VN - Ren'Py - Companion of Darkness [Ch.9] [Berkili4]

11/14/2023 Ch. 5

So far this game has been amazing. The characters are well written and the story is great. I love how the story explores aspects of forbidden love and not in the typical incest sense. Unlike other games, this one has a big focus on story which is a massive plus for me. Aside from that, the characters have development and are not static. Overall a great game and can't wait to see what comes next.

First time I have felt the need to write a review on this site.
For whatever reason I really connected with the writing in this game and can't wait to see where the story goes from here and even played through most of it again after finishing it.

Judgeing by some of the other reviews it is not for everybody but for me it is my favorite VN on this site and I've been playing them for years now.

Story started out great, but to much started to make no sense, text could use a proofreader as well, alot of small errors and worng words, its still readable but it just takes a bit away from the experince when it happens to often.

The LIs names are very annoying atleast to me, when you name one Clara another Claire or Noel and another Nael it can just be hard to remember whos who at times.

You might also get the feeling MC is an evil person, forcing hes friends into the world of darkness without concent, he couldent really care less about the danger it will put them in.
He could even ask them risk free if its something they want but he never does, he just force it on them, and personaly i am not a fan of that since the story is about him being good so it dosent really make much sense when hes in fact not anywhere near good.

It will contain some spoilers befow so read on at your own risk.

It made the game boring and unplayable after that since the one LI i cared about wasent there anymore, still played through the 5 chapters but the fun was just not there after that, and no real point going on with a AVN if you dont care about a single LI.
So for me game ended in Chapter 4 with the new life ending, since Clara was the only one that mattered at any point.

Virgin scene is a bit of a joke, MC slams it in, girl feels no pain just pure pleasure, i get it that virgin dosent mean deflower scene but even so they just feel like any other sex scene and nothing like a virgin scene.

Girls in general looks nice and good builds, personalties are meh, like i said i only really cared about the Shy Clara, and the rest wasent really in my taste, some felt and act like whores and i am not into that, another has 0 emotions, so couldent really feel anything for any of them.

Animations are very good for this style of characters.

Music is about average.

Choices are very nice, they only effect who to have sex with but that is a very importen thing in my eyes, i do wish you would have a bit more controle over MC and hes thoughts, like when MC is asked if you want to save the blond girl, i would like to have been able to say no since i couldent care less about her and learning about her selling drugs and act like a whore dident change those feelings, but game will try to push you towards LIs so you cant really do anything but say no once they ask about sex or not.

Its not a bad game or story, it just wasent for me and when a game becomes unplayable or have to many issues like the stuff i said above, i cant rate it more then 2 stars it just wouldent be right, i did try to play all 5 chapters to see if the story alone would be enough to be fun, but it lost it charm to me and only became more boring and alot made no sense or just not explained, making the story a big mess.

Its worth trying out though and see if its for you.

Man, I like the mysterious tons and the power struggle but this game's story is a freaking mess.

The power levels are out of wack. The whole plot against Matt was utterly pointless. The fight was boring, the build-up to that fight was meaningless. Tons of important characters and plots were introduced but had no time to flesh them out and ended abruptly as they were introduced. Choices that have absolutely no value like joining the Brotherhood. Characters that absolutely have no value suddenly elevated to important to the plot like Emma whose only impression was resting bitch face who got slapped with a lesbian redhead and they do stuff, then suddenly, bam she is now one of the most important characters in the current arc.

But worst of all was Nael and Gabriel. Ms. Mary Sue and Mr. Gary Stu. A perfect couple of double plot devices that did nothing but tear the already paper-thin plot into nothingness. And now the author has to bench them like Gege benched Goro in case they need to bring them back to handle another fight like Matt because fucking hell that was the only thing they were created to do.

Review for Ch. 5R

Playing this felt like watching a D tier anime you've never heard of. I played for maybe 40 minutes before I couldn't really stomach it anymore and closed the game. It's just not very good.

