VN - Ren'Py - Divinity [Update 1] [toasterkun]

Hey there,

I just played the first release of your game, and I have to say, it’s absolutely lovely! The visuals are stunning, and it’s clear you’ve put a lot of effort and time into developing it. There’s so much potential here!

Even though it’s early days, I’m already hooked. The world you’re building is so intriguing, and I’m excited to see where it goes.

Thanks for sharing your hard work with us. I can’t wait to see what’s next and watch the game evolve.

Wishing you all the best and good luck with everything, my friend! Keep up the amazing work.

Cheers!

(Note: If you are not into male domination and noncon, skip this game. It's just not for you.)

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

I cannot stress enough how incredible this game is. From seeing the previews and reading the dev notes and how seemingly apologetic the dev was about various aspects of the game, I expected an ambitious project that maybe fumbled a bit on execution. Needless to say, my expectations were blown out of the fucking water. The renders are flawless, the women are hot, etc. but where the game truly shines is in its writing.
The game perfectly strikes a balance between darkness and erotica, encapsulated perfectly by the literal internal conflict of the main character's human side and his newer demonic side. His human desire for sex and pleasure comes into contact with the demonic feelings of superiority and desire for conquest, leading to depraved descriptions of his psychology and the way he views the world that scratch the sadist itch in me better than almost any game I've played from this site before. The descriptions of the servant woman are visceral, and imply the strength of the main character's primal desires for her, and his desires to subjugate her.
The dev also has an incredible ability to resist the desire for needless exposition, trusting the audience to understand enough to figure things out for themselves in a way that in my own experience with writing I have found tremendously difficult. The narrative has yet to outright explain most of its mysteries, but I feel I have enough of a passing understanding of its world that the things that I don't know intrigue me far more than they frustrate me.
The lack of explicitly erotic scenes early on may be frustrating to some, but it is, in my opinion, made up for by the nature of the MC's strange psychosexual attraction to his "sister," whose looks and strangely submissive demeanor towards the MC (despite consistently subjecting him to light mind control) are endlessly alluring and kept me captivated through the game's early stages before the first erotic scenes began.
This is undoubtedly a game made for a very specific audience, but if you happen to fall into that audience, it would be a crime to not give it a try. I cannot wait to see what the future of this game has in store. 10/10, will play again.

Review of Divinity update 1

Graphics 5/5
You can tell that the developer has used Honey Select 2. However, the graphics do not look like Honey Select 2. The graphic quality is excellent. The characters are very well done, although it is not clear to me if they were done by the author. The use of light/lighting is excellent as well, and although the theme of the game is dark, therefore the light/lighting should be dark as well, there is no excess or lack of light or shadows. What should be dark and have shadows is dark, in the right quantity and quality. The same with what should be light and visible, achieving a balance between what should be seen and how it should be seen and what should not. The use of post processing is also abundant and adequate. And despite the great work that have the lights, shadows and post processing, I do not have the feeling that they are overworked or overforced, as in other games where the graphic quality is also high.

Music and sounds 4/5
There is. The music is dark, typical of scary, horror, etc. games. As the theme of the game is dark, the choice is appropriate.

Animations 4/5
More abundant than usual in this kind of projects. In the dialogue box you can see an animation of the character that is talking as if they were talking. There is only one sex scene, but you can see what you have to see: the penis clearly goes in and out of the female's mouth and vagina, something that sometimes you don't see in other projects (?). Which is the least you should ask for in a sex scene... to know, seeing, that there is sex. Unless it is a hidden sex scene or similar, which in this game at the moment is not the case.

Gameplay 4/5
It is still not clear whether the game is a graphic novel or a kinetic novel. That is, it is not clear if choices matter. Although at the moment there are very few. When you are not in story mode there is a kind of sandbox that is sometimes slightly confusing, especially the library and the throne room. Personally I don't like the disappearance of some of Ren'py's default features, such as the automatic text display or the disappearance of the bottom menu, especially not being able to use the "History" option. Although I understand that it could be to highlight what appears on the screen and only display image and text. But all this is something very minor. The game is well programmed, there are no bugs and you can move from one scene to another without problems.

Plot 5/5
Original and different from the typical Ren'py novel. The MC is someone or something possibly dead that several beings of dark nature manipulate and modify to make him believe that they are his "Mother" and "Sister", and thus instill in him protective desires typical among family members. And to blindly and obediently follow the plan that "Mother" has for him. The plot is sometimes a bit confusing due to being only the first update and because sometimes the MC's own life is confusing. Basically, sometimes the plot is a bit confusing because it has to be. Especially in the prologue, where the MC himself doesn't even know what's going on with his... life? Is he even alive? The game is well written and translated into English. Too well written sometimes, you can notice that he uses some tool to pompously overload the text. But the overload is of pomposity, not length. The scenes are often long, but not overloaded with unnecessary text. Although sometimes some long, detailed and pompous descriptions are superfluous. Overall the plot is original and different from what you usually see in Ren'py projects. It is interesting and engaging, and hooks you into following it. As long as you like scary and dark themed works....

Characters 5/5
Very well done. Not only graphically. You can tell they have a life and personality of their own. Ideas, thoughts, likes and dislikes... The characters match the type of personality they have and what is expected of them in each scene and the overall plot.

Final thoughts.
Divinity is a different and original work, which for that reason has its own personality. In general, the quality at all levels is very high, and it is highly recommended.