VN - Ren'Py - Race of Life [Act 1 v1.02] [Underground Studio]

Interesting VN, nice story, really good visuals... there are no dialogue options but some branching story-line choices... too bad this is only episode 2 and as it is, there are only 11 lewd scenes to unlock in total (i've unlocked 6 scenes during single playthrough, due to mutually exclusive choices and i really don't feel like playing again to unlock the rest, as it took me more than 4 hours to read through everything, and even though the girls look hot, lewd scenes are mostly vanilla boring, there isn't much choice as to sexual positions or sex acts and all mostly end in creampie or swallowing (no cumshot, not many choices as to where to cum.) I feel like too much effort was put into text ( boring walls of text from pointless side characters) but really not much into what is bread and butter of every adult game - hot and diverse sex scenes with different fetishes. There are so many cute faces and there is like 1 (optional) facial scene ... the only titjob scene is performed by the girl with the smallest titties in game (and it ends not in cumshot on her tits but in her swallowing)... most girls also quickly undress and sex scenes are vanilla naked.

[Version Reviewed: Ep. 2 Extra New]

What I liked:

+ Premise: An AVN about car racing. What's not to like?

+ Story: The story has three primary plots; the treatment of MC's daughter, MC's doctorate research and the car racing. As well as a secondary plot in saving Maggie's mom. While one might think that the story can be convoluted (especially in the future), I believe that the writers have been able to allocate a good split in focus on the story elements, so far. I do hope that the same continues in the future.

+ Characters: The character that I would like to talk about at first would be the MC himself. The writing has helped the MC become a likable character but someone that we would easily acknowledge is an asshole (atleast at the beginning). The nuance in the MC's character already puts the game apart from most of the AVNs out there. The second character that I would like to talk about is MC's ex-wife. While most AVNs tend to portray the ex-wife/gf as the devil herself, RoL manages to bring out her bad qualities while still managing to keep her as an interesting love interest. There's a whole bunch of other interesting characters like Lilly, Jasmine, Natalya, Maggie, etc. I'm not a big fan of either the best friend or MC's current gf tho.

+ Art: Excellent detail. Unique looking characters. Some beautiful cars too.

+ Animations: Great animations both lewd and otherwise.

+Re-playability: Lot of variables in the game. Had fun playing the different romance paths.

+ Mini game mechanics: I loved the racing game mechanics. It's not too complicated while allowing the player to have a little fun.

What I'm indifferent / undecided about:

= Romance: Too early to give an opinion on it. I lost interest in MC's current gf quickly while the ex-wife was an instant favorite. Focusing on Jasmine helped in building her character in Ep 2. I hope the same happens for Nat and Maggie.

= Music: Couple of good soundtracks. Usually regular music. Nothing to complain about.

= Dialogues: Most of the dialogues relating to both racing as well as MC's science project had gone over my head. There is an index on the phone app (of the game), but it feels like a chore to read everything to understand a dialogue. Perhaps, some dumbed-down hints would be useful. Can't really say it's a negative as it might improve the realism for petrolheads.

Overall it's an excellent game from Underground Studio. I was a big fan of their abandoned game. I hope the devs remain in good health and manage to complete this one. I give it a 9/10.

I struggle with whether to give this game a 4 or 5 star. In terms of story, renders, choice paths, character variation (both in personality and body proportions), animations... it really is top shelf stuff. I'm definitely looking forward to future chapters/releases! So why would I consider taking away a star? Because frankly some of the dialogue is just nauseating. Like the writer is trying to prove he's super smart but really just sounds a bit like they've spent too much time reading academia papers and felt they needed to copy said papers into the VN. For the average reader, this is just click throughs. Sort of those moments when you just want a TLDR. It'd be fine if it happened on rare occasion, like during the ball scene where he's trying to impress potential donators, but between the car talk, the project talk, the medical talk....it's just too overwhelming at times and could really use a bit of toning down.

So, end of Chap 2. This game has exceeded my expectations so far. There are a number of things to like about it. The artwork is awesome, and the characters are distinct individuals with distinct personalities. The social interactions between the MC and the female characters make sense in a real world way for the most part, as do the lewds. It's not just random girls tripping and falling onto MC's dick. The writing is likewise adult and not geared to the horny teenager crowd. There are adult concerns and interactions, intelligence and adult references. The game has the obligatory goofy but lovable sidekick, but he's not a complete idiot and again the friendship between him and MC makes sense. Lots of what appear to be meaningful choices too.

