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

One of the best VN on this site.

Graphics: Good

Story: Better than average. Serves the purpose of the game well.

Con: 2 girls go behind the MC back and fuck. This was completely unnecessarily and it was completely opposite of one of those characters.

Multiple NTR endings not being labeled properly.

Some characters also fight their love wayy too much for the MC.

Story:
Interesting, a few twists were predictable, but they were done in such a way you were excited for them when you realized. Overall 9/10.

Renders:
Honey Select based, 10/10.

Sound:
Great Sounds, a bit quiet at times, but not a problem. 8/10

Playability & Performance:
It's a Ren'Py game so...

Bugs:
None.

Animations:
Clean. Decently smooth, but some are clearly 1.5x speed rather than just "speeding up". 8/10

Grammar:
Maybe 1 or 2 slight errors, but nothing else. 10/10

Amount of content:
Took around 8 hours to kinda speed through it. A normal play might be ~10 hours and a complete run of all routes would likely be ~20-30 hours (depending on how you save).

I know i am the odd rater here with everybody giving high ratings but sorry i did not like the game. I do not doubt alot of effort spent but imho it is short in many aspects. First, the main guy is a beta. i know many people like beta MC but i don't. If there is a choice system in a game, correct answer should not always be the soft one i. e the girl is there
a. fuck her
b .kiss her

if you choose fuck her you are done. that kind of system ultimately creates an illusion of choice which there is not. you have to be the good guy to be able to do anything in this game. this is the entire premise of the game. honestly, i found it extremely boring, a copy of 90s japanese eroges.

sex scenes are very mild and mostly vanilla, appears to be designed by a 16 year old. graphics are also subpar

hands down one of the best games I've seen on this site and just in general too, the storyline is fabulous, the animation is amazing and the humour is goated. Phenomenal work overall, Played eternum too and somehow THATS EVEN BETTER, idk how you managed to top this masterpiece.Best of luck fr all your games, i cant wait to play them!

This game does many things correctly, including length, humor, and how it handles a harem ending. The cast of characters are memorable and hilarious, especially Stabby Mike. The MC is likeable. The Ren'Py renders' quality are off the chart, probably one of the best, if not the best, I've played.

The only nitpick I can think of is the plot may seem quite outlandish and far-fetched, but at least the game itself realizes it and doesn't take itself too seriously, which is why its humor lands so perfectly.

I'm gonna keep this one short.
I played 'Once in a Lifetime' after being very impressed by Caribdis newer project 'Eternum' which in my eyes is absolutely wonderful.

'Once in a Lifetime' gets 4.5/5 from me, which i'm very comfortable rounding up, in general and in the context of the VN that led up to 'Eternum'.

A big upside of this game is the story, It's not groundbreaking, but it is interesting and keeps you invested from start to finish.
In a genre where a lot of games use a lazy story as an excuse for the characters to fuck around doing nothing meaningful until they get to fuck one another it's really nice to have an actual interesting thought out story.
The game is absolutely hilarious at many points, stabby mike is such a great character and made me burst out laughing many times.
There are also plenty of touching moments, and the final scene was very emotional.

The characters are pretty charming and doesn't lack personality (even though they aren't exceptionally deep), there's a decently wide cast of LI's, just enough to be interesting and give options, but not too many of them which is a common pitfall of some of the more ambitious projects. A surprisingly good choice for a first project.

The visual side of things is actually pretty good, but probably the weakest point.
Both the MC and the LI's are looking fine (some side characters faces can get a little weird), the animations are alright, but some of the renders can be a bit grainy and outdated.
As I said - it's actually pretty good, more than good enough, but in a game that does everything else fantastically that's pretty much the only thing that I wouldn't rate 5/5 in a heartbeat.

Overall It's a wonderful experience that I'd recommend without a second thought.
It's honestly kind of shocking knowing this is Caribdis first work, It's just too good.
Thanks for the experience.

Another Great game . great story and perfect writing. Well written sex scenes and story makes me happy ,its hard to find quality games . i think i love you Caribdis xD

Eternum ,Once in a Lifetime and Highway Blossoms are my favorite games and two of them are Caribdis' game

Compared to most ren'py porn games, Once in a lifetime does not rely solely on the fap, it's accompanied by being classified as a masterpiece of the comedy genre.
Since it's release, its humor still manages to hold the candle.

The story itself is good nothing more or less, but with a few plot twists that keep the player attention.
The only misstep I can point out in the story is .

The animations are generous with every character, but they are also a bit awkward at some times due to the difficulty of 3D.

I really recommend this game for anyone not only looking for good fap, but also for those looking for a good story

Let me start by saying this is one the best visual novel experiences I've ever had and will ever have, one of the few visual novels I've played till completion, and short of VR technology making this game playable through in virtual reality, I don't see much topping it.

Having finished it, I am an emotional wreck, It's such an incredible game and I had no idea I would enjoy it to this extent or grow this attached to it.

It's 1:35 and I feel so empty having finally finished this game. I played over the course of 3 months, when I have time at night, I played a little half a year ago up until the race with Lauren in the park. Back then I had no idea of the direction this game would go.

The plot and overall story was extremely enjoyable, the horror scenarios were gripping and reasonably scary, the humour was excellent and had me laughing many times. I never got tired of the contrast + heartbeat sound effect moments. Stabby Mike is possibly the best side male character in any visual novel, The clan meeting had me fucking rolling, as did other moments. MC himself, I'll forever know him as Albert as that's how I name my MCs, was also pretty great in his own right.

