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

[This review is of the finished game: Chapter 8, v1.0c]

Leap of Faith is a light hearted game chronicling the MC and a bunch of gorgeous girls who have a zany summer adventure about friendship, love, sex, depression, hardship and suicide. If that sounds like a curious mix , well, it is. The game struggles trying to fit all those themes in a single package, but what it lacks in story it makes up for in heart - and excellent production values.

First and foremost, the game excels at fun. The characters (including the MC) are extremely engaging. We get to know them all well enough to anticipate their off-beat humor, and watching them bounce off each other is a blast. Combine that with character models, slick animations, hot sex scenes, and an excellent soundtrack and you have a strong foundation.

What's remarkable about Leap of Faith is what it builds on that foundation. Rather than focus on the sex, or even on the story, LoF focuses on the feels. All those lovable characters have problems - sometimes serious ones - and those problems can manifest in surprisingly hard-hitting ways.

Fortunately the game never crosses into outright tragedy, but it certainly toes the line. Having hooked us on these characters, LoF knows just how to make us worry about them. We cry at their lows, rejoice at their highs, and despair when the worst could happen. The end result is often fun, occasionally uplifting, and extremely memorable. There's a lot to love here.

The price of that experience, however, is the story. While it starts off strong, the story is quickly overwhelmed by the multitude of player choices and the need to explore the vulnerabilities of its cast. By the final chapter, the game is clearly struggling to incorporate all the possible permutations of a given path (Kira and Robin in particular suffer from this), which can result in a very confusing narrative. The resolution to some problems can also feel rushed; it helps maintain the lighthearted feel, but it doesn't always make sense and it undercuts the power of those resolutions a bit.

Still, those weaknesses need to be weighed against the game's strengths, and Leap of Faith's commitment to exploring the ups and downs of its cast makes for a real strength. I definitely recommend the game - but maybe think of it more as a visual poem than a visual novel.

Good writing, good animation, a lot of neat systems (I liked the phone mechanics and thought they should've been used more!)

My one gripe about this though is that I prefer harem works and I respect when the author isn't writing in that direction, but... Leap of Faith is somewhat jarring in this regard. In the first half of the story you're having sex with half the girls and heavily flirting with the rest, openly in front of eachother. It feels like it's going in a very harem direction. Then you very abruptly have to choose a single girl (or a couple) and that dictates the rest of the game.

And it's not exactly like the story heavily branches at that point, but instead you go through roughly the same story... you'll still go through all the scenes with all the girls (rather than them leaving the story once they're rejected), but you'll only get the sex scenes (instead of the ongoing heavy flirting) with the one girl you chose. This makes replayability a drag since basically you're just doing the same thing over and over, just with the sex scenes of each different girl you choose. And of course there are no harem scenes.

This is sort of a bummer, given the abruptness of being forced to choose one girl and just be bffs with the others, but everything else is excellent and I'm not gonna give it less than 5 stars because it didn't provide a harem route.. even though it easily could've!

This game shook me to my core in a way I never expected. This is a game that deserves to be experienced by as many people as possible. Truly brilliant and mind blowing. It will be a while before I can get this game out of my head. Drifty Games is a true artist and deserves all the awards.

Warning however, if you are in an emotionally dark place at the time you want to play, I recommend you pass on this until you are in a better frame of mind. This game is not afraid to get emotionally heavy and trust me it does.

Once again, I cannot praise this game enough.

This game and the writing were simply fantastic. Thank you for all the hard work that went into this. My only issues (if you can call them that). Was that the story was so heavy and compelling that I had no desire for the erotica. Secondly Cece's story was so wonderfully done that I don't have the motivation to do the other girls' paths. Definitely play this if you were at all on the fence.

First of all I'm not a man of words and this VN left me speechles which doesn't help either.
This is my first and probably my last review on this site. I won't be looking at other VNs the same way anymore.
This one has a heartbreaking story to tell, lovely characters, great 3D art, perfect soundtrack.
Only played Cece's route. I had a feeling at the beginning that this VN is about her. She is the one with the real message. Depression and other mental issues are the worst in someone's life. And you can't really do anything about it without help. If you're on your own, you're most likely screwed.

I hated this game. It made me feel things I wasn't prepared to feel. I was just trying to jerk off, man.

I'd watch out for the developer's next release but I'm not sure I'm emotionally prepared for it.

