Ren'Py - Desert Stalker [v0.17.1.2 2024-12-30] [Zetan]

I will start with what I'm sure everyone knows.

This is one of the best games on the site.

I hold all other games to the standard that this game sets, more or less.
The game has one of the best stories on the site, and some of the best characters. Each lewd scene manages to feel novel and earned instead of becoming a copy and paste or revealing a rather obvious skinner's box pattern underneath.

The setting is rather unique, but even if it's not the first, it has succeeded so well that it owns the space, and similar games have to live up to it.

One of the most enjoyable MC's on the site too. He has a lot of personality, and some people can argue he's too strong or competent, but believe it or not, that archetype is rather rare in the genre, where most MC's are just stupid and spoonfed plot results or sex. It's incredibly surprising how rare a competent MC is, or competent in a manner where they earn their wins rather than just being too strong.

Minor complaints for the game is that the body types of lots of characters can be too similar. I mean it's the perfect body type, at least for my tastes, but a lot of them are similar. Also the saturation and color of the locations can make everything blend in too much. It all looks like some shady of sandy. Finally, because of how specific the renders and animations are, and how high quality they are, it can end up eating into the dev time, where one update may be rather short.

But all in all, I keep coming back to the game, and it consistently holds my interest.
Shani's interactions with that house in the zone was rather great, and the dev's have managed to add literary elements in a way that folds rather nicely with the rest of the game rather than sticking like a sore thumb, dragging the rest of the game with it and ruining the lewd content, being too in your face, or being plain bad. Where others fail, Desert Stalker excels.

One of the great things about Desert Stalker is that it doesn't need to overly rely on it's plot. It already has egyptian Mad Max harem down with fantastic setup imagery, hot character design and decent writing. All it needs to do as a game is focus on it's core set of characters and avoid getting too anime-y or too self-indulgent in it's own plot.

And that's exactly where it struggles.

There's a real fine line the game walks attempting to balance it's anime styled characters with the stylized middle-eastern ones. I would argue that the more characters the game introduces, the more likely we are to run into more of these Dead or Alive Volleyball style anime characters that pull you out of the experience. Jamming in themes like vampirism and roman coliseums while we move back and forth from STALKER style desert settings to perfectly preserved egyptian tombs, there are real moments where you lose your sense of place as the game bombards you with a cool new characters that only get one sex scene.

The constant new side content feels like a distraction from the core characters and hinders this game's sense of scale. There are four perfectly fuckable characters to interact with from the start of the game, yet for some reason we keep adding more and more characters onto the roster. Introducing all these characters invites plenty of narrative fodder that's drawn out to a degree that sexual content takes a backseat to uninteresting plot development every update.

There's a lot of gimmicky content that tries to add a level of depth but ends up falling flat. Exploration sections of the game have too many options that only play out with two unimportant outcomes. There's a village on a bridge where you decide the fates of each villager just to tap into Fallout nostalgia and the payoff is sexless slides in an unskippable cutscene. There's an anime lab where special races of characters now enter the fray because... deus ex machina?

When there's already so much richness in the middle eastern-esque parts of the world, why sideline the plot into cringey setpieces? We want to see these elements evolve and our choices matter. Knowing how small these independent game developers teams are and how slow the update cycle can be, the focus should be on that core set of content unless we're prepared to wait several years to see Desert Stalker release.

My recommendations are simple. More sex scenes of core characters that push the plot and introduce us to new characters, less distractions and random anime-fantasy-sci fi content.

4 stars. Good.

What to say, could be best AVN and the hardcore stuff doesn't stand out or feel forced because plot is a Fallout/Mad Max crossover. Big potential and good playtime as of 0.11, i feel it will get better and better.

This game is surreal. It's basically a blockbuster of Ren'Py erotic games. I've probably spent more then 8 hours playing it and it's only version 0.11b. The renders and animations, the storytelling, the sex scenes, the music,.. This is one of the most impressive games here ever. It's a highly messed up universe this is playing in though. :-D Which makes me wonder if I want to restart and get to know the consequences of making only evil choices for once.

Best game i've played on this website, easily.

I don't want to write too much, I would just be repeating what everyone else have said, but wow are these characters insanely hot, both physically and in personality. The wife alone makes this game a 10/10.

Also, this developer really gets breasts right, I know it sounds dumb, but maaany games have these hard unmovable cement balloons and that's not hot at all, imo.

My first Dystopian Game , and i gotta say i really enjoyed it.
I lost track of time while playing. it's really that good ,and now im longing for more of this type of genre. T_T more power to the dev , and if u are here to check reviews, well i'd say just go on! and play it. 5stars

This is what a PORN game should be.

You see your wife? Fuck them. You see a stranger on the street? Fuck them. Family? etcetc It's relentless, and it's perfect.

Renders are great, art style is unique to the setting, all the characters kinda have that mid-eastern touch which is nice, sound effects and in general sound is good.

There's something for everyone here, whether you want incest themes, or submission themes, or sharing themes, I can't imagine few wouldn't like it - and yet none of these things are forced, you always feel in control of the character.

Only complaint is it's not long enough, you don't want it to end.

Well, what a surprised this was so far!
This is one that'll immerse you very quickly in it's world full of surprises!
Visuals are great, a lot of well made cinematics and beautiful women.
The factions are really well thought out, feels a bit like StarCraft 2 as in they're all different yet well balanced.

I'm gonna watch this game closely and definitly consedering supporting depending on activity. I strongly suggest you do the same! It's that good!

loving this game from beginning to end! one of if not the best game on here right now. looking forward to more updates! will consider supporting later on once i have the money!loving this game from beginning to end! one of if not the best game on here right now. looking forward to more updates! will consider supporting later on once i have the money!

