Ren'Py - Dark Magic [v0.17.5] [F. Lord]

  1. 3.00 star(s)

    hollowed

    Dark Magic is a really fun corruption visual novel that backs out of that premise pretty early in development to instead focus on sappy stuff. I like and appreciate the cast, and the kinky situations they get into, but it's simply not the premise that the game started off with - and therefore, I think, requires a little more scrutiny than the game's worldbuilding was designed to withstand.

    Long story short: somewhere in the game about three or four girls in it stops being about "casting a corruption spell" on women and becomes about befriending them. Progress switches from a sandbox mechanic to something you achieve by talking to the girl in question and romancing them, like a dating sim. The plot motivates tension by more traditional damsel-in-distress means, instead of just the protagonist being caught. You're not supposed to play a bad guy here.

    Other games have done this switch up before, where the protagonist catches feelings and changes his ways, but those felt a lot more intentional - probably because they were inspired by Dark Magic, actually. But what we end up with is a harem world premise seemingly build specifically around the idea that we'd be skipping all the romance stuff, delving deep into the romance stuff. We have to learn how society in this weird Amazon land copes with the lack of men, we have to learn what they do in their spare time, what their military looks like, and what kinds of threats they face. I just don't think the answers to those questions are compelling enough to replace the lost spice when the premise switched up. Nor do I think the new characters have the same x-factor when we're just seducing them normally.

    Try Dark Magic, for sure, it's got a lot of meat on its bones, and a lot of that meat is really, really good. But be prepared for a romance visual novel instead of one focused strictly on corruption, and be prepared for a lot of like, F-tier ecchi anime worldbuilding.
  2. 2.00 star(s)

    MikesDK

    Story 2/5
    Its another one of those mindless fuckfest games with the same plot as a million other games, MC meets deamon/witch thing and gains power to corrupt everyone so he can fuck em all so the deamon can get stronger.

    MC will make them into slaves which i still dont get why he would want to, i mean even hes own family so i guess MC is just a crazy evil dude for whatever reason.
    Also how big a loser is MC when he cant get laid in a world where hes the only man? i mean really....

    I could be ok with all of that if you atleast had a choice in who to corrupt and fuck, but even recharging mana is done by some ugly bimbo giving you a BJ.

    Its also one of those type of games where kinks and fetishes like feet stuff, big tits, anal and so on, all are forced on you and thats really my main issue, personaly i hate big tits and i dont have that fetish but game forces it on you over and over making game nothing but a turn-off and thats why choices are the most importen thing in a game and thats a big fail in this one.

    Game is also kinetic no matter if its a sandbox or not theres only one route and thats to fuck em all, young and old, small tits and huge tits, its weird how devs thinks that all people are into everything....

    Its also a very wierd corruption, you can get a girl to show her tits but corrupt her even more and she wont show her tits or do anything else? not even at 100% corruption? it just dosent make any kind of sense and kinda kills the hole point and idea of corruption.
    Another one you corrupt you have to pay for her to do stuff? corruption gone out the window in this game and it has nothing to do with corruption.

    Girls 2/5
    As for the girls main focus is ofc big tit fetish which is quite annoying when you arent into it, almost every main girl, deamon, ghost, mother and so on is big tits, sure there are a few normal and a smaller or two in builds but main ones which you have most to do with theres pretty much none.
    The girls also has no personaly they feel bland and mostly the same, no real relationship build ups either everything is just bland.

    Animations 4/5
    This is proberly the best thing about the game, even for HS the animations are really nice.

    Chooices 1/5
    Its kinetic and has alot of forced stuff like kinks and fetishes that you might not be into.

    Sandbox 2/5
    At bit boring and has alot of grinds, also pretty pointless since theres no real freedom just follow the set kinetic questline, only thing you controle is which order in some cases, so if you think you can just skip girls by not doing questline with someone you hate then think again, at some point you wont be able to progress untill you do the quests so yeah its just forced kinetic stuff.
  3. 5.00 star(s)

    harveymak76

    I like the corruption aspect of this. I wish there's more of those instead of kinetic events. I hope MC gets the queen or dominate her soon.
    The animations are not bad, and the corruption aspect is good. Again, wish there are more.
  4. 5.00 star(s)

    snow123789456

    Really enjoyed playing this game! Initially sought out more corruption and harem elements with the adorable girls, and the mom was a pleasant addition. However, it pleasantly surprised me as it turned out to be quite a wholesome game. It offers a variety of enjoyable actions and features beautiful girls. I particularly appreciate the intriguing concept of the dark magic world, the mysteries surrounding the red witch, and the challenge of attempting to corrupt them. The game's sandbox style and abundance of content make it a delightful experience. Highly recommended for those who appreciate this genre!
  5. 4.00 star(s)

    NeonSelf

    0.17.1

    It starts good, but gets worse in lategame.

