VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Chasing Sunsets [v1.01] [Stone Fox Studios]

This is my first ever review for a game and it makes sense that it would be this one because holy shit this game is amazing.

The renders are great, the animations are very different compared to other VNs, and the story and writing are top notch. It hooks you in right from the beginning. I actually feel something for the characters, instead of them just being there as fan service. Overall this game is definitely a 5/5. I would HIGHLY recommend that everyone tries this game.

Fantastic experience with awesome models. Jane in particular was a work of art. This game is easily one of the best on the site by a long way. Other devs should be taking notes from this one in my opinion. 5 stars, would fap again.

At first I just download the game just reading the description expecting some lame story but I was wrong I would rate 10/10 for building up. Graphics were great, 50-60% character development for each character

This game is sincerely outstanding in all fronts, to me. I highly recommend it to anyone who can empathize with a male protagonist, regardless of whether you're looking for a feel-good story, a cute romance or a good solo session.

The good:
+ Characters and relationships are extremely well developed. This is Chasing Sunset's best trait and it is worth playing the game for the characters alone! Both primary Love Interests are empathetic, sweet and behave and react to events in plausible ways, including dealing with rejection. 'Side chicks' and non-romanceable characters are also often interesting people with their own motivations and values. Even the protagonist is both likeable and not a god, and generally can be led to behave in very believable ways through your choices.
+ The writing is phenomenal. This game has funny humor, sexy talk¹, romantic moments, emotional bits (I shed some tears of joy), and all of these are well executed in my opinion.¹ I'm not particularly interested in the sexy talk, and thus might not be the best judge of that, but it was of at least passable quality to me and was often mingled with humor and romance in the monogamy paths, and I really liked that!
+ The game respects your choices. Both in the sense of whether to engage or not engage in certain relationships, kinks, etc. and in the sense of the story truly progressing in a different manner depending on what you choose. Not only did the game respect my choice to go for a faithful, vanilla, monogamous relationship with a LI, there was no shaming the player or the protagonist, no sensation that the story didn't fit my chosen path, and no feeling that I was alienating myself of large swaths of the game because of my choices.
+ The plot is interesting and creative. At least to me, it seems to be entirely original. It is not the generic 'chosen one' plot line like in many other AVNs. Most events are believable, the turns and twists are interesting, and plot progression is constant and consistent throughout, there was no moment where I felt the game had forgotten about what was happening or where events were progressing too fast either.
+ The renders are extremely well executed. It's just high quality all throughout, even from the start of the game stuff is already pretty good-looking, unlike other games where it is clear that the visual side starts a bit weak and develops over the progression of the game's development.
+ The systems are simple and well explained. This game does not have unnecessary sandbox grinding or other fluff to pad out playtime. This is just a straight up really good visual novel.
+ There are no constant 'gotcha' moments or the need for a walkthrough. I found no big choices to be made in the start without knowledge that suddenly screw you over hours later, and as the intro to the game explains and I will concur, the points system is generally lenient and you don't need to make perfect choices with a walkthrough to achieve a good ending and have access to a good development of the story.
+ The game is respectful and inclusive. At least in my story path and in my personal perspective as a neurodivergent person, the game seems to be respectful. The least respectful thing that was done by a character that the game still presented in good lights was a passing mention that a woman looked like a man, as an insult, done by an old man and was a comment that no one else opined on. The game also includes a neurodivergent 'side chick' and while she is very much stereotyped as a genius, it is not done in an overly distasteful or fetishized manner (this is still a porn game, I mean her neurodivergence wasn't fetishized).

The neutral:
* It seems to me that the game is pretty vanilla in regards to kinks. I honestly like that, but I know this is a negative for some. I put this in the neutral because there is a good amount of vanilla content, and also because there might be kinkier content I didn't see simply because my choices in the game were extremely vanilla due to what I wanted to get out of the story.
* While you're not a god, the protagonist still represents a classic male power fantasy. This is, once again, both good and bad depending on your perspective. The protagonist is a young, tall, thin, muscular, white, rich dude with a big cock, above-average fighting skills, and a lot of proficiency in pleasing partners during sex. I understand that to a lot of people, a power fantasy is what they look for in this type of game, but for me it is a bit too repetitive and predictable, and a bit hard to empathize with. I also do however understand that if the main character isn't extremely attractive the constant interest of every woman around him would be even more jarring than it already is at times, so once again, this is neutral, not necessarily a straight up negative in my opinion.

