Ren'Py - Desert Stalker [v0.16a] [Zetan]

One of the rare 3DCG VNs that actually tries to tell a story, craft an interesting world, and develop and grow characters.

Blending Sex and Story

Desert Stalker doesn't simply shove poorly-written, trope-filed sex scenes in your face one after the other with a tenuous (and optional) plot-line trying to give this awkward mishmash some semblance of overarching coherence. Instead, the sex is an organic part of a genuinely interesting and fleshed-out story line. The world breathes and is alive, and is enough by itself to capture the player's interest.

The characters aren't blank archetypes only meant to tickle the player's niche fetishes and get them to jerk off. Nope - they have personalities, motivations, and backgrounds. They grow and evolve with the story and the events that unfold within it. Here, the porn is just another aspect of character-building, and manages to be tastefully woven through the game's main story line and its many subplots. It doesn't happen without reason, and isn't the be-all, end-all of the game. The scenes are carefully built-up and this build-up gives strong context (and intimacy) to what would otherwise be a collection of random CGs of naked 3D ladies doing perhaps sexy things - a pitfall so many other VNs fall prey to. This not only serves to make them arousing, but also expands on the the characters' relationships.

Visuals & Sounds

The game's pretty, the girls are pretty, the scenes are good and varied. Maybe I could nitpick the overall coherence in quality (some of the older "chapters" are showing their age compared to the more recent ones, the sex animations are average sometimes), but this would be the most criticism I could give.

Sounds and especially music are often criminally underutilized, but not here. Music is another aspect of the strong world-building Desert Stalker has, and I've found it to be an almost essential aspect of the story and the game's overall atmosphere. Good work there.

So What?

The game's not finished (0.12b), and seemingly quite far from being finished, but it's shaping up to be exceptionally solid. There are rough patches here and there, and if you were to put a gun to my head to nitpick, I would flag the rare typos, the occasional bizarre phrasing, and the disparity in quality between older and newer updates... but that's really all it is: nitpicking.

If you're looking for something beyond the incredibly trope-filled, story-less yawn fests full of the same stock Daz models that Western VNs are plagued with, then this is absolutely the right place. This game knows what it wants to be and to do, and does it all incredibly well.

One of the best VNs I have ever played. Story, writing, visuals, quality characters, sound design... this has it all. You also have a good amount of freedom to shape your character, the story, as well as the relationships you have with different characters using the decisions you make. As far as I am aware, this is one of the greatest VNs currently in development.

I don't even know where to begin. This really is a great game and I would highly recommend it to anyone into incest/harem/slaves/maledom. The models all look great and all the women are hot. You can sleep with most of the women in the game, and the others you probably will fuck in future updates. The background areas look really good and help the story.

Better than the graphics are the story and dialog. There are a few different storylines in the game and most are good. There is one storyline I'm not interested in but you might be. The story and dialog really add to the Hscenes in the game. The way certain characters interact with each other is great too. For example, I love the way your wife interacts with your daughter, basically training her to be your fucktoy. Gender roles are different, and most women are submissive and breedable.

This is one of those degenerate lewd games that has you wishing these porn game devs were actually superhuman workaholics doing sweatshop hours (I'm glad they're not, tho), and could just churn out updates every week or something.
This game is easily one of my favorites based on potential alone. There's quite a lot of great content in here already, but since all of it so well executed I find myself constantly wishing there was more of everything. It's a good problem to have, I guess.

Rarer still, this game not only succeeds in delivering great bobs and vagana content, but it also manages to bring a genuinely interesting setting that has me intrigued with the world's characters and its lore. Even the MC is likeable and convincingly badass in order to justify his ability to fuck bitches and I guess get bitches. Not sure if money is even a thing in this world but MC would probably be getting that too.

It's a must play so definitely look into it if you haven't yet, especially if you're reading this review several months or years in the future for some reason because it can only have gotten better since.

Wow.
I mean, Wooow!
I mean, WOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!

So, dear reader, if you're like me and tend to avoid games with "overwhelmingly positive" reviews like a plague, trust me on this: give this one a go --> the otherwise rock solid "if-everyone-loves-it-it-must-be-total-garbage" rule does not apply here.

For spoilers please browse the couple of hundred reviews bellow (which didn't lie this time, for a change)

5/5 - Near masterpiece as it is as of v0.12b.

