VN - Ren'Py - World's Crossing Academy [S2 v0.2.3.14] [TeamEmberWings]

Absolute classic for those that love monster girl, there's a stark lack of good content for us, but this game is one of the rare gems that has a ton of it.
Story is decent, charcters are pretty cool and each have a unique personality so that's nice, H scenes are done well, overall pretty good.
Would rate 4 stars but WE HAVE GOBLIN GIRLS. Fuck it 6 stars.

Hope we end up getting more "weird" girls instead of things like elf, cause those look just like humans.

Reviewed for version 0.2.2.2 (I think the first chapter of season 2, might be the second.)

The game has some really strong points to it. The characters are pretty distinct, and there is quite a bit of variety. It focuses quite a bit on people who are struggling with something in their lives, either past trauma, or trouble accepting who they are, or just finding a place to fit in. I was really drawn in a couple chapters in, when the second wave of girls shows up, but there was definitely enough before that to keep me playing.

There definitely are some things that keep the game out of my favorites. A lot of the girls have very young faces, and that doesn't do much for me. A few are called out in game, like Mouse, but several others fell into that space for me as well, such as Jade or your stalker. Nothing wrong, just not to my taste. There are also a few times that you have to sit through the same several renders, such as the morning routine, (which actually kind of worked for me, as you are occasionally given a story relevant twist, so I was waiting in anticipation to see if would happen that morning), the MC doing his work, or working out while reciting his reps. The first season is pending a re-write though, so some of those issues may go away. While the models and lighting are not the most outstanding, they are good enough to not detract at all from the story. I would say they are very average. Not bad, not great.

Now for the points that are truly outstanding. There is wide variety of different body types. From small and lean to big and chubby, big and muscly to shortstacks, there is definitely variety. This also extends to personality. You have the shy and the bold, the caring and the cold. There are some that are going to be a struggle to get close to, but the MC establishes himself as a person who respects boundaries, but is not afraid to play within them, and I really appreciated that.

This might be my favorite thing. The MC has an actual character, and he changes how he responds to the different girls. That might not be for everyone, but I really appreciate it. You have some cases where you can be more or less of a jerk, but it still plays within his character, and the relationship he has with the girls.

I can't give it 5 stars, but I will be keeping an eye on it for the future, and it was definitely worth the time.

The girls are quite varied physically and in terms of personality, so you are likely to find at least one that you like. All the different stories are interesting and flow well together--story and characters really driving the game along, rather than the H-content. Finished S1 and excited to see how the rest turns out!

This game is good. The renders may seem a bit clunky at times but they do have a certain charm that grows on you.

The cast is nuanced with a lot of different personalities to offer, which I enjoy. But if I could forego some of the romance options in this game, I definitely would opt out of some of the more loli-centric ones. That's not for me.

I also have an issue with the main character praising himself for his ability to restrain himself from groping or assaulting the people around him.

That being said, there are enough good things in this game to bump it up to 4 stars from a mediocre 3 or a not great 2.

I doubt it will ever receive 5 stars from me, but I enjoy it for what it is rather than dislike it for what it isn't.

Looking forward to future updates.

Cute characters, and a nice flow in the writing. Certainly worth a playthrough. As I am required to write at least 200 characters, I will ramble a bit, and encourage those who can help support the author to do so.

This game ticks a lot of boxes for me. The writing is interesting and the story is intriguing. The characters are varied and interesting. The lewd scenes are pretty good.

There's just this one big problem that keeps me from sticking with it. And it's the over the top amount of time it spends on a soap box about anti misogyny. Don't get me wrong I believe in equality and mutual respect but this reads like a pamphlet on how a man should behave himself in the presence of feminists at times.

Ease off the ideals and tell the story, please? padding your novel out with non-stop "I will love you so respectfully with your permission milady." It's like you forgot you're writing an erotic visual novel. By it's nature this media absolutely objectifies the characters sexually.

Jeeze I want to like this game. Make no mistake btw, my beef is specifically with the MC's knee jerk self emasculation to push the message. Not the girls, not even the boss lady.

