VN - Ren'Py - Wild Cats [v0.3 Public] [LopaPhi]

This review is for update 0.3. Wild Cats is really endearing. There's so much to unpack that it'd be a disservice to hint at or spoil anything, so I'll just go over my favorite points.

The main character is a "good" character. What I mean is that he actually has character growth and internal conflicts throughout the story. Not like other protagonists that have everything figured out in the snap of a finger and have girls drooling over him for no reason. The game does come with a disclaimer about him, but I plead for everyone to genuinely stick with the game until chapter 3, it's really satisfying to see him grow.

I like the gradual development of everyone's relationships with the MC, though I'm rather curious on how they plan to develop their relationships as a group overall. This isn't really an AVN in the typical sense, it feels more like "a visual novel with adult elements" as some people call it. But I'm fine with that because I like to have substance and meaning to the sex scenes. I think if you're looking for straight up sex, this game doesn't have what you're looking for (well at least yet)

I personally love the visuals. It can seem a bit rough initially, but I think the filters and lighting really compliment many of the characters' features. By chapter 3, the visuals have drastically improved.

The sequences where the characters come to a realization or having a really important talk with one another are pretty well done. They don't make me cringe, which is already a huge win in my book.

Some of the relationship dynamics between MC and the girls are really good. I especially love Saki and Zoe's banter with him. It doesn't feel like they're trying to glaze him to the heavens or put him on some huge pedestal.

Really looking forward to the future of this game. Glad I gave it a shot, and I honestly hope for more updates and games from this dev.

This game is very well made. Unlike most of the vn here, this game is all about the journey, the progress and the sweet reward you get when you did all the right choices. It has good writing and the LIs feels like a character, not an object to only fuck. Even though the game has a volleyball theme, it didn't became too technical like other vns with certain niches, which i appreciate considering that I'm not really into volleyball. All i can say is this is peak cinema and why is this not popular is beyond confusing.

Wild Cats was a huge surprise. Everything about it feels refreshing and creative. It's another university setting, sure, but that doesn't just feel like a backdrop for a meandering, purposeless story. This one has substance to it. The characters feel believable and interesting. The music is great. The visuals are unique and constantly improving. I didn't know what to expect when I started Wild Cats, but now I place this game amongst those I'm most looking forward to. Best of luck to the dev and I can't wait for future updates.

This is one of the best game I encounter in a while. The MC is very realistic and world building and char building is very well made. the char design is very well made.

Please at least give it a try everyone. I really wanted this to be successful.

I’m writing this review after finishing Episode 3. At first, I wasn’t sure whether I’d like this game, because truth be told I don’t really care for volleyball and the setting revolves heavily around it. After playing it, though, I can safely say I’m glad I gave it a chance.


First of all, I love the characters. They’re all unique, attractive, and genuinely interesting in their own way. Each of them has distinct traits and flaws, and getting to know them feels satisfying and rewarding. The MC comes off as a bit of a stoic jerk at the beginning, which I can honestly relate to, so it didn’t bother me. This also develops naturally as the story progresses.


The music is great, the animations are cool, and the story is genuinely captivating. Now that most of the characters’ backgrounds have been revealed, I’m curious to see if the game can keep up the momentum and continue delivering the way it has in these first three episodes.


As of now, there aren’t many sex scenes. Still, the ones that are included are well-animated and pretty hot. If future scenes keep that same quality, this game could easily end up being one of the best.

Very good game, not rushed at all like other slop games right now. Interesting characters -in a good way- with tons of personality and great character development. Got me hooked and finished it in one sitting.

Slow burn romance/harem story with a MC you want to see succeed. Girls have lots of personality and vices to uncover. Great models and animation where applicable. Having early options for a bad end seem a bit pointless in my personal opinion.

A real masterpiece, it's not like other games, it has a pretty unique style, a really clever writing and good characters, it's still in "early" times of the development but the content is really amazing, usually there are some parts that i skip but, man..., I was focused on the history, and i mean it.

About the thing that we came for... still there's not that much content , but it's good and valuable, it serves its purpose, better have just a few good than a lot of meh.

Really recommended, even if you don't like volleyball, reading or girls this game will change your mind.

(v0.3)

Bloodgarden.

