VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Once in a Lifetime [v1.0] [Caribdis]

This is so good!
A thoroughly engaging story, that will certainly stick in my mind as one of the better AVNs I've played.
Overall, this has a well wriiten plot, enjoyable interactions, nicely done artwork and animated scenes, plus some very funny moments.
I especially liked the way each character's personality is portrayed with more depth than is found in many other VNs.
I think the original premise of the MC being step-sibling makes far more sense than the i-patched version.
The escape room-style challenges, combat moves and quizzes are often very tricky to get right (best to use the walkthrough to avoid frustration).
My only criticisms are early artwork has weird alien eyes on some LIs. Also the closing part of the adventure and the end of the epilogue slideshow left me with more questions than answers, despite having a feelgood ending (if you made good choices).
I feel certain I will replay 'Once In A Lifetime' in the future and enjoy it all over again.

The game felt just refreshing to play.

The humor was a hit every time for me, the mystery story was interesting, at some parts predictable but never dull, and it was enjoyable till the end.

The animations are good; many allow different camera angles. The girls are cute; some look a bit too much the same, but never bad.

The endings for only romancing a single girl are lackluster; it's a harem game with a good harem ending on the right path. The other paths' endings feel strange for ignoring some girls, but well, it's the conclusion of your choices, so it's what you get.

Excellent all around, genuinely funny at times and the girls actully felt like people which many a creator misses. You have created something special here and i will keep both eyes on any future project fromm this developer

All time classic, if you want to know whether harem games (or VNs in general) are for you, this is the starting point.

The authors style of writing is one of the few that actually keep you somewhat engaged in the story. He is often funny and never takes the whole thing too seriously. The game just feels like a good time cuz you can tell the guy who made it actually had fun doing it. He cares about his characters and I'd say they are definitely written better than most basic VN characters. He obviously tries to hit a niche with most of them but he doesn't overdo it, which is refreshing. The world building and story are alright, but he knows how to get you invested into the secrets enough to keep on playing. But really the little things along the side are what makes this game great.

Kinda like the Harry Potter of adult VNs, except the author isn't challenged.

Without doubt one of the games I've enjoyed the most. The great strength of the game lies in its atmosphere.

The game's author has a sense of humour that I love. The plot is far more elaborate and captivating than most games. The slightly mystical atmosphere gives it extra charm.

Aside from that, the models are nice but on the negative point, they all look a bit the same.

Another small negative point is that I'm not a fan of the totally unrealistic "harem" & "incest" concept but the relationships are pretty well developed and the really feelgood and funny aspect of the game largely compensate it.

To sum up, I'd highly recommend this game, especially to those looking for a captivating and funny story and who won't be disappointed by the graphic quality, which is perhaps a little inferior to other games.

[v1.0]
The game is excellent.
The story is compelling, off shots are funny, nice touch of comedy. The scenes are nice, even though most are vanilla, allowing you to change the view on the action. There's a hint of incest since it your step sisters and mom, but there are other girls too. I enjoyed the harem ending.
Only drawback is the art design, the people sometime look like dolls, which is a sentiment that fades over time but you are reminded every now and then by some of the 'cheaper' renders. This is a minor thing, but for some might be unbearable.
5/5

Great game
Lots of ending but we all know what we are all here for (harem)
The sex scenes are very nice.
MC's face can be a bit uncharming at the beginning but you'll get used to it and it's worth it too.
Very funny I had some very good laugh love the SFX.
A bit lacking on the music side sometimes tho but still great.

Anyway a very good experience, still I always hate the emotional whiplash I get after a good story game.
The epilogue is nice, a bit lacking I feel.
The only ending I didn't get a big whiplash was from Headpats & Handholding by Insomnimanic Games.
I played with the walkthrough mod, tho I select almost every choice to see what would happen if.

It's been a while since I've played this game; however, I did play all the way through it and enjoyed it. It is a visual novel, obviously, so if you're not into that, then you probably won't like this game.

That said, despite not loving incest, I enjoyed the relationships between the characters. And while I wouldn't call the story the pinnacle of writing, it was there and unique enough amongst the genre of adult visual novels.

