Oh my god, this is really tedious and boring as hell. The sheer amount of dialogue is so overwhelming. I fell asleep while clicking and hit my head on the table.

People used to say that the quiet ones were the most perverted, so the fact that the protagonist is a mute lets you see how spicy the game will be.

✍️Overview

Shale Hill Secrets is an interesting 3D visual novel with a detective theme and a spicy touch, where the protagonist is a mute IT engineer who discovers an application on his computer that allows him to view personal files such as photos, emails, searches, contacts, etc. from other people's electronic devices such as their computers or smartphones. At first, he will use the application to his advantage to obtain hot pictures of attractive women, but later he will use it for a more altruistic purpose, such as helping his acquaintances in searches or even in investigations of criminal gangs. This game, in addition to its extensive and well-written story, has an abundance of sexual content (although it takes some time to arrive, approximately after chapter 4), with a variety of animated sex scenes with the large cast of female characters, which have an attractive design and realistic proportions (without breasts or extremely huge butts), although they are not entirely original, because if you are a connoisseur of visual novels, some of the girls will seem familiar to you. Unfortunately, this visual novel has no voice acting, but it has decent sound effects and background music to make up for it, giving you a decent immersion.

📜 Story

The story of this title is quite but quite extensive, with a total of 17 chapters, where these can take you an hour of reading each. The plot of this story begins in a simple way, with the protagonist discovering this application that allows him to spy on the files of the people around him, believing that it could be a bug in a program, and using it freely to obtain intimate photos of the girls around him, to provide him with nightly onanistic material. A plot that might not be very complex, but could work for a visual novel for adults, where the purpose is usually to offer erotic material, but luckily for those who love reading, this plot does not only stay there, because while using the application he learns secrets of the people around him, as one of their friends who is an informer, A girl who is harassed, among other subplots of the love interests of the protagonist, but also with a main one that has to do with conspiracies, criminal groups and such situations that you would see in a television series, plot that ends up being quite interesting and keeps you entertained while reading.

🎮 Gameplay

There really isn't much gameplay in this title, since it's not a sandbox visual novel, but rather a partially linear one. This is because as you play, you can "explore" certain parts of the city to make some investigations or have encounters with some girl to advance in the plot, but although this may give a sense of freedom of choice, you really have to choose all the options of places (and times of day) to forcibly advance the story, so at the end of the day it is a linear path where you can change the order of events, but with the same ending. Although on the other hand regarding the romantic routes / sexual encounters, there is some extra gameplay, having the opportunity to choose different answers in dialogues with the girls, which may or may not cause you to see a sexual scene.

🔞Sexual content

As I said at the beginning, this game has an abundant amount of sexual scenes, with a total of 50 with up to 9 different girls as co-stars. In general, the quality of these is more than decent, even more when you consider that the game has been in development for several years, so their renders are not the most current possible, but still offer an enjoyable experience. All the scenes have a long duration, from foreplay to penetration. Besides the important moments, there are animations that are repeated in a loop until you advance, in addition to this are added some sound effects, such as moans, watery sounds, etc.. This makes the scenes even more erotic. As for the "content" you can see in these scenes, it is mostly vanilla, with sex, oral, boobjobs, handjobs, assjobs and of course vaginal or anal penetration, the fetishes present are more a complement than the central axis of the scenes, as there is some light BDSM, public sex, threesomes and peeping. So overall it is content that can be enjoyed by all types of players. Where there are more differences to suit different personal tastes is in the girls or romantic interests of the protagonist, having redheads, Asians, women of color, blondes and mature women, so it is easy to find one you like. Finally, I would like to point out that this game has a gallery of scenes, available from the menu (with cheat option to unlock it from the beginning), but what I find interesting about this is that besides letting you see what chapter each scene is, making it easier to know which to play if you have missed a sex scene, is that during the scenes you can choose whether to go to see the entire conversation before intercourse, or if it sends you straight to the action.

