VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Dusklight Manor [Final] [Daniels K]

[Ep.14 Update]


I think the premise is pretty interesting. You, the MC, accept a job in a remote manor, who you later discover to be owned by a vampire. There you meet the vampire and her"students/adopted daughters", who end up being the romantic interests of the game.

I think most of the characters are likable and the renders aren't bad. Yes, they do follow similar tropes (pretty one, hard to get one, free spirited one, shy/smart one, older one), but its hard to make many different characters that won't nowadays. I think the branching works for both the player and dev (you don't have to grind every love interest and they don't have to program a difficult algorithm) I think the beginning of the story starts off strong. You're introduced to the setting, love interests, supporting characters (Lurch + Flings).

The game isn't an overall bad game, but it lacks direction.

The lack of character development before the sex makes it anticlimatic and not gratifying. Sex is important. I mean, its an adult game, but it should happen after you build up the relationship more. Common tropes nowadays can cause characters to seem bland and adding slight personalities to those tropes make them more human, which we tend to like more. She doesn't have to just be pretty, or shy or...... . Its the lack of background to the character that causes them to be just another conquest. Their lack of issues, goals, etc., their choices (or yours for that matter) don't really change the plot in any considerable difference, making them forgettable.

You didn't have to have just that direction either. You are introduced to a vampire path later on in the story but it's only barely branching into this path as the game is coming to a close. There could have been a vampire power struggle, families, other creatures, MC personality change, or whatever, but it becomes an update where the former Nurse becomes a vampire and is goofy and annoying with it. The introduction to these other vampires could have created some drama in the story but the "you can't disobey the mistress" prevents all of that. The lack of direction causes the game to have updates that give little to the overall story and development to its characters.

I also don't agree with the character replacement between Lizzie and Cora. Lizzie was a better character. Lizzie did like sex, but was not ashamed and did not care whether the MC thought she was easy. She also wanted to find a purpose to her life, which was new. Building on that could have served as a more interesting addition to the story, but its brushed off and she is then sent away. Cora basically likes sex, wants to be a vampire, and thinks vampires should have maids. I literally summed her up in a sentence. It's not bad to just like sex but when you make her into a larger character there's no substance to keep the viewer entertained. The lack of real care the mistress has for her "adopted daughter" makes their relationships seem more superficial and sidelines a character that you should have wanted to be interested in.

I rate it a 4 because I'm not a developer and developing a satisfying game takes a lot of effort and time. I do think the game was enjoyable. I wouldn't have rated it a 4, otherwise, but it just doesn't deserve a 5. It excels at being an adult game because it offers the sex that comes with them, but it lacks the adult aspects of reality and complexity to make you remember the experience or the game.

renders are nice, girls are hot
other than mistress there is no milf not counting a scene with the mature witch, in future games add more milf, a balanced characters of milfs and normal girls.add hot milf stories

Nothing really stands out.

Yes the story and the supernatural aspect is something not so cliche although not original but I din't feel like the supernatural side of the game was the most interesting one.

Models are fine, peronalities are alright but the sex scenes aren't great and look really outdated.

DanielsK games, this one included, always have a variety of very sexy and unique models, intense sex scenes, and check off lots of taboos. Animations are jerky, but dialogue is decent, and plot always has me eager for more.
This game is fun, with surprising twists and turns, and while choices can get you better scenes or worse, you always get a lot of sex. New models introduced every once in a while, more than one strategy/attitude your character can have.

While the bad(?) endings so far are a little random, they are fun and harmless

Good Points
+Story feels interesting.
+Sex scenes have lots of different position and angle not all of them are amazing but yes we have different ones and its immersive a lot.
+Animations and renders looks good. But i like interior design's more, espacily MC's room looks pretty good.

