Ren'Py - A House in the Rift [v0.7.14r2] [Zanith]

I don't understand how this game is SO SO SO overrated. It has for the most part unattractive honey select models, its open world (which is the bane of all VN) and its super gridny. Just repeat the same things, over and over and over and over until you can unlock a scene or two and then you are back at it again. The animations were the only thing that was okay, but they don't have much angles or interaction. The story is also pretty meh. I honestly can't understand why so many people gave such high reviews for this game.

TLDR; Don't believe the hype, this game is average at best.

Impressive game with beautifully rendered characters (another example of a game where Honey Select can easily compete with even best DAZ games), great sex scenes, interesting plot and well written characters. Usually I'm not into sandbox games because it wastes time but this is one of the rare ones where gameplay isn't tedious and each day we've got plenty of interesting (read: lewd) things to do and there's not much of a repetition unless we want it.

Pros:
+ Hot women
+ Great sex scenes
+ Interesting plot
+ Well-written characters that enhance the experience and let you immerse into story
+ Lots of content

Cons:
- I don't like minigames too much but they are extremely rare and aren't that bad (and we haven't got any new for quite some time) so it's a very, very small flaw
- It's a sandbox so there are some things we will have to repeat but if someone like me wasn't bothered by it (and I usually hate sandbox games) then it really isn't bad

All in all I rate it 9/10 and can't wait for future updates. Definitely recommended.

Well written, impressively animated, and great release schedule. The game has plenty slice of life moments, incredibly written story and characters, and plenty "psychical activities." The updates are always fresh and never disappoint to add to the above three categories. This game a masterpiece in the adult games genre in my humble opinion.

Game is awesome. I hate typical Visual Novels, but here plot and characters are awesome (well. Maybe except this orc), graphics are stunning and there is good balance between character developement and sex scenes ratio

Excellent game, far better than I was expecting, to be honest.
Very well written, internally consistent, nice world-building.
Unique animation style that puts you right in the middle of the action.

Overall one of the best of this type that I've played, and I've played a lot of them. Usually they get tedious after a few hours, but A House in the Rift has held my attention long beyond that.
When I finish my playthrough of the current public version (0.6.8r2) I'll definitely sign up and grab the latest.
Worth supporting or at least keeping an eye on.

PS: Also, I've encountered not a single bug in a couple of dozen hours playing, which is rare indeed for a game still in development.

Review for Android version 0.6.8r2
A very enjoyable experience so far. I've managed to finish all main and side quests for the current version under about 7+ hours of play in total.

The premise works well and the developer is doing something interesting with it to produce a cohesive story. The world building is also pretty good with its established different worlds and terminology.

I liked the girls and their personalities, loved the animations - one of the strongest aspects of this game along with writing. Though I want to note that sometimes lighting on models may be off but this is a minor issue.

I've also had some issues while playing the mobile version:

1) If the phone is turned off and then on the game becomes just a black screen with no sound and you have to restart the game.

2) There are only 2 music tracks playing for the whole duration of the game. I guess this is not supposed to happen because in the credits a lot of music tracks are listed with appropriate links to them

3) Some side quests weren't marked as completed after completing them for the first time. Just doing them again fixes it (Most notably two quests in the Naomi's route about her wanting to go to other places)

Overall, I would definitely recommend playing this game!

v0.6.8r2

This was very enjoyable. The premise is unique and executed masterfully.
The animations and angles were much better than I expected from a honey select game.

Not all the models are great though, I really like 3 of them (Rae, Lin, Lyriel) but the others I don't really care for.
Looking forward to future releases

This game is a masterpiece, and the dev is a hardworking, dedicated, and organized, delivering regular content updates and maintaining a high standard of quality.

Also the lewd animations are just gorgeous work. Its rare to find stuff with this level of detail and movement. However it *is* becoming more prevalent in recent games but thats because those devs have played this one and probably been influenced by it.

Yes, definitely a good one. Honest work. Great atmosphere in game, a lot of good scenes with sort of a choice, quality animations.

Gotta be honest, was searching for something like 'Harem Hotel', this feels like closest call.

Not really a fan of most girls however, but overall style is still pretty neat.

Absolutely 5/5

This game is a sandbox that has a lot of things going for it, the dialogue is excellent and because the sandbox is limited to one house it feels densely packed and easy to navigate.

