The Arson Betrayal

This might be one of the well-made and believable visual novels on this site. Story is engaging and somewhat well paced, it really just scratches that itch that not many others do, and while it does have some early story plot holes they are addressed later and patched up without it feeling like some afterthought. Now, when it comes to the animation.. I'm not really sure how to say this but the novel has incredible scenes, most notably the one that plays at the very start of the game.. these scenes are well choreographed and convey the basic premise of the story and overall atmosphere that is persistent across the current version of the game, one single complaint is that the longer scenes which play as a video appear to have significant artifacts, but I am not sure if this is a side effect of some bad compression or if it was shipped like this. However, this does not apply to the rest of the game but is rather only present in isolated sections of importance in the story, sadly this means that the intimate scenes with the love interests suffer quite a bit from being a far cry from what you are shown in the non-sexual sections. Of course this doesn't mean that they are bad or anything, the lead up sequence to all of the intimate scenes do not feel like they're coming out of nowhere or are just haphazardly put in and the dialogue is well written but the animation quality is just like incredibly inconsistent, sometimes it is serviceable and at other times the animation loop is very obvious and jarring. The models are.. I'd say pretty good for Honey Select, love interests are diverse and nobody looks like one another, I'd even say the developer has the male characters looking quite unique too which is.. sadly, very rare. Writing has very minor spelling issues that you'll only encounter at the end of the current (0.8) version, things such as "right of passage" instead of "rite of passage" as I said, very minor and easily overlooked. All things considered this is a hidden gem that I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys suspenseful stories, the start might be a bit slow but I promise it starts to ramp up once some connections with characters are made. I also heavily recommend playing the prequel interlude that you are prompted to play in between Act I and Act II, it offers some insight into a character that will show up later and gives a clearer picture of what happened before the opening scene.

One of the best adult games I’ve played. The story is really engaging and the characters are well written, which kept me interested the whole time. The renders are a bit blurry, but honestly the story makes up for it. If you enjoy a good narrative with memorable characters, this game is definitely worth playing. Can’t wait for the next chapters.

Version 0.8 Arson Betrayal is an expansive action thriller visual novel featuring a complex story world and a huge lineup of characters that keeps one glued to the screen. However, its patchy on-off develoment record and inconsistent updates have resulted in somewhat limited content considering it's been in development for five years. Story MC is a normal dude working in a cafe while saving up for university in Ablesmith city. One day he helps Alice, a wanted fugitive on the run and eventually gets himself entwined in a web of political corruption, business intrigue and the fight for a Sci-Fi like wonder serum. Most of the story to date features MC's daily life in Ablesmith with various LIs before drawing their eventual participation into helping MC and Alice escape the city. V0.8 ends with a cliffhanger that appears to point to an even bigger secret waiting to be unveiled. The plot pacing strikes a good balance between well-choreographed action sequences and downtime that allows for character and relationship development. Arson is also one of the rare AVNs that has a significant number of non-LI male and female characters, so it doesn't feel particularly like a harem game though it is one. Game Mechanic Visual novel with choices that mostly determine your relationship with various LIs, most of the time they are obvious and shouldn't be too difficult to deduce the consequences. Background / Character Renders Arson is one of the legacy games that is still using HS1 (I think?) for graphic and animation renders. Their age does show, but thankfully the developer uses a lot of mods and filters to push HS1 to the limits thus mitigating the effects of obsolescence. The backgrounds adopt a mostly dark and yellowish hue pallet which fits the emotional and depressive nature of the story nicely. Characters are pleasantly designed and highly distinguishable. Character Development One of the strong areas of the game is its emphasis on character development. MC is a well-crafted individual who is slightly on the dominant side, but not to the point of being an "action hero maledom" trope we often see. We get to experience his moral struggles as he weighs whether and to what extent to get involved in Alice's predicament. The LIs all have their own multi-dimensional character portrayal, no falling head over heels for MC's dick on first sight nonsense here. Alice is a conflicted individual who doesn't hesitate to kill to stay alive but yet often endures conflict between her rational and emotive sides. Jessica and Sydney are deeply loyal to MC, but also struggle with their own familial problems. Laura is a typical cop with a sense of justice struggling with how to work within a corrupted system and not surprisingly the crowd favorite goes to Tiffany, a tsundere with a submissive kink. The developer does afford some time to other minor characters as well to flesh out the story. Sex Scenes As good as one can get from HS1 I suppose. Nice animations, good lighting and camera angle and most of them come with a proper build up and post sex cool down. All that's lacking as the icing on the cake is moaning sound effects. BGM and Sound Effects Arson uses mostly melancholic melodies during normal scenes to emphasize MC's introspection and the challenges he and his LIs face against powerful antagonists. The action sequences come with well-used high tempo tracks, background noises and sound effects to heighten the adrenaline. Conclusion At its heart, Arson meets the grade as an exemplary AVN in the action thriller genre. So far it has followed the path expected of such a genre diligently, but the hints dropped in the latest update coupled with the cliffhanger ending point to some sort of incoming major plot twist cum revelation. This means a potential massive growth in narrative complexity and looking at the pace of development over the past five years, I'm not sure whether it's a good or bad thing. If updates can come forth consistently then naturally this could take the game to greater heights, if not then it might be preferable for the developer to just work on available material studiously and bring the game to a close.

