VN - Ren'Py - Companion of Darkness [Ch. 8] [Berkili4]

A very nice novel, enjoyed the characters and the scenes, with distinct and interesting personalities and a fine world/relationships building. Coming for the horny, staying for the world. Definitely recommend trying out.

Honestly, this game is really solid and well worth your time. But its not perfect my main issues come from outside influences like me just not vibing with the protagonists model, the first main villain being fairly underwhelming and doesn't have enough build for his arc, or the fact that the fourth Primordial's theme is Deep Blue Jeer, which does fit her but it pulls me out since I really like the song.

But other than those "Issues" the cast is honestly pretty good, Noel, Naer, and Gab, are particular standouts in my opinion. The protagonist is also quite stellar as MC's are in this genre, the dev has been really good at correctly showing his emotions in the major plot moments, and after chapter 6 I can feel a rising buildup for him that I hope is pulled of right.

In all, really good and I cant wait for the next update to come out.

Tldr: Review as of chapter 8. Mediocre game that gets a little bit better in some areas as it progresses, but would not recommend unless you love the classic "ordinary guy finds out he has secret super powers, now he must save the world"-kind of story, in which case it might have some appeal for you.

Pros

• Some nice modells, especially the main LI Dark One. Also generally gets better in the later chapters.
  
  
• Music score that changes from scene to scene and seem to be original or at least uncommon (meaning, you woun't find them in every other Renpy game).
  
  
• Animated sex scenes, though many of them are not very well made. Gets a little bit better in later chapters.
  
  
• Men taller than women. A very low bar suprisingly many games struggle to clear. Though, this is probably more thanks to Honey Select than the dev. Still, credit where credit is due.
  
  
• Much, much content. But that is both a pro and a con, see below.

Cons

• MC has ugly boyish face deluxe (and the body is not much better, but that is at least partly Honey Select 2s fault). Irony points for a woman/LI in the game saying she doesn't find another man handsome, because he isn't "rough, masculine...manly" and that she doesn't like "pretty boys" anymore. Granted, the MC isn't pretty, but he is absolutely not in any way "rough, masculine...manly".
  
  
• Main LI is a giant spider in her true form. As are all the so called Dark Ones. Maybe this is a bit subjective, but I think most people will agree with me that giant arachnids are not sexy. Knowing that that is their true form is almost like knowing that their true form is male or something similar. Every time I remember it while seeing a sex scene involving a dark one, it turns me off. Also, it looks like the image is a scaled up small spider with really low resolution.
  
  
• Dark Ones are imortal beings that have been alive for billions of years, yet have no more gravitas than an average 22-year old. Now, I understand that pulling off what's supposed to be an antidiluvian immortal is difficult, even for a proficiant writer (which this dev is not), but if you can't do it properly, maybe find another explanation for them that doesn't involve them being immortal and ancient beyond comprehension? Also, many of the characters verge on the silly side and characters initially described as being inhumanly dangerous and uncaring are of course shown to be quite sweet and/or childish in many interactions. MC is also able to reach through emotionally to the core of these super powerful, immortal beings that have been around since before the big bang and are considered cold and unapproachable by everyone else, despite himself being a socially inept semi-autist (see below). Believable? Not very, no.
  
  
• Spineless sociopath simp MC. He murders left and right without any pangs of guilt. But in all choices, the best outcome is always to do what main LIs want. Maximum white knight simp ftw, so to speak, because sexually he's of course not calling any shots what so ever. He does what he's told and virtually never takes any initiative of his own unless the woman telegraphed from three miles away that she wants to have sex with the him. Despite being a vicious and empathy deficiant killer. The one time he tries to take a little bit of assertive initiative, he does so in autism deluxe style and of course fails it completely (see below). Also, did it because LI/Dark One told him he should have sex, so not really his own idea either, thought the moronic execution was all him.
  