This is like 'Consent: the Game'.
Which on it's own isn't really that big of a deal, not all of us like the 'rape' tag, but what's most annoying is the anti-male sentiment that runs throughout this game. Apparently one guy was a creepy pervy asshole, so the MC trips all over himself making up for that and trying to be super conscious and polite and likeable and just cringe as hell. As if women can't be pervy creeps? Check out the rate of teachers sexually assaulting students if you ever doubt that. Hint: it's overwhelmingly female teachers doing it.

Anyway, the girls are really cute, and the story is very interesting, but MAN it's a pain to roll my eyes so much over this weak-ass MC and the forced 'men are bad' narrative.

Play at your own peril.

The developer says he is an experienced author focusing on story quality .

I've only played Prologue but it was enough to see that the story is bad. In what world police ignores theft and severe cutting a guy with a knife?

MC is a constantly whining wussy, just trying to run away from his problems, and of course he fails to do even that.

Models are not attractive (though honestly I'm not a fan of HS models in general). And the only sex scene in Prologue is of a crazy girl banging a doll.

Maybe that's something for masochists but for me it just makes me sick.

I don't mind poor renders quality sometimes, it's understandable for a beginner.

+1 star for an interesting idea of connected worlds. (Blaming males for problems is sexist and stupid though. But, as I said, the story doesn't make much sense anyway, so whatever).

Geniunely really good game. I enjoyed the story and it really feels like the plot is a serious part of the game, not just an afterthought. I love all the characters and really enjoy the way they depict yandere realistically, the small 4th wall breaks and the geniune care and realism of the fictional characters. Just wish there was more content out, feels like the games over in an instant.

Good writing accompanied by increasingly better renders, characters feel real and likeable, but i am afraid it might change with even more characters being planned to be added, i'm worried it might impact the quality of the writing with a cast as big as this to take care of, but i do hope my worries are for naught, probably one of the best overall in the recent months, props to the dev for improving his work with each update, highly recommended.

This is probably the best writing I have seen in a VN. So much so that I don't even mind that it's a VN , a genre I typically avoid. I care about all the characters so far and am eager to see where the story leads.

Positives:

• Characters are so well written! I do have a knack for monster and fantasy girls, but I'd never guess I get more attach to a goblin than an elf. But damn Nook is just too cute.
• The Story is also interesting. It never lost my attention. Also helps that the characters are so well woven into it.
• Lewd scenes are fine, not that many yet but that's completely fine. It's clear that the focus is character and story progression, as it should be in my opinion.
• MC is very likable. Just all around good and realistic guy.
• There is some good humor here and there.

Negatives:

• Sadly, the renders and animations aren't that great. It's the only "sore thumb" of this game. But what it lacks in visual attractiveness, it makes up in excellent writing and characters.

I honestly think that if this game would have better renders and animations, it could reach top 10 placements on this website. And I mean, HS is not the problem. If the visuals had the same quality like Eternum or Pale Carnations as example, it would have it's rightful place alongside them. It's the same problem for some of the LIs, which I frankly do not find attractive or even a bit hideous. But at the same time, I find myself caring for them and wanting to see more of them just because they are written so well.

Attractiveness is a personal matter, but I think more would agree than disagree with me. And as mentioned above, there are HS games with overall very attractive LIs. Such a pity this game is not exactly one of them.

I hope I didn't offend anyone, since I can't really grasp how much effort it takes to create imagery on any level. I hope the devs are open to suggestions and maybe are willing to work over some of the LIs models, even if it means they suddenly change from one update to the next. I honestly would welcome it.

TLDR: Exceptional characters, great writing, interesting story, interesting world, all sadly a bit held back by not so good visuals and less attractive LIs.

I liked the description and thought I would give it a go. I must say very few games with this style of graphics hold my attention. I’ve played a lot of this style and most get me to go ehh and move on. This one is special and the creator is a brilliant story writer and kept me interested to know more and more. I mean I absolutely love all the npcs and get excited to learn more about them. It’s a slow burn favoring story over lewd, which is amazing. This is truly a game I will keep looking forward to and replaying from the beginning every time.

