Ren'Py - Lust Harem [v0.43.1B] [Xiongmao]

(Review of 0.27.0)

If Heathers were a game, it would be this one. The MC has more derring-do than common sense, but it makes for a solidly off-kilter experience that never seems to lose momentum once you get past the beginning -- see below. I'm not sure if this is my favorite MC so far, but it's definitely close.

The game has a number of rough edges that are worth keeping in mind. I tried it about a year ago and gave up out of boredom because I hadn't discovered the combat sections. At first it feels like a divorce between a charismatic drunk and a 40-year-old Harry Potter fan. You have to tolerate this dissonance for a bit while you're starting the storylines and getting things moving. Also, many of the core mechanics of the game are poorly explained; I went with a cheat mod to remove the grind.

Both the plot and characters are strong, the plot being stronger but both standing out. Asara and Varess are two of the best characters I've seen in porn games -- they remind me of Azraesha but lean into the chaotic/crazy side a bit harder. Klaus is Derek from a popular college game, but with a negative moral compass, a blast radius with more chaos than tragedy, and self-made (and hilarious) terrible outcomes. I get why he's controversial, but within the larger scope of the game he fits perfectly.

I will probably come back to this one when updates are released, but I might wait a while. It's not quite my usual fare, as I prefer character-driven stories -- and while the characters here are well-written, they get drowned out by the plot hijinks more than I tend to like for frequent replays. Either way, it was well worth the time and download size and had me laughing harder than anything else in recent memory. Highly recommend.

The greatest strength of this game is also its weakness.

Dialogues can make or break a game but the writer knows how to make even inane conversations come off as witty or charming. It's a delight to read them but here comes the kicker - There are way too many banal conversations EVERYWHERE. Suddenly you find yourself reading a back and forth between two girls who bicker with each other like children. Is it well written? Yes. Is it entertaining? No, it only clogs up the story or character progression and I found myself groaning at the prospect of yet again having to suffer through some utterly irrelevant conversation.

I really want to give this a higher rating but I simply can't justify all this inanity!

V0.23

This game is really good, not sure why it's not well known. There are few aspects of the game which are lacking but the story is intriguing and the MC's character is a cool.

The characters are all good, both the Main LI's & Secondary ones.

Scenes are done well too.

The sandbox aspect is a little demanding but once you get it it's awsm, combat is just cool, i deactivate all other minigames except combat as it actually test's your skills.

Good amount of content too till the latest version, will surely look out for future updates.

Good Luck with the game Dev.

Reviewed for version [v0.23]

One of the most fun I've had with porn games and a solid game separate from the porn itself.

TL;DR - Fun and creative sandbox with some real player agency, solid combat system, relaxing minigames, and well written characters that are all morally questionable in this magical dark comedy

Sandbox works basically like any other sandbox usually does with day phases and several set locations with repeatable events as you develop your relationships with characters. As someone who likes the repeatable aspect of sandbox games, they feel relatively lacking in that there isn't much interactivity outside repeatable sex scenes which is totally fine and likely preferred with players who are apprehensive about "sandbox" games in general. I'd like more as a fan of them, but all of what is available is solid and they aren't just slightly modified scenes from main events. There are stat increases for certain aspects that play more into the rpg side of things along with a money/item collection grind but it never felt too troublesome though it's far from a few easy clicks as it's tied to a minigame but it can easily be disabled. I kept the minigames and had fun with them for a while as lighthearted sandbox games are mainly a form of relaxation and chill minigames service that feeling well.

