Ren'Py - Champion of Realms [v0.89] [Zimon]

Another game that people just spam 5* because they have cute characters while all the rest is meh.
I was hyped for this game I really like the look and the story was interesting.
But as of this moment (patch 0.35), this game is at best a 3*.

Positives:
- Visual looks
- Story(ish)

Negatives:
-HUD
-Quests
- Story(ish)
- MC
- The world
- You will need to check a walkthrough

I will go into details about what's good and bad without spoilers below but if you don't wanna read here is the TLDR:

3/5, was a 2* but visuals gave it a boost. Not worth playing atm wait for more patches, I will update the review in a few months when the new patch comes out

Let's start with the positives:
The characters look really good and the art is really well done when the characters don't move or sex scenes, although as soon as a story related cinematic starts I feel like I'm watching a ps1 cinematic with awful effects.

The story is interesting, unique in a way tbh and that's good, but the longer you play the weirder the story gets to the point where it becomes confusing and it does not help the HUD is horrible to the point traveling between places feels like a chore.


The negatives:
Ugh, where to start...
This game is for a lack of a better word confusing AF, you are supposed to stuff but the game does not tell you how.
For example, one quest is going to character X and ask about something.
I visit character X and the only option I had was to chill with the character (an option that does nothing at all and only exists to give you the illusion you can do something but it's totally useless).
So I visited, again and again, all times of the day and nothing. I gave up and checked a walkthrough... So what I had to do was go to the park at night and click on the picnic and she will be there... The thing is if you go to her house at night she is sleeping so how the fuck was I to guess I had to go there at night?
This happens over and over again, the more into the game the more it happens. nearly impossible to play without help

The HUD (Heads up display) is horrible.. You are in your house and you have 3 options, portals exist and home.. I pressed home several times by accident the only thing it does is well nothing... You only have 1 room in the starter house so that is literally a useless button since it disappears as soon as you leave the house.

The world is filled with useless places.
Most games will open places as you go through the story, not here, almost everything is up at the start so it's a confusing mess since most places you only need to visit once during a specific quest and are totally useless otherwise (example, the beach), this fills the map and gives once again the illusion that you have the stuff to do. You do not.

Speaking of places, teleporting, or traveling in this game hurts my brain.. Eventually, you have to go to the Taile here is how u travel to the dusk city
Exit->Teleporter->dusk city->walk->Taile
5 Steps seems little. Exempt you need to do this several times and every time the game fades to black for a second before giving you the next step wasting time and tilting me.

And lastly (this is already way too big) the story gets worst as you go. The author seems to just wanna shove as much as possible in here without much reason for it. You get to a point where u need to work twice to afford something..You get a job and received money that was never mentioned before and I have no clue how much is worth...
But I need 100 to fix the house so I need to work twice, For the girl that is going to fix the house, so then I can give her the 100 that she just paid me.
Why introduce money like this? Just have the girl saying she will help me after I help her no need to now create a currency out of nowhere.
Things keep getting introduced for dumb reasons, new places get added when we didn't even use all the places that were unlocked in the first place..
I have yet to see why we have a bar and a forest ,with 3 exploring options, when we only ever use the first option (the default one)
Its confusing, but its still early so maybe it will get fixed... Hopefully

Good game (Gg), the story is nice with the demon girl twist
Names are kinds hard to remember and not catchy (I just said "demon girl" )
And I think the girls' motives are a bit forced
I get the ninja, she's weird so that's fine
The rabbit is cute I guess, not a deep character but a fun one at that
The redhead student needs better story but after she comes around its great
Heramael (I think that's her name) is awesome, love the script and the attraction between 'em
Would love more scenes especially with the redhead and the bunny cause they lack it


Edit: okay so 50 days after my initial review I've changed my mind, this is not a 4 stars game but a 5 stars and if I could even a 6th star at that
The amount of constant updates is amazing and the new hellhound was great
The thing that is the greatest about this game is both the style of the characters (Koikatu) and the updates, really makes you fall in love with it
Can't wait for the boss mercenary & maeve content
Honestly more content for every girl of your choosing will be great

Just came across this game the other day and found it a surprisingly decent game. The models are good, not the best, but aren't the worst that I've seen in a lot of adult games. There definitely needs to be more events with all the girls to keep the attention of the player. Repeatable events are great, but only seeing one of them in the shower as a memory is a little bit disappointing.