Bad Points
-Story was good until Clara's and Cora's changes... I mean realy... What a amazing outcomes... Espacily Blood Path was big disappointment... I mean realy? -Girls face can use some work for making them little bit more attaractive. They look good but im feeling like there is room to improve.
-Clara should it be more hot with more porcelain/perfect face and not shaggy tits. I mean she is damn vampire and she should be more hot than this. With current sutitation she just looks like ordinary milf not like she vampire/beast with magnificent body. Its someting this game lack and should have.
-Animation loops need improve. First they need more time. Not to much for example even 1-2 second can fix things easily. Second they need little bit more lively and better physics. Its not like we dont have physics at all but they could be better than this. And lastly animation loop have problems. Like when they end we can see black light flash or their staring and ending points are so clear like absurdly changes. And its opposite of what ''loop'' means. They could be unlimited look like and we shouldt see ending and starting again.

For The End
It was good in first episodes and i was thinking give 3.5 or 4 star and i was thinking its just need some improve about some details but after some episodes its just became pretty much poor...

Story gets a 4/5 because I didn't notice many typos or grammar mistakes

Renders 3/5 because the update before this one I had 60% error screnes, and when I went to go through this update, my saves were broken. Completely kicked me out

Models 4/5 because they are good. The crazy nurse is not

Overall
This VN has a good story. I just got booted out completely when trying to load a previous save. I didn't feel like going back through the entire story. Good luck with this project.

Review of episode 12.

The visuals 5/10: Average.

Animations 5/10: Also average.

The UI: Standard renpy, but since it's a VN it doesn't need any more than that.

Dialogue 4/10: Not awful but not great. You can for the most part believe that the characters would speak like this to one another, so that's something.

The characters 3/10 (Due to Cora): Standard archetypes that have been done better in other games/media before, but they are still tolerable for the most part. To be honest I enjoyed my time with most of the characters.
But I really hate Cora. 100%. She starts out fine, but then stuff happens and she becomes absolutely insufferable to the point of me wishing she would just never have been introduced in the first place. She is legitimately ruining my enjoyment of the entire game. She has become a real source of frustration and she plays a huge part in episode 12. Maybe even 11.

The story 1/10: God awful boring bland trash, to be perfectly frank. It starts off well enough, in part carried by the characters (Who are still average mind you) only to completely ruin itself in the last few episodes. The game actually removes one character who has the personality to really liven up the place The game then decides to give her an ending... Where she just runs away from the manor and you go with them (her and her new girlfriend)... It's just kind of awful. Why would I as the player want to run off with her? Why would my character who has been getting along swimmingly with the other 3 ladies just run away with her? It makes no sense to me, and I guess this means that we won't ever see her again... Which is fine since she wasn't a part of the story since whatever episode (episode 12 was the first time I played). It just seems weird, and awful... And frustrating. Again, this story and everything was fine and then all of a sudden it started getting really frustrating with new annoying characters being introduced, some characters changing and... It just feels like the player lacks real agency. I can't do anything to change this game. At all. I just have to be content that the game is moving in a direction that I fucking loathe. And then you add to it that it's just freaking boring as all hell. Also yeah, there are vampires here. No, it's not the cool kind of vampires, that would be silly. They don't sparkle so... Add 1 point. Yay. Oh yeah, there's also a bunch of fucking in this game. But it's not that interesting.

The Gameplay: There is none. You read the text, shit happens and you have no agency.

Overall 2/10: I realize that this is an overly negative review. And the reason is the sheer amount of frustration that I felt towards the end and not even wanting to finish it. This is the exact same frustration I felt after playing VtM: Coteries of New York. I really liked this game, I woke up this morning and couldn't wait to find out what happens next. Then the last few episodes happened. And from episode 11 all I wanted to do was to shut this game off and pretend it never existed. I loathe this game, but hopefully, I'll have forgotten about that when episode 13 releases in a few months so I can play it again and find out; I absolutely loathe this game. There's more that I want to say, things that I have forgotten, etc. I've been sitting here for five minutes trying to find something positive to say about the game. Not just Mistress Clara, Lemon, and Lola are freaking hot because that's subjective and it's been said. But I've been trying to find something to do with the game itself... I can say absolutely nothing that stands out or is positive that there are not a lot of other games that do so much better than this. The most positive thing I can say right now is that there are things in this game that are average. So it's not all bad. Which really surprised me as I up until episode 10/11 couldn't wait to jump in and find out what happens. Not because the story was interesting but just because I enjoyed it for what it was, going on a ride with the characters and just sort of enjoying life in a way. Now, I feel like I never want to play it again. But I likely will and my opinion won't change much.

