VN - Ren'Py - Abandoned - Nothing Is Forever [v0.7.3] [MrSilverLust]

Based on the (as yet) unfinished v0.3.2

My usual disclaimers when writing reviews on here are that A. I am here for the "plot" not the plot and B. I am very picky with visual novels and think broadly they can be very subpar. So, take both of those into consideration for my review when thinking about this game.

Pros

• Unique-ish looks and aesthetic – It feels like in NIF the renders all go for realistic-looking models and proportions but also deliberately avoid the photo-realistic style that many games go for. There is an element of that Borderlands-style cartoon-y black lines around characters, for example. Personally, I like this, I think it makes the game stand out and despite not going for full photo-realism, it still looks great and the girls are all fucking HOT.
• Kinky and fucking sexy – The game basically sells itself as going hard on kinks in every direction. Cheating, domination, submission, roughness, gentleness, there’s something here for everyone. It still feels relatively early in the day for the story, so many aspects of it haven’t been explored yet, but if all of the things it suggests it might include get involved at some point, then by the end it’s going to be catering to a HELL of a lot of kinks, including some super niche ones. And you 100% pick and choose which you go for.
• 11/10 writing – Easily the game’s biggest selling point. It feels incredibly well-written. The overall story and set-up takes very little suspension of disbelief to get on board with. The plot is extremely slice-of-life, but honestly that’s a huge selling point for some games like this. Just in general on a broad scale it simply feels inherently believable. It’s not just the broad strokes though, dialogue feels extremely natural, it will linger in some scenes where it should, it skips a lot of the pointless filler that many other games would feel they have to include. It has no qualms skipping time, which actually gives even the early chapters a sensation of progress and momentum. It also isn’t 100% serious all the time and I actually laughed at least once (which, in H-games is rare, trust me).
• Exceptional characters – Along with the above, each character feels unique and like they are ACTUAL people. They all have their own motivations, character traits and flaws. This is doubly true for the main character. He is tormented by past mistakes, guilt and depression, but in a way that simply feels totally genuine and simply real. Like I said, it’s early days here, but I actually think I might put the characterisation of this game up there with some of the all time greats of this site.
• Feels like a reasonably realistic portrayal of kink lifestyle – Along with the great writing comes a surprisingly nuanced approach to the kinkiness. It doesn’t exactly shy away from going into “fantasy” territory, but it never feels like it suddenly becomes ridiculous. Thus far it’s felt hot but also like the fantasies could genuinely happen. The focus on the psychology behind the kink is also pretty cool and interesting as well.
• Interesting mechanics approach – A couple of things here which I actually think might be the best mechanical elements I’ve seen in any VN. Specifically, there are 4 traits within the game and any decision/dialogue choice you make gives you points in one of those traits. The more points you put into each trait the more your character leans toward that because you have the option of learning “skills” in that trait which you can use in sex. This is, frankly, awesome and a brilliant approach. The game ALSO outright tells you if you are on a particular route (or not as the case may be) and I’m gonna tell you straight up: that’s amazing. The feeling of KNOWING what I am/am not missing is actually brilliant and means I don’t feel like I need to be checking a walkthrough constantly to find out if I have missed stuff. I actually feel like the way this is done is potentially somewhat revolutionary for the genre.

Mehs

• Realism leading to (likely) lack of harem route – So, as stated, the game feels exceptionally believable and like it could genuinely happen. The downside of this is that it means that it becomes very clear to the player that while early on you get to go around fucking multiple girls, at some point you ARE going to have to make a decision and pick one of them and lose others. While I get the appeal of reality in H-games, I always will lean more towards preference for sexual fantasy and so will be disappointed when the game eventually does start requiring those decisions.
• Just slightly shy of enough sexual content for the fapping – Pretty straightforward. There have been 3 chapters so far and 3 or 4 major sexual scenes with a few smaller teasing ones here and there. They are genuinely scalding hot and the wrapping around them is entertaining enough that it gets a pass from me, but if it were up to me I’d prefer just slightly more sexual stuff. But hey ho, that’s not what the game wants to be.
• My girl Deb almost certainly won’t be dominated properly in any scenes – Just… Godamn, she’s the hottest one and she only wants submissive guys? You bastard MrSilverLust… You bastard!