I liked the premise of having ancient horror girls as companions who sort of merge with you and give you power, but then it throws us into an uninspired high school plot with the lamest MC imaginable. The dialogue/general writing is subpar and makes me cringe at points, and none of the characters made an impression on me in the time I played. There just isn't a single thing here making me want to play this game. It failed to hook me.

I held the skip button a bit to jump around and see if anything got better. It did not. You get beat up by a bully because you decide not to use your new powers for some dumb reason and then a girl you barely know offers you a random hand job. Decided it wasn't even worth holding the skip button after that. Maybe this game gets better the more you play? Either way the start wasn't nearly good enough for me to want to find out.

Enjoyed the game so far!
The MC is not some kind of 'god' or 'badass' character and sometimes there are things for which he has no answer or simply cannot do anything about.
The decisions don't seem to have a heavy impact and there does not appear to be defined 'routes' at least so far.
About the renders. It has original renders and I have not seen repeated characters from any other game, they are unique. The animations and the intimacy scenes are fun to watch and read.
The argument and the story is pretty solid and if you like fantasy and superpower things, ignore the haters and give the game a try, is a breath of fresh air.

absolutely fun to read kinetic story. very little VN choice matters stuff, but for once I don't miss it.

the characters are pretty unique, the MC has his own internal conflicts to deal with, and there's a romance-or-brutality thing going on that's fun to watch unfold, all while learning more about the game setting and behind-the-scenes machinations that sometimes don't end up quite as expected (but usually do).

luckily I ignored the haters and gave it a shot. really glad I did. can't wait for the next release.

also, seeing cameos from some of my favorite VNs was a super nice bonus. was funny as Hell.

Fanatsy genre needs more good games like this. A game where mc isn't all powerful and having answers for every situation. It's also refreshing to see emotions portrayed somewhat realistically. Impulsive decisions, missing someone dear etc.
Writing is great. I wish the Dev would focus the emotions of the characters,coz I feel like that's Dev's strong suit. Coz I didn't feel anything for the companion at the beginning and by the end of ch5,I somehow felt what mc was feeling.
Renders for the earlier chapters aren't bad, but I wish some of the scenes didn't feel chaotic. Especially the action scenes,they're good but it feels movie-ish( maybe that's what the dev was going for) I know it looks cool and all, but for me,it felt out of place.
Wish there was a scene gallery. Looking forward to playing the next chapter.

MC is just useless. Always gets saved but can do nothing on his own. His action does not matter.



Here we have an ultimate being that can fuking reverse whole planet back - her goal to kill humanity but over thousands years she couldn't!



Here we have some guy who controls her - he is invincible and she listens to him - yet he still hasn't achieved his goals, whatever they may be.







Overpowered characters suck - especially when they on your side - sure Nael kinda want to kill the MC - but we know she wouldn't do it and even more in crucial moment she and her partner will play deus ex machina and save the day - witch making all MC actions unnecessary and useless.







It will be great if there would be great if the MC would solve the conflict with Matt by himself - but no, Nael arrives and her partner, acting like a clown, saves the day, just because.



It would be great if they and the MC star conflict between themselves but I just don't see it. This overpowered thing and clown partner are too shallow. What are they doing? Why they are doing it? In first chapter it seemed that they are gathering power by killing but they don't need it. In the events they are shown to us they either just fooling around or saving the day - we shouldn’t fear for the character because they will save them anyway.



MC doesn't have a clear goal too and looks pitiful. He will just go after the plot flow, I assume.



Shame it may be very interesting work but I just can't be annoyed by the MC and role in all of this mess.

There is a moment where the sound of a stomach growling can be heard, and that sound is so realistic that I legitimately thought that it came from ME.

Seriously, though? I find that about 7 out of every 10 games I try, I just end up holding my CTRL key to skip dialogue to see the rest of the scenes after a little while. I didn't do that with this game, outside of a very limited number of scenes when I was too busy wanting to physically attack whoever I could find that most reminded me of [REDACTED], for being such a spoiled piece of shit.