Combat in this game is my favorite aspect of it and I'd say it's worth leaving on to both breakup the monotony of the inevitable event hunting (which isn't too bad here but is just a fundamental aspect of sandbox games) as the combat is pretty fun and both simple enough to do and possibly more complex depending on how much you want to invest into it. The only dungeon available has a really lacking enemy variety, but there is very strong potential with the system overall as displayed in the more unique fights. One particularly fun spell can expose your enemy's breasts which can result in interesting outcomes and on a more serious level you can try different builds with the amount of spells and items already in the game such as my favorite strat against mages which is just high evasion and draining their magic until they're useless or for physical bosses I'll summon a bunch of rats and just chip away as they draw all the agro away from my squishy self. Many spells don't only effect the combat but also events within the game where you can encounter various opportunities to use them that give a real feeling of a goofy raunchy magical world that other games and media fail to really capture. This agency doesn't seem too have extremely major effects, but there's plenty of minor ones that are fun to watch unfold as you can sometimes reap the rewards of your magical genius or face consequences such as an in-game week long suspension from school.

Characters in the game are some of the best I've seen, not because they're deep, but because they're just pure fun. The nicest girl is probably kind of racist. A girl retaliating against bullies takes it way too far. A well meaning girl is incredibly bitchy and probably hasn't done any actual good. The main character plays pretty loose with his ethics depending on your choices. Klaus is an objectively terrible person and seems to be pretty controversial but it's clear that's the point and I love hating him and hope to see him get what he deserves, more so than the few scenes here and there. It's all good fun because the game knows what it is and what it's supposed to be, stupid and absurd, and it's good at it.

Porn is pretty good. Found myself the least interested in the porn as porn and was more interested in the scenarios and impact as a lot of sex scenes do a good job in pushing the narrative rather than just being a sort of reward for progress. It's nothing particularly special in terms of art but I liked it and it excels at it's framing of sex scenes, especially pregnancy with the side characters if you enable it. I'd absolutely enjoy the porn on its own and do recommend it, but personally the other aspects of the game drew me in much more. I did discover something about myself when I was given the chance to fuck a pretty horrifying demon and a spirit of pestilence though that's all optional in case you're not a freak.

There is much more I wish I could put into words and it may not be as objectively good as I believe it is, but I had a lot of laughs and fun with the game and recommend it to anyone who wants to relax and play a goofy game. I'm hopeful to see the game improve and progress.

The game is good, the story is interesting and the content is decent. There's a surprising amount of choices, I didn't expect as many as there were. There's a fair bit of humor in it as well, but there's one character that is just wrung out way too much. Klaus. Funny the first few times. Then it's just predictable. Then it's annoying. And then it's just exhausting, and playing the game feels like a trial of endurance. Like, there's beating a dead horse. Then there's beating the ground that was fertilized by the mushy remains of the horse that you pulverized 3 months ago.

Do us all a favor, kill Klaus off as a zombie or something. Make him suddenly more intelligent as a zombie than as a person. At least that would be funny. Or give us the option to just kill him with fire after the first few times.*

*in case he's already dealt with, I stopped playing because... jesus... he just never stops. Honestly with him dealt with sooner and/or maybe coming up now and then as comedic relief instead of just a constant, this game would be a 4 maybe 4.5.

Yes I realize most of my review is just about Klaus. It's obviously the part I feel strongest about.



**April 19th, 2024: Tried the game again. I stand by this review. If Klaus were replaced with a more toned down character, or perhaps faced literally any kind of consequence, it would be more tolerable. As is, he ruins the setting for the game. Any chance of being invested in characters or plot is just sabotaged.

If this were a comedy game, and you were involved in the antics or able to create your own, then it would be a totally different scenario. However, even the Overview fails to properly set you up for what's coming. Even if it were a comedy game, a big part of what makes things funny is delivery and predictability. If you know the punchline before the joke even starts, and it's delivered as a "Well. Basically, I'm not in trouble. Because reasons." it's really not that funny.

Yes, I'm mad that Klaus ruined the game for me, because I really want to enjoy it otherwise. *Again, I didn't manage to finish the available content.*

Pretty damn good game. As a person who loves impregnation, this is right up my alley. I had a few grips with the map for the rat area (a little annoying that hitting the X pushes you out of the dungeon rather than close the window, but not unbearable. Additionally, checking the side characters causes an error screen to pop up which forces a Rollback usually). Other than that, I was not expecting to love this game as much as I did. FIVE STARS!

