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

Grindy, repetitive, poor story, and NOT FUN. Yes the graphics is decent, but why don't I go watch animated porns instead if I want nothing but sex scenes? In my opinion, games betters porns in fun gameplay mechanics and absorbing story, neither of which is done well in this game.

I'm a former patron, and I've played this game through many versions now and just have to write this review.

I have a love-hate relationship with this game.

It was at its absolute best when starting out. And the reason is that the random-unlock-style was delivering hit after hit of good scenes. Those eventually started to slow down, but wouldn't you know it a new version would come out and reignite the spark.

But as time has gone on, honestly I've started ignoring newer updates. And its not from a lack of content, but rather how abysmal the process of unlocking that new content feels.

This game is basically a slot machine, and the further you get the worse your chances of getting something good. I'm at the point now where it feels like I have to grind out an hour or more of grinding a situation to get the conditions right for new scenes to unlock, and it just never feels worth it.

I really wish this game had more predictability and just completely dropped all the RNG because its ruining an otherwise amazing game.

Amazing renders, incredible variety and an intriguing overall plot. The most "sandboxy" of all the top tier games in the genre, and yet you can spend 3 months on the dream island without ever repeating the exact same event twice.

(v0.1.7.2)

I don't usually like free-roaming time management games, but I did enjoy this one a fair bit. It does a good job of filling the areas with content, as opposed to most free-roaming games where you just move from one empty room to another in hopes of stumbling across something worth seeing. It has a helpful hint system, and a gallery that allows you to view some of the scenes you've unlocked. The user interface is incredible. You can travel from any one location to any other location with a single click. It shows how many girls are at each location before you go there. You can check your training progress, view your schedule, and re-schedule appointments. It's designed to be very user friendly.

The main complaint I have with the game is that some of the scenes are very hard to find, even with the hints, because there is a random element to them. The Hot Shots minigame is particularly annoying because of how much it depends on luck and how heavily the odds are stacked against you. Other scenes need you to also meet very specific requirements in addition to the random chance of the scene triggering at all, so they can be very frustrating to unlock.

The other big compliant I have is that most of the characters have unnaturally large boobs, many to the point where it becomes absurd or even a little grotesque. Some wear them well, but there are several characters that would look perfect if they were just toned down a bit (or a lot). I understand the importance of having some characters with exaggerated figures for variety, but out of the twenty characters in the game, only three or four have reasonably sized busts. This is exasperated by the fact that the more realistic characters are the ones with the least amount of content. It's quite disappointing to meet Lacey, Renee, Deliza, and Brenda all at the pool and not have a single pool related event with any of them.

All things considered, this game is good lighthearted fun and I would recommend giving it a try.

Do you like sandbox/management games?

Do you like stumbling across scenes/sequences in games?

Do you like high quality renders with amazing attention to detail?

Are you looking for painstaking animated scenes of said high quality renders?

Then this game very well may be for you.

The developer is active, responsive, and invested in the project. The story fits the setting and style of the game quite well - not too serious, some good/dumb laughs, and plenty of what we're all here for. One big plus is that Darkhound is definitely taking us somewhere with the backstory of HI Inc, but there's no clear picture yet as to where we'll end up. And that's one aspect of the game's development that keeps me interested. Additionaly it feels like they never move onto the next step until everything in the current iteration is working exactly as they want, which is commendable for a game of this nature. I've been following HI for roughly 18 mos and so far Darkhound & Co consistently deliver quality with every single update.

Yes, there's a grind to this game. You can't just jump in and be MRTWENTYINCHCOCK (well...ok...maybe after a blue pill is ingested...), you do have to work on stats or install the dev approved mod - I find endurance to be most helpful. While it would be nice if certain stats were a bit smoother/less time consuming to level up (perhaps add a "training schedule" series of events with Jennifer in the gym to make clear how to increase str and endurance stats quickly?), I've found that if you play through normally a lot of the events and scenes will trigger as you go about your day and night.

Keep up the great work!

Welcome to Holiday Island aka. Slut Island.

The renders are amazing, just a few of them contains the DAZ-grain which we see way too often. The animations are well made, some of them spans just over a few keys. All in all the renders of the girls are hot! There are a wast amount of renders and truth be told this game are probably one of the hottest I've played since I set foot in F95 and began playing the games provided here. If you played a lot of games you recognize the morphs but only two of the girls are twins but there are in total four who look almost identical...