My criticisms and a few potential negatives:
- Some things are somewhat forced onto you and you can only give or retract consent after they've already started. The least spoiler-y example I can give is the protagonist's home-wrecker past, which is explored very early. The game makes it clear that that is in your past and you can choose whether to continue or change that streak, but your character will still kiss a friend's wife whether you choose to or not. It is done tactfully, every character eventually respects your rejections if you choose to do so, and you're not forced into any sexual arrangement you declare you don't want to be in, but it still will be a turn down for some and was a little bit of a bother for me in the start.
- The body types of romanceable characters are a bit lacking in diversity. While I find that the LIs and the protagonist are very good looking, there is a definite type here, the game is not breaking any molds on that side of things. Everyone is fit and toned, all the girls have large boobs, and looking back, I don't think there is a single black romanceable character.
- Everyone is always drooling over your character. This is just basic porn game stuff, and is both understandable as a narrative device and part of the power fantasy, but for those that are trying to avoid it, know it is here. I would like to state once again though that this game is worth playing even if you are explicitly avoiding this trope, due to the positives.
- Incest of some type is always forced onto the player. I will not be too specific to avoid spoilers. This will be a turn-on for some, a turn-off for others. I think it is a pity only because it is forced onto you, and is perhaps the only think I would classify as a 'gotcha' in the game, as the forced aspect of it comes pretty late.

This is my first review, I liked this game that much.

Chasing Sunsets [v1.01]
4.5 stars

I'm only into Chapter 5, but I had to come give an update, regardless of the ending(s) on this VN marked completed.

CONs:
* I found many of the night scenes too dark with no way to brighten as some monitors/laptop screens have limitations.
* The Prologue was a lot of reading.

NEUTRAL:
* The beginning chapters the animations are weak...but there is at least an attempt at animations.
* We have our trope of the models having similar body types (big breasts, full ass). It's not till Chapter 5 that some new girls are introduced that start to mix this up a tiny bit.
* The fact the MC has a larger than average dick doesn't get referenced directly till Chapter 5. Before that, all other erotic encounters are NOT based on the 'big dick makes them melt' trope (though now by Chap 5 it seems we have ventured into this trope area). Rather it's based on the fact he's a good guy, handsome (haircut is in question), and super fit. All the reasons that would logically come before anything intimate.
* Decisions seem to have some impact, but often it seems there is an obvious choice to 'max out' points.

PROs:
+ Likeable MC and other cast of characters.
+ Detestable 'villains'.
+ Gorgeous models with unique faces.
+ Top 3 VN for the writing! Superb.
+ Emotional scenes are well written and really pull at the heartstrings.
+ Erotic scenes are well written and steamy without going directly to fucking.
+ After the Prologue the pacing between reading text/dialogue, changing scenes, and events is much better.

OVERALL:
A must try VN. In my Top 5 of all time (after hundreds of VNs) as it does so much right and draws you into the characters and story.

One of the best games I have played on this site. Story telling and animations were great. However, would have loved an ending where you MC could have stayed with both Jaye and Mallory. Hopefully theres a sequel!

I... don't really know what to type here. After years of lurking on the site and probably a hundred games played, this has been my favorite.

It's not the most outlandish story, it's not the kinkiest, it's not the most varied overall... But what it does do, it does masterfully. Every character feels like a real human, they're unique and have a voice of their own. The dialogue is excellent, the facial expressions are on point, the humour is understated but hits home every single time.

The animations in the first chapter are... not great, and the devs are working on them, but, and I cannot stress this enough, the rest of the scenes are some of the best I've seen, including non-game 3dcg.

The way the characters move, touch, behave; everything feels real. Looks real. It's also one of only three games I've replayed in full, without skipping any of the story, just to see all the content I missed in-context.

10/10, across the board. Masterpiece.

Great renders! Great story. Not a slow burn or fuckfest but weaves all parts of AVNs together masterfully. Even the music is well played. Characters models are hot and the animations really showcase all the work the devs put into the game.

Def my 2nd best visual novel after Leap of Faith. It's not like a game you wanna skip scenes out of boredom. It would have been way better ending if they had put a family ending at the end of the game(mom+father+child). In nutshell, i gave this game a solid 9.5/10.

