Recommending Story-first games

[Jaike]

Some of these violate the "no cheap tropes" and "sex scenes should serve the plot" rules in my OP but beyond that, I generally don't care for coercion/corruption and any sort of non-consent vibes. I'm already a fan of Lydia Collier, so from that list, I'll probably check out Jessica O'Neil and Vis

Ah, I thought they all avoided the cheap trope you mentioned. If you could say which tropes bother you it could help in getting better recommendations. It's true not every sex scene strictly serves the plot, but even when sex scenes seemingly come out of the blue they usually still fit the setting (for example in Rainy Day the MC seems to randomly get a sex scene an employee in the office, but they were already doing that before the events of the game).

If you dislike noncon and corruption, stay away from Rainy Day (even on the good path the MC is quite dubconny) and Luna's Fall From Grace (the MC is blackmailed and forced into sexual submission). I also cannot wholeheartedly recommend Vis either in that case (a rival king seeks to marry and humiliate the MC's younger sister). For Vae Victis you would have to play the non-rape route and you'd have to follow the dominant route if you were to try Kingdom of Deception (some NPCs are still subject to noncon).

On the other hand JOHN is probably the best choice, you can also avoid all the manipulative sex scenes in LLtP, but the rest of the games should be mostly fine as well (you may want to avoid the scenes with Katherine in Bad Memories).

 

[AstorethGames]

Shamelessly plugging Hellbound

 

[jufot]

Ah, I thought they all avoided the cheap trope you mentioned. If you could say which tropes bother you it could help in getting better recommendations.

For example, Long Live the Princess is a prime example of every female character within a 10-mile radius lusting after the MC's cock Even the heir to the throne wants to marry him and make him King after 2 minutes of demonic-influenced sex

It's true not every sex scene strictly serves the plot, but even when sex scenes seemingly come out of the blue they usually still fit the setting (e.g. in Rainy Day the MC seems to randomly get a sex scene an employee in the office, but they were already doing that before the events of the game).

In-universe explanations for random sex scenes can be OK, if they are consistent with that universe. I haven't played it, but judging by your description, that Rainy Day example seems fine.

If you dislike noncon and corruption, stay away from Rainy Day (even on the good path the MC is quite dubconny) and Luna's Fall From Grace (the MC is blackmailed and forced into sexual submission). I also cannot wholeheartedly recommend Vis either in that case (a rival king seeks to marry and humiliate the MC's younger sister). For Vae Victis you would have to play the non-rape route and you'd have to follow the dominant route if you were to try Kingdom of Deception (some NPCs are still subject to noncon).

That's a shame about Vis, it looked so interesting! Can you protect the MC's sister? Like, it's fine if she wants to marry someone, but if it's an unavoidable noncon situation, I'd rather avoid that.

On the other hand JOHN is probably the best choice, you can also avoid all the manipulative sex scenes in LLtP, but the rest of the games should be mostly fine as well (you may want to avoid the scenes with Katherine in Bad Memories).

I'll definitely play JOHN soon, seems quite interesting. I generally have negative thoughts on Bad Memories, though I haven't played far enough to see any sexual content with Katherine.

 

[jufot]

Shamelessly plugging Hellbound

Ah, you are the developer! Someone else just recommended your game as well, but I had some concerns based on the synopsis. Still, I'll check it out

 

[AstorethGames]

Ah, you are the developer! Someone else just recommended your game as well, but I had some concerns based on the synopsis. Still, I'll check it out

Ah, you are the developer! Someone else just recommended your game as well, but I had some concerns based on the synopsis. Still, I'll check it out

Your concerns are fair enough, I'm actually super interested In an opinion of someone who looks for story heavy game, so please give it a try and tell me if you like it

 

[bacienvu88]

Could you elaborate on this a bit? Which criteria does it violate? I like Stephen King, and the premise is certainly interesting, so I'm willing to overlook minor violations

The first is that it violates "interests outside of MC" to some extent. This is largly explained by the world going to shit and there is not that much to be interested in in the first place. Also in the flashbacks, this is much less of a concern.

"every female lusts after MC": Basically every female MC meets that is friendly toward him seems to become an LI. Fortunately there aren't too many of them so far (6 so far by my count). And it is fairly slow burning so it doesn't feel too ridiculous.

There is also a bit of porn logic in how the harem is established. But I think that is handled much better than most harem games anyway.

I loooove this game! It's hilarious and has a brilliantly unique premise. I even support it on Patreon

Yeah, I love the humour in RSSU. And it helps that I like Russian culture in general even though I'm not from Russia.

