VN - Ren'Py - Dungeon Days [v0.09] [Buba]

Possibly my favorite smaller project being worked on, went into this with medium expectations and was hooked, basically playing it all in 2 sittings. Absolutely loved the game, story and characters and have never taken recommendations so serious to go play other games. Literally thought if the person making this masterpiece recommends stuff I gotta look at it at least and loved almost all of those games too. Great game and as a huge sucker for "monster" girls I hope this game keeps being worked on and does well!

So, to start off, I'll talk about why I don't think this is a 1 star game. The dev has definitely put time into world building and it shows. Some of the concepts introduced are intriguing, and the world (read: town and dungeon) feel like a real place, most of the time. In addition, most of the dialogue is above average, especially for a porn game. As for the visuals, I'd say they are on the upper end of KK graphics, with a good amount of variety and interesting looking girls.

That being said, let's go over why I don't think this game deserves any more than 2 stars, either.

As some of the other recent reviews have said, this games faults can almost entirely be sourced back to the main character, and how he is written. The game goes out of your way to tell you that this is the coolest guy ever and the entire world basically revolves around him. Every single girl in the game either wants him, has slept with him in the past (and still wants to do so more), or basically wants to jump him as soon as they've spent more than 30 seconds (enough time for a few cringe-worthy one liners) with him.

Now, I get that porn games are generally wish fulfillment, and that's all well and good, but the combination of lack of any struggle (again every girl loves him or starts wanting him nearly immediately) with the obnoxious writing just pulls me completely out of the story.

For an example, let's take the primary love interest, the big dragon girl, and count all the shitty anime tropes that the dev packed in:
1. Childhood friend
2. Unrequited crush
3. Ridiculous body image/self esteem issues
4. Unexplained attraction to him that borders on fixation
5. Relationship problems could be solved with one adult conversation, but that would require actual communication, which they never do
6. Sudden love rival from the heroine's past
7. The "misunderstanding" scene, where she catches the MC with another women in a somewhat compromising scene, but doesn't confront him or say anything
8. ...which leads to her giving him the cold shoulder and refusing to communicate more
9. Gets caught masturbating while moaning the MC's name because she was too dumb to lock a door
And etc.

For the decent points the game has, the cringy, tropy writing just made me want to uninstall the game less than an hour in, and the adult scenes are not good enough to make me want to keep playing a game in which I want to bash the MC's stupid face in with a hammer.

I can see a lot of work was put in to this one. It's definitely a high quality game and it doesn't take long to see that. The writing is entertaining and, at times, pretty funny.

The problem is, it's a story about the perfect man and his exploits, saying all the right words, doing all the right things, and being super duper powerful and cool. This isn't one of those isekais where some dude gets transported to another world with cheats, but, fuck, if it doesn't basically feel like one. Actually, this game even goes a step further than those isekais, since the MC has been a gigachad and banged a bunch of girls before the events of the game. After a while, you realize he's basically banged every chick already, or is seconds away from rizzing a girl by simply existing, and it just gets dull. The only real conflict going on is him juggling multiple bitches at the same time. Didn't really find anything I could connect with.

But this is a porn game. How's the porn? Meh.

Story 2/5
Where to start.. i guess not being able to rename MC but you can rename a frog that is in the game for10 seconds, but you can just use the universal cheat to rename MC but it really should be part of the game.

As for the story its i dunno wierd, MC is working for some deamon or whatever and hes job is to clean a dungeon after adventures gets killed in there which also feeds energy to the dungeon.
He then has to hold back 4 adventures from going there untill the dungeon is ready and ofcause MC will become friends very very fast with those 4 without knowing its them but will get to know that same day.
Then its MCs job to get close and friendly with them, even fuck em which dosent fit the choice or no sex option in that start either, anyway its so he can trick them and get them into the dungeon to get killed later on, which kinda feels weird consider they are LIs but ofc some girl will talk MC into saving them insted and MC is very submissive when it comes to girls so yeah.

It is well written and does have a little fun stuff but overall its really just meh.

I do like that in the start you get the choices "fuck all" "choice" "no sex" i picked choice since im just not into big tits so almost every girl was a turn-off, its just to bad that it dosent work, picking choice feels very poorly made and story will go on like your ment to fuck all, barely any text changes either and MC acts like he want to fuck all constantly no matter if you turned someone down he still wants to fuck em all.

The way they did "choice" mode is pretty much to delete dialogs and very rarely add new texts so story will feel like a mess if you dont play fuck all route.

