VN - Ren'Py - Somewhere I Belong [Ep.2] [Mr Baker]

Now, this game certainly has its shortcomings.
Just a few words about why and how it made me feel:

Goes without saying, but pretty much everything about visual aspects of the game is impressive and quite captivating, sometimes leaving you in awe how certain frames and angles were done. Truly riveting.
Another thing: despite every silliness there may be and how age disparity does not look believable at all ( seemingly there just for the sake of it ), Claire and everything there is to her made me feel deeply in comfort, every time leaving me looking forward for more interactions with her.
Also I'm a sucker for dystopian setting, and in this game in particular it does not just serve a background purpose, but pretty much defines main events and the plot in general.
All these did a good job in persuading me to support the creator(s) of this game.

However, how some have already pointed out before me, the game is not without its flaws.
First, as of Ep. 2, you've only ever given a meaningful choice when the game asks you whether to engage with a character in sexual relationship. Beside that, MC has his own opinions that he will not hesitate to proclaim quite definitively. He will throw himself into the thick of things and risk his own well-being despite the fact that you may have different idea in mind. And all of this seemingly to establish a certain image of a hero, to kickstart events and make other characters have a specific opinion of him. There is no fixing what's already done, but later episodes might just bring more branching, I hope. At least there is a hint of that at the end of the second episode, where MC may influence certain dialogues and character interactions depending on what he chose to do earlier in the episode.
Second, everyone unconditionally likes MC, and if it's a female, almost immediately feels sexual attraction to him in some way. Such... flatness in characters profiles may not be to everyone's taste. Not for mine definitely.
Third, there is porn logic and it's what mainly accompanies how characters see and interact with you, as in MC. Predictable, perhaps, but not poorly executed, so, in my opinion, palatable.
Forth and last, as I grow tired of writing this, most of the characters tend to open their soul to you right upon your first meeting, making it feel unwarranted and thus unnatural. I found myself skipping some of them just because I have yet to feel any connection to them, but they are already deep in monologue about their personal story. Feels rushed and uninspiring.

Looks like Ep.1 was planned with one plot in mind and Ep.2 took completely different development, making the game abandon many previously shown prospects, but it may be to soon to tell if it was for the better or for worse.
Overall, I think this game deserves attention. See it for yourself. At the very least I can almost guarantee that it will not be a waste of time.

Review [Ep2]

First off, I'm not a harem fan in these games. Yet while playing this game I really forgot it was even a harem game technically. I got really sucked into the story of this one. I did not think I would like it because the thought of Zombies plus AVN just doesn’t sound like something I would like. But it really works well in this game. The dev does a good job of world building and selling how a lot of the humans are pure garbage and makes you hate them.

Being a post apocalyptic setting there a good amount of characters have some kind of issues or are damaged in some way so if that’s some you like in a LI there are a few good ones in that regard. Those LI I feel are the most developed or well thought out with their backstory to the point I wish it wasn’t a harem game as I would have loved those characters in a solo path game even more.

The animations and renders are pretty damn good in this and some of the best parts of the game. The only real negative I have is some of the lewd scenes are a bit too fast paced with little to no build up, not all.

Overall a great game and honestly this is my new favorite harem game even over some of the more popular ones out there. As I got really into some of the characters and story and can't wait for more.

Tbh, not sure if I liked it...

The thing is part of my really likes it and a part of me hates it. The girls look great, the setting is intresting and go on but the story...

Like It feels rushed in my opinion. Like you are bouncing from one place to another like something is rushing you. Some stuff is confusing like you getting a job nearly dying getting a call form a guy you saved that his uncle has a save job in the city and it seems like it is the same job you nearly died on.

I really liked the tatoo girl but yeah ep 2 she is not part of it anymore and that seems insane to me. Other girls really love the mc from the first moment they met and everyone loves to tell there secret to the mc.

Also sometimes the author does not give an option to the player. For example the special need girl that was forced to fight the infected. Our mc just jumps in because he cant let her die. Sure would have picked that option too but it felt really really forced.

