Ren'Py - Covenant of Morn [v0.5.1] [395games]

Covenant of Morn - A Discovery of Self

the latest project by 395games, is currently (roughly) a third of the way through its production cycle. Their previously completed game, Mist, held a unique aesthetic and pushed the boundaries of the ren'py system to make the game feel active and engaging. 395games emphasizes exploration-cycles, returning to a home base, and doing simple mini-games in order to appease a small but diverse harem of extremely well detailed models.

Plot and Characters.

Several other reviewers have brought up Dark Souls or Elden Ring in terms of aesthetic and story. You are resurrected via dark magic by a witch, whose sister, a demon hunter, is looking to eliminate her, you, and all Demonkind. You must discover fellow demons, assist them in their personal struggles, and in so doing fold them into the cause of your mistress. Your presence in the corporeal world is tethered to magics tied to lust and seduction, so if you aren't achieving release in a certain period of time, you're banished off to the proverbial shadowlands.

While I have not played Dark Souls or Elden Ring, I have played their earliest progenitors- Ghosts and Goblins, and Demon's Souls. I am equally lost in Covenant of Morn as I am for Demon's Souls: There is some basic metanarrative here, there's a sense of why I am doing what I am doing, however, unlike 395Games previous works, I fail to see the hook for this setting and world. The Audience is not incentivized to empathize with their domina, Enna. You have sex to come back to life, she treats you like an eternal lover, an eternal partner- your character responds in kind- and then the entire relationship is written in an awkward, stilted, frigid manner, as though the author forgot about placing the horse before the cart.

As you are subservient to the witch Enna, you also have a servant-Demon of your own, Moran. This character is your typical brat-sub, who talks initially as though she could not care less for you, but then quickly dissolves this into a typical master-servant relationship. Both Enna and Moran's dialogue seems more built around explaining a world that you as a character should already be well versed to living in. The intricacies of the demons and their relationship to the current state of the world is rather unknown. Mix of late 19th century aesthetic combined with medievalism does not allow oneself to feel grounded in a particular place or time. The entire game so far reads like a fever dream.

The writers are getting better at their erotica. Laugh-worthy descriptions and dialogue from Mist are refined and more tasteful in Covenant of Morn. They have yet to strike that perfect balance of emotive and sensual description, and rely largely on their excellent quality models and animation, but there's a clear effort to get more intimate and sensual with the writing and it should be lauded rather than chastised.

Gameplay, Graphics, and Audio.

Where 395zone really shines is in audio placement. A maximizing minimalist- the sound of skin on skin, moans, soft panting, and subtle environmental reactions to character animations absolutely sell the few, but very well placed together scenes. Their use of lighting and sound has developed exponentially compared to their previous work- which itself was already high quality. The female models are incredibly detailed, unique to one another visually, and have different ambitions.

The gameplay is a loop of adventure-exploration on particular time limits, as the longer you are away in the proverbial 'veil,' a shadow world that nestles atop of our own, the less likely one is to return to the material world. Each girl has their own particular mini game. Some are generic, some are quite clever. Here, there is an investigation element, but I feel as though the game does not have enough red-herrings, supplemental lore and characterization items, and background information to justify calling it an 'investigation' game, despite that clearly being the genre the developer wishes to go for. This is a drastic limitation of the ren'py platform- but there are plentiful ways to subvert that. The developer would do well to find these methods.

If you have played Dangonranpa, you understand the motif- you need to break down people's self-delusions, lies, and alibi's through judicious use of evidence, and in so doing seduce demons to your cause. 395games has a history of re-balancing minigames, adding additional dialogue, and smoothing out the story-pacing of their work in later editions, so I assume that this game will receive the same treatment. In terms of 3D modeling and cinematogrophy, 395games is probably in the 1%. In terms of audio design, for a minimalist soundscape it's in the top 5%.

A game discovering itself

Covenant of Morn is trying to figure itself out. Half investigation game, half exploration game, occasionally an erotica game, with murky relationships and stattacco pacing that feels largely artificial and a world that has failed to convince me is real. Despite this, I suspect great things from the game's final release and future 395games projects- they really are pushing the boundaries of visuals and audioscape for this ancient ren'py platform.