As for 0.2, I must admit that it is quite packed.
Varess and Klaus is just great, I really had fun with these two characters.
Although the game does not have any main story, but rather tells the fate of our character, I got into it very much.
Deserves 5 stars, looking forward to the next update, good luck.

Holy shit, I really don't review games often, but this was incredible enough to make me put in the effort. First off, there is an incredible amount of content. The gallery seemed like it had a reasonable amount of smut, but on playing the game, the sheer number of scenes that popped out of the woodwork was mind boggling.

The writing is really good, with unexpectedly funny moments. The picture of the guy with his dick in a skull from the previews? Yeah, there I am in the middle of the night, genuinely laughing out loud with dick in hand. You can also choose between being an asshole, an sketchy but okay guy, or a decent human being. All of the characters have their own thing going on, and they don't all magically become friends because you're fucking them. It's pretty fun.

The animations and art are fantastic, with a range of big tiddie girls and more normal bodies with carefully animated natural action and secondary movement (ie, they move like people, not dolls). Even without the explicit scenes there's a good amount of sexually charged content. Sex scenes are pretty hot, and removing condoms and trying to knock up the girls was not something I thought I'd enjoy as much as I did. Now I just want more impregnable side characters. Especially the fast growing shapeshifter kids. It would be neat if I could kick off a generational incestuous odyssey.

My only real complaint is that a bunch of stats are only displayed on the prefight window, and there's no explanation (that I noticed, while distracted by titties) that I saw for what exactly they all did. Training stats is a bit ambiguous as I just tried random things and suddenly boosted willpower or health. I also have no idea where skill points come from, or what a reasonable fighting build looks like, and just wound up learning all the necromancy spells for endless meatshields. The rest of the game is well-guided with exclamation marks, but I just kinda avoided the sewer until I realized I could steamroll the entire first floor in one go. There's also a bug with the hints where an error screen pops up and I can either roll back in time, or click ignore and be teleported to places and scenes I shouldn't have access to. But otherwise it all seemed clean for how many intersecting plotlines there are at any given moment.

Overall, fucking amazing. There's a ton of really good content, you can be a dick or a decent person, knock up girls, help people victimized by your friends, help your friends victimize people, and it just keeps going. This is one of the few adult games that I would instantly recommend for AAA development because it's perfectly depraved and the world deserves more of this within it.

This game is really good. The world building is good with a nice mix of familiar elements mixed up in an unusual combination (e.g., Mage's college in a modern world with different guilds operating in the city).

The character development for main LI and some side LI is excellent. Characters are three dimensional. They have likes, dislikes, goals, feuds and change over time in ways that fit into the plot.

I'm really shocked at the ratio of reviews (very few), to content (quite a bit) and quality. This game deserves a lot more attention. Good job dev!

Played V0.20 -- short review, so you all can move on to the important part.

this is close to a Perfect porn game for me.
a bit of story, a dash of humor, a buked of girls to fuck. enough of a Sandbox to not make it a pure VN but still confined to few chooses so you can't relly do anything wrong.

this game is a must play on my list. there is stuff to do, a good story to read, and a ton girls to play with.
if you are into school girls and harem's you will not be disappointed.

One of the best games found here i my opinion.
First of all: the story is great and so is the writing, i could probably play this game even without the porn 5/5
Animations are great, 4.5/5 (some i would give a 5 some i would give less)
Many different girls with different body type / scenarios / sex and personalities
You can do the minigames, or you can just experience the visual novel
Pregnancy is optional and so is incest
Overall lot of contents
Only con but i won't give a penalty because it's rare or not good is the missing sex sounds

VERY fun game, the sex scenes are decent, no big deal, but I still enjoyed them a lot.

It's true that every now and then some of the conversations are tedious, but most of the time they are hilarious. Klaus is a god.

It's not a masterpiece but I recommend it to anyone who likes the kinks.

For those who like wizards, pregnancy, school setting, police, succubus, harem and a lot of humor, This is THE game.

