Ren'Py - On Distant Shores [v0.17] [Professor Amethyst Games]

Pros:
Engaging story and interesting girls. Minimal spelling/grammar errors.
Has a pretty broad range of fetishes,

Cons:
MC incorrectly categorizes only 4 girls into the mommy category.

this is one of the best AVN's I've ever played. there is so much story. I rank this highly along with Leap of Faith and Chasing Sunsets which are 2 of my favorites. the story is written so well with emotions that i found myself caring so much for the characters. Hell, there was even a jump scare i wasn't prepared for which made me jump back a little. the model and animation are excellent. i found myself playing and not wanting to stop but then i did want to stop so I wouldn't end the game because i know it's not yet complete. This is one of the few developers i think I'll support on Patreon because there was so much story and I'm getting so much satisfaction that I want this rollercoaster of emotions to continue. Nice job Dev, please keep up the good work.

Insanely gripping story, not to mention well animated scenes. Perhaps most importantly though: You can actually straight up fall in love with almost any character that happens to suit your fancy. 10/10

i saw alot of good reviews on this but i dont really get it, the graphics are meh, the story as far as i got was mostly nonsense, the interactions were wierd and unnatural and the protagonist is super unlikable.

it might get better later on but after 3 attempts it looks like i aint getting there.

Very engaging story with what seems like a well thought-out lore so far. Characters are generally compelling though sometimes they feel a bit too one-dimensional both personality and sex-wise, especially as there's no real choices in how to interact with them when having sex apart from the choice of sharing or not.

Great story really gripping all the characters are super endearing there is suspense action emotion really a great game. I hope that the author will continue like this in any case congratulations because really a complete game which I look forward to know the continuation

This is one of the most underrated visual novels I've played so far. I love the slow burn in the story. I almost cried in one of the scenes. I feel bad for the MC.
I didn't finish it yet as i'm typing this I'm looking forward to seeing more of this.

( review is for v0.11)

A slow burn? Sorry, but this moves at a glacial pace, more exposition than actual storytelling. It doesn't matter if you think you're moving the story forward if you're simultaneously expanding the scope of the story at an ever greater pace. The story effectively ends up moving at a negative speed from the viewers perspective.

The models are between okay and good, sometimes even great, but it's the poor lighting, the stilted posing and the awkward animation that does it all no justice.

Look, at the end of the day, I get it. I too am a storyteller, just of a different kind. And it's so easy to just come up with new creative ideas and cram them into your darling project. But you also have to view it all from the perspective of your audience. You need to consider if you can tell the same story, enact the same scene, elicit the same emotions, by telling less. Cut down on parts of conversations that doesn't actually push the story or develop a character. Dare cut scenes that end up not strictly necessary. Less is more, specifically because a long story that your audience rushes past or skips out on is a story never heard. Save some creative ideas for other projects.

So much to say that this is beyond long-winded when it really doesn't need to be. To be perfectly honest, I liked a lot of what I saw here from worldbuilding to story beats and character depictions, and I played for hours (I got to where you meet a certain greek goddess in her true form, so to speak) so you know I did more than just take a peek. It's just that what there was to like got buried in so much... noise.

Oh and the UI *really* needs some work.

I would only recommend this game for anyone who has no penchant for getting bored and who has A LOT of free time.

Better story than any game I have played here, ever. Super involved, deep and emotional. Don't want it to end. While the actual scenes may be lacking comparatively, the pure involvement and story telling makes up for it tenfold. The music and ambient sounds make the atmosphere defined perfectly for the setting . and really get you into all of it. Honestly a game to sit down and truly read every single word.

First I saw this game as a clear 5*, but after some updates I wasn't so sure. I thought the game was going in the wrong direction, being too stereotype and everything was just confusing for the sake of it. Now I'm back to 5* again, as the Dev has changed all that and got us players, at least me, to understand why it was like that. So if you start to play this and some points just want to give up, don't do that.

The renders are great, the lewd scenes are good but it is the story that is this game's great part. You just want to know what will happen, so you eagerly awaits next update. I know have a backlog of 3 weeks, but was glad when I saw this game so it went up to #1 in my list even if I had some more before it.

