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

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The visuals is very outdated but still acceptable.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

When i first saw this game in top ranks with this quality of pics i was confused but i wanted to give it a chance someday.
The first few episodes or updates were really visually poorly made but the plot was interesting, dialogues were enjoyable to read and humor was joyful.
In the last episodes i thought i was played in an another game. Models of chars were gorgeous especially with drops of sweat, interior of rooms were well-furnished and overall scenes were well directed.
But the ending was a disappointment and it feels like it was hastily made. Complete rejection of support in final battle, unexpected revive of one character with a stupid justification, incomprehensible power of main char in the final battle and unended story of grimoire book.
Overall it's an easy linear vn with a strange ending.

MC:
Not much to say here, pretty adequate MC for the game, for me he was liekable and I could put myself into his position.

Characters/writing:
This is one of the few games that I wasnt skipping the dialogue. It was great the characters felt different and they had development. I really enjoyed all of the easter eggs and references to other fandoms and in general geeky/nerdy stuff. And there for sure is a lot of it. I also had a good amount of laughs here and there.

I played with the mod that shows you the best choices and I highly recommend it so you dont miss any path. Although if you pay attention to the characters it wont be a problem anyway.


Animation/Scenes/Models:
The models are great it may take some time to get used to them after playing a lot of different games with the same models but its worth it. The scenes are great all different and pretty memorable. I also enjoyed that the scenes werent stationary but nicely animated and a little bit of physics here and there.

Ending:
There are a few endings which are all constructed pretty nicely and at least for me gave me enough closure after the game ended. (although i was still sad once it ended this was one was great)

Also if you played eternum before and are wondering if it is worth to play the previous title from the developer I highly recommend it.

Best nsfw I've played in a long, long time, maybe the best ever. The writing, the graphics, the humor and story direction - it's fucking insanely great. A must play for any nsfw gamer who enjoys a great story and writing.

Man, this game doesn't even really need another 5-star review, but I'd be remiss not to. Characters, plot, animations, humor, everything is great. You can even customize your playthrough to include any combination of girls and it all stays seamless. This AVN was so good that I chose to wait until Eternum (Caribdis's next VN) is complete before playing it because I know I'm gonna want to binge that shit like I did this game.

An amazing game that diverges from typical top-tier adult visual novels. The characters are incredible—each with a unique personality while maintaining deep, evolving relationships throughout the entire game. I genuinely recommend it to everyone.

The graphics are great, even though Honey Select 1 isn't really comparable to the second version of the program. Nevertheless, the game creates a well-rounded, immersive experience. H-scenes are all unique and rememberable.

The story is awesome, even though it isn't completely mysterious since the hints subtly reveal the biggest twists. It's fair to say that all the dialogue is worth reading, rather than just serving as a means to progress. Additionally, the side characters fill any potential dull moments in the storytelling, making every moment amusing.

Even though Eternum is one of the very best adult games I've ever played, I didn't think this was going to be anything particularly special, but Caribdis just continues to blow me away. The pacing is perfect, the characters all engaging and varied, and the story is perfectly done. While Eternum is obviously an improvement on all fronts, Caribdis is a master at creating an intriguing concept and pacing his stories to perfection. There might not be a whole lot of emotional content here, but the writing is still amazing and absolutely hilarious. I would have liked another scene or two at the end, but I might just have missed it. Either way it was the basically the perfect length for the story. The only real complaint I have is that the MC kinda looks like a homicidal psychopath who skins squirrels for fun, but you get used to it after a while.

P.S. Stabby Mike might just be the greatest character ever conceived

so the positives are the sex scenes and that it is complete. The main plot was to me, really uninteresting. The character plot was fun, but the main issue was the ending. You can build a harem, but you are only "rewarded" with some screenshots of you and the girls living happily ever after. It feels very flat. Like, you can get girls pregnant, but it doesn't really matter at all, feels very lazy.

This is a very comedic game and comedy is very subjective. But apart from some jokes that I found funny, the comedy didn't land at all. It's mostly cringe weeb humor imo.

I don't mind insta love or porn logic, but none of the girls feels like real characters after a while. The MC is also pretty trash, there is no reason to root for him.

This is the best VN I've played by far. I got it on a whim and planned to skip threw and just watch the H scences, But I'm so glad I didn't. The story was engaging and the characters were gorgeous. This is the only game that I genuinley could not wait to keep playing and gave me something to look forward to every day. The ending was beautiful and fulfilling to see after an amazing story.

So with the benefit of both completed game and the knowledge of Caribdis' work I can say that Once in a lifetime is no just a game but an experience. Much like how at a fine restaurant one must have the appetizer before the meal this is the appetizer before Eternum but do not be fooled by the thought of this being the appetizer for you see this just as savory and delectable as the main course let it just be on a smaller scale. Once in lifetime offers what I consider a light version of what eternum would eventually become testing the waters of their audience and learning from this to bring forth to their new project. Its fun, engaging, ropes you into the story of these people's adventure even if it feels a bit odd direction wise it all comes to fruition at the end in the experience one can only experience Once in a lifetime.