Another game by the developer of the Mist. Basically the same game but slightly improved.

Better animations, less annoying gameplay. But the same mediocre writing is everywhere. This game has a pretentious version of Dark Souls. A firekeeper analogue calls you back to life and you're an undead champion (sic.). It's so full of exposition.

Version played: 0.5

Will keep it short, I think.

I would say overall Covenant of Morn is good, visually well done, puzzles that work well, schenes that are done competently. However, for me personally it falls flat on the story. I just can’t care for it, not for the characters, not the plotline.

For a game like this, the story is the glue that keeps everythng together. To me it just falls flat here.

I much enjoyed the other two games by 395games, although Mist got less interesting later on it had a great buildup.

On a personal note been kind of absent from these games in general, so perhaps my own taste has simply changed.





In either case from a technical standpoint Covenent of Morn is great, and with it a good example for other games, just wish I would actually enjoy it.

You can't possibly not like this game if you enjoyed the Dev's prior ones.

CoM is an upgrade graphically and also story wise. The world building is great, there is mystery and intrigue and interesting characters. The mini games are less intrusive and getting around the area feels more natural.

Did I mention that it is really beautiful art wise?

This is a great game and you better like it. Or else!

PROS
+ The story is kind of interesting, and not poorly-written in most parts.
+ Visual style looks unique, especially the usage of lights, and place designs are quite interesting.
+ Animation physics is well-made.

CONS
- Story-wise MC doesn't really feel interesting or likeable, his motives are not really logical either, he got reanimated, and he accepted deal from a witch he saw in his life first time just because of wanting have more sexy time with her, wanna feel her lips more, etc, BRUH...
- Not just MC, most of the other characters are not that likable either, and they are quite inconsistent with themselves, etc.
- Again there is a mechanic like the curse in the other game, and this time it's called ''Life Points'' that force you to have sex with girls before you lose all of them, or you face with game over, which feels lame, and copy & paste from the old game of the DEV.
- Now there are another mechanic called ''Date Points'' you need to accure via hanging out with girls, or working, etc, to see their content like dates, sex scenes, etc, even tho it kind of makes sense, feels bit annoying, and little bit grindy.
- Minigames are boring, and kind of tedious, some are skiblabe after doing them first time, so that's plus at least.
- Your choices not really matters, and sanbox doesn't give you any real freedom aside from ''exploration'' parts either, if you don't count those parts then the whole sandbox thing feels unnecesary AF, in fact the game could be Visual Novel even with those parts included with no problem at all.
- There is too much unnecessary text/dialogue, it makes things boring, and tedious.
- Even tho visual style is unique, and colors, and place designs, etc, looks good, can't say same for characters, characters has unnnecesary cartoonish look on them, they look weird, and not attaractive at all, considering this is an adult game this is biggest con this game has, females are not appealing at all, and MC doesn't look good either.
- Stock red stick figures used for common people look weird, and bad.
- Sex scenes are not appealing, they are quite poor, especially thanks to character models.

VERDICT
Honestly this game straight up downgrade to the old game of the DEV, can't see it's worth playing with the current CONS I talked about it, shame tho, this game could have been soo much better.

Fantastic new game from the creator of MIST. The game is truly awesome and very unique. The story is dark, immersive, bizarre and interesting to the extent where I still would be playing this game even without any porn for the sake of story alone. But lewd content is, of course, present and makes this game way more enjoyable. Scenes here are less of a pure debauchery but about intimacy and nonetheless still are very lewd.

The UI is great, there is practically nothing left from basic Ren'py features and design. Locations all unique too, everything I saw in the game world, I didn't see anywhere else. That concerns characters too; from their looks to their behavior, they are all fresh, have unique, interesting personalities and in general are great waifus. MC thanks God, is a normal human male - dedicated, has balls, decisive. He doesn't irritate, or do braindead stuff, or behave like an edgy soyboy loser)

Sound and music are very atmospheric and play a big part in immersion in the new fantastic world, where everything was made from scratch, and thanks to it, feels very fresh and unique.

If you think that I overused the word "unique" then maybe you are right, but this word is the best way to describe games of this Dev.

