VN - Ren'Py - Eternum [v0.8.0] [Caribdis]

This is by far one of the best adult games I've ever played.

You can tell right away from the screenshots if you'll like this games art style or not, and if you do, i believe you'll enjoy the animations as well. You can tell that alot of work went into them, and its one of the highlights of this game.

Speaking of highlights, another one is its writing. Early on it shows off its comedy chops, and it's something you'll love or hate, but it truly has been enjoyable. There are plenty of movie, game, and anime references in here that just make your time spent playing all that more fun.

The final highlight is the characters. I was genuinely surprised at how well written and layered they truly are, and that is no easy feat. They have their own likes and dislikes, goals and ambitions, and [most importantly], they are not without their own flaws. It is rare to find that in adult games, and I believe that should be "applauded"

All in all, 10 out of 10.
I highly recommend giving it a go

Animations are excellent, characters are cool, story is not a total bore. These things result in a Win! and a 5 star review in my book. If you are a fan of these types of games, there is definitely something here for you, and this is far before a full release. Good work!

I already had high expectactions from all the positive reviews from everyone in the AVN communities, but WOW, this game is really something else, it has a lot of good humour and I found the story very compelling with all those different dimensions and mysteries in Eternum, the girls all have very distinct personalities which makes the conversations very enjoyable throughout the game and I loved the artstyle of all the girls and the world in both kredon and all those different dimensions explored, looking forward to what happens in the following episode.

I played it when it was 0.7.5 version and while I'm unsure if I'll be around when final version is out, I'm sure it'll be good.

Art is splendid, I definitely found a lot of things to like. Compared to his previous game, this one has more girls and I like more of them while before I was a "family" man. Really good art. Once in a Lifetime changed my view on those realistic looking porn games and this one just solidified it.

Gameplay-wise, samish this as before, mostly VN but you end up having to pay attention at what you are doing. Or savescum but that gets boring and tedious fast. It ends up faster to play by reading than skipping.

Story is fun, characters are fun. I usually don't really enjoy VNs, it triggers my gotta collect them all instincts and that ends up being heavy save scumming, breadth-search option picking and backtracking. This guy knows how to make an interesting VN.

Maximum recommendations.

I went expecting another shitty porn game, but the scene with Micaela in the beggining just exploded my expectations, well writen, good humor, good art and good character design.
I highly recommend this game.
Give it a try, it will blow your mind.

Just finished my second playthrough in a few weeks.
I delayed playing Eternum as much as possible after finishing OIALT because i knew it would be awesome but i finally fell into it. I was right and I enjoyed every minute of the game. Love the story, the characters, the importance given to details and the overall quality of the game.
I was a bit worried during the first two chapters because the renders were a bit "weird" but Cari did a great job and from .3 the quality has been growing with every update and are easily on top quality. The writing is always at the top and I love the humor especially in unexpected moments.
Now I'm a passenger of the wait train. Hopefully next update is not too far now.
I know Cari sometimes read theses so please keep the awesome work, your game is great and take all the time you need to keep the quality as it is or even better <3.

I’ve got to say, I played their other game, Once in a Lifetime, before this, and while there were a few things to nitpick, I felt like it set a pretty high bar for this style of game. Then I played Eternum, and it somehow took everything great about Once in a Lifetime and made it even better.

The dev clearly leveled up every aspect: the girls are incredibly attractive, the animations are top-notch, the writing is phenomenal, and the humor actually lands. The world is interesting, the characters are well written, the MC is genuinely likable, and the sound design and music both add to the atmosphere. The art fits perfectly, and the character models in both games are so well done that I don’t think anyone does it better.

What’s really impressive is being able to play an H-game for hours without even noticing, simply because you’re so immersed in the story and the characters. I can’t help but appreciate the clear amount of effort that went into making this. Criticizing this game almost feels like nitpicking, and I cannot fathom giving this a low rating. This has to be the gold standard for H-games using this style of character models. Everything is just so refined. All the standout elements from Once in a Lifetime are here, but taken to a whole new level.

Best game on this site, no questions. Super hot, exceptional story and writing, funny and engaging. Thrilled about every update. Caribdis is an absolute artist and makes the game look so damn good. I cannot recommend this game enough

this game has an amazing story and the music are awesome I can't stop listening to them at first I played it just for the sex scene but now it is at the bottom of my list. I can't wait for the next update

The game tries to balance between story and porn but fails at both. The porn scenes are average, and the characters are generic. The story is built on tired clichés like a perverted MC, a harem, and a VR MMO setting, making it feel like a worse version of *Ready Player One*. Neither the story nor the adult content stands out, and there are better alternatives available. The main character is cringeworthy and creepy, which ruins the experience, and the animations, typical of Honey Select games, aren’t special enough to compensate. While the girls look fine, they’re one-dimensional, and even the music feels out of place. Overall, it’s a disappointing experience with an awful protagonist.

After scrolling through dozen of games and becoming a washed up volleyball Player, to being teleported to a house in the rift and another realm with baddies that has qi, to surviving an apocalypse with two sisters and now enrolling to a new school abroad where my busty nanny lives with her two baddies. Penelope number 1, finished the v0.7.5 few months ago will be following this game til it's end.