What i also dont like is when MC talks with a LI hinting at them having sex the last time they where together since i truely dident like her one bit so really not something i want to know about and it dosent fit with the "choice" selection i made from the start either if they are already having a sexual relationship, same goes for flirting with same girl which also feels stupid before you even had the choice to tell her to fuck off.

But you will apprently run into multiple girls and talk about MC and them having sex or even lose hes virginity to one of them, i mean you would think devs would learn that most players dont want to hear about past sexual things thats gone on, also makes MC feel like a man whore when hes has apprently fucked the hole town already, wish they wouldent share shit like that i just dont see the point.

MC also invites people on dates and again it makes no sense in any other mode then fuck all, in "choice" it feels completely idiotic when you dont have any interrest in a LI and then your forced to go on a date knowing you will just go there to turn her down....it just makes for a shitty story.

Also its a bit annoying devs always make MCs such a big fan of huge tits so they cant think stright when seeing them, it feels idiotic when you as the player arent into it and it and wouldent touch her with a 10 ft pole but MC acts like he loves it when you as the player just cant wait to turn her ass down, it makes it feel to stupid and should be left out since each player can make up their own mind on whats hot or not....

Girls 2/5
Theres not many girls/LIs i think its around 5 or 6 total and the selection is pretty bad unless you have a big tit fetish and like giant girls since 2 are giants, 3 are big tits bimbos and 1 smol so diversity is very very poor, devs should learn to even things out so theres something for evreyone.

Animations 2/5
They pretty standard for this character just with bad cam views and short, some animations MCs body is removed so it looks more like a dildo fucking the girl then MC, virgin scenes has no blood or pain, so they just dident to much right in this one.

Music 2/5
Even though it kinda suits the game its just to much of the same over and over again which gets a bit annoying in the long run, it really should change up every now and then insted but it just dosent.

Choices 2/5
There arent really any choices other then saying yes or no to sex with someone other then that its just kinetic and i would think of the game as a full kinetic novel and not a VN, Dev even said it will proberly be a kinetic novel which make you wonder why tag hasent been added to warn about it.
Its also pretty clear this game was ment to be played only as a fuckfest/fuck all option or MC wouldent have had sex with everyone already before you start the game, or constantly flirt with everyone and invite people out with no choice to the player.


How it got almost nothing but 5 stars reviews smell a bit weird to me gotta say, it dosent even have all sex scenes animated.....
I will give it 2 stars only due to they atleast tried to make a choice game even though it was quite a bit of a fail.

I am at a complete loss as to how this is rated so high. Not a single non 5 star review does not sound realistic to me.

This game is marred by pretty awful writing. Porn games already don't have high standards for writing but all the meandering dialogue here really does not help the game. The pointless expositions, shitty attempts at hitting a checkmark for every anime trope in existence, every girl ever just throwing their ass at you in a second of introduction, it's generally pretty awful. The protagonist is one annoying mfer too. In general every character feels like they came out of a light novel or rather a poorly socialized person's idea of people and conversations.

And the rest of the game ain't all that impressive. Just looks like your generic koikatsu romp except most animated scenes are just frame-by-frame rather than actual animation.

A very interesting premise for a visual novel, and I absolutely adore the characters and the choices you can make and the setup for the future.

Usually, in a lot of these games, the sex scenes are unavoidable, but having the option to pick which girls to pursue is great, the models are stunning, and the MC is well-designed.

I do wish we could rename the MC, which is a staple of most visual novels, especially because main characters are almost always self-inserts, I think that would be a welcome change.

Celeste and Callie are the best girls so far, for me Celeste is the perfect girl for the MC based on how similar they are and how they interact with each other, and I can't wait to explore the dark secrets she seems to be hiding.

Callie definitely has the sexiest model and is the best looker of the group but also she seems to have a heart for the adventurers and also the MC, and I think she is a perfect good angel on the shoulder character. which is funny because she looks like a devil, I love the idea.

Very very fun game, I hope the story eventually has branching paths to where you can embrace the adventurers or the dungeon.

Slime girls next patch????

Story 10/10 my kind of monster girl story with
Great comedy and drama
Also cliffhanger ending at 0.06

Art 9/10 good use of koikatsu and great facial expressions
Either during shock or despair

Sound 8/10 no original tracks but decent tracks anyway

Man the ending of 0.06 could go in different ways
I hope they don't give us another mc because I like
Current one
Characters are 10/10 they have life in them and are
Interesting
Anyway this game deserves 5 rating so an instant recommend

if you like to laugh and smile this game is for you but if you have trust issue (heavy sarcasm) then this game is not for you. The character banter is on point, comedy and humor will make you laugh out loud so don't play early in the morning or late at night unless you want to piss off whoever your living with. Only thing that i can think that needs work is the art but the dev himself told me himself that he going to go back and rework the art.

