VN - Ren'Py - New Year's Day(e) [Ch. 4 v0.4.1] [Jonesy]

The first game was really good, but as others have stated the wheels really fell off on this one. The MC has no balls and no personality whatsoever, he is such a bitch. And he plays the stereotype of a stupid man that pretty much needs to be told (twice) in slow, careful and clear words in order to figure out all but the most obvious things. The other characters are all one or two dimensional as well...they are mostly mind-controlled zombies for daddy's dick.

WTF is up with adding rape (and not just rape, but gang rape)? That is totally not cool. Seriously, what could be more of a boner killer than that? It goes from a fun porn game to a serious and disturbing drama. If I want to be disturbed mentally (no thanks), I'll watch a documentary or something, I don't want that kind of shit in something that is supposed to be entertainment. Fuck off.

You also have an alcoholic parent abusing one of the main characters. Dev is going out of his way to make this game as offensive, disturbing, shitty and boner killing as possible.

Daye losing her virginity should have been a special, private experience with the man she loves. No, dev turns it into an orgy with one of the characters being a virtual stranger (at least to the viewers).

A minor quibble is doing a candlelit sexy lingerie show with such poor lighting everything is in shadows. What is the point, they might as well be fully clothed because you can't see anything anyway.

All in all I am enjoying this second installment.
The first game was good, well written and sexy if a little derivative.
it felt like clone of another game about a girl called petal and her dad in a cabin...
That said it was good enough to stand on its own. I enjoyed the writing, the characters felt 3 dimensional and it was nice and hot.
This game feels a little richer to me, I'm only just into chap 2 and finding myself very engaged and drawn in. There are moments when it actually made me fell something, which is very rare for what is at heart a porn game. You, Jonsey have real talent and should stick with your instincts . Great Job.

The predecessor to this V/N ( Christmas Eve) was pretty good with at least an attempt at a romantic connection between main characters.

This one lost the charm of that one.

One pet peeve is forcing relationships with side girls rather than being optional and yes I include Becky as a side girl. The main girls being Eve, Daye, and Kayla. Another is not given options on things like fetishes or creampie vs, body shots, etc.

Also the girls are reduced to two dimensional caricatures who are all about having sex with the MC by any means and caring about little else. Olivia is an especially toxic mega slut. All personality is leached from the main girls as the story progresses and new ones start out with none.

The MC was a complete weenie when it came to Kayla and her mom, it could have been dealt with so much better, It's sad when the daughters have more balls than dad.

Unlike some the lesbian stuff didn't bother me in the least, let's face it, two girls together is pretty hot but I would have preferred it if all were out in the open. However since the MC wasn't in a relationship with either Daye or Kay they weren't obliged to tell anyone their private business, they're adults after all.

A serious disappointment after the good start that was Christmas Eve.

I had come to this game with above normal expectations since I enjoyed the first game but this on day and night different from the first one and not in a good way, probably one of the biggest disappointment in games I played here

So the first game was a wholesome game with your daughters, light hearted, fun to play, in this one the prerogative it's changed to the step crap, were you turn to find they aren't actually mc daughters and now it's stepcest crap, next the wholesomeness is lost and turn into a rape gangbang game losing all the essence from previous game.
Now there is a LOT of forced lesbian scenes behind mc back.
Mc is weak and spineless like you can witness with Portia the gangraped girl/LI.

So yeah I dunno what happened to this second game to have a 180 change, but what you get from this game right now is, drama, gangbang rape, forced lesbian BEHIND mc back, everyone is bi, so you get a huge disappointment only.

It's not tagged as KN but it's a kinetic game.

If you like the usual and overused drama, no choices, forced lesbian behind mc back, rape you may like this game,
BUT if you are expecting a wholesome game with good vibes, that the li's are only for the mc and aren't cheating behind mc back with other girls then this one isn't for you.

Resuming this game in one word: disappointment

Even Better than the first game. I love this. the girls are awesome the sex is HOT and the story is good while not being overbearing. the foreshadowing hasnt been overly used and helps add to both the story and the erotic narrative.

Maybe the problem is ME. In my mind, there are natural opposites in porn:
Male-Dom <> Fem-Dom
Pregnancy <> Anal
Harem <> NTR.

As much as I hate some of the above… I’m glad they exist (!). I just want them… over there… with tag so that other people can appreciate them... but... imo... never... NEVER in the same game!

IMO, this game has paired two other opposite porn preferences:
Slice of Life <> Rape/Violence.

