VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Leap of Faith [Ch. 8 v1.0.3] [DriftyGames]

" Leap of Faith " is a captivating narrative-driven game that masterfully weaves together compelling plots and thoughtful discussions on mental health issues, including suicidal ideation and the complexities of love. From the moment you step into the protagonist's shoes, you're drawn into a richly detailed world where every decision feels weighty and every character interaction brims with emotional depth.
The game's strength lies in its ability to tackle sensitive topics with nuance and care. It doesn't shy away from the darker aspects of the human experience but handles them with a level of maturity that is both refreshing and impactful. The dialogue is sharp, the pacing is impeccable, and the plot twists keep you engaged without feeling forced.
Visually, the game is stunning, with atmospheric art that perfectly complements the mood of each scene. The soundtrack is equally impressive, enhancing the emotional resonance of key moments. While the gameplay mechanics are relatively simple, they never detract from the story, which remains the true star.
" Leap of Faith " is a must-play for anyone who appreciates a game that challenges, provokes, and ultimately leaves you reflecting long after the credits roll. It’s a poignant reminder of the power of video games as a medium for storytelling and emotional exploration.

so I already posted about this back in September of 2024 but back in March of that year a friend of mine tried to commit suicide and this game helped me get through dealing with that, I have no idea what more I can say about this masterpiece of a game so I'm just going to copy & paste most of my original post.

here is a link to that post if you want it
https://f95zone.to/threads/leap-of-faith-ch-8-v1-0-3-driftygames.48734/post-14843174

so I guess the best place to start would be that I've never played a game that had me invested in the characters as much this one, I was so invested it actually hurt so much when Cece tried to kill herself the second time I cried through that entire event, it almost felt like someone close to me had tried to commit suicide and I actually had to process the grief that came with it. that experience somehow ended up helping me process the emotional turmoil I ended up going through when less than 4 months after completing the game a friend of mine tried to take her own life, she survived and is doing better now, but somehow what I experienced playing through the final portion of this game helped me stay stable enough to offer her my support during her recovery instead of breaking down into an emotional mess.

so thank you DriftyGames for making this masterpiece of a game that ended up helping me through one of the worst times of my life.

and remember everyone your life is a precious thing if not to you than it is to someone else, so please if you ever think of doing such a thing, think of what it would do to those who care about you because weather or not you can see it I can guarantee there is someone out there that will grieve for your loss, and if you just need someone to rant at, then I'm sure anyone of us here would be willing to listen.

I absolutely love this game. This review is a long time coming.

Leap of Faith holds a special place in my heart because it was the first VN I played that I can remember being fully complete at the time of me playing it, and what a great VN it is. There are a lot of fantastic girls and routes, and the story and themes are great; there's a reason this is one of the highest-rated games on F95. Cece is one of, if not my favorite heroines in any VN I've played so far, and I've played a pretty good amount. I will say though the scene on Lexis's solo path at the concert at the end was pretty good too. I'd also be remiss if I didn't point out this game has a fantastic music selection and that it's worth downloading the music restoration mod.

Weird fact: I only completed the rest of the girls routes now, not long before typing this review, years after I did my first run-through of the game with Cece's route, because I couldn't bring myself to do the other routes after completing what I felt was a perfect ending. I am glad, though, that I came back for a refresher and completed the rest of the routes along the way. Cece's route is still my favorite, though.

If I had to REALLY nitpick for some negatives, it would be that I wish the sex scenes had sounds other than just music and the Holly/Lexi thing felt really random and out of nowhere since it had pretty much no story setup save for like one small scene. Also, and this might just be the greedy part of me, I wish all the main endings had longer epilogues so we could get a bigger peek into the couple's futures.

A must-try VN if you're interested in something more than just a quick fap and care about story and one that will in my mind always be a great example that AVN's are worth reading and can be about much more than just porn.