Overall this game has real potential and I hope the dev gets more interest in it over time. I only played it through when it said all the events were done with each girl. I saw a pregnancy tag but didn't feel like visiting only specific girls for who knows how many days before they get pregnant. Maybe in future updates there will be pregnant sex and more naughty time with more girls.

UPDATE: Version 0.88

Have to say after playing the most recent version I have found the game to be pretty boring at this point. The storylines seem to go all over the place with no real direction. Plus the fact that some of the storylines don' t seem to have been updated for 6 months or longer. Especially Maribel's story. Her storyline hasn't been updated since I played the game over 6 months ago. It seems like the dev has no real direction for the game and just adds fluff to build it up. Why would a game be almost 17GB that hasn't even been out for more than 5 years.

Bad

Story filled with awkward dialogue flat characters and spelling/grammatical errors.

Few sex scenes in general even less are repeatable.

You lose repeatable scenes going further into the game.

Finding events is tedious and the hints are unhelpful/inaccurate.

Repeating Asmedia scene caused game to restart and lose all progress.

Good

The models and animation are decent.

[v0.27 review]
It's a nice cute game with a decent story and some nice lewds.

What drags it down though is the complete lack of indication on where to go and what to do. Playing this game is 80 % going through every location at every time of the day hoping that something new will trigger. A lot of times the triggers are very linear too, meaning you'll need to progress with one or more girls before a new random event will appear. There's NO POINT in having a free roaming element to your game if visiting only one location at one particular time of day will generate any progress. Forcing me to click through every possible location at every time of day is a dick move by the dev and it needs to go away.
This game is in desperate need of some quality of life changes to minimize the massive amounts of random clicks needed to progress the story.

Despite this, I'll still give it a 4 because I can see the potential. Along with the nice visuals there's a decent story going on and the dialogues are all right.

Try it if you don't mind walking through A LOT of pointless locations looking for event triggers.

As others have stated, this game is very similar in spirit to Corrupted Kingdoms, another 5 star game. What that means is both games have:

• Pretty good story
• Great character development
• Each girl has their own sub-story that centers around MC's main story
• Sexy & cute girls with sexy and cute personalities (built in koikatsu)
• Great animated scenes and dialog
• Fantasy setting with MC discovering their way in the new fantasy world

This game differs in story, and obviously as this game is currently at V0.25 where CK is at V0.69, it isn't quite as developed at the moment. BUT, there is a good amount of content at this version: at least 5 hours(?) of gameplay, multiple animated scenes for all girls except "Egyptian blue hair girl", "slender redhead girl" and "busty angel girl"(angel girl is not yet seen). Some of the other 4 main girls have more.

Honestly, I don't have much I'd like to see change beyond just having the game developed further as planned. The only item I could request to be different would be having some non-standard sex poses. The assets used are all very good and not vanilla-koikatsu but I think every sex pose I saw was a standard koikatsu pose. Not a bad thing, just would be cool. But, not sure how feasible this is, could understand waiting on it if it takes away from development timeline.

Highly recommended now and in future.

The story...the pace...the connections...the scenes...that little bit of humor...Literally one of the best porn games I've ever played. It seems balanced to the core. It gives off the anime vibe towards the end of this version (v 0.23), but I LOVE IT! Also...I don't know if I'm slow or if I'm crazy, but I swear you and ArcGames are like the same people...or developers, because you both have similar, but amazing games! I love both versions of how the 'magic' was used! I know many games have magic and such involved, but I just love how these two games used them, and the connections between the characters with the magic! I personally see both, Champion of Realms And Corrupted Kingdoms as my most favorite porn games of all time, 100%. I cannot wait for both of the full releases! I know it'll be a while, but it's hard not to be excited! Keep up the awesome work!

