Ren'Py - Completed - On Distant Shores [v1.0 Final] [Professor Amethyst Games]

I always feel weird leaving reviews because art and beauty are in the eye of the beholder. What I like others may think is trash and visa versa.
But I have to leave one for a game like this that has become very special to me.
For some this may move too slow, or have too few lewd scenes or whatever. Some may not like or get the deeper themes and conflicts the MC has, and all that is fine, to each their own. But so far this has some of my favorite scenes and quotes from any game I've played.
The story and dialogue have kept me enthralled, the themes dealt with by not just the MC but most of the others are very real and I think most people honest with themselves can see a little piece of themselves in most of them.
I can agree that some of the sex scenes are very vanilla, but there are some really well done ones as well. What this game did was make me actually care about a lot of the characters much more than many games do, the struggles and motivations are what make me immersed in what is happening. Plus I'm just a sucker for the overall theme of the supernatural power struggle with us mortal pawns on the board trying to figure out what the game even is.
This is definitely one I will follow and hope it ends as well as the journey has been so far. I can see it going in any number of ways depending on who wins ... if anyone besides Hollow wins lol can't wait to see if any of my guesses are right or if I will be totally surprised.

This is a visual novel first and a porn game second.

There are some good bones here for a really kinky porn game but the developer clearly doesn't want to go down that route. The sex is all very vanilla and whilst the dialogue might get spicy from time to time and full of the trademark 'turn me into a sex toy' master vibe, it doesn't go anywhere.

So if you're playing this game thinking its going to be nasty, it ain't.


Story is very entertaining
Visuals are OK
Models are OK
Animations are serviceable
Sex is vanilla


6/10

This is an Excellent Game with a great story. The renders are well done, the characters are diverse and interesting, and the story has me hooked.

This last update (day 41) especially has me hanging on a knifes edge, not for the events about to happen, but for the emotional rollercoaster and the state of the current relationships.

I do believe this game should have a warning for people with depression. Without getting into details the mc often talks to an 'inner monster' that in the beginning sounds exactly like that of what those with depression struggle with everyday, and in some ways can be triggering.(and for some, like me, these stories are and can be cathartic.)

This is a fun, sexy, emotional ride, in which I've found myself to become invested in the mc, and the other characters. There are a few instances where things felt a bit heavy handed where it would have been nice to have a choice, but overall its a very well done story and game.

Most of the choices are about which events to see first, but there are some instances where scenarios play out with different characters based on the choices you do make.

All in all, I love it, and can't wait for the next update.

Even with mediocre graphics the story being told is worth every last star.
This really isn't a game for those wanting to see a happy harem story, this will hurt you along the way, and the story is so much better for it. Wholly recommend it to all wanting a great story, and some good lewd scenes without them taking the focus.

OK i found this game about a week ago, so i am reviewing the current build. I must say i like the premise of the game it offers something different in the storyline and kept me engaged.

The models used are on the whole good looking and each one is different with their own personalities, this is also a good thing as you can have different interactions with each.

The animations are ok you get a couple of different angles but they are what they are and they are average at best but that does not detract from the fact that the game itself in good i do look forward to playing the coming updates however long they take i am not sure how often the game itself gets updated or of course how big the updates are.

overall i give the game a 4 out of 5 stars, the reason for the deduction of a star is because you could do so much more with the sex scenes with the different girls to give it that boost to the overall game.

This definitely has a good amount of gameplay so if you are thinking of downloading then i recommend you do so you have quite a lot packed in to 39 days currently

Overall the game was good. It was more content than I expected, and I enjoyed mostly every moment. The story can get confusing but is pretty good overall.
One place where the game is lacking is choices. You will do a lot every day but it all happens without any input.
The quality of renders are acceptable. The models are good models, some different faces I have not seen used, while a few favorites that are used by many developers.

A pretty weird game that sometimes feels like it's trying to make you feel like shit for enjoying the kinks it is delivering to you in pretty hot lewd scenes.

I can appreciate the desire for adult game devs to try to do something serious and novel and the dev is a capable writer if a bit heavy on exposition.

In the end it feels a bit like an action movie that is trying to get across the message that over the top violence is bad in movies, yet revels in that same violence.
Mechanically and visually it is fine and as i said the sex scenes are good if a bit short and one note.
Overall recommended for people looking for a harem power fantasy if you can handle mind control and a bit of a heavy hand when it comes to the narrative itself

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