A 10/10 game recommendation to those who want a great story to enjoy that can be extremely wholesome, filled with a mc (and those around him) dealing with the process of healing from a traumatic experience.

Gameplay : Most choices don't matter in a sense that it leads to bad endings, but more or so how much content you want to see unlocked between characters. There are currently 2 characters that are pursuable, and choices give love and trust points for you to unlock more content between the two.

Story : *SPOILER* In the past, the MC grew up with a step-father and a step-sister, whom both grew up loving each other in ways that no brother or sister should have felt *both of them don't know they had the same feelings*. This still grows even stronger as the years past, soon certain chains of events builds up, leading to a feud the ripples the family apart (mainly the step-sister and the MC). Thus, he decided it was the best if he went on a journey to find himself, and keep away from the family, while the sister ends up blaming herself for breaking up the family. As 7 years pass by, the parents are killed up in a "accident", that ended up passing their company and assets to both the MC and his sister. However, the catch is that in order for them to get in possession of these assets, they have to work together and prove to the person handling their parent's will that they mended their strained relationship. Thus, in the present, the story goes on from there and is filled with twists and turns. The only cons I see of the story, is that why the family fell apart was a bit dramatic, and that you could only pursue two characters. You either end up with one or the other, not both or else you lose both of them. There are also other minor characters that I feel could have helped with the story much more if you had the option of pursuing them too.

Visuals : Pretty good visuals that surprised me after the prologue. If you decide to give this game a try, you will understand that in the prologue, the visuals were pretty mediocre. But as the game progresses, you can see significant change in lighting, detail, shadowing, basically in all aspects that made it a top tier game.

Scenes : Scenes are pretty great, just not too many animations involved., when there is, it is animated perfectly, and smoothy, just no audio. The scenes aren't boring because the story builds chemistry between the interacting characters. Thus there is a connection between the two parties whenever a scene takes place.

Customer Support : N/A

Overall, a great game to try that could easily last you days worth of content, that isn't really boring. Mind you that it took me around 1-2 weeks to ground out the whole game. It is a great game that is relatable to some aspects of reality, that deals with loss, love, healing, and forgiveness in order to make amends with yourself/others.

The success of a visual novel's plot often hinges not on the story itself but on the quality of its writing. Unfortunately, this VN struggles significantly in that department, failing to deliver a compelling or well-crafted narrative. The writing feels lackluster and uninspired, leaving much to be desired in terms of engagement and emotional resonance.


When it comes to the art, the quality hovers between subpar and mediocre. While it may serve its purpose, it lacks the polish and uniqueness that could elevate the overall experience. The character designs and visual presentation fail to stand out, making it hard to connect with or appreciate the visual aspect of the VN.


As for the humor, it’s perhaps one of the weakest elements. The jokes are not only unfunny but painfully dull, making the attempts at comedy feel forced and out of place. They fail to bring any charm or lightheartedness to the story, which is a missed opportunity for deeper engagement.


That being said, credit where it's due—the animations are a redeeming feature. While they’re not groundbreaking, they do add a touch of fluidity and effort that the rest of the VN could benefit from. It’s clear that some care went into this aspect, and it’s a small positive in an otherwise underwhelming experience.


Overall, while the VN has a few commendable elements, its shortcomings in writing, art, and humor overshadow the experience, leaving it far from its potential. A stronger focus on storytelling and visual refinement could significantly improve its reception in the future.

Tried to like it as production value wise it's very high and visually one of the best on the site.

The problem is that the writing its in service of is just unbearably cringeworthy. Everyone is trying to sound funny but isn't and everyone is a generic 2000s sci-fi nerd.

Good Points
+ Past scenes with Sarah & James & how they romanced, etc, were fun to watch.
+ David was a likable and funny character, his scenes were refreshing, emotional, and sad in later parts of the story, he was a good friend and well-written character.
+ Even tho she is a bit weird and has some mental problems with all that weird hearing her ''Daddy'' thing Mallory is still quite funny, and a likable character/LI for sure, and her relationship/romance development with MC is quite well-written, especially MC's bandit gift, how happy she was when she reunited was emotional enough to made me cry as well.
+ Even tho she was unbearable at most parts after the talk on the yacht Jaye became at least a bearable character/LI, and some scenes she had with MC in the past, and references to them, like Bed Fort were emotional as well.
+ MC has a good model, he isn't the cliche skinny guy every other game has and even has a muscular frame.
+ The scene where MC acted heroic, and saved Jaye was pretty cool, the whole ambiance was well-created, and the song and sound effects were well-chosen as well.
+ Choices matter at least on some stuff, for example having the choice to kill or not kill murderers of your family was pretty damn satisfying.
+ We have the same really gorgeous girl/woman models in this game.