This game is obviously a 5 star game. It had me balling my eyes out towards the end, but it was so worth it.
This is a very emotional game and not for everyone as it may be difficult for some people to handle. Very slight spoiler though: There are only happy endings.

The good: Wonderfully written. Great renders. Quality sex scenes. There is a story, but it is more focused on the characters and their interpersonal relationships than on some wider story.
There is so much more good, but I feel like if I say too much, I will spoil the experience.

The bad: You are forced to choose your LI very early on, and if this is your first playthrough, it's too early to know who to choose. Therefore, it is necessary to setup multiple saves for each playthrough for each LI.
It was shorter than expected, which in itself was not a bad thing, but it is missing a final sex scene with each of the girls. There is this build up at the end as your relationship has evolved, and it feels like it needs to be cemented between MC and your LI. Often, the final sex scene does this, but unfortunately, that is lacking.

Very powerful message in this VN and it has some great characters: MC, Ceci, Lexi, Holly and the brodie with the powerful stashe. The developer delivers with his writing and comedy. But the story got major plot holes and the renders and animations honestly very average.

The music in this is just right, perfectly executed.

The gameplay during free roam is somewhat clunky and find hidden actions is easily missed.

I would say this one is like Acting Lessons, the first couple of chapters was amazing then it all fell apart story wise.

Linear storytelling vn with hard locked options.
It's solid written story with great staging. You'll get realistic fem bodies and sex scenes where they should be. It evokes many emotions but leaves unpleasant feelings. I felt guilted and obliged while playing.

Graphics and animations are ok. It's strange that Linda's face was reworked after first episodes.

The biggest problem is a lack of any sounds even in sex scenes. There are only repeated music. Sometimes it well-placed and creates an atmosphere but sometimes it annoys and it feels that was made somehow.

Many options are not intuitive and seems unnecessary like mobile phone. There are no familiar pauses between character interactions so you could easily miss opportunity to respond to a message.

If you choose wrong answer then in the next dialogue with the character some answers will be blocked. Because of it a few times it remains only one answer to choose, all others were blocked. And these were not some silly jokes or other unnecessary options. You can't choose obvious answers and "try your luck" it just blocked and it destroys immersion and interest to continue the story.
You get some tasks but you can't complete them cause earlier you failed with some choices. There should be more options especially for neutral playstyle.
Then you start feeling that devs encourage you to make options not only in some scripted order by blocking other answers but by moral choices.

It's not like in other games where you can choose your love in the end of the game while you get to know with characters throughout your play. You should make your choices from the start when you're not familiar enough with characters.

my favorite VN of all time. A deep and moving story worthy of a good movie, credible and in-depth characters (you will love most of them), excellent graphics, choices that matter. I really don't know how to describe more this masterpiece (but I still have to fill 200 characters and I don't know what to write).I can only compliment the developer.

Has a lot of VN compared to AVN but its a very nice story. Quality characters and good use of emotion. Visuals are top tier for games or this sort. No bugs or issues. Plenty of content for replays as well if you make saves at opportune points.

The biggest compliment I can give this game is that it made me want to go out and live a little. It's so easy to relate to what the MC was feeling at the start of the game, that sense of helplessness, the belief that nothing will ever improve... It's such a simple trap to fall into, yet so hard to escape.

I really loved this story, and it even inspired me to write my own. The characters are full of heart and attention to detail, making them easy to care about. Despite not having the best renders, the game makes up for it with its amazing themes, characters, and storytelling. With a perfect balance of comedy and drama, it's probably one of the best in the genre.

I believe more adult games like this should exist.

Review of [Ch. 8 v1.0.3]

I recently discovered this world of games for adults and I have to say that this was one of the first I played.

In my personal opinion a MASTERPIECE.

The game makes you laugh, it makes you enjoy the renders and the entire story, it even brings the odd tear to your eye. The whole history of CECE is amazing.