So thanks for that.

Emotional Rollercoaster that is amazingly written. Renders are great but the story and laughs and cries are not something that I expected but thoroughly enjoyed. It was also fun to see characters from other games offer a nice respite at times from the heaviness.

Pros:

• Great story. The plot had me emotionally invested, and the branching sub-stories adds enough variety without deviating too far from the main story.
• Good replay value. With branching options means more reasons to replay and find new scenes. I recommend saving if you're at a crossroads.
• Likeable cast. Never felt any of them were too far off from how similar people in real life would act, and they genuinely felt like good company to have around.
• Good music. I actually want to create a Spotify playlist with just the songs in this game. In addition, I felt the music choices matched well with the scenes, and often even elevated the emotional impact they had.
• Gallery. This game actually has a gallery without having to install a mod (though, I do recommend the one from Sancho. It's actually very helpful).
• Bunny slippers.

Cons:

• Framerate issues, but please note that I'm not working with great hardware, so it could just be on my end.
• I'll never look at coffee the same way again because of this game.

I have played the completed version of the game.

As someone battling depression, maybe I'm not the best person to review this game. I'm probably too biased, as I've seen too much of my own experience in here. This story touched some deep wounds and quite a few sore spots.

Also because - full disclosure - I did only the Cece route. Not because I did not like the game (I loved it) but because some moments just hit too close to home.

On the other hand, I feel that this is Cece's story, so perhaps other playthroughs wouldn't feel so.. right . Although it is told from the player's perspective, Cece is the true protagonist of this tale - she is both the emotional center of the story, the catalyst for change, and the character that has a more complete and satisfying arc.

The game has flaws, like anything else in this world. It has also a whole lot of strengths, which are detailed in many of the reviews here. And since I already excused myself as a reviewer, I can say that the only thing that really mattered to me was the experience I had while playing it - heartbreaking at times, exhilarating in many many places, but never boring.

Amazing story that made me emotional almost as much as Acting Lessons. Also awesome graphics, animations and sountrack. All characters, including MC, are likeable and well written. The game is a bit too short in my opinion, but it also doesn't feel rushed and seriously I'd rather have this than a game that is too long.

is game makes my top 5 list of best AVN's I have played. (and iv played a lot... maybe too many.....) each play though shows plenty of different scenes and story arcs.
To get the most of the game you MUST play it a few times picking a different girl as the one you want to be with.
funny at times.. sad at others.

Simply amazing I have never wrote a review for a game and probably never will. This one though I just have to its simply amazing and it blew me away thank you dev for the experience you gave us, just wish this game went on forever.

This game. Man.
To say that this is my favorite VN of all time is not even enough to show how much of a masterpiece this game is.
This game made me care for all the characters deeply, more than I ever care for anyone. Cece as a character is just definitely one of the most well-written characters I've ever had the pleasure to meet.

First time I saw her, I already took a liking to her model. What's not to like? But ofc that's not enough. And oh man once we got to know who Cece is, I'm not ashamed to say that I fell hard for a fictional character. And the fact that she's struggling with depression resonates with me more, as someone who knows what that feels like. So I immediately bonded with her. Reminds me of that meme, "I've only known Cece for less than a day, but if anything bad happens to her, I will kill myself", or something like that. Yeah anyway I don't need to explain why Cece is such an amazing character. You know she is. But not only her, I care for everyone on the group. I cried when Lexi told MC that she's afraid of ending up alone without ever experiencing what real love is. When Steph told us what happened and what she had to endure and seeing the love of her life already moved on (if you don't choose Steph's path), when Linda never got her prince charming. They're not exactly "world is ending" kind of problems, they're just your typical kind of everyday problems. That's why they feel so real and makes it so much easier to build a connection with all of them. My only complaint about the game is that there's no harem option. I know I know that it wouldn't make sense, yada yada. But it breaks my heart to see that we can only choose one while the others have to move on. That just sucks to me.
I've blabbered long enough, time to put an end to it. I guess I'm just trying to say thank you for this wonderful game and I will always remember and cherish this game for all my life. Now do excuse me while I replay Cece's path for the 999th time.
Thank you, truly, for letting me experience this amazing game.

Excellent artwork and a wonderful story. Models are well done and animations are reasonably high quality. Loved the soundtrack and the multi-mod really makes this VN enjoyable to play. Highly recommended!