Cons

• Self-loathing is a tad overdone – As previously stated, the MC is tormented by past mistakes, guilt over his previous actions and terrified of repeating them. This leads to several internal monologues throughout the game where the MC will just lambast himself for his stupidity, for how much of an awful person he is and so-on and so-on. It feels like a pretty good rendition of depression, fitting in with what I said before about the realism of the game. However, this very realism makes these scenes genuinely difficult to get through and when they become increasingly regular during the early stages of chapter 2 it means that the whole game just drags and becomes more like an overly gratuitous display of self-loathing, rather than anything more enjoyable to play.
• Self-loathing also means some routes feel genuinely scummy – This section will necessitate spoilers unfortunately: essentially one of the central focuses of the game is the relationship between the MC and his new female client at his new sports therapy practice. During the early chapters of the game their relationship grows, and it is obviously teased that they are attracted to each other. During this time it is also regularly driven home both by the MC’s internal monologue, by reminders of his past and also by other characters that a therapist sleeping with their client is basically an absolutely shitty thing to do. One particular interaction with the in-game Dean of Psychology really nails this home when she says that it means the girl is essentially paying the MC to sleep with her. In a fantasy porn game this would simply be for added taboo spice and would be swiftly ignored. Here though, the writers are aiming for realism, and that means that if you do decide to progress with this girl’s route it feels like you are GENUINELY being a shitty person. And as someone who usually tries to take the “good guy” route in RPGs, this fucking sucks and actually somewhat ruins the vast majority of their later interactions.

There are a number of very highly rated games on F95 which insist they are slow-burn romances. They often include very little (or in some cases basically NO) sexual content and then every single review will say, in my opinion often wrongly: “well clearly because there’s no sex and it takes forever for anything to happen, this is one of those games which is instead well-written”.

And I often think that actually the writing in them is really just generally not that great…

NIF is, in my opinion, potentially one of the absolute best examples of writing I have seen on F95, bar none. And it does this without sacrificing in the sexy department. Despite the serious nature of much of the stuff it deals with and the level of maturity and grace it displays in dealing with these things, the game also isn’t afraid to get just fucking kinky and smutty. It’s a fine balancing act between getting the porn fantasy right and keeping the story grounded in reality, and thus far MrSilverLust has totally succeeded in that.

Obviously one big result of that is that it feels like there’s just sliiiiightly too little sexual content for a neanderthal like me, but even then it’s not skimping on the good stuff and so I was kept happy. Plus, the writing around it was good enough to keep me engaged. Like I say, the dev isn’t afraid to skip time and doesn’t include the billions of lines of pointless filler dialogue and scenes which don’t actually add anything to the story that far too many devs feel they have to include in order to demonstrate a relationship growing.

It’s not just a good story, it’s got good pacing, interesting events, conflict and drama which don’t feel like they could be solved in about 2 minutes of discussion by the main characters. There’s stakes, small scale stakes, but which fit the slice-of-life style. It is, quite simply, G U D.

I know that saying the mechanics are “revolutionary” might seem a bit ridiculous, but honestly I can’t think of many VNs which actually quite simply “work” so well. Normally I feel I have to either have a walkthrough open (so I don’t miss the routes that I want) or VNs will make decisions so painfully easy to follow you might as well not need to make them. Here the decisions seem largely to do with roleplaying, but then BY roleyplaying you gain access to skills which give you the option of unlocking sex scenes you might miss through dialogue choices. It’s actually quite simply genuinely great and a system that I actually think a lot of people could learn from.

And you’re gonna want those sex scenes cause OH boy are they fap-worthy. Just… Mmmmhm *chefs kiss* it’s fucking hot my guys. The scene where you bull another dude was a bit rough though, not gonna lie.