Review of Episode 12 (no spoilers):

This one is the definition of what the 2-star-rating describes: Poor.

The story is incredibly mundane. It's actually on par with the Twilight levels of boring. Yet again vampires are made docile and dull beasts, only there to serve the plot. It drags so long, that, unless you look at some minuscule details, nothing regarding your position at the manor or anyone around you has changed in these 12 episodes. There are some new characters, but you never learn anything new or progress in terms of story. It is also full of some cringey "girl power" garbage. Some of it is the equivalent of SJW "men bad" paradigm. It doesn't even serve the femdom fetish, it's just painful to read.

Characters are somewhat okay, apart from completely insufferable "vampire clan" members. In the end, they all fall to all the porn games' clichés (the shy girl, the slut, the smart girl etc.), but there isn't much to be expected, nor needed, from a game like this, so it didn't bother me that much.

Dialogues were, in my opinion, the best part of the game, albeit still mediocre. At least you don't need to make huge logic acrobatics to believe the characters might actually talk to each other that way. Most of the time it is very simple, but you are a yard worker, so probably not too bright to have any deeper discussions.

The renders/animations are annoyingly awful. You have such cute, sexy models, yet they are all wasted on some newbie level scenes. And, as far as I know, this is not a rookie developer. Making a couple games in the past, and not being able to render two characters kissing, is not a great sign for the future of any game by this developer. And I am way past the animations that have no "weight". They suffer from the same issue that a lot of games are - it's like two plastic barbie dolls going at it. If you can't make a good animation, or your rig is not capable of rendering it well, don't waste your time on it. Knowing how long they take to make, it's a huge waste.

One sidenote I can't fit in anywhere: why make the MC not into some sex scenes? He has trouble getting it up or finishing in general. Isn't he supposed to be an extension of the player? This seems like a colossally stupid idea.

There is not much to say to conclude this. Maybe you could check this game out once it's finished (if it ever will be), and then see where it actually ends up, but now there is just a lot of boring story to read and no pay-off. Steer clear for now.

It's a big no for me.
I follow the dev since Lancaster Boarding House, the game was ok and I thought that the dev had some potential.
But this game is just wrong in every aspect, renders are average so as animation, story is really boring so as writing.
I think that the dev had some potential, but he just preferred staying in the average

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Summary: An uninspired, bland storyline with weak animations and acceptable renders from the veteran Daniels K., author of Pine Falls, My Girlfriend's Amnesia and Lancaster Boarding House. If this is your first time interacting with his games, I suggest you start with any of those three instead.
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Review:

• Art-style: ☆ ☆
The rendering is good, even if bland in post-processing. Most of these renders are straight out of Daz 3D without being added effects or refining the colors. In 2021, this is lacking in comparison to many other games and authors who, at least, bother to add a partial background blur. But in Dusklight, I can almost tell just by looking what lighting effects were used. The animations are also wobbly and, frankly, I expected a lot more than a shaky room that makes me feel drunk.

• Gameplay: ☆
What gameplay? Your choices have no repercussions, there are no decisions, outcomes, or the need to replay the game (as it is) more than once to access all content. Your hand is held as you are guided into your harem of hot girls, who are all very subservient to you. It's the equivalent of asking your mother to pass a level for you on a easy mode Disney game. Personally, after Pine Falls, I expected more from Daniel.

• Storyline: ☆ ☆
Let's face it - storylines were never Daniel K's strongest suit. Remember Zoe's Temptations? His first game, dating back to 2016, was a mess of magic elements, coming-of-age and incoherent scenes. You'd expect that this veteran would have developed his ability to elaborate a plot after four years and five games. He hasn't. The MC has the mindset of a 13 year-old who can only think about sex, sex, sex!!!! and is utterly oblivious and obnoxious to all else. But his signature of blending fantasy and real settings in an incoherent mess is also there - it's nostalgic and endearing enough to give this two stars.

