Ren'Py A House in the Rift [v0.8.04r1] [Zanith]

4.60 star(s) 356 Votes
Discussion Reviews (356)
Evil13

Evil13

Forum Fanatic
Jun 4, 2019
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Karnewarrior said:
There's plenty of sex, people are mostly just buttmad that their particular fetish didn't show up.

In terms of story, though, I'd say the best metaphor would be "It's like being in a racecar on a straight, empty highway, and for the first ten or so seconds you hold the petal to the floor... And then you lift your foot off the pedals entirely and just let it roll down the road"

The story starts off really strong and goes hard, but somewhere along the way it's kind of just... Stopped going. We're still technically moving but nowhere near the velocity and excitement we did before. Instead of flying down the highway we're just idling along, coasting on the momentum of the previous. All the pieces are still there, the devs just seem disinterested in keeping it chugging.

At least it's still updating, so it's worth giving it a chance. But it's not as tightly designed and focused as one of the greats like MIST.
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The moment that has pretty much killed my interest in the game was the 0.7.18 update.

We are told that we are going to get answers from Rae. Answers that might shake the foundation of the relationship with her. And throughout the update, we get moments of Rae fearing that the MC will hate her when we find out.

And quite reasonably we let Rae have her meeting with her former friend, we don't interrupt. And afterwards we have that little chat that we have questions and Rae wants us to give her a couple of days....and that's the end of the update. We are promised answers to one of the enduring mysteries of the the game, what was Rae doing before she became trapped in the house? Well now we have to wait. (I've not replayed since the update was released on Patreon so I don't know if we get the answer during the meeting).

But at this point, it very much feels like that bit in the Bigger Brother episode of the Simpsons, with Homer taunting the dolphin. Zanith is Homer and he's just dangling a fish before us and ripping it away. And he can only do that so many times before it backfires.

I think about how much time and effort went into the alchemy minigame or the "Do" activities with the girls alone and I can't help but think that if Zanith had put in that much effort into the story, we could be passed Rae's crisis by now.

It's just getting tedious now.
 
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S

susibakanani

New Member
Mar 22, 2022
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this is the first game i tried from this genre the story at the begging hooked me then just filler repeat no actual progress. the game story should have been concluded very long ago but i guess the dev not doing it for the love of it anymore don't recommend it
 
A

actualrealname

Member
Jul 22, 2019
283
1,112
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Evil13 said:
The moment that has pretty much killed my interest in the game was the 0.7.18 update.

We are told that we are going to get answers from Rae. Answers that might shake the foundation of the relationship with her. And throughout the update, we get moments of Rae fearing that the MC will hate her when we find out.

And quite reasonably we let Rae have her meeting with her former friend, we don't interrupt. And afterwards we have that little chat that we have questions and Rae wants us to give her a couple of days....and that's the end of the update. We are promised answers to one of the enduring mysteries of the the game, what was Rae doing before she became trapped in the house? Well now we have to wait. (I've not replayed since the update was released on Patreon so I don't know if we get the answer during the meeting).
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You do get some answers, and there's a bit more context in one of the heist books, but it's definitely a bit offputting to have to wait for the followup conversation. Not really a big deal as long as the followup doesn't take ages to come out, but still is pretty jarring for there to just be nothing.

I think you have plenty of reason to interrupt and ask questions as well, considering how little we've been told compared to how serious the situation seems to be.

The alchemy stuff is obviously not the reason the pacing is rough though, it's just down to the dev struggling to handle so many different stories at once, while also including lighter interactions and sex scenes. Not sure that more passion or effort or whatever could change much, it's been an obvious design issue for ages, increasingly so as the main cast got larger.
 
K

Kadmus

Newbie
Mar 3, 2018
89
125
153
Funny that being tsundere is an elven mating ritual and that it denotes a high sex drive. I see lyriel is in love with MC after all.
 
J

jahall

Well-Known Member
Feb 20, 2019
1,843
1,219
340
Karnewarrior said:
There's plenty of sex, people are mostly just buttmad that their particular fetish didn't show up.