There are some aspects which I did like

But there are just too many annoyances for this game to be a masterpiece which it should've been if it weren't for

1: The guy you play cum in his pants as soon as he see some skin or even hear some naughty talk.
In other words, keep spanking your monkey and buy purple pills to lower your lust or spend hours snoozing in the rest areas. As sleeping does nothing to lower your lust apparently...
Neither of these things are something you have time with because you are forced to do the other things later in this list.

2: Trying to unlock the scenes or being lucky enough to trigger the events are utterly boring in the long run.
I've literally spent hours on trying different outfits, different times of day etc to unlock them.
Some of them requires other girls to be on the island and some of them can't be completed unless you send them home and ask them to return.
Or actually get to be with them when you get to the island.

3: The grind for increasing your stats and the girls.
I've played the game with the assumption that you only have 90 days to be on the island and 58 days in I've fully unlocked two of the girls and that's with heavy cheating using the Ren'py console.
In before the "OMG you idiot it's a sand box game!"
I don't have an unlimited time to play games, porn or no.

If the game requires the MOD(which I don't want to use as the person who created it has a patreon page for stuff he doesn't own) there's something seriously wrong with the design of the game.

So in short, when the game is more fluid and the story the girls tell are more hinting of what you are supposed to do this remains a 2/5

I really liked to have loved this game but unfortunately it's not possible.

Rating based on: v0.1.7.2 beta

PS. Here's a cheat code I found while hacking the game which helps in the hot shots mini-game
g_hotshots.heat = n

Certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

- ridiculous proportions,
- comical behaviour,
- poor game mechanics,
- flat characters,
- one-liner "dialogues",
- sex strictly tied to annoying mini-games and hellish hoops,
- your "preferences" settings are wholly irrelevant,
- way too large a cast with too little content or depth per character,
it's a nonsensical harem fantasy wrapped in hours and hours of senseless, repetitive stats-grinding.

There are some upsides, some characters look reasonable, some dialogues are actually interesting, but for every such pro there's a landslide of cons.

If this sounds like your kind of game, then good for you. Otherwise, drop it.

Loved the graphics and the models. A lot of places and scenarios to interact with the girls and really hot girls. One of the best harem games I have played. Not too much grinding but not exactly a VN where you just go through the stories.

The Pro's of this are the many, many hot girls. The Con it has historically been an insanely grindy game with little in game guidance, be warned. It all but requires the walkthrough/cheat mod which takes a few days after updates to catch up.
I still give it 3 stars though, just so many girls and scenes. If the dev does successfully make changes to reduce that grind, and apparently he said he was although I'm not sure the new version is that much better, there is a great game in here.

EDIT:

Alright, I've to correct myself after playing the newest version. The dev apparently listen to his fans. He made this game much better overall.

1. It's not that grindy any longer and you can actually even enjoy those activities which were just tedious and boring before.

2. He made a really good tips section which you can follow to unlock certain events or just to see how far you're in the current version

3. He made a story for each girl!. Well they had some before but It wasn't that interesting or maybe I just not saw that at all. But now each line is interesting. Even if you talk about general things like sports or shopping... It's great!

4. Finally you can see how many girls are on each area. This is a great feature.

Well, there is probably more which I haven't discovered yet but I'm just leaving those 5 stars here for the dev and I'm going to support him now.

Keept it up man

was an OK game, but it gives you the illusion of choice when it comes to choosing what girls you like as I chose the smallest chest size with the smallest frame sizes and when I got to teh island every girl had giant tits. Could see no point in asking what you want if its just gonna basically say nah I don't like the girls you want so i'm gonna just throw in the ones I do cause I made the game you just play it. probably would have given it a higher rating if the girls didn't all have giant tits as its kind of getting boring seeing every game like this now.

Simply fantastic.

I've had literal hours of fun. Models are unbelievably well made and hot as hell.
Every single one of them has their own "something" that attracts you in it's own way.
Story is nice as well, sentences make sense in given situations, grammar is on point. It wouldn't hurt to add a bit of variation though


All in all, AMAZING game with even more amazing models. A definite must play if you enjoy this type of games.