This is amongst the top porn games there are. It's on similar levels to Summertime Saga in terms of story, immersion, scenes, and attractive characters. What this game does particularly well is the immersion and choices you can take with each character alongside with each character feeling like someone you want to care about. It sets up the world well and gets you to actually look forward to what will happen next.

One thing specifically that I appreciate about this game is the well built gallery. It for the majority part starts the scenes way before any branching actions happen which enables you to use the gallery to view choices you didn't choose in your playthrough.

I also appreciate being able to go a more benevolent and wholesome route. If you're not into crude male dom like I am then you'll still be able to appreciate this game without really missing out on anything thanks to the well done writing and situation building.

Also Ain best girl don't @ me.

mid game
very janky 'gameplay'
makes you slog around from place to place for long uninteresting conversations, only for the payoff to be disappointing
almost fell asleep during the smut scenes, again a big disappointment
gets 2 points for premise (its different from your typical landlady, roommate, college premise)

Desert Stalker is awesome game. Everything is on the highest level of quality. I have played a lot of adult games (and I mean it... I can name at least 20 which are in progress of development and I follow them for new updates... besides these, I actualy played more then 100 and tryed or considered at least 5 times more... yes, I like adult games) and I must say that this one is on entire new level. For me playing this game was such a great experience that it sets my own standarts at completely new heights, because if this games deserves 5 stars, than every other adult game I played before will have to move to 4 or even 3 stars rating.

Now allow me to explain why I think so and what you can find in this piece of art.

1. First of all it is story.
Very deep and carefully created world and by this I want to say that author have put a lot of work and thought into creation of the world in which story of the game takes place. You can see it in every part of the story as everything here is logical. Author thought through all the laws, morality and entire society of the world, and not only for a small part of it at which story takes place, but even outside.
Library actualy helps a lot in undarstanding how things work in the society around main character.
Puting postapocaliptic seting into Egypt was also unexpectadly great idea, it suits very well.
Also player is never left with too many questions wondering "what is all this about" even when author tryes to keep something as secret temporarily, there are always some explanation in one or other form. It is a huge plus, not many authors are capable of doing this.
Language and style which are used to write the story are very rare for adult games. You feel like you are reading an actual book. Here I will also include another one thing which made me happy - obscene lexic is used very rarely and only in situations where it is needed or where it suits the scenary. Usualy in adult games there is too much of obscene lexic and I do not like this, but author of this game did good work by avoiding it as much as possible.
As for the story itself, it is awesome. At some point you go so deep into events that you do not care about adult content anymore and this is what turns a "just good" adult game into an "awesome" game where adult content is a logical part of the story and not it purpose.
All the characters in the game have their own soul and this says everything about this. There are no characters without individuality, they are all Persons with their past and expiriences. They all have their own style and the way of thinking.
There are no situations without logic (the big problem of many adult games). All characters act and react in right way, matching their storyes, goals and nature. There is logic even in actions of characters who seems psychopathic or maniac.

2. Image.
You know all these games with realistic 3D where characters are looking weird or even ugly, with expressions from horror movies? Well, I do not know what programms are used to create this, but I can tell that the same programs were used for this game. But you know what? I never saw such a great realistic 3D in adult games before. Characters are alive, but they are also pretty or even beautyful (haha, it isnt about decayed by the way), they look like normal humans with normal face expressions. You actualy like what you see.
There was a lot of work done about the scens as well. Background is always full of many different objects and other "random" people. Everything looks natural, not like in a huge ammount of other adult games, where most of objects are looking like they were just croped from other images and placed randomly in the background without any editing making scenes unrealistic. But not only this. There are a lot of places in this game which have just stuning views which you could take and use as a background for your device, so cool these views are.
Ofcourse I cant ignore sex scenes in my review as well and I must say that this VN have the best sex scenes out of all adult games I have played. Not only they are made in the way so you can literaly feel every part of the scene (like when MC is groping girl's breast you can literaly feel it softness), but also I can say that author have a very good imagination using a great variety of poses and acts (no more of the one and same poses and acts with only difference in locations or situations).

3. Music, Sounds and Atmosphere.
What can I say here... just perfect. Music is good and it always matches the places and events, creating the perfect atmosphere to expirience scenes and events to the fullest.
There is a lot of serious and tragic situations with right dark and depressing atmosphere, but there are also peaceful and wholesome events with matching light and calm atmosphere.