10/10, I would jump in front of a bus for Clara.

Companion of Darkness is a fantasy VN based in a world of eldritch horrors that take the appearance of hot girls. Fortunately, they only eat human emotions, not humans. As a result, we end up in the world of Companion of Darkness, where the cute girls have a sort of symbiosis thing going on with humans and give them DBZ powers. Ya know, like ya do.

The story is decent overall, but the author comes across as rather inexperienced. There is definitely a story to be told in the game, but between switching points of view, exposition dumps, and information the author knows and we don’t, problems arise. A lot of good dramatic tension is wasted and characters make decisions that make sense to them, but not the player. It’s not outright bad, but it could be better.

The characters are actually pretty good. They have backgrounds, personalities, and motives for their actions. Their decision making based on who they are alters the story in interesting ways. The only real issue I have with them is how much effort the author put into characters that won’t impact the story in any noticeable way. I could be wrong, but it sure seems like Matt hit the nuclear option and none of the school characters are going to matter anymore, right? (Ch. 4)

The renders look fine overall. They definitely improve over the course of the story and there are some backgrounds and outfits that I found really nice. Honestly, the combat is really where it shines though. The dev put a lot of effort into the fight sequences and doesn’t shy away from gore. While not the reason to play the game by itself, there are some good sex animations as well.

The gameplay kinda feels like false advertising though. While there are choices, the vast, vast majority of them are opt-in or out of sex scenes. I played through a couple times with different choices just to see if I could get things to change, and generally could not outside of a bad end (maybe good end though really?). Perhaps I’m just missing things or the choices matter portion just hasn’t happened yet, but so far it feels like a kinetic novel. That isn’t a bad thing per se, but I’d prefer if that was noted up front.

Overall, Companion of Darkness is worth a play if you’re in the market for a fantasy VN with DBZ combat and a little bit of TnA to make things spicy. The story is worthwhile, though not flawless and the art and characters are good enough to justify your time. I’m looking forward to where the author decides to go with things.

It's a cool game. The author makes it an effort to have each moment and dialogue as a new render. It feels more like reading a comic than a traditional visual novel and the story really has its moments;

This game is good.
No for real the high score is well deserved and here is why:

1. Renders:
Like many projects the renders start of a bit rough at the start but get way better as the game continues and are now at a really good level, where you can see that the dev put actual effort creating and working on these.

2. Character models:
Overall they look nice for HS2 models. Some might look a bit strange at first glance since they are not human characters after all but their essence is captured quite nicely and gives some more variation to the overall character cast looks.

3. Characters:
The characters are what makes the story feel alive. There are many different personalities to encounter and not everyone is like they first appear to be. They have actual motivations and secrets which will be revealed the further the story goes. Even some of the at first thought unserious and fun characters have more to them than their put up facade lets you see, which makes the characters more interesting and likeable.

4. Story and Screenplay:
This is the strong part about the game. The story is well thought out and has a good pase. Some might complain that not all answers are presented like that and that is true but also good, because having some mysteries and unanswered questions will make you want to know more about the lore of the game and how it all fits together. The writing is very good especially for plot twists and emotional scenes, fight and comedial scenes are also well thought out.

5. Lewd Scenes:
As good as the writing of other scenes is, sadly the same can't be said about the lewd scenes. Not saying they are bad but they lack a bit in depth and build up. Which is kinda sad since there is a good and strong emotional build up with the characters already, though the scenes feel a bit out of place or fast paced for the situation they are presented in.

Overall this game is very enjoyable. I like that the game also tries to delve in the meaning of certain philosophical questions if you want to theorise about them aswell. Even if you don't want to think much, it is still a fun read but I recommend playing this game for the story first and foremost and not the porn of the game. This game could easily be a real book or show aswell and I'm curious where the journey in the game will lead us to.