On the downside, the lewd scenes so far lack imagination, however good the models look, and the animations are mostly very short loops. There are some moments of genuine humor, but a lot of it fails a bit in the delivery. If you an say that there are some comic timing issues in text based dialogues then that's how it feels. Not bad, but not as good as it could be.

The positives way outweigh the minor negatives though, and I'm looking forward to future releases. This could be a top tier game.

TLDR Low end of 5 stars for this site, I'd say. The renders look great, and the banter dialogue is actually reasonably funny at least half the time, but... The pacing feels off in many parts. Not just in a porny way, obviously. The story does at least have a direction, and the characters feel distinct, but there's just too many skip-inducing scenes for a VN that's trying to take itself seriously.

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There's a lot of ranting about academia and attempts at using scientific jargon, but only about half of it actually makes sense. How are they going over bodies on an incline after "advanced E&M" and "wave equations" in a college-level physics class? Yes, the dialogue implies they're reviewing it, but you wouldn't review addition and multiplication in a calculus class...

One source of constant confusion: the setting is supposed to be some kind of prestigious research university, but many small details make it feel like something between a high school and a community college. This is forgivable in a lot of VNs that are clearly using the setting to pretend their characters are all intended to be 18+, but for a story that actually focuses on problems with academia, it's really jarring.

There's also a lot of focus on car stuff. Some of that's to be expected, and maybe people that actually know about modding or racing cars will enjoy it. I for one know nothing about cars, so they could be making half this shit up. Either way, to me, these parts also often drag on.

Basically, show, don't tell, yada yada yada. Jargon should be well-researched and used sparingly, not trying to hammer the reader over the head with how smart the characters/writer are - that often backfires as soon as one bit is out of place.

Fun writing and beautiful art makes this a very easy recommendation. My one ask is that there's an option to skip the driving choices mini game. I know nothing about driving and while the answer is in the text I just end up rolling back to pick the optimal choice. I recognise this is a preference though which is why it doesnt effect my score.

Really impressive , AMAZING, Great VN , one of the best starts in game so far , story, characters, visuals, MC, all is a 5 stars for me.
A lot of potential to become a top 3 games in the site , even the "ex wife" works well , drama is good for the story , high quality renders and scenes they are just superb . The car race parts are fun , and not a lot of games are like this with the car settings well made.

EDIT: We finally got to eat her ass. Great job guys!

Sexy women, tragic story with the chance to redeem yourself.
Not a boring high school/college student but rather a genius yet unreliable PhD student who has the abilities to create something special, yet only now has shown to be serious enough to actually evolve it into something.
I love the conflict with the ex-wife we are starting to fix while also the upcoming conflict with the girlfriend. I also love the racing scene we are experiencing and can't wait for the upcoming Fast and Furious references.

5 stars only when I get to eat Jammine's ass. I'm serious.

There's a bunch of dialogue in this game, and I skipped some of it. I don't really like the "ex-wife" kind of thing, but it worked. There's also a lot of content, and choices matter in this game, which really got me invested. The visuals are good, the sound is good, the characters are good—pretty much everything is good. What else can I say? Definitely going into one of my favorites.

Very good VN with a lot of potential. Most of the characters are written well and have good opportunities to develop their stories, but we will see how it will be over time. The main plot is also more mature than most VNs of this type. The MC is quite motivated to act by stories. It would be good if this was the main direction of the next parts and not more sex scenes with random girls. For now, the rating is encouraging, but we'll see what the next updates will bring

Extremely high quality game. Story/setting is good, although I'm not personally a fan of the whole ex-wife concept. Also, too much dialogue sometimes. Where this game truly stands out is the graphics. Beautiful! I love the stretch marks and realistic tummy on Veronica, very nice touch. My only gripe with the animations, which are otherwise fantastic, is that in some scenes the characters will have really obvious loop points in their animation. Really breaks the immersion, but it's only noticeable sometimes. The overall visual appeal is basically unmatched among 3D games right now IMO. This game could really be a top 3 game of all time at this rate! Great work!

What can I say, the quality of this is amazing. Renders are superb, story is refreshing. There is actually depth unlike some other "games" on here. Really love the setting and the whole cars thing. Realistic progression and amazing characters. Absolutely love it! 5stars.

This game is well made other than the writing. Unfortunately that's a fairly experience-ruining problem.

The visuals are definitely good, but nothing particularly special. The rendering is competent, and the posing/animations are well done. Definitely a step above stock animations and poses everywhere.

The story isn't very interesting, but it's decent enough to where it could still be very enjoyable. The real issue is the dialogue. Right off the bat you're hit with boring walls of text from pointless side characters. Every scene with a love interest is filled with painfully unfunny jokes and absolutely cringe, unauthentic flirting from the MC. It really makes the whole thing unplayable for me, which is pretty disappointing.

