VN - Ren'Py - Nephilim [v0.5.9] [BuuPlays]

Ok, I haven’t put my review on here yet, but I will now for V0.5.9.

When I first started playing this game, I was hooked. The story was interesting and really good; I liked it a lot. But once the whole Island arc started even a little before it started, that’s when things began to go downhill for me. Every single girl on the island is either crushing on the MC or crushing on the MC. Even if you choose the friendship path, they still hint at sex or getting laid. It’s getting stupid at this point you might as well just go for the romantic route with every LI.

Anyway, enough yapping, time for pros and cons.

Pros:

• Really attractive LIs
• Really good renders
• The story is pretty good too (though the Island arc dragged on for too long)
• Not too many grammar errors, and the ones there are easy to understand
• Good animations

Cons:

• Every girl crushes on you no matter what. Even if you reject them, they still hint at sex or getting laid, like I said.
• Choices don’t matter much.
• The point system feels pointless, the only time it matters is if your intimidation score is too low, which just locks you out of that option and forces another.

But this is my review, I can judge the game how I want, so yeah, hope it’s helpful!

I felt compelled to leave a review due to the mixed ratings when I decided to give this AVN a chance 10 months ago. What I’d like to point out that is missing from a lot of reviews is that this is a fantasy setting with its own rules, politics, magic, characters, etc and draws inspiration from familiar tropes and reinterprets them to create a truly beautiful world of immersion. I’m going to use the TV show Game of Thrones as a comparison throughout this review. I’m not discussing how the show ended, only using it as a comparison in pop culture. It’s widely agreed upon that the initial allure of Westeros, the countless narrative mysteries, and feeling of familiar tropes told in a fantasy setting is what made the GoT experience so memorable. That same allure is what you can expect in Nephilim! Strap in fantasy worldbuilding fans, you’re in for one memorable ride in Midomir!

TL;DR, Nephilim is an intricate fantasy setting and only 1 out of the 5 continents have been explored as of this review. There’s a lot of content already included and there’s still several years of future content planned as the game updates monthly which is a gift from the developer. If you like Game of Thrones, Wheel of Time, Lord of the Rings, A Way of Kings, etc then you’ll certainly appreciate the complex setting of this world as well! Take a break from reality and modern day issues/thinking, and get lost in a truly beautiful and immersive setting that continually puts the main character in challenging situations. His journey of discovery: origins, personality growth, and overcoming his physical weaknesses makes it a truly compelling narrative. - Story, Originality, Renders, Sound, Playability, Performance, Bugs, Animations, Grammar, Amount of content - ALL = 5/5

If you’re feeling… a kinky type of way… and just want to get in and get out, then this is likely not the game for you. However, if you’re looking for an adventure with a main character that is young, reckless, flawed, powerful, and following the classic chosen one trope then look no further! It’s similar to the dragons in GoT. You know, or at least think you know, what’s coming in the future after they’re born. The main character’s origin as a nephilim is exactly the same as players who have a familiarity with those supernatural beings believe they know where the story is headed. However, the narrative in this AVN has its own twists and turns that make it an original reinterpretation of what a nephilim is. The main character shouldn’t be a level 1 god tier mode celestial in the first chapter because that would be boring for the players. Instead, his journey challenges his character flaws and touches on Destiny vs Free Will narrative trope in a compelling way.

Alright, thanks for briefly explaining the world and the main character feeling familiar yet unique, but what about the women? Again, using GoT as an example, if the show didn’t have Cersei or Danearys then viewers wouldn’t have been so captivated. Nephilim contains a lot of women to create rich tapestry which encourages the protagonist, and the players, to fall in love more than once to drive the narrative forward. Most of the women have their own agency, motivations, and draw inspiration from the classics. There’s forbidden love, fated love, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, amnesia, second chance, opposites attract, childhood friends, and so many more I’m sure I’m leaving out! Again, the developer uses familiar tropes, and gives the women their own quirks to make them special enough to resonate with different readers. I won't say every woman is S Tier, but they’re certainly not copy/paste personalities. The women have a different cadence in their dialogue, humor, and emotional payoff for an effective use of ‘show not tell’. An example, unlike other cultures in the setting, the Luxeron women live in a patriarchal society so they put a value on their virginity. Is that tropey? Yes, but it’s effectively used for this fantasy setting because it explains the confused/intrigued behavior for both commoners and highborns when confronted with their feelings for the main character. What makes this guy so special? Is he the one I’ve been waiting for? Why couldn’t he just be like other ‘normal’ guys, them I understand!? Things were going so well for me until he made me start to feel… things? I'm twice your age and lost my virtue, how can you be interested in someone like me? This type of consistent emotional setup and payoff rewards the players for the time they spend getting to know the women and makes the relationship(s) with them feel earned rather than, ‘Click Yes to Accept.’