💭Conclusion

All in all, Shale Hill Secrets is a very good Visual Novel, besides offering the basics of an AVN, such as a large cast of female characters, a variety of sexual scenes, extensive scenes, etc., it also gives you an impressive, interesting and, above all, long story, which, together with the NSFW content, will satisfy you in the end. The only negative points I see in this game have to do with the graphics and the design of the characters, as the years are noticeable, especially in the detail of the skin/textures of the characters, in addition to the use of pre-made characters with slight modifications you feel in a way that you're playing a cheap copy of some other title. However, if you put those prejudices aside, you will really be amazed. So I definitely recommend this game, especially to those who are looking for a richer narrative experience and do not have problems with the design of the girls with slightly disproportionate heads.

SCORE: 7.5/10 ⭐

For more recommendations of adult games in 3D or Anime style, follow my curator page. 
          ⬇️
Hentai Pixels

hours of useless Dialog to read.

I wish there was a mixed or neutral review. This game is pretty, the characters are very beautiful. BUT ITS SO WORD HEAVY. i like a plot but damn, i forgot at times i was playing a nsfw game and every chapter has maybe 3 scenes and you don't really have much of a choice other than do you wanna do this girl or not. i'm a fan of these games but this was just to much dialogue and after awhile i just began skipping because the main story gets boring. if its on sale, id give it a go but otherwise, i dont recommend.

Sorry - whatever home-brew variant of Ren'Py they are using makes it impossible to play. The "instant" text speed isn't instant (I loath text typing effects); all the menus have been awkwardly rearranged; they experiment with font and text effects for no good reason (wow... text can shake, rotate, and jiggle...); they introduce far too many characters too quickly, each with similar body types; and there's no real narrative hook of interest to invest attention into (i.e. university cliches). I'm not going sink more time into a visual novel that's a chore to read. The fundamentals matter.

The game has a very good story and love interests that look VERY good. Those are interesting to interact with too and don't feel flat. I also love the sense of humor in the game. The team also is open to ideas and criticism, hence how they realized they should drop the "interactive map" system after a few chapters. Shale Hill Secrets might be a AVN but it's also a mystery game and one that take it's time to build up the mystery and explore what is wrong in the university of the MC. When I play an AVN, a good story will always makes me come back for more so SHS was for me. The sex scenes are good and you can see them becoming even better as the game progress. If you don't mind a good story that takes its time and want an AVN you will probably want to play a second or third time instead of just erasing it after you finish it, this game will probably be for you!

way to much talking. alot of unnecessary dialog that doesnt need to be there. dude need to chill with that. he doesnt need to break down every single little thing he is gonna do. like for instance helping sam look for her phone. you dont need to tell her every place your gonna look before you look. JUST FREAKING LOOK and move on dont need to hear it. dialog drags on way to much. i hope he figures it out sooner then later im getting hella bored with this game and im not even that far into it lol. so as of right now im gonna say no on the game

I have enjoyed many visual novels where there is a lot of dialog you have to read. I was engaged, and entertained. This unfortunately is not the case here. The dialog is generic leading to a "mystery" that makes no sense. You will not be able to achieve anything without the cheats, I guess that's why they built them in and gave us the codes. It is far too slow to even be called a slow burn. In good faith after 7 hours of torturing myself reading this, I just gave up at the Halloween party. In good faith can not recommend this unless you are a detective that wants to practice you skills.

WAY TOO MUCH dialogue and story setup. My God, you'll see one or two scenes before you hit 20 hours. And by the way, even if you just skip or fast click through it all, it's still like 5 hours. Usually people don't have a whole week to devote to an AVN. Do yourself a favor, don't sit at your desk with some tissue and lotion ready to go, because you won't need it for about three days. No lie, it took about 7 hours of fast clicking through the game, I skipped almost all the dialogue, to get to the third scene. I figure I clicked anywhere from 1000-5000 times. Oh, and you don't even get the full version of the game. For that you'll need the Patreon Platinum edition. Feels like Steam customers get ripped off. Having said all that, the animations are great, the scenes are great, the models are excellent, one of the few games with really good physical properties on the models, even the feet are well-done. The music is an excellent choice. The voices during the scenes are superb. Besides that, the game has no bugs, it's very well made. It's just... you really have to dedicate a lot of time to this AVN. I can't imagine how much if you read all the dialogue.

This game is so boring, at least for the first 3 chapters/4 hrs. I don't think I can continue with the annoying dialogue and zero action.