Review of Chapter 5

I always love the theme of urban fantasy where the concept of fantasy world feels within our touch, but so far only a handful of games have caught my eye, and Companion of Darkness is definitely one of them.
Don't be fooled by the seeminly low-quality render previews. They don't do any justice about how amazing this game is. I really love the worldbuilding which focuses on Dark Ones and their Companions, the conflicts between each character and also between each faction, and also how each interaction, especially relationship, plays out. This is not your ordinary haremfest. While each sex scene feels fulfilling, it's the main story that manages to keep me engaged all the way. And the existing content is really abundant for a game that only started this year.
If you want to experience an excellent urban fantasy, don't hesitate playing this game.

I liked the game. Waiting for the next update.
Interesting characters, good story, some drama. Pretty good amount of drama to be honest, which I consider a good thing. Renders are not the top notch, but still solid.
A codex would be good adding to the game with the information that was told by Noel like history, ingame terms, list of primordials.
Overall, I like the games with interesting story, where erotic parts is not the only thing you play this game. And after I finished ch.5 of Companion of Darkness, it went directly to the list of my favourite games.

Pros:

1. story-driven plot infused with deep lore and likeable characters,
2. music is decent and sound effects are great,
3. renders in later chapters are good
4. Lewds are naturally introduced and choices are pretty clear.
5. It's an action packed story first infused with slice of life desert.

Cons:

1. writing is good but to make it even better it needs some grammatical revisions.
2. Earlier renders might need rework down the line.
3. Gallery would be great addition.
4. It could also use a codex page to explain terms like feral, primordial, the wars etc, cuz sometimes it hard to remember how humans actually came together with dark ones when the dark ones are like way powerful.

Verdict: Yep pick it up! The story is really well written and MC acts realistic. There's no horny monolog about banging everything that moves so it helps you focus on story and actually care about the characters.

a great story with emotions as well as good lewds

Dev's like this one make me like HS models even more then before

the renders are good, as well as the overall story

Strongly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good story along with their lewds

I've known the Dev since the publication of Chapter 2 so I might be a little biased so keep that in mind.
Companion of Darkness has a heavier focus in it's main story and its story telling rather than the lewd/sex part of its content.

Pros:

• A very well laid out and written story, bringing the feeling of watching an anime.
• Interesting Characters with excellent development through out the story.
• Very enjoyable action sequence scenes!

Cons:

• Chapter 1 renders could be considered a crime with how the quality improves further down the line and I think it needs a rework in the future.
• While the story is well written and all, it needs proofreading.

If you're looking for pure porn game then this is game is going to be around 3.5/5 or 4/5 starts. It has fun sex-scenes but there are VN out there with higher quality in this regard.

But if you're into good stories with adult elements then this game is 100% worth your time with a 5/5 stars! I highly recommend you to check it out!

Reviewing up until Chapter 2

TL;DR: The writer breaks the established rules of this game's universe multiple times for the sake of plot-armor, the graphic is barely basic HS2, MC is dumb, most characters are bland and forgettable

Major spoilers ahead

I won't do the usual Pros and Cons list, because this game managed to achieve something that i thought was impossible: Destroy his own Pros and right from the start even. So yeah you're about to read a long list of Cons, you've been warned,

Let's start with the Plot: Before the Big Bang, there were beings that decided to call themselves The Dark Ones, how many of them are there? Unknown. Ultimately, a considerable amount of of them end up on earth and decided to rule over it...until humans decided to fight back(when this happens? The game doesn't tell you, but not knowing when it happens is important to call out an important issue later) and won...but the Dark Ones managed to hide themselves from historians and make everyone forget about them...so far sounds linear and a decent plot, right?