The graphics feel a bit dated these days, but they're not the worst thing ever, and graphics are subjective anyway. So, if you like what you see in the screenshots, you'll be fine.

Do I recommend it? Yeah, for sure. If you're on the fence, just play it.

I will never regret getting to know the author and his work. Although I initially learned about him through his second game "Eternity", I was glad to get to know his first game, I saw how his art grew and where he started, yes, the game has drawbacks, but they are so insignificant that they in no way interfere with the enjoyment of the game, I was glad to become a participant in this adventure, I am glad to get to know the characters, laugh at jokes, feel the tides of sadness and joy from replaying the plot.

This is one of those works that will sink into the soul. I am grateful to the author and all those who support his work. From the bottom of my heart, I advise you to immerse yourself in this story and go through it to the end, reaching the true ending. It's a great story, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

I started playing this a couple of days ago and I used the walkthrough mod as well as reading the walkthrough itself and went for the harem ending. If there's one thing I would say about this game, it would be that it is absolutely fucking magnificent!

The story is interesting, the graphics are excellent, the comedic moments are funny, and the animation is great! With the walkthrough mod, you can see the other endings at the end. I really wish that I could vote 5 stars twice, it's really that good. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of visual novels, this is easily my favorite visual novel now.

I thoroughly enjoyed this game quite a bit, its in one of my favorite engines made by this dev. Not only did this dev nail this game but they also nailed Eternum. I didnt even know this game existed until yesterday, but glad im playing it now. its enjoyable and has all my loved tags.

I think it's the 1st AVN I played, first one here at least. Top notch humor, good story and very good pacing, very nice character designs (I despise most of the other AVN's designs). Stabby Mike is the best bro.
I'd prefer it with more variety for the romanceable girls body types, and an epilogue for the harem ending, but it still amazing as is.
This game deserves anything above 4/5

I am a bit rubbish at writing reviews, but I had to give this the 5 stars it deserved. Amazing cast of characters, fun, engaging story, and pretty funny too. One of the few games I've played until the end.

I haven't even finished the game yet but I had to come here to say this game FUCKING RULES!!! Oh man the writing is actually understandable and suspenseful, I have no idea what's gonna happen next. The character design is soooo good, I find myself rooting for everyone. My favorite non-LI character is definitely Stabby Mike, he's the homie for real. I'll come back to edit this after I'm done, but so far I'm blown away by the quality of everything. Some games have good writing and bad animations, or vice versa, but this game does it all!

SPOILERS BELOW!

Edit: Finished. Wow, I don't even know where to start. I don't have much else to say, the ending was phenomenal and I was on the edge of my seat for every moment. The whole thing with Mike coming to help and then almost dying but showing back up at the end was awesome. The end scenes were lacking in content, but I don't really have a problem with it since the game was so good. It felt like it wrapped everything up nicely and the MC gets to live out his dream. The only thing I have criticism for is some of the choices felt like they should have had an impact on the story and yet they just don't. Such as telling (or not telling) Asmodeus about the grimoire, felt like it should have meant something. Still one of the best stories I've ever read in a VN.

The visuals is very outdated but still acceptable. All the characters look extremelly young with extreme body propotions. I dont find it aesthetic.

The writing is good but too much quantity over quality text. The plot is good enough. Too much weeb humor, some hit some cringe but hey thats jokes.

The harem ending is lacking and lackluster. I expected to see much way more. I guess I have been spoiled from Bare Witness Poly ending

I honestly expected way more based on others review

A really well written VN with amazing characters and a nice sense of humour. All the characters were unique and the their storyline was organic. The plot was also really well written.

None of the storyline felt rushed or anything. The characters were well drawn out. One of the best games that I have played.

Once in a Lifetime has a unique story, hilarious moments, and plenty of super hot content. Stabby Mike may just be the best character in any VN I've played so far, and creates some truly memorable scenes. The characters still look pretty good even though the game has definitely aged a bit. Overall, this game was a great experience and has become one of my favorites.