I'm honestly a bit hurt to give this only three stars. If it was the dev's first work, I'd give it 5. However, there are some things that the dev simply has not improved on.

Story, writing, humor, all that is fantastic. But the dev seems to have spread themselves too thin with the LIs In their last game, there weren't even that many main LIs, and yet there was not much content with any of them. The "standard" based of my experience (so grain of salt and all that) is 8-10 scenes with each main LI, with 1-3 of those scenes being tension building scenes, not full on lewd (spying in showed, shy handjob, etc...)

As of the most recent update, all of the main girls only have 2-3 scenes, with one being a guaranteed skip, as it is just teasing. Given the dev's previous game I was expecting more improvement in this area. A lot of content so far, but yet at the same time barely any content.

Hopefully things pick up in future updates. As I mentioned, each main girl should have about 8-10 scenes each. That's pretty standard. If this is too much, dev might want to tighten up on their next game and have less LIs with more content. 3-4 LIs is pretty standard, with 1-3 side girls who have 1 maybe 2 scenes each.

I really want to give the finished product 4-5 stars, please add more porn to your porn game, or maybe consider just making normal video games, as you seem to do everything else really well.

This game is one of the best on this site and I think that despite disliking the vast majority of HS games due to the art.
It has an excellent story/writing by adult game standards, diverse LIs and good pacing.

Story 5/5, Originality 4.5/5, Renders 3/5, Playability 5/5, Animations 4/5, Amount of content 5/5

Simply a masterpiece. Great artsyle, beautiful girls, a fantastic story and an exceptional original soundtrack too!!

The game also has great jokes and dialogue, something rare in these types of VNs. All NSFW scenes are animated as well.

It's the Magnum Opus of visual novels in my opinion.

One of the best games I have ever played here so far, the content is of high quality, the music and atmosphere really captivating, and the art splendid! I look forward to see more of it, wether in this game or another one of the same developper =)

Just beautiful! Better than its predecessor. I started it just looking for a laugh and a wank, and I ended falling in love with everything, from the plot to the characters. Definitely adding it to my personal top of bests VNs ever! Hope to be there to witness this remarkable story to the very end.

So far, Eternum is a perfect game, even without its NSFW components (i.e. if it just faded to black), it would arguably still be a Solid A, with the Ready Player One influences, characterization and the mystery going on.

The NSFW scenes though are what raise the game to an entire other level. It's easy to see how skilled Caribdis is, the first notable scene with Annie has the song "Run Boy Run" play which sensually accompanies the outer teasing. There is also the Nova riding scene where the two can barely contain their desire for each other. But most notably I believe is the Alex first sex scene, with the powerful line "never in a million years" that show she has broken her own principles in order to lust or love our main character. The triple whammy scenes that follow in a roll really seals the deal and makes the scene ground breaking to me, for a free to play game.

Other notable scenes include the Egyptian which adds diversity and exotic feeling, and the Spanish influenced music playing while you are massaging Luna. I look forward to the full game of Eternum...

Incredibly exciting story with very good dialogue, of course a big plus is that the visuals are of the same quality as the story. Many other screenwriters could learn from Eternum to mix humor with suspense.

I kind of struggle to find the motivation to write a review for Eternum. It is after all a legend in the English AVN world: a game that has received innumerable 5 star reviews, recommended countless times on Discord, created one of the most financially profitable indie adult game developers and a platinum standard bearer that has inspired numerous game developers to borrow elements from it in their own development journey.

What I can pile on simply makes no difference, but I suppose the least I could do is to write something to express my appreciation to Caribdis for bringing us players Eternum and also to a certain extent for uplifting the standards and quality of the AVN industry.

Story
MC moved to a new town to start college with his childhood friends Anna and Chang. He and Anna plan to stay with former nanny Nancy and her two daughters Penny and Dalia. The first 30 minutes or so may give an impression that this will be a typical adult game where MC wanders around a house full of women looking for sex.

Whatever misgivings one might have of this being a “porn story” is abruptly interrupted by a ringing public phone outside the airport that brought a cryptic but ominous message. This small but significant event draws up the curtain on Eternum and dispels the notion that this will be a brainless sex fest game.

Namesake “Eternum” is a 100% immersive VR game that is wildly popular around the world and something which the MC and all LIs will eventually get involved in. The overall story combines various intertwined adventures and developments in both real and VR game world that slowly unravels to players the mysteries and dangers of not only the game but also its developer company.

Most good games focus on a particular genre and do it good, some try to span across a few genres and usually either fall flat or end up mediocre. Eternum on the other hand goes the other extreme: it dabbles in so many genres - adventure, Sci-Fi, romance, fantasy, paranormal, mystery, slice of life, school life, wild wild west, Roman, war, humor, horror etc. that it’s hard to even keep count.

The truly amazing thing is they all synergize with each other well due to a clever plot device of having unlimited servers on Eternum which allows players to jump into different VR worlds. Caribdis might not be the first to come up with this concept, but they are definitely the only one I have seen so far that executed this mammoth undertaking to near perfection.

