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

Great game, I really enjoyed it. Wish we had more scenes with the side chars Jasmine, Aiko & co. The story while being nothing special was decent, the recurring side characters were pretty funny. The renders were okay, bit too same-facey girls and the clipping of legs through skirts was noticeable.
Sounds and music was sparsely used but decent.

I generally dislike Western Erotic Games, but this one surprised me (in a good way). Not only was the story enjoyable, but you could connect to the characters and the sexual situations were a breath of fresh air. I also particularly liked the fact that not every girl was required to be 'acquired' for the Harem, as I am not the biggest fan of having intercourse with your mother, but that is my personal taste. The other characters were interesting and full of life. In Summary, a great game for people who want an interesting story strewn with enjoyable sex scenes with various fleshed out characters.

[v1.0] (it is nice to play completed game for once)

● Story/plot - 9/10
Plot was interesting. Combination of real world and the fantasy one was mixed well and I enjoyed it till the end. The fantasy part was unbelievable for main characters as well so there was good immersion in during the play. At some points there are barely seen the moments which are important for branching and ending. I must admit, I did not expect there to be this much variety of endings where they all are great and enjoyable (maybe except repeatable one girl ending). Choices during the play do not seem to be this important as they really are so I recommend to not use any walkthrough and see what will happen.

I got some mixed thoughts tho. Most of the game there was great cohesion and all the actions seem to be logic (surprisingly I would say) but sometimes they were completely incomprehensible:

• MC though David was one of the Sons but didn't mention about it to anyone, although he was constantly saying to himself that he will do it
• Same thing about MC's dad, he did not mention anything to Asmodeus almost to the end
• MC was not the brightest but at some point he should connect the dots, at the end it was so obvious (I do not want to make spoilers here) yethe still seem to not understand
• As someone mentioned it earlier, taking only sisters to the last mission and not taking Aiko (but taking Mike with knife only) makes not sense at all, not to mention related to him harem ending
• As far as I do not like harems in VNs I quite enjoyed it here, although it was too black and white here, like there was love or nothing. MC either was telling that he loves someone or path was closed, without any friendship or something. For example Rebecca path was one of the most incomprehensible to me - he knew who David is etc but told her nothing, he let her marry him just because they did not fuck - wtf?
• Also I did not like how easy it was (at many points) to end someone's path. The choices I would even think that could have such a consequences without any warning.

So yeah, mixed feelings at some points but overall I enjoyed plot very much, it was quite long and interesting with multiple endings.

● Graphics/visuals/renders quality - 9/10
Well... Game has it's own style. Renders are nothing like I have seen in any VN and it was one of the factor I hesitated to play it on the first place. Now after many hours I say different does not mean worse, quite opposite actually. If you get used to this style you will find renders are great! Characters poses, face expression, locations, the whole world in general is very nice looking and enjoyable to watch just do not expect real-life experience.

● Animations - 7/10
I cannot say they are bad because they are not, but hmm... Static renders during sex are awesome but animations... Well, I cannot describe what I didn't like about them but I feel leaving 7 here is justified.

● Music - 7+1/10
Mostly it was great, sometimes it was meh and sometimes there were some gaps with loud silence. It is quite common in any VNs so no harsh feelings but a bit of shame about that because in general music and sounds were well suited to the scenery.
Additional point from me for "I'm blue" during Rebecca's wedding.

● Characters - 8/10
Well written characters overall. Most of them are vanilla nice to us, driven mostly by their horniness but they still got some layer of theirs own personality. Dialogues and sense of humor was very good slash great. For me new Tom was the greatest since it was definitely kind of person I have not seen in any other VN yet although always needed to see. In general there were likeable and well written male characters which I find quite rare unfortunately. Female characters tho... This is kind of game where everyone was mostly nice to each other and maybe their background was different but at the end all of them wanted to suck MC's dick. They were all super cute etc but from the beginning they are all in affect to MC so there is not much of exploring character rather than theirs vaginas. MC himself also was sometimes acting like a horny virgin despite he was fucking all the time, constantly mentioning about love. That was kinda meh but let's leave it...

