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

Version: 1.0 Final

I do not recommend that you play/read this VN.

I read this VN over the weekend, and I hate it. There will be spoilers in this review since I can’t explain myself without them. I am sorry about that.

The endings are important to me when it comes to porn games, especially the ones that lean into the harem group. I am always looking for the happily ever after. But this story has none.

As you play the game, you meet lots of girls, and many of them can become your lovers. The first thing I found odd is that at least two of them are exclusive, meaning in a playthrough, you can only get one of them (it’s the goth girl or the one that talks weird; at least I found no way of getting them both).

The other thing that annoyed me was that some of the choices were blind. There is a part of the story where you get off at the wrong train stop. From there, you can walk up some stairs or walk into a tunnel; both lead to an encounter that hospitalizes you, but your choice decides which girl will help you get home from the hospital. That leads into a scene with that girl.

There is no way to know which choice leads where, but you must choose.

On top of that, the story leads you into a grand buildup where you end up with 16 girls, all with special talents to help get ready for this big fight, and everything feels epic. You win the fight and are ready to take on the next big thing, and… the world starts to fall apart. No, that’s the story plot—the world starts to unravel. All your love interests and everyone in the story you connected with, and all the planning, just start to disappear.

As everything gets torn away and you waddle your way to the grand finale, you can finally make the big decisions all this leads up to. You sit down, make the choice… and bingo, end credits.

That’s it. No outro, no closure, just the end. Hope you’re not emotionally attached to anyone.

So no, I don’t like this game/VN, and I don’t recommend anyone read it.

Version: 1.0 Final

First of, I think it's worth a praise for the dev to pick such a difficult topic for his game: Depression and all the stuff that goes with it.
While he does a fairly good job at the beginning, the pace stays way too slow and makes the progression annoying. I wound up skipping through most of the text, hoping for anything entertaining that was worth my time.
Gladly, the pace and story improves a bit later on, but the writing stays weak and boring. And: Not a single lewd scene before free roaming starts, which turned the game completely down for me. I stopped playing right after I got there.

Cannot recommend this game.

Not really sure what to make of this. At first I thought it was a wish fulfillment VN with a pathetic MC who suddenly gains superpowers and a harem. The sex scenes weren't great but you got the feeling that each girl had her own path and kink and whatever, which is pretty much par for the course.

And then there's the main plot, which gradually becomes more and more front and center and ties everything together. Sure, there are still sex scenes but it becomes window dressing. It seems like things will go in the direction of having a full harem with the MC and all his girlfriends in a big apartment but this is never really fully realized, and there are just sorta random sex scenes beyond reams of exposition.

The main storyline itself is not terrible, and there's a lot going on. There are some philosophical themes but it doesn't really evolve very well - the worldbuilding is inconsistent (but maybe I skipped too much text) as the focus shifts from themes of coping with depression to like the metaphysics of the universe.

And then unfortunately, like many AVGs... it just sorta ends. A lot of the buildup is irrelevant and there is basically no payoff. It feels like the creator just got bored and wanting to wrap things up as quickly as possible, which is very disappointing after so much storytelling.

I would normally give more than 2 stars since there was a lot of effort here and the storytelling is competent, but ultimately a lot of it is just wasting the readers' time. As an AVG the sex scenes are not high quality enough to slog through the main story. As an actual story the ending is extremely frustrating. 2 stars is all I can do to caution potential players that they will probably feel unrewarded by this VN.

I just started this and I love the writing... it's rare to find something so well written and the images add well to it! Good Novel in a nutshell keep it up mr Author. I do not know if it was intentional but that thing when he is hurrying to the room and it seems like the elevator takes forever its just a proof of attention to details that makes this soooo good.

There are like a lot of girls, most of them with bad models, unattractive.
There is a ton of text, too much to handle, with each girl you going to chat, video call, message exchange, flirt whatever. It is just too choresome.
I am not sure anyone can stay invested in a game where you go at the same time with 12+ different women.

Then you have fantasy of demons and angels mixing with all the harem.
Another point deducted for terrible gaming UI and for lack of gallery.

The game is solid with fun characters, an interesting (if frustrating at times) story, and interesting concepts. The ending however, for me, left the things flat and that sours the entire game for me as it gives a few arbitrary choices and abruptly finishes...one may as well have been given the options between three colors.