Characterization seems pretty strong with each girl having a unique identity. The interactions and relationships between characters are also fun and plentiful. Some characters are more chaste and have a slower progression while others hit the ground running. I generally prefer the former so Yona is kinda a weak point for me, her model is also a niche taste (and we kinda already have Naomi for the tall musclegirl) and her face just isn't that attractive to me.

The world building and magic system are pretty good for a porn game, with etherwalking being an excellent means of shaking up the monotony of being in the house. I found myself looking forward to etherwalking events because they give a feeling of discovery and excitement.

The sex scenes are a cut above average for Honey Select but not the best of the best. SFX during scenes would improve them greatly. There is a total lack of group sex outside of dream sequences, though I assume that will come eventually.

'Till this day, its been an enjoyable experience. It feels self aware of its factitious setting. As much as that is, in addition to the dialogue, it feels grounded.
I haven't gone the pervy route, not forcing it and the dialogue has kept itself good despite it.
Very enjoyable game. I come back to it no longer because of the Porn.
More so because I want to see where the story goes. And for a porn game, that's something.
Definitely could use more activities to do or places to go and progress when not in a story section of a character.
Characters keep talking about doing and going places and asking the Player about it but you hardly get to do it. But does make it so every time we go outside the house feel like an event.

TL;DR/Anyways. For the 0.5% of the population who will read this.
It's actually a good game both on the Porn aspect of it, and just a nice story overall. Thought out characters and the dialogue and its setting. Doesn't feel like a game at all but also not like 90% of the NV in this site.
Would recommend.

It's really too bad, the plot and graphics are fine. Sex scenes are repeatable, at least most of them. But by god are most of the women ugly as sin. Only the elf and the purple hair one pass. Not recommended.

[Reviewed in v0.6.2.5]

A unique setup with excellent execution. The girls give a nice range of looks and personalities and are largely enjoyable to look at and interact with. The renders are great, and the animations look original and very high quality. Highly recommended.

I was initially drawn to this game by the unique setup in the description, though partially concerned about being stuck in a house with nowhere to go. While you do spend a very large portion of the game stuck in the house there is still plenty to keep you interested therein. And, there are plenty enough opportunities to get out and explore, just not as much as most other games, given the setup.

For a long time I put this game aside despite being very intrigued by the description because the sample images with the red-head looked like her head was very strangely narrow, and I feared the character designs would be too off-putting. I am very glad I did not let that stop me since largely I enjoy the girls' designs, and said red-head quickly became one of my favorite characters.

The first girl, a succubus, is easily the best, both in personality and design. The large muscular pirate captain I like, but she feels lacking in ways I can't really put my finger on, both in looks and personality. The red-head is endlessly enjoyable to chat with, and her head which initially put me off became quickly unnoticable. The elf is initially severely abbraisive, but eventually reveals a very cute personality and look (though she never wears the bunny costume in the banner). The orc initially girl seems far too passive and submissive, though her last interaction reveals that could change and make her much more interesting, and explains her initial disposition; and personally I wish her skin were just slightly less dark. And finally the dwarf, is absolutely perfect in my eyes, she's everything I've ever wanted in a romanceable dwarf girl and I cannot wait for more. As for MC, he's as blank slate as they come, and I continually wish he would do more to try and clear up missing information and misunderstandings, or try to learn about the situation himself, but it's not even close to a deal breaker.

If you're looking for something with a new and original setup, this game is a must.

One of the most interesting, Ren'py games with a simple story with very flexible sandbox mechanics, that isn't over bloated or complicated.

You play as a Nameless MC character, chilling at a park thinking about dirty thoughts. Suddenly a portal comes out of nowhere and takes you to a house in the middle of the rift. You're stranded and start having dreams of girls from different races and fantasy places and start to live in your house, and started the harem life.

The Gameplay is in mixture of Visual novel sandbox and runs in the Honey select engine. You make choices and it mostly changes the Intimacy and Lust of the girls. No girl is going to hate you, just be more open and more to sex scenes as you increase their stats. You go to dreams and get more girls and go a dating simulation with them.