As I’ve said though, the real biggest bummer about the game is that the realism and talent displayed in the writing somewhat makes it that much harder to treat NIF as a porn game. The characters feel like actual people and so when you do something to get a steamy sex scene, you might actually be thinking “well, this is a shitty thing for a human to do” rather than enjoying the sexy sex. This in my mind is the single largest hurdle the game has. At the moment it feels like the balancing act is teetering too far towards realism and so any time there’s a sex scene it will almost feel like the dev is chastising you for having a monke brain and going after the sexy stuff… In a porn game!

This is inevitably one of the biggest issues I think some writers have to contend with on here. If you lean too far into reality it ruins the “fantasy” of the whole thing because it starts feeling too real and too little like a sexy fantasy. And when that happens I have to admit that my interest starts to wane because I don’t really want to play a game where I want to see sexy things and then feel bad for having done that!

Maybe this is just more indicative of my own style of play, in any game, not just VNs, but I simply dislike making choices that could be considered “bad”. I always like having the option of making the “right” choice. And when in a PORN game the choice is between the “right” choice and the PORN I AM HERE FOR then it starts causing a bit of cognitive dissonance.

Despite this complaint, I genuinely think NIF has the potential to be one of the absolute best games on this site. If nothing else, it is at the very least currently criminally underrated and underplayed and deserves much more attention.

Saw this game a year ago, but for some reason never got to playing back then. Now I have tried it... not to upset all the glowing reviews, I must say that my initial impression of this game paints it as a painful normie simulator. Normie music, normie friends, normie conversations. The game is indeed psychologically deep, however - it made me appreciate my loneliness much more. And the locations are so IRL - bar, gym, therapist office, ew.

But yeah, a piece of constructive criticism - try to make your game interesting from the beginning, I'm bored out of my mind. (And no, I don't mean intercourse, ew.)

Updates! What I have realised about this game is that it... pulls me out of its own story, in a way. Let's say - I start playing, cock in hand, finger hovering over Print Screen, and then - and then I start therapy. And I start thinking. And go to Reddit to check up on balding cancer patients, replying to them all in my mind according to my woldview.

In a word, this game is definitely high-IQ, high-funny, and just high on the spectrum. And it's artsy to hell and back, but in an almost good way. For sure deserves 5 stars, not a joke.

Cant remember the last time I was this impressed by any game, let alone a dating sim. First off, you can tell the creator did their homework. Even in things non sexual like chess matches, the attention to detail is phenomenal. In addition the characters and interactions feel real and authentic. And the whole rpg point system between the different character traits/ inner voices is brilliant. I feel like was actually made by a psychologist thats picking apart my brain and making me question what I truly value with each choice I make. And of course I have to mention how well the steamy scenes are done. It feels like every kink so far has absolutely been nailed. And as someone who's into feet, I gotta give praise to that awesome foot worship scene that included foot smelling, a seemingly forgotten fetish in a world that so often reduced footplay to just footjobs. And the psychoanalysis of the kinks just heightens the experience so much and adds so much depth where other games tend to feel corny and shallow. Even kinks that im not usually into are so hot because the psychology behind them is so fleshed out that I feel just as turned on as the character experiencing their fetish. The effort and attention to detail that have gone into making this game are apparent and I cant wait for more. So far this game is easily a 10/10 and one of my fave games of all time.

I've been playing this visual novel for only a couple days now, but it's scary how well it speaks to me, like downright terrifying, I'm wondering if I've gone schizophrenic batshit insane and am getting messages through the screen kind of level of speaking to me.

This visual novel is having full on discourse and intercourse with my soul pretty much with the themes and writing it utilizes, and I'm connecting with nearly all the characters.

It's not often that a story does that, and while it's an incredibly eerie feeling, I can't say it's not one that thrills me on a whole other level.

I hope the strong and excellent writing continues, and look forward to seeing how the story develops with great anticipation (and mild fear)

I feel ''have'' give 5 stars to game. Bcz this game got so quality elements. Writing, rpg elements, drama(s), characters (personality, dialogues ,modelling), hud, hints, even text fonts feeling so good in this game.