It's easily 4.5/5 stars if you really think about it. Anyways without going in2 too much detail, here we go. Firstly, thanks 4 not abandoning the game. Has sum obvious flaws but it's a good escape from the monotony of my everyday life so who gives a fuck. Playing the v0.8 update and I never knew a game called the arson betrayal could be so wholesome. I'll probably replay the interlude as well afterwards cuz last time it kept lagging at the experiment part cuz of the animation after the philosophical questioning interview shit. (I tried doing dis shit and still couldn't get pass the root of my problems with it and eventually just gave up). Even though I'd prefer sum more logic at the start as well, this game is so good that those flaws can easily be ignored. I even put off playing this 4 a while cuz I kinda predicted/worried that it wouldn't be fully logical. But this game is walking talking proof that a game doesn't have 2 be perfectly logical about the power of love and friendship shit 2 be good lmao. Basically a damn near godsend goated game 4 real.

[Review for v0.8.0] There's clear skill and production value to this, as well as plenty of quality, but it's all marred by some really glaring flaws that sour the whole experience. Let's start with some positives. The models are pretty good, and everyone but the Misfits is distinct enough that you can recognize them from sight alone. The animations are all very good, not just the H-content but every other animation as well. The cinematography is on point, there's real thought put into the framing of each shot, and it ultimately provides a cinematic experience. Now for the negative aspects. The writing is poor in general. The whole thing is a slog to read through, with too much samey descriptive text and incredibly drawn-out dialogue. It doesn't help that there are plenty of grammatical errors and a constant switch between present and past tense. The sandbox sections are also an issue, because, functionally, all they do is draw out the dialogue even more, making jump through hoops to read it. Then we have the characters. While they are fairly distinct in looks and personality, at this point there are simply too many of them. More are introduced each update, along with more sub and sideplots, most of which I feel are unnecessary since the story has hit its stride by this point and adding things off the main plot is only going to slow it down even more . Finally, we have a few things that drew my attention negatively but don't really fit the points above. The first is the whole plot hook. The MC has no reason to be blowing up his life in the spectacular way that he does, and the same applies to Ben and Tiffany. Everyone else is involved in some way, but these 3 involved themselves with no real motivation, the MC especially. They are normal people one day, and shooting down helicopters without flinching the next. Then there's the whole Centurion thing. They have the run of the place, setting up barricades and garrisons, getting into massive chases and shootouts, mobilizing helicopters and armoured vehicles--all on the orders of some city mayor. This is a PMC, basically a private army operating on home soil like they're invading, and no-one but a small group of renegades is doing anything about it? Not the federal government, not the common folk, no-one? The super-soldier cancer-curing serum is more believable. Ultimately, it's just too boring a read for me. It takes all of ten minutes for my eyes to start glazing over, and it ends up feeling like a chore. There's some good moments, but they're too few and far between to justify reading the whole thing. Still, I rated 3 stars because I think you should give it a shot if it sounds interesting and you think you can overlook its flaws.