● Amount of content - 10/10
This is really something. I spent quite a time on this one and the further I went, the more branching I discovered. Branching here is awesome! Having multiple endings is one of the rarest thing to see in VNs, not to mention that all of them are quite unique and really great. I must admit after couple approaches I had to check walkthrough to find alternate ways, I wasn't able to play them all myself.

● Fappable - 9/10
I'm not incest fan but it was second game I play with it and again I found it quite enjoyable and well written. Of course, at some point it becomes obvious that it is kinda harem game (which again I am not a big fan) but AGAIN the way it was written was very enjoyable for me. I would say there was too much love instead of some FWB but that was the concept of devs and I can manage that. Face expressions, dialogues during sex, cummings, sharing, renders itself etc were great. There is kinda pregnancy although it makes not much a difference except like 3 more or different scenes later in game - additional immersion is always good tho. Overall fappable content was very good although action in game takes some time so be patient.

● Overall - 5/5
One of the game you should give a chance for sure. Do not be fooled by non-realistic renders, after all we came here to fap but stayed for story.

OIAL is very good. Story is excellent and it has believable progression. I really enjoyed playing it. It even has some humorous moments with stabby mike. PC wasn't dumb or some crazy genius. Would not recommend if you only want to jerk it off though, too slow for the horny mind.

There are normal games on the Renpy engine... There are, even with the VN prefix... In these games there is gameplay, at least some choice... Therefore, I do not disdain to try VN... And it seems to me that it is normal to expect Gameplay from the GAME... And I can't call a stupid narrative game where you really don't choose anything, but just press a button... The women here are cute and there is anal... I counted 3 times... You can move away not far from the passage, but it seems that the end of the game will soon happen... In general, there are a lot of tags, but what's the difference from them if you practically do nothing yourself , but you just watch the story... And all this pseudo-choice is just an opportunity to stick to the story... But this one has a fan base, like many other stupid VNs... It's a pity...

I'm a big fan of the game.

If I were to start with the negatives, the graphics can't compete with the best games, but that's pretty much it. And that's especially the case for MC and side characters. Which seem notoriously hard to do in HS, where a lot of emphasis is on the LIs.

Where the game shines in is a great story, really good suspense and immersive playthrough.

Another great aspect is that it allows for branching, but doesn't force you into 7 different yet repetitive playthroughs.

But what pushes it into the 5* territory is the comedy aspect. I am a total connoisseur for the [...] [...] [...] [...] scenes that accentuate an awkward moment.

Other comedy scenes like the jail dialogue are a staple Caribdis trademark and make the game stand out from the rest. I hope this continues to be a central feature in all future games.

Overall unless you're a hardliner with an axe to grind regarding HS games, you're gonna enjoy this one.

9/10

For me it's a good story, but maybe not the best game. There are few minigames and few decisions but it's mostly just reading and around 2 dozen scenes. The nature of 3d models is it restricts freedom and quality of scenes for quantity.

Art 3.5/5
Story 4.5/5
Gameplay VN+/5
Fapability 4/5
Originality 4/5

The first game in which i really, REALLY fell in love with the characters. The story sucked me right in. I was a bit apprehensive about starting the game the first time I saw it, so I kept putting in into the backburner. The game was already completed at that time. The reason for that was mostly because of the slightly unorthodox way the characters looked in the preview pictures. However once I started the game, all those worries disappeared. I fell in love with the cast almost instantly. Music is great and just like the game itself, it just gets better and better the further you get into it. You can also expect lots of humor which hits just right, at least it did for me! Also, Stabby Mike might be my favorite supporting male character I've seen in this types of games.
Luckily for me, when I finished my, first of many at this point, playthrough of the game, Caribdis was already working on the initial release of his next project, Eternum. From the looks of it, Eternum (0.5 at the time of writing this review) is shaping up to be even better! Definitely support Caribdis in his endeavors!