This is a very easy game to recommend.... Often time adult visual novels are short and no content, this is NOT one of those holy cow you get a lot of bang for your buck with this one.... I am 37 hours in and on the 11th of 17 Episodes??? I have even made it thru the game 1 time yet and have 37 hours in the game for only $12.74 Also the choices are obviously meaningful and matter... Which is one of the most common problem many adult visual novels suffer from.... And Lastly this is a quality game, its more then just porn in fact it's far more then just porn... You can go hours between scene's and its great because the writing and the build up makes it all worth while.... Its not just mindless porn for porn sake.... Total Thumbs UP.... Well worth the money, absolute easy recommendation!!!

8===D---))

One big ass and that's it. It's better than fu4k*ng a boring bi*ch who cheats on you with another guy in real life. ⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⠘⡿⢛⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⢻⣿⣿⠃⠸⣿⣿⣿⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⢀⠼⣛⣛⣭⢭⣟⣛⣛⣛⠿⠿⢆⡠⢿⣿⣿⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠸⣿⣿⢣⢶⣟⣿⣖⣿⣷⣻⣮⡿⣽⣿⣻⣖⣶⣤⣭⡉⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⢹⠣⣛⣣⣭⣭⣭⣁⡛⠻⢽⣿⣿⣿⣿⢻⣿⣿⣿⣽⡧⡄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⠄⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⣌⡛⢿⣽⢘⣿⣷⣿⡻⠏⣛⣀⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠙⡅⣿⠚⣡⣴⣿⣿⣿⡆⠄ ⠄⠄⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⠄⣱⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠄⢀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠄⣸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠣⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠛⠑⣿⣮⣝⣛⠿⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢠⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣶⠄⠄⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠄

I just started playing it and so far I can say I'm loving it. Not only because the story line is actually engaging and funny, but mainly because the artwork is beautiful. I don't mean only the character design, but overall the ambiance and rendering of the scenes. And I haven't even gotten to any "sexual" encounters yet.

Man ... I gave this a chance because it looked difftent but it has a wildly borring story and is not even remotly fun or interesting. Too late for a refound ....

Really enjoyed playing this game , good story nice females , 10/10 If you enjoy AVN games you cant go wrong with playing this .I wish there was going to be more parts to this. I highly recommend this game.

talk part is way too long feel good but is not (first 40 minutes skipping fast still them talk) - 60% price then is ok

Concise Game Reviews: SHALE HILL SECRETS

(Scroll down for the longer version)

Game Value:	✅ Hightly recommended for fans of adult visual novels with rich storylines, ethical dilemmas, voyeuristic fantasy, and a diverse romantic cast across a 17-chapter modern mystery thriller. SHALE HILL SECRETS casts you as a mute IT student who stumbles upon a powerful spyware app, granting access to the digital secrets of everyone around you. What starts as harmless curiosity quickly spirals into a dangerous web of conspiracies, assassins, and moral ambiguity. As you explore student life, rekindle old relationships, and uncover buried truths, you’ll be faced with the choice to protect your friends—or exploit them for pleasure. Will you become a hero, a pervert, or both?
Adult Content Tags:	✔Consensual Sex ✔Male Protagonist ✔Oral ✔Vaginal ✔Anal ✔Handjob ✔Breastjob ✔Footjob ✔Creampie ✔Ahegao ✔Bukkake ✔69 ✔Cowgirl ✔Reverse Cowgirl ✔Doggy ✔Tightjob ✔Rimjob ✔Threesome ✔Orgy ✔Multiple Partners ✔Light BDSM ✔Peeping ✔Public Sex ✔Watersports ✔Vanilla Sex ✔Full Nudity ✔Sex Toys ✔Romance ✔Animated Sex Scenes ✔Diverse Cast ✔Scene Gallery with Replay
Genre:	3D Visual Novel, Erotic Drama, Conspiracy Thriller
Censorship:	None. All explicit content is included in the base game.
Game Length:	Over 30 hours of content across 17 story chapters and 50+ animated sex scenes.
Challenge Level:	Low. Primarily choice-based with linear progression. Some light exploration and relationship paths offer optional variety.
Graphics:	Realistic 3D character models with over 5700 CGs and 220+ animations. Some assets feel outdated, but the overall design is cohesive and expressive.
Music:	Relaxed background tracks and erotic sound effects. No voice acting, but the sound design builds tension and mood effectively.
Technical Stability:	Stable. Smooth UI with rollback, skip, scene replay, and gallery unlocks.
Replay Value:	High. Multiple routes, branching choices, and unlockable sex scenes make replaying essential to see all endings and character reactions.