Here comes the flaw: The Dark Ones are described like all-powerful beings, described as gods or other mythical beings from mythology and folklore...and yet humans managed to defeat them...how? No idea but let's just say that a Dark Ones doesn't get hurt by automatic rifles shooting bullets enhanced with a Dark One's powers...so how random humans with random weapons defeat them is unknown

Noel(which at this point is our lore-exposition girl) in chapter 1 explains how Dark Ones and humans need each other, calling it a symbiotic relationship like Spiders and Frogs(i had to look it up on internet...apparently Amazonian Spiders and Frogs, do have a mutual relationship, frogs eats small preys like ants and by doing so they protect the spider's eggs, and spiders protect the frogs from bigger spiders and other animals...i feel dumb and bored already, there are at least 5 more common examples of symbiosis that the average person knows...but let's move on)...problem is...that it's wrong. The writer breaks such rule continuously, from having Noel (and later Eda) interacting with human-society, to doing anything really, like protecting MC in different ways.

Noel even talk about these rules...but it's not an issue, breaking such rules turns you into a Feral...which at first is described like "becoming animal-like", but later in Chapter 2 we learn that Eda had a decent-ish life when she was a feral herself(healed by Noel), so being a feral is only a matter of "if i'm lucky i'll find a strong Dark One that can heal my condition" and even then, such condition is not that tragic, Eda had a place where to live, she had easy access to human food(why tho? Considering that Dark Ones eat human-feelings) and human emotions(which is their actual food) and she was smart enough to be aware of herself. Being Healed from being Feral, even allow you to break other rules like the "no interact with humans"-rule, but also how past Dark Ones conquered earth then? It's never explained(so far) when these rules were made, so anything is possible really...

I'll keep it short but these rules are broken constantly when you actually read and understand the plot, Noel doesn't need MC at all aside for having an emotion-based meal.

Now about the character: Never read a serious story with such a dumb MC, i swear to god this guy is not even a blank slate for a self-insert MC. This guy sees his best-friend being sexually molested by a bully that hates MC and want his revenge, and MC gets so mad that asks Noel to give him powers, you may think "Cool, MC is someone who fights back hard", and yes he rips apart the rapist, it's a gore-ish scene, very brutal, classic "Frieza kills Krillin" from DBZ, and let's forget for a moment that his "awakening as a Companion" is so powerful that everyone who is associated with Dark Ones felt his presence, the issue is at the end of the day when Noel and MC talks about what MC did, and MC admits that he was mentally lucid enough to actually understand that Noel's idea of just giving him a body enhancement power and beat the shit out of the guy is the best thing to do, but he refused because he really wanted to kill the guy, which he did, and now has to live with the fact that the bully's brother(which is associated with a strong Dark One) is on the hunt for him, and everyone in town felt his presence, and they want him dead(bc there is some sort of implied competition similar to a Battle Royal, where the winner gets unlimited powers or something, no clue it's not explained aside from "Companions along with their specific Dark Ones hunt each other for more power") but my point is that MC wasn't in some sort of berserk-mode, no he is an actual psychopath who wanted to feed on his murderous impulses and desires...only to whine about the consequences.

Now a mention of honour to MC's powers and how not use them: MC later ends up hunted by another Companion, and if you expect him to snap the guy's neck and go home, you'll be mistaken, MC throws a bunch of stuff with his telekinesis (apparently it's his actual power, special ability or whatever along with body enhancement), somehow Noel eats the powers of the enemy's Dark Ones and win the fight(until now there was a rule about Dark Ones not interacting directly with each other, another one rule that just got broken i guess), and now MC uses his telekinesis the smart way, by grabbing the guy and if you make a choice, either MC or Noel(through controlling MC's body) make the guy's head explode and go home like nothing happens.