Now, the visuals were great, there were so many gorgeous frames I had to save so many for every scene and eventually ended up with 341 pages of saves. so 2,046 saves with lots of editing and renaming to have things in the order I want.

The sound was a bit lacking at times, but great at other times, for example rain and thunder, and the various sound effects used for dramatic tension. Where music was used, it was great, especially dramatic scenes, sad scenes and the ending. It was acceptable, but I still wish there was more. For much of the early parts of the game I had my headphones on for not much reason.

And leaving the best for last, the girls were absolutely amazing and I'll remember them for a long time. I totally understand the game's spotlight on Lauren at times, she felt like the main girl or poster girl with Judie a close second. I loved them all, especially Lauren and Judie, which goes without saying, but I also grew especially fond of Jasmine and Aiko at the end, Iris too to a lesser extent. All the characters were brilliant, the villains were great too and there was never a boring moment in the story. The ending was bittersweet and heart wrenching, just a beautiful, amazing story and game with equally amazing characters.

Overall, Once in a Lifetime is easily in my top 5, possibly top 3, I am once again feeling a hole in my chest having finished it, but I hope Eternum can fill that void. Much like the girls, this game was an absolute gem, a treasure and a great treat to play through, and I'll cherish the memory of it for many years to come.

Fucking loved it. Big 10/10. Some pretty lovable characters. especially Lauren i really loved her lol. Definitely worth playing. also played all in one go since i found it so late. I will definitely be playing Eternum as well

Great game that is super cute and can even be funny at times. Some pretty lovable characters and sweet ending. Definitely worth playing. Definitely gonna check out whatever else the creator has. Big 10/10.

This game is pure gold.
Starting with what everybody wants, H scenes are good, games with this artstyle tend to look flat and awkard, well, not this one, not only that the scenes are pretty creative and unique.
But the best thing I can say about this game is, if you scrap the H content it is still a pretty good game with a cool plot and really good characters, like man I want a Stabby Mike spinoff.

A great harem game.

In comparison to most other games, this stands out in all areas. There are still some bits which could have been better but really it's relatively minor stuff.

The biggest issue is probably one of preferences. I think the models and animations (I think from honey select?) leave something to be desired in comparison to other games, but that's more a limitation of the initial choice for how the game is designed than anything else. The scenes overall are great.

The characters in the game are obviously harem focused, but the writing is good overall and the characters have somewhat distinct although relatively stereotypical personalities.

The story is fine if you abandon all sense of reality, which is not an issue. Things are relatively coherent and there's nothing which stood out as weird in terms of things which are established.

There is some effort on the audio, which is often neglected. Some of the sounds in the latter chapters are a bit strange though.

So, this is my first review here.
And I am incredibly happy that this game received it!
I loved Once in a Lifetime!
It had the perfect mix of story and romance, humor and horror for me: just an incredible adventure.
The story was beautifully exciting, varied, has a surprise or two. In general, I really liked the idea of what it was about.
The girls were all not only pretty to look at. Their different characters and stories have brought a lot of variety. I would miss every single one in the game.
Lauren and Judie, who are the focus, were the best of the girls. Every adventure, whether more or less innocent, with them was great fun. Watching the relationship with them grow closer and stronger was beautiful and brought one incredibly near.
(Is not to say that the others like Iris or Jasmine are behind them in anything, but everyone has their favorites. Even if it's hard to choose one of the girls).

The ending felt a bit quick in some places. It came at once and quite fast, sometimes it felt a bit pressed compared to the rest of the game which had quite long stories/dialogues.
But that could just be my own feeling, that I'm a bit sad that this journey had to have an end. Perhaps the end would have come too soon for me in any case.

I recommend everyone to play it in any case. At least - Once in a lifetime! Not everyone has to be as hooked as I am, but it's definitely an experience I would miss.
I hope to see more of this game: Whether in a sequel or something similar. Just more^^
I hope you read this Caribdis and let this wish come true

I will definitely play Eternum as well. I'm convinced that it will grab me too (although it will be difficult to beat Once in a Lifetime).

Finally: Mike is simply the best buddy in the world. He has my VOTE for sure!

A good game with a good story
the graphic style is a bit disturbing at the beginning, hence the 4 Stars and no 5 but the more the game progresses the more you get used to it

I highly recommend to do it at least once !

Hey you, yeah you skimming the reviews wondering if you should give this a go. As a fellow review skimmer let me make this easy..........stop skimming and start playing this, its worth the time and is fun on top of making you horny.

Now because i need a certain amount of characters for this review heres some filler


What’s the difference between a cat and a complex sentence?

A cat has claws at the end of its paws. A complex sentence has a pause at the end of its clause.

*review for completed version.

This is a a top top game in the genre, not many better or similar you could find. It has everything, animations, sound, art, characters, story with very high quality. recommended.

What an amazing game holy crap,definitely top 5 for me.
All the characters were amazing,the comedy bits made me laught out loud,especially the ones with Mike hahaha
Anyway, would recommend to anyone 10/10.

I laughed, I cried, I had an amazing experience with this game and would recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in trying it out.

The characters were unique, the story was well done, and I had a blast. If I were to have a son his name shall be Mike.

Excellent visual novel. It's a long one, but it's incredibly worth it. One of the most satisfying ending I've played on here too and I've played a lot! Loved all the characters (yes even weird knife guy).