I was definitely very iffy about the game at first but after seeing the character development i just cant seem to get enough. I look forward to the future development of this game. i can tell this VN will be a popular one as more updates come out.

I find the game incredible and very entertaining; the characters are interesting, the story is engaging, and it includes some truly hilarious comedic moments.
The relationships with the female characters and their backstories are well-developed.
The character designs and animations are excellent.
I usually complain about games where the "physical activities" take a while to appear because they tend to become tedious, but this game is entertaining in every chapter.
In conclusion, a tremendous masterpiece.

A refreshing, character-driven sports drama that proves a compelling story and excellent writing are the most potent elements of a top-tier AVN.

+ Excellent, Character-First Writing: The game's greatest strength is its deep, believable character development. Each love interest has a unique voice and compelling backstory, and the protagonist's arc from an unlikeable outsider to a empathetic leader is executed with remarkable care.
+ Fresh & Engaging Premise: The focus on building a women's volleyball team from scratch is a unique and brilliant hook. It seamlessly blends sports passion, personal struggles, and team dynamics into a narrative that feels genuinely fresh and immersive.
+ High-Quality Production & Passion: This is clearly a labor of love. The detailed character models, expressive renders, custom sports animations, and a well-curated soundtrack all work together to create a polished and atmospheric experience.

– Pacing & Development Can Feel Rushed: While the character arcs are strong, the protagonist's transformation and some relationship resolutions can occasionally feel accelerated, relying on familiar narrative shortcuts to maintain momentum.
– Early Technical Rough Edges: The visual presentation, particularly in the first chapter, has some inconsistent filters and graininess. While it adds a distinct style, the polish noticeably improves in later updates.
– A Deliberate Slow Burn: This is a narrative-first experience. Players primarily seeking frequent, early lewd content should adjust expectations, as the game masterfully builds emotional investment before focusing on sexual payoff.

Wild Cats is a standout title for players who prioritize narrative depth and character growth. Its unique premise and exceptional writing easily place it among the most promising and emotionally engaging visual novels currently in development.

I've seen this game floating around for a while now and have wanted to play it, but have put it off because I saw "0.3" and thought "man, it's probably gonna start slow and be so ass this early into development and I'd completely drop it or it's going to leave me empty and wanting for more."

IT LEFT ME FULL, AND I STILL WANT MORE

It's honestly peak. Just as chapter 1 started, the background was plenty to get me hooked and when it ended, I was already in love with the game. I must say, starting us off with a fundamentally flawed main character was a great hook into empathy. And boy chapter 2 was crazy good! Personally, it's the strongest of the three chapters so far. I am absolutely in love with Saki (I'm going to say goodbye to one of my Annie headers, welcome Saki). And by the end of chapter 3, I had no regrets and immediately went here to leave a review.

The character writing was great, the music selection was impeccable, the plot progression and pacing was incredible, the conflicts and resolutions were believable, and the amount of non-sexual animated scenes screams "THIS GAME WAS MADE WITH LOVE" I just know that this is a passion project. Playing Wild Cats have invoked the same feeling of wonder I had playing Eternum the first time, but with a little more emotional weight just by the nature of this game as opposed to the action-adventure that is Eternum.

I'd mostly been invisible in these forums but I really wanted to commend how well made the narrative and the development of Wild Cats. I think I might actually start supporting a dev financially for the first time (I'm not exactly one you would call a person with change to spare), but this one really deserves every penny I might throw at it. I really Really REALLY hope this isn't a flash in the pan and gets abandoned halfway through development and I want to see this through. Great job Lopaphi and team!

tl;dr: this game is incredible.

Volleyball and girls... Volleyball girls!?!?!?!?!?! Yeah it's a good game, the MC is kinda dickish at the very start, even if you don't want him to be, but its for the sake of having a character to build, so its not pointless. 5/5, wish there was more girl abs.

A very good visual novel, especially the story.
The story is really fresh.
I like how the main character struggles to form a women's volleyball team, and how the female characters have unique backgrounds.

Awesome game. Each character has a strong personality, and even the main character has an interesting background. It’s not your typical adult game where there’s just a simple dialog and then straight to the action. It currently has only three chapters and no actual sex scenes yet—just a small appetizer—but the story is already really captivating and engaging. It keeps me wanting to play more. Really looking forward to seeing where this game goes.

