Ren'Py - A House in the Rift [v0.7.21r1] [Zanith]

Review as of version 0.4.2

Pros:
+ The story is pretty good
+ Music is awesome
+ The overall visuals are great
+ No grinding (except for sexy kind)
+ Nice clean UI
+ Rae's ass is majestic

Cons:
- Relatively short so far, but I guess that's temporary.
- Some poses and expressions look a bit awkward, but that's a minority of them (mostly odd lips in some bj scenes).
- Quite a few spelling errors, especially in the very beginning, but... meh... whatever... and it gets much better after the "prologue".
- Not all scenes look equally good.
- A bit too much femdom at some points for my taste, but not unbearable levels and mostly optional. I just wish there were options to turn tables in such events.

In-depth:
This game does one thing uniquely... wrong? Or right? Let's just say uniquely. It throws you in with no explanations and tutorials, just like the protagonist. And for the first few ingame days I just wandered around thinking "am I doing something wrong?".
But then this feeling goes away and you just go with the flow doing whatever. And it's kinda refreshing. Not thinking too much about stats, wakthroughs (although there is an ingame journal for quests), time constraints, routes etc, but instead just... playing.
The chill music also adds to this relaxing feeling.

The plot and setting are nice and once again, quite unique, which I like. And the overall writing quality is well above average. What I like is that descriptions of sex scenes are pretty colorful. Usually, in games like this, you just get animation and either none, or quite lame description to go with it. But not here. Nice. And the animations are also quite amazing, really. So it's a win-win.

While most of the choices don't seem to do much (to my knowledge), I still enjoy the slight differences in conversations they provide. I kinda want to replay again as a complete dick, to see if it really changes a lot of dialogues, but then again, I kinda like the girls too much to do it. I mean, come on, what kind of a heartless monster would tell Rae that she screwed up while cooking? Can't even think about it without cringing.

The characters are fine. I'm not used to cast being so small, but they are written better than your usual suspects.
Love Naomi. It goes back to what I said about the whole atmosphere and music, but her attitude makes every conversation with her this much more relaxing and chill, taking any worries away.
Caitlin took a bit of getting used to for me, but her interactions with Rae and just seeing how grateful she generally is made loving her extremely easy in the end.
Lyriel is very much my type (in terms of breaking girls like her), so I'm expecting it'll be very fun engaging with her more later on.
And then there's Rae... and you know... I may as well go as far as to say, after this game is finished, if all goes the way it does now, she is very likely to make it into my personal top-10 hentai waifus of all time. And trust me, I've seen and played A LOT, so it's a big competition. And she's not even my type normally. Still, she's absolutely astonishing, adorable and lovable. And probably has the best ass I've seen in a HS based game. You just can't NOT smack it every chance you get. It's mesmerizing.

The visuals are great. Finally, another person (other than a certain azure colored feline with his perverted teacher) that knows what he's doing with the camera angles, facial expressions and all that stuff. Great job.
Granted, there are still exceptions here and there. Some scenes have too big of a fov, to the point where characters look a bit deformed. Lighting could be better; there are a few scenes, especially with Caitlin, who has very light skin and clothes, that are overexposed (way too bright).
But these scenes are in a minority and don't sway the otherwise great impression at all.

So, overall, I think it's one of the more enjoyable experiences I've had in a while. It was surprisingly relaxing, and I just feel better after playing it. Can't wait to see it finished and polished.

The way of interaction is so cool, each character has unique personality - body ( ass, boob,... ). Especialy the story has so many progresses that you can decide your own self. The way char shows emotion in their face while f*cking is wonderful as well and i'd love this so much. in general this awesome

Most impressive game I'm played yet, out of a substantial number of games. Good plot, good use of Ren'Py framework, gorgeous characters, and some of the best Ren'Py rendering ever. Can't wait to see this one through its erm... completion xD

Amongst the plethora of unfinished, convoluted or boring Ren'py games this one definitely stands out as an utter gem - comparable to Harem Hotel or Milfy City. I only recently stumbled on it - but have to say that I'll be following it from now on! Excellent work.

A well-put-together story with unique and interesting characters makes for a great game play experience. Despite that I played v.0.4.2r1, it doesn't take away from the fact that I ended up playing this until I ran out of available routes for all the characters. Very very nice.