  
• Pathetic vanilla handling of dark themes. So, there's a lot of brutal and cruel murder going on, encouraged by the main squeeze Dark One that the MC is a companion of. And fighting between rival Dark Ones and their companions. But the sex following a victory in such a confrontation is ridiculous (because of course, stealing the power of a defeated rival could be achieved through sex, which is peak porn logic, but that's to be expected). The companion has just been murdered in cold blood. But the defeated Dark One doesn't care. Doesn't care that all her power will be sucked from her and that she will be sent to limbo for ten thousand years. And is in fact welcoming and participating in the sex that will render her powerless. Not only is it ridiculous in itself, it is also a very missed opportunity. If you're making a game where you revel in gory murder and other dark themes, then why not extend that to the sex? Why not at least give the player the opportunity to wrest the power from the rival Dark One through rape or at the very least some heavy duty dominance (because you can choose to do it in a non sexual, but for the Dark One in question, very painful way, so morally, you can chose to be an evil fuck, just not a sexually evil fuck)? But no, it all has to be boring vanilla.
  
  If the MC is going to be a knight in shining armour when it comes to sex, I would much more prefer if he could also be a good guy in other ways. There's nothing worse than a porn game with a murderous bad guy who is so weak and spineless that he can't do anything other than the most vanilla and simping forms of sex. And to be overly clear: It is just the sex. He has for instance no problem having a Dark One secretly read the mind of one of the human LIs. What's hacking their computer and going through their trash when you can just read their minds directly, eh? So, definitely not a good guy. Despite that, limp noodle coward when it comes to sex.
  
  
• Socially inept MC. Example: Dark One tells him he needs to have sex. He responds by out of the blue grabbing the breasts of a woman who's expressed interest in him before. To the devs credit, this particular autistic move doesn't end well for the MC. But why make the MC an autist in the first place? Anyone with half a brain and a normal understanding of human interactions knows that you don't initiate sex with a woman you never had sex with before by out of nowhere grabbing hold of her boobs. Unless you're willing to do the rapey, rapey that is. But as we know, he isn't. Despite this, almost every woman wants him more than anything. Because of course they do.
  
  
• All consequential men but one are evil. Such a boring and lazy trope in many harem games. Also, despite there being lots of women in the game, when it comes to fighting and killing it's almost always other men who gets it. Also boring and stereotypical. Dare be different, man, don't be so predictable.
  
  
• Sob stories galore. Another tired trope, LIs almost always have one sob story or another. It gets tiring. Even the supposed bad asses known for brutality and insanity of course are shown to have sobby backgrounds.
  
  
• Mind reading and seeing whole episodes where the MC isn't present. Fucks with first person immersion as the MC isn't a mind reader for real. Made worse by central plot points unknown to the MC is revealed to the player. Why? It's as if the Dev couldn't contain his own excitement over all the plot twists he crafted and had to spill them prematurely. Would have been much better for the player to find out at the same time as the MC, would have been more of a gut-punch. Also, would mean slightly less time between sex (se below).
  
  
• Hardly any mdom. You're supposed to be able to be on a "Mdom path", but there is very little mdom and what there is, is very vanilla. And the MC is still a simp who does what he is told. Example: LI says she wants MC to be dominant as they're about to have sex (because nothing screams mdom more than having a woman tell the clueless man that he should be more dominant... ). He complies by pulling her shirt up exposing her breasts. That was it. But even on the so called Mdom path, you will encounter fdom, where the MC gets ordered around, forced down on his knees and outright controlled by the powers of the other companion. Go figure. Gets slightly better towards the end, but still very unsatisifying.
  
  
• Very low sex to time ratio. Particularly frustrating considering many characters are presented as already in love with the MC or wanting sex from the very beginning, like the main Dark One LI who can eat the MCs feelings and sexual feelings being some of the best to feed on.
  
  
• Sex interupted. As if the low sex to time ratio isn't bad enough as it is, the Dev throws in instances were the MC is about to have sex, but is interupted at the last minute. Haha, no sexy time for you. Now more boring and convuluted story and plot instead.
  
  
• Mostly subpar renders. Base build is a version of Honey Select 2, but many times, they are not posed properly and look bad. The backgrounds are generally speaking of lower quality as well. Of the different modells, most are nothing to write home about, only exception is really the two main dark ones that are used as promotion-pics for the game all the time. This gets a little bit better towards the later chapters though, so maybe the Dev is improving in this regard.
  
  
• Cameos from other games as something "funny". Just ruins immersion.
  
  
• LI is a gamer, so she figures out a strategy for how to defeat an uberpowerful foe, because of course real life is just a MMORPG with better resolution. Armies around the world should supplant their generals and commanders with twenty year old gamers, because clearly, they understand strategy and tactics in the real world better than anyone else.
  