Surprisingly good content, engaging story, interesting characters. Dialogue is actually good, better than most on the site. 5/5 stars, I'm interested to see how this project develops, but it's on a solid foundation right now.

Not sure how i missed this one but i loved it. Great characters and a lot of them, seriously Dev that's a lot with more to come evidently, and it's well written. The Animations are top notch as well. And if like me you're into the green girls... Yummy, I blame the original Star Trek for that particular fetish. Definitely worth a play through though. And i can't wait for more!

Great story with excellent writing which is rare in HS games. The only reason this is getting 4 stars instead of 5 is the render quality. It's not bad, but not great either.

Best of luck to the dev team.

Version Played: 1.5.5
Time Played: About 4 hours

While school settings are a dime a dozen, this game intrigued me since the player character is neither a student or a teacher. I also really liked the fantasy theme with different races and species. As I began to play, I was struck by the overall quality of the writing and different characters and their backgrounds and was drawn into the game enough to play to well into the night to see more.

Positives
+ Engaging setting with plenty of room for progression in terms of world-building, individual character stories and overall plot
+ Wide variety of girls of various body types and species
+ Good writing
+ Bush

Neutral
= MC is cheerfully bland. He's very nice, helpful and capable, yet strangely not all that interesting. Part of this could be because he has to be a stand-in for the player, so you can't characterize too much, but his personality is a little too saccharine for my tastes. That said, I vastly prefer this approach than the MC being a mean-spirited, misogynistic prick.
= Not a lot of sexual content at this stage. Again, character-focused game, so don't expect slam town after every interaction.
= Choice outcomes aren't always clear. There are some choices that seem trivial, but it would still be nice to know if every choice actually has impact or if there are simply a lot of "flavor" options.

Negatives
- I'm on record for saying that it's hard to make an ugly character in Honey Select, but this dev seems to be trying. Obviously, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but just about every woman here has something...off about her. Thankfully, the character writing is strong.
- There are a ton of characters even at this early stage, not a lot of content around any of them. I understand (and fully support!) the creator's desire for this to be a character and story-driven game first and foremost, but so many characters get introduced only to be relegated to the background almost instantly. It would be nice to focus on a core group first then expand outward as those stories get told.
- This is a nitpick, but the text moves agonizingly slowly during the text message portions. This should really be click to advance. Seems to be fixed as of v0.1.5.81

I have a habit of laying into the games I really like and it seems to come off as discouraging as devs who normally are happy to drop a "like" sometimes don't even when I give the game a high score. I want to stress that I really enjoyed the game and see a lot of potential in it. If you don't mind a slow burn, enjoy character and story-driven games and aren't put off by the character models, definitely check this one out.

Note devs: Sounds like you've been through some stuff recently. I hope things get better for you and thanks for this game!

Version v0.1.5.61
A pretty big cast of unique ladies with distinct personalities and body types. And as a welcome breath of fresh air all the waifus written as full-fledged characters with interesting lore and backstories behind them.
MC has his own personality and not a complete placeholder for the player which adds to relationship dynamics with girls.
For me all of this is a big plus and I'm looking forward for future content.
My only concern is as this is a big number of characters/relationships/personal stories to manage simultaneously as a result some of the girls not getting their fare share of screentime/scenes/route development. Hope that won't be the case.

Build v0.1.5.61

Downloaded from F95, so far have loved playing the game, good subversion of stereotypes and great balance of H-stuff and character building! All of the characters so far have been well balanced and have diverse personalities. You're probably already working on it but would love to see more villanous/misunderstood characters,
Opinions:

Ideas/Requests

Will be keeping a close eye on this game and may consider supporting on patreon!

One of the better AVNs out there, good enough to get a patreon sub out of me.

For those who like monster girls and definitely for those who like girls of varying sizes. Also the story is a nice slow burn...but dont worry, you do get some early action.

Basically if you love monster girls, shortstacks or big girls this is the AVN for you