For further insights, join my Steam group, follow my curator page, or connect with me on Twitter.

Detailed Review:

🔑Key Features:

🖥️ Limited Surveillance Mechanic: Use a hidden app at key points in the story to access private messages, photos, and personal data—revealing what others would rather keep secret. 🔍 Conspiracy and Secrets: Uncover hidden agendas, criminal ties, and betrayals that link students, teachers, and people you thought you could trust. ❤️ Multiple Romantic Paths: Choose how you interact with a variety of women—each with their own storylines, personalities, and outcomes. 🎞️ Extensive Adult Content: Over 50 sex scenes across 9 characters, with 5700+ CGs and 220+ animations featuring foreplay, climax, and detailed sound effects. 📘 Story-Heavy Format: 17 full chapters of dialogue and branching events. Decisions carry weight and can change how relationships and the ending unfold. 📁 Scene Gallery Options: Rewatch unlocked scenes at any time, either with full dialogue or skipping directly to the action.

🌟Overview:

SHALE HILL SECRETS is a mature visual novel that successfully balances erotic content with a well-paced narrative of intrigue, voyeurism, and emotional entanglement. While it starts off like many AVNs with titillating opportunities, it quickly branches into layered subplots involving crime, trauma, and surveillance culture. The protagonist’s mute condition adds a unique storytelling angle, enhancing the immersion through expressive choices and a distinct interface.

🎮Gameplay:

🧭 Structured Progression: Visit key locations to trigger events. All options must be explored to advance, making it more linear than it first appears. 🗨️ Choice-Based Dialogue: What you say affects relationships, emotional reactions, and whether some scenes unlock or stay hidden. 🛠️ User Tools Included: Rollback, text skip, chapter select, and a stable save system make replaying or backtracking easy. 🔄 Multiple Endings and Routes: Choices matter. To see all outcomes and character scenes, you’ll need to replay chapters with different approaches.

📖Story and Depth:

Despite the voyeuristic premise, SHALE HILL SECRETS quickly matures into a complex, conspiracy-driven narrative exploring trust, abuse of power, and personal ethics. Each romantic interest is more than a fetish—they have personal challenges, secrets, and development arcs that tie into the overarching story. You’re not just watching from the shadows—you’re deciding whether to intervene, exploit, or change lives forever.

🏆Verdict:

Shale Hill Secrets really surprised me—in a good way. What caught my attention was the story: a mute IT student discovers a hidden spyware app on his laptop that gives him access to private messages, photos, and files of everyone around him. What starts as curiosity quickly leads into blackmail, criminal activity, and uncovering secrets that some characters will do anything to protect. The game spans 17 full episodes, and while it takes time to unlock all paths and endings, it rewards patient players with a story that keeps getting better. The main character is unique. After an accident, he’s unable to speak and uses a voice app to communicate. It adds a different rhythm to the dialogues and gives him a more grounded presence. The supporting cast includes an ex-girlfriend, a childhood friend, and several other women with different personalities, goals, and levels of honesty. Not all of them are hiding something—but the ones who do often carry secrets that completely change how you see them. Building trust or manipulating them is entirely up to you, and choices have real consequences. You can choose to be loyal to one girl, sleep with several, or skip sex scenes entirely. Some scenes involve threesomes or multiple partners, but nothing is forced. The freedom to shape your experience is solid. One small detail I found incredibly useful is the recap at the beginning of each episode—it’s optional, but great if you take a break and come back later. If you’re looking for a long, choice-driven adult visual novel with real narrative weight, emotional moments, and over 50 animated sex scenes tied to meaningful character progression, Shale Hill Secrets is absolutely worth playing.