  
• Akward writing, don't know if it's Engrish or just very poorly written by a native speaker, but never really good and at worst, it's really poorly written. Not full of spelling and grammar issues, but just poorly and akwardly worded. Also, the descriptions of the sex scenes usually comes across as cringe rahter than hot.
  
  
• Almost everyone is a virgin. Despite that, sex is always awesome, never any problem with penetration despite MC having a huge cock. Example: 30+ companion woman is a virgin because her Dark One makes her unable to feel desire. Despite that, she wants MC to take her virginity before she dies (because of course she does and of course she doesn't die). MC kisses her once, then shoves his cock straight up into her pussy, no foreplay. So, virgin without ability to feel desire (admits to faking it) and is rammed by a huge cock without being lubed up first. MC asks if it hurts (remember, sexually he's vanilla simp). Of course not. Please fuck harder. Proceeds to having huge orgasm due to nothing more than the MC sawing back and forth in her pussy.
  
  
• MC has magic dick. Example: prostitute explains to MC "for me it is not so easy to climax.". Goes on to come from penetration alone. And to be clear to all virginal players out there, who gets the majority of their sexual knowledge from porn and games like these, where women scream in orgasmic bliss as soon as the d enters the vajayjay, in reality, only a small percentage of women can orgasm from penetration alone, the large majority require clitoral stimulation to come. Also, see above.
  
  
• When having sex, main Dark One LI changes her looks to a more mundane version. Since her looks is one of the few pros of this game, that sure is a looser move. Also, the explanation for why is goofy. Because having sex with a Dark One can be dangerous for a human/companion. But if she changes into a human body, it is suddenly no problem. Like, wait what? The companions already look human in their human forms (remember, their real form is huge ass spiders), save for small things like pointy ears or a weird complexion. Also, since it all takes place inside a dream, how could it even matter? No one knows...
  
  
• Blonde men are evil. This game has quite a number of blonde dudes. All of them are bad. Dev mentally stuck in action movies from the eighties where every bad guy is a blonde german, russian or south african. This isn't exactly my biggest gripe, as, who cares, but it's emblamatic of the low quality in the writing/characters.
  
  
• Female jealousy unheard of. At least, the convenient "MC needs to have sex to build power" means we have a flimsy excuse for some of the harem, but that doesn't explain why none of the human women seem to have a jealous bone in their bodies. Unrealistic and missed opportunity for tension and authentic drama.

I totally enjoyed this one... (And this contains spoilers "kinda")

Amazing story, music, fight scenes, epicness xD and love with companion Noel, fifth Primordial Aspect of Fear...

I do not even have to say more...

This was like playing full blown anime or enjoying a really great story - AVN in this case and it is amazing and I yearn for more.
Chapter 9 pretty please Berkili4 and thanks for your work and passion, it shows in game ...

Whole companion aspect feels believable and thoughtout, and I really felt the bond we have with Noel and
All about the Dark ones and Primordial aspects feels so EPIC and damn good, and yet them showing emotions, particularly Noel to US and Nael to Rule B and such.


Lastly thanks again, I really love this AVN too and can´t wait for more...

I recommend it to everyone here to try it, it is well worth it...
And, after all, you have all eternity to go through it D_D

Review of CH.8
This is another good example of a story so good you forgot to nut, I think it's an understatement that a lot of this comunity likes anime, I know I do, and I can appreciate all the comon tropes CoD(hehe) has, the writing has the kind of charm and cheese I love, but regarding the romance and erotic aspects I feel it falls short more often than not, the LI's personalities make up for that but I believe a revision on the writing and script since theres a good amount of gramatical erros here and there, a more ample vocabulary (not like it needs a thesaurus but theres I find a bit simplistic a good chunk of the charaters dialogues.) and more drawn-out scenes where the characters get more development, in a story where feelings are very important not all the girls get to grow on that, I know advancing the plot is important, but this is already a slowburn so more conversations could be nice. My reason to insist in this is related to the models and renders, they are about what you expect from HS, good and get the job done, I especially like the use of more "average" girl body types since it's pretty normal to use the more bustier side of character design so girls like Emma, Noel and Clara feel more special. Although the sex scenes improve with each chapter, they're the weakest part of this VN but it's funny cause i'm more focused on the story to crank one out. Theres room for more choices to be made b y the player regarding dialoge options, a bit more flavor to the writing i believe!! Last there's the fight scenes, they're cool, that's about it, maybe more dinamic camera angles could help, maybe a few adjustments in the lighting... love the cameos btw!!!