In a certain sense when you play Eternum, you are playing multiple games all at one go. You never know where the developer is going to bring you to in the next story arc - you can be in the kitchen having dinner with your LIs one moment and slashing through enemy magic the next; riding a car to school now and sloshing through intergalactic space 5 minutes later.

Game Mechanics
Mostly a kinetic novel with choices that affect love scores and scenes with different LIs. It is recommended to save regularly as some not so apparent choices might lead to skipping development with a certain LI subsequently.

Background / Character Renders
Naturally this being a supra-genre game means the number of customized background and UI required is explosive. Surprisingly you don’t see much repetition as each time MC and his team leap through servers, an entire suite of new maps are introduced. The amazing thing is most appear to be highly customized and rendered from scratch, there is little generic stock images used despite the insane number of highly differentiated backgrounds.

Then comes the MC and his 7 LIs - HS2 in nature, each of them is lovingly designed and highly distinguishable. MC is smart and clean looking (no hentai pervert or wussy look), Anna is cute petite without being loli, Dalia is obviously the sporty one, Luna is an elf without long ears, Nancy the MILF (looks too young for her age IMO), Nova's cute pirate eye and my personal favorites Penny is sexy and lascivious while Alex is wild and curvy.

Oh and all the main characters come with many unique outfits you get to unlock as the game progresses. Last but not least, Eternum also has a significant number of minor characters that are all uniquely designed and many a times they either serve as humor subjects or play an important role in carrying the story through. Many of these minor characters have good enough designs to serve even as MC and LIs in a normal AVN game.

Character Development
We have as ordinary and real for a 18 year old male MC as one can get. The guy’s funny, cares for his friends, horny when he sees pretty girls, flounders in the presence of someone powerful like Bardot or Founder and gets his head in the clouds when he has some small accomplishments. There is neither maledom nor doormat stereotype, no exaggeration of sexual perversity or out of norm gungho-ness. Nothing sticks out, but to me that itself is a breath of refreshing fresh air in adult games.

As for the LIs they are quite diversified, if not slightly troupey. Annie the loyal childhood friend, Dalia the sports girl, Penny the influencer, Nova the geek nerd, Luna the cute loli, Nancy the MILF and Alex the wild cat. As of V0.6 not all of them are fully developed, but we do get to learn more about some of them and it helps to remove the troupe stereotypes. For e.g. Penny is actually quite smart and not the typical bimbo influencer, Nova is rather cute and fun loving for a nerd while Alex has a very strong but adorable character beyond first looks.

As is expected from Caribdis, many other male and female minor characters play their part well in either enriching the story world or unfolding the main plot.

Sex Scenes
Not a lot as of V0.6 so in a sense it’s a bit of slow burn as well, but those that are unveiled so far are really hot. The holistic combination of erotic dialogue, ambience through clever light shading, music, sound effects, teasing camera angles and animation brings each scene to a high seldom matched by other AVNs.

For e.g. almost every lewd scene comes with its own unique sound track or song. Some like “If I had a tail” fit like a glove and could have passed off as a commissioned song for Alex, others like “Run boy run” or “Halo” would never have been associated with sex at first but somehow Caribdis makes them work.

Every single scene so far is memorable, but my personal favorites are Annie’s spaceship quickie, Alex’s wild night at home and Nancy’s lift drama.

BGM and Sound Effects
BGMs are aplenty and used well to convey the mood and situation - it’s surprising to see so much improvement here considering that the developer’s previous work OIALT hardly had any music and players were playing in silence most of the time.

Oh and one good thing that comes from playing Eternum - I got to know many great songs which I have never heard of as they never appear in any hit charts. Personal favorites are “I rather stay on earth”, “What is loving anymore” and “Run boy run”. Another notable mention is the main theme at the title screen “Orion”, either that’s a commissioned piano track or the developer is goddam good at selecting one from the free use library.

Sound effects are also used quite frequently and accurately and complements the game nicely.

Conclusion
If you plot a RPG radar chart profile of 5 star adult games, most would look like a star or odd shaped polygon i.e. they excel in a few strong areas and score average or above average in other areas. Occasionally, a few developers will be able to create a top tiered game by clever synergy even if all the game elements are only average or above average level.

Then we have Eternum, a game that would look very close to large circle on a radar chart because it excels in every facet. Is it the very best in the industry in every single dimension from story, graphics, sound, UI, gameplay, sex scenes? Debatable.

But in my opinion, it is the only game I have seen so far that scores a consistent A to A+ across all measurable dimensions, hence its status as a legend in the AVN world.

Unironically my favorite game for a while now, now in contention with Crimson High as well but this is for sure one of the best games I have ever played without question. Story is great and interesting, complicated and lore heavy, doesn't avoid and delay sex scenes nor is it just a slideshow of them, it genuinely feels like a real world and I love this creator so much I can't wait to play once upon a time as well. I have absolute faith in anything and everything they have done, 10/10, highly recommend!