Forget fapping, this is a game worth playing just for the plot alone.
It's one of the best portraits of self-despair I have ever seen, with realistic ruminating and internal monologues (like what people pretend NGE to be, except the author here isn't full of shit).

Paradoxically the least convincing thing is how every single woman that crosses your path basically starts to ask you out on the spot (even though I'll grant that the excuses that were used were as good and diverse as possible). But that's part of the positive thinking charm of the game I guess. There's always hope, and tomorrow.

one of the most engaging stories on this site. 2 thumbs up. highly recommended. If you are here for story, plot, and intrigue then this is one for you. The characters are a diverse cast

Breanna is your counselor
Sophia is your prophet
Giselle is your provider
Kayla is your engineer
Elizabeth and her coven are your protectors
Audrey is your siren who will bring you new followers
Tien is your whipping girl
Helen bears the eyes of truth
Violet is your craftsman
Zella is your nurse
Deena is your spy
Meili is your keeper of wisdom -- the one who writes your scripture
Fina is your link to the past
Misha is your alchemist
Lily is your helpmeet sent to teach you forgiveness
Nicole is your analyzer and was sent to teach you compassion
Amara is your guardian
Krista (feisty yet deluded) -- must learn her purpose on your own

(Review of v0.17) This is a very good VN, mainly because of the story. It is complex but engrossing, with some unexpected plot twists (some rather dark and unsettling). Despite the complexity it progresses well thanks to a tight and disciplined narrative, which shows some insight into the different characters. You really want to know what is going to happen next.

The graphics are OK. Some of the main characters are quite original, while some of the others seem to have come from DAZ Central Casting and just wandered in from another VN. Animations started out a bit simplistic but improved, as characters’ body parts start to show some relationship to Newton’s laws.

A lot of work appears to have gone into selection of the music.

There is much to admire in this game, and I would have given it five stars were it not for mistakes in spelling and grammar (which seem to get worse as the game progresses). It’s not as bad as some of the semi-literate horrors in other games on here, but -

Some spelling errors are homophone mistakes, eg:
to/too
carousal/carousel
here/hear
peace/piece
shew/shoo
lightening/lightning
you’re/your
it’s/its
pouring over/poring over

Others are just wrong, eg:
deceipt/deceit
psychogical/psychological
fuedal/feudal
agressions/aggressions
embarassed/embarrassed
non sequitor/non sequitur
gallavanting/gallivanting

The most common grammar errors are subject pronouns where object pronouns are required (“she ran out on Misha and I” should be “she ran out on Misha and me”, because you wouldn’t say “she ran out on I”)

I don’t want this to seem negative, but the story-telling is so good that it comes as a bit of a surprise to see simple mistakes like this. With a bit of editing this would absolutely be worth a Steam release; I would buy it. Congratulations to the dev/author.

The MC is the usual woman magnet character, except this time he's old and has a tragic backstory.
The game is weird, expect random nonsensical dreams and events

The biggest downfall of the game is that it has far too many characters. Progressing 12 relationships simultaneously in a linear VN just does not work. You can block out a few of them, not nearly enough however.
The models and renders are good, be forewarned that a few of the models are very much jailbait.
The writing is above average but the sex scenes are short and will blue balls you, we're talking about a handful of lines and a couple of animations on average.

When I started with this VN, I felt that it was good. Character design is better than most. Visuals are relatively simple but they do the job. Sound is adequate. Story is unique and by far the biggest draw. Biggest downfall was a pet peeve of mine, the endless repeating of facts.

It turned out I misinterpreted this, probably because it is a peeve of mine.

I always tell new writers that editing is about ruthlessly chopping up your revered writing to get rid of everything that gets repeated for the audience. This can rip out entire scenes that are simply unneeded for telling the story and yes it can make you cry sometimes.

This visual novel, the repeating exists to manipulate the reader.

I genuinely dread the repeating motifs now because they all end in tragedy and Professor Amethyst knows this is a gut punch to us. Bravo for breaking the rules of writing for a specific and planned purpose. That is the mark of a really great writer.

On the offhand chance it wasn't planned and just a lucky coincidence; just keep doing what you are doing, and smile and nod when someone claims you are brilliant at something.

All the other stuff I brought up is fun to recall because it keeps getting better and oddly enough, that actually fits the story as well.