    First 2 characters are the only polished characters in game . They have a ton of sex scenes and events, they are actually corruptable with magic and you can interact with them in sandbox, not relying on some special events.

    Other 38 characters are a mess. The later they are introduced, the less content and interaction options they have. Almost all of them dont even have an option to corrupt with magic, while some have story circumstances that restrict magic usage on them. So basically, they are out of sandbox. Their progress relies on special events.

    Game starts as easy to fap material: nice sandbox, understandable gameplay.
    And then it turns into shitfest with long VN events, drama and impossible threats. You have to wait for specific events to progress with anyone.

    There are alot of cliffhangers. I havent seen "Main quest" marker for a few ingame weeks already, but some shit keeps happening. Like one of my girls goes missing, or somebody plotting behind my back. It completely ruins the mood for me, leaving me with no options than just to feel bad and incapable to fix the situation. Because MC is not aware of what's happening, but I have to endure this stress. I dont care about sex scenes anymore because of this.

    Overall:
    5* - For earlygame, sandbox and first few characters
    2* - For lategame cliffhangers and drama.

    I feel bad for giving it low rating, because earlygame and corrupting MC's family were done great, they have alot of great scenes.
  6. 4.00 star(s)

    -Yor-0728

    For a while now this game has caught my attention and every time I downloaded it I left it in the intro, but today I try to play a little more and I must say...

    THE GOOD
    It has good background music, several female characters to interact with and the scenes are good and there are quite a few of them so there is a lot of sexual content but...

    THE BAD... or not?
    There is no good story. I feel that the framework of everything that happens is just because, there is no context as to why things happen. I know I didn't play until the end but I must say that everything makes no sense at least as far as I got, which was like 40% of what is available. The protagonist has no personality, most female characters almost have the same personality, it only changes in the skin. I found the gameplay to be as tiring as possible since quests appear for hours of the day and they change and if, let's say, you keep track of one, you can get tangled like it happened to me. I didn't particularly like this because everything else seemed very good to me. Although I highlight something and that is that I feel that the creator should not use AI renders to improve static scenes... I feel that that takes away some of the essence of a game that is using Honey select characters as a base (But that is my opinion ). I've gotten bored with what I've played, I feel like it's a lot of farm and the hints help but sometimes they get confusing. As I said, I only played 40% of what is in this game and I wouldn't particularly recommend it, but we shouldn't detract from what it brings either.


    IThe game has room to grow in content but I don't like its gameplay, it tires me and the story doesn't particularly catch my attention. I must say that what I liked the most was the waifu renders but everything else makes me not want to continue playing it.

    I want to clarify that this is my opinion about this game, after having played atleast a 40% of what the game offer to us. I am not a judge, nor an executioner to say that you should play this game or not, but if you ever want to give it the opportunity I invite you to try it and let your review.

    My favorite character was the mother, but only in design. for everything else it seemed zzz to me

    Summary (SCORE: 6.7)
    o Character Design/Visual: 8/10
    o Background music/sound: 8/10
    o Plot: 4/10
    o Animation: 9/10
    o +18 Scenes: 8/10
    o Gameplay: 3/10
    o Interface: 7/10
  7. 3.00 star(s)

    sadfuck

    Version Played: v0.17.1
    Time Played: More than 15 hours. Seems like there's still a long way to go to reach end of content.

    It might be weird to single out this game as a "guilty pleasure" amongst all the others I've played and particularly within the genre itself, but given that it really doesn't check many of my boxes beyond a ton of cute girls, some scant bush on a few characters and sex scenes focused more on mutual pleasure than domination or humiliation, that really is the best way for me to describe it.

    Taking a more generalized approach, I think another way to describe this game would be "serviceable" -- particularly when you take into account what the porn game medium can offer on the whole. What can it offer? Well, to me, that would be the potential for an interactive storytelling experience with an engaging narrative and interesting characters with slamming. Therefore, by "serviceable," I mean the game offers both a narrative and characters and a whole lot of slamming, but how interesting the narrative is and engaging the characters are is up for debate.