As of 08.0 Really good. Pretty engaging story, with mostly solid characters and plot. Has the tendency to meander a bit now and then and would benefit from an editor coming in with some scissors to cut a bit of the fat, but overall it's an enjoyable story. With a lot of content. Leans heavily in to thriller with twists and turns and ever evolving main mystery. It provides enough answers to not become frustrating and enough new questions to not become boring. The foreshadowing is a bit on the heavy side, but that's perfectly fine. Sex is mostly vanilla, with one single FFM encounter (avoidable, tho not explicitly labeled) and some dom play with one of the LIs. Some of the sex scenes did feel they were there, because the dev had "oh, shit, I'm making a porn game!" moment and others felt like "Oh, we haven't done this LI in a while". But it's nothing annoying. Choices do matter and affect the story. Has a full on harem route. Has a bit too much LI's, imo, but somehow the cast doesn't feel bloated... yet. Overall 4.5-5/5. I recomend it strongly and will be following it with very strong interest.

A really enjoyable VN. Interesting world building and story. I actually really liked the interlude which in essence introduces a completely different MC to approach a key plot point from a different perspective and to introduce new characters for the second act. The interactions with the LIs are the main suspension of disbelief factor really, with some of the relationships progressing a bit too fast etc. It kinda has to be played as a harem from what i can tell. Branching seems to be quite minor overall, but decisions can have a big impact in certain ways (e.g. influencing which character dies). Also Tiff 4 life <3

Review of V0.8.0: Arson Betrayal is an adult visual novel NOT about arsonists, but has a lot to do with betrayal. It has a solid plot with pretty impressive visuals for when it initially released, to now at it's current stage (they gradually improve as you pass each chapter update). I initially didn't give this game the attention or time of day because of the hiatus the developer went on, but now that it's back and ready, I gave it a fair try. The story is really decent. It has the atmosphere of other VNs with a rather serious story, that is mostly grounded, but then works off of a ton of suspension of disbelief at key moments. The key gist of it is that the daughter of a very essential breakthrough scientist is on the run and you suddenly get involved because you're meddlesome and spontaneous. This snowballs into you getting involved, but soon realizing that everyone in your life is also a key player in this somehow. The main character isn't some kind of ex-military spec ops action jesus, but he's juggling so much over the course of the story, he might as well be. If that sounds stupid to you, I don't think the game is for you. Whether the other elements in the story are worth trudging through for is up to you, with a secret society aiming for your groups' heads, everyone being connected in some way or another, and the dialogue/pacing giving that 2000s action drama vibe. Act 1 is a 7.5/10 and Act 2 (as it is now up to chapter 3) is a 6.5 or 7/10. The interlude chapter is also decent, but is too short for me to comment on. The character writing is alright. I think the plan is to have 9 female leads, being those on the game's banner. The game lets you aim for everyone without any real consequences, only losing out on who gets sex scenes here and there. Right now, 3 girls don't have any scenes, but that seems to be changing soon, as of some key plot developments. The characters with the most meat and writing to them seem to be: the main trio batch of gals involved with the conflict of the plot (Alice/Sydney/Luna), Tiffany, Heather, and Bailey. The game seems to swing heavily in favor of moments with Tiffany, unsurprisingly, as she is technically the "childhood friend" option (as well as your best friend's sister). This sits fine with me, because I love characters who are harsh but sweet like her. I do think it's a little silly that they allow the MC to just get away with having a pseudo-harem through the entirety of the game so far, for no other reason than seeing it as competition, but the justification could be worse, so I don't really care. Many of the love interests have "Lover" and what seems to be a more "Corrupted Lover/ Sex friend" route. Not much to note here, just slightly different to major differences with some sex scenes, while keeping the relationship ambiguous. The sex scenes and animations are great. They're smooth, fluid, and numerous throughout the entire game, so far. The Act 2 and interlude scenes are especially nice and crisp, but many of the earlier scenes in Act 1 have aged well. The sound design is good, mostly because I find the soundtrack really fitting for many of the moments throughout. Not out of place or too corny for anything in story that takes itself relatively seriously. The sound effects are there for most things, except the voices or anything sex-related, which may drive away some people. I find that this game is worth keeping an eye on. V0.8.0 is sitting on about 8-9 chapters of story, if you include the interlude. 5 chapters in Act 1, 1 chapter for the interlude, 3 chapters for Act 2. The character interactions feel pretty real. Every "main" girl so far is given a pretty good amount of dialogue and relationship building. The sex scenes are great, though some girls are still waiting for their moment in the spotlight, while others receive ample time. A solid 7-8/10 as a package. I will say that it has some writing issues that I dislike in other VNs as well. The MC being action jesus is slowly being built up to eventually being explained in the later updates, but I think it also risks bringing the story up to an insane scale. So, how it pans out will be anyone's guess.