Bad Points
- The prologue has quite weak, and unlogical writing, and it feels like it was forcefully made longer and more dramatic with writers constantly using Jaye, making her act dumb, egoist, rude, etc, against the MC, and ruining the things.
- Connected to the last bad point Jaye as the main love interest of this game, is not a really likable character for most of the game, it's really hard to like her considering especially how she acted in the prologue and after, she becomes better later on, but that doesn't change how dumb, egoist, rude, and unbearable she was for most parts. First of all, she & MC could have had a great relationship for their whole childhood, yet she has to make things bad between them just because MC wanted her to have some friends, and take things further with everything she did until she takes a guy called Christian to home just to piss off the MC and nearly got raped (she would if MC didn't come home early) She could change her ways after crossing the line like that, and nearly getting raped, but instead, she let Christian come to the party, bringing the guy who tried to rape attempt you to the party, the party where MC and your whole family are? BRUH... For nearly the whole story she is constantly hurting MC because of having no control over her own emotions, and ego meanwhile having sex with Tara, etc, and keeps saying she has feelings for MC in her monologues. She could have at least acted mature, and treated MC better after growing up, but she still acted like a b*tch to him until the talk happened on the yacht.
- Even tho MC has done things he did because of his love for Jaye and distanced himself from her (not abandoned, she literally was the one who abandoned MC when they were kids, and later told MC to stay the f*ck away from her with all hate in her eyes, go further as he can go) for right reasons, he still could have turned things for better at some points, especially he could have talked with her after reading her diary since he learned she has feelings for him and he has feelings for her as well. Still, Jaye had far more chances than him, and she was the one who ruined everything over and over again, so can't say MC is as unbearable as her at least.
- The story getting told by MC to someone instead of happening in that moment makes things a bit weird, if the story didn't start with MC talking with that guy and telling while we are reading it would be more immersive.
- There are too many scenes MC got ridiculed for no reason, at first it feels funny, and you laugh, but at some point, it becomes annoying, especially the thing that happened with his dick picture sent to Fiona was a low blow.
- Textbox has a vector for every talking character, and it looks quite distracting, and sadly there is no option to close it.
- Some of the girls/women's faces look quite unattractive like Erica's face, she could have been one of good looking ones, but she has a pretty bad chin makes her unattractive. Along with this some characters had genetic and & paste face designs you have seen in a lot of other games as well like Linda. I don't understand why, but Tara looked gorgeous when she was young, but thanks to DEV changing her hair to terrible side-shaved model, and now she looks less attractive, very bad decision.
- Sarah (MC's mother) model feels wasted, it would be great if it was used on some love interest since it looks great.
- Sex scene animations are not that great, most of them have badly chosen positions/angles for animations and not all sex scenes are properly animated either, for example, Fiona's sex scene didn't have animations for blowjobs or cunningly, etc, and had only one static bad animation for very close bad angle penetration position. Along with this problem, some sex scenes do not even have any animation, like Linda's or Erica's sex scenes. So generally renders in sex scenes look far better than animations and they fail to deliver what animations do in these types of adult games.
- We only have two real love interests, Jaye & Mallory, and you can't choose any other girl as a main love interest, which is a big shame because there are some girls/women with great potential to become love interests, like Tara, it's damn shame she is not a love interest, and not just her, Bianca, Tanaka or some other girls MC had intimate moments could have been great love interests as well.
- Considering the connection MC had with both main love interests, especially after he risked his life to save both of them at different times, how they can't even imagine life without him, understand each other, got closer, even share a bathroom and showered together, etc, it would only make sense MC having relationship both of them, but unlogically the game forced players to choice one of them at last chapter out of blue, it was quite nonsense and unlogical.
- Ending sucked, it's been told we will get an epilogue, but seeing how bad things end up with girls, how MC had to choice, and other one lost someone they can't ever get is enough to say this game has a very bad ending, literally four years of development done for this sh*tty ending? BRUH...