    Positives
    + A ton of pretty girls to woo and slam
    + A generally caring and sweet approach to sex focused on mutual pleasure
    + Generally good ratio of sex scenes to clicking around to advance story progression
    + Clear in-game hint system so you shouldn't get stuck
    + A ton of content

    Neutral
    = Graphically serviceable, but nothing to write home about. The dev doesn't go beyond moving a few sliders around to create his girls and the assets are your typical HS you've seen in every other game.
    = Sandbox (I am totally fine with this but I know others might not be particularly since you basically end up seeing everything anyway with how the game is structured)

    Negatives
    - Overall, pretty bland from story to characterization to graphics
    - English usage isn't great, but it doesn't detract from the experience

    It's worth noting that while there is an overarching narrative, it moves glacially and never feels very high stakes since the game is mainly focused on making sure the MC is treated like a demigod. It's easily ignorable and not once have I found myself really caring.

    To circle back to my initial comment, this game is comfort food to me since you can basically turn off your brain while you click around and jerk in this quaint little world where you are the only man wanted by every single woman. The women are visually pleasing and the sex frequent enough to get and keep you going, so it's a very comfortable experience.

    If you love harem games, Honey Select and slow stakes fappin' you're probably going to really enjoy this one. Even if you don't, it might just be worth giving it a look if anything else I've written sounds appealing; who knows, you might find it to be comfort food too.

    Note to devs: You've clearly put a lot of effort into this so thank you for that. The only requests I have are more bush, more older ladies (like Yumi's age) and more darker skinned characters.
  8. 3.00 star(s)

    _Utakata_

    Look i don't mind games with lot of sex in it
    But almost the whole story in this game is meet a new person corrupt her have sex
    Visit the queen of your town corrupt her have sex
    And that's with every woman
    There is more sex then story
    Renders are really good
    No bugs
    Magic corruption is good

    '
  9. 2.00 star(s)

    turgsh01

    I don't know how this game got such high review rating, but the script, the spelling and grammar are all terrible. Is the rating just based entirely on quantity over quality? Maybe everything I mentioned gets improved on over time as I progress in the game, but it still wouldn't explain why 4 1/2 star overall rating and why it was the next top recommendation for me.

    I've seen my fair share of bad stories and bad grammar and spelling, but the beginning on this one is just too horrible for me to push through just to see if it gets any better, not for a honey select game.
  10. 5.00 star(s)

    IndecentBoy

    This is my favourite erotic game on earth. The story and the theme are wonderful. The characters and the animations are the best thing. I have discovered many things with this game, and i am grateful.



    I always look forward to every update and i really enjoy every one of them. My congratulations to @F.Lord of this wonderful work. I look forward to more from you in the future.
  11. 4.00 star(s)

    hampsure

    Dark Magic 0.14 (played in 2021 and not really planning to update until it's either finished or there's enough new content to warrant it)

    This is a magical corruption game that I think actually corrupted me. There's a point pretty early on where your sister passes out and it gives you the option to "Molest her." At this point at was kinda shocked and thinking it was extremely messed up to have as an option. Curiosity won out and I still tried it, however. By later stages of the game I'd gotten to the point where if I came across a sleeping female that I couldn't mess around with I'd be disappointed and call BS on it. It's a slippery slope in this game, haha.

    Pros:
    -LOTS of quite hot content despite not being completed (pretty much all the scenes are also replayable once unlocked from an in-game book)
    -Nearly the ultimate setup in terms of a harem corruption power-fantasy
    -Progression of corruption/romance elements is satisfying (and sexy)
    -Sandbox game that wasn't grindy nor hard to figure out what to do at any given point
    -Lots of attractive girls, without feeling like too many for the most part
    -I actually found I was interested in what story there is to the game (which isn't really the focus)
    -It's a game that's a bit self aware has a lot entertaining and humorous moments. The levity and fun really enhances the game quite a bit.