This game overall was pretty good, I played this after eternum, and honestly enjoyed it quite a bit more than it towards the end. The first half or so I'd say wasn’t particularly great with things kinda just happening and girls being added that felt unearned or becoming interested due to flat out insane circumstances. Later on the issues seemed to drop one by one and the game is left as something that is really good.
The love interests were fine, the two sisters were obviously the main ones, getting the most development and events. The love could have been spread around more but i think the game was a touch rushed at the end as there were ads for eternum in it so there probably wasn’t really time. There were a large amount of porn scenes for the amount of romantic development, a bit much to make the story even turn off brain believable but it's a porn game so se la vie. The porn scenes themselves were pretty standard for the first half and got much hotter in the latter half.
The main plot was fairly standard fancy in modern day tropes but honestly the plot itself was pretty bad, but the plot characters were the highlight. Stabby mike and the travel agent added some nice spots of humor, with mike being my favorite of all the characters including the girls lmao. This extends to most of the humor, it was pretty good but humor is subjective.
The main character himself wasn’t particularly special, he felt a bit like a crack addict to me and is one lucky mfer.It would have been cool if they expanded on his powers or something instead of showing them like twice and ass pulling it at the end.

The gameplay is just choosing x from a set of options, sometimes in chains to get a good outcome. There are multiple endings. I got the harem one and checked out a few others, they were a touch short showing what happens after the events of the game in a slideshow format. Not bad tbh but wish there was a touch more. Treating it as a kinetic novel makes more sense than choosing a path type of game.
Overall the game is fine for the first half, and is very good for the second half until the ending which feels pretty rushed forcing the love developments to speed up insanely fast so that everyone can make the trip in the end, even if they have only hung out with the mc like twice.

It's an incredible 5-star game, it's rare to find a Renpy game as good as this one.

STORY 5/5:
The story tells the journey of the protagonist who is going to a new city, he will live with his father's new wife and his daughters. During the plot, the protagonist discovers a cult that seeks immortality and at the same time that he investigates this cult, he develops his relationship with his half-sisters and the girls in the game.

POSITIVE POINTS:
• Introduction 5/5
The game introduces the protagonist, the girls and the universe of the game very well, gaining the player's interest.
• Development 4/5:
In the middle of the plot, the gameplay becomes lukewarm, nothing significant happens regarding the cult, progress doesn't seem like progress, but still, it manages to develop things well towards the final stretch, which is the best part of the game.
• Final stretch 5/5:
Towards the end the game gets interesting, things progress faster, more discoveries are made, several plots happen, it's the best part of the game.
• Plot 5/5:
This game has many plots that happen during the story, and they are not clichéd and stale plots, and they are good and even funny.
• Ending 5/5:
The ending is varied and depends on your choices, if you choose correctly you will get the desired ending.

GAMEPLAY AND DETAILS 5/5:
The game has choices that really affect the course of the story, especially in the final stretch. Depending on your choices, your relationship with the girls increases or decreases, different things happen or the ending changes. The creator also knew how to give due attention to each girl (except for Jasmine who, after the party at her house, was left aside throughout the story).

CHARACTERS AND PROTAGONIST 5/5:
The characters and the protagonist are easy to like and connect with, and they all have their development. The protagonist starts out as a loser and in the end he becomes an independent guy, with friends/connections and his harem. The girls start out distant from each other, but in the end, they become united with the protagonist as a true family.

SEX SCENES AND ART 5/5:
The sex scenes at the beginning are lukewarm, weak, with only provocations and interruptions at key moments, but towards the end, the scenes get hotter and bolder, and become constant, and all of them are animated, with the possibility of changing the angle. The art of the girls and the other characters is very well done and worked, they are not stale and commonly used models.

WOULD I RECOMMEND IT?
Yes, totally.
It is an incredible experience.

Animation and render wise its very very outdated, the writing is pretty funny and engaging.

My biggest problem is female characters look , it may have do with honey select. They all look too youngish

But It sure is a fun ride through the end, engaging story and very funny, if you play just for story and not about lewd and nice eyecandy