The story just feels a bit too fast and silly to me

The feeling I got while playing this was superb. Thanks for the game and here are my opinions on the suggested topics from the forum.

• Story/Characters - 4.5/5
  • For the heads up, this might be just me, but I like the very smart MC who has 0% moment of unsmart move. whether it is anime, manga, or game, the MC is quite smart, but not as perfect as I wish him to be.
    
    Some may find realistic characters good, but for me, I prefer more of the perfect character type, in which I could not find or be in real life, that's what I wish my game's MC to be, like an escape from reality. But if not for the things I mentioned, of course, the story is great.
    
    
  • Up until Ch.2, some time skip still left some unanswered questions, but overall it is acceptable for me.
• MC/Girls Renders - 5/5
  • Love every character here, not sure about the originality, but for me, I love seeing new faces as the MC and main characters, of course, especially the good-looking ones, and this game has provided it all, a very satisfying MC and main girls for me, so much thanks on that part.
• Scene Renders - 4/5
  • The lighting and everything is fine, but for me some scene's angle is kinda weird and little bit frustrating. What I mentioned here would solely applied to the sexy scene, or especially the BJ scene, where you can only see the girl's hair and head going up and down, I mean why?
    
    Even the renders would reveal the angle with the actual action later, but why have or included the render of the scene in which the player cannot see the action at all for a while?
    
    I mean if it is POV or 1st person's view, it would not making sense at all if a man eyes do not follow to the BJ scene happening right in front of him, and the girl is not even his wife in which he has lived together like 20 years (even for that, some man would still look and admire the action of BJ his wife is giving him).
    
    So panning the camera angle up which would mean MC is not looking at the action is quite frustrating for me. Not to mention some lewd actions, camera angles are not much in our favor, like our MC's back or butt is covering most of the girl part when I wish to see it most.
• Animations - 4/5
  • Not all sexy or lewd scenes are fully animated all the way through but I can live with that. But still wish we could have more of the animated scene with could see the action more, and with no covering angle or MC's butt covering like 60-70% of our beloved girls would be very appreciated.

Apart from everything I've mentioned, I still want to give this game a 5-star as I love a good quality game, in which not many games have all the overall quality as good as this one, and I don't want the dev to be disheartened too much when they see their gaming rating dropped.

So, thank you again for this piece of art, and please keep up all the good work ♥

Story 3/5
The start is kinda werid to me, MC gets a job with hes friends where all but MC gets killed, then it skips time? or something? and MC is now in an appartment with some ugly bimbo that walks around with her extremly big tits out?, one i wouldent want to touch with a 10ft pole....why force that shit on players, not everyone has a big tit fetish so devs stop forcing that shit, anyway MC is apprently in a friends with bennefits with her as well again with 0 choice to the player so to me personaly it started out as a 1 star game due to having just about everything i hate and theres 0 reasons for dev to put MC in a FWB relationship right from the start it does nothing and mean nothing for the story, she should have been nothing but a friend, untill the player desides if he/she wants anything to do with her.

It does get a little better since you can say fuck off to the bimbo whenever she asks for sex so thats atleast something and at some point you can tell her shes a friend and nothing else, which she really should have been from the start, its an idiotic way of making the story doing relationships in the worng order to then force players to dump someone that MC never should have been with.

Also turning her down saying you dont feel like sex, to then have MC go "well i suppose theres no fun time to day, guess ill go to bed then" when he sees shes sleeping....it feels so damn idiotic considering MC turned her down just seconds ealiere....this type of writting is just awfull, need to keep better track on players choices and show dialogs that matches them.

As for the main story its a pretty basic zombie plot, nothing really new or any good twists atleast not yet, so at the moment its pretty bland but not bad.
MC or story seems to fail every now and then, like when hes talking to a dude before killing him he learns that someone at a farm is a inside traitor and its the reason the shotgun dudes where hunting a girl, MC then visit the farm and stays there without ever even thinking about the traitor which can only be the sister since the grandpa cant leave the bed and no one else is on the farm, but that hole issue was 100% forgotten by MC/Story and instend you can fuck the girl who should be the traitor? dosent make much sense.