V0.5

Although is a work in progress, CoM has all the quality I expected 395games showed in Mist. I think the renders are beautiful and an improvement over Mist, Kasia's model is one of the best renders I've seen in a 3-D NSFW game and the lighting in some scenes is marvelous.

Story-wise I'm engaged, though is a little bit early in the development yet, I think there are some rough corners in the script that I think will be improved in the future, people don't remember that Mist early content was completely re-worked as the game became more polished.

The graphics in this game are stunning, with details that make every scene visually striking and immersive. The story is captivating and well-crafted, keeping players intrigued with every twist and turn. It's an experience that perfectly combines narrative and aesthetics, setting a new standard of quality for the genre!

I am really enjoying this game so far. The atmosphere is dark, mysterious and different. The music perfectly complements the scenes. I like the characters so far. The premise is interesting - it is a weird mix of dark medieval fantasy that I really enjoy. The art is quite unique too and is different from the games that I am used to.

I am looking forward to seeing how the story progresses.

The legend is back again omg all the previous games he made were out of this world. Full support to him. The animations are on par with AAA stuff. I truly believe this dev needs an award. The top 1% game here

Here at F95Zone, there are numerous adult games, but among those I've played, only a few truly capture my attention. In my opinion, these rare gems manage to keep me engaged, compelling me to read every dialogue and become intrigued by the story and its developments. Covenant of Morn is one such game. While it lacks certain elements I personally enjoy in a game—such as pregnancy (which may or may not be feasible given the MC's condition)—I hope the developer considers incorporating features like this in the future. The intricacies of pregnancy, along with additional scenes of passion and other elements, could add even more depth to the experience.

Now, onto the specifics of the game:

• The gameplay is impressively engaging for a Ren'Py project.
• The renders are outstanding.
• The dialogue is well-crafted and immersive.
• The story stands out as refreshingly unique compared to other games I've played here.

These are my two cents as a contribution to a review. Congratulations to the developer (or team of developers)—I hope you continue delivering such excellent work!

I'm really surprised with the plot, story and the background of the characters. The design of characters is good, the animation is smooth, too bad it's still early and don't have enough of content in it. It's really good and i can't wait for the next update of the story. Need to know more about MC back stories.

You can really feel that that a great deal of care has been put into every single aspect of the game.
Every single visual und audio asset seems to be handcrafted and makes for a very unique and fresh experience, compared to other adult games that feel very rehashed.
The world, story and characters have depth to them and are intriguing and the sex scenes have build-up and tension with handcrafted and excellent animations that are accompanied by amazing audio effects. I usually mute moaning in sex scenes since in most games it takes me out of the experience due to it being repetitive and/or seeming out of place but this game really nails it. I can't wait for the next update.

Pros: decent writing. Somewhat interesting personalities for the women.
immersive cutscenes that are actually worth not skipping. They're well done, and other developers could learn from them.
Cons: everyone looks wierd.
Minigames are annoying.

