VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Avalon [v8.2] [Lockheart]

Version Played: v8.2

Time to Complete: 7.5 hours (replay recommend)

[*] Replay: This game has a choice where you chose between who will be the main supporting character within the story. While this doesn't change the overall story, it does replace an entire main character and may worth a replay to some.

TL;DR: It isn't flawless, but it is one of the best stories that I have experienced from a VN.

[5/5] Story: This game has one of the best stories with some of the greatest and most memorable characters that I have ever experienced. Lockheart has done an incredible job giving characters a heart, and at making them steal yours. As you learn more about each character, you rapidly grow attached and will start to feel their pain.

[*] Character Progression: Character progression sometimes makes more sense in hindsight than it does as it plays out. For example, a character may abruptly go from friendly to flirtatious, and some actions may not make immediate sense in the context of the story.

[4/5] Renders: The majority of renders in this game are great. A small handful of scenes sometimes feel a touch empty, but there are no major complaints relating to the general scene. My only significant issue is that one main character simply doesn't look very good. Her model appears older than she canonically is and is just low quality in general, however, that is only an issue with that one particular character. All other characters look great.

[+5/5] Epilogue: The epilogue in this game is one of, if not the best that I have ever experienced. It shows how just a single, tiny change can have such a massive impact on the future. Despite this game being largely dark and heavy, the epilogue shows a glimpse of how things could have been without that darkness - where the very force driving the original story never happened.

[*] Sex Scenes: One final gripe I have of this game is that the sex scenes, while extremely rewarding for having built your way up to that point, have very little dialogue. This makes them far shorter than I would like and they simply don't feel right.

Avalon is an interesting experience with its fair share of comedy, tragedy, and erotic moments. Definitely more of a slow-burn drama than a porn game, but I think there's a nice balance between all of these components to create a satisfying time.
I liked the graphics, although the faces of some characters (especially Dallas, the therapist's daughter, and Avalon herself) were a little off-putting to me at first. I got used to them pretty quickly though. Overall the renders are above average but not on the level of some of the models featured in the more popular VNs with 3DCG. Animations are acceptable but, again, not the best out there.
The story is uniquely diverse, in that it can be totally depressing, then genuinely funny, then cheesy to the point of almost being ridiculous, then thought provoking, then sexy. It's a rollercoaster with a lot of twists, some of them much more difficult to see coming than others. It's good because it hooks you but it's also not exactly a mindless harem game that you can just fap to without a problem, which is not necessarily a pro or a con. It just has a lot more going on than sex.
Something I found very interesting and haven't seen in any other VN was the epilogue. Without spoiling too much, the main game delivers this rather riveting story and manages to resolve everything nicely amid the chaos and tragedy, but the last parts of the game take that experience and shape it into something else that helps put the original story in perspective while also exploring plot alternatives. It's a very nice touch that makes this game stand out even more. Really just an impressive work in its entirety.

Highly recommend.

I really enjoyed this game a lot, the emotions were all over the place (which is a good thing) one minute you are sad and the next you are laughing. The way Byron was written was very well done with his banter when nervous or embarrassed. The drama in this was top notch but some of the story was tragic and hard to get through at times but it was well done.

I really love the models used here they were different but in a very good way, the renders are very well done and the game looks great.

If you are looking for a great game then give this a try, I think you will be glad you did.

Aw wished the journey would be longer. In the game there passes only a week by til the end. And a little Problem for this short time is... there are to many charactres in this and nobody got enough focus to get really full out build.

Avalon is one of the cutest girls in any VN ever, her story of being raped is heartbreaking... but i have to say this thing got just to little focus too... the story should be a slow burn, but its all really fast. Everyday is big drama without heavy impact on the other side, its just all forgotten in a blink of an eye.

Devs should have taken their time with this a little more to work out better.

But at the end i enjoyed this game very much, the girls are great, and looking great, most of the charactres are very likeable and this game has a lot of good humor in it (especially between the MC, Ava and Dallas)

The Animations are not so good... most of the time just repeating one motion. Dont need that.