This game certainly leaves an impression from the get go. A dungeon janitor sent to spy on adventurers? What is this? Why does a dungeon have a janitor in the first place?

Setting:
A unique take on a conflict between Adventurers and Dungeon Dwellers, explored from the latter's point of view. In this universe, dungeons aren't just gauntlets for the adventurers. The best I can describe them is structures designed to lure adventurers in order to steal their equipment and magic. They are operated by powerful beings and have a macroeconomic aspect to their design, striking a balance between housing the dwellers and financial viability. I don't have a better way to explain it at this point.

It's a high fantasy setting, probably inspired by DnD, with magic and races like elves, dwarves, dragonkins, beastkins, slimesgirls, kitsune, undine etc. You will also find representations of classes like Wizards, Paladins, Rogues, Bards etc. A lot of attention is given to the detail of magic,

Story:
It follows a dungeon dweller and his friend on a mission to spy on a particularly dangerous team of adventurers who present a threat to the dungeon. They are supposed to use guile and their network of friends in the city to gain the upper hand before the adventurers make their move. However on the way, repressed feelings, new relationships and a streak of coincidences start blurring the lines.

The game has a rich backstory and cast. The reader depends on the dialogue and changes in point of view to keep up with what's happening. The exposition is adequate, but it can be confusing if the reader doesn't pay the necessary attention.

Protagonist:
What we know as the janitor, is an odd fellow. For someone who's job is to clean up the gore of party-wiped adventurers, he has an interesting relationship with the dungeon boss, being his protege and trained in the ways of magic, despite seeimingly not having magical ability of his own. He is supposed to be a half-dwarf and acts out his dwarven side, but he is human-sized and the other half of his heritage is currently a mystery with some potential breadcrumbs that may or may not be related. He is easygoing, hardworking, knowledgable, doesn't take himself too seriously and has his way with the ladies. He has a wide range of behaviors, from calculating, to being manipulative, to an honest hardwoker. While he has some combat expertise, it's not his strong point and this becomes painfully apparent at some point in the game.

Main Cast:
There are 3 main groups to keep track of:
1. The Dungeon Dwellers, including the Protagonist, his dragonkin friend, his father, the dungeon boss (a lich).
2. The Spy Network, including a tavern owner and the city mayor.
3. The adventurer party. including 4 girls.
These groups seem to be intertwinned in a sense. The dragonking friend has history with a member of the adventuring party, MC has history with both the tavern owner and the mayor. The game uses these connections to drive the drama and explore the feelings and the relationships.
As of the latest update (0.06), a lot of attention is paid to the dragonkin friend who has repressed feelings and is friendzoned by the MC, so she is forced to cope with situations that always remind her of what she can't have. This brings her in direct conflict with multiple characters.

Writing/Dialogue:
The writing is exceptional. Dialogues are natural, appropriately emotional, driven by the backstories and the characterization. At certain times the dialogue may seem too much, but it's necessary to provide exposition as there is no narration. The humor is light and amusing, not punchy.

It's fairly linear and the choices revolve mostly around choosing if you want to romance a character or not.

I find that It has a bit of a pacing problem as it's reliant on coincidences and backstories to drive the plot, which may not allow the reader to get properly acquainted with the cast and form the necessary emotional connections to get fully invested in some of them. This may make some readers dismiss certain characters from the get go, as there are a lot of dramatic elements that may get tiresome without the necessary emotional investment.

Technicals:
The visuals are Koikatsu and a lot of care has been given for the characters to not feel very anime-like as the story has heavy medieval-western elements. They fit the setting well, although some of them can look funny, like the lich.
There is a lot of variety in the models, including looks, sizes and proportions.
The sex scenes are well animated, with some parts left to imagination. You may find the occasional "detached flying dick" animation but it's not very distracting. The UI blocks a lot of the animations so the player will constantly need to hide it using the 'h' key.
The audio is mostly ambience fitting the medieval-european theme, appropriate but mostly forgettable. Combat has punching and "whoosh" sounds to accompany the images.

Verdict:
An exceptional and unique novel with a worthy protagonist, diverse cast, a well crafted setting, emotional and engaging banter that feels natural and emerging from the backstories and emotional states of the cast, good humor and an interesting story that maintains a good balance between mystery, action and romance.

Not very far into this (mc and his...companion just got to town) but i have to say it's very well written and an enjoyable read. Been chuckling through the whole story so far. Hoping it doesn't lose anything as it progresses. The MC at the beginning would take the prize on Mike Rowes Dirty Jobs though. A translation for the foreign language would be nice, kind of annoying not knowing what the characters are saying at certain points, but maybe we're not supposed to know yet though...maybe?.

