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

Easily one of the top 5 on this site. Come for the sex, stay for the feelings. Good luck figuring out who the best girl is; I couldn't tell you. Recommend you play it with the guide open on another screen and just play for the harem route. Also, don't bother with the incest mod, as the story is great and makes more sense as it is.

This is a glorious game, and one that cannot be recommended enough. It's a wondrous combination of light-hearted charm and romance. Do not miss this one, you will regret it.

The game is centered on the origin story of the greatest president that ever lived, visualized through the eyes of his closest bro - a young broccoli head with a sex addiction and poorly defined moral boundaries. It accounts for all the great moments that made the president a man of the people and a savior of all; when he learned of moral obligations and absolution in prison, when he learned of the difficulties in being a woman, when he came to appreciate the beauty of all cultures of the world in Japan, when he took on the role of a priest to save the souls of his fellow man and lead a desperate town back into glory, when he became the vigilante of absolute justice and brought down a crime lord, when he cleared the Mistbury slums of crime and absolved the repentant, when he destroyed the evils of the world, and finally, when he learned to fly an airplane just so he could take his best bro on a vacay.
There's some stuff going on with broccoli head in the background too.

Play this game, you will not regret it. I'm on my third run, wishing it was longer.

Once in a Lifetime is a 3DCG visual novel with a focus on romance, comedy and incest. You play as a MC with a big dick (obviously) and you have sex (hopefully with many girls) while also saving the world.

STORY+++++
In short, you and your family get caught up in some supernatural stuff where you have to stop an evil cult leader from becoming a god, while also protecting your friends and family from his followers who are trying to kill you. It might seem like a generic story and that's because it is. What makes the story excellent is the pacing, character interactions and comedy. I honestly laughed hard at some of the jokes and references if i'm being honest. The game also has different and unique events and decisions you can discover while playing. There are also some interesting plot twists that happen later in the story.

GAMEPLAY++++
I was never a big fan of visual novels, since they can get kind of boring if you are just reading text and sometimes making a choice that has no impact on the story. Fortunately, i like how it is implemented in this game. you can make different choices that can change the story and also increase or decrease your relationship points with different girls. Depending on how many points you have, you can unlock different scenes and events. There are also many times you will be required to choose a specific choice if you want to unlock some stuff later in the game. In this game, most choices have consequences that can unlock new events, new interactions or even a game over.

GRAPHICS+++++
Not a big fan of 3DCG graphics, but i can still appreciate just how excellent the character designs and animations are. Backgrounds and environments are also diverse and of a high quality.

SOUNDTRACK++++
Unfortunately, while i do thing the songs that are ingame are of a high quality (that horror song in particular), most of the time you will be playing the game with no music, which is kind of disappointing. Again, the songs that are ingame are excellent, it's just that there are not many to begin with.This is honestly not a big deal for me, since i usually just play something in the background while i have nothing to listen to.

EXTRA
I do think some of the side characters could have more events and interactions with the MC (Iris, Jasmine, Aiko). The story is kind of unrealistic and by that i mean how some of the characters are completely fine with you impregnating them or having a threesome or even having a harem. I understand that it's a game with more of a focus on comedy and not realism but i do feel like it could have been implemented better. I also think the final encounter with the cult leader was kind of disappointing.

REVIEW
Once in a Lifetime is one of the best 3DCG adult games you can play, and this is coming from someone who mostly plays 2D games instead. The story is honestly not groundbreaking or anything and that's because it doesn't have to be . Just a generic story with excellent writing and pacing. It's also one of those rare adult game that are actually funny at times. This is a must play for anyone who enjoys playing adult games, even if you don't like 3DCG. Highly recommended.

None of this was exactly original: Honey Select models have been used a lot, a lot of games have a supernatural story built around an artifact or what-have-you, and even the mother-older sister-younger sister prevalent in all these games is only modified by the addition of a cousin, which isn't exactly novel.
But it's the QUALITY in which the game uses them that made me have to stop playing so I could leave a review.
--The Honey Select models are cute and sexy, and the sisters look like sisters without looking the same.
---Yes, the MC looks weird. But having played Honey Select, I know it's not Caribdis's fault. (SPOILER: Same reason I won't blame him if we don't get any visible pregnant content despite pregnancy being an optional part of the story. Honey Select has a mod where you can add a pregnant belly, but it acts as a shirt, limiting what you can do scene-wise.)
--More importantly, Caribdis seems to take absolutely full advantage of what HS can do in terms of posing, character expression, and storytelling. Every beat of a scene has an image, or just about.
--The storytelling is rather in depth, with so many little side stories (which make sense and add to the story, I thought).
--There are multiple paths, and the story ACTUALLY REFLECTS that. Choices matter. Which again shows the detail Caribdis put into this, making scenes for every path and combination of paths, in ways that don't make it feel like something huge is missing if you didn't take a path, and nothing feeling shoehorned in if you take every path.
---And another attention to detail that 99% of game makers probably wouldn't think about (in making a Renpy game, at least): there's at least one scene where the picture transitions are set to the music. It's hard to explain, but when you see it, you'll know what I mean. ...Maybe.