✅Good:
👍 Engaging story with mystery, secrets, and branching events 👍 Diverse female cast with unique personalities and roles 👍 50+ animated sex scenes with solid variety and quality 👍 Choices matter and affect relationships and outcomes 👍 Long runtime with high replay value

🛠️Could Be Better:
👎 No voice acting—while not essential, it could have added emotional depth to key scenes 👎 It’s unclear how to unlock certain scenes/endings; a built-in hint system or optional DLC guide would be a helpful

While it begins like a typical adult visual novel, it soon evolves into a compelling story about digital intrusion and its consequences, with most adult content remaining mostly optional. The game begins with a classic setup: you play as a college student living with your childhood friend, Leah. Once close, your bond has faded over time into a series of silent smiles and brief encounters due to conflicting schedules. Also, you’ve lost your voice, relying on sign language and a voice app to communicate. At first, the narrative feels familiar. You're introduced to a colorful cast of female characters—your best friend, your ex, a co-worker, the girl at the bar, the comic store owner, and so on. Each comes with their own personality, background, and a potential subplot. While this setup may sound like a trope minefield, the character designs are distinct and refreshing, steering clear of the generic templates that plague many adult visual novels. Technically, the game offers everything a seasoned visual novel player would expect: saving at any point, skipping text from the get-go, and the ability to scroll back and change decisions. That said, it’s strongly advised not to rush your first playthrough; the story is meant to be experienced, not rushed for naughty bits. A standout feature is the unique UI. Everything you need is neatly organized at the bottom of the screen, and the slight effect, where the image shifts subtly with your mouse movement, is interesting but not groundbreaking. Spanning 17 chapters, each clocking in at over an hour, the game demands your time and attention. While the opening chapters paint you as a typical hormone-driven protagonist exploring adult content, the tone matures. The real hook kicks in with the introduction of a mysterious hacking program installed on your computer, which allows you to access people's private digital lives by entering their full name. Though the mechanic promises intrigue, it's tightly scripted. You only see content relevant to the story, and progression often requires selecting every available option. The illusion of choice persists in conversations, but ultimately, dialogue options merely tweak responses. Freedom is minimal. Even when you're allowed to travel or explore different locations, you're essentially going through a checklist. There’s no “wrong” move, and chapters end only when all tasks are completed. That said, choices do matter when it comes to adult scenes. You’re frequently given the option to act respectfully or go for it. These decisions don’t impact the overall plot but determine how much of the “spicy” content you see. Conveniently, you can rewind and pick different choices at any time, giving you full control over how much you want to see. Sex scenes are present but not overwhelming. They’re animated and well-executed with different poses, and all unlocked scenes can be viewed again from the gallery.

This game is something else. Great story well developed. Compared to other AVNs is long, and the story keeps evolving and becoming more and more intriguing. Usually I like AVNs to have a well balance (50/50) between the story and "+18 moments" because if not it feels slow or disappointing to the genre, this one is a 70/30 (Story/18+). However the story is so good that it didn't matter at all, because it also made each adult scene feel very special/rewarding.

This was... a heck of a story. I didn't want it to end. A very few typos. The characters -- you'll struggle not to like all of them, apart for the ones who are clearly the bad guys, naturally. 11/10, would buy again.

Sorry, I do not see the reason for all of these positive reviews so far. In the first 2 hours, nothing sexual but a few nude pictures, the MC is a panicky soy boy cliche with few choices that matter in his virtual lineal life. My initial reaction is the graphics are nice, but after 2 hours of mr panic man, its just a little much. Maybe I will feel differently later on if I can stomach my way through it; but clearly the writer just have taken a chapter out of his own life or something, any MAN this panicky needs to be on medication.

This is the first AVN game with such a long storyline, and I like the storyline even though it is long, it is interesting and there are some choices that don't affect the game that much, or rather, the storyline is very linear.For me, it is convenient to find the ending, but many people may not like it that much. But for me, who likes to immerse myself in the storyline of the game, AVN is considered another game in my heart. If you have enough time to play and like investigating, solving problems and learning relationships with characters.You will love this game, I recommend it. Story 10/10 Sex 9.5/10 Animation 8.5/10 Game play choices 6/10 Recommend

Very good level of production. I like the characters, and the story is fun despite very cliche. The bad guy is.... very predictable, but enjoyably so. The only thing I found a bit regrettable is that the game takes great care to ask where you'll drop your seed, but there is zero consequence. I hoped for a harem-and-vast-clan ending... but that's just me.

8 out of 10