Edit: finished the current update/vs (.06) and i know not everyone is a fan of the art style but do yourself a favor and give it a try i promise you won't be disappointed. A great read, awesome characters and the animation is great as well. Looking forward to this story, truly well done.

Excellent game, I was immediately hooked.
My favorite parts were:
Vibrant dialogue - the characters personalties came through strong and were a joy to read
Solid render composition
The MC -The mixture of him ultimately meaning well but going about it in way that's kinda scummy is great
Unique character designs

Reviewing 0.06. I'd like to state upfront this one's not flawless, but the flaws are easily countered by the good parts for me, making this an easy five stars and I'd say one of the top of the games of its kind. First up let's talk gameplay: there's not a lot of choice. I've never minded this, especially in story heavy VN's, but if having a choice beyond have sex or don't is important to you this might not be your kind of novel. There characters are excellent, for the most part, as is the humor and storytelling. The character models really shine, being both varied and detailed. The backgrounds have more detail than most of its kind. All in all this one's definitely made its way onto the list of games I'll watch for updates for.

Great game , love the premise of the dungeons being alive and needing to be periodically feed with adventurers . The comedy is on point . Each character is well thought out with a good variation of personalities desires and needs.

[0.052] A cute and enjoyable little story (also a bit graphic with blood and body parts). Although VERY short on content. A couple of hours of playtime just so you know what you going into so far. The humor is good, but it becomes kind of predictable while following some common anime tropes. The facial expressions are great in scenes and I'd recommend the author keeps leaning on that and continues being creative with them.

The only reason I do not give it a 5/5 is because the story is unique in its own way but still has that feeling of being a little too tropey as I mentioned. And for some other reasons...

The sex scenes could use more variety instead of all having one position. "Pan" seems more like a creepy terrorizing stalker than a cute love interest. Hopefully she receives more redeeming qualities. The lion girl needs some more written personality other than being obnoxious and muscular. Those 2 characters are a miss for me. I do enjoy the rest of the cast though, probably because the other characters go into more dialogue about their lives and backgrounds instead of worshiping the MC.

Written as of v. 0.052
Score: 4,5/5. I overrated it because I smiled a lot.
Genre: high fantasy harem comedy
tldr: hahaha, not your typical fantasy vn, ridiculous, stupid, surprising, positive overall, but with gore.

Weak points: graphics, branching, choices, low replayability, amount of content,
Neutral: no voice acting, MC, sex scenes, animations
Strong points: originality, surprises, story, comedy, variety of girls and their personalities, music, performance

Weak points
graphics
The quantity of graphics kept me away from this game for a while, but when I started to play, I simply forgot about it for quite a long time (till the first sex scene). However, even problems with uneven quality exist. branching
The game gives an almost “kinetic novel feeling” during the second playthrough, even if you choose precisely opposite options compared to the previous play.

choices
Almost limited to choosing to have sex or not. Moreover, it looks like not fucking doesn’t change much. Other choices, like asking a girl about things, also don’t matter much. low replayability
Lack of branching and almost meaningless choices question the sense of playing again. That’s bad even for vns, which usually have low replayability by default.

amount of content
Objectively, not much, but a substantial amount for 0.052. From my experience, most vn has less content with the 0.2 version than this with 0.052.

Neutral
MC, sex scenes, animations
I didn’t find MC irritating or very likeable. Somewhat interesting, rather than boring. He goes with what girls offer, going with the flow during sex scenes. Sex scenes are in a vanilla range, modified in accordance with girls’ personalities. Animations exist. It didn’t bother or impress me, with the exception of the lewd and sex scene with the elf, when the animation I find relatively above average overall.

Strongpoints
originality, surprises, story, comedy
The strongest point of this game. It starts with a well-known type of scene, but it gives you surprises quite soon. Let’s say one small and one big at the beginning. More later on. Because of that, the story is far from typical. It’s more like a cleaver parody of high fantasy harem games. When many smiles and laughs are expected from the classic humour, the game also contains black humour, emerging especially strongly in two scenes with gore. Both scenes are not bad, but they emerge after light-hearted comedy so that non-black comedy fans may be shocked for a second, and that may take away the joy from them. Moreover, immersing themself again may take a while. Imo, it’d be worth for the dev to consider when to add more black humor with gore or even if to add it. Unless all his patreons and subscribers are black humour/gore fans.

variety of girls and their personalities
I’m rather indifferent to monster girls. They look vastly different (and I liked how it looked when one monster girl blushed). And their personalities are clearly different. To the point of being exaggerated, but that’s acceptable in comedy.

music
Some fantasy VNS fans may find it a little irritating that they hear Kevin MacLeod’s music again, but imo, what’s good is good, regardless of how frequently used. I also have a déjà vu that I heard Alexander Nakarada’s music in this game but didn’t see him in “About”, so it’s likely because his music and Kevin MacLeod’s blend in one playlist in my mind. Regardless, music is well-chosen for what is happening in the game, most notably bringing certain “Celtic feeling” in some scenes. Like an old Irish bar, where you throw a punch or ten and drink a beer or ten.

performance
Should be smooth even at very old devices. Tested on 12 yo mid-range laptop.