It's rare to read something I actually hate, this is easily one of those times. I'll still give this an average score since key production values are actually quite good and the whole is probably really good if you're 12 and in the habit of lying about your age. The interaction with Alice is just immediately not good; you're forced to make stupid choices to not get a game over and if you make choices that are "wrong" based on the walkthrough, but won't give you game over, it still doesn't stop the MC from being a doe eyed retard about her. Within minutes you have MC empathizing with a killer who threatened him because "he knows what it's like to go it alone in this bitch of a world" (paraphrased), and then him thinking the worst part of his life is locking up at his work. And he's not even alone, he has a childhood friend come over just minutes later. There is zero thought process behind this writing. Then you have the other characters falling over themselves for MC, one pretty much randomly, out of nowhere, sucking his dick and letting him take her virginity behind the counter at his work. I liked the part where afterwards she doesn't understand why she did that. Even the characters can't comprehend the devs reasoning. I am actually all for some guilty pleasure reading, not everything has to be actually good. The Arson Betrayal though, tries to be good and that just makes it feel like an insult.

I felt like everything about MC's interactions with Alice was terribly written. How he feels about her, how he thinks about her and how she acts towards him, all bad. MC literally witnesses some girl killing 2 cops, the same girl who then a little bit later shows up at his door and holds him at gunpoint threatening his life if he doesn't lie to the cops and lets her stay the night, and he still feels compelled to help and worry about her. He literally jumps in knee deep in shit to help her, killing people and everything else without having a single proper interaction with her before. This story would've been several times better if only they had some proper connection prior to everything that happened literally 10min into the game, even if just some old and almost forgotten childhood friends. Another point is how the MC, a barista at a coffee shop without seemingly any background in actual combat or even how to handle a gun, is suddenly going all Rambo with aforementioned girl and getting rid of experienced, elite mercenaries. The girl's revolver is also some kind of hand cannon that pierces heavy armor clean through. Everything is so farfetched and exaggerated that it's hard to keep it all grounded. And in the middle of all of this, the guy still finds time to date girls around town and risks their safety at the same time by doing so, which is all so unbelievable. The sound work, renders, animations and the girls are pretty good and most characters actually make you want to get to know them, but I feel like the beginning of the plot and most stuff surrounding Alice's interactions with the MC (at least where I stopped for the time being) are holding this game back.

-Story: I think it's too far-fetched , so much that I had to stop thinking about the plot from time to time, not saying it was boring, but... a boy with a pistol against an entire army of well equipped mercs... well you have to be a really good writer to make it "somewhat" believable. -Characters: MC and LIs are Ok, but, I'm not gonna lie... I feel like they're forgettable (nothing special, except for Tiffany I kinda liked her) - Music: Nice tunes. - Animations: Very good. - Renders: Not bad. So far I'd give this game a 7/10, despite everything I think it has its moments and there are not many "modern action" AVNs out there.