Cheers

[Rev @ v0.1.6.2B]
Fuck me I'm lovin this. Great amount of content, interests are right up my alley, quality is spot-on.

Writing: Voice is good, characterization is good, plot is only contrived insofar as Things need to happen for sex to occur: nothing bad enough to come across as a bored Cinemax writer with an improbability fetish. Every once in a great while there'll be an awkward stumble in dialog, but nothing immersion-wrecking.

Art's fucking amazing for this stage in development. Even the composition of the backgrounds is top-notch. Some of the bustier gals suffer from floatyboob and Aly's face has That 3D Uncanny Valley thing goin in one or two of the shots, but if I'm nitpicking to a photo-by-photo basis that means everything else is gold.

Thank you thank you thank you for not making anal the be-all-end-all pinnacle of sex. Thank you also for keeping the Late Night Creepy Little Brother-style sneaking/drugging the girls out. The breast fetish undertones might stand to be toned down by about .00001%; the POV MC stumbling over himself when presented with tits is only endearing for the first few sets he sees in a given day.

Metric fuckton of potential here and I adore what the dev's got so far. Hope to see more.

An awesome game provinding depth and variety. The beauties are not just incredibly sexy, each have a different personality, different ways to react. The grinding and gathering is worth it! One of the best games on F95 I have ever played!

The best game I have played. Played a hundred times and still finding new scenes and the game is frequently updated with new content. If you like top heavy and some fit women in bikinis and other revealing outfits who all want to talk about their big boobs and eventually screw you then you will enjoy.

Great renders. Very hot girls. Yes, some of their boobs are ridiculous size, but just give in to it. It's hot. Suggest using the cheat companion or it can be very grindy, but the events are quite something. Not much of a narrative (that I have seen so far), but lots of PLOT, if you know what I mean.

This Review is based with my personal experience with the actual Version of the game 0.1.5.1 with my specific opinions and feelings .

Holiday Island is a non linear sandbox game based and story begins when the MC win a lottery for an holiday on a Pacific Island. ; but is not just a normal island , because it is full of beautiful and gorgeous girls ;about this there is an introduction that will explain everything to the player so immediately everybody can easily immerse themselves in the incredible world of Holiday Island .In this holiday you will learn how to know all the girls , how to interact with them , how to seduce and have sex with them ;there are full of different location where you can have so many different situations. Naturally like I wrote before this is a sand box game , so the Mc have to increase many skills and statistics and the quality of your relationships is the key to Mc progress. The game is constantly updating the parameters for traits such as: love, affection, anger, strength, charm and endurance.

Pros:
-Story and Writing : I don't agree with other reviews that write that there is no story or is basic game ; it's completely the opposite , because only during the playing ,all girls will give you all information about them,to build a complete background for every character . More there is the story about the background of the resort , some mysterious thinks about Joy , the gorgeous woman that give you first news about your winning and soon Mc will understand that is not only a hot sexy girl , but a brainy scientist ( no more spoil here , just play the game ) and that behind this resort there is something actually mysterious ( but this thinks will be revealed I think a little be more in next update ) .
-There are full of different Locations : girl's room , beach , pool , gym , sauna , reception , clinic , to enjoy and have a plenty of different interactions
-The way how the Developer build the gameplay , made a true big difference with the other sandbox games , because you don't have to follow a predetermined path and you can freely move all around the different locations and interact with the girls at your own rhythm and with your personal feeling
-Girls are gorgeous hot an sexy , you can choose between 20 different girls ; if you are big boobs lover , this is the perfect game to play and to like ; all woman , are completely different , in background , in sex behavior and relations ; so many available achievements and content for the major part of girls with so many different sexy dresses ; the player will have a vastness of incredible choices in this game
- Animations and Renders are very hot and exciting , full of different sex scenes and details ;this part is ,without any doubt ,one of the best part of the game .
-Many hours of playing ; the game offers many days of full gaming , without annoying or boring , with dozen of achievements and actions to make

Neutral :
-Grinding , in my opinion is absolutely perfect ; but if somebody can be afraid about this think , you can use the Mod of Nice Erotica directly from the OP , so easy and nice to use , to make simpler your gaming adventure

Cons
-Some girls lacks of some contents , but this is a provisional thing , because this game it's not completed and the Dev make usually solid updates with new contents for all characters
-Actually there is no music and sound in the game but like I wrote before , this is not yet a completed game so I hope for the future it will be added something