Spoiler:
The character models began as somewhat more original than most interpretations of the same models, but they become more defined with design choices as the story continues, and that actually strengthens what exactly the story is about, The production value is nowhere near cinematic, but it does get better as you continue and that also fits the story.

The story itself is by far the greatest draw right from the start. It captures emotional situations and masterfully projects them to the reader which is critical for this particular tale. It is unique and deeply philosophical and presents an unfathomable challenge that has no possible good outcome but offers a trail of hope that the reader can easily follow. It also rips away that hope piece by piece as you struggle to reach some resolution.

I always give high marks for good character design, and as you can tell my opinion on the writing. This is a fantastic novel and I eagerly await more.

I feel like i need to leave a review for this game.
The reason I started playing this game is because I was curious about the synopsis and tags. Although the narration is not the best (it's still goood!) the story is what kept me going. For me it's a tearjerking story but it's done in a good way. But it certainly has some really sad moment, i.e. these lost souls.... I'm just hoping for the "and they lived happily ever after" ending.
Definitely one of the best story I read/played.

It's fine. The graphics are fine, the scenes are fine, the characters are fine, the story is fine. Nothing really stands out. Overall, the VN's strengths are muted by its lack of focus: there are way, way, way too many characters and not enough reason to have them there. "Less is more" would improve this VN a lot. There were times when I got intrigued by a character or a subplot, but I quickly got distracted by the tour through events and scenes with literal dozens of other characters. By the time the VN returned to the thing I was interested in I had long since moved on.

As for the MC, the only character who gets much screen time... some works seem to reach a sort this place where they're embarrassed by certain tropes but still want to emulate them. As a result, they reach for satire or a sort of fourth-wall-breaking self-awareness, as if to anticipate criticism and respond to it in the text. On Distant Shores is such a VN. While the MC is cast as a tortured soul, he's also a gigantic power fantasy about how he can swoop in and fix a bunch of women's problems and have them swoon in return. I'm not even criticizing the trope itself. Shit, it's a harem porn VN, feel free to have some fun! But I'm of the opinion that this sort of half-hearted meta approach always detracts from the overall experience, simultaneously acknowledging the weaknesses of the underlying themes but yet unwilling to actually dispose of them. It takes away the mindless fun of just going with things, and yet doesn't have anything more to say in exchange.

There's plenty more I could say about situation X or character Y, but it doesn't really matter. The sprawling lack of focus just gradually consumes everything other than the MC in a sort of monochrome blandness. If you don't like some character, no matter, five minutes later they'll disappear for ages. If you do, same problem. Yet they aren't one-off flings: these are characters you're supposed to remember and care about again hours later. At some point I just closed the VN and deleted it, not out of disgust, or disappointment, or disagreement: just out of sheet disinterest in a story which had once intrigued me.

Feels like high reviews were paid by, because in reality I cant explain difference between rating and my experience with this game.

Average renders, not bad and nothing special. Story exists more or less, oh and MC... I mean, I get that story about sad middleaged man with serious trauma, but he just pathetic and I feel like he will remain like this to the end.

Author writed him and his interactions between female charachters, like hes 15 yo retarded simp and not oldman who already was married. Always says awkward shit, creeps their bodies, always apologies for every little obstacle and agrees with every their word or deeds towards him like true simp.

For example (SPOILERS)
Dude meets with 2 girls for the second time at the park, they frustrated at him because first time they meet he dared to ogle at their bodies. Dialog starts from one of them constantly insulting him being old and other reasons and he just stay still and apologise for everything like he just killed puppy in front of kids.

After that girl explains that she did that to TEST him and tells other girl that mc just looks like her bad father, but behaves nothing like him so hes fine dude, she praise him for his reaction to her behavior (just standing and apologising) like it shows that he is ultra-mega-duper decent man, lol) Who the hell she thinks she is to insult another person for her own reasons? But mc just accepts it like its no big deal. MC even happy that as jest of apologise for this test with insults, he gets free meal)

If you have backbone and at least some self respect you will not enjoy this mc even in the slightest.

Oh and one more thing. First sex scene with handjob was as out of nowhere and out of place as it can be possible.

