VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Once in a Lifetime [v1.0] [Caribdis]

7/10
Just trying to keep a list of games I've played already.

Just 2 characters for fun, but good storywriting
Somewhat immersive worldbuilding, leaves us clueless at times
Decent dialogue,
Forgettable MC
Sex is forgettable
Not grindy
Play time was about ~10 hours.

Just a quick review, but beautiful and amazingly written and done AVN.

The best ever and should be considered world gem, great work Caribdis, you are master in your art.

Thanks for doing this and have only the best luck in your life.

(And I see you watch these reviews and rate them,
so I hope this will make your day just a bit better )

One of the first game I had played back in the day where I really enjoyed myself purely for the story.
Though, the sex scenes made everything better and the sexual tension was amazing to "read."
Highly recommend if you never played a full story porn game.

After much procrastination I finally got to this game. And I'm damn glad I did.
If you love Eternum, you'll also like this.

The story kept me hooked from start to finish
Your choices affect what ending you get and who you will end up with.
Don't expect anything super serious or realistic, you won't find that here. I always go into games with no expectations and I am usually pleasantly surprised, this game is no exception.

The renders looks good but they definitely show their age, especially in the early chapters. And the animations are smooth and with good quality, I don't know what else to say.

LIs are enjoyable there is little variation between them, even if it could have been a little better. I also felt like the main girls started acting a little differently at a certain point in the game, like if the dev said in the middle of the game that he will change their traits a bit, but maybe that was just me.
But I really liked the other characters too, and I can definitely see where the dev took inspiration for a character in Eternum who likes to sell things.

The whole game isn't very long, which is definitely not a bad thing, and you can get through it in a couple of evenings or in one or two long sessions.

I recommend playing the game at night, as there are a few horror parts, and playing it at night made them much better.

And did I mention the humor this game has? I laughed out LOUD several times during the game, which is not something any game can do.

Also appreciate the references to other games this game has and the use of some Source engine textures

The weakest part of the game is the audio, most of the game is silent with no background music, there is background music in certain moments of the game to set the atmosphere or to enhance the joke.

If you haven't tried Once in a Lifetime, you should fix that!

This game is very goated, very good plot and twist, animations are decent but cus its the first game of the creator so ignore it. But the ending is so fucking good ( legit made me teared ). So it's recommend if people want to like play and watch a good story with a different outcome based off their choices

Okay, this one hasn't aged well.
OiaLT started as sweet school setting incestous harem VN with decent HS graphics (for 2019, of course) and lovely characters. But then it turned into the non-stop trip with constantly changing decorations which was kinda hard for me to follow. Well, it was cool to see girls in different sexy costumes, but Eternum has more believable excuse for that.
And the final nail in the coffin — Stabby Mike. His appearance was brilliant first time, funny at the second one... And became absolutely disgusting when Stabby Mike became the only one story driving thing. The whole experience is ruined for me.

Kind awkward that literally all females are children faces and no pubes at all. Doesn't appeal to me as I am not that kind of person. The story is good and it's amazing how other devs steer away from the horror genre and I'm guessing most heterosexual males that play AVNs love some horror/thriller

Accurate title. This is one of the best stories ever told on this site. I still wish there were more games like this. Not only was the story incredible, but the models used are perfect. Very expressive, pretty, and fit in to the world.

Story 2/5
I dident really find the story all that good, its a pretty standard incest game with some relationship build-up which is nice for once, but for the main plot it just feels bland and boring.

Why do so many devs make MC to be an all out pervert, undresing girls by looking at them and thinking about how hot they are, its idiotic when you dont feel the same as the player, it feels more like game is trying to force shit on you instend, it also makes the MC feel cringy and childish which just isent good and it dosent get any better giving a horse dick its just stupid.

It also fails with virgin scenes, no blood and not even any pain what so ever from the girl so there is absolutly no virgin vibe feeling and its just a standard normal sex scene like any other in the game, so yeah virgin tag shouldent really be there in my eyes when they are this bad and its purely someone saying "im a virgin" nothing else.

If you pick two girls like the sisters they will turn into lesbian/BI girls which feels idiotic, same for Aiko and the cousin, i always found it stupid when they all turn into lesbians for no reason other then being with MC.

Then theres the pregnancy tag, which truely should be removed since theres absolutly nothing, not even a single image of any girls being pregnant they dont even tell MC they are pregnant, so game has no pregnancy other then a girl saying shes pregnant (not to MC) and that sure as hell shouldent warrent the tag thats just worng....ive heard if you play it like a fuckfest and get harem ending you see one or two images with a girl being pregnant but thats it and its only in the ending where theres 0 dialogs just some random images so again pregnancy just dosent have any content at all, which makes you wonder why it ask you in the start if you want pregnancy content or not when there arent anything thats just stupid.

Its like they just trew in a dialogs to add some random tags but never added the content for it, theres just no way this should be rated so highly its just not fair to other games.

Girls 2/5
Girls just look way to much like the same girl reused, just with diffrent hair and such and when its also missing diversity in builds it only makes it even worse, its like looking at the same girl for the hole game.

Animations 3/5
Standard as they get for HS characters, nothing you havent seen before.

Music 1/5
Its 95% silent with a few effects every now a then and some short tunes, so yeah not really good.

