VN - Ren'Py - Kingdom of Deception [v0.14.2.1] [Hreinn Games]

This review shares my thoughts and opinions about Kingdom of Deception [v0.9.3].
I'm don't rate this game based on it's genre!
Please excuse my rather poor english grammar and spelling, if you find any mistakes, you can keep them.
For the longest time I avoided writing a review, because a few updates ago many others shared my thoughts, but now I feel that I really want to express my opinon on KoD.
Please be aware that I may spoil some content!!
Story and Storytelling [3/5]: First of all the devs created their own lore for this game. I think it's amazing and the maps and told history ingame sound really natural and convincing. So we got our female MC, a higher ranking military official, ending up in an orc camp, because she lost her troops in an orc ambush, by rogue orcs. Without money, armour or weapons you can't leave the orc camp and worst of all you suspect your family setting you up. Here starts Sabias story. Now it's up to you, if you want to meddle in the tribe politics, or stay out of it. If you want to stay strong infront of every captain or follow some of their unreasonable commands.
Personally I really like the storytelling in Kod, but since the least two updates, I have problems following the quests. All the places you can visit now are not that clearly structured. Sometimes you need to visit every damn place at the right time in the story to progress the quests. In my opinion they implemented the human citys to early. I don't know if they let patreons have a say in the story progress, but they probably need to follow some wishes in upcoming scenes and shape it around that.
Characters[5/5]: I like all charakters in Kod, period. Neve is witty, strong and fucking hot. Lutvrog is the manliest orc in the whole tribe and right in his mind. The captains are, well, fitting in their own intrest. The tribal chief is wise. Our most beloved Jadk always happy and with a helping hand. He definitly needs a scene. The catgirls are there (I don't mind them much). Sometimes I feel that the shaman is written poorly. The scenes with him feel not that great either. In my opinion it doesn't fit right in the story. And last but not least Sabia. She is not perfect ond very egoistic. It's nice that she has her own flaws and opinions. About the Dom and Sub stats: I think the idea is nice and I played through the game more than three times, trying different paths. Dominant, mixed and submissive. My personal opinion is, that the scences with Sabia being submissive are very well written, but they don't fit to the rest of the story. It's like the game progresses with a mostly dominant Sabia, but all her scences play out like a sub/slut. Sometimes she reacts submissive, but not all the time. Of course they use the same cut-scenes with dominant and submissve, when progressing the story.
On the other hand, when playing dominant or mixed, the story works well with the scenes.
The huge problem is, that it's probably impossible to write two seperate storys for Sub and Dom. With all other aspects and progress, it would get so confusing that the devs couldn't cope with it anymore.
I just think that a submissive Sabia doesn't really fit with the game and to constrain that sub path in the game gets harder with every update.
My solution for that would be a more open minded Sabia. Write her so that she is more easily convinced to do things for the tribe.
Interface [3/5]: Looks great and RenPy is the go to engine for VNs. Menu and Interface are easy to understand and use. So why only 3 points? The way they want to progress the story with all these places you need to reach over with the may aren't fitting for RenPy. I think the engine has it's limits for the use they want to create in KoD. I know that there is a huge dislike for games made in RPGM, but I think the devs still want to use many things that worked in their previous game made in RPGM.
My honest opinion, going against the majority on this website, is that they could have worked KoD even in RPGM. Leaving unnecessary running around and fighting here - fighting there out of the game and it would be, I honestly think so, a lot clearer than the way it got in the least two updates. If you take a look at Roundscape Adorevia, you could understand where I'm comming from, if you exclude the fighting and just focus on mapbuilding and interface.
Art [5/5]: The reason many of you and myself included play this game. Nomos art is pants-explodingly great. I did't like many of the new scences, because of storytelling reasons and the written word playing with the scenes, but that doesn't make the art less hot.
Gameplay [3/5]: I already said many things to the gameplay in the interface, but still have some things I want to add. Most quest don't have multiple ways for solving them, just a different outcome. Sometimes I didn't know how to progress. In the last update, you couldn't end one quest, because Jadk wasn't in the bar anymore. The fighting/level system feels ok, but not that great.
Sound [4/5]: BGM is fitting in all scences.
All in all I rate this version of KoD [3,83/5] based on my personal opinion. I don't know which way KoD will go in the future, but it won't be an easy way. The devs work this game as a hobby and don't go full-time, so I heard. That's probably the reason for the long times between updates. Just for fun I said in the thread for Wildlife, that it would be amazing, if they made a mod with KoD. That would be my wet dream. Well in my country we got a saying: Hope dies last, but it dies.

Absolutely some of the best writing I've ever seen in an H Game.
The art is great, and the interface also.

My only complaints are:
1. The story doesn't really go anywhere for now.
2. Not a lot of sex scenes for a porn game. And a lot of the times you have to "fail" to see them.

Anyway huge props to the author. Really touched my heart with the writing a couple of times. And I'm not generally into female protagonist, but this one is just that good.

Really great game. Sometimes feel like we need a good guide or we will miss alot.
After we become part of the tribe kinda feels it should be some sort of sexual job. I t is the only remark i can point to the game.
But so far really good.