Lastly, the narrative is also familiar but original. Again, using GoT where entire seasons don’t feel enjoyable until an emotional payoff later on. It’s very easy to react to something you don’t like, but I encourage new (and existing) players to remember that authors often guide the narrative for a specific purpose. A lot of negative comments and reviews are focused on the current chapter. Is Chapter 6 my favorite? No, but it’s not as bad as the reviews make it out to be. I’m going to reference GoT for one final time, just like when Jon Snow ventured North Beyond the Wall in Season 1… who knew the decision to stay with the Nights Watch instead of deserting would lead to the extraordinary events in the later seasons? There’s a larger narrative purpose for Aruna island, the MC’s fated journey there, and his role among their society is not yet fully known by the players. The story currently is in Season 1, end of Chapter 6 of 7-8, and the developer has planned 3 total seasons. We've barely begun to scratch the surface of the narrative and by comparison to Jon Snow our main character just set out beyond the wall. The current version, v5.9, hinted at some of these potential future plot reveals that I won’t spoil, but it’s clear that the developer has a well thought out narrative with several ups and downs which is how a truly memorable fantasy story becomes legendary.

So I've played a fairly large amount of AVNs and this is by far my favorite one. Between the expansive world-building, great storytelling, a wide variety of lovely (and some not so lovely) women that will entice and enamor you, this game will leave you lacking for nothing. Is it a straight up, get your rocks off gooner game. No. It's a story. An adventure and you will get the most enjoyment treating it as such. Is there a lot of sex in it. Yes, and all of it you can pick and choose at your desire. You want all the ladies. Have all the ladies. You want some of the ladies. Take only some of the ladies. Seriously. Give this game a fair shake.

I always download and play this because I like the premise and the renders, mostly, but I also always close it after a short time because I just can't cope with a few of the issues.

It's visually great, the animations are getting better which is cool, locations and chracters are great looking, except for the goddess of desire who looks a little like an amateur cartoon drawing of a sexy lady, with a weird angular face with weird big lips plonked in the middle, it's not great. But that's one of many, and the many are way better than that one, just ironic that the goddess of desire... is the least desirable.

The basic story is great, it's big, has loads going on, it's a great premise for a whole load of fun shenanigans. But it's unfocused, and everything is resolved way too easily leading to no sense of tension, character growth or anything else that a good story needs... I could give a fuck about any given moment because... it'll all work out fine. Everything is beyond predictable, I could skip every word and miss none of the plot twists or drama... because there are none.

But the story plots like having your own island of amazon women, meeting godesses, royal bodyguard, revenge etc. are all great for a Harem game. This honestly could be the best game on here with some work put in to fix the really big problems.

The worst part, which means I keep shutting it down early is the writing, I touched on how it adds nothing, but it is also utterly, simperingly sickening when it comes to dialogue. Every single woman in this thing is a copy paste of the one before her, even when you finally get a character who begins with something different, hates your guts, she ends up exactly the same as the others. They're all, bar none, meek, obsessed with the MC, desperate for his cock, and can't stop talking about blooming, which is annoying. There's issues of language in there too like saying they're going to breed the MC, which suggests either they have a cock and balls we don't know about or the writer doesn't know what breeding means.
They all or at least mostly look great, and are very varied in appearance, but they're all the same in personality, completely boring.

I lied actually the worst part is the MC. He is written with even less personality than the increasingly many love interests. No personality at all is fine, for a game, you insert your own personality over the top and voila, it's you in the game. But that requires personality and flavour based choices, so you can feel yourself, in the game, doing what you'd do. This has none. So that part doesn't work. Also he doesn't have no personality, he in fact has one trait, literally only one, and that is he's obsessed with eating his own cum, does it often and remarks on how delicious it is even.