So, I hope that this will end in a good way, I hate bad endings to people I like a lot. Like the MC of this pearl!

Just finished up to the current content and I must say this game is criminally underrated.

The story and dialogue are both top notch and cannot wait to see how the whole thing unfolds in this story where there appear to be no "good" choices that don't have some bad consequences for either the MC or those around him. My props to to the dev for putting it all together, it takes a very creative mind to bring such a large scale story into a cohesive understandable narrative.

This is one of the few harem games where it actually makes sense why all these gorgeous woman just drop their panties for a pretty unattractive MC. Besides the glamour that assuredly helps, the fact he also seems to have the ability to see exactly what it is they so desperately crave and has the means to give it to them is fascinating.

Now I get why Lily seems to be a lightning rod for a lot of people but I would personally love to see more content of her as she deserves some redemption, yeah she was big ole hoe bag but you can tell she wasn't so much looking to just bang a bunch of dudes for the actual sex part, she seemed to be in dire need of intimacy and a real connection with her "soulmate" who if you decide to overlook the whole hoe phase is looking to be the replacement for the wife he lost.

Good luck and you got yourself a new patron!

The game starts off uncomfortably depressing. And not in an "I don't want to deal with these emotions" type of way in an "I'm super depressed and everything's depressing, just to be depressing." Way. And more than half of the girls in this are just that, girls. they all look uncomfortably young. And if they don't completely look underage then they act like children, so there's almost no winning in this. And then there's the internal dialog, it's either emo at slam poetry night or "god she's so hot. I have to tell you, the reader, she's so hot. Have I said she's hot? But I shouldn't say that, she's hot tho."

EVERY. SINGLE. INTERACTION. Goes like this "God I'm sad and lonely." "Wow she's pretty, I should not ogle her." After he proceeds to ogle her, "Why would she be nice to me? I'm a piece of shit..." Then after she falls in love with him at first sight, "I want to make her happy, not use her for my sexual gratification." Then he uses her for his sexual gratification. Then there is a lore dump of the cliff notes of that girls entire life until this point, because you as the reader aren't allowed to develop any connection to the characters at anything less than Mach 15. And then there's ANOTHER lore dump by magical witches that know they shouldn't be attracted to him but do it anyway because this is a sex game first and a boring story sometime after. Only about three or four women contribute to the actual story, the rest are receptacles of MC's lust, no matter how much Muriel's lore dump wants you to believe otherwise.

Honestly I don't see the point in naming the MC if he has his own agenda that I can't control in any other way than "sleep with this girl or not". And Deena's whole character is a farce within a farce. She's a goth feminist that wants to be mistreated, all while being a novelty for the Dev and MC to gawk at. "Oh I've never met a GOTH before. Can you do something GOTHIC for me. I'm really interested in you being a GOTH." Like, please shut your dumb mouth. Having grown up "in that scene" nothing is more annoying than people like that. I also find it funny that Deena and Helen have parallel paths that you have no knowledge going down based on a choice that is "go to the park" or "get ice cream" and you have no inclination as to what that does. This review is a jumbled mess but I don't enjoy most of this. I will say the strange narrative involving the demons is a little interesting, but then there's THE REST OF THE DAMN VN. And this isn't using a totally default RenPy UI, so that's good, somewhat. I WILL SAY, EVERY KISSING SCENE LOOKS LIKE LAMPREY LATCHING ONTO ITS FOOD AND IT'S DISGUSTING.

All in all, semi-interesting story, but I'm not interested in the body type or mentality of a girl in middle school so if you are a groomer this is definitely for you.

This is one of the best games I've played. The story is really well written, does play more like a kinetic novel then a truly multichoice game but I didn't feel railroaded. The characters different, diverse, and pleasantly fucked up. Cannot wait to continue the story

On Distant Shores is a very dark feeling game. I really have not seen anything to justify the extremely bad vibes, but they are there. I decided to stop playing and write this review, just as I arrived at the sandbox portion of the game. I did not want to spoil the vibe it gives off prior to writing the review. It does look promising to have some very dark events, if it is going in the direction it seems to be. I like it so far.

Fantastic story.
Nice art.