Girls 2/5
I still find it weird that games are still lacking in diversity when it comes to builds, this is pretty much a pure bimbo game meaning 0 smols and maybe 1 or 2 close to normal size, so it fails to deliver something for everyones taste.

Animations 2/5
The ones i saw was a bit bland and some even a bit weird, its only a single position that has a small animation and 95% of a sex scene is picture to picture.

Choices 2/5
Even though you do have a choice in who to have a relationship with, its still idiotic to have one forced on you from the very start of the game, im not a fan of having to dump someone and feel bad about it even if she is the worst looking LI in the game i still hate it.
Also for now its only relationship choices that matters, as for main story it feels very kinetic which i dont mind that much since relationships are the most importen part for me anyway.

Music 3/5
Pretty average tunes nothing special, nothing with lyrics.

I feel like im being nice giving this 3 stars but i did enjoy some parts of the story, the part that has nothing to do with relationships.

great original graphics
cohesive twd story
decent branching ( hope they keep it tight to be able to advance the story )
good sex scenes
base building ( somewhat )
codex and info
shaping to be up there with the best of them
hardly waiting to see part three

Love the game, characters,story-line , renders and animations, love the girls and the little harem we have got going with hints of pregnancy, hopefully its not shit as most games and we only see a few renders at the very end,
Otherwise loving it and looking forward to it.

Great game with an interesting an indepth story. There were multiple times while playing through the game that I forgot it was a porn game. The writing, pacing, and world building is well done. The sex scenes are excellent and not too fast or too slow. I would definitely recommend it for people who enjoy plot.

Ok, this is a difficult one to rate. On one hand, the things this game does well, it does wonderfully. On the other hand, it has substantial flaws that are hard to ignore. So, I’ve decided to give it a 4, to hopefully raise awareness of these issues and the dev can work on improving. I do believe that once these shortcomings are polished, this game has the potential to be one of the best on the site.

The Good:

Let’s get the obvious positives out of the way. This game looks stunning. The visuals are incredible, and the character designs are some of the hottest I’ve seen. There’s a decent variety of body types, but the highlight for me are the big ass girls. Not every sex position is animated, but the ones that are there are smooth. The music won’t be making it into anyone’s playlists, but it’s good enough to set the mood nicely. Overall, the technical aspect is very impressive, and the presentation would be immaculate if not for one big issue we’ll get to.

As for design, it’s a straightforward choice-driven VN experience. There are repercussions to your decisions, but so far, it isn’t too complex that you’ll be missing scenes left and right. All sex scenes are easy enough to experience. Hopefully it stays that way. The last update introduced a sort of hub area, where it seems you’ll be experiencing optional dialogue and scenes, but it’s too early to tell how that element will develop.

The Bad:

Now for the real issues I have with the game: the framing of the renders and the character building.

Honestly, the framing for some of these renders makes no sense. There are several moments where the game cuts the heads of the characters from the frame while they’re talking, and even some where their whole bodies are cut, or hidden behind another character.

If it was just an issue during conversation scenes, it wouldn’t be that bad, but much more important is the fact the sex scenes also suffer from this. There’s a BJ scene, where you literally see none of it. There aren’t any alternate angles, the whole BJ happens in a couple of back-and-forth renders where all you can see is the woman’s hair, while the camera centers on the wall behind. Another BJ further in at least has an alternate angle, but still uses the same pointless viewpoint.

The other issue is there are too many seemingly important characters that get introduced and left by the wayside way too fast. Before you get to know a character, a new one comes along, and the spotlight shifts. The most notorious one is this katana-wielding girl, who gets introduced, lives on the same hideout as the MC, more than a week goes by in-game, and we still don’t have a single conversation involving her. The characters that do get some extra time in the sun are well-written and likable, and hopefully we can flesh out the ones left behind. But at the moment, there are many undercooked characters that come and go like the wind.