So basically you are forced into being a snowball lover, regardless of if like me, you find that horrific and want to gouge out your eyes and drink acid after witnessing such a spectacle.

I lied again though, he has 2 traits... He's also a simpering windbag who won't shut the fuck up about how much he loves every woman he just met 5 seconds ago and treasures them endlessly. It's torturous.

Lots of good reviews here (the ones with lots of likes) so I'm not sure what more I can add but I'll reiterate some of what's been already said.

The author told a fairly compelling story for the first 2 to 3 chapters and then it all goes to shit. It's like the author got tired of the story they were telling and just switched to telling dozens of side stories with barely any depth to them. So the game is good for the first 2 to 3 chapters and then goes off the rails. The game becomes an unfocused mess after chapter 3. Half the love interests I didn't care about. I got bored with the game the longer it went on (not good). After a while I simply didn't care about anyone I was talking to (a terrible thing to happen in a visual novel).

So the author destroyed their own game IMO by abandoning what made the game good in the first few chapters. I don't see how the author can recover from the mess and hole they dug for themselves. There's an old saying "fish or cut bait". I recommend cutting bait at this point and starting a new game with a focused story.

This game is hard to rate fairly. It started as nearly a 5 for the first few chapters, with good story, tension and characters. However, at some point it seems the main story has gotten lost. It’s like a bad rpg game that has you focused on doing all the 1000 side quests, perhaps because you need as many allies as possible for the end battle?

Kind of spoilers below
You have the main quest with the MC and Eliza and the BBE who destroyed his family. Then you have the side story with the friends from his youth, the side story with his young grasshopper friend from the temple after his parents died where he trained, then the royal family storyline, the adventurer guild, then the pirate story line, then the Navy admiral side story and now the Lost Island story which has lasted the longest and could have been its own game (and as others have mentioned resembled another game). I’m sure I’m missing a few others as well. Each of these stories adds 2 to 6 more LIs. We have to be well over 20 but I lost count.

The rendering has improved some but that doesn’t make up for the lost focus. The sex scenes are decent but all feel fairly vanilla and the samish now and I usually skip through since I don't care for most of the LI’s at this point. Give me Eliza and the pirates and I’d be happy. Hell, even throw in the princess or the admiral but at this point everyone has become meaningless.

So basically, if you want a fuckfest game, the second half of this VN will suit your needs. If you want the game to continue with decent storytelling and tension like the first part, I’d say you are out of luck unless the dev regains focus. Personally I’d rate this a 2 as I’m in the later camp or give it a 4 if in the former camp. I’m going up to three though because the dev is at least productive and consistent as well.

Gosh, that's what I was looking for! The game itself is very entertaining, has beautiful models, and has an interesting history that made me excited for more. It was definitely a great start!
Keep up the good work!

Gorgeous renders,
Interesting, different and engaging characters with nice supporting cast and their impact on the story.
Nice and riveting story so far, awaiting impatiently for the next episode.
Continue the great work.

What an amazing fucking game! No repetitive or bad renders, no exaggerated overly cartoonish expressions, awesome story with the perfect balance of sorrow joy adventure action! Oh and the dev modified the generic Dav models to such extent that they look like whole different characters! Holyshit I'm beyond impressed! And absolute consistency too! I was shocked that I didn't write a review of this before but better late than never!

Part of this game is almost copy pasted from another game. Not sure if it is the same dev for both games but damn the plagiarism is real. So many reused phrases and quotes from tv "culture" like the obligatory "stick em with the pointy end" and many others that feel really out of place.
For me it just adds the kind of cheese you always get today, no originality just the recycled ghost of a laugh that isn't laughing at the current gag just the memory that it was mildly funny the first time around.

Lots of good looking characters though and the h scenes for the most part get progressively better, though the blowjobs are weak. The voyeurism gets better later on but by that point it's a borderline fuckfest so a little tease here and there is almost irrelevant and a lot of it early on is like the tease of a tease of voyeurism so it doesn't quite scratch the itch.

One annoying thing that later seems to get rectified is you are constantly given the choice of romance path or not when you make a decision. By the 30th time I've picked the romance path option for Eliza it should be pretty clear I want to choose her romance path....

I'll give it 4 stars because it is better than average by a good margin though it's more 6-7 out of 10 than a 4/5.