I just... love it.
The game is awesome, the editings are really, really good.
The succubus character is so cute and lovely. I can't write how much i like this game in just simple words, because it has a unique touch, and the story is pretty damn good.

Review on Version 0.4.2r1

Why are you wasting time, reading this review?
Better use your time to download it and play!

100% worth it. Renders are great, story is well set up, and scenes are well written. Each character has his own unique personality, and that's also well done. Jokes are good, and well placed to enjoy them during playthrough. And finallay, the musik and animations are the spice on top.

I really don't know any negatives to point out, because even the freeroam is done with less amount of grind - maybe because of the good hint system ingame.

This is really a game where you should consider to pledge the dev at some point.

Well done, @ZanithOne , well done. Hope you can finish that great game the same way as you started it.

Really good game. The characters are well fleshed out and distinct from each other, both in terms of personality and visually. The writing is very good, and the visuals are great. I also like how the dream sequences are used to spice things up a little - the normal sex scenes are good, but I usually like things a little more intense when I'm playing these games.

This pretty quickly has become one of my favorites. Really good stories lines, with smooth scenes, lots to do and have fun with in the house, solid characters, and a fun premise.

Currently it's an amazing unfinished game, and i'm really excited to see where this project goes.

One of my favorite game worth to dl, your time, and play

~> The story is unique and interesting I like the story progress.

~>Building a unique relationship between girls, know their own problems, story of hardship, passion, and dedication .

~>It really need a walk through some people are confuse in the start but after trial and error i finally figure what to do.

~>The music is alright but it could be better if it has more variety.

~>The animation is awesome and interesting to look because I can see the game developer put a lot of effort, time, and dedication this is strong point of passion focusing more on animation not many of game developer are passionate on this .

~Thanks 4 the awesome game Zanith your game design, art, animation is on professional level your effort, time, dedication, self sacrifice, and passion

~>I hope many will provide funds and support you this is a solid game that I can I see that you have put a lot of trail and error in this game.

Fantastic Game, had my doubts but the game proved me wrong. Nothing else to say but praise. Smooth animations, interesting setting, good ass looking babes, free roam which i think is one of most important gameplay mechanics in these games. Just play this game.

Hi Reader,

TLDR;Go download the game.
Best use of HS engine , the character design is amazing , linear story and amazing story no griding what so ever.
Animations are perfect(trust me i have seen many).(You even get POV content)

This is a really great game. ZanithOne is doing excellent job on the story, renders, giving characters depth and believability. Sometimes I play that game just to see what will happen next and experience wholesome moments. The music is good and chill, jokes are funny and story is engaging to keep you going.
Characters are very different from each other and feel great as a break from one archetype.

...not that I needed it. I love Azaresha so much that I'm almost embarrased to admit it.
I'd pay good money for her to mention a Vanguard who excelled at Tekken.

I truly hope this game sees longevity and success!

Excellent game, very easy to navigate, interesting story and characters, and animations that are up near the top in terms of quality. One of few open world Ren'Py games that doesn't require a walkthrough to play in a timely manner. Really look forward to how this game ultimately turns out.

This game was amazing by far the sex game I've played. I wasn't expecting the great animations but I loved them. the details were so good and the models were gorgeous. the premise of the story also captivated me I love the idea of being trapped in a house with magical powers it was all very interesting. I can't wait for future updates I would replay this whole game again this game has no competition as far as I've seen.

Looks like Mythic Manor and thats a must have then and of course damn new good looking cuties. It has a very good story its make much fun to play with all that great jokes and with the young inocent mage caled Lin "in short" it makes only fun too play. And I thought after vers. 0.4.1 the game is finished with the quest like the dev say it in there, but there are so many other things that you can do or chating its only fantastic. 5 stars that the dev with this game can only get!

The art in this game is done very well, the animation as well as still images. And the rest of the game itself is well done also. I love it and will definitely be keeping an eye on this game. Good work on it and I can't wait for more updates.

At first I was like - Premice sounds good but charachters look not so much, but going trough the game I feel in love with each girl. They were all unique. Overall game is very well put together 5/5 for me.