There's also some issues with sudden scene transitions and characters who appear and disappear out of nowhere, but I feel this topic isn't worth getting into too much detail.

Conclusion:

If the dev reads this, hopefully he can accept the criticism with an open mind, as I’m trying to be as constructive here. Currently he has some shortcomings as a visual storyteller that should improve with the right pointers and experience. Overall, this game has amazing potential, with its incredible visuals, solid music and worldbuilding. Polish some of the rough edges, and we have something truly special in our hands.

Good quality graphics
Pretty good story with a few exceptions
Wonderful choice with colors and things not being too bright or dark.

Animations can be silly....For example.
A girl is hanging upside down giving a bj but her breasts are still pointing toward her feet, not her head....
The MC is eating out a girl, her pelvis, head, and arms move but not her chest/boobs it's just static...
Breasts should move independently of eachother not the exact same during activity.
Other animations are similar... i.e. gravity defying boobs...lol
(I mention the boobs because it seems to be a focal point for everyone...lol)

Story: It's actually pretty good overall however the first time the MC meets/talks to a lady she has this long internal monologue about if she should tell the MC her deepest darkest secrets and how she feels about him..... (kinda like what a trashy romance novel might be like.)

Otherwise the story is good and moves along at the perfect pace to keep things interesting enough.

Still could use some proofreading to fix a few things but not too bad or distracting. It almost feels a bit too kinetic but maybe that will change with time. Also, as others have mentioned, the overall mechanics and performance need to be looked at.

review for ep.2

peak gaming right here.
all the girls look amazing, varied body types and all.
mc a cutie, and a pretty decent dude for now.
lewd scenes were fuckin amazing.
writing pretty good for the most part.
and good build up for whats coming.

Each character gives you reasons to care about them as a friend even if you are not attracted to them. The renders are amazing. The angles and way the scenes are presented gives a much better sense of the scene than many other games. I also really appreciate that not everyone is a porcelain doll and their skin has imperfections. The only complaint I have is that a few of the body types feel same-y. Overall, great game so far.

Plot is solid, progression decent. The visuals are top notch and here lies the best part: that it's very appealing just to watch the slideshow of such amazing renders. Sex scenes are animated in a seamlessly smooth quality yet here is where you find one of the biggest flow of the game: that most of those sex scene camera view is focused mostly on the male MC with closed up shots of the MC figure covering and hiding almost the entire female MC. Yes, you are more likely seeing the MC ass and his back rather than the bouncing boobies of the LI while her face screams in pleasure. This is by far the biggest damn shame of the game, that the animations are so good but focused on the wrong highlights (MC).

So this is a game with really tremendous visuals. The renders are top-notch, and the dev is obviously very talented with 3D graphics. The writing is pretty compelling from what I read.
Unfortunately - and the reason for the 1 star rating - the mechanics are so infuriating that this game is painful to play. Painful. When I say it is a 'clickfest', I know what you're thinking - oh, you have to constantly advance the dialogue.
But that does not begin to cover the infuriating amount of clicking this game requires. Imagine, if you will, you're reading a comic book. And in this comic, the hero is walking up the stairs. Except every step the hero takes, every time he lifts his foot onto the next stair, you have to turn the page.
Step; turn page.
Step; turn page.
Step; turn page.
You don't know how many stairs the hero has to climb, but you know it's a lot. Would you continue reading that comic?
That is what playing "Somewhere I Belong" is akin to. It is one of the most maddening experiences I've ever had with a Renpy game. Constant clicking, so much so that I turned on "Skip Unseen" which meant that inevitably I started skipping over dialogue, too, and thus lost what I had been enjoying about the game. All because the dev couldn't be bothered to not show me tons of renders of such riveting scenes as:
- Running down a hall.
- A van driving down a street.
- A girl walking to a desk to pick something up
... and more exciting moments that just HAD to have a half-dozen renders showing the progression of such acts.
You know, I almost wish the story WAS trash and the visuals sucked, because then I wouldn't feel so cheated by the dev pissing in my face with these shit transitions. Why would you make such a high-quality product and make it a literal chore to play?