At fist i thought the end is kinda rushed, but on second thaougt, its good. Most other games build up a realtionship, and at some point its all about the sexscenes between the protagonists...

In this game its all about the healing journey for Avalon to get finally comfortable enough to have sex again... so its perfect in the end. But as i said the journey itself was rushed and to short... all that happens in one week, and that is just way too unlikely. They met again, fall instantly in a realtionship, and that all despite what happens to the MC and Ava... that is just too rushed.

But nevermind, with more time and patience this game would be absolutely great and one of my big favorites... the rushed pace and unnecessary (cause not so good) animations and some other flawes (way too much Penny, i love her, but this game got nearly more Penny than Ava in it) prevent me to give 5 stars.

This is one of the best visual novels that I have encountered in my travels. That being said, it is pretty much JUST a visual novel. The game aspect of Avalon v8.2 is limited to some minor dialogue choices which slightly alters a single conversation and two major choices. The first one choice one makes is whether Avalon calls her cheer friend Dallas or Octavia. I have not personally played with Octavia yet, however I loved Dallas. The second choice is about monogamy or poly-amorous.

Beyond this not really, in my mind, being a game, it was in fact an excellent story. I found most of the characters to be well rounded and complex. Even minor characters like Lance and Merc seemed real and genuine. The art was realistic. I have found in my search for good adult games that many of them over emphasize certain body parts, most notably the penis and breast. While the main male character had an over large member, the women had reasonably shaped and sized breasts. The story itself was engaging and, most importantly, could stand on its own. The was one of my favorite things about Avalon, it was more about the story than the sex and nudity, and while the sex scenes were too graphic for an 'R' rating, this could have been a blockbuster romantic comedy without the stereotypical RomCom elements.

Finally, I liked the fact the Leah and Penny wrapped things up at the end and the fact that they will be in the Spin off. Also, and this hits close to home because a lot of times when I watch a movie, play a game, or read a story I invariably come up with an alternate reality involving the characters of said story, I loved the setting aside of the world to explore alternate realities. That was an awesome bonus.

The only things that complicated my experience with Avalon maybe because I played it on my android Phone. This came in the form of twitchy animations, unfortunate text colors as the text blended in with anything white or very light in color making it hard to read at some points, and the fact that every time I went to save the game it asked for a name for the save. That final one I realize is part of Ren'Py but can still be annoying.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this Novel. I can't quite bring myself to call it a game, but I look forward to replaying the rest of the possibilities and the spin-off.
Here are my thoughts and I await your Penny.

I have only one account to review this with....

I was about to write a review. Then I decided I should read a few of the recent reviews, just to see how differently others might have seen the game, and boy was I surprised.

Most good semi-decent games on here are good at at least one thing: representing what kind of game they are, in the Summary/Overview section. Avalon tells you exactly what to expect. Anyone who read the overview and still expected a quick fap....well, needs to read overviews better


I didn't like Byron's character model - in the sense that I could never relate to a guy with that kinda bulk...but that was before I was introduced to the inside of his head over the course of the game. This has to be the first game on f95 I've played where the MC is not only not nameless and faceless, but has an actual presence in the game - a real character you can learn about and empathize with. And the supporting male characters are also human, not cardboard cutouts - Johnny, Randall, heck even Officer Evans.

I didn't like the in-shower models for both Avalon and Octavia, but otherwise they were a pretty sight even clothed. Penny was a fun addition to the mix, and I'm looking forward to her solo(?) game, and maybe a few cameos?

Till I played Avalon, my favorites in this specific story-driven genre were Melody, and maybe Acting Lessons. To clarify, I'm not fap-averse or anything, I like my Ambrosia and Succulence just as much as the next guy, but very few games can do what this genre attempts. Avalon now sits levitates at the top of that particular heap - head, shoulders and shark-dick above the rest.

My bookmarks are full of games I couldn't stomach for more than 10 minutes, despite having way better art and animation than Avalon does, all because the story (or excuse thereof) was laughable at best.

I kept waiting for the game to let me down, for the humor to sag, for the story to disappoint or become predictable. And that's the only hope it disappointed.