It surprised me a lot, great graphics and scenes, cute characters, light and meaningless story, really a game that met all my positive expectations, I hope it continues with this wonderful project, and of course we expect more cute girls from different worlds and fantasies

My usual disclaimers when writing reviews on here are that A. I am here for the "plot" not the plot and B. I generally dislike visual novels. So take both of those into consideration for my review when thinking about this game.

House in the Rift is another one of those rare surprises on here that manages to (almost) tick just about every box of mine. I’m actually going to be comparing it to a personal favourite as well (Harem Hotel), because I see a lot of similarities between the two.

One thing I will say right off the bat, I am writing this review having played v0.4 and so this review will more be focusing on the promise of House in the Rift as it feels like it’s still far from completion.

For starters, the game is really, genuinely well written. As always there is a certain level of suspension of disbelief that is required for any porn/harem game but HitR manages to tread the line between being believable and still actually allowing you to have fun perfectly. The dialogue actually flows and makes sense and the characters all are interesting and fun. Again, as I say at the start of these things, I am here for the fucking and fapping, but having well-written girls generally makes the experience more enjoyable. Plus, as this is a “dating sim” style of game rather than a VN, there’s a lot of choice in terms of dialogue and what you can do, which is another box ticked for me.

Unfortunate there isn’t a GREAT deal to say in terms of the overall plot: you are trapped in a magic house and have no way to escape until you develop your own latent magic abilities. At the time of writing the game still very much feels like it’s in the opening chapters and so other than the basic premise and getting introduced to a few of the girls, not a great deal has actually happened yet.

The setting is actually pretty unique as well and fresh, plus it has the benefit that it has the promise of allowing a lot of expansion. You are plonked into a large and perfectly comfortable house, a bunch of gorgeous babes are thrown into the mix and given that the game is operating in some form of multiverse there is the possibility of including just about any other kind of girl the creator (ZanithOne)/fans want.

The sex itself is also pretty top-notch, the animations are genuinely some of the best I’ve seen on the site and the writing is pretty damn hot. As a harem game it also allows for catering to a lot of different tastes, and so the girls are all also gorgeous but distinct at the same time. Put simply it’s hot as fuck, would fap again.

As others have said as well, the game actually looks class in general. All the renders are top tier, the girls look natural and well-designed (and hot) and they behave naturally as well. You can really see a lot of care went into it. As well as this, the UI is super crisp and is one of the better ones I’ve experienced.

I compare it to Harem Hotel at the start because honestly it feels like the game is hitting a lot of the same beats. You, the protagonist, aren’t really too important, because you’re amazing and exactly what you need to be when you need to be it, but also are understated and not an overwhelming presence on screen. You are primarily in a single building with a bunch of girls and as you interact with them you unlock more and more sexy scenes. This allows you to build surprisingly genuine relationships with them and also build up to banging away to your heart’s content.

For me, the biggest difference between Harem Hotel and Hotel in the Rift is in terms of quality, and my analysis here may surprise some of you. Frankly, I prefer the former’s approach to this. It goes without saying at this point that Hotel in the Rift looks amazing but this has the trade-off that it must take much more time to make the content for it. At this point it’s been in development for just under a year and so far you can only actually have penetrative sex with one of the girls. The story still feels like it’s only just getting warmed up and while the relationships with a few of the girls is certainly interesting in the early stages, it is just that: early stages (for example, I couldn’t definitively say which of the girls is best girl yet, because honestly you barely know them yet). Of course, if you are one of those people who really value high-quality visuals then obviously you likely will prefer this to Harem Hotel’s more basic design.

This is why I talk about the game in terms of potential, it’s still really early days for it and while it feels like it has so much room and so many interesting and sexy directions it could go, it’s still a good ways off being the 5/5 it could be.

I do also have one other criticism which is a good deal more personal and almost certainly doesn’t translate to a lot of people. I actually feel like the game, in its current form is quite simply not kinky enough for my personal tastes. Most of the content (aside from some basic level of roughness and an anal scene) is largely very vanilla or even leans towards the femdom side of things (such as having an amazon forcefully sit on your face). This will unquestionably appeal to some people, but for me I would hope that future updates would allow for a greater focus on more male domination and rougher scenes, but who knows if that will happen.