Had a great story and great promise for the first 2-3 chapters then it just turned into constant repetitive dialogue about the same things and constant cheesy flirting and innuendos all in all it lost its story you would get a couple minutes of story then 20 minutes of sexual contents that was just the exact same scenes rendered in previous updates and reused so it bored the fuck out of me

Nephilim feels like you play character in a novel, it's got great emotions and you get be heroic evil in a actual impacting situation it's got great scenes and is updated frequently always on my to go list

I am pleasantly surprised by the quality of this VN. The logic of choices doesn't always make sense, I'm still slightly unsure of the good/bad paths. Choosing the girls (or not) doesn't seem to have any meaning? I mean there doesn't seem to be a logic behind these choices, so no real paths, just collecting them all or not, with no consequences otherwise.
The girls look great. Dialogues are ok. Scenes are ok, a bit simplistic sometimes. Some gorgeous animations.
If anything there's too many girls, I would have preferred a bit less and more in depth relationships with them. The story with the main girl is quite detailed and I liked that, however my favourite was the childhood friend who seems to be forgotten and ignored by the protagonist which, considering their relationship at the start, seems like outright treason to me. she's handled like a side girl when she finally joins the harem.
I would prefer that choices of girls mean a bit more, I like a harem game like anyone but too many diminishes their value. Fiery pirate girl, or the queen seem fascinating, but they are also lost in the sea of conquests a bit; more consistency and streamlining in the story - a bit more focused time with a handful of girls - would have been preferred. I know i can skip the ones I don't want but on one hand it doesn't seem like is actually skipping a lot of the content with them, and it doesn't seem to have consequences other than not seeing some scenes, so superficial.

But I cannot fault the production overall. I am completely baffled how some people can act so childish to give 1 * since the extent and quality of this is definitely in the top 20% on the site, whether or not you like certain aspects or not.
Would I like slimmer girls? Would I like more in depth stuff with mature women? Maybe some kinks? Hell yea, still, it doesn't diminish the quality, it's just preference.

This one was a VN I knew about but somehow skipped for a long time - the introduction seemed kinda meh, too fairy tale - but it's actually pretty great and I hope we will see its competition.

It's good. The girls are gorgeous, there is some decent story, and some decent sex.
Unfortunately, the game is hindered by a lack of a gallery, and a lack of focus. It has TONS of sex scenes, with tons of different girls. I have a save for each scene, and now they stretch onto page 10 of renpy's default save slots, even skipping the scenes I don't like. It needs a gallery, or else the sex is just ancillary. There are some good scenes, as I said, but there aren't any great ones.
That's just the tip of the lack of focus iceberg. There are too many girls. Way too many. A normal harem game is like 5-8. This is already over 20, depending on whom you count. Inevitably, there are only a handful of girls whom you actually get to know.
Early on, you get morality choices, which I liked. But they appear to have abandoned that. For most of the game, your choices are just who you want to fuck.
The plot is the most unfocused part. At the start, it's the story of a guy meeting a special girl on a journey of long revenge, and protagonist slowly coming into transcendent power. Unfortunately, the protagonist ends up getting sidetracked protecting princesses, saving pirates, fucking pirates, and now there's a very large arc on an island, where he has to do like four different things before he can return. It wouldn't be so bad if the LIs on the island were the main girls from before, but only one of them is on the island with him. Two, if you count Tazzy, who's another excessive LI. The arc may relate to the protagonist growing into his power, but it still feels almost entirely disconnected from the rest of the story. And it's waaay too long for something tangential.
The dev needs to slow down, think about what it is that the story can provide the player, and focus on that. The game was very good when it was a protagonist and his tight-knit group of friends/lovers moving towards revenge. Now, it's nowhere near as good.
Ultimately, while I have a lot to complain about, and I have been substantially disappointed, I still enjoy playing each update, so I'm giving it four stars. But I'm not convinced that it won't end up falling to three.

it´s as Pixillin said, started off great but went down the hill fast.
poor writing, no character personality, endless lines of lovey-dovey talks, meaningless choices, not to forget the stolen content, so yeah if you just want to see some poor sex scenes this VN is for you since there are enough to go around, but if you want to read a good story, then better look for another VN

This game is for you if you’re into harem games with lots and lots of sex. If you like a good story, it will let you down hard. It starts out ok, like the developer had a really good idea but didn’t know what to do with it beyond a certain point.

