Ren'Py - Holiday Island [v0.4.5.1] [darkhound1]

I keep coming back to this game, then putting it aside again. As a shameless tit man, I should love this game. I can see how much work has gone into each aspect. And yet...

The artwork is incredible. The renders are the best I've ever seen. Darkhound calls himself a renderer first, game designer second, and created this as a vehicle to showcase his rendering work. The girls are absolutely gorgeous. Some of the older models (e.g. Faye) now look a bit crude next to the newer ones (Aly is a work of art), but all the girls are extremely fappable.

But in my head, I keep calling this "the cockteasing game". Most of the interactions with the girls end up leaving you wanting more.

A girl puts her hand on your thigh, tells you how much she likes you - then kisses you goodnight. A girl ends up naked after strip poker, then puts her clothes back on and leaves. You booty call on a girl's room, she gives you a 360 of herself in lingerie then shuts the door in your face.

At first, I thought this was a plot point - the girls had been told to tease you as much as possible but not go all the way, to get as many sperm samples as possible out of you - until I unlocked my first sex scene with Alice.

I don't mind grinding in a dating sim if it feels like each grind gets you closer to getting into the girl's pants - that's what makes dating sims so addictive, There isn't that sense of progress here. The girls' dialogue for conversations, walks along the beach, etc. in the main game is taken from a shared bank of responses, so they all have the same personality. Their memory is reset every day: a girl will fuck your brains out one night, then be mortally offended when you touch her boobs while putting sun tan lotion on her the next day. (Some would say this is realistic for women's personalities, but still...)

You want to be working towards the point where you're in a different girl's bed every night (or a different girl in your bed every night). Here, your reward at the end of many sequences is the girl posing for you - showing the game's origins as a vehicle for showcasing rendering artwork.

I also don't like a few things about the MC's personality. He tells each girl that she's special over the other girls ("They're nothing like you") which would be considered slimy behaviour in the poly communities I know. Nobody on the island's expecting you to be monogamous: just own it. Likewise, in Aly's scene after Hotshots she gives the MC a clear No and he whines at her until she changes her mind, which soured the whole scene for me.

Maybe this will change in later versions. The author's ideas of a questline for each girl sound closer to what I like in a dating sim (although that's an enormous project he's set for himself). For now, I'll just keep watching the updates.

Overall, a well-crafted game with gorgeous art, but playing it is an unsatisfying experience for me.

I don't know, but I can't find other game developed as wholeheartly as this one. Best in assets and gameplay. Spend relatively small space for so many scenes and events. Would be better if we have some mff(s) though.

Alright, here are my 2 cents

What i liked:
+ setting preferences at the start changes the order girls appear: Very creative idea that gives you a bit of control over the order of which girls will appear. Haven't seen something like this before and was pleasently surprised

+ hints on how to get all scenes + gallery: Something that fortunately becomes a standard now, but in Holiday Island many scenes list exact requirement and triggers, which is very useful

+ creative and useful phone functionality: Basically lots of statistics and other stuff like a calendar for appointments. Very well made

+ beautiful renders, lots of beautiful girls in (almost) all shapes and sizes:
Fortunately not Characters have super exaggerated bodyparts. Not that I don't like huge tits but it gets boring. There's a good mix in here

+ nice setting, not too original but still nice

+ periodical new additions to the whole scenario (e. g. a new room that gives you new options so the content doesnt get too repetitive): This is also a great thing. Just when you thought all to do left is grinding, something now comes into the game

+ tons of content: Even not considering the many scenes, there's a lot to do any many interesting and fun minigames

+ good dialogue: Not really comparable to some VNs but for a dating sim pretty good


What i didn't like that much

- anger hard to decrease: Raises easily and there are currently only two ways to decrease it slighty. Imo something that should be adjusted because it can become very frustrating

- not too grindy, but very unintuitive on how to get scenes (had to check hints often): Characters are teasing very often, but its still pretty hard to engage in soem more "advanced" activity. I really think this is a problem most games have. At a specific point, you just become clueless on what to do next and just start playing after a walkthrough, which really kills the fun imo.

- animations subpar: The game looked super promising, but i can't deny that the scenes were a pretty big disappointment. For a game that has so many nice ideas and so much potential, this really pulls it down

- i only know of one use for personal favor: Probably something that gets improved in the future, so nothing big

- company favor ("money") way too grindy to get: Hopefully gets tweaked as well

- practically no female voice acting

- scenes not replayable, only screens: Also something I can't really unterstand since it's pretty standard

Overall great but the animation quality and the fact that I constantly had to check hints cost this game a star.

From the startup 'quickies' to long, drawn out quests this game's got it covered. It's a freakin' GENIUS platform to build on forever.

The artwork gets better with each update. The latest sequence with Amy is some of the best I've seen. The boob storyline gets a little involved in detail sometimes, but it's a fun read to accompany the stunning graphics. This game does concentrate heavily on swayin' mammaries, but except for the ridonculous ones on just a couple of characters the models are top notch.
No real incest (half-sisters) and no fetishes to speak of. Just a guy with complete control of an island full of beautiful women . Of course they all want him and never get jealous. Did I mention the whole thing is funded by a 50-something woman that looks about 30? And her niece. or great niece. Who knows or cares - they're hot!