Choices 4/5
You can deside who MC fucks which is really the best part of the game, but it can be tricky since some triggers for sex scenes makes no real sense, like if you hide in a locker room you will then fuck the rich bitch, its not something you would connect with saying yes to someone.

How this is rated so highly just makes very little sense to me, i do see alot of 2 line reviews which arent really a review but just a 5 star dump which could explain why it has 900+ reviews and such a high rating, to me it smells a bit funny, since game is lacking in so many things and has tags it dosent deliver on.

I decided to come back and play this game from scratch after the latest release of Eternum (the devs newer game) and you could really tell that this dev was something special. As a honey select hater, this dev made me a believer. He converted me into actually trying out more honey select games, sadly I still haven't played many as good as this.

If you're a honey select hater like me, I get it, but I must tell you.. You will miss out if you don't try this game.

It truly is a once in a life time experience.

Also check out Eternum if you haven't, it's even better.

Lauren best girl, but Penelope from Eternum clears, I'm sorry.

Overall - 8/10
Felt like a watered down version of Eternum, but it hits the right notes. From the similar looking women to the Hscenes.
The emptyness of BGM in most of the game was the main different from this and Eternum, suspense and immersion. But the fact that this game can be compared to Eternum tells you how good this VN is.
Story - 8/10
Solving a dark secret with your step sisters. Mysterious, dark themes thought out.
Sound - 5/10
BGM is there when its needed, but it is lacking during a lot of the play through
Animation - 8/10
Hscenes amazing
Playability - 7/10
Many girls you can prioritize for their path, but main story is with the step sisters.
Amount of Content - 7/10
10 Chapters quite lengthy, do recommend a guide do to some tediousness for puzzles etc.

fantastic game, meaningful choices and LI. Lauren best girl. Stabby Mike best boy. The dev made characters that you can actually develop and attachment to . I do hope that this game gets a sequel down the line once Eternum is done

Everything about this game was amazing. From the animations, to the storyline, hits the spot. Its a game where it feels like you are literally reading a fantasy novel straight out of a book, a good one where you just get the feeling of wanting to read more and more.

A really good if not the BEST AVN I've ever played in my life period
PROS
1. good animation, fluid and truly enjoyable
2. Story goes very well for you who like the best outcome for an ending, a good pace for 1-2 hours playtime a day, or in one sitting
3. The humor, the reference by good it's feels likes I'm being stabbed multiple times by it *iykyk
4. The characters, even if not voiced feels alive with their own quirkiness not just there to be blankly stared at you
5. The writing is easy to understand even for non first English

CONS:
1. You'll feels weird the first time you play if you used to play AVN with Blender 3D renders, it feels like playing a Japanese game but its not
2. A quite noticable awkward movement in animation especially in early storyline, but it just happened 1 or 2 times

Last but not least,
You whoever read this review must play it least once in a lifetime

I think the best part of this game is that it doesn't overstay its welcome. It sets out to tell a story, does that really well, and doesn't bloat the story at all to milk any patreon money.

All the renders are top notch, all the characters are interesting and different. Though some are invested in way more than others. The sex scenes are great with the sisters getting the most of the bunch. They are all well done.

The story was funny, interesting, and had a lot of fun easter eggs. Sucks there wasn't any content for all the girls at the same but the epilogue was still amazing.

This game is one of I saw and who was in my backlog for a time but wow, I didn't know what I was missing!

The game has the perfect amount of everything, the random laughs at the perfect moments is really a plus. I loved the characters and the story since the beginning, but it takes another direction when Stabby Mike is introduced and it's just a fucking perfect side character that I actually was thinking about the fact that we need more characters like him in AVN with a lot of humor.

Of course, I completed the game when that was already completed for a time and I'm really glad I did because it's one of the rare games I wanted to play from start to finish without even pause it. I don't imagine how it was when we needed to wait for updates.

The only downside is the harem epilogue, I think having dialog to know how everyone was after the last fight. I wish a little more depth with mom and Rebecca was added after that, but it's only a minor downside for me.

If you like at least two of these three genres; harem, horror and humour with random moments, you should totally try it because this game is really top tier!

Many things have happened in 2024
Kendrick vs drake beef ,Jojo Siwa fallout ,dreams fall etc
But best thing happened is me discovering this game

Story 9/10 not sss tier but ss tier for sure

Humor 10/10 funny as fuck especially prison scene..........

Writing 10/10 great writing that makes you get attached to characters

Art 9/10 great,I love honey select ,

Ending 10/10 great ending ,God bless
This miracle

Now I wish I could forget it and play again

Will be in my memory forever

Thanks and can't wait for eternum v 0.8

Cheers

Sorry, English is not my native language. But I will give a review as best I can.

I honestly really like this game, I've played Eternum 0.7 and I tried playing this. Turns out, oh it turns out, another masterpiece created by Caribdis.

The humor is so entertaining that my stomach hurts from laughing, and the story is really fun to follow, I really enjoyed playing this, it's really good.

I want to thank the developer, for making a game that entertains me in times of sadness and chaotic life circumstances, I am really grateful because I am very entertained!

Hilarious. i fucking love this game. The Humor in this game is just the best. the characters make it so funny. Jack, tom and Stabby. these guys are just the best. I cant stop laughing. the girls are def unique as well. The dark elements of the story make this game really engaging.