"Pain pays the income of each precious thing" - William Shakespeare

If it was allowed that quote is really all I would say in honour of Drifty's loss but since that's not allowed I'll follow it up by saying that Drifty has created a very precious thing indeed. The writing is excellent, the models are beautiful and varied. The story is lengthy and enjoyable (with the good must come the bad after all). The effort and love poured into this game will ensure it's place as one of the top VNs out there for a very long time.

Looking forward to your future efforts Drifty & I'll be definitely supporting you by buying this game on Stream.

This is not just a game, i'ts a masterpiece.

It checks every box that a good game has to have.

I laugh... i cried ... then i laughed again.

At the end i was smilng with a great ending that i chosen from myself. That a graeat game.

Thank you Dev for this experience. What a Rollercoaster.

This is a big one.
First if you're looking for the eternal quick fap, you won't find it here. This is a tale of love, abandonment, suicide, mental illness, acceptance...
If you're in a bad place, mentally speaking, that game can help you and crush you at the same time.
The story is excellent and, especially if you pursue the romance of the central character (you'll recognize her, don't worry) the trip will be worth it.
The MC is one of the good ones ; not just here to dick everything in sight or being carried around by the scenario.
On the flaws, I'll just say : it ends (and some lag on the animations but who cares).
If you're sensible of the topics of this game, if you can get emotionnaly attached to the characters ; you will love them, you will laugh, cry, pester,....

You will be crushed, as I was and most of those writing those reviews. But more importantly, you will be grateful for having lived it.

My thoughts and love to Drifty for this amazing 5-stars game ; and my love to Cece as well

There are a lot of words that can be used to describe the story, but the experience can be boiled down fairly simply: your enjoyment will largely depend on whether or not the themes of mental illness and suicide resonate with you. While there are multiple paths to go through, the story centers around one character in particular who carries these issues with her, and your enjoyment of her - whether or not you actually pursue her path - will determine the emotional payoff for you. For me, it resonated very strongly, and the overall story felt powerful. If those things don't resonate with you, though, it probably won't be nearly as enjoyable an experience. Personally, I'd like to think that being able to craft a story that offers even a slight glimpse of how mental illness can feel is great for the genre as a whole, but that's just me.

Also, bonus points for having an MC who actually has something to offer aside from just having an enormous cock.

Won't be the first nor the last person to say that this game is just simply amazing but I do wanna throw it out there myself...

Now I don't know about you guys but to me personally Cece is the only girl who I am and will ever go for whenever I play this...Because she to me is just simply amazing and no matter how tempting it is to go and explore the other paths it just wouldn't feel right if you get what I mean and to be quite honest I'm abit afraid to see how it turns out with Cece on the other paths even tho it's probably just fine...But hey I got the ending thats perfect to me and I can without a doubt say that I'm looking forward to the next 22 hours spent replaying Cece's path.

I'm sure all what I just said explains just exactly why I gave this game the 5 stars...And last but not least Sancho1969 thank you for your amazing mod you really know your way around a keyboard.

Leap of Faith is one of the most exceptional vn's here. The story is exceptionally well told, you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll download Sancho's mod to experience the original vision of Drifty.
The graphics are well above average, especially with certain characters like Stephanie who looks incredible, where as Cece looks pretty familiar, and Holly who isn't as well crafted. The scenes and backgrounds however are always exceptionally done, it never looks like a 3d model standing in front of a picture.
So many games include a phone, but none has crafted it into the game and story as well as Leap of Faith. Usually its a gimmic or a way to save, but here it adds to the story and the feeling of realness. And the way it gives you queues to interact with it, but even if you don't right then, the way it has some leeway that even if you missed the first chance, you may have several scenes to discover those phone events. The phone is sometimes optional and rewarding!
The story told isn't realistic, but its used to create relationships between all the characters. The realationships are what matter in the story, and you can't have them all. The point isn't being super realistic, its about presenting you with these relationships and you have to decide what matters and accept the consequences of your choices.
The choices are way above average in this game. The ability to be friends, lovers, adverseries or frenemies with the characters is beyond other visual novels.
The animations are great when they are present, sometimes its stills or 3 pictures looped.
The sound, check the SanchoMod, no one loves this game more than Sancho1969, whatever Sancho suggests for music would be the best way to experience the game.