Game : Holiday Island

• Size : Beyond huge (10000 images and animations)
• Type : Sandbox or Sandbox/story hybrid with a growing focus on story and quest parts (since mid-2019)

Game Details

• Lineup : 20 girls and counting
• Audience : Busty lovers, Consensual, Harem and Mainstream sex.
• Art Quality : Very Good to Exceptional, it doubles as a 3D art project in many ways.
• Status : Exceptional, growing with 300-400 images and animations each 7-9 weeks, for 2½ years on counting.

Deviant Art, Patreon other

• Deviant Art : A large and well illustrated deviant art, which displays art made before the game, easy to get an overview.
• Patreon Site : Yes, of Exceptional quality and fan service (Several updates pr. week, many teasers, high information level, always updated development status).

The ever growing and continuing work of one person (Darkhound1) Holiday Island is a huge and ever expanding game, which can be described as a busty lovers heaven with a tail of more normal (still well endowed ladies).

It is friendly, polite, consensual and has a nice sense of humor and is solidly planted in the mainsteam.

You'll find no forced, corruption or other violent fetich here.

Community
The infinite scope of the game means the forum thread is very old (2017) and also quite active. It has many regulars, guides and allround high standards.

It is more a community than a game thread in some ways.

As with all things Holiday Island, even the comminity is rather unique.

Edit : Updated to reflect render counts mid-2021

I'm giving this game a 3 out of 5 stars. I played it for a while now, and here's why it "only" deserves 3 stars in my oppinion:

Pros:

• Lots of different, very sexy outfits for all girls. I liked that a lot! I'm all into kinky sexy dresses with some slutty high heels. And "kudos" for doing a lot of renders multiple times just to have different scenes work with all the different outfits! I haven't seen any game that does this to this extend!
• Lots of girls to have fun with. I'm usually not into big breasted (=melon sized) girls, but in this game you can basically skip on the ones you don't like and focus on the the ones you like.
• Although this is a sandbox game with many options, you can't do anything wrong. If you screwed up a date with a girl, well, just try it again, you'll probably get the reward you're looking for. You don't have to save/load your way through this game to get the content you want to see.

Cons:

• Some renders are just not as high quality (as in "sharp", "detailed") as others. My guess is that those lower quality renders are from an earlier state of the game? I don't know. I would love to see some of those renders being re-rendered to match the better, higher quality of (newer) renders.
• The animations are "meh", I didn't like them. Most of them are just a bunch of frames (usually only 5-8) played in a loop, so far I've seen only one animation (although it's a short one, too) I really liked Eva in the elevator.
• Because this is a sandbox game with many options, it's very "grindy". I don't mind some grinding in these types of games (if the rewards you're getting are rewarding enough), but I don't like very repetitive tasks (i.e. having to eat three times a day). I wish there would be a greater variety of things to do to boost your (and the girl's) stats.

That being said, the overall experience wasn't too bad. I will most likely play this game again in the future just to check how well it develops.

I wish the developer all the best for this game!

fucking love this game, even if it's kind of grindy. Girls are hella hot and everything is pretty easy to figure out. Always stoked for a new update. Eva, Yvette, Yumiko are all Bae. Cheats are easy and minigames are fun.

Beautiful game, one of the best out here. Really a lot of options. Clear mechanics and great girls. I really love your work. Excellent! 5 stars.
I don't know what else to say... just try it and see for yourself! you will not be disappointed

Very cool game. I wonder how this one is gonna evolve.

There is already a lot of content which it gonna take days & days to see them all.

Great quality for the design, each girl have their own & distinct figure.
And I don't mind generous chest at all ^^.

Great writing. Great Models. Unique personalities. The animation is decent.

More importantly, it's not the same old stuff that gets repeated in so many games, regardless of genre. It's a refreshing change.

This game has a nice amount of content but it's way to hard to get them, most are random and have very specific conditions to happen making them way to hard if you are just looking for a fap. It's way to grind and random. Most of the girls don't have sex scenes, it's just them in many different clothes.

Of the very highest quality. Deserves your time and support. Red-blooded man’s dream. Interesting story hidden under the surface too... I can’t wait to see more.

Perhaps the best 3D are I’ve seen in any game.