(Ik this is supposed to be a review for one game, but both games are really similar...and Amazinggg)

Its a good game.The story also good and entertaining.The girls also gorgeous and beautiful.Anyway.

Pros:
-Likeable main character.He remind me of demon slayer character with his hair.He also kindhearted and love helping people.
-The girls are all gorgeous and beautiful.
-The story are interesting and entertaining.I have fun playing it.
-Each character have their own personality.
-The characters have their own development before they have sex with mc.
-The scene are all beautiful.I impressed with dev talent in this.Menu background and game background also look good.
-The music fit with the scene which is good.I love Izanami song
-The animation also good.It doesnt look weird and boring like the spinning sex i see in the other game.
-Good gameplay.

Cons:
-Need a walkthough.Sometime im stuck with the character event,i didnt know i need to progress other girls event first but its okay i guess.

In the end,its a good game and i know the dev put a lot of effort in his game which is good.The scenery and the game itself are all beautifully made.Kudos to the dev.Anyway,I recommend this game.

Renders are nice, story is passable and gameplay is fine so i would give it 4/5. Sadly characters are incredibly dumb and that ninja girl made me cringe so hard that i will need a few months to recover.

Edit - Update for v0.40: Previous review still applies - the characters are still painfully cringe, graphics are still good, story is passable and gameplay is fine - just more content.

Version 0.65

The overall writing is cliche, and at times makes you wonder if the dev is actually writing what he thinks is best or if he is just taking things he saw elsewhere and just trying to awkwardly cram them in, the tone of the story feels inconsistent and too sudden to me.

The game is rough around the edges like when something happens and the MC is 'avoiding' everyone in the story you can still interact with characters like nothing happened.

Over all I feel that the game had a lot of potential. If it didn't have so many cheap cliche twists and it was a bit more polished and consistent this would have been an excellent game.

Its looks promising, but its need to show something new, bec they are so many similar games. I love koikatu's art style so the models are great for me, the story looked interesting, but so many mainstream thing was in it, not much new, but i hope its will change in the newer versions. I am looking forward to it!

The renders are great (I'm biased towards Koikatsu style models. They are definitely my thing). Gameplay is okay, not the most exciting thing ever, but it's not bad either. My biggest issue, and the reason I'm giving this 3 stars instead of 4 or possibly 5, is that the English feels really broken and immersive breaking at times. The prologue was written amazingly! Then from the moment the MC is introduced, the English started going downhill really fast. I'm personally one of those people that want to get absorbed into a story. At the start of the game I got really engrossed, only to eventually find myself clicking past dialogue because the English was starting to break down and just becoming a chore to read. If the dev has a writer/proofreader, they should probably try to find a new one, because the story itself has so much potential, it's a shame that it becomes pretty negligible because of broken English and dialogue that doesn't really flow together.

Edit as of version 0.08: Dialogue has gotten miles better than what it initially was. Don't get me wrong, it's not perfect, could still probably use a a bit more detail to proofreading, but at least the dialogue is now readable. If dev can find a good proofreader to make the flow of the dialogue smoother, this can easily be a 5 star game for me.