This could easily have been a five star game but there's a few things that's holding it back.

Let's start with the positives. It has absolutely amazing renders, the environment, the characters, the details is top notch. The quality makes it easy to immerse yourself in the game.

The characters are a mixed bag, they're certainly nuanced enough and most of them got a backstory which adds dimensions to them. Personally I don't care much for the MC. He's pretty boring, not particularly intelligent or funny. But his flaws are perhaps what makes him relatable, he's human, albeit a dull one with all the white knighting going on.

The game suffers from "I am the main character" syndrome. Everything more or less goes his way and perhaps this is explained later on but everyone around him gives him way too much credit, trusts him way too much too early that you can tell it's bullshit.

The sex is animated and spectacularly fluid, the girls are all gorgeous so it's easy to enjoy it. It's pretty vanilla as for now though so don't expect too much if you're into wilder stuff. This doesn't seem to be that kind of game.

To summarize: This game is absolutely gorgeous with a living story that makes it interesting to play. The characters mainly add to this but you can't shake the feeling that sometimes they're just props for the MC to go through. The dialogue between them all is ok but I think the MC is just another protagonist who is given too much responsibility for what he's capable of. I hope the future releases will be interesting!

The game itself is very pleasant the plot is very interesting and exciting the characters are beautifully made the world is very apocalyptic the atmosphere of the game is very soulful conveys all the emotions and feelings of the game itself the whole game is very coolly made

Highly recommend trying this game out.

It has some beautifully made renders that are consistently great and high quality all the way through. But what's more impressive to me is the establishing of a plotline, premise, and setting that dissociates itself away from the same mundane ones that a lot of other great VN's focus on. It's really a breath of fresh air that still manages to keep readers hooked.

The main LI's thus far (version 0.1.0.0) provide a great variety of personalities (and other notable features ) to choose from no matter what your preferences are.

It is still relatively early in development, so it remains to be seen if this level of production and attention-to-detail continues to be the standard all the way to the end, but it will be fs be a VN worth supporting if it manages to do so. Really content with I've seen so far.

Reviewing as of 0.1.0. Nah, didn't expected such quality. Must recommended.
Zombie apocalypse storyline. Renders and Animations are top notch. Characters have back story too, not forced or anything like that it fits perfectly in the story. Good to see AVNs focusing a bit more on the writing side. Can feel the story and characters while playing, which a few years back was very hard to find. But now, many devs are coming forward with their osm writing. And this will too inspire others to make polished AVN for sure.
Don't worry there's a lot of sex in the game for few releases.

The game is truly amazing. It's a solid 10 out of 10.
Before playing the game, I had a certain level of expectation, but the satisfaction exceeded those expectations.
The rich story and top-notch graphics combined to create an experience akin to watching a TV show or movie.
I felt a fresh shock similar to when I first played 'Summer's Gone' or 'City of Broken Dreamers'.
If regular updates containing sufficient content are made periodically, I am confident that this game will be evaluated as a top-tier game on the site.
I applaud and express gratitude and support to the development team.

[Reviewed v0.1.0]

This game is quite special -- great premise in a somewhat familiar zombie apocalypse setting with tons of H-scenes and animations. If you like survival stories, this is close to perfect.

The Good ()

• A diversity of girls with different personalities and body types (though "curvy" is definitely a prominent theme)
• Well-done renders and environments, with some unique settings
• Great, varied animation
• Well-crafted story content
• Likeable MC where you can believe the character's progression

The Not-So-Good ()

• Sometimes the narrative jumps around / lacks context -- the transitions between scenes / settings can be choppy
• Wish the updates were a bit richer in content

I've really enjoyed following this game from the start and wish continued success to Mr. Baker!