Looking very forward to play the following chapters.

Firstly let me just say I know this game won't be for everyone, the renders are tastefully selected but just decent in quality and there is a sizable amount of (great) text.

That said. This is one of the smartest, well written, heartfelt yet kinky games out there period.

This is perhaps the most realistic depiction of kinks in a way that would actually be plausible in real life. It is really easy to immerse yourself in this game, trying to bring each of these girls to find out about themselves through their kinks.

The MC is a psychologist trying to do this which is what makes it work so well. And this is not a shitty depiction of a psychologist: there is some great writing here, not too complicated because this is a porn novel after all, but not dumb either with some layers.

I hate games with a lot of text and this one has a lot. But I'll allow it this time because it's really well written, and because these girls develop A LOT in this game. There is a mini game system where you try to pick up hints about their kinks, for example, that actually compels you to learn about these girls. It's like.. the smartest way to actually get me to care about these characters.

There is a point system that facilitates an ability to choose 4 different paths that you could take a girl's kink down towards, which boil down to levels of good/bad.. as of Chapter 3 this is somewhat limited to the sexual act itself and less to a branching structure, but I think it will be branching in the future given how it's going. This is also a nice immersion tool and something to keep you interested in the wall of text moments.

This game is a labor of love. I can tell a lot of thought went into these characters. Author even went through the trouble of going through every move of multiple entire chess games. I have to think he/she is writing from experience which is what makes this so great.

Where do we start...simply put, this game is a masterpiece.
The characters are well written, the storyline is coherent and for once it does make sense, and the choices matter, the visuals are ok but they bring a certain charm and a unique touch to the game.

I was lured in by the femdom tag, and I wasn't disappointed, the femdom approach is well thought out and very realistic imo the best game out there that handles the female domination kink excellently.

I don't know about anyone else, but for me, Kim's path and the way she walked all over the mc, matched some real-world situations, and the way by which Kim was portrayed and her psychology made the pinnacle of how manipulation and power play should be done in a game, and that was the best where any other game has failed to reproduce. I hope for this game to flourish and for Kim's path to get some love (I'm a Kim fan if you can't tell already and honestly it doesn't bother me if the mc is male, as long as she gets to walk all over his ass)

A unique approach to a typical adult VN with the story focusing on psychology and exploring sexuality with a distinct cast of characters each with their own personality and interests. The dialogue is well-written and engaging having choices with lasting consequences and features a roleplaying-like character progression system with four different personality traits and skill investment checks.

The visuals are simple but stylistic with a well-designed UI to check character info and progression. The sex scenes also vary for each character depending on your choices and personality traits.

Overall if you're interested in a VN with a more mature and complex approach and writing check this one out, it's fun.

Excellent. Credible, funny and and often deep story with little to no cliches and stereotypes. The character development is well paced and realistic. The player immersion is almost never broken. So far it's one of the best VN games out there. Oh, and of course the models look good and there's just the right amount of good sexy stuff. Nice musical choices too.

Can't wait for further development.

Amazing game, the characters are amazingly well written, they all feel believable and all feel really human and not just like tropes with legs.

The setting is pretty original and doesn't need to jump trough weird loops with landladies or roomates making it instantly more interesting than 99% of other VNs

The chess sections are actually pretty cool and interesting, I didn't knew anything about chess, but still enjoy it a lot.

There is no way to describe this masterpiece at all. But ill give it a try.

- Skilling system: Perfect balancing, good impact on the gameplay
- Story: Very well and detailed written story, with interesting plot twists (esp. Deb path)
- Dialogues: very realistic and without loose ends
- Best Scene for me (sub/sensitive): the foot worship of Deb, even without being that much into feet!

Looking very forward to play the following chapters! Please keep up the good work!

This is going to be an easy review, as this is one of my top 3 games of all time.