    Cons:
    -Some animations are overly pixelated or watermarked (this may have been fixed by now)
    -I didn't appreciate the points at which the game tried to tell me which girl my character really loved
    -The writing does leave much to be desired. It seemed like different parts were written by two different people entirely - one who was a fairly decent writer with a good enough mastery of English and one that really struggled with the latter. The writing styles seemed entirely different from section to section due to this. Even within the same scenes things would shift in a more minor manor from perfectly good English to stuff that I got the meaning of but was starting to fall apart drastically to something no longer recognizable as normal English (I have a tolerance for this but others may not).
    -Not only is the game unfinished, but it doesn't seem like it'll ever truly be finished realistically. I would have preferred they cut down the scope of the game rather than continuing to tease completely new storylines before progressing the ones that existed. Any significant updates are extremely few and far between.
    -The game has admittedly dated graphics at this point. The use of Honey Select models I don't have an issue with myself and I like the look of a lot of the girls. The renders and animations are a bit more hit or miss and the background textures are awful. I still find the style holds a special kind of charm and the renders and even animations still can seem pretty good (definitely still hot) but I'd understand people taking issue with how it looks in 2023.

    If you want a ridiculous but fun magical corruption harem power fantasy with an abundance of content and don't mind some slightly outdated graphics along with some writing/translation issues... then maybe give it a shot. Also, if you watched enough raunchy harem anime, you'll likely feel at home with some of the tropes and humor. This one was a guilty pleasure for me that I truly enjoyed when I played it and felt it was above average in more areas than below but I know objectively on the balance of things it likely should be 3/5 at this point, so I'm having a lot of trouble deciding how to rate it. I went and played a handful of scenes and it's even better than I recalled... a lot more effort, detail, humor, and heart put in to the interactions than I remembered. Since there is no 3.5, I'm going with 4 for now. I'm hoping some day it does get finished.
  12. 4.00 star(s)

    Dr. Ronald Leopold

    Truly a nice and content-rich sandbox with a minimum of grinding.
    There is a bit of the main plot/story, but most of the time will be spent continuing the various routes of the girls in play.
    There are many characters, most of them have big boobs.
  13. 3.00 star(s)

    CheerMaster

    v0.16.0, this has spoilers.



    • Grammar: This screams "I need a proofreader. For yesterday."




    Overall, in my honest opinion the game does not deserve more than a 3/5, it has alright stuff, lots of content, and works decent as fap material, but it has an immense room for improvement that is being simply ignored. If you don't have anything else to play, give it a go, it's a sandbox, so it'll probably keep you entertained for decent amount of time.
    Nonetheless, it's disappointing seeing a game that's been out for so long in a state like this, specially grammar-wise.
  14. 5.00 star(s)

    LeoManu

    Gonna start of by saying that if you like generic japanese fantasy harem LN's(specifically ones like High Scool DxD), you're gonna love this one; I know I do. Definitely gives off the vibe that the creator was inspired by this genre in terms of the story within and beyond the harem. The art and the scenes are great too, specially the animations. The gameplay is your run of the mill sandbox. You have to grind a bit, but it's mostly at the beginning. All in all a fun game.
  15. 3.00 star(s)

    kameohawk

    The game is good... but there's an underlynig problem that's just eating away at me as I play and I worry that if it's not explained or resolved it'll just always be there and ruin the game for me. And you know the silly thing? It's so stupid that it shouldn't be an issue but it is.

    To quote the spiel in the original post, "You grew up in an ordinary family with an ordinary life, except for the fact, you're the only man alive in the world!" Fine, interesting to know, curious to see where it leads. The problem is........... it doesn't go anywhere (potentially yet)

    So you're the only man alive..... so what happened? Did all the men die? Were there none at all and you're the first? There's an underlying supernatural element here that's not expanded upon and it's living rent free in my head as I play.

    It's a porn game so expectations should be left at the door but at the same time it's the first line in the synopsis so that suggests it's important.

    If you were the only man to ever live then you'd be kept in a zoo, not just kicking about living your best life. If all the men died you'd be in a hospital as people try to work out how you survived. There's even a scene where a lassie reviews a book on how to give a blowjob, so if there's a book then it means men have existed. Where'd they go?

    It's a silly thing but I kind of want to know.

    Beyond that the game's fine. Characters are varied and interesting. It's your standard "you've got powers and you can corrupt people once or twice a day before you need to recharge game". Looks like there's a lot going on so certainly worth following.... but the premise of the whole game doesn't make sense as it's never explained why the world is as it is
  16. 4.00 star(s)

    NekoNyaKotori

    Its a good game so far.