This game is awesome. The story is quite good. I was always wanting more and more and more. The girls are all very beautiful I enjoyed them all. The whole story behind being a companion is actually very interesting, all the different factions also make me curious about all the different types and how they're run, we've only met 3 and don't really know much about them but hey looking forward to future chapters for this.

Noel and Ciarara are my favorites. I'm hoping something great happens after the Chapter 8 Cliffhanger.
All in All I highly recommend this banger. Great story, Great women. Great MC. Great world building. I just really can't recommend this one enough. This is for sure going to be one I'm supporting with the few I have already. Can't wait for the next update!

Developer is goated for this amazing game. Who knew Berki could collab with many devs. I can't wait to see how Rule B shapes the game and Noel's story in the next update.
ALL IN ALL GAME IS GOATED IN EVERY WAY, LOADING SCREEN, GRAPHICS, STORY, ANIMATION, SEX SCENES, WRITING AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. The wait is killing me. I love you, Berki, mwahh!

This has been one of the best games i've really been enjoying so far, i really like the character relationship growth between each of the other LI's, my personal favorites are Noel & Clara, I've only recently came back to the game with 2 more chapters added & i must say, it's been a blast & i cannot wait to see more of it.

That on was difficult to judge. On one side you have a really interesting anime like story about powerful beings and fractions that are fighting each other (won't spoil more) and on the other side this game rushes through most of its story events and sadly barely any character is really flashed out.
Also in the beginning the animations/composition/lightning are not very good, but the dev improves greatly on later chaps.

Despite the flaws, i really recommend you try out CoD ( ) yourself, because its a diamond in the row that's just keep getting better and better. If the dev give his characters a little bit more time to develop (maybe through some flashback scenes), i can see him rising to the top with other well known games. The music is okay. Two songs stood out for me. Rest does the job without getting annoying. Oh and that is only my personal opinion, but please make the MC Face look a little bit more badass. It always takes me out when i see his bland expressions.^^

3,5/5 (4 because of the rating system) after Chapter 8

ps.: Don't forget poor Jacky^^

This game is amazing. The story is compelling and the references and callbacks kind of feel nostalgic. The UI is pretty unique though. Not in a bad way but in a new refreshing way. The script could use some revisions. Although not a lot some misspellings and typos do get apparent. Still despite it being already a substantial amount of content, there are still so much more to be explained which means more possible content. I only hope that the quality doesn't drop anytime soon because the new updates where really good. Especially the scenes. It is a must play and totally recommend.

Great story, very engaging! Can't wait to see MC's development as the new Rule B! Hope as he gets stronger and his inhabitants power grows and he can occupy more dark ones. Surely he won't stop with just 3... right?!

Overall a fun and entertaining game. It does a lot of things well but doesn't excel in any particular area.

The strongest part of the game is the storytelling. The game also has lots of content to play through. The weakest park of the game is the poor English (and the author claims to have two proofreaders?).

I'm not a fan of Honey Select but the author makes the most out of an outdated rendering platform.

The sex scenes are done well overall with good animation. Some of the sex scenes feel forced and undeserved however. Porn logic is definitely present here.

Parts of the story are nonsensical and conflict with other parts. This is especially problematic in chapters 4 and 5.


Overall a fun and entertaining game that is good but doesn't excel in any particular area.

I recommend this game and encourage others to give it a try!

Rev @ Companion of Darkness [Ch. 8]

I like it.

Art's good. Novel nonhuman mods on render software that isn't just shitty cat ears.

Writing is very enjoyable. Scenario is novel, narrative is engrossing, characters are enjoyable. Gonna be pissed and dock stars if the dev kills off the support cast though; they're muh favorite.

Porn's fine. None of the preg I was promised but I remain hopeful.

Gameplay is fine. Not a fan of the Hobson choices that lead to obnoxious gameovers, but linear narrative gonna linear. I also feel that the blood is a) over-relyed on, b) comes across as juvenile on occasion, and c) not the most convincing visual. I strongly dislike gore and violence in my porn though so it's likely I'm just hypersensitive to it.

All in all very worth checking.