• Grammar: ☆ ☆ ☆
As far as I took notice, there were no serious grammatical lapses or lexical disjunctions throughout the game. But yet again, with trivial dialogue and shallow descriptions of the girls' boobs and asses, how bad would it be for incorrect grammar to be stamped on the text box?
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Stars: 8
Parameters: 4 (Art | Gameplay | Storyline | Grammar)
Final calculus: 8 / 4 = 2

Result: 2 ☆

Storyline is not engaging enough. Seems uninspired. Also, there does not seem to be an end goal. Like a soap opera. Just continuing with no dramatic acts. Characters are too easy. It would be nice for the player to earn something or suffer some consequences.

Reviewed version is Ep. 10

Pro:
+ Very high quality renders and diverse models
+ good english
+ hours of content

Contra:
- Story: For me it felt like there could be some dark secrets and interesting plot twists around every corner, but you wait and wait and the mystery gets revealed and nothing changes and it is still the same vanilla harem game. The characters are sufficiently deep and could be interesting but they are just way too easy... it became so boring that I started skipping the "non- story"-relevant encounters early on, because they added nothing and the animations and visuals were nice.
- sex is vanilla only (played till Ep. 7)

Summary:
Stunning, but very shallow vanilla harem VN, that gets boring fast!
2.5 stars

SPOİLER


it was good at first nice looking models interesting story but it lost me after mc learned his boss is a vampire who is feeding of him ANY normal human being would run the shit of that situation but he didnt do anything so this a pile of garbage for after that point

Gave it a shot, but like all stories by this author the characters are very flat. The writer has no idea how humans work and the dialogue is dull. Generally speaking, the renders look good and there is good effort at plot though nothing that captured me before I dropped it.

The best VN made by Daniels K, hands down.

Pros :

• STORY, so far its interesting. the progression of the story is not too slow and not too fast which is great
• CHARACTERS, the girls are beautiful and pretty, especially Lemon, a girl to die for their personality are different from one another which makes the story more interesting.
• SCENES, plenty of animated steamy scenes on the side for all the horndogs out there
• BACKGROUND, pretty great, goes well with the story

So far, i had a great time playing it, the story is interesting and i could not wait for more

Haven't found a bad thing in this VN, the dev Aced it!!

100% HAVE TO GIVE THIS ONE A RIDE!

DL'd ep 9 to start playing. Finished ep 9 now and very much enjoyed the game so far.
Models are tidy, they're all honeys. Although Cora is a bit of a laxative, she's still FAF. (Fit As Fuck)
Story is engaging, supernatural element with vampire and witches adds to the engagement - if you enjoy mythical stuff like that.
Graphics are excellent, animation is decent.
Not sure what else needs to be said - give it a go if you like mythical stories, give it a go if you like attractive girls.
In short: Give it a go!!

Hey guys i played this game almost a week ago and really liked the story and models and i think this developer Daniel K deserve more support . before this game i played Pinefalls and i was amazed keep up the good work

I'm only 3/4 through the game so the review may not be complete.
This is without a doubt the best game I've played. Superb characters all around, especially Lurch and the protagonist. Lurch is a wonderful person who you can't help but care for. The dialogue and decisions characters make are reasonable and the humor is well done.
Seriously can't give this enough praise.

Hmm, this one is tough.

First of all, Kudos to Daniels K! He always develops good and sound games. No pateron milking and the updates come regulary.

I always enjoyed his games, but i have to say that the older ones were more kinky, more sexier and hotter.
The sex, the girls, the feeling.

Dusklight Manor is not a bad game. Actually it's pretty good.
But the girls are not that hot (except that mynx Lemon! Wow!), the sex is boring and the story is ok but not really enticing.

For me, this is baddest game from Daniels K, but still good and better than most of the rest on F95.

3,5 Stars from me!

Well welll welll
So first of all its a daniels K game so
Beautiful renders ☑
Story ☑
Animation ☑
I had played all of his renpy games and a rpgm too
So i know the story is well written
Only downfall you may see is when the game is about to end in my opinion, pine falls,lancaster boarding school both ended abruptly. So its the only downfall / bad point of it for me others may disagree but its relevant for me so i stated it.
This one also lives to expectation and by far my fav is lemon . Each character has its own charisma so its not easy to hate one. Dropping this for future refrence
5/5 stars