4. Gameplay.
It is classic VN with a huge ammount of decisions and options for you to act in the way you want to, not in the way you are forced to. You must pay attention to every dialog and replyes you give, they may have a dramatic effect towards future events. Your decisions matter, that it.
Some parts of "free exploration" is included too, but I wish there could be more of this. I gues some ammount of light grind (exploring ruins or going through repeatable events) could make this game even better. The rewards could be used to expand your house or strenghtening it defense. No, seriously, MC's house could use some work and upgrades. It is literaly a house out in the open, far from city and without any protection what could make it a target for anyone who is interested in free goods and womens, like raiders or decayed. Anyone could come and take whatever he wants as even gates are made of wood and look like they can be broken easely. Ofcourse the fact that this house belongs to Stalker is a protection itself, but there always could be some people who just doesnt care. I think some improvement here are neccesary and this could be done by inventing a money grinding system (not too hard or challenging, maybe without a need to grind too much, but still...) with home upgrades options.

5. Main Character.
He is cool. He is brutal (no, he is not a gigachad bodybuilder, but still when you look at him you undarstand that this cant be underastimated). He is confident and mature. He knows his way with sword. But not only this. He have a lot of knowledge about different things and he is intelligent. He can solve problems using different actions. If it fight - he can fight and will not hesitate to kill his enemy. If it is a dialog - he knows his way with words and can solve problems diplomaticaly. Yes, this is the kind of MC whose role you will enjoy. This is what 90 percent of adult games lacks. Aaaaand, no, MC is not overpowered. He is just a normal human who is not afraid of problems or awkward situations and who is intelligent enough to not look like a dumb monkey with muscles, who thinks only with his dick.

Yes, I have written a lot as I had a lot of things to mention, but if you want me to describe this game with one word, then is will be "Perfect". This game deserves every star in the 5 star rating I gave it.
If you are reading this review and consider trying this game, then I would definetely recommend to do it. I think everyone will find something here to enjoy. But remember one thing - this is not your usual adult game "about sex". It is a game with awesome and deep story, which I would recommend to take seriously from the very begining.

P.S. Thank you developer for creating this piece of art. Im definetely your fan now. Also special thanks for creating such character like Ivy, she is my favorite one here. Dont get me wrong, I like all the characters in this game (even Queen have here specific charm), but Ivy/Yuna is definetely special one.

P.P.S. Sorry for my English. I know it is very far from perfect, but I did my best to explain my thoughts about "Desert Stalker".

I'm currently playing v0.11c on Android and it feels I'm about 90% done with this release if not closer to the end based on the changlog updates I read.

+ Hot girls.
Yeah, 95% all have big tits, but otherwise there is a nice variety of races/skin color and body shapes.

-- My only complaint is many of the sex scenes are too short and only one view angel. . .an area for improvement.

+ An alpha male MC versus some dipshit college kid who is dumb as a log or a sociopathic character who tortures and rapes just because he can.

+ The story and MC have the Conan the Conqueror feel for me. Where he will do what he wants but he can be caring too.

> Story is fairly linear, but that is okay for me.

+ The dev had tried to do some things I don't know I've seen anywhere else after 150+ VNs in that you can choose to change POV for events going on a the same time. It isn't for everything, but it is an option on some spots to have the screen slide away from MC and slide into following his daughter for a bit.

+ Great use of music and sound effect that increases the immersion.

+ A wonderful air of eroticism. The wife and younger daughter just coming on the scene is sex. alluring, and exude eroticism. There is enough build up that it is erotic vs. straight to it porn.

+ I really like the less than common post-apocalyptic setting.
There are some nice world building aspects.

OVERALL:
In my top 10 favorite VNs.
Well worth supporting.

So here's the thing: what if I told you that you could have fantastic NSFW, PLENTY of kinks, beautiful renders, sexy girls, well-constructed sex scenes with good setup, barely a spelling mistake in sight as well as a protagonist that isn't pants-on-head retarded, and all you'd have to do is accept that the story was utterly ridiculous and everything happened within your typical sci-fi post-apocalypse supernaturally vampire mummy-filled universe?

Well, if the latter isn't a dealbreaker to you - or maybe it's even a plus you plebe - then Desert Stalker is the game for you. Plenty of content, plenty of NSFW. A little light on the choice, but not too bad actually.

Good game, recommend it.