I was surprised that I was slightly disappointed when it ended, not because I enjoyed it, but because I wasn't 100% ready to give up on it. Only like 99.8%.
I'm going to start with the main point: everyone looks WIERD. The protagonist is cold-corpse-blue, which makes sense at the start when he is literally waking up as a corpse, but is rather unnecessary everywhere else. I'm not sure what purpose it serves, in terms of making a compelling product. I think most people's suspension of disbelief, if it allows "the protagonist is a zombie," will allow "the protagonist is a zombie with human colored flesh." Or maybe it's just me. And he has tatoos on his penis. Why? Don't know.
Girl 1, Enna, is good looking. She has two big scars over her eyes, which are blind-cloudy-grey, but it doesn't render her ugly. Theoretically, I like human diversity, so that's ok, even if it doesn't make her as attractive as she might have been without whatever happened to her eyes. But something about her face just doesn't seem quite right. The contours or something are unhumanish, and from certain angles it moderately disrupts things for me. And her boobs are meh, as is her pussy. When a girl gets naked, I should be happy about it, and with her, I'm not.
Girl two, Moran, is a snake demon. With scales, fangs, superhuman deepthroating ability, and a very I'm-blanking-on-the-word-it's-not-quite-'volatile'-it's-more-playful-but-I'm-not-sure-what-to-call-it-but-I-think-there's-a-good-word-for-it-somewhere-in-English-'whimsical'-that's-it!-but-I'm-in-too-deep-to-go-back-and-insert-it personality. And she's mostly hot. The snake stuff doesn't do it for me (except the deepthroating, but humans can do that too), but her monsteryness doesn't ruin her as a LI. Still, I don't find her super attractive.
Girl three, Kataryzieinfeijsaa (I think I spelled that right) aka Kasia, really doesn't do it for me. When naked, her proportions seem awkward. She has TONS of stretch marks, (which normally don't bother me, but her skin makes it look almost like she once gave birth to a horse that was pregnant with an elephant), saggy boobs, and unerotic nipples. She's a miss for me, even with my weakness for redheads.
The writing is good, but there are problems, like not explaining whatever the fuck demons and demonic posession are. And things like why can't demons just rip the heads off of excorsists, given their strength.
The protagonist is kind of weak as a character. He's hard to relate to. Seems just blown across his path like a tumbleweed, without much personality or individuality or character or anything.
The women have personalities, and they aren't just cliches. Overall, that's good. At the same time, they're all kinda' annoying. Enna, despite (or perhaps because of it? That would be less annoying) her magical connection to the protagonist, pushes him away all the fucking time. It's like she wants a slow burn, with a guy she literally kissed back to life and had sex with before the first date. V0.4 and she won't even let you sleep in the same bed even though you fucked who does that??? And she's really annoying when she's being closed off, which is almost all the time. I get being closed off, but she's very anti-sweet about it. If that makes sense.
Moran is a demon, so she's deliberately irritating (or uses that as an excuse to be deliberately irritating) at times. Fine.
Kasia The minigames are not great. I've certainly seen worse, and they wouldn't be a deal-breaker on their own, but they're not very challenging, or rewarding, or skippable. The exploration minigames are worse. There's a place you have to explore that you get kicked out of if you stay too long, but you get kicked out way too quickly. It feels less like a challenge and more like a way to force you to spend several in-game-days on the exploration to make it seem longer.
In one minigame, I failed one because I reacted TOO quickly. On my laptop touchpad.
The sex scenes: it's too soon to give a definitive opinion here, and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to play future versions, but the sex scenes don't do it for me. The ones with Enna are kind of bland, and the ones with Moran are right at the border of consent. They were a little creepy at times, even though I was pretty confident she wanted it. And they wouldn't have been that great regardless.

Overall, it was almost entirely unrewarding for me, and at no point did I really want to keep playing. So I'm not going to.

Coming from their previous game - MIST, this one is a huge disappointment, sure it's technically still not finished (I think so, I don't see a complete tag, so I have to assume it's not finished), not only do the girls are less attractive, there are absolutely no bulges, no cock growth, creampies aren't animated, there are very few actual penetration animations in the current scene.

Big let down.

Renders are great, gameplay is atmospheric and rmeidns me of the best parts of MIST, though I REALLY wish dungeon/Veils had like 4 times the stamina/duration amount. Because getting kicked back and having to retrace steps kinda sucks. Even with rolling back to optimize my path I still had to cycle time and re-enter in excess of double-digits, and just getting back to continue every time got real boring real fast.

really enjoying it so far. it's on the slower side but that's good, at least for me. the character models look far better than on MIST. the story so far has been intriguing. the animations are also very well done, hopefully more are one the way. all the very best with this project

I bought the game on itch.io, but since I come here often I wanted to leave a review. I'll keep it short.

Masterpiece. Intriguing story. Mostly complex characters. Absolutely stunning renders and animations. Sensual sex scenes. Great, albeit spotty sound. Pace of the development is also consistent and relatively fast, considering the quality that's being delivered.

Finally gave this one a playthrough. Another great piece of work coming from the developer of MIST. Visually its a leap forward. Excellent sound design. Really looking forward to seeing more of this game. Minigames are skippable, sandbox seems pretty manageable so far.

version played v0.3.2

Awesome, under appreciated game!

Game play: Yeah this is a game, not many of those on this site. Most of them are just shitty VN where you sit back watch, get blue balls, and then wait for the next update.

Cut scenes: Are gorgeous. Not sure how they got this level of detail but it's awesome.

Looking forward to purchasing the full game once it is out.