• The soundtrack and songs are great
• Incredible story with different paths and different ending
• All the characters have a lot of charisma and are very funny
• The protagonist and the co-star are funny and have charisma
• The renders and the sexual animations are very good
  
  ​
  
  
  Cons​
  
  
• The animation are without moans or any sexual sound
  
  RATING :
  
  Content: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  Graphics: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  Renders: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  Animations: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  
  Final conclusion: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ MASTERPIECE Hightly recommend to Play
  
  
  

This game is very, very close to VN perfection. An almost perfect balance of fun, lewd and feels with characters that almost all feel incredibly realistic (only really one big exception). And the incredible treatment of mental issues/anxiety and what they can lead to is.. unmatched and sadly clearly based on personal experience from the author. But it makes for an incredible story.

One of those games where you forget it's actually an AVN and you're playing it to have a wank.

Soundtrack is banging, genuinely the best I've ever seen in an adult game and up there with the best games overall. Just straight hits, and complements the moods incredibly well.

Phenomenal writing. Drifty is a god damn artist. You could take away the porn and this game would be every bit as compelling. First adult game I've shed a tear to. It's compelling, it's heartfelt, and it's just all around great.

Sex scenes are a bit on the weak side technically/visually. If you download this game + a gallery mod and just start going through the sex scenes in the gallery, you definitely won't be blown away. Don't play this for the porn.

Play this for the story. If you haven't, you're missing out. 10/10 and a permanent spot in my top 10 games on this site.

Damn this game (VN) is good.
The story is really captivating and i sense plenty of re-playability. It's a mature game, not full of juvenile shenanigans, MC is adult and ACTS adult. The lewd bits are not left right and center and mindlessly stupid. Bingeplayed my first playthrough so when writing this it's been some 16, 88 hours i lost track but it's a game i highly recommend to someone needing story and good writing.
NOT for those seeking garbage dumdum fapmaterial.

In my top 5, Together with Being a DIK, Summer's Gone, Desert Stalker and a few i need to think about. Will have to read this and probably make lots of changes after some proper sleep but...

Well worth the hours.

A really entertaining game with a well-crafted story. The art and music are good, but the real strength is the gut-wrenching, emotional rollercoaster of a plot. It’s a quality game that keeps you hooked. You come for the porn, but stay for the story.

This game was amazing. came for the porn, stayed for the deeply emotional story and amazing music. It was an emotional roller coaster and left me wanting more of the amazing characters. The gameplay was very in depth and intuitive. I have trouble thinking of a visual novel type game that tops this.

After finishing it I feel like I should give it 4 stars, but then I go back to how I felt during the first run (there wasn't really other ones, didn't make sense) and if an AVN can make feel like this one did, it deserves 5 stars from me.

If you search by weighted rating, this is the fifth highest rated game in here. If you do a weighted>male protagonsit>completed search (which is, in my opinion, a very broad but a very reasonable set of criteria) this is the second highest rated game on this website. I passed over it many times, waiting for the right mood to do it in one go, and finally did it. So i had a lot of expectations for this, and i probably set them too high. If i could i give it 3.5, but due to how well done writing is i will settle on 4. Could easily be 3 however. Now for why it is, there is quite a lot to unpack here.

How much you will enjoy this VN will come down to what are you looking for. If you are looking for a complex and interesting story, a deep exploration of characters, or a lot of sex scenes, this is not exactly it. But if you want a simple, but truly magnificently written story where author actually understand what he/she is talking about, that one here is a really solid read. It does help that the project feels deeply personal for the author too, which only enhances the experience.

The single best part of the entire experience is just sheer perfection of the writing (not the plot, i will get to it). By writing i mean quite a wide plethora of things, ranging from variety of the language used, a perfect balance of humorous and serious, belieavable and lovable characters, actually humanly written dialogues which so many AVN's struggle with, fantastic narrative pace and by all criteria an author could write a solid book just on the skillful prose alone. Reading Leap of Faith is a pleasant endeavor from beginning to end, like sitting in a chair with a good book, time kind of flies.