Holiday Island: The best dating sim of all

Positive things:
1. Frequent updates
2. Excellent communication by the developer
3. Lots of beautiful characters, if you don't like a girl you don't need to complete her events
4. Great variety of scenes
5. Unlimited potential
6. If you like big breasts this is your heaven
7. You can collect scenes, photos and trophies, see the ones you are missing for each girl and the clues on how to get them.
8. Many hours of entertainment
9. It is the only game where Yvette lives, we have to take care of it

The game does not have negative aspects, it fulfills everything it promises, however each person has their tastes and they will find certain details that they may not like, which are:
1- This game reflects the tastes of the developer, if you don't like big breasts, this game is probably not for you
2- Some events are random and finding them can cost a little
3- Updates are frequent but they depend on a character pool, I like Yvette and Lacey, unfortunately Lacey is not one of the most popular characters, therefore not much content comes out for her and her story does not advance
4- If I look at the Darkhound DeviantArt, there are girls who seem much more attractive to me than some who are already on the island, Katerina, Carla, Holly, for example, it would be great if they were in the game

Thanks Darkhound1 for making this game so entertaining and keep getting more content for it. 5/5

I'm usually not a fan of grinding games like that.
However, I found it acceptable here as there is a little randomness involved : you are not sure what girl you will meet in the island and you might target one girl, but end up with another. I found it a bit funny and not so predictable. Now to be honest, the grind is still huge and you will have a lot of repeatable scenes, but the game has a lot of events to offer and the girls are hot.

---- Characters personalities :
---- Renders/Graphisms :
---- Story/Writing :
---- Background/Atmosphere :
---- Animations :
---- Sex scenes :
---- Gameplay :
---- Contents/Updates :

=== Chara Design :
We can mostly judge the looks. The girls are really hot and you have a lot of variety, impossible to not find a few you like.
In this game, you won't really care about the girls personalities, they have a little background and story, but it is really superficial and random, the same text and behaviour can happen to different girls, even if there are girls that are more open minded than others, you won't notice a big difference between them.

=== Story and Background :
Ok nothing fantastic, the dev had to find a random reason to throw a lof of girls and ONE guy only into a deserted island. And that's it. Not really the focus of the game

=== Animations/Sex scenes :
The resolution of renders is average, maybe it is better on the last scenes, but the first ones are from 2017/2018 and you clearly feel it. The very hot girls compensate it however. The animations are simple, probably on the ok side in 2018, in 2020 it is a bit weak. The scenes are usually hot and erotic.

=== Gameplay :
I will say again : I do not like grinding games. However I still played it (maybe not to the full contents, but long enough). For some reason, you really want to unlock new scenes on your favorite girls, and also it is funny to watch who will be the first girl to succomb, and all the weekly stats and rewards related to how much you kissed, fucked, teased a girl. Like a competition.
The minigames are quite good as well, the hotshots and poker are fun, but it is not very hard to cheat on those (without any codes)

To sum up, even if some aspects are a bit outdated and on the grindy side, the game is very complete and quite rewarding with hot girls and erotic scenes.

Interesting game with mechanics that sort of make sense, despite some loopholes (super hot invitation, but once you knock, it seems it's forgotten by the girl, presumably because stats or events are not up to the level), I don't know if I could have stood the grinding without the cheat file - which I didn't abuse at all-
It's long but terribly sexy and enticing. not visual novel, not too many annoying dialogs, which here kinda of make sense. I don't appreciate all girls, but the ones I do are really hot.

Perfect game will never exist and girls don't wear enough heels or get rid of them too easily, but I really enjoy most of this baby, so thanks for this and keep it up

Finally a real game, a dating sim with fantastic models and even some animations. You can play a long time the game. So far I have not found any bugs. Unfortunately no anal, which is a real shame. A positive surprise for me.

First impressions are amazing. Great renders, hot scenes, good variety of girls. You can spend hours on discovering new stuff. Then you realize that most of this stuff is just teasing, groping, kissing and voyeurism. If you want sex scenes, there are only few of those randomly distributed between a vast cast of girls. Also you may find out that the chick you like the most has barely any content to unlock while some other mediocre girl has 30+ events. Each update tells you that there are tens of new renders but when you play the game you understand that most of those are either just the same scenes with girls in different costumes or another batch of new women with stories that go nowhere.

This game is freaking good ! spent lots of time playing it, it's just disappointing that some times you have like no indications about how to do certain quests ...
Anyway, i'd recommend it, even just for the characters, most women are just gorgeous, and if you like big breasts, this game is made for you !

I've been playing Holiday Island almost from the beginning. I am a patron and love this game. I have played through the whole game many times. I love the art and animation and story so much that this is about the only game I play.
Some complain about the grind, but I like that part of the game because you have to get to know the girls before you get to have sex with them.
Some say there is no sex in the game. I assure you there is! You just have to work for it.
If you just want to see pretty pictures, then use unren to get 10,000 renders. Then knock yourself out.
The story has sort of a sci-fi feel to it which I enjoy. Joy runs the island and you are the only male there. You meet the girls and find there is a mystery as to why you are there.
This game is a giant sandbox with an average of 40 achievements per girl with two girls having over 60. There is so much to do that it takes about 150 days to get all of the achievements.

Absolutely incredible. The game flows rlly nice, you never get bored because everyime something now is happening, the girls are gorgeous, and rlly sexy. There's a lot of things to do with the girls besides the 'let's fuck' theme, and all the girls have a lot of personality.
It's just better than most of the dating sim experiences i've had so far. This is beyond promising.