Well playing Eternum before this one was a mistake. I can see Eternum will be a straight upgrade from this game. It does not mean this game is too inferior though. Caribdis has a good recipe going with plot, characters etc. and you can see it in both games, why not change if it is not broken The scenes in Eternum are not fully released so this game is hotter right now. I like this game. The plot is a bit goofier than Eternum because of the occult theme, but not a huge problem. Only complaint I can have is no endgame harem orgy scene which I anticipated so much. A bit of a letdown really. Despite all of that deserves nothing below 5 stars. It is just me mumbling because Caribdis sets the bar so high with the production quality.

Absolutely amazing story and characters!! I love the plot and the comedic moments are great along with the serious parts of the game! The romance options are incredible and the sex scenes are fantastic! Huge shout out to Stabby Mike also!!

Once in a Lifetime was my first HS game so it was a bit of a struggle getting into it. Actually, I adapted pretty well. It wasn't hard considering it's one of the funniest games I've ever played. Have you ever wanted to participate on a game show? Have you ever wanted to visit Japan and attend a yakuza meeting? Have you ever wanted to visit a creepy ass town full of mask-wearing weirdos? Well, you can in this one! Yes, the renders are a bit dated but that's okay. Trust me, the story more than makes up for it. Plus, it's a harem so who could say no to that?!

Even if art is a little old, this game is one of the best of all time and a milestone for AVN
sisters are great, you can feel girls love like real.
Plot is above average but in the end it fits perfectly with love and lewd.
A game everyone loves AVN have to play

Story is fun and interesting. It takes a little to get to any actual sex, and most tend to focus on the character interactions than the sex itself. Art feels a little dated, but it's an enjoyable experience.

This game has a lot content and some interesting renders too. The graphics is old but the characters still look sexy and attrective. The scenes are also really interesting. But there are a lot of cons also. I didnt like all the crap about revealing some secrets and zombies and so on. Pointless and a waaay too much of that. Also work with cum and clothes could be way better and big dissapointment was the ending...almost like there was none.

Once in a Lifetime [v1.0] [Caribdis]

Pros

• One of the top notches; covering almost all sort of events/feelings. Yes, a great and well-developed game/story emphasizing incest & polyamorous. Incest approach with mom as well with the sisters are not bad, I mean with little reluctance by all the females to give-up the morality was expressed good enough.
• The story line with the teacher Rebecca was really pretty good. Even though it was not an incest but being forbidden with the elderly female teacher was nicely portrayed. The feelings and expressions were really excellent.
• Excellent quality of image renders.
• Excellent quality of animations; especially the options for speed and view angle
• Very good sound effects
• Playability, performance and grammar are all just OK no issue

Cons

• Lack of originality/practicality of the base story somewhat fictitious
• Lack of seductiveness in sexual approach
• Lack of sound for sexual moan/activities
• Lack of emphasis on breaking the forbiddingness for incest as well with the teacher. Could be ok for western culture but from Asian culture it is shown as less emphasis of reluctance.

Though the amount of content is a lot it could be considered as disadvantage as quite often more dragging of story is observed But in overall very interesting and look forward the developers next game/story ‘Eternum’