Amazing game. Story is engaging and intriguing. Had a blast *wink wink* playing this game. Looking forward to the updates. Depth to Main Character also keeps the choices interesting. QT events are also fun. A bit annoyed as the update ends right at Act 2: Chap 2 as story was picking up. But lots of content for peeps to enjoy. Great Game.

I love the game a lot. The plot is great. Full of drama and it is intense but also there is humor in the dialogue. Every character was involved in the plot and blend in smoothly (other than the "dare").

This AVN is about an unlikely hero, fighting against a corrupt government. Certain events in the story are a bit ridiculous, but it is overall very entertaining. The models are attractive and there is a good amount of sex scenes. It appears to be possible to build a harem and you can certainly have multiple partners. The story concept is interesting, as are the female characters. The conversations and character development are pretty good with regard to the Love Interests. I definitely recommend this AVN, but try not to get bogged down in the realism, or lack thereof. (See below on the realism.) My only real gripe with this AVN is the details of the story. It's interesting, but totally unbelievable. The more I think about the totally unbelievable details and plot points, the more the story unravels. For starters, a part time job at a cafe just doesn't pay that well. He is supposedly saving up to go to school AND supporting himself - on a part-time job in a Cafe. But, why isn't he working 2 full time jobs or a full time job and a weekend bartending gig to get ahead? We'll never know! We're not told enough about the setting to explain if Student Loans, or similar, are common here. I don't even know if the MC has any career goals or a clear career path. What sort of degree is he planning on getting? Why isn't he looking for work in a related field? Again, we'll never know. The backstory with his family is really odd, as well. His family and how he acquired his condo are briefly explained, but it doesn't even make sense. The MC would certainly have failed multiple times over in these do or die situations. He outperforms other characters in terms of tactics and fighting, even though the MC has ZERO training and these characters are actually experienced. There are many instances of this character being given command authority, even though he's a literal nobody. It's par for the course for these AVNs to have a nobody suddenly swimming in women, but here it just adds to lack of belief in the story. NOTE: Glocks don't really have a "safety." And, the one pictured definitely doesn't. Many scenes in this AVN would be MUCH more believable if the MC was combat trained in the military and had access to the "US GI Bill", or some similar program, to pay for his University courses. I really do like this AVN, so I don't want to crap all over it. My hope is that, if there is a revamp or new project from this dev, my criticism will help these kinds of details be looked at a bit. To any who read to this point, I recommend giving it a try.