Great game with very distinctive visual style, dozens of h-scenes, interesting story and lore, nice and intuitive interface, replayability, Sabia is best waifu .

Orcs and busty beauties? Give me two please

This game has tons og unique h-scenes and you are going to have to play through multiple times to unlock them all That being said you may have to use guides to unlock all scenes. There two completely different play styles for this game dom and sub. The character art is done very well and the scenes are written perfectly. Give this game a short if you want along rewarding experience

This game shows amazing potential. The art is gorgeous, the storytelling is on point. I just wish this team would get an actual game designer on board and some fire on their asses. Because there isn't much "game" to this pick-your-path story. Sometimes what you need to do in this game is not obvious at all and the consequences of your actions are not transparent. I would never have figured out how to save Kulgan, or even realized that it's really good to do this, without the walkthrough. And whats with the hidden countdown to day 18? Playing with a walkthrough is an absolute MUST right now. I hope that changes. The game can be a bit grindy at times (Rest, rest - trading lodge - work - spam work here - rinse - repeat) if you aim for the best outcome in certain scenarios. It would have been nicer to maybe battle or raid for money instead of pressing a series of buttons in the same order over and over and over again.
This team with a proper game designer and some more artists on board could make some serious magic happen. The story and art just shows sooo much raw potential, but with the current snail's speed development pace we can hope for a quality 1.0 game release in maybe 2035. It is obvious just one artist is not enough to keep up with the writing. I just hope we get there sooner!

After some time I have to change my opinion about this game, it started as a big project with a lot fo story telling with a lot of good drawings and sex, but, Sierra left and this game is going south, updates every 6 months+ and a quality that is getting worst every update. I hope I have to change my opinion on the future for something good regarding this game.

Very good game with, so far, nice replayability potential with multiple ways to go trough the story.

I'm a bit sad there's not (yet at least) a broken mind way to go trough or by just indentifying herself as an orc. Or that might arrive later (or might just be there but i haven't managed to find it).

The training ground orc's romance part seems too small and might just be a trigger for the previous remark.

Art is on point. Scenes are nice as well. Character design is good.

To be honest, so far it's v0.8.1 and i'm a bit scared that the v1.0.0 will be the final because there's so much potential.

If i had to add a note that would be good to add is a "Quest" list with what you can do at any point in the story (Like accessible work, accessible discussion, hints,...) Sometimes there's too much info in a discussion or things happened too far behind in the story for the player to keep track of everything.

My first contact with Hreinn Games was with Noxian Nights. An amazing game that made me to start loving theirs work, but this one... oww this one! I have spent some time playing it.
I like the corruption path it takes. How you can choose to denegrate your character aiming for vegeance or to try to be a warrior and gain the orcs respect. The plot is superb.
The art is very atractive, I give a lot of compliements for the art work on this. In some moments it is more an art show than a game and visual novel.
I recomend Theirs work and I keep waiting for more...

This game is fun with a lot of content. You have quite a few options so there is a good repay value. My biggest complaint is that there is a big time dependency that bites you in the ass later in the games. So if you screw around to much to "100%" some of the events you will outright fail other things because you have only one day to train or something. Maybe that has been changed since I played it and the game does warn you about it, i still got screwed over because I'm one of though people who has to max out everything.

Easily the most well written game ive played. The choices are meaningful with many paths to take. The game creates difficulty in a meaningful way, not spoon feeding you but not not making its challenges impossible. The world building is so wonderful and there is so much of the map yet to be filled with new challenges and story that I cannot wait. Truly a masterpiece, a game id play even if there was no porn. (lets be clear here the porn is amazing too)

In my opinion, this is the best 2D female protagonist game out there at the moment. Artstyle is top notch. Story is intriguing. Plenty of smut and a balanced amount of grind. Minigames are decent. Characters are consistent and the main character makes decisions in a believable manner. Loads of branching storylines for replayability. This game is a must play.

0.6.4 review:

Pros:
- Amazing art. Seriously Nomo is the best artist in western scene right now
- Neve
- Interesting characters. I feel like they are trying to give personality not only to the protagonist, but also to secondary cast.
- I like how the story is going. Not straight to action like getting an army in 2-3 updates, but more slowly with some really great worldbuilding.
- Also very strong emphasis on choices. With different choices comes different outcomes and there is like 4 different ways how you can build your main character according to your tastes.
- Neve
- Gameplay is quite unique for a Renpy game. Apart from standart click => action you have turn based combat which, after few updates, became pretty balanced and fun. Also raiding system brings some strategy and team managment systems to the game.
- A high variety of fetishes, everyone could find something to their taste
- NEVE (Nomo please draw some more dark elf waifu)

Cons:
- Release pacing is... slow. I get that you need time to produce quality but 4 month for 5 CGs and very little in terms of story... I just hope that with new-old team members Hreinn games will encrease their release schedule.
- Background music is very standart and limited, but i guess thats the same for every other game, so it is a really minor problem.
- Neve is not featured in every scene in the game (pls)

Overall amazing game, definitely a 5/5 experience, so i think everyone should play it for sure.
I didnt mention any writing stuff since Sierra (main writer) left the team, so I will probably update my review after I play 0.7.
Also, sorry for bad English.