Edit : the game has really come through nicely and I have started liking it even more... the dev is really making the right choice to improve on the story before other things and it shows

For those complaining the dev having similar UI as other games are just trying to find something to bug the dev with... the dev is funding the game entirely from the support he receives and with hate for no reason it will become harder for him to receive the support he deserves which ultimately makes it harder for him to include a different UI if he wants to... the UI is still good and can be changed at any point in the future if need be...So I fully support the dev and he still deserves the 5 starts I've given him

Previous: the dev/s from the look of things has tried his (their) hardest to listen to the feedback from the community and has made changes...some old scenes are missing but that's okay as the dev/s has completed the rework (so hopefully adding new stuff will become quicker)...even though the game is a v0.05 the game still is relatively new so I am going to be more lenient as the game has potential...
The takes inspiration from existing games but the one's that are good and it has been implemented well so good job on that one from me
(I will check new updates later to see if the rating should be same or change but for now encouraging new dev/s to embark on his (their) new journey feels more important to me)
So all the best to the dev/s and hope he (they) keeps adding great content in the future

generate error, i have to ignore to continue, sériously ?.
And the story, somewone go to your flat, force you to sign some contact, attack you, and you loose conscious and after that you listen a suspicious voice in your head, no sorry, i realy don't like this game.

v.0.17 update

The game has improved. The dev removed a lot of the issues that made me feel disapointed in the story. The characters' motivations are explained much more clearly now. The main character has more personality than he previously did. And the sex scenes don't just happen randomly out of nowhere now. In fact I'm sure some people would argue that there's too little sex in the opening parts of the story, but I vastly prefer this to the way things were before.

Also the story itself has been greatly simplified and that's definitely for the better. There is less going on, but at least it's all explained in a manner that is understandable.

Overall the game is in 4 star territory for me and I've updated my rating to reflect that. I look forward to seeing more in the future.


Review for v0.03

Okay first thing off the bat... this is the most conflicted 3 star rating I have ever given. In some ways the game has pretty good production values. Character models are good. The story is ambitious and interesting if a bit confusing. But everything feels just slightly... off. Like the pacing of scenes are a little too fast. Sex scenes feel somewhat random and unearned.

writing - 3.5/5: you can read it, but it's slightly awkward. There are mistakes. And some of the word choices scream "English is my second language" at me. It's not the worse writing, but it could definitely use a good editor.

story - 3.8/5: The story gets a lot of points for being original and trying to build up a unique fantasy world. It just does a poor job of actually explaining things. Also currently the dev is retconing one of the characters so a lot of the things explained in the prologue may get thrown out the window. It's confusing. But intriguing.

Characters - 3/5: They're pretty bland honestly. Like it's hard to understand why anyone is doing anything. The main character's motivation seems to be to solve the mystery of why these events were sprung upon him. And the two other main characters are somewhat tied up in that mystery so we don't know why they're doing what they're doing. So the whole thing just kinda feels like no one has any good motivations.

The only character who really had any interesting and understandable motivations was Erika the nurse... but then something weird happens to her and she gets replaced by the character who got retconned. (You'll understand what I mean when you play the game). So we're left with no one to really understand or care about other than maybe the MC... who feels a bit bland.

renders - 4/5: they're good enough. I like them. The characters are attractive. The animation can be a bit bland, but they're not bad. And some of the added effects to scenes like leaves falling, or lightning effects are pretty well done.

sex scenes - they're kinda random and feel unearned. Like it doesn't feel like the main character really has any sort of a connection to any of the characters. So it's just like "Let's have sex now because the plot sorta demands it".

Gameplay - 4/5: nothing standout here. After the prologue it's a bit of a sandbox game, but there's no grinding and no real choices that mater from what I can see. But that's not really a negative to me because the game doesn't waste your time.

Overall enjoyment - 3.4/5: I realy want to like this game more. And I see a lot of potential with the premise. But it just felt kind of like outside of the opening story beats, the game lacks heart. I think not feeling like I can connect to any of the characters, really ruins the experience for me and makes me feel ultimately uninterested in this game. But I don't think there's anything wrong here that can't be fixed. And maybe someone with different priorities might like the game more as it is now.

I don't feel like I wasted my time with the game, but I also feel slightly disappointed, because it's got so many potentially good things going for it that it just doesn't quite pull off right.

edit: I thought it was kinda funny that the main character has a Kingdom Hearts "dive to heart" moment in the prologue. I wanted to work that into the review, but forgot about it.