Story is pretty decent but nothing you havent seen before, the writting is ok with some worng words or misspelling but all in all not that bad. The start of the main story is on very thin ice though, MC is a normal dude trying to survive and save up for college, one night he sees a girl shoot and kill two police officers on the street, then he runs home and she follows MC to hes appartment and hold him at gun point so she can stay there for the night, there is no romance no relationship build up since she leaves the very next day, MC will then go on to worry about that girl for unknown reasons and he wants to help the cop killer he knows nothing about, it really dosent make sense in any way and that is the hole baseline for the story. The promiss of being a choice-driven story is a fail its no where near that, you get alot of choices but when 1 out of 2 choices leads to game-over its not really a choice, or when given 2 choices like leave or intervene and both leads to intervene its not a choice, and game is packed with those kind of fake choices, ive seen one choice in all of act 1 that made a diffrens in story where you can pick which male character gets killed but thats about it. The only choices that seem to matter is when it comes to relationships. Some times story is a bit messed up, MC has a phone call with Sydney at one point where he is supprised that shes a cheerleader, but MC has already talked with Jess and Syd about her being the captain of the cheerleaders so that phone call makes 0 sense, its like game ignores eailere choices you made, not great for a supposed choice-driven game. Even though story is pretty decent it still feels a bit weird considering MC is helping Alice that has criminals and the hole police force after her to kill her and anyone shes with, but still MC has the time to build a harem of girls, go on dates and so on which is a bit wierd, not just that he does it but also that he knows anyone whos with him is risking their lives, in other words MC is perfectly fine with that which dosent really give the feeling of him careing about anyone but him self. MC is supposed to be this normal guy getting ready for college, yet he turns into a one man army taking on the hole police force and mercenaries together with Alice, killing people left and right without ever having any experince in such things, if he atleast had an army background or something to explain it, then it wouldent feel so stupid but a normal college kid hmm. Also why is MC constantly saying girls arent hes girlfriend, its starting to be idiotic since he kiss girls in the open infront of other girls, they cant be so brainless that they dont know, and if he want a harem wouldent it be about time he did something about it, told people about it, instend of trying to hide it behind everyones back which he also fails at big time......its starting to become boring and stupid. As for the girls/LIs i found them a bit bland and boring, the only one that was remotely hot is Bens little sister, the rest is close to being the same builds with somewhat big tits seen one seen em all, would have been better to even out things so its not just big tits like every other game. Spoiler: Act2 intro big spoiler Intro to act 2 was filled with good looking LIs better then anyone currently in game but to see them killed off wasent fun, i get it but dosent mean i have to like it, Jade, Bianca and proberly Abby all nice unique looks it just feels like a waste, but maybe one of them made it out which was my favorit of them all so i hope thats the case. Spoiler: Act 2 stupid part since everyone saw it coming Never understod why they left Jess back in the death trap town, it truely made no sense, and doing so everyone could figure out that she would become a hostage at some point its just to predictable that its stupid, its like watching a movie with the same plots for the million time, Jess should have gone with them from start and then let Luna become a hostage that would have made sense. The hole rescue is idiotic as well, i mean gimme a break they are going up against atleast 20 trained and heavy armed cops or whatever and they have a chopper as well, and even when the sniper has a clean shot for the leader Killian she gets told not to shoot? wtf? perfect chance to confuse the ennemy by killing the leader but no..... But lets ignore that and get to where MC wakes up in a strange house with people he dosent know, not once does he ask what happened to Ben or Tiss, i mean seriously how is that not hes first question.. then he meet up with Bailey and says he will tell her whats going at some point but not now......wouldent now be the perfect time? dont get why MC never talks to anyone about anything it dosent make sense, also hes in no hurry to get back to alice which should be he main mission....insted he stays on the farm for days....still wanting to rescue Jess without knowing how or where she is or who is even alive at that point, while alice will be so far ahead that he should never be able to catch up, but instend Alice shows up at the farm out of nowhere and she has Ben whos shot with her??? it just way to strange and thats where story ends for now. And please explain to me why the fuck MC or anyone else for that matter dont call Alice to tell her whats going on and how they are doing.... Animations are pretty good for this character type. Music is good as well. It has some flaws and some weird story parts but its still worth playing, cant really go above 3 stars though, story feels to drawn out with MC never talking about anything with anyone, girls that arent girlfriends and he keeps on adding to a harem even though hes still single....feels stupid, its like hes trying to cheat on as many girls as he can before anyone finds out, dosent feel like hes building a harem when he hides everything constantly.

This game feels like a diamond in the rough. On the one had there's a lot to like including the the serious tone, the grand conspiracy in the city, the actual varying models of the girls, & the fact that the MC has some caution, but can also make up his mind. Unfortunately that's where the problems begin too many unnecessarily long pauses I almost found myself rage quitting. Then there's the story which gets cheapened by trying to do too much at the same time and not allowing the story to fully develop. Finally there are small bits like the mentioning of the codex and how it doesn't seem accessible or the fact that we've got an amateur guy being effective against professional mercenaries. It's a game to watch, but it still needs fixing.