The game is at times great and at times average in certain places. The story itself is nothing to write home about but it kinda works because there aren't any meandering, massive text dumps or exposition. The game itself entirely runs on zoomer humor and anime slapstick humor which I'm not always very fond of but it clicked here for me; the sudden bursts of comedic violence and goofy situations got me chuckling a few times. Chad Stabby Mike interrogating the Mayor was the highlight for me. But at times the writing can dip below average. A good example would be the final event with the teacher which felt very rushed and as such unrealistic, especially by porno standards. Ppl here seem to praise the branching paths which didn't feel that well thought out to me. From beginning to end the harem route felt like the one the game was written and designed around while the rest felt like there for the sake of it. I would even go as far to say at times it felt tedious because certain choices felt like arbitrary padding that meant to waste the player's time when it could've been easily abridged after their purpose had been fulfilled, i.e. some of the choices during the exploration bits in the hospital and the village.
Moving onto the smut content I'd say it's very average. Most scenes were very basic ass honey select stuff with barely any creative input from the scene creator. Not only were they usually short and barely dynamic which I wish they weren't, the scene composition and the asset usage looked very barren and unchanged and uncreative. Most scenes looked dry as fuck both literally and action wise. The wet shader was almost never used which led to many scenes looking crusty as fuck, with two slabs of dry flesh banging at each other. And on top of that the positions were very default honey select stuff which made them very boring looking and left me craving for some hard fucking and sucking action. I also came out with the feeling that there were very few h scenes, the game definitely felt like it needed more. Carla, Rebecca, Iris and Aiko don't get much scenes at all which is a shame cause I definitely wish there were more of them, especially the Mom and the Ninja girl.

Considering all this this is not the worst one could do as far as western ADVNs go or ADVNs in general, far from it. I guess my only complain other than the ones mentioned above would be, the use of the movie trailer horn sfx in comedic scenes, I wish it was the Vine Boom instead, that would've greatly complemented the tone those scenes were going for. Also Stabby Mike should be made into a recurring character in caribdis cinematic universe. Hope their next game, Eternum addressed these shortcoming cause I see good potential in the dev/writer.
The stars don't fully represent my rating, It's more of a 2.5 rather than a 3.5 for me.

The best adult game I've played so far. Genuinely funny at times and the main and side cast of characters were all well written and charming. The story wasn't horrible or insane but it was just enough, it was exactly what it needed to be. This was truly a masterpiece of the adult visual novels.

My game review :
1. The story overall isn't that great except the choice divergence and the questionnaires are great. Shows the author is knowledgeable
2. I know Stabby is suppose to be comedy and its nice touch, but some scenes leading up to harem are too dumb and unrealistic, seems like author simply trying to meet deadlines at times. Eg. Even mom depending in her son's hidden runaway plan, etc.
3. Graphics are fine but simply not up to top standard for today.
4. The game missed its main point, kinda, absence of post harem or pregnant scenes.

Suggestion: Inclusion of an average looking girl but the story making her lovable and/or sexy.

Final thought: I'd put it top 20 adult novel game due to choice divergence and also lovely sisters, cousin is good too, the rest of girls are just average writing.

Question: 1. Do smart girls even like guys standing up for them in a stupid way like an idiot insulting the other person like in this game?
2. Can you actually find your real mother sexy? i can understand siblings but mother is impossible for me.

For me this is the pinnicle of western VN's. The writing is incredible, there is great dialogue between the characters and Caribdis is excellent at writing comedy which comes up several times through OiaLT and Eternium. The character list also remains relatively small with all the characters being well developed and getting plenty of screen time which is great to see. The art style is kind of unique, and while more recent games (like the aforementioned eternium) look much better, the art definitely holds up. Honestly I can't recommend the game enough and it's best experienced by playing it, so go do that!

Humor is hard. Probably even more so in a porn game where the line between funny and cringe can become quite blurry. But this game delivers. And that alone is a big achievement.

But even apart from that, it is a very engaging plot. It's not like an amazing story or anything, in fact it's pretty nonsensical even for a fantasy game.

But it's a fast paced engaging plot that doesn't let things get stale, but also does not yank you around with surprise after surprise, that make no sense so big props.

The girls and the scenes are really hot. And the characters are charming and endearing.

It's basically the avn equivalent of your typical high octane popcorn flick. Nothing groundbreaking, but extremely fun. My only complaint would be the music, but overall, an incredibly good game.