I really love the story, absolutely love the writing.
The MC really has an arc in which he evolves from a total asshole to a more likeable person. I am curious in what direction the story will go now and what obstacles will be put in their way, now that the team is somewhat together.

Really like the girls as well, each is very distinct and has her own personality.

As for render quality, I'm kind of a sucker for HoneySelect (?) games. Really like the models compared to those in other engines and for me, the story has priority over renders and models anyway.

For me this is an absolute gem of a VN and I would put on the same level as Eternum or Pale Carnations for the story and interesting characters.

Best written game, best visual, best story. This game is thought out, it's quite outstanding, never seen Haiku, the anime but if this was inspired by it then I now get why everyone loved it.

This is the most realistic story i've seen in this site just yet. Totally recommended, the sex scenes might just be an extra at this point.

As of V0.3

I played this game not expecting anything of quality, since most of the games in f95 right now are AI slop or games that isn't interesting as it's mostly just mindless sex. And how can an AVN about volleyball be interesting, compared to the likes of Eternum with multi-verses? But oh boy, did this game prove me wrong.

First of all, the story writing so far is EXCELLENT. The way Lopaphi has introduced the characters, the way we dove into each of the characters. He didn't beat around the bush with the development of the in-depth character story telling, and that's what made it more interesting for me. I think that a good character introduction and in-depth explanation of the characters can lead to a game's success. No one wants bland characters that are stereotypically in every game. And secondly, the MC's character development was excellent as well. He went from an unlikeable asshole to a leader that will lead BSU Wild cats to greatness. His realization of what really matters in life (which is being optimistic) by talking with lexi and desiree. The moment where he realized that he loved volleyball more than the one bad experience he went through with it. I think that was executed very nicely! It was a touching moment for me, personally.

Regarding the sex scenes (though there's not much), it's very polished! Dare I say that it's close to caribdis's style! And most importantly, the audio that supports the visual! Most AVN's sex scenes fall flat because it's just animations, and no audio to support it. It really kills off the scene where it should've been an intimate and hot moment. And the animations are very smooth and looks well made! What more do I have to say?

PROS

• This surprised me, I'm not really a fan of HS cause they can sometimes look a bit same-y. But the visuals and animations are top notch, HS2 done well.
• The story is successful in drawing your interest. I find myself actually caring about this team and the girls' struggles.
• There is actual character development, MC starts of as an asshole but begins to soften.
• I like the diversity. Now character is the same. Different personalities and looks. There is something for everyone.

CONS

• Its pretty linear, as long you click on the dialogue option that the girls want to hear from you, you should see everything in one playthrough. There are some unofficial short bad endings (more so 'I give up' scenarios) but that doesn't really count.
• It is kinda tropey. Male MC teacher and the student LIs. Gary stu MC with a big dick thats running around solving everyone's problems. You have the tsundere Zoe, delinquent bad girl Fiona, classic good girl Eve, slutty popular girl Lexi (all the sex scenes so far are with her btw), and a token asian girl and a token black girl. How many games are like this? A lot. But honestly it does it well and I don't feel like this is another run-of-the-mill student dating sim like many others. Its using an establish genre but its doing it very well and to a higher quality than others which is why I gave it a high rating.

Written as of [v0.3] :

GRAPHICS - 4.5/5
The first thing you'll notice about Wild Cats is that LopaPhi really loves what I'd describe as a sunset filter on most of his scenes.
More often than not everything is in warm yellows and oranges that make the game look cozy.
There's a graininess that overlays most of the renders, especially around the hair, as probably as a result of equipment that's not up to snuff, but I actually really enjoy it as part of the overall look of the game and I'll be sorry to see it go if LopaPhi gets a better GPU.

Our main girls are, on the whole, very well-designed and detailed (with the exception of Fiona, in my opinion. With no evidence, my assumption is she was added on as a sort of homage to Alex Bardot from Eternum and didn't get as much attention to character or design as the others).
I've seen a dozen AVNs using Honey Select suffer from same-face syndrome or worse, a dead-eyed doll look, but Wild Cats has very rarely followed suit on that front.
Eve's freckles and moles on her body are a favorite of mine, I always prefer something like that to flawless, perfect skin on every character.
The girls' expressions are obviously chosen with care at all times. You know exactly what they're thinking just by the looks on their faces and it can often be complex.