This game has an unique game mechanic, you can gain four different kind of points which you can use to unlock certain fetishes/skills.
It's just awesome and there is something for everyone, choices are everywhere. The girls are very special and they very much have their own personality and relationship dynamic with the mc. But I don't want to spoil to much, I recommend you try this game.

I am a patreon now and looking for more content in the future.

This game is really well written and at times it is smoking hot. The writer really understands how people banter and tease each other. I'm also a big fan of the art style and the way the writer mixes in frames and fadeout elements to tell the story. 5 stars for sure.

A relatable (and malleable) protagonist, a cast of intriguing characters with an assortment of fun kinks, ACTUALLY GOOD SCENE WRITING AND HUMOUR??
Sign me the fuck up to professional negligence simulator xD

Thank you for this well written game with nice machanics. At first I found the start to be a little bit long-winded with too much emphasize on boring psychology and chess LOL, but once the story unfolded I was hooked. The renders are good and the characters do have a nice personality of their own. More than once I had to laugh because of clever dialogues. I'm really looking forward to the next update and the continuation of the Deb and Kim storylines (mostly)

I'll I have to say is damn! ..... If you can pull this off it will be amazing. I lot of people will whine and say I wanted to get with such and such girl. However the reality is either she isn't truly your type or there is no way in hell she would be into you. Because of all the whining no one is ever locked out in these games. Just make sure you ignore the whiners. There will be a lot of them, but you will have many more that will be fans because they can actually be the way they want to be. Wish the renders were better, but at this point everything outshines them that they don't matter a whole lot.

Nothing is forever is an extremly good game.
It's well written to an extent that very few games can meet.

The dialogue feels natural, down to earth, and weirdly realistic for an erotic game. I don't think im a competent enough writer to describe how well done it truly is, the slow build-up of trust to discuss kinks with eachother, as well as trying to break the wall of taboo is amazing. It truly feels like characters get to know eachother and slowly open up and build a more sexual relationship, unlike most erotic games where sex isn't treated like it is in real life.

Furthermore, there are a lot of moral choices that are a lot of fun to explore in a video-game setting and makes for a great plotline.

I've barely ever seen any erotic developer attempt to move the medium ahead in this many ways. The art-style is unique and the transitions are extremly well done. Even better, there are way more choices than you average vn, for the most part they directly affect the game, and there are way more rpg elements than usual, that allows for a lot of branching paths.

I adore most of the characters, and except for one they all seem like great people just trying to do what's best for them, trying their best to find the common ground between what's considered moral and what might be right for them.

The music is average, however pretty much everything else shines. I do however admit that while watching jen play all those chess games, I was initially hoping I would get to actually play them.

Furthermore, I really hope Emma and the mc manages to act on their feelings in a more healthy way. Not referencing their kinks, I'm not kink-shaming, more in reference to their constant fighting and their lack of real communication.

For a sexologist, they aren't exactly doing great at communicating. Not really a critique as I think their behavior is well written and realistic, just a personal wish for the plot.

Considering the name of the game, I am a bit worried the game will have more bad endings for branching than your average game, however I will definetly be there to find out. As someone else mentioned, I just hope you truly take the time to explore all the relationships to the fullest and truly get a good chunk of content for each skill.

There is another game on this site that starts with M (not sure If I am allowed to straight up name games), however it's between a music teacher and their student, and that game takes a lot of time to explore the relationship and every stage of it from strangers to married and beyond. I hope for the same for this game, too many games end when they start dating.

Nothing is forever 0.3.1

What an impressive game. You could pick some very minor nits here and there, but man what a great job. Natural sounding dialogue, pacing, kink tree, characterization, models have varied body types and look like feasibly real people, interpersonal friendships, overall theme, emotional fallout of half suppressed fetishes, quality of erotic content, all excellent.

This game is the polar opposite of other games where I'm not too sure the developer has ever seen an actual boob, much less had sex with a living breathing person.