0.8 Review

This game shines in so many ways. The animations and character models are great, each character has their own distinct personality and the world is decently fleshed out. The biggest problem is that this guy needs an editor. There are so many grammar and spelling mistakes and poorly worded sentences that it can bring you out of the moment. Here's hoping that he can rewrite them and I can't wait for the pregnancy scenes!

Honestly surprised its taken me this long to discover this game, playing a game this good thats this far into development is a rare treat.
This shit absolutely slaps guys im telling you. The plot is nicely coherent and fun despite ever changing stakes and settings, also well developed characters that are distinct and feel unique.
The premise and story itself i find to be fresh and fascinating, as well as the intrigue with inter-personal relationships and the MC's backstory. It really drew me in quick.
Character decisions and motivations make sense logically which is always great, not to mention absolutely fantastic worldbuilding.
Great renders and animations all around. The erotic content is also VERY hot but can be rare and brief at times. For those like me that play VNs mostly for the story this is a great one to pick up.
Dev has done great work so far and im super excited to see where they take it next.
Peace x

At first I was just randomly looking for any kind of game that looked somewhat interesting, so I probably downloaded quite a few including this one. Other than the fact that this one was a bigger download than the other games and it had a few interesting tags, I didn't really pay attention to it or play it. I played some other games which most were just meh and downright boring. Then eventually I saw this game in my downloads and said, "Hey lets try this one and see what its about."

The main menu looked promising so was somewhat interested in the game, by this time when I started playing this I already forgot what the game is about or the reason why I downloaded it. So I started it and everything seemed okay so far, not most original of beginnings but certainly interesting. And it got better and better. And I was hooked.

I do like Noel, and I do like her story, origins. Obviously some might say she is plain and simple but I do like her. All the characters are interesting in some way, some way more interesting than others, some good humor here and there, very few had background stories but not really necessary but would be interesting to know more especially regarding certain Dark ones/primordials(Maybe in futures chapters?) and certain characters. The animations is honestly not good, specifically the naughty scenes which are very basic and not really interesting. The animations in the fight scenes or in general are good just not the h-scenes.


Its not the best h-game in the world, definitely does not have good h-animations, there are very few grammar mistakes or missing words.
It does have an interesting story and it does get better and more interesting, it does stay relevant throughout.

I definitely would recommend the game for its story and for the love interests/characters. But its not a game for a quick fap or for its h-animations. But it is one of the few games I would be willing to pay/buy. So I am happy that I picked up this gem while randomly downloading games.

My favourite Dark one is probably Noel for now. For normal characters its probably Amy and Emma(Heh, normal).

Review for Ch. 8

I really tried to like it, and made it all the way until the end of the current release. It started really strong, with a unique story and interesting premise but quickly got weaker after the mc From there on, the writing is sadly the big weak point, there are many avoidable grammar and spelling mistakes, the Classes of the Dark Ones read like something written by a 7 year old (basicly noone you meet is under a B rank, and by chapter 3 the main antagonist is SSS - whats the reason for having an F-S ranking system if you make B-SSS out of it?).

Most of the characters are 50/50, interesting but not fleshed out, or plain bland. Again, the worldbuilding and underlying concept is good, just the actual implementation is very lackluster.

I honestly like the concept of the game, i like the idea. Its interesting, the world and storytelling is somewhat thought out, but the writing and the characters + models are just not quite there. I dont think it needs a rework, but certainly most chapters and areas need a rewrite and need to be better thought out. There is potential, but i feel like the autor is very young and certainly unexperienced. For now i sadly cant rate it higher than 3/5

Unique story with a bunch of interesting characters, I'm giddy at every new update. Solid amount of content, that keeps being updated. The renders are some of the best on this site, and the music fits the atmosphere of the game super well

Definitely recommended. The story is top tier - be warned, this is not your typical fap avn, this game has a Story! If you love sci-fi, you you love fantasy, you should definitely play this game.
Strong points are the storytelling and its characters. The girls are all lovable, there is humor and it's on point.
I repeat, don't think in term of tags and fappable stuff, this game will blow you away if you let yourself be carried by the atmosphere and the characters. Just play the game and let yourself be embraced by the sweetness of Noel, by her tsundere sister, and the other characters. You won't regret it!

Reviewing till chapter 8.
Must recommended VN. The game has top-tier anime like story with action lmao didn't expected to see something like this in AVN. What I like most in this AVN is that Li's and side characters are also super strong.
It may fall a bit on sex animation department but the story and build-up fills up for it.