The author has managed to generate his own mythology as a parallel to Judeo/Christian elements. This was risky and could easily have caused a rift in his audience, but he handles it very well.

There is violence/death/hints of torture (and more) but it evokes emotions without overpowering the story. And helps the reader feel the angst the MC is experiencing, without (most of the time) him feeling whiny.

All in all one of the most well written renpy games I have ever played. I don't want it to be over, but can't wait to see how the story ends up either.

Easily one of my new favorite games. I've spent the last few days slowly catching up to the current update, and I've got to say: I am pleasantly surprised on a number of fronts.

The good

• Excellent storytelling
• Unique and intriguing premise
• Solid dialogue
• Characters that feel fleshed-out

The not-so-good

• Renders do not do the writing justice (though they do improve over the course of the game)
• Unnecessary sandbox elements to give an illusion of choice
• Sometimes difficult to keep track of all the LIs
• MC looks horrible

I have really been enjoying the story here, and I like a lot of the characters. Some of them feel somewhat extraneous, though I've enjoyed trying to figure out which characters are secretly working against the MC and sometimes that feels like a clue more than anything.

My biggest issue here is that the writing is so damned good and the renders are still pretty amateur. MC in particular is just bad-looking. I get that he's supposed to be an older man and not the super-hot, but the assets chosen for him make him worse-looking than I think was necessary. That hair... oof.

So, despite that, I'm giving this 5 stars because hot damn, there's some good story-telling going on here. The MC's internal monologues, his struggle to reconcile the things he wants with what he feels is right, and his interactions with the LIs make this really shine.

I'm looking forward to more of this story.

[v0.9]
Came for the porn, stayed for the story (and the porn).

This game is so good on so many levels.

I usually don't pay too much attention to story elements (most devs are hardly good enough to write something that makes sense or doesn't bore me to death very fast). Still, here we deal with a fantastic writer, that knows how to write a good story and keep the reader really invested in it with its build-up.
And, for the future, there are so many mysteries and questions still to be answered to keep anyone on edge.

If you add to all that great graphics, cast, and sex scenes, you get truly a gem of a game.

I'm really looking forward to what has yet to come, as this game is getting better and better after each release (also regarding the sexy stuff as well).

5/5 cum laude. Absolutely recommended.

This is one of those rare games where the writing is so good, you can easily forget you're playing a porn game. I've spent the last ten hours playing this and I'm just emotionally exhausted. The last game that did this to me was Telltale's The Walking Dead.

Unique and memorable characters, great dialog and a captivating story. If this game was on Steam I'd add it in a heartbeat.

Visually there's a lot of nice little touches, and the animations are probably the best I've seen at showing realistic and believable facial expressions.

Honestly, I can't recommend this game enough. When people say games can be art, this is the kind of game they're referring to.

An Utterly spellbinding and incredible achievement - the plot is written as creatively as any publication I have ever come across. All the characters are believeable and despite how numerous they are each I found each one fascinating.
This is by no means a standard NSFW lewd fest but IMHO is one of a minute number of works on this site which I would genuinely classify as genius - please make sure you try if for yourself.

My review of On Distant Shores [v0.6]

A game that starts pretty good.
Good graphics, (linear) story, writing, and sound.

Unfortunately it quickly turns into a Groundhog Day forced dating harem simulator.
You get up every day in your apartment, click through all the events on your smartphone (manually), and then go on dates with 2-3 girls from your 10-girl-harem.
Who you go on dates with is predetermined, so if you're mainly interested in specific ones... good luck grinding through ~9 other dates first.

The choices in this game are also pretty weird:
There is one fake choice where you have to "sacrifice" one of your 10 girls, but if you don't pick who you are supposed to it's a Game Over.
The other one is a real choice:
You are running away and have to pick going left or right.
Left puts you one the path with girl A, right puts you on the path with girl B ...and there's absolutely no way of knowing that without a walkthrough (I had no idea there even were 2 paths, without randomly reading about it in a forum post).
The other choices (I can't remember any) are pretty meaningless and maybe make you miss out on scenes if you don't have enough points with girl X.

Overall this game became boring and too much of a chore for me to continue playing.
There's just too many girls and no freedom of choice.