What can I say about this game! The game has EVERYTHING....a good story...extra class visuals...lovable, authentic and sexy characters....good animations. Finally a VN that touches me emotionally as well. Decisions in this game HAVE a meaning and a weight. I cannot praise the Devs enough. You have done an extraordinary job and created a game that is SO good that it should be made into a movie. THANK YOU for my new favorite VN

Almost forgot about this game with the long development time between ch1 and 2, but the dev delivered big time. Ch2 is much longer than ch1 enough that the game as a whole feels like there is substantial content with just 2 chapters. Render quality is high, writing is good, highly recommend checking this game out.

First off I want to say that I don't play many male protagonist games being a woman, but after checking this one out after hearing some hype, I was really pleasantly surprised.

Yes, it's the usual guy with various hotties lusting after him like his curvy co-worker and students etc. type scenario. What makes it stand out though is the story. I got really invested in it.

Without spoiling too much, we have the ex-wife who acts like she hates him, fun and tense fast and the furious type races where your choices affect how it will end. Add a story arc that has s tragic situation and you actually begin to feel bad for the main character. I even wanted to get him reconciled with his ex-wife as you discover she had a rough time off it and the MC caused much of that. Moulding him into a better person is pretty rewarding.

The visuals are really good too, same with audio. This definitely is among the top VN's on here or certainly should be.

Updates have been slow but at least delivered in a good sized amount of content. If the dev can keep up this level of quality, then they definitely have a winner here. See what I did there?

Highly recommended.

Great game.

Love the models, characters, story, and music. Going to be a real hard choice later if I have to choose between all the girls in this. Excited to see where the racing part of the story goes too.

Only complaint is having to wait for the next chapter..... cause damn its good.

Didn´t know what to expect from this game, didn´t know much about it... Now I know I am really very much glad I got to know it.

TL ; DR: This game is amazing and is more than worth your time 5/5

Where to start...

It was year 2023... Just kidding.

Few days ago I thought I´d give this piece a try as I saw it being praised on reddit. I could not believe others saying it is so good. Boy, oh boy now I believe it.

The story is amongst the most captivating and interesting I have seen. The sheer will to help someone you love, to do everyting for them, mixed with action-packed racing scene and attempt to make a breakthrough in science is very, very, and I mean very well combined and executed. This was such a great ride.
The Dahlia is amid the top 3 LI´s in this game after those two below .
The sound of those cars and even information and glossary present about topic - cars and broad terms are very useful and show passion made into this game.

Current length is many hours long, despite being only Ep.2.
The renders are phenomenal, on point and beautiful.
One of the main themes, being cars, are done on par with minigame flawlessly. It was so thrilling to play them and very exciting also.

About the girls... I really love Jasmine in this, and I see I am not the only one. And probably you will too understand it. Her scenes are so endearing, wholesome and funny, as well as encouraging, cooperative and complementary. She is just so freaking cute .

My second most favourite is Maggie... No spoilers here. And love Angel also .

The music is also good and very exciting and enjoyable at times, like minigames and so.

Anyway... Just try this, this is a must play here . It´s funny, wholesome, action-packed, cute, interesting and gripping all at once and much more.

PROS
- Visuals are great. Renders and animations are as good as the top AVN games on F95.
- Great character development, the writer is successful is making you care about the characters. Particularly Allison, who is initially presented as an antagonist but the writing really makes you care for her and her struggles. Thats if you pick the good choices with her, if you pick the bad choices, you can still get a hatefuck scene! I like that you can still get rewarded even though you're going through a nontraditional path. Which brings me to my next favorite thing about this game...
- FINALLY a game with ACTUAL ROUTES and your decisions matters! So many games these days are just a single-route boring, linear, kinetic harem game where the dev has kinda decided everything for you. But your choices matter here. This alone has won me over and will subscribe to dev.
- Generous amount of NSFW scenes and it doesn't feel like he is just adding them for fanservice. The sex scenes make sense and they dont feel rushed or lacking any buildup.

CONS
- I actually like the minigame. Its reminds me of playing drag races on NFS Underground 2. The only issue is that they are mandatory. So if you are doing multiple playthroughs to see all the scenes, you must do all the minigames all over again which can be kinda tedious and frustrating (it depends on reaction speed). Wish he would do what most other games with minigames do, and just offer a way to turn them off.

Top Tier game, highly recommended. Great pacing, incredible visuals, compelling story, good sound effects, etc. The only negative that I can think of is that I'm going to have to wait for the next update. Don't sleep on this one folks!