely interesting and likeable, the one I liked the most was definitely Lexi, but I still want to see more of the others. They follow some typical tropes (delinquent rebel, the wild dangerous girl, rich ojousama type and such), but I don't see a problem with that, I'm more interested in how the Dev will develop them, tropes are tropes for a reason, they work.

Gameplay is typical VN gameplay, you have choices you pick on certain occasions and seems like it will have a hidden point based/flag based system, I haven't tried every option, but It didn't feel like anything was forced on me, I don't know if the dev will keep up multiple routes based on choices (it can be a bother to code) but for now it's satisfying.

The character models are good, I don't think they are the absolute best I've seen for HS2, but this game is definitely up there in terms of quality, the girls are very attractive. We are told multiple times the MC is handsome and it actually feels justified here, he also looks good. I do like when the MC is attractive as well if I'm forced to stare at his face for several hours (no i'm not gay).


Criticisms have already been made by a few other reviewers and I've noticed these flaws as well, lighting on the scenes is quite weird and everything looks really bright, quality of the renders is definitely lacking, but this could definitely improve over time. I'm also hoping the quality of the animations and sex scenes improves, but I believe there is only one for now, so there isn't much to judge.

Overall, very promising, but I will keep my expectations reasonable, I've seen other promising games here eventually getting abandoned on going into development hell for years, so we'll have to see if the Dev's update schedule and ETA's are reasonable. If they are, this a very good start for him and I do hope this blows up and gets more attention, it's already better than a lot of stuff here.

I'm impressed to see that it's your first game and it's so well done. After playing chapter 1 I only have good things to say about the game, I really liked the story and that the beginning is not the typical cliché character that after 3 interactions already has any girl in bed, very well worked in general and I hope to see more content very soon.

This is Impressive work, especially coming from a first time dev.
Writing is on point, all characters including MC are well fleshed out and have a lot of depths. Models are beautiful.

Only slight downside is that sometimes lightning and image quality are a little subpar, but it is to be expected since dev is new to this and apparently isalready aware and working on it.

Overall this promise to be one of the best VNs on the platform.

Having finished v0.1.1 I think this is an excellent initial release. It takes its time to establish a plot and introduce important characters without overwhelming you. Good looking models, well executed animations and facial expressions, and amazing music choice that helps with immersion. Without going into depth this is worth your attention and I can recommend trying it out.

To go in more depth I'd like to talk about things I enjoy so far and things that I feel can be improved.

The writing feels strong. The monologues of the MC are short and concise which I really appreciate. It's hard to critique humor but I will say it is my style. There's some anime humor such as the MC being super dense which makes sense because hes a virgin, which may turn off some people, but it's not overused. Every character so far feels alive in the sense that they have their own priorities and circles, and dont fall into the trap of just blindly serving the MC. Despite the main heroines using some established character tropes there isn't a single one I dislike and just from this initial chapter I really couldn't tell you whos my favorite and I think thats a great thing. Some standout characters for me however are Mr. Harrison and Desiree. They're great portrayals of the best type of people you want in your corner; people who can pick up on something and lend you a hand, but aren't at your beck and call. Desiree doesn't join team just because you asked her, but shes still more than happy to be your friend. Mr. Harrison can understand the position you're put in, but can only point in the direction you should be heading and might serve as a mentor of sorts. I'm really looking forward to all the relationships in the game platonic or romantic.

But that brings me to the huge elephant in the room. A huge plot point that needs to be addressed. The "condition" that the MC accepts in order to be enrolled in a scholarship at the university. There's no sugar coating it. As of now the MC is straight up using all these girls for a selfish reason. For a scholarship at a prestigious university and to "get his life back together" And I think the developer is already aware of this, because everytime the MC mentions how important getting the team together is for him, he clams up immediately. None of the girls NEED this team like the MC does. They don't have the same stakes in the team as the MC so why would they bother joining? Certainly not just to help him out when he can hardly be considered a friend to most of them. And so there's this problem of even if he DOES get the team together, it's disingenuous because his main goal is to get the team together and win so he can keep attending the college, but secondary to that is the girls' own personal investment and goals for their team and themselves. There isn't really a mutually beneficial relationship for both parties YET, but with the way the condition is presented there basically has to be one. Personally I think it's better if MC comes clean with the truth of him getting the coaching position SOONER rather than later. Mainly because if it comes out later, the only way it can play out is like a 90s/early 2000s romcom movie where the MC deceived his love interests but has a change of heart and admits everything in the end and is forgiven and lives happily ever after. I would really rather not see that in a game that has so much potential. I don't know what the best way to resolve this plot point would be, but it does bring me to my last point about the MC.