I think the team behind this wanted to, and did, make something more than a porn game - I've watched 'good' movies with less commitment to story than this game (Yeah I'm guilty of watching crap, aren't we all. Movie overviews can be less honest.).
I think we ought to keep rewarding people who aim as high as Avalon has dared to.

Best thing is, I haven't even met Dallas yet! Whole 'nother playthrough left in it for me


So like I said at the beginning, I did read the other reviews, but you see, I have that beautiful menu music playing in the background (pianos are love) while I type this out, and I remember how it has felt to play through the story.

Thanks, Lockheart. This is the kinda game I wished would exist when I first showed up at f95zone. 6/5 for the ambition. I'm broke rn, but as soon as that gets fixed, my first dip into Patreon will be for Lockheart.

PS: I really hope this review doesn't get pulled down for mentioning other games. Every game I mentioned in this review is a great game I enjoyed thoroughly, and I hope others get to try them too if they're in the market for that sorta thing.

Version: 8.2 (Completed)

I'll start by saying that I really enjoyed the game. I'm more of a player who enjoys a good story and less sex than ton of sex and lame story, so this was perfect for me.
Disclaimer: I played only Octavia's route and enjoyed it very much.
But be warned, for those who are looking for a quick fap, you won't find it here (at least not with Octavia's route).

I think the story was good, in terms of the characters. Sometimes it was light and sometimes it went deeper, for me, the balance was good.
I liked the characters and could relate to them because they were different and each of them added a different aspect to the story. Each character had a shallow part to them and a lot of depth also which was presented really well in my opinion. Take Penny for example, IMO she is one of the best characters in the game and thats because the gap between her day to day (what seems to the eye) personality and her depth, it always makes me happy to see characters like that.

I had some parts in the story that felt too stretched by their longevity which sometimes made me impatient but only a couple of them or so, it didn't affect the experience overall for me.

The renders and animation were ok, not the best and not the worst, they did their part in my opinion and for me they weren't the pinnacle of the game so I didn't care much.

The music adds a lot of atmosphere and feeling to the game. It a really important part in each game and more developers need to pay attention to it. It can transform a game from boring to exceptional.

The only thing I really didn't like is the added story after the supposedly last scene of the game.
The last scene was good and should have closed the game, but for some reason, we "had to" go through a part of the story "if the past was changed and the MC acted differently in some specific point in his life".
I really didn't see why we would need play through it?
We played hours upon hours with the characters and saw how they develop and what they went through, connect with them and have impression of them that we like (or don't).
I didn't want the game "spoil" what it built for me and I didn't want to see how the characters were be influenced in case their history was changed. So for me this was a no-no, I played about 10 minutes into the new story and closed the game.
I think it was unnecessary and annoying a bit.

Overall, if you are more of a story oriented player, I encourage you to play the game.

I thought the story of this game was amazing. Especially in the beginning when it was really focused on Ava and Ava alone. It did slow down and not feel as great later especially as it deviated from Ava and you got so many characters later on. I think the reason I felt this way though was because well when I got into a porn game I generally expect well great porn. Which I will say now if that is what you are playing this for then you probably won't enjoy it at all. There are an okay amount of scenes and they are honestly not that great. But back to my point since there is not a lot of porn in this game and its also not that great having so many characters that mess with the story definitely hindered the best part of this game THE STORY. I wish there was way more focus on Ava and Byron and that there weren't all these characters coming into the mix unless there was more focus on the porn side of this.

I didn't tick off a star for this though because I feel like it was more of a preference thing then a flaw in the game itself. I think the story still functions just fine even with all the characters who by the way also have interesting stories of there own.

There is also a lot of other stuff that this game offers like its humor which I thought was funny and made me laugh a lot. There was also a lot of stuff that honestly could really "touch you" in this game if that makes sense. Lots of quotes and stuff said that really make you stop and think you know.

Overall its a great game and I can't imagine anyone just passing on it.

Disclaimer: Do not read if not interested in my opinion. That's all this is. It is not an attack on anybody else's opinions or preferences. These are solely my own viewpoints, my own baggage. Everybody brings their own perspective to games/books/etc. That's all this is.

Story spoilers in review. Do not read if you don't wanna be spoiled.