Oh yeah, I'm familiar with them. I need a certain degree of realism in my stories, so DDS is much more speed than, say, CLIT or Erisa

I really like great world building, and CLIT (and earlier VULVA) has that in abundance, so I don't mind so much that it is a bit ridiculous. And I like the style of those as well. But I understand that it may not be everyone's cup of tea.

I generally have negative thoughts on Bad Memories, though I haven't played far enough to see any sexual content with Katherine.

I actually had the same concerns when I first started playing Bad Memories. But the more I've played the more I like it. And MC:s bad attitude is mellowed as things go on. With regards to female protag, yes it is mostly (but not completely) an asset swap. But I actually find the game works better as female.

 

[jufot]

[...Thoughts on Now&Then...]

Thanks for elaborating! It doesn't seem like my cup of tea, but perhaps I can take a look after I'm done with all these other recommendations

I actually had the same concerns when I first started playing Bad Memories. But the more I've played the more I like it. And MC:s bad attitude is mellowed as things go on. With regards to female protag, yes it is mostly (but not completely) an asset swap. But I actually find the game works better as female.

Hmm, perhaps I can give it another shot after a few more updates

 

[jufot]

Your concerns are fair enough, I'm actually super interested In an opinion of someone who looks for story heavy game, so please give it a try and tell me if you like it

All right, I'll give it a try and write a review as well. Thanks for dropping by

 

[TheHighSpire]

I too love when games put the story first. I.E, the porn is tailored to the story and not the other way around.

I surprises me that Being a DIK is not on your list. It is arguably one of the best and most played games on this site. The name also put me off at the start, but it's a really amazing game. It should suit all your main criterions about the various characters having their own story, ambitions etc. Moreover, you get to choose how you treat various characters and decide how your relations with different characters evolve. Lastly, the story is very well connected with the consequences of your decisions sometimes first materializing much later.

You can also look into Once in a Lifetime, which is a great game. The story is really good, the writing is great and humor is absolutely amazing. I actually laughed a lot playing that game. I think you should try it, even if it has a tendency for pretty much all the girls to be pulled in by the gravity of your "magical dick". While there are options to basically create a harem, you can also easily avoid it. I think you should give it a shot, it's a great game.

If you liked Our Red String, by Eva Kiss, which is an amazing game, then I'm also sure that you'd love Good Girl Gone Bad by the same author.

Lastly, you can check out What a Legend! Granted, it's not the deepest game in the world, but it is well written and has lots of humor too. The whole point of the game is that you try to basically have sex with all the girls, they are at the same time quite different. So even if it sort of falls outside your criteria, you can still try it out.

 

[TheHighSpire]

View attachment 1455466

What game is this picture from (if it's from a game)?

 

[jufot]

What game is this picture from (if it's from a game)?

Nothing is Forever

 

[Jaike]

For example, Long Live the Princess is a prime example of every female character within a 10-mile radius lusting after the MC's cock Even the heir to the throne wants to marry him and make him King after 2 minutes of demonic-influenced sex

As I recall it, that is mostly due to mental manipulation and completing quests, the latter of which contain quite interesting storylines. No magical, hypnotic, oversized dick. Okay, he gets to sleep with most of the fae instantly, but in defence of the dev that rather fits the character of fae folk in folklore.

That's a shame about Vis, it looked so interesting! Can you protect the MC's sister? Like, it's fine if she wants to marry someone, but if it's an unavoidable noncon situation, I'd rather avoid that.

Yes, you can protect her, but the game has this stat system where the availability of certain outcomes and options depends on previous choices, therefore I don't know if it is a possibility on every route. The MC's father, the king of his province, has arranged a marriage with a rich neighbouring king, who makes no secret of his intention to degrade her. So even if you play a dominant, undiplomatic route, she still gets quite a lot of harassment thrown at her. It's probably more than you care for if you hate noncon and corruption. I also thought the MC fretted too much about his supposed inadequacy and mistakes. Sure, the bloke is a bit rash, but we get it by now.

I'll definitely play JOHN soon, seems quite interesting. I generally have negative thoughts on Bad Memories, though I haven't played far enough to see any sexual content with Katherine.