I thought the picking a crush thing was a bit clumsy. I'd like to be able to pick more than one, or none, and have that choice come up a bit more naturally rather than a menu select. Where it was placed was kind of odd as well, I feel like I knew some of those characters way more than others, and there were some exclusions. Really a nitpick though, and I don't have any idea how it could have been done better.

I don't think of the MC as ever being clueless at all. I see him as a mostly good natured dude who has a lot of academic knowledge but not a lot of practical experience. There is a world of difference when all you know of oral sex is powerpoint slides and writing papers versus a mouth on your skin. He's the most broken character in the game. He spends so much time isolating himself from friends and jerking off over the client he fucked even though he knows he shouldn't, and shouldn't have, it was a terrible decision, the worst decision, it ruined the life he built. But here we are, and he's headed to that same point again. I see his sexual interactions with the other characters in game as him learning about himself and his own sexuality as much as they are about themselves.

Emma's hate fuck and the whirlwind of sexual tension and conflicting emotions from both parties was really well done. Lea and her discovery and exploration of exhibitionism, also great. Jen... my god, forbidden fruit so well written. I was so conflicted with her, 100% empathy with the MC. I'd have a serious problem dealing with her IRL, knowing with every fiber of my being that it would be the absolute worst decision, but doomed anyway.

The most interesting dynamic for me was Deb and Carl. Despite what others have said in this thread, there isn't a villain here. It's not anyone's fault. They both want (need) things that the other partner can't give them. Trying and failing (so far) to find a common ground where they both can be a little fulfilled. Deb wants one person that worships the ground she walks on, and isn't very interested in multiple partners. Carl doesn't want to be a sub, and really wants to see Deb with other men. In the sub scene, he repeatedly begs Deb to fuck the MC because #spoilers HE really wants it. She doesn't, because #spoilers controlling a sub is what makes her cum. I think Deb ending up going a little too far was because she's admittedly bad at communicating, getting worse the more personal it is, and all that residual frustration finally boiled over, not because she's a whore just using her fiancée.

I've known several couples like Deb and Carl in real life. Both good people that loved each other, but unable to find that place where the spheres of what they needed from each other overlapped. Some worked it out eventually, most didn't and in the end fell apart. It's a sad story, very believably written. I'm not particularly into bull or sub content, but I'm really interested to see if they can reconcile or are better off apart, and what part the MC will play in either of those outcomes.

I hope every node on the skill tree ends up with a satisfying amount of content. Hopefully with more than one character. Excited to see what's in store. Overall, really glad I found this. Great job devs.

When I downloaded this game, I thought I'd see another teenage college sim like Being a DIK. Against the backdrop of the popularity of this game, many similar projects are being developed. I was wrong.
This is a deep psychological drama with well-developed characters, a complex plot and amazing dialogues. The gameplay is based on human psychology and the disclosure of kinks, for this you need to solve mini-games for logical thinking. And it's incredibly cool. A skill leveling system more typical of RPG games than visual novels.
There are four different directions of pumping, which are opened for the points received when choosing the desired answer. The character of your character depends on the choice of dialogues - you can be an alpha chad, play a cuckold, be a straightforward "knight" or a cunning pervert who breaks all the rules. The system is similar to the game Our Red String, only much more elaborate and deeper. The game has incredible potential and I look forward to continuing.
The only criticism: I would like to see more characters (In total, 7 girls are available for interaction, we get to know them in the first arc). Adding new characters as the game progresses is a good way to increase interest in the project. And more moments with chess. It's far from for everyone. When I looked at the game, Jen did not understand at all what was happening and how chess works.
I wish the dev success in further development.

This game is great overall, I'm very happy I tried it.

The skill tree system - idk, maybe it'll be worth having it in later chapters, right now if I went a chose traits to roleplay I'd miss out on 99% of the content. So save those points until you actually need to spend them, or use the cheat options like I did.

The shading on characters thing... I guess is an attempt to make the bland shading in renders at least a little less bland. Nobody seems to like it though, and I'm not fond of it either.

The Chess thing. Wow. I never thought about chess this way. Now I want to learn to play like that. Thank you for this, author.