I enjoy a flawed protagonist, and so far I really like our MC in Wild Cats, but writing for him is going to be hard. His issues which bring about the change within himself are still going to stick with the player. The dev has done a good job of making our MC do a 180 and rethink his approach to social situations. However theres a very fine line between our MC who went through some character development and borderline sociopath. There's no evidence to state that our MC was ever a "good" person so when he starts treating the girls "how they wanna be treated" it feels offputting because it seems like the MC is just wearing a mask in order to get something he wants from them. This is further reinforced by the plot point I wrote about above. We need to see genuine change in the MC without him feeling like hes always walking on eggshells while also seeing that hes still struggling with his temper. Again, hard to write imo. But I think a good step is using his background as the former captain of the Alpha Wolves, and maybe using some of that experience he had with dealing with teammates and applying it to his current circumstances. I totally get that he's still learning how to socialize, but he also shouldn't be completely inept. It's a huge balancing act, but I think there are ways to have him form real connections with the girls and maybe take an approach of "let me understand you, what you're about, and why I want you on the team" instead of the current "I need you on the team and I'll do whatever it takes to get on your good side" Although I understand the reason is because of MC needs to gather the team quickly.

The fact that I rambled about the story so much already tells me this is an amazing start to the game. I can see myself supporting this game financially in the future, however I want to hold onto my money for now and watch the developer's update frequency and more importantly see if the dev can continue creating such a great game. Even though the core theme of this initial chapter was not to give up, I've seen so many adult vns in this space get scrapped due to a multitude of reasons whether that be lazily milking fans for money, writing themselves into a corner, and much more. I hope the dev will never give up on themselves or this game. I'm in your corner buddy. Volleyball girls are PEAK.

P.S. Please give the girls ABs or at least a little more muscle tone!!

TLDR: Quite a poor start, but there's a lot of potential.

I'd be incredibly surprised if this was not the creator's first AVN, and probably their first attempt to write fiction entirely.

It's got a lot of hallmarks of this - a great premise, flashes of inspiration, but mired by poor execution leading to unnatural dialogue and irritating over-use of explanation despite access to imagery that could do it more elegantly.

The use of stereotypes is common in adult visual novels, but from that stereotype you can really create interesting and complex characters as present in other games. Here though, they are the stereotypes we've seen in fan fiction for decades and there is little extra there to make them compelling.

Lexi is the best of them in episode 1, not just because she has a scene, but because she is the only one that has been given anything besides her stereotype (party slut) to peak interest in her - that being how logical she is about things, despite her love of being intoxicated and letting go. It's a contrast. I just wish her desire to stop playing volleyball had a bit more mystery too it - her common sense attitude means she just says "I got other things I want to do more in college" which is fine, but lacks drama.

Then there are the image renders and sex scenes. They are not good. The lighting is atrocious, there is no depth and no shadows. I find the HS2 models quite attractive, but here the washed out imagery does it no favours.

Again, this seems like the creator's first stab at it, and I see a way for it to get pretty good if they improve their abilities with each update. Episode 1, doesn't hit the mark for me, it is lacking in all areas, but there are a lot of signs that something good can eventually come of it.

I hope the creator uses each update to learn new things about the presentation options available to them in HS2, and also starts taking some kind of formal learning path to improve their storytelling, because the spark is there - but it's going to take some work on their part to make this into something good, and that might be too much commitment for some.

This game has good renders and the set up for the story is interesting, but the game itself just pisses me off. I didn't reach that far, but the three Lis I met Eve, Zoe and Fiona were unlikeable and came off as manipulative/deceptive, assholish/condescending or straight up psycho. That in and of itself is a dealbreaker for me as I can't play a game if I dislike too many of the Lis.

The MC actually impressed me at first because he isn't a pushover. His initial instinct is to clap back at rudeness and bullshit, but as the game goes on he is constantly having to apologize even when he isn't in the wrong. I understand he may be somewhat rude but everyone else is much worse and to be a coach you can't be too nice. The MC starts to become a pushover. This is evident when someone punches him in the face for no reason and he just takes it.

Why would any coach in the world want to reach out to a player who engaged in an act of criminal assault on the previous coach and possibly the team as well? There may be good reasons for what happened but that is all the information the MC has.

I can appreciate intelligent drama but the drama here just feels forced and unnatural to me. Everything that can go wrong goes wrong in order to frustrate the MC into quitting. However it's not clear why he is so desperate for this opportunity in the first place, especially given the impossible conditions that he has to fulfill.

Nothing personal. This just wasn't for me.

The game has only 2.5-3 hours of content, but damn, it was really fun.
Pros:

• Nice LIs, all have distinct personalities with good expressions in scenes, making it easier to immerse into.
• Likeable MC, trying to make both himself and his situation become better
• The render and camera angles are well done. I really like that yellow tint, making the game have a warm vibe.
• I usually turn off music in most AVNs, but not for this one. Most of the songs fit the mood in the scenes well enough.

Cons:

• Most of the choices lead to game over, except the ones that move the game forward. At times, I thought why bother putting them in the game? Honestly, I don't mind playing a linear game as long as the story is good.
• The MC is changing from a snarky, rude person into a dense MC who keeps saying cheesy things to the girls without realizing what he just said. I found that hard to believe tbh
  
  Objectively, the score should be 4/5 , but despite its flowed, it's been a while i enjoyed a game this much so i will give it a bonus point

I just finished the first chapter and I'm thoroughly impressed!

The love interests are beautifully crafted, each with distinct personalities that draw you in. The main character's flaws are incredibly well written, making him relatable and deeply human. I even shed a tear or two during his emotional breakdown.

Overall, it's an amazing start, and I can't wait for chapter 2!