It starts out as a classic fantasy tale, you’re a boy living in a small village until, at the age of 10, your parents are murdered in an effort to get to you. You’re whisked away by a mysterious stranger (not the murderer) who keeps you hidden and trains you. When he dies you set out to avenge your parents. On your way you meet a woman in danger in the woods. You rescue her and she turns out to be the daughter of the man who had rescued you. The two of you immediately hit it off, and she quickly becomes your forever girl, you become a team – targeting the same man for vengeance.

You make a lot of early choices where it gives you a light path option and a dark path option, and you and your forever girl have a few adventures and then .. it falls off a cliff and becomes a never ending stream of women who instantly fall in love with MC. (A few dozen at this point.) They are all poorly written and have no real character development or story arc.

The light and dark path choices end up meaning nothing. The MC becomes increasingly inconsistent, sidelining his forever girl for months at a time, reacting to betrayal with cold blooded murder in one instance and then a little while later reacting to betrayal with not so much as harsh language. And taking off on an adventure that actually appears to be borrowed from a different game – like the developer didn’t know what to do so he just had you play a completely different game with the same character for awhile.

Writing 0/10 – As I said, it seems like the dev just borrowed from another game and didn’t actually write it all.

Characters – 2/10 – there are one or two good characters out of 106 listed on the VNDB page. Most of the Lis have a personality somewhere between an inflatable doll and a horny (1940s era) Disney princess.

Gameplay 0/10 – Aside from deciding who you do and don’t want to fuck, and making some choices that don’t’ impact the game at all it’s basically linear.

Art / Renders – 6/10 above average but the renders and poses (especially in the lewd scenes) quickly become repetitive and predictable.

Coding 5/10 – No errors, but no branching paths either – just a linear story.

"A great idea very poorly executed"... That's the best way to summarize this AVN; the story has a lot of potential, being able to choose between "being good" or "being bad" is a good idea, buuuut... all of this is ruined because the Dev is a terrible writer... Unnecessary and childish dialogues, cliché and boring characters, plot twists that feel more like a pretext... Sometimes it seems like the Dev is 13 years old by the way the characters speak; I reached a point where I could no longer tolerate continuing to read and I found myself skipping all the text... I'm not going to say it's one of the worst AVNs because it's not that bad, but honestly, I wouldn't recommend it even for a fap.

your storytelling is nothing short of captivating. Every choice, every dialogue, and every character feels so thoughtfully crafted. The art style perfectly complements the narrative, and the music enhances the emotional depth of each scene. You've managed to create a world that's not just experienced, but felt deeply. The emotional connection to the characters is powerful, and the way you’ve intertwined the plot twists is pure genius. Thank you for creating a world where players can lose themselves, reflect, and connect on such a profound level. Your hard work and dedication are truly inspiring

Honestly i'm surprised.. surprised by how good this was but also at the lower rating and peoples opinions of it that dont rate this higher...
The characters are well done and its a wide and varied collection of LI's that make the harem building actually a joy given the diversity of characters..
The story is pure elder scrolls, world of warcraft, black desert GOLD for anyone who is a MMO gamer fan and while some moments are repeated (scene and animation wise) they still make the scenes progress onwards..
Eliza the main LI is just adorable and by far one of the most enjoyable characters to interact with, the storyline has a scope to last a long time with various nemesis being introduced.. the prospect of the mc setting up essentially he own harem estate is interesting and i hope we get to see something SOLID in that aspect as more LI's are introduced and giving them all a place to reside when not doing their own thing..
The writing is as good as most VNs out there, some occasional slip ups but FAR better than most who dont even bother to fix these issues..

Hopes for the future - Better Nemesis.. as a World of warcraft fan id love to see some form of Lich King level nemesis, especially since we have already now had a Jaina Proudmoore esq character added and i'd love to see a daz rendered Goldshire dev.. make it so lol

Overall a great story, visuals and future outlook.. well worth supporting and looking forward to more

Starts off reasonably strong, quickly gets bogged down adding dozens of bland side characters and nonsensical plot developments, with the player moving from one brief, paint-by-numbers sexual encounter to the next. I think the dev might have a good game in them, but next time I hope they start with a strong, focused outline and stick to it, with an eye towards quality over quantity.