This game has a lot of potential! yes, certain things can be improved, but the universe and the humor is fantastic!

AN UNEXPECTEDLY GOOD GAME
(My apology, English is not my mother language therefore this review may have a few/a lot grammar and spelling mistakes).
The review has been written on version 18.2.
The Goods:
- First thing I love about this game is the conversations. Conservations and interactions between the main character and girls are smooth and stupid, it's so stupid and funny that made it's good.
- Second thing that impressed me is the sandbox with mini-games. The game is well-coded with many mini-games. I hardly encounter any bugs during gameplay despite the number of contents.
- Character Models, They did custom the models not just reuse the default provided by Honey Select. I have played a lot of games and they are so lazy in adjusting character looks.
- Dumb Puns, so many of them combine with parodies that this game is a big meme.
- The Main Male characters are absolute bastards, they are all jerks or the kinds who will ignore criminal actions. The main character is no more than that but his talking is funny and his past and relation seem intriguing.
- The story is plain but better prepared for the plot, it has uncovered mysteries and good ideas.
- Soundtracks are plenty and reasonable placing.
The Bads:
- Not Much Choices Matter, Lust Harem currently doesn't have many options (still but not many) that have consequences. They are all just lead to other dialogues or another short scene (Excluded Sexual Scenes).
- Character gestures while talking are boring, like stop-motion dolls.
The Medians:
- The Render is fine, actually I think it's a bit under average but for character models, I think I would accept this.
- I can see Lust Harem has set up a magical world and it's pretty interesting with the diversity in magic and the rule of its although everything is still not unclear
- Combat is interesting but still not completed and currently, it's likely just a mini-games, It would be disappointing if it won't be a main mechanic in the future and there are events with combat scenes but the dev did not include this aspect to it, I hope they can integrate some combat requirements for some event/storyline. In short: The game does not exploit all the advantages of combat and skill systems and I am looking for it in future updates.
- Sex-scenes are dull, not so much interacting between characters in and afterward but I am very satisfied with other conversations in-game so that I rarely attend to those scenes but they are better be upgraded.
Overall:
Very delightful experience because of the clumsy main character and the hilarious conservations, I rate this game 4.5/5. Enjoy!

Xiongmao is really onto something here. This is one of those games that sucks you in and the next thing you know it's 5a.m and you're not even mad. I'll break this down into sections to not go on tangents but I have a feeling it's gonna get long as hell anyways because I adore this game so here we go.

World-Building: The setting is quite interesting and very unique as it's set in a world very similar to ours with the main difference being there are mythical creatures and some folks with the aptitude for magic. The country you live in is heavily influenced by Japanese and German culture but the MC is from what is believed to be the UK. There are 3 guilds in this country (Guards, Mage, and Merchants) which are institutions that provide services to people. None of this is in your face and is very subtle which I love. No exposition dumps unless you seek it out and even then it's just bits and pieces.

Characters: Klaus is the best character in any VN I've ever played and nothing can change my mind. He is such a scumbag and the dev somehow got me to sympathize with him because he's so damn funny.
The girls are great and are easy to connect with. Some are pretty stereotypical but others have a bit more than cookie-cutter personalities. There hasn't been a lot of character development yet with the main heroines as the MC likes to call them but some of the side characters have already had their whole life changed because of your actions.

Scenes: They are animated which is always a huge plus and you get to change between the camera angles in some, which I would like to see implemented in all of them but what we have now is great. In most to all scenes, you get to choose to go back to a previous speed or maneuver before continuing. More options = More bettererer

Combat: As stated in another review, combat is a non-essential part of the game as of now, but damn is it good. There have only been small bugs that cause slight inconveniences, which is to be expected when you implement 18 spells and items you can use such as armor and weapons (only 1 for each as of now). The only glitch I've experienced in combat has been patched so this gets an A+ from me. It just furthers your immersion that you really are a sorcerer.