And i only wish this impeccable writing wasn't the singular column supporting this game, but i have to say the rest of it is very dissapointing. For one, there is no central narrative thread at all. By that i mean events do happen, they are consistent, but there is no story hook, story conflict or actually anything in the story, you just meet several people and get familiar with their circumstances, then one bad thing happen and it's kinda it. This is not helped by the fact that the game is clearly written around Cece first and everyone else second, nor by the fact that this VN dangerously borders on kinetic and only several choices actually matter, while 99% of them is flavor. Episodic format that pretty much focuses on a single LI for an episode is kind of an issue as well.

Now i separately want to touch on the elephant in the room, which is a pretty dark and real topic of what Cece is going through, and as a person that actually lost a friend many years ago to similar circumstances, i can tell that author understand the issue and handled it with considerable grace and respect. That said, i almost feel like this game would be better if Cece was the only LI in it, because of how much her circumstances are kinda shoved to the side for most of it and the entire mentality of the issue, her own thoughts on it and how it affect people around is only touched on a surface level, while deeper exploration on 1 to 1 level would serve narrative better.

What was a constant annoyance, however, is the mechanical side of the game. While at the start i appreciated the phone, chatting and Nuke things and they added to immersion and fun, the absolutely nonsensical times of where you need to do certain things (like download Lexi music) without any nudge from the game were a constantly present sword over my head and i was afraid to miss something, which just ended up annoying me. And while photos actually do have a function once in the game, entire phone thing was just completely gone for the entire second half. Addind insult to injury, while i skipped the text for my second and third playthrough i noticed skip doesn't stop for photo opportunities that last a singular line of dialogue so you kinda have to memorize where they are, as well as for chat and Nuke and anything around it.

Adult scenes are severely rare, but when they do happen they make sense, they are sensual and unique so game got that going for it. Most love interests look nice, but everything surrounding Steph is ludicrous nonsense and is the only bad stain on the narrative and i wish her story was literally anything else.

I understand where people come from when they praise this game, i really do, but despite the truly masterful writing and overall satisfying experience it's not even remotely close to a masterpiece as it is lacking in so many parts that half of it left me just kind of annoyed.

Just know what you are going into, that it's a sort of messy kinda plotless borderline kinetic VN with excellent prose that carries entire experience, and if you are into this you will absolutely enjoy it.

Emotional roller-coaster! I've played through the Cece path twice and all of the others just once mainly because I was curious about the endings.
There is only one other game that has pulled my heartstrings as much as this one however it is still in its infancy.
LoF is hands down one of the best, if not the best, stories I have read through in my 36 years of life. While there are lewd scenes and they are very well done, you quickly lose focus from that because of the writing.
The way the girls are written makes them feel alive, they'll make you feel things most VNs fall short of. If you play through this and find out you don't like it, then you are probably an emotionless serial killer and should definitely be flagged. What a beautiful story!

A very good game that I recommend playing with "In Game Walkthrough/Extra material" DLC. This DLC explains certain things from the developer's perspective and gives you a peek at how the game was developed.

Story is a bit far fetched, but it is in-game referenced as "the summer when everything went great", so at least it is acknowledged.
There were a moments which really got to me, though I have to say at some points I was counting the minutes when this game will end.

Your choices don't really change the story, only basically which girl you end up with. This is understandable because of the branching problem, yet still it disappoints you that when you try a different route, nothing really changes much.

Overall I am glad that I played this, but I do not think I shall be replaying this.

This game hit me hard in the feels. Full on tears down my face. Honestly, I wasnt prepared for the emotional impact. I'm not the most emotional guy, and this left me shaken and emotionally wounded. I could only play it once with Cece. How could I love any of the others like I ended up loving her after this? Whatever I was expecting, it wasnt this. Bravo, and damn...