    First of all sorry for my bad english i am not english nativ but i try my best ^^.

    There are things i like and things i dose not thats why the 4 star rating.

    I love to Corrupt woman because i am some type of Ero Gamer who playes every game on MAX Corrupt or Lewdness.

    The Character Design is over all good (i am really picky on this types of characters because i am prefering anime style so its hard that i like character's)

    Your game runns pretty good and there are many content in there. I like the hint list because my english is so bad it would be more than hard for me to know what to do ^^

    What dose i not like ?
    -Forced events (for explain i wandet to do theplant watering for Tomo but i got forced in a cut szene because i had to skip some time)
    -Some character's (most of all short hair chars)
    That would be all i dont like

    What i like?
    -Incest i love the sister the most of all characters
    -The Hint list
    - exclamation mark
    -Some character's (Sister,Princess,Nami (childhood friend) Mom,Taka some more)


    What would i wish for the game ?
    -The more you corrupt a character the lewder she speaks
    -The more you corrupt a character the lewder she dresses
    -Maybe some makeup by corrupting
    -Maybe some Mind Break
    There i no more at the moment ^^

    Hope this Review helped you a little cant say ^^
  17. 3.00 star(s)

    Rex Blue

    Dark Magic is a sandbox style VN with more girls than it knows what to do with and less than a thimbleful of story to pass around between them.

    I really can't express how bad the story is. I have no real issues with porn logic, but typically the absurdity of such logic is used for humor and to encourage silly sexual hijinks. In Dark Magic, it's kinda just the way people think. It very quickly becomes a case of not laughing along with the silliness of the world, but laughing at some of the stupid decision making and "logical" justifications.

    I might have let the above pass, but the world in general is no better. The MC is the only guy in the kingdom, but no one seems surprised to see him, all the girls are quite well aware of how sex works, and there seems to be no ramifications for there only being one man. The MC wants to become a soldier, but for what point? We're not made aware of political or military contexts. Who the hell are they fighting and why do we care? Mining by labor is the primary source of income in the city (kingdom?), but apparently there's magic and some level of modern conveniences?

    There's just a litany of inconsistencies in the world design. There's absolutely no depth to anything and as a result, any story occurring happens in a void where there's no context for any events. Things just happen with very little dramatic weight or even relevance. It's messy and absurd.

    Nevertheless, if you can discount the absolute lack of a world and what-did-she-just-say porn logic, there's decent enough characters in the game and lots and lots of porn. While fairly one dimensional, the girls are cute with good renders. The scenes aren't deep or meaningful, but the animations are good.

    If you're looking for a porny harem with a huge number of girls, you won't go wrong with Dark Magic. If you're looking for interesting characters, a cool world or an engaging backdrop for your porn, Dark Magic will disappoint you.
  18. 5.00 star(s)

    BartPS

    This review is specifically for version 16.0

    For me, this was the most satisfying update in a long while. And sorry for those of you who are just hanging out to bump uglies with the Red Witch.

    Recent updates have either focused on the main plot, or fleshed out (pun intended) the relationships with the MC's ever expanding harem.

    This update moves the main story forward as well as adding some great sex scenes at home, and with other members of the cast that had either barely been developed, or not been updated for far too long.

    Most pleasing of all is that F.Lord surprises with several elements of the story. It has always had such an interesting premise that seemed under-exploited. Now finally, we are beginning to see more hints of how this unusual world, with its weird mixture of contemporary and ancient, came to exist.
  19. 4.00 star(s)

    Elrox

    Pretty good game! I liked the character, both personalities and design. Soundtrack was pretty decent, with a few tunes I might even call great.
    Animations were good in general, with a select few scenes being oddly pixelated.
    Some corruption % aspect can be a bit grindy with no clear end goal, especially for secondary characters. The English is honestly pretty awful most of the time. Not completely incomprehensible, but I still had a lot of fun with this game. Looking forward to see where it all goes storywise!
  20. 5.00 star(s)

    Count_Chocula

    This game is easily in my top 5 adult games that I've ever played. The only thing much better than this is probably harem hotel, it's that good. If you haven't, play this game now!

    For a more objective review, I will say that I am very partial to the style of character models which is a big part of why I like it so much. But it has a ton of scenes, lots of group content (but is vanilla, which I don't like but most people will), beautiful models, and some nice background plot that doesn't get too in your face. Man this game is so good. Play it!