It's often hard to review something like this and feel like you're being fair. What I mean is, if you review a game too seriously, then people can get defensive and say "it's just a porn game what did you expect" ... so I am of course guessing about how seriously the dev wants to take things based on a subjective feeling.

I feel the dev wanted to approach some things very realistically and mix that in with a lot of spoof and fantasy. It makes an odd mix, and it can be done, but it's hard to pull off.

Right off the bat, I liked the writing. Dev, (or devs) you're a smart cookie. Ain't no doubt about it. You also put a lot of hard work into this. There's a lot of interesting design in both the environments and character models. You're also really funny. Or, whoever's writing the game is really funny. They lay it on a bit thick, but it's still my type of humor.

I think if I were to approach a game like this, I would avoid the setting you started with, dev. I get the white knight angle, but rushing into a monogamous relationship stretches things a tiny bit. A polyamorous relationship, after experiencing what Avalone's gone through mixed with a serious introvert, breaks immersion. I just can't buy that these 2 people, at least one of them being a serious introvert, would be in any way okay in complicating their budding relationship with even more relationships. Making the polyamory optional is okay, but honestly I don't think it belongs in this game at all.

I can also sorta buy Avalon falling for her Uncle quickly, since there's a very positive history there, but not her falling in love with anybody else so quickly.

So, pacing is an issue. You don't have to be tied to a daily pace. I think this is a trap that a few devs fall for, and it ends up with an unbelievable amount of story being shoved into a single day.

This game (and sooooo many others in this genre) also relies too much on bisexuals. I didn't like it when Dragon Age 2 did it, and I don't like how prolific it is in this genre of games. I know devs work very hard on these games, so I won't call anyone lazy. But bisexuals are lazy story telling, folks. I get why devs do it, it seemingly ticks off a couple boxes and cuts down on the number of characters that have to be introduced because Bisexual A can fill in for a Homosexual A and Heterosexual B. But it does it at the cost of believability and that hurts characters. If you're going for realistic characters, soooo many bisexuals doesn't work.

I think Dev has tons of potential. Looking forward to future projects!

Other things I really liked. You stayed away from the irritating habits of some games (I think maybe designed for Virtual Reality in mind?) that leave out the protag's face and have girls awkwardly kissing the computer monitor. Huge plus.

I don't like multiple protagonists. I'm interested only in the MC's love life. I don't care about, say, the love life of Penny. I don't have to, and I don't want to see who Penny is smooching on. I'd rather see resources and story focused on the MC's story. That also goes for the bad guy's story, like, it really turns me off to see the bad guy raping a girl or having sex with... well... anybody. Thankfully we didn't have to see Avalon's sexual assault. That's good.

Also, the star rating... eh... there's a lot of this game that's above 3 stars. So the star system is inadequate. Probably my review is as well. But hopefully I got some of my points across okay. Cheers!

First of all, I wanna say that I really appreciate how the dev design Ava's lips, I really love her lips (YES I HAD TO SAY THAT, NOW SHUT IT!)

Ok, back to the real review on the game overall,
To be honest, Wholesome story isn't really my cup of Donut Waffle with a maple syrup on top *Ba-dum tsss* but this game is off to captivate me from the begining!

I love how Octavia keep surprising me with her personality, I thought She'd be some generic shy boring character, BUT NO! She legit captivate me with her wisdom, especially she learn my subject on vollege which I love so much!

As for Dallas, she has a great personality and spirit, haven't finished her path but so far so good, I like her but maybe not as much as Octavia.

The game would be SOOOOOOO MUCH better if this game wasn't so straight forward, and rushed. Why do I say that? well at first I love how Avalon act to her uncle because of her problem, she wants some distance, and that tells me the character development on this game is gotta be sooo good, because I'm one of those person who appreciate a good development on character., but turns out I kind of dissapointed how easily she's charmed by her uncle, I really expect atleast It'd take a lil bit longer than that, maybe like 5 days longer.