For The End
Honestly, the game starts quite bad, then starts to get better, from middle to end becomes quite good, then ends terribly, At first I was thinking of a 1-star rating, then started thinking of giving 3 stars, then 4 stars, and with ending I'm going to give 2 stars and gonna say it's poor because even tho it had great potential sadly most of the stuff executed quite poor.

another beautiful game. Beautiful story. Beautiful writing. Beautiful characters, with a crazy messed up life and head. Even in this game the sexual content is irrelevant and almost annoying. I'm missing one thing. I didn't understand the connection between this game and Leap of Faith. There are two characters that interchange. I played LoF before and there was this ‘useless’ character who appeared and went through that story. And the opposite happened here. Lexy was a cameo in this story. How are the two stories connected? The authors are different. Why did the two stories intertwine?

A terrific game that delivers a high level of story, characters and dialogue.
It deserves all the praise it gets and I could go on listing all the pros of the game but I'll keep it short and sweet. This game focuses on story and relationships above all else.

Play this game if you're into: Character development, story progression plots and twists, choices that has impact, love-based incest.

Some notes of importance: while sex happens, it's not a main focus of the game. While not completely vanilla, it's not very kinky either apart from a few scenes.

Constructive criticism: While there's a good reason for MC's less than exuberant personality, I found it to get old. I get it, tragedy happened but the semi-depressed attitude is tiring. I'd love to have seen him have some DRIVE, some PASSION. Don't get me wrong, he's an interesting guy but there was something missing from an otherwise excellent game.

Easily one of the best stories in visual novel territory.
Loved the characters, renders, jokes, tone. really everything
5/7 perfect game

It's not done at the time of review as the epilogue is still missing.
But it does the "up" thing where it tells a hell of a story in the prologue where the parents meet and it was amazing, I actually cried.

for those that find in*est squicky, you should move on. that's all I'm going to say on that everything else could be a spoiler.

Seriously while I was expecting some mostly somewhat vanilla story, it managed to add some interesting twists if you can try to get all steam achievements. And all the cameos made in this game from other AVNs were really fun to see. I found some of my favourite AVN character designs here. Which brings me to the biggest downsides of the game, some like super character designs were wasted by not getting proper attention and would have liked those characters to be more involved, way more than main characters. Some scenes are very romantic,so there is that. I really enjoyed this game.

I have not finished the game. Yet so far I think it has a very good story with plenty of funny touches, great models (damn good), good branching, and good amount of time. Not a whole lot of animation, but when it does it is good... not too robotic, not just a two movement done over n over again with shaky camera that makes me dizzy at times.
So far this is one of the best games i have played.

Just finished playing the final version here are my thoughts and verdict:

Story: I loved it. For me, it is really well-written and well-portrayed. The jokes in this game are acceptable, some are cringe and some are quite hilarious. There are even times it touched my heart. Though I understand there are some people that didn't like the game because of the slow 'sex-pacing' as you don't see nudity and sex as frequent as you'd like as this game more story-focused than sex fanatic.

Characters: The MC looks good and his development throughout the game makes him likeable. The women in the game are stunning and attractive and actually have roles and purpose in the story aside from just being a typical slut.

music: The developers really knows how to choose the right soundtrack for any scene and scenario.

The only issue I have is the side chicks aren't given enough attention, particularly the more matured women. I wish they gave them more screentime and interactions with them to bond more deeply. There's even the one pretty woman we don't even have a choice for a chance to intimate with. Even though the story revolves around with the MC and two main chicks, I wish they pay attention to others just a little more.

Overall, this game delivered beyond my expectation. The story's deep and complex but really well-narrated which keeps me vested to the story. There are even times I genuinely felt emotional towards the story. The characters are also really well-written. Even though the sex scenes are kinda rare and not frequent, it builds anticipation and subsequently, it felt rewarding.

Final score: 9.5/10

Great Story,Great Plot,Great Art,Relatable characters.

No wonder the crowd give high rating.
Wish more people would find this masterpiece

Respect to the Author who touch lot of technical science stuff and presented it in entertaining way.

Highly Recommended!