Great game. At first I was sceptical because I'm not a huge fan of fantasy settings (the game is not high fantasy but still), but I must say the story and setting immersed me right away. It's a Mad Max meets The Mummy sort of setting and it works really well for this game., it's really well written.

Unlike other games where the MC is either a beta crybaby or a straight out rapist, in this game the MC is a real alpha male that dominates with both force and character. This is strangely and sadly something that other sex games lack.

Oh and yeah, the sex scenes are great and the girls are hot haha.

The MC of this game makes me feel like my avatar feels.

Truly refreshing to not have a doormat MC. Many arousing circumstances. The OST is so atmospheric that I listen to it while driving. Very relaxing. Beautiful faces in a time when most DAZ models still look like bony vampire grannys as soon as they smile.

Rest has been said in other reviews already.

One of the best games out here in my opinion, with a great scenario, developing a great story in an captivating environment of mixed nature between dark post-apocalypse cities to ancient Egypt temples, served by characters with intriguing sides slowly revealed while presenting erotic and sexual scenes well integrated into the progression. Many hours of immersive playtime makes this game one of my new favorite. Thank you the Dev team for a excellent game on all aspects.

What a great game this is!!
I always stay away from most incest+harem games, as they are nothing but girls falling on mc's dick and the whole plot revolves around that.

But here there is an actual story which does a great job of taking the lead role and pushing the sex down to 2nd place. It doesnt feel forced and the scenes involving mc and different girls actually occur due to a plot point rather than showing sex for the sake of it.

Zetan has done a great job with this and I can wait to play more and see where the story goes.

Best game in the entire site, THE BEST in all aspects as a whole: renders, storytelling, music and MOST importantly the MC is a man who behaves like one and not a feminine cuck like all the other "harem" games out here. I'll be getting a higher paying job in a week or so and FOR SURE going to support this game on patreon because it deserves every single penny it can get, it has been very consistent with its updates and improving in quality, love it. All female characters are beautiful and the MC is a straight up G, best game.

Edit: Got the job and already supporting the game, it deserves it.

At first, I had major mixed feelings about Desert Stalker. I originally began playing, loving the Mad Max vibe the game was going for but found out it goes deeper than that. I think the thing that put me off of it was the objectification of women in this world, but after a while, I tried to look at it from another perspective. Delving deeper into the story and especially Shani's, I was majorly impressed and excited to continue. Now, it's one of my favorite AVNs. How the turntables...

It has been really long since the last time I play games with such high quality.

The story is great, and the world setting is amazing. I even start to feel the porn part is a bit wasted compared with the game itself because it breaks my enjoyment of the storyline.

I feel really lucky that I can try the current version for free. I believe the game deserves quite a price on steam once it is finished

5* , the best ongoing project I've seen on this forum [v0.12a], and I've followed it for some time already.

Render quality is 5/5
Character design 5/5
Story is 5/5 , I know this isn't important but to me a post-apocalyptic world is interesting. It also gives the choice to the developer for including different fetishes without breaking believability .
Replayability 5/5 , there are mostly two routes for example sharing or vanilla, degrade or innocent so it is worth it.
Characters have some story and aren't simply meet and fuck 5/5
Doesn't have an annoyingly grindy Work mechanic 5/5


Not taking or giving points: Some violence, Sharing /Swinging content (can be turned off without any mention or consequence). Some people don't like those things , I have no problem, it's pixels anyway.
Update quality 5/5 - I can't remember if there was a disappointing short update.

What I'd like to see - more locations, the story offers the potential for a lot of world building or sequels in the same world; More sharing content or non-vanilla (mmf/mff/monster?/sharing); Maybe another Raider with slaves that Rivals the MC in regards to missions or he is being corrupt or something.
^this is me nitpicking

Overall the game is in a tier of it's own above the rest of H-games. There aren't many games with the right combination of story, build up , sex, quality, fighting, violence themes and this one succeeds. The quality is amazing for a simple Renpy game.

great renders. looking forward to more updateds. the characters are great. nadia story good. what ahppenidn to abigial. lookingforward to more by OP. love the dystopian slave theme it has going for it

A very very good, indeed.
You almost can do anything to a girl in this game like Kill 'em or Spare 'em, Sleep f*ck, R*pe, etc.

Above all that the MC always one step forward, so worry not.

Sharing option is fucking amazing, hell i like sharing more now than NTR.