And this is where I'd say that this game would be so much better if we have more control on how we acted on others,
as for an example is when the uncle is so agreeable when Ava propose to chase their future and flirt with her a few days just after knowing what's her source of problem is! If I had a say in that, I wouldn't say yes to that, I was expecting that the uncle would say like "You're my niece, It felt so wrong and let's not talk about it yet" or something like that.

It's very hard to create a convincing start on a story, and when this game gave me a Really good vibe at first, well.. maybe My expectation got so much higher, I was ready to give it 5 stars, down to 4 stars after knowing that I rarely get to say something on this game, then turns to 3 stars after learning how the character development felt a bit rushed for me.

Well again, maybe it's just me, but if you're the type who don't pay much attention about a strong development on character and into a wholesome story, You'll love this.

I didn't like this game much. It started strong but quickly went downhill and never recovered.

The good:
- The renders weren't bad looking.
- The lighting in each scene was well done
- MC could, at times, be funny.
- MC was sympathetic

The bad:
- The story was all over the place. I understood what the writer was trying to do but they didn't pull it off. If you are going to include very serious elements in a story then you need to make sure that the humor works around it or provides levity for it. In this game the humor overrides the serious material, and as a result it just feels like it was included as a shortcut to sympathize with the characters more easily.
- Penny was annoying. Her storyline and persona could have been excised for the better.
- The main plot point about Avalon doesn't really need to exist. Her getting kicked out and going to live with her "uncle" was enough reason to be sex shy. It's also a missed opportunity to parallel the MC with Leah. It could've resolved some of MC issues without the Dr.Yu stuff.
- Sex scenes were serviceable but not great.
- Character models weren't great but that's personal preference.


I think the writer has some talent but the story just never came together to make a compelling whole. It's pretty much all downhill after the beginning. There are many other games that are better written if you'd like a story heavy game.

Disclaimer: This review is opinion-based and not a technical review.
I liked the game a lot, and I like the polyamory choice but I just want to bring to attention that the phrase "I don't feel threatened that you will leave me for a woman" is slightly homophobic, it indicates that the person doesn't see the same-sex relationship as equal to the other type, it is not blatant and it is mostly because of internalized homophobia, that is why I didn't give it a 5/5, also because a poly relationship with that type of mentality is not a healthy one in my opinion, but, besides that the game is good and does a good job, I might edit this, at least the game doesn't keep talking about over and over.

edit: I'll still give it a 4 but the way polyamory was portrait is also not the best, a little more research would have been good, relationships should grow naturally dating(when is not just sex) as a couple is messy and can be very, very harmful, normally the best thing would be for people to date separately and if the connection is there date the together or the same person, still like the game but this is something else that bothered me, I recommend for anyone doing this type of games to actually do some research it might enrich your work, no harm was done though.

I normally hate seeing sexual abuse/rape in these kind of games but this one handles it well. It shows the proper respect to the victims and the different ways it affects them. The writing was great, I love all the good characters and hated the truly evil ones(Merc is really a softie). Great humor. Liked the glimpse of an alternate timeline(one the MC pondered in the original timeline, as a what if). Although, I would always prefer the timeline without the abuse and where Leah got a happy ending, still sad about the crew not spending time with Dallas or getting close to Penny.

An interesting game where the story come first and the sex is something that just make it better, when it
happen.

Story
As I said, I think this is the best part of the game and really kept me hooked. The story is believable and the feelings between characters are built up. The alternative end was something good putting in perspective what a small action could do. No matter what path you take you will end with Avalon (alone or with someone else), so keep that in mind from first interaction.

Girls
You are presented during the game with 4 girls and the body type varries a bit with no huge tits or something else stupid. For me Octavia was interesting personality but the face was poorly designed. There is also something about Avalon face in some images that is a bit off.

Animations and renders
Here is where the game could be better. There is not a lot of sex animation. Where it compensate for small flaws is the music that follow the game.
The MC looks too buff: even with a shirt his abs are visible, which is not quite a real depiction.

I like the introduction given by Myrabelle. It set a state for the game to follow and also few info about the game

That is one of the lil Gem's on this site where u say "came for the Porn and stayed for the Story" like "Triangle","SisterlyLust","Man of the House"...
I really loved the alternate World Ending and i wished for a Harem ending there with all the Chars there,maybe im a bit occupied from "SisterlyLust" but i hoped a bit for Happy End with Pregnancy for the Girls...