Many games, often, F/D incest games, start with Slice of Life, and then they add Drama, Violence and Rape. And who knows? Maybe that has a huge market. It just doesn’t make sense TO ME. As a guess, it seems that the rape (etc…) is added around release 5-10.

In this game, it hits release 7 (unless I miscounted counting the first game) i.e. almost on cue. I personally hate it. Maybe you won’t.
-Game 1 was a nice little F/D incest power / seduction fantasy.
-Game 2 (this one)… you get DRAMA in the form of physical abuse, alcoholism, horrible parenting… and now gang rape.

Again, maybe I’m the problem… but I got whiplash from the tonal shift.

To be fair, many games get a 1 Star because “Yawn. It’s boring vanilla.” And that’s what those people think… and that’s fair for them.
For me, this game gets 1 Star because of the Slice of Life becoming Drama and Rape… and that’s fair for me…

EDIT = Oh, and the first game had Kinetic tag. This one needs it too as many reviewers rightly call out the lack choices without this tag.

Is this a completely shit video game? Yes of course, it has no gameplay. No choices, nothing. Just a story.

But I think with managed expectations this better than you might think from the ratings. It deserves a 4.2/5 if 5 means its in your Top 5 best VN games you have ever played.

This review takes into account the prequel which should be played beforehand.

The story of the game gives a reason why the MC gets into intimate relationships with his daughters. Which is more than the "it just happened" you get from most VN's with a similar story.

The tone is light hearted and there is no cheating drama. A major plus imo.
The pacing is just right imo for the story. You have some sidescenes which make the day to day action more believable and also some extra story that add some drama and tension between the characters (nothing directly relationship related.) so the whole story isn't just to predictable and bland. Don't expect any major revelations or anything like that.

Imo its definitely worth the read and could be even better with some additional choices. Throw a few bucks to the dev. They did a good job.

Fair Warning: You won't see rapid updates with this one. The tend to take some months to develop but then you will probably easily take an hour to read the update.

Edit 29.12.2023:

I wrote this review before having played through the latest update 0.3.0 in its entirety.
People in the thread already talked about the last scene. I won't spoil it here. But lets say there is a reason this game now has a rape tag.
The scene is the very last in the 0.3 Update. It is not witnessed actively but through a camcorder. But in the last image the camcorder screen is shown.
Considering there is no further resolution to the scene (the update ends after it) it makes the game take a drastic tone shift. Personally, I have played dark VN Games and can enjoy them (even though I really hate actual rape scenes). But it is weird even to me to have this kind of material suddenly be in the game. Yes, it is obvious that it is a plot device. And yes, the game describes it as horrible. But all the same. This game now contains a rape scene that is being described in detail. Which is weird.

I won't change the rating for this. But it should be noted to anyone that this games rape tag is not there by error. Weirdly enough.

+ kissing renders looks really good
+ music
+ pussy-eating scenes
+ story is ok
+ no jealousy drama
+ girls

- if you don't like it - forced lesbian stuff. You can't do nothing about it
- no choices
- sometimes game is focused too much on girls, and what are they doing behind mc back
- mc is dull, totally boring without any personality, no assertive scared of doing anything pussy. Sorry, but dude is a mature guy and a father, he often behave like teenage boy, who for the first time see a girl, it's looks really pathetic if you consider his age
- MC's pussy behavior towards Portia
- too much talking in some sex scenes, just go straight to the point
- cockblocking

2 stars - mainly because of mc, hope he will grow some balls in the future

Average step-renders, average step-story. Average step-dialogue.

The step-game was better.

The first release was good but now I'm out. Maybe if we get a step-story with some step-dialogue I'll give it another chance.

Liked the Christmas Eve. So could not wait to download this when i saw it. Many times the sequal is a disappointment due to the wait and high expectations no so for NYE. this VN is just amazing !!
Can't wait to see how it ends up

Very enjoyable follow up to the first game. The characters are well written and adorable. I only hope this is a long series, would love to get all of these characters fleshed out over time.

First chapter did a solid job setting up the future events.

Really great start to the "new" game follows nicely, story and characters are believable and realistic even if the plot is all BS, its great for these kinds of adult games.

The models as always are great and dialogue is good and not over the top and pure nonsense. For the amount of content, its good, I have seen new games with way less, guess having the first game out and this one to follow up right after already set the stage.

This kind of content and at the rate its being produced, I think many of the devs and creators of these games can take a page or two from Jonesy's book.

Original review only covering initial release, v0.1.0 5/5


Updated review covering releases v0.2.0 and v0.3.0, 2/5


Updated review covering Ch4 v0.4.1, updated score 4/5