Excellent story. Had me invested right from the start. At first i was like WTF?! Then all of a sudden i get pulled into the story and i love it. The characters each have their own personalities and really bring a smile on my face. Love the music playing in the background. Can't wait to see where everything goes.

Dev has switched to sprite based storytelling and that just completely kills this game for me. 5 stars down to 2 cause the characters are still great, but expect a massive drop in quality from .07 onwards.
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Original .06 review:

Don't do what i did and write this game off cause of the broom in the splash image and the jokes about being a janitor, this game is ace! Each character has so much god damn depth and scene chemistry, it's ridiculous. Finally gave it a shot and it's rocketed right up into my top tier folder of games i want to keep up to date with.

What do I think of this game?
= An original lighthearted fantasy AVN with spellbinding writing, phenomenal use of humor, stunning art, marvelous musical number, and superb cast of characters. Ever come across any game (pun intended) that you can actually recommend to people in real life without them thinking you are fucked in the head. Well this is it...

Pros: Abso-fucking-lutely one of the BEST pieces of writing with great use of grammatical styles and punctuations, genuine and authentic characters that speak and act like real beings, musical selection is top notch, renders are so WELL DONE, and the MC is magnetically charming. He is confident yet not cocky and doesn't demean others which is a huge positive for me. Animations are chef's kiss (#^.^#)

Cons: NONE. Trust me...try it and you will see for yourself!

Verdict: Yes, a must play! I am a handholding, hug seeking, pat giving fucko with a special place for pieces of art that tug at my heart strings rather than tugging at the string inside my pants. This game offers just that. It is very light hearted yet offers plethora of emotions through lovable cast of characters. Again, WRITING is ABSOLUTE GOLD. The game has a huge potential to deliver given varieties of mysterious characters and their unexplored agendas so I'm looking forward to the next installment.


(Insert Palpatine Voice) We will watch your career with great interest...

Go play it already!

Good game, needs more fucking of the semi-aquatic style but what are you going to do. At least the quantity of H-scenes has some decent momentum behind it.
Music selection is on point and the environments are done well for the setting considering the koi asset limitations.
No real negatives aside from personal taste in character types, but no ones being neglected so far so I can’t complain about that.
Also enjoying this game may classify you as a furry but that’s a sacrifice worth making imo.

Overall a very good time, and one that I'll play update to update.

Title: A Delightful Gem of Adventure and Laughter! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Review:

Dungeon Days: The Visual Novel by Buba is an absolute gem that delivers an enthralling blend of adventure, humor, and immersive world-building. From the captivating storyline to the charming characters, this visual novel had me hooked from start to finish.

The game's world-building is creative. Buba has created a fantasy realm has a nice about of detail. Can see the inspirations from dungeons and dragons and the like. The few location of interesting and populated with a wide range of characters.

Humor is a key ingredient in Dungeon Days, and it's executed brilliantly. The witty dialogue and playful interactions had me genuinely laughing out loud. The game strikes a perfect balance between lighthearted moments, drama, and exposition.

Speaking of characters, Pah the dragon girl quickly became my favorite. Her unique personality and endearing quirks made her an absolute delight to interact with. Plus she's an amazonian tomboy childhood friend. The super trifecta. The special shoutout to Koko the raccoon girl is well-deserved too – her antics added a layer of charm to the story that I couldn't get enough of.

And let's not forget to mention character designs. The little detail in every illustration is a testament to the artist's skill, and it's impossible not to appreciate the artistry that brings these characters to life. Looking forward to see what he can do with Koikatsu.

In a nutshell, Dungeon Days: The Visual Novel is a must-play for anyone seeking an engaging adventure filled with laughter, monster girls, and the journey to getting a harem (If you choose to)


P.S. I know my review was more like a classic review you see in a magazine. So the skinny is this vn is funny, the girls are cute and varied and the fantasy element from tabletop gaming gives it a familiarity but also being its own thing. Now we just need a female orc warrior and a goblin gal and this game will be perfect.