Honestly, all I can think to say is that I would gladly play this game even without the sex elements. It's got the kinda story that just drags you in, and on my first run, I felt like I truly had A LOT of control over the direction the story was going. If it gets to be a full game, maybe my imaginings on level of control will come to fruition, but still a fun, story-based porn game

*SPOILERS*
so...

The first part of the game is brilliant. plenty of choices, good writing, some unique ideas, solid amount of species in the game on the horizon, a bit grindy but within the reasonable limits imo, simply excelent.

But... sadly, after the kidnapping of the warchief, it looks like completely different game. Uninteresting, forcing, small number of choices, chaotic, made PC totally dumb, less nasty, no rewards, suddenly most of the npcs are unavailable and if they are, there is nothing you can do with them except for chat, most of the places previously accessable are now blocked with only "go back" option, basically most of the things they gave you in part 1 are taken away from you in part 2, some new NPCs looks bad compared to the former NPCs, no BIG events, frustrating, boring.

seriously i changed my rating from 5 stars dirrectly to 1 star.
I would love to write more detailed review but im afraid it would be too long and no one would read it so please, if you are interested in more detailed review / feedback, message me and i will be more then happy to provide it for you.

Edit: The increasingly slow updates and the decreasing quality of art shows that the developer has nothing but contempt for his supporters and I would suggest you remember the game as it was rather than looking for new updates.

Despite enjoying KoD for a while now, i have to say i still prefer Noxian Nights. The story in KoD is a lot more complex, which is good however the sex feels watered down. A tangent rather than the main meal. In noxian nights the story was a lot simpler but it worked.

The art direction has taken a down turn as well, where even the curviest woman now looks like an aushwitz victim with so little fat you can see muscle striations. Again this was a lot better in NN where womans' busts were larger and they were skinny without starving.

The user interface has original artwork this time, however feels clunky with Renpy's usual laggy reponse and lack of keybinds or transparency options.

The fetish content feels as if it's taken up a smaller portion of the game this time around, so vanilla fans will be pleased.

All in all KoD is a good game, but it's not up to Hreinn's previous quality.

When I give long reviews I get reported so in short I'll say this, Hreinn Games will be the next big porn game developer if they hire more people and become a studio. They have the skill and talent to outshine anyone in this industry. I am so freaking impressed by this game I wrote the longest review I've ever written about this one game. There are so many game mechanics in this game you will blow your mind and load, completely forgetting that this game was made with the Ren'py engine, oh my controller this game is FANTASTIC!

Hreinn games does it again with another quality adult title with fantastic writing, engaging game play that ties in with the story and more importantly beautiful girls. With alot of content and even more potential this is shaping up to be on the best games on this site.

Love the art, and good story

The combat is decent and the game mechanics are better than before, one thing that i don't like much is the font, it's a little bit small and hard to read at least for me.

EDIT: 3/31/2023 - Wow, this game went downhill fast. Switching from 4 stars to 1 stars. Their new art is a top down perspective that looks terrible, absolutely terrible. The story is all over the place. There's this quest where you have to save the blonde merchant lady, but it's so complicated and annoying, I never want to replay it ever again. I waited, and waited, I was patient, but the dev just dropped the ball big time. *sigh*

Edit: Some fights in v0.7.0 were too difficult. I had to enable console and use the following cheat: enemy.hp = 0.

The game needs an in game quest log due to it's complexity. Having to alt tab out to a walkthrough constantly is very annoying.

Submissive Sabia Review (0 domination, max submission)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some of Sabia's submissive content ends in very anti-climactic, anti-porn ways.

Recommendations:
1. She should be allowed to let the bar gropers gangbang her in the tent, instead of them just being killed. Writing wise, she could optionally make a deal with them; she lets them gangbang her in exchange for them switching their loyalty to Tekrok or other Orc Captains. Her not being able to get gangbanged by the bar gropers was one of the biggest travesties in adult virtual novel history. I hope the writers fix this.

2. A submissive Sabia should continue getting groped by Orcs at the bar with or without her permission; of which she secretly enjoys it. If the orcs fear groping her, despite her being submissive, then we lose out on porn content. I understand what the writers are aiming for; they want to show Sabia is earning respect and power, but if you're playing a submissive Sabia, it makes sense for Orc's to continue groping her with or without her permission; with her secretly enjoying it.

3. When a submissive Sabia enthusiastically chooses to get gangbanged by Tekrok's men during the feast, she should act like she enjoys it, not with cheerful smiles, but submissive looks of shameful pleasure. Instead she looks constantly pissed off as if she's dominant. That's annoying.

4. Sabia should be able to continue working in the tents after the trial. They could make it so she only has sex with the Orcs she's sided with, so if she's sided with Tekrok, she'll have sex with his crew in the tents. Or she sleeps with her own Orc loyal to her to motivate them to fight better.

5. A completely submissive Sabia with 0 points in domination should never make the first move with Lutrvig in the training area.

6. The tents was a very fun part of the game, and to not be able to have Sabia work there anymore sucks.