In terms of story, though, I'd say the best metaphor would be "It's like being in a racecar on a straight, empty highway, and for the first ten or so seconds you hold the petal to the floor... And then you lift your foot off the pedals entirely and just let it roll down the road"

The story starts off really strong and goes hard, but somewhere along the way it's kind of just... Stopped going. We're still technically moving but nowhere near the velocity and excitement we did before. Instead of flying down the highway we're just idling along, coasting on the momentum of the previous. All the pieces are still there, the devs just seem disinterested in keeping it chugging.

At least it's still updating, so it's worth giving it a chance. But it's not as tightly designed and focused as one of the greats like MIST.
Click to expand...
I think the devs of almost all long-running games tend to have the same problem of the initial inspiration gradually starting to dry up. In fact it's not a problem that only affects game developers, but those in other creative fields too.
 
Risbue

Risbue

Member
Feb 19, 2023
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DevinHesi said:
You must be registered to see the links


0.7.18 Early Access - Rae goes to Hateshinai: Sagarie is ready to receive Rae. But are YOU ready to learn a few new things about Azraesha you know and (possibly) love?
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It depends. If I don't like what I learn about Rae and that Sagarie, and start loving her less, I'll probably ditch this game, since Rae is the only character that I actually like and I still play the game just because of her.
 
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wiseold6996

Engaged Member
Sep 22, 2020
2,111
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Risbue said:
This game is something like "slices of life". A guy lives with several women in a house. Most of the content are mundane scenes with them, more than a real plot. It would be Ok if those scenes were actually funny and interesting. Problem is, most of them are silly and childish filling material. Yeah, there are regular updates every month or so, but the plot and subplots barely advance. Characters doesn't have a development, their relationships barely develops too, and the MC (by dev's choice) is a faceless log with cero personality and backstory, impossible to feel identify with him. Actually, I don't know why the Lis could feel some kind of interest about him, since I, as a player, don't feel any. About sexual content, it's always the same boring vanilla content for all the Lis. And there's a succubus in the house! But cero fetishes or any kind of kinky stuff.
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There should be an option to pimp out rae
 
M

mugenshiki

New Member
Feb 13, 2021
1
3
13
Honestly, I don't really pay attention to stories for most "western" AVN but this is one of the few which made me interested. Mainly for Azraesha because she's my fav Li so far in terms of AVN. But yeah, the pacing is getting horrendous and as much as i love Rae, this is not it man. Just give me a game with her alone and forget about all the bs.
 
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as5354

as5354

Member
Feb 23, 2024
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I did not expect so many people to reply to me, I can see that this game still has more people concerned, although I have not played, do not understand some things, but have downloaded, just hope that this sandbox is not too difficult.
 
U

UnDeaD_CyBorG

Well-Known Member
Apr 6, 2018
1,311
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jahall said:
I think the devs of almost all long-running games tend to have the same problem of the initial inspiration gradually starting to dry up. In fact it's not a problem that only affects game developers, but those in other creative fields too.
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With the additional "side"problem of having monthly income as long as you keep it going, which you can't if you just finish it.
At some point, a successful developer will dothis fulltime, depend on it, then hire help.
It's difficult to find the right time to branch off. If they even want to.
But yes, a labour of love only carries so far.
At this point, it's been going so long I am reasonably certain I wouldn't actually be emotionally affected by whatever is revealed.
 
S

single_guy_from_au

Well-Known Member
Jun 18, 2023
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DevinHesi said:
You must be registered to see the links


0.7 Development Update 31 is up!

A whole month of behind-the-scened stuff, sneak peeks, and an Important Poll inside!

Folks, if you are a Patron, please vote and ideally leave a comment as well!

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.
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I am not a mind reader, but somehow I know that Lyriel's next wish would be. ;)
 
Mancalledtommy

Mancalledtommy

New Member
Jul 1, 2017
11
3
33
I love this game so much! I played the hell out of it a few updates ago and now I'm trying to patiently wait for it to be done to play again.
 
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4.60 star(s) 356 Votes