Paraphrasing from your review:

• "MC hating and traumatized by stepmom, but ogles her". Fair enough.
• "female MC's internal dialogue is that of a creepy horny 13 year old boy, "Hehehe" used a lot". I would have to take your word for that, not knowing a lot about the mental life of 13-year old boys nor gender cues in English. The female MC's does not sounds overbearingly masculine to me overall, maybe in some places, but English is not my native language and you cannot pick up linguistic gender clues independent of language. But the dialogues are indeed mostly the same for both MC genders, so that's a true point.
• "sexual assault as cutesy game mechanic". Does that refer to the MC taking advantage of Rachel's medication? If so, fair enough, although the pills are written as a disinhibiting agent instead of an incapacitating agent.
• "MC's step-sister is a traumatized mute girl who has spent years away lusting after the MC and grinds herself against the MC's leg in their sleep". Fair enough, I don't think hero worship becoming sexualised is that cheap though.

I would say that all of that is quite defensible but also not quite "everything" and even somewhat peripheral to the story. For me the core of the story is about how an old cycle of abuse turns into a redemption arc when the initiator of the cycle isn't there anymore (so in a way he got off lightly) but the perpetuator still is, and the question is at what point Rachel has redeemed herself while that is balanced against her own need for companionship but also her own sense of guilt and the MC's lingering resentment, potential abuse and attraction. Of course the resolution of that is going to involve lots of sex in a porn game, but there is definitely a more cerebral side to the game.

My own view is that Rachel has got away relatively lightly with the abuse toward the MC and on top of that getting free housing for years, but the MC has been paranoid about her beyond wholly reasonable distrust and has taken advantage of Rachel, even if you view the pills exclusively as disinhibitors. Of course the MC can still get closure from Rachel that she cannot get from the MC's father.

 

[m00nsh1ne]

Nobody brought it up and I'm just as guilty cause I forgot about it during my original post is a game called Triangle https://f95zone.to/threads/triangle-v1-0-neverlucky.18909/ The entire story is set in reality with the premise of a farily happy well adjusted couple helps out a teen who's life has been turned upside down by tragedy. A lot of the game involves helping her heal and overcome her misfortune and how the bonds between all three deepen as a result.

 

[UnusedUniqueUsername]

Nobody brought it up and I'm just as guilty cause I forgot about it during my original post is a game called Triangle https://f95zone.to/threads/triangle-v1-0-neverlucky.18909/ The entire story is set in reality with the premise of a farily happy well adjusted couple helps out a teen who's life has been turned upside down by tragedy. A lot of the game involves helping her heal and overcome her misfortune and how the bonds between all three deepen as a result.

But the 'story' is not really more than a plot device for lewd scenes. I mean nothing wrong with that, but this thread is about story first games. Just my subjective two cents though. I don't think that Triangle qualifies ^^

 

[maninx]

I forgot to mention this one earlier
A very enjoyable story driven VN with great writing in my opinion one of the top newly made VNs
https://f95zone.to/threads/the-bite-revenant-v0-3-madmate-games.85276/

 

[jufot]

[...] Triangle https://f95zone.to/threads/triangle-v1-0-neverlucky.18909/ The entire story is set in reality with the premise of a farily happy well adjusted couple helps out a teen who's life has been turned upside down by tragedy. A lot of the game involves helping her heal and overcome her misfortune and how the bonds between all three deepen as a result.

But the 'story' is not really more than a plot device for lewd scenes. I mean nothing wrong with that, but this thread is about story first games. Just my subjective two cents though. I don't think that Triangle qualifies ^^

I actually enjoyed Triangle, but I can see both points. It tells a story, and does it well, but given its minimal length and narrow focus to the house/bedroom, it does end up feeling like a series of sex scenes tied by a narrative.

 

[jufot]

As I recall it, that is mostly due to mental manipulation and completing quests, the latter of which contain quite interesting storylines. No magical, hypnotic, oversized dick. Okay, he gets to sleep with most of the fae instantly, but in defence of the dev that rather fits the character of fae folk in folklore.

There are also the rape-y bits with the sleeping library girl, and the "mental manipulation" of changing a girl's sexual orientation feels off-putting. Still, those were minor and avoidable, so I enjoyed the overall game.

[re:Vis] It's probably more than you care for if you hate noncon and corruption.

Got it, thanks for the explanation! Corruption I can tolerate in small doses, but noncon is a massive turn off.

Paraphrasing from your review:

• "sexual assault as cutesy game mechanic". Does that refer to the MC taking advantage of Rachel's medication? If so, fair enough, although the pills are written as a disinhibiting agent instead of an incapacitating agent.

Yes, I do refer to Rachel. Though I'm told Katherine's story line is also similarly rape-y.

• "MC's step-sister is a traumatized mute girl who has spent years away lusting after the MC and grinds herself against the MC's leg in their sleep". Fair enough, I don't think hero worship becoming sexualised is that cheap though.