Ps: a bit Critic on the Renders the Girls have sometimes in the Eyearea some pictures where u think the eyeballs fall out of the eyes (especial with Octavia),thats the best i could it say in my bad english ^^

otherwise really one of my FAVOURITE games here Keep up the great work thanks Dev

Pretty good and unexpectedly funny game.

The main relationship is yet another incest story (yawn). Thankfully the totally-not-blood-related niece is very cute. Her falling for you happens a bit fast but is somewhat believable. The protagonist is also mostly likeable, despite the usual "women like you for your giant dick" trope.

What caught me off-guard is the sense of humor. The main character constantly tells corny jokes, and some side-characters are... pretty wild to say the least. Even some bad guys are treated in a very humorous way. I enjoyed this side of the game a lot.

The "trauma" part of the story is both too heavy and not very well told though, which detracts from the experience. There an old hag in particular, sister to the protagonist, which takes way too much screen time in what's supposed to be an erotic game.

Besides that graphics are pretty good and augmented with some simple animations. The faces and skin are a bit weird though... eyes tend to be too big, there's one girl with an overall nice face but a very strange lip, and the kind of narrator lady at the beginning and end of the game looks absolutely horrific.

There's quite a bit of content, with two mutually exclusive story branches involving each its own side love interest. Then in each one you get to pick whether you're monogamous with Avalon or are polyamorous. Then on top of that, you get a final "alternate reality" story with two paths (one having significantly more sexy scenes than the other).

One thing that feels pretty stupid and unrealistic is that every single girl is willing to engage in some girl-on-girl action. If you're polyamorous they have the hots for your other girls and engage in FFM threesomes with you. If you're not they get their own lesbian scenes. Something like a third of the sexy content in the game ends up being lesbian, which is not something I personally enjoy.

Harem games where you fuck every single girl and they're all unaware of it or completely fine with it can be pretty silly, but this kinda tries to make it more realistic and just ends up being even more absurd.

Overall, it's flawed but I enjoyed it enough to check out all the paths, so I'd recommend it.

Dev shows some talent with the renders, and artwork, it's quite good. Story is not. MC is kind of cardboard cutout, and not very relatable at all. Avalon is also not remotely realistic, so damaged, but so perfect. The women, with the exception of the drunken adopted sister, are all pretty flawless, just damaged by the evil Patriarchy. Too much girl on girl, the lewd scenes are pretty boring. Best girl by far is Leah, the actual sister, but she gets little content and no real ending. If Dev made her what if ending the actual ending, game might have been saved. Overall theme of Trauma and recovery was handled better and more believably in Acting Lessons. Hope the Dev does better on next game, cause they definitely have talent for the technical side of things. Maybe get Eva Kiss to do the writing?

Wholesome game, interesting characters to whom i believe and see not as ragdolls but as people in their own right. Animations are okay, whole plot is good and logic, overall a good feeling from the game.

Definitely a star attraction here. Render quality is great and the animations are generally solid. Models are definitely hot and well done. I actually like the fairly linear story and focus on a few central figures. Overall, this is a high quality experience that ranks high up there in terms of production values. 10/10 would recommend.

Wow. This game is something. Let me start with quality of renders which is perfect as well as animations. Music background is also very nice and fitting. But boy, oh boy, the story. In short? Breathtaking. It's completely different than most of games of this type. Absolutely beautiful story telling, fabulous characters desing as well as development. I enjoyed every second of this game as well as easter eggs. Devs managed to create very touching and unique atmosphere and I cannot do anything but praise them for that. I must point out how real characters are, with they fears and misstakes but also pluses and good qualities. How can be fragile and broken but together, they can manage... Really a virtuos novel with extraordinary storytelling and plot. Unique, symphatethic, full of good jokes and humorous and absolutely gorgeously put. For me TOP in the genre. Really, really good job, I can't do differently than give a full score.
PS.: And remember... 'God is a big life giving penis.'

10/10. [v8.1].