This is the best VN right now.
MC isnt a cuck or a wimpy dude, he is a badass who knows what he has to do and doesnt fuck around.
The story is a mix between fallout and stalker and has some really profound and tought provoking moments.
Technical aspects are great: music, renders, animations. A thing that i really like is how it uses animations: sparringly and to focus in pivotal moments in the story.
10/10

I went through in several ways and I must admit that I liked it very much.
Interesting concept, cool characters.
I also really like that we have the option of playing or not playing Shani, it adds variety to the story.
I look forward to future updates and wish you good luck.

amazing story,amazing girls,very good renders. Hope in the future updates we get more choices, hope choices matter and have impact on the story and the relations with the girls, hope there is more choices to choose (instead of 2 to have 3) in the future,hope to see more girls on the game and the the mission when they are done for the updates to say that the player cant continue or doesnt have have more in the version that the player is like that players know.

Well. what can I add which has not already been mentioned by some 300+ five star reviews?

Great story, great writing, fantastic renders, choices do matter, with often far reaching and somewhat unexpected consequences.

How about... the dev's got balls! (Or more correctly, artistic integrity.) There is a story to be told and it will be told, no matter who gets their knickers in a twist and that has to be applauded. There has been a fair bit of noise and esoteric discussion on the forum of what makes a man a 'man', fortunately ignored by the dev.

Regular updates are high quality and generally of good length and I look forward to continuing on the journey that Zetan is taking us on.

I wrote a lenghty review on the game but clicked outside by accident and thus lost everything. So it's gonna be a TL; DR - Game's good. Damn good even. Harsh world in a dystopian setting with highly intruiging story, well developed characters and amazing sex scenes. You won't be disappointed!

This is hands down one of the best games here.
If you like the tags you will like the game.

Story is fun, not too serious but a fair bit of depth.
Game-play is really good, it genuinely feels like an RPG rather than a VN.
Scenes are really hot, animations are clean, renders are great.
Pacing is really good, some slutty chars the sex happens early, the less slutty people have a slower burn, but plenty of content with everyone.
Chars are all interesting and different, sub/dom, good/evil, extro/introverted, intelligent/impulsive.

10/10 for me
Every update has been quality (IIRC).

This is totally top-drawer stuff! The writing and the lore are so real and immersive.
It creates a world where incest is completely natural and a normal part of society. After a while, you don't even give it a second thought...there is no demonising religion creating self-righteous moral frameworks and damning society with eternal sin. But it has that 'Mad Max', feel about it, where there is danger everywhere, at any moment.
This is a world where freedom actually exists, and choices are not bound by rules and regulations. The characters are unique and beautifully realised. Each one has hidden depths and secrets to uncover.
This is one of the best VN's you can play in my opinion.
It isn't perfect and I have issues with the UI being uncommunicative and confusing when you are at home.
It can be brutal in places, but you almost always get the option for lethal or non-lethal takedowns...I haven't killed a single person yet.
However, if this game world was reality, I wouldn't survive a day!

Holy - Ok, this is seriously one of the top games I've played on this site. The hot parts are incredibly hot. The relationships are deep, characters are unique, the art is outstanding, the choices actually feel like choices, the writing is brilliant, the universe is immersive, the story line is rich and entrancing, the extreme parts are extreme.. Just incredible.

And the NTR part is so refreshingly unique and perfect, way more hotwifey / stag then cuck - the character never feels humiliated from sharing his toys. They're his, there's no question they are his and he's choosing to share them, and the toys themselves easily remind anyone that thinks otherwise that they love the MC. But that's not the best part - the best part is that he is respectful of his love interests, and toys. There's a scene that blew me away - MC goes into a house w/ this very... pathetic stuck up prick. And the first thing he does is 'hey, you don't mind if I move this furniture around so I can sit with my wife? good 'cause I'm doing it'. The wife is his toy. He shares her easily, exposes her, she holds his dick as he fucks other toys, and kneels at his feet - and you can feel, constantly, the incredible amount of love and respect that he has for her, and she for him. In their humor, in their interactions with others, its just... Damn, this is the just the best freaking example of a D/s poly family in any freaking game or media that I've ever seen. Mad bloody props. Just.. I can't stop typing for how much I love this game already and want more of it

One of the better games on here.

+ Decent Story
+ Cute girls
+ Great music
+ Cinematic moments don't try too hard

++ Doesn't seem (so far) to lock you out of content for making the wrong choice

- Missing textures/normal/displacement maps in earlier version renders
- Sometimes it's unclear when a scene continues after time or requires a click
- Updates with unfinished quests

Overall, very good and recommended.

Amazing VN with all the angst of a post apolalyptic world and a bunch of weirdos with strange customs and where sharing your girls is as optional as fucking everything in sight. Like the story or not DesertStalker makes for a very entertaining or kitsch 2-3 hours of gameplay with a few kinky sex scenes thrown in. Those who rate this less than 3 stars are just jealous IMO. LOL.

The story is compelling and grim at the same time as it's set in a post apocalyptic future. the MC can be played either as a domineering ass with no restraints, somewhere in the middle or charismatic and diplomatic. The imaging is ok, the animations short and adequate. It's good porn with a solid story with elements of gaming that make it interesting as a pastime. As for the sharing content it's optional but it is nicely done. I don't understand the haters as IRL they are already sharing the LIs with 100,000 fappers on f95zone and elsewhere. In short, a well worth your time VN with many kinks, well suited for a porn forum.