Wow, that's quite a lot to process, Dev, but I'm thrilled to have such a satisfying amount of content all at once—excitement overload! This game should rank among the top adult visual novels out there. It's hard to know where to begin, but it encompasses nearly everything you'd want for hours of immersive gameplay. So much so that I forgot I was playing an adult visual novel. A major kudos to the dev for not pushing frequent explicit scenes but integrating them seamlessly into the story. The protagonist's complexity and likability stand out as strong points. Playing as a character with genuine development, not overly powerful or weak, feels just right. The diverse cast with convincing backstories adds another layer of enjoyment. I appreciate the realistic touch of having a variety of male characters rather than being surrounded by an all-female cast with the MC as the sole man. While I enjoyed the music, I have a suggestion for the dev: there are certain parts where it becomes quiet, so please look into that. Overall, I'm grateful to have played and discovered this gem. I hope my review helps others find this hidden treasure. It's not just an adult visual novel; it's a proper visual novel with a deep and engaging story. Best of luck to the dev, and I'm eagerly looking forward to future updates!

If you want my exact thoughts, see MidnightKing 's review. Its spot on. There is zero emotional connection to.. well.. anyone. No character building, no build up. Why should my character be invested into the main plot? There could be something REALLY special here. But there isn't yet. The best thing the author could do at this point, is know he has a great backbone to do this story with. And start from chapter 1 and add character depth. Make the player care with world building and build up to scenes to make them have a payoff.

Review for v0.7.2 The Arson Betrayal is a story based AVN before anything else, and is the main thing I'm really looking at with this review. Being more objective there are a lot of elements more deserving of a 4 star rating. The love interests are cute, the sex scenes are hot, and there's just a general level of quality that would require the dev putting effort in to get to. My issue comes from the writing. I played up through chapter 5, and through most of that time I had a hard time staying invested in the plot. The dev is trying to tell a story, and I wouldn't even say it's a bad attempt or anything. However, there's a lot of points in the plot that just feel very weak narratively for me. The very serious tone that this game tries to establish is many times betrayed by the fact that, when boiled down, the plot is just college age teens take on the corrupt city government. It's hard to take these intensive situations seriously when by all means the MC and friends are just a bunch of regular people with absolutely no training or background that would enforce making it through these situations. Suddenly the MC becomes a marksman ready to kill multiple times for a girl he knows virtually nothing about. And that's where another problem stems from. The MC has absolutely no personal investment in this story. Before anything, he was simply a young man cut off from his parents and was trying to save up to attend college. That's it. Now you might say his reason for getting involved in this whole mess is to save a girl he cares about, which is true, but leads to my final issue. There's no reason the MC should care about Alice. How do they first meet? The MC sees her being stopped by cops, and she proceeds to shoot said cops. MC dips home, she shows up at his door and holds him at gunpoint in order to stay at his place for the night. There's no past friendship, romantic moments promoting feelings of care, or anything really. The MC's whole reason for wanting to help her is because of an obscure "connection" he feels to her that even he can't really explain. Sure props for basic empathy, but I need more than that. Even after we got involved with Alice there's hardly any moments giving me any real reason to care about her besides her just being in a shitty situation. Because the game is so plot focused, it does not leave a lot of room for more meaningful scenes with a lot of the love interests. This leads to rather quick relationship development, and while I wouldn't say it feels unnatural, it still leaves me wanting more time with the love interests rather than this corruption plot that I'm finding hard to care about. There's other things I can nitpick about, but those are my main problems. I like the girls for the most part and want to see more of them, but I'm finding it really hard to keep myself invested in the plot enough to do so.

One of the joys of this site is bumping into a gem while simply hoping for a timewaster. The Arson Betrayal is one of those gems. The plot is strong and engaging. MC is thrown into a huge conspiracy when trying to protect a LI and it all kicks off from there. The Arson Betrayal quickly reveals itself to be a fast moving, action packed and gritty thriller that also manages to pack an emotional punch. I've already shouted "NOOOOO!" at the screen a few times as the twists hit home. The LI's are distinctive and attractive and some of the better HS models I've seen. You can pursue one, several or all and the animated scenes are good. I'm also impressed by the choices. It balances difficulty of decision and consequences well. Overall it's easily one of the best HS games around, give it a try.