It genuinely really helps someone like Saki as a character that instead of her expressions being in turns happy, angry, sad, horny, she'll look sardonically amused or intensely frustrated, sarcastically beaming or warmly grateful.
If there's any AVN character I've ever seen who can pull of a masterclass ragebait with a head tilt and a blank look it's Saki.

That detail doesn't extend to the side characters, unfortunately.
Desiree's two friends Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dipshit (Rebecca and Anna) both look like they came fresh off the HS2 assembly line not much changed from the standard default Japanese girl you start character creation with, which is a shame because I kind of enjoy their comedy bits.
Same can be said for a lot of the one-off throwaway male characters, although the models for the protagonist and the SIT Alpha Wolves have some of the best models for men I've seen in HS2 games. It's not strictly necessary that they look unique, but it would definitely be a bonus if they did.


STORY - 3.5/5
So far the plot is simple and serviceable.
Johan is a former volleyball prodigy who had to quit due to a chronic injury, and gets recruited to be the coach of a failing girls' volleyball team in exchange for a scholarship.
The first three updates so far have centered around Johan recruiting the team and getting them to commit, and also not hate him.

He'll go out to hound one of the girls on the Gallery roster, and be rebuffed but get a little closer to getting through to them, usually takes three or four interactions before they actually join up.
Interspersed between these are actual practices, which I think are where Johan as a character actually shines the most, and his passion for the sport comes through really well in the writing.
I'm not sure if the game will actually end in three months when he has his deadline to meet, but I hope we follow the team all the way to the end of the season.

The worst I can say about the plot in general is that its themes can get very melodramatic without much there to justify the time it takes.
Johan's father is a one-dimensional asshole who's physically and emotionally abusive as part of a conga line of misfortunes he goes through, and to justify why his temper causes him to insult people and (potentially) strike a girl he's just met for back-sassing him.

There's an occasional rapist hiding around the corner for our hero to protect the girls from. Lexi is almost assaulted at a party while blind drunk and afterwards acts like it's happened to her before.
Fiona is the victim of social ostracization thanks to a rumor, Saki suffers from an inferiority complex and acts out thanks to absentee parents and an overachieving sister.

All of these are juggled simultaneously, none with any particular depth. Johan

CHARACTERS - 4.5/5

Johan gets laid by virtue of anime logic and a shared interest with the girls and very little else.
I've seen people on here complain that he scares the hoes too much, but they're coming at it from the position that the hoes are overly scared for no reason, which is hilarious.
He's severely socially stunted and can't pick up on basic romantic cues, gets aggressive at the drop of a hat, he's petty, stiff.
Once, while spanking a girl, he unironically verbalizes the thought that her ass reminds him of a volleyball.
If you ever went to high-school or college you knew a guy like this, and at the time you knew he was NGMI.
But this one does! Mostly because LopaPhi is aware that Johan is a weird sperg and his mannerisms start being more funny when you realize he knows how to write normal characters to react to him.

As for the girls, I won't go into them individually further than I did above because it really is best you get a read on their personalities yourself, but it is worth saying that LopaPhi is very confident at giving each of the characters a unique voice.
With the combination of their vocal habits and the stellar use of their expressions and poses it's so easy for me to imagine their voices.

I'll touch on this as well; this is not an anime game where girls go "Kyaaa!", trip over the weight of their H-cups and land mouth first on the protag's dick, then promptly fall in love with him.
About half the cast spends a lot of the game so far getting over their initial impression that Johan is a weird creep, but it's genuinely satisfying when they come around to see he doesn't have bad intentions.
I really like all of Saki's scenes in particular, she's easy one of my favorite characters in any AVN.


SMUT - 3.5/5

This is a pretty good harem sports VN first and a smut game second.
There are currently four sexy scenes each spaced about two hours of reading apart from each other, and a bunch of stills that girls can text over to the protagonist if they like him enough.
The models of course look very pretty, but the animations themselves are pretty standard for Honey Select.

You'll enjoy them as much as you enjoy the dynamic of the characters involved, so don't expect to skip through to the porn and expect to be satisfied.