My problem is that it's an unearned scene. Show me why that girl behaves the way she does, before the sexual scene. Otherwise, it's just a random underage sibling grinding on the MC, who is somehow just a-ok with it. Too much porn logic

For me the core of the story is about how an old cycle of abuse turns into a redemption arc when the initiator of the cycle isn't there anymore (so in a way he got off lightly) but the perpetuator still is, and the question is at what point Rachel has redeemed herself while that is balanced against her own need for companionship but also her own sense of guilt and the MC's lingering resentment, potential abuse and attraction.

All of that sounds brilliant! Honestly, if the sexual content was justified and earned within the story's world, I would be fine with it

Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts!

 

[Hahn1900]

Intertwined and Leap of Faith (last one is already in your sig, so it has to be on your list too i think )

Babysitter is a good one too, nice lovestory.

Iam much like you, a VN without a good story and character development is nothing that interest me long... I like to dive in the story and characters. Iam really surprised how many really really good stories are on this platform where the focus is much more on lewd scenes. I came to this site because i stumbled over "Melody", first VN for me with lewd content like this, cant really remeber how and where i stumbled over it... but i saw something about it, searched for a download and this led towards F95, and now im stuck here and played endless VNs so far and i am supporting some DEVs too

Another suggestion wpuld be "life happened" i would say, but its in early states...

And i think you have to play A.O.A... but i guess you already played that.

My suggestions are nothing "new" though... all the games are big favorites around this site. Besides Life happened... thats kinda "new"

And if you like penny for your thoughts, i would say you have to play Avalon first I admit, i dont like penny for your thoughts... but Avalon was really nice.

But Babysitter and Avalon have incest in it... but i dont think its a problem here, some other games of your list include incest too, and i admit... i got a little fetish for incest storys too.

Bad Memories should be a good one too for you.

Hm let me think.... A Mother's love is story driven too, like it very much, but very slow development now... last update was in february, hopefully it will go on.

I really like "Haley's Story" but its kinda forced relationship with haley. But without it, the game wouldnt work... if you dont like Haley in the first place, this game is nothing for you. Kinda like Melody... if you dont Like Melody the whole game doesnt really work out.



In one post you asked if the girls in "Intertwined" are all falling magicly in love with the MC, i would say... some do, some not. And it depends heavily on you choices. AND you cant get all of them, as far as i played (and i played it a lot with different paths) there is no way you will be in a position with more than one girl in the end... and if you try, i think it will end badly There are already heavy consequences in the game if you try to get in the pants of more than one girl... But the huge plus of the game is just that really everything is intertwined and that makes the game very exciting. So just try it out, and always have in mind... if you go for a girl, there will be consequences

But lets face it... we are on F95, so in every game the MC is kinda a womanizer... and can get the girls "somewhat" easy.

I do like it very much if you have to "win" her over and have to decide and choose between them, and dpending on your decision you can get or lose the girl... But overall the writing, characters and story must be a good one and i have to "feel" it in someway... Games where you open your pants and every girl magically jumps you are not my thing... There has to be a realtionship build up to really draw me in.

*edit* btw thank you for this thread and list... i saw some games posted here i didnt noticed before, and will try them out now... like Ripples for example.

 

[bacienvu88]

• "MC's step-sister is a traumatized mute girl who has spent years away lusting after the MC and grinds herself against the MC's leg in their sleep". Fair enough, I don't think hero worship becoming sexualised is that cheap though.

Clarifying: Ellie is MC's half-sister, not step-sister.

 

[Jaike]

There are also the rape-y bits with the sleeping library girl, and the "mental manipulation" of changing a girl's sexual orientation feels off-putting. Still, those were minor and avoidable, so I enjoyed the overall game.

I've avoided those scenes so far. I am not a fan of using the sexual-orientation spell on Callie, but on the other hand I like bi content in games.

Yes, I do refer to Rachel. Though I'm told Katherine's story line is also similarly rape-y.

Yes, more or less. Katherine is capable of overpowering the MC and actually submits, but the MC does touch her in spite of her telling him/her to stop, so irl that's cause to call the bobbies.

My problem is that it's an unearned scene. Show me why that girl behaves the way she does, before the sexual scene. Otherwise, it's just a random underage sibling grinding on the MC, who is somehow just a-ok with it. Too much porn logic

I disagree with that, I don't think the reader/player has to find out the reasons for other characters' behaviour beforehand.

She is of age, however.

Clarifying: Ellie is MC's half-sister, not step-sister.

My bad! I knew that, I think the talk about Vis with its vagueness about the sister/half sister/whatever's status in the unpatched version made me miss that.