Overall ,this is absolutely a game worth to play , 5 stars review.
A game not only for gamer that like sandbox game or gorgeous sexy girls with big tits , but for all players that enjoy to play adult games. For gamers that enjoy when a product it's make with love , full of contents , details . Because immediately when a player begins to play , immediately feel the great work of the Dev , in all his things , from the smallest detail . Maybe somebody will not like the sandbox genre and maybe could prefer the Visual Novel style gaming , but everybody will understand how Holiday Island is a great game , immediately recognizing that the Developer , Darkhound is creating this opera with a hard work , professionalism , inspiration , but especially with a big big love.

Version 0.3.7.0
Updates are still good. A lot of improvements and QoL have been made.

Version 1.5.1beta.

Great game for big boobs lover.
The art is amazing and the game play despite being a bit grindy is quite enjoyable, there are a lot of activities to do, places to meet the girls (pool, beach, gym, restaurent, massage ) and events ( wet tshirt and butt contest ).
The game is updated regularly and the dev often post in the game thread.

Version 0.1.8.2

UI overall is on going, higher pictures resolution are used. Old stuff is being updated, there is now another event at the night-bar, hot shots, it's like strip poker but with questions/drink instead of cards, the girls (not all) come with a new outfit to play and if you win the game there is potential reward (sex or else).

Something I didn't mentioned in my first review, all the girls are hand crafted, they don't come from a CG library.

Version 0.1.9.0

One of the best update so far, sharper UI, implementation of the new game play with Amy, you do quests to gain love/affection stats which provides a better synergy with the game (exemple : knowing the girls stats, kinks etc).

Very good game. Graphics are cool, girls are very different with unique wizard in the beginning to suit eeyones' body taste. There are various activities, but they seem to be too repetitive and more unique quests are needed. Except this, the game is fun, easy (but grindy). It has mini games, a lot of levels for revealing a girl and having fun with her. Keep up the good work!

My reasons why this is way my favourite westerner adult game I've tried so far:

1.- Large quantity and quality of content:
- The amount of content is pretty huge considering the game is still in it's 0.1.4 version.
- Up to 18 high quality and totally exclusive girls each one with her own personality and background. Some of them still lacks in content but it will be added soon.
- Not to mention excelent render quality.

2.- Interesting gameplay:
- The only game that made me enjoy playing just by it's gameplay beyond the girls beauty or the sexual content.
- Is set up as a non-linear sandbox with some RPG and Viusual Novelty (only during the scenes) elements. That means you don't have to follow a predetermined path and you can freely move all around the environment and interact with the girls at your own rythym and tastes. This part may be enlarged and improved but still is one of the best I've tried so far.
- All content is accesible in a single savegame. No need for secondary game starts.
- No chance to miss content by "wrong" choices. If you fail to reach the best scene ending at your first attempt you can always retrigger the scene and find it.
- The RPG elements like the player skills and the girls stats enriches the game and makes it funnier to play. Especially at the beginning when you have constantly to take decisions about raising your stats or building your relation with the girls.

3.- Nice approach to sex and personal relations:
- The way to build your relations with the girls is kind of "realistic". Again the dating part of the game might be improved but at least it doesn't contains shitty stories about mental control, demon pacts, unnecessary incest, forced sex or blackmailing.
- Sex and some non-sex scenes are extended with significant dialogs.

4.- And better than anything, the patreonage deal the dev has set up with the players on his patreon page:
- DH is one of the few devs that don't overrate his game with ridiculous tier prices, delays or shortened versions. Releases are served completed, for free and at the same time for everyone.
- As long the game is non-linear and there is no chance to miss content no walkthrough is needed to play it. Again, that means no extra tiering for a walktrough is asked for.
- The game is continuously evolved with player's ideas and suggestions.

Speaking of renpy games with significant choices here is an interesting one:
- What kind of developers you want to support and promote? The ones who uses all sort of tricks to make you pay more for the game or the ones who tries to offer everyone his best game posible?
I have no doubt about it.

Side note:
- The sex scenes are not always easy to reach. If you don't like to make any effort to reach them or you just want to follow a sort of fully detailed instructions without having to think or decide anything, you are not going to like this game.