This game has one masterclass pro thing going for it and one major con.

The major drawback is that you can lose several routes for no obvious reason. Suddenly I found myself with 3/8 routes left and the others lost forever. Poor game design that ruins things alot.

The masterclass pro thing is the dialog and some other parts of the writing that is certainly in a league of its own when it comes to these kind of games. It witty, smart and feels energizing which are truly rare in the adult game genre. Have I ever laughed out loud playing a porn game before? Because of this, a must play.

Unfortunately, I have to rate this game as "terrible". Good things first:

The story is captivating, the humour is fantastic and I really enjoy to read the dialogues, which rarely happens in a VN with lots of text and not so much lewd scenes.

And I could, thanks to this entertaining quality, look beyond that the graphics are outdated (like, really outdated. MC's dick looks like he is a woman with a dick glued to his body).

But here's the catch, and that's where Once in a Lifetime fails miserably as a game:

I was just asked by one of the LI's whether or not I love her. So I checked this thread to see if that decision locks some routes. Then I remembered, that there was a menu where you could see on which routes you are -> I opened it for the first time and, shockingly, found out that almost all routes are "lost", I have only 2 open. That means I am missing out on content with 5 other characters (out of 7 in the entire game), which two of those being your mom and sister, which is pretty much core content! That's where the entire game is built around. I was wondering when things with them would finally happen, apparently never.

Now you might say "well, then you made bad decisions" ->That's incorrect. I always picked the choices that we're pro-whatever-Li was in front of me. There were no conflicts between two LI where a choice is good for one and bad for the other one, that could've caused that

What does that mean? Well, it simply means that the game does quietly lock you out of entire paths and a lot of core porn content without you noticing, by absolutely minor decisions that would never ever shut down a relationship (there wasn't even little things like saying a stupid thing that made someone feel bad or so!).

I can't stress this enough: Games that lock you out of content are badly designed. And games that require you to use a walkthrough because the contents don't behave intuitive and come naturally to you, it's even worse.

I'll have to think of whether or not I will continue this game, knowing that I will only see 1, max 2 girls, although there are 7 in the game and they're constantly around me (like mom and sis) and I always treated them well and went all in with a positive relationship with them. (Edit: I stopped playing the game and uninstalled it. I was pretty far in).

As a pure VN the game is good, but as a porn game it fails unfortunately. A disappointment this big can only be answered by a 1-star rating.

I can see how Once in a Lifetime is a pioneering work in terms of storytelling, exploration and humor. With that being said, there are some problems in the game that left a sour feeling in my gut.

I'll start with the MC. Outside of the hospital, mansion and Asteroth battle, he doesn't really have any good qualities. He shows some kindness here and there, but he's also like Ataru from Urusei Yatsura in that he's very impulsive, selfish and prone to harassment. I can understand being attracted to someone, but he's always undressing someone with his mind. He believes in the notion that if he thinks the LI wants sex, he'll keep pushing it. Not a good philosophy to live by.

For Rebecca and Carla's relationships, you are basically required to take advantage of authority figures in order to progress with the main storyline and get the canon ending.

Although Rebecca was already unhappy with her engagement, the MC commits sexual assault early in the game by giving head to her when she's blindfolded in her apartment; at the time, she mistook him for her fiancé. During her wedding, she kindly refused sex numerous times but the MC kept pushing until she submitted. When the woman says no, it means no.

You have to play Jedi mind tricks with Carla in order to progress her relationship. The MC hacks into her therapist's email, telling her to give in to the complicated feelings she's trying to escape. It takes off from there.

Not to mention, there is an infamous part of the game where if you decide to sell Lauren to a Yakuza member, she will be raped by him. Thankfully, this choice leads to a bad ending.

Despite the widespread acclaim that Once in a Lifetime receives, I find it difficult to recommend because of its prime focus on unhealthy relationship habits. The questionable aspects I discussed seem fun when you're horny, but when you're not, they're actually really disturbing scenarios.

This is my review of the first masterpiece of Caribdis. I just finished my first experience with this game after playing Eternum (the second masterpiece of our beloved game developer) and I have to say that I fell in love with it. The story is really very well structured and I love how it developed from the beginning to the end and especially all the endings available for the various choices made in the game! The originality is incredible, maybe at the beginning it may seem something simple but the development of the game is radical and fast in its own way. The graphics are very nice and the quality of the scenes are very good, even the character renderings are very well done and I love them to death. The sounds are nice even if they are few, same thing for the quantity of songs, but those present in the game are very beautiful and in perfect moments. The game is very fluid and does not weigh on the playability, the dialogues are well structured and immersive and the break from one "stressful" situation to another is well done. I have not noticed any bugs or performance issues but I think it is obvious, being the latest version and played on a powerful computer. I highly recommend this game to anyone as Eternum!