The hentai scenes are great and fully animated. They range from Maledom, femdom, vanilla sex, anal sex, paizuri, blowjob, footjob, handjob, and other positions later in the future. You have many great girls, that started off confused to immediately loving and understanding. Many will have favorites, My favorites are Rae, Cait, Lyriel and Jennifer.

There is very few minor issues but most of them are nitpicks. Not all of the girls are your liking, you will be repeating the same (but varied) events over and over again to raise the girl's intimacy and lust, and specific quest not triggering even if you followed exactly what period drama quest said.

Overall a great game that I kept playing nonstop until I reached the recent version of this game (V0.6.5r2). Hours of content and tons of character development for everyone. Easily a great recommendation.

Ver: 0.6.5r2

A house in the Rift has became something of a comfort read for me. It was one of the first Ren'Py games that really sucked me into the story and made me a fan of the sandbox format. While the lewd scenes are top notch, the best part I would say about this game is that the story and character development has been great to read and has genuinely made me care about these fake waifus.

The only real complaint I have about the game is that a few systems in the game seem to be a bit useless, like the scavenging mechanic with the fridge and the RNG money thing with the closet. However, I'm sure that the author will make use of it later on.

Highly recommend if you are fan of sandbox games and (sorta) monster/fantasy girls. Good plot lines, interesting and varied character designs and overall, a very comfy play. Approxmately 6-12 hours long as of right now if you do all current main story activities and side activities.

(v0.6.5r2)
Before I play:

It's 2022 with all those beautiful 3d games, who cares about ppt?
Porn game, right? So let's shut up and get to business.
The more, the merrier!
Demons are evil! Stay away from succubus!

After I play:

Okay VN is good if done right. You don't really want to see every at any possible angle anyway.
Now caitlin would you please wait until tomorrow? Not that I am uninterested in you of course, but you see I am taking rae to buy her dress tonight, so......
Rae is best!
Okay I finished the QFT course, now tell me how to do the experiment to the rift!


And please remember the most important:

DON"T CALL RAE A GIRL!

5/5 Recommend

Not much to be said, just go in blindly and be amazed.

I started to play without any expectation and was mind blown, can't recommend enough.

If sandbox is your favorite type of game, you can go no wrong with this one.

Pros
-Many high quality if not the best animations of all games on the site.
-Well written story that either makes you interested if not invested in the characters
-Most scenes you acquire from just playing the game
-Will hit that nut button many many times.

Things that can be looked at with negatives or altered for a better game.
some of this is roasting the 1-3 star reviewers here.
-Some characters are simply not to my liking in personality or taste in porn
-Some scenes require a little bit of grinding to get to ( it is a game, usually need to do certain objectives to get the reward after all) I don't find the grind too excessive but I guess some can see it that way.
-Not working on a character that I'm interested in. (Then enjoy the characters that you do enjoy.)

Top notch game. Usually these type of sandbox navigation/VN style games leave me frustrated or unsatisfied in some way, but not this one.

Here is why....

- I actually read all the dialogue. This is very rare for me in these types of games, but in this one I never got bored or disgusted with the writing. It's concise and to the point, yet filled with character.

- The girls. Each of the girls has their own very distinct and likeable personality (I especially like Rae). They never become a bore.

- Progression. This is a big deal for me. I hate grind and I hate not knowing how to proceed. There is almost none of that in this game. Almost every move you make progresses things forward smoothly and if you don't know what to do there is a simple checklist telling you what to do next. No fuss, no muss, no bullshit.

- NO DUDES. No male characters outside of the MC and no renders of the MC outside of POV renders. Who the hell wants to look at dudes while they're playing a porn game anyway?

- The animations. Some of them are good, most of them are great. There are a handful however which are just spectacular. Like seriously good quality you would not expect to find in a porn game.

There are other things worth mentioning, like the story (which is genuinely interesting), but you get the point. A 5 star game through and through.

The core story is a default isekai harem, but overall it's well-written, sometimes cute or mischievous novel about girls from different worlds and times.
I spent about 20-30 hours here and some content was left unseen.

There is no meaningless grind here, nor that random_event_1/100_chance_to_get. You have a clear path to each next step in your journal, and each step grants you a new event.

Art is good. It's not the best you've seen, but still pretty enough to perfectly complement the story.

Developers done a really good job. Gonna support them.