Other characters? i spoke enough about Noel, she is there mostly for exposition and having a meal based on MC's emotions, Amy? Is barely present, Claire? Same, Emma? Same, Clara has a good story, i thought at first that her arc would be facing the trauma of almost being raped and then seeing her rapist exploding right in front of her eyes while basically bathing in his blood because of MC's actions or being the Prime Suspect of the bully's death, but nope, Eda appears later that very same night, she becomes Clara's Dark One, and she is better than ever with no consequences or mental scars (at least up until the end of chapter 2), what about Jackie? She appears at the beginning of chapter 1, she is annoying and awful, then in chapter 2 we have a short moment when she tells her backstory of being poor but also liking expensive clothes (so much that she gave the bully a handjob, in exchange for the whopping amount of 6000 dollars, and initially the bully wanted sex, Jackie talked him down so much that he accepted a HJ while she was still all dressed-up...not even a naked HJ, so yeah i pity the bully now). The rest of the characters? Aside Matt, none of them seemed important anytime soon...well Matt (which is the bully's brother) is so relevant and powerful that MC had to skip town with Clara, yes Matt is a good companion with an even stronger Dark One, so their potential is insane, and he knows MC's identity, so MC had to hide by leaving the town.

In this whole thing i can't believe that with a near-infinite universe around them, countless liveable planets and possibly and an also countless amount of them having sentient life(i hope), the Dark Ones went on Earth to do...whatever they were doing back then. I mean what the odds? Even more when you include that the top5(or top10) of the strongest Dark Ones are all in the same bloody city at the same time. And you know how the dev could fix this? By saying that the Dark Ones were born on Earth and not in the darkness that was the universe before the Big Bang...but that can't be one, because the strongest Dark One(Noel's sister) is described to be so powerful that she can undo everything another Dark One can do to her, Noel says that she is fundamental as fundamental that in this universe 1+1=2, the dark ones literally removed her from existence and 5 minutes later she was back with no significant issues. Talk about being overpowered...

The graphic is basic, even rough around the edges even by HS2 standards, but the worst part of it is the lack of a black dialogue box. This is the ultimate proof of a dev that doesn't play his own game, or he would have added a warning about it, because i swear the white text when a bright scene is going on, it's just pure pain for the eyes (one scene had the text over one of those pedestrian crossing lines, you couldn't read half of the text).

The overall writing is bland, and it really feels like the dev is making stuff up as he goes breaking his own established rules just to save MC, the grammar isn't perfect(needs proofreading tho) but it's understandable, although it doesn't help the understanding of the plot, the sound is basic at best, nothing to complain or praise about, the lighting could be fixed and some scenes feels filler-ish like when MC didn't know what Caps Lock is and had to be explained to him, not even the NSFW-scenes can save this game as they're very basic like the rest of the game, kinda uninspired, feel like a cheap reward for the incredible achievement of getting so far in the game without quitting.

Ultimately this game is just bad, the whole premise of nearly-divine beings living among humans was intriguing, but the poor execution ruined it. I wish the dev to play his own creation and check the flaws in his plot.

Hello there, Gown here. I rarely write a rating, but goddamn, this one deserves it, so let's begin. A nice little gem right there, with a lot of things to unpack.


The story's nice, and seems to have some upcoming secrets as well. It is decently well made, it has a good thread connecting the dots together and keeps you on suspense.

The characters are all lovable, well made, authentic and feel "real". This game gives you characters you can put yourself into shoes and, goddamn, the models are good (well, at least for me).


It's somewhat of a kinetic novel, but there are a couple of choices (which only seem to impact the next scene.) But don't ignore them because of that, this game is decently well made and deserves the possible attention of you.

This game has a lot of story inside of it. If you are here to only just whack off, maybe look for another option. The plot and story is evolving and it just keeps getting better, so know what you are getting into.


If this keeps up to how it is as of CH5, it has the potential of climbing ranks and have a pretty high score in the ranking. It is also something i am considering to support financially once i got my financial situation stable.


This game has the ability to grow on you, so please give it a chance. You will definitely miss out if you don't watch it.

It does have a con. For me, it is not long enough and there is not enough male dom content, but, i am sure it will be in one way or another fulfilled. I am very excited about the possible future.

TL;DR Great game, great potential and a game that focuses more and more on the story and gives you your juicy "A" in"AVN" as a nice added bonus.

Please give it a read, it will surely be worth your time.

Cheers on y'all for reading'till here, Gown out.