Story: You jump right into the MC's life and might feel like you missed something at first in the prologue but this goes away as soon as the prologue is over. Personally, I enjoy this instead of a narrator or MC telling you who everyone is and talking about their backstory. this game is a perfect example of show, don't tell, and is executed well.

TLDR: Amazing game that will only get better as the story develops.

The Good:
- Art and character design - could be better, but it's still really good
- Characters - varied and engaging, nothing to nitpick there
- Story - the main story is pretty good, but it's expanded just enough to where you know what is going on with the MC more or less, which is understandable, since i doubt there are many people playing this game for male MC story, so i can't really complain about it
- Writing - this is mostly pure gold, with no scene writing below good
- Systems and sandbox - no issues there, sandbox works well, time blocks for events would be a pain, but here new events are marked properly at the map so it's fine
- Humor - sometimes better, sometimes worse, but on average it's still great, like 8-9/10 overall

The Bad:
- Combat - for now it's completely optional and removed from the rest of the game so it's hard to judge, it feels like it's not implemented properly yet, you can ignore it completely as of v0.18.2
- opening and closing the map can be annoying after playing for a few hours? it's just a nitpick though

Overall 5/5, the quality of writing alone offsets any minor nitpicks i would have like graphics being not 10/10, but 8/10 instead, combat could sour the experience if it's implemented badly, but it's not really implemented yet so time will tell.

Was pleasantly surprised at how good this game is. Did not expect much since number of reviews were low, but damn has this game reached among my all time favorites.

Pros (For me):
Huge amount of content.
Interesting premise
Good Story
Good Humor
Arousing models
Zero grind/Skippable minigames

~ Characters? 2/5

I don't know if the author just hasn't gotten around to it yet, but you don't learn anything about any of the characters, you just kind of meet them and move on. Even when doing events with them, you don't learn much of anything. It feels like the game wants to you believe you've known them for a long time, so it doesn't have to actually put in the effort to teach you about them.

Even still, I gave this a 2 out of 5 because the characters themselves are likeable if not bland due to us, again, not knowing anything about them.

~ Character Models? 4/5

All the characters look good. Not much else to say other than that. One positive is that not all the girls have beach balls for tits like other games, though the MC suffers from 'mini-bat for a dick' syndrome, but I can live with that.

~ Story? 1/5

In all honestly, I'm not sure what the story even is, if there is one. It just feels like you're in this world where magic exists but doesn't really do much, and you hang out with girls just to try and fuck them. Which, don't get me wrong, isn't necessarily bad, just not all that existing.

~ Game Mechanics? -5/5

I haven't gotten to any combat yet, so I can't comment on that, but I was actually excited when I read this game had minigames as I quite enjoy them, they offer a nice change of pace in these types of games. Well, that was until I found out they were RNG based. Seriously. Fuck anything RNG.

~ Dialogue? 4/5

I honestly enjoy the dialogue a lot. The conversations feel long and fulfilling without feeling stretched out, and the humour is good.

~ Art? 4/5

The world and scenes look good. Not really any complaints here.

~ Animations? 3/5

The sex animations are good, my only complaint would be that the sex scenes lack a lot of depth and variety and are over really quickly. It's just fucking for a few frames at a few different camera angles, cum, and done. One thing I will praise is that in some situations the girls have idle animations which really helps make them feel alive.

~ Sounds? 3/5

Some scenes have BGM, others don't.

~ Final thoughts?

A lot of promise, but needs some fleshing out.

with a little more time this game could be one of the all time greats i cant remember the last time i laughed this hard at the story dialogue of a game and the content actually has a unique twist for what it is

I love the premise that MC is a novice wizard who has the ambition to enslave a succubus for moar power. It shows a level of proactivity that you rarely see from harem MCs. Normally the succubus randomly chooses them for no reason.

I enjoyed the game a lot. What really stands out is the humor though. I laughed so hard that I felt like I was dying. I couldn't breath, it hurt, but I couldn't stop laughing.
Humor is consistently awesome and I can not wait for more of this wonderful gem of a game