Actually one of the best overall - really ought to be a 4.75 as the flaws are mostly minor - like spelling/vocabulary ("here" versus "hear" for instance) and what were, to me at least, the excessive apologetics of the protagonist for things beyond his control.
But the overall creativity and the detail of the story and plot are pretty good.
The number of harem participants seems a little excessive but is well-rationalized by the "faith in numbers" explanation.
The sex scenes are nicely animated although somewhat simplistic.
The mechanics of using the phone are a little different from most other phone interfaces but again in only a minor way - no obvious "back" or "home" buttons but clicking on the bottom black part of the phone sufficed.
As a retired data warehousing guy myself, I liked the descriptions provided for what the MC's work was about from the office interactions to the database schema presented.
Since this story is not yet concluded (v0.16) and certain threads still remain open as to possible outcomes, I don't feel quite right giving it a 5 star rating but it is a very good one, one of the best I've seen in the almost two years I've been engaged in this genre of entertainment.
I hope the author completes this to the same or better standard than he has yet shown us.

On Distant Shores is a harem VN about the struggle between order and chaos, and the end of the world.

Of course, you don't really get to see that very well. You're an average dude who starts the game in a deep pit of depression for understandable reasons. Then suddenly you get caught up in war between cosmological forces, reality takes a backseat and crazy shit starts happening.

I really tried to get into the game, but it's intensely spacey. It takes a long time to get an explanation for why, but basically the forces surrounding the MC are warping reality for and against him. People will fall in love with him at the drop of a hat, they'll suddenly forget he exists, demons will step out of the woodwork, angels will drop in for chats; there is just no sense as to what might happen next.

And frankly, that's really the problem. When the laws of reality no longer apply, new rules really need to come in to take their place. Otherwise, there's no drama when things happen; it's just the next expected unexpected thing. It ends up coming across as utter nonsense.

Anyway, beyond the story there's way too many girls and the individual scenes with them are very short. It's rather frustrating really because they seem to have strong personalities and interesting backstories. It's unfortunate that you barely seem to have moments with each girl before it's on to the next one. It makes it difficult to remember who they all are and who we're supposed to see next.

The visuals for the game are solidly decent. The girls look good, the environments are pretty nice, and there are good animations. I didn't see anything really world shaking, but it's not disappointing either. There's some good sound work as well.

The sex scenes are decent, but definitely a sideshow to the story. The various girls will jump your bone seemingly at random and with little invitation. This isn't a bad thing necessarily, but they felt more distracting than anything else since I was still trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

Overall, while the game has a very nice presentation, the confusing story and rapid-fire, shotgun style scenes make it difficult to follow and get invested in. There are good things to be found in On Distant Shores, but I don't think everyone will manage to twist their brain into following for long enough to get to them.

This is a good game. The story is outlandish, but if you suspend disbelief, it's a fun ride.

The story: 8/10. It can be outlandish at times as I said above but it is very intriguing and keeps you on your toes as to what happens next.

Originality: 10/10. Nothing on this website comes close when it comes to the story here. The characters are very well fleshed out e.g of Amy as a child is well fleshed out and is funny and original.

Renders: 9/10 toward the latter half, 7/10 at the start. They certainly do get better toward the 2nd half of the game after a few updates.

Sound: 10/10. Can get scary at times.

Playability: 6/10. It is a bit Kinetic as you can't avoid being with some of the girls and that choice just doesn't pop up. Choices are minimal in general too and it's mostly a kinetic novel.

Performance: 10/10. Works fine.

Bugs: 10/10. I didn't see any or they were that negligible.

Animations: 8/10. Animations are okay. Vanilla sex only so nothing out of the world.

Grammar: 9/10. It's mostly good. Wordiness can be an issue at times.

Amount of content: 10/10. There's a ton of content. You can sink hours into it.

Overall: 4.5/5 or 90/100. I am giving it a 5 star because the website doesn't have a 4.5 star rating but the game rarely misses the mark and is up there with the top games here.

Honestly one of the best stories I've found on here. Great dialogue and excellent renders. The characters are very compelling and you want to know more about them. Also, incredibly long in a very good way. I cannot wait for more!

[Rev @ On Distant Shores [v0.14]

TLDR : Pretty alright.

Art's fine.

Writing is hit-and-miss. Scenario's been done, narrative is pretty contrived, and believability is scarce. Characterization is well done, but MC's Woe Is Me schtick very nearly had me click out especially in the early game.

Porn was fine. Wish for more intra-harem interaction.

Gameplay felt more linear than the sandboxy trappings it's dressed up in.

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.