And the last thing, which for me is the greatest compliment I can give:
It's actually FUNNY. A lot of games try to be funny, but this is the first game where I actually LAUGHED. Caribdis seems to have a knack for comedic timing and balancing silliness with an otherwise dark and foreboding storyline. (I think he's English, though, so that might explain it.)
Maybe the best part, that's easy to miss: When that guy offers you a haircut, do NOT accept.

The build up... holy crap!
Okay, so, to put it shortly (yes this paragraph is short, shut up!), The story between you and the girls is quite thrilling and you definitely want to see how it ends.
The characters breathe life and have personality, the girls look really appealing (cute and hot as hell if you prefer). The male protagonist however is dangerously slipping down the uncanny valley with his weird eyes and detached dick (Honey Select's fault I guess).
The soundtrack however is lacking. There's not a lot of music and the sound and voice effects don't blend in very well in the game (the main menu music is perfect though).
The "quest" part of the plot with finding the artifact and stopping the hmm of hmm-hmm (no spoiler) is not exactly my cup of tea.
But none of that is enough to make me remove a star because the rest of the story makes up for it.

Caribdis (the developer) clearly means business because Eternum, while currently in the making, is showing improvements in every aspect. Congrats on those 2 great games!

I don't usually read through the whole story for games like this however, having finished the game a few moments ago, I have to say I'm REALLY glad I did.

The writing was amazingly good, all characters (including most side characters) felt really well developed; as others have mentioned stabby mike is hands down the best supporting character. The plot was also really good, a nice mix of mystery, comedy, fantasy and romance, I'll avoid spoiling anything for people checking reviews before playing but I'll say it kept me on the edge of my seat (mostly laughing) till the final moments of the game.

The romance with the girls also feels very well thought out and it meshes really well with the story from start to finish; you can see the MCs growth as the story progresses and how he gets closer to the girls little by little and not just jump right into the action after a simple 'I like you' or something. For the adult stuff I have to say it felt really natural and down-to-earth, no '3-hour-long-sex' or 'ungodly-stamina-with-all-night-sessions', nothing excessive or too hardcore (in case you are curious a bit of anal play and 2-3 anal scenes, the rest is vanilla). Btw choosing pregnancy at the beginning barely changes anything except for some dialogue here and there and at the end.

Finally, the ending was incredibly satisfying and the song used complemented it very well, as mentioned above the ending varies if you allow pregnancy or not at the start and I would recommend you play with pregnancy enabled; it makes the feeling of 'end-of-the-journey' really sink in and gives the ending a more epilogue-esque feel tbh.

This was really a once in a lifetime experience, thanks a lot to Caribdis for creating this masterpiece. Looking forward to playing Eternum

I have to give the game it's due, it's pretty good and the story is decent. The characters are nice and the whole thing works great. I enjoyed it right up to the point where the girls all become lesbians and start fucking each other. I'm sure I'm in the minority when I say that the lesbian angle took the charm right out of the game for me.
If you like a good story though and don't mind LI's turning into lesbians then definitely play it.

Gotta be honest! This is one of the best games I've ever played!
The story is much longer than I had expected. However, the game is surprisingly enjoyable and I did have good laughs playing it!
10/10!!!

This game is fantastic. The models are gorgeous. The writing is excellent, a solid blend of story and humor...I'm very much looking forward to anything else by the team that developed this.

If there was a 6th star reserved for The Best of the Best, there is no doubt in my mind that this game would deserve it. Play.This.Game.

This is one of the best VN I have played. The story was absolutely incredible and plot twists are just juicy.

I'm not a big fan of 3DCG VNs so I was very hesitant to try this game, but I immediately got hooked and loved the progression of the story. My kind of issue is that it's too short so I pretty much finished it in 2 days. I wish it would've been longer because holy shit I just can't get enough.

Another thing is that I wish there was a way to tell whether I lost a path, like a notification or something since I dont usually save during each selections.

Lastly I just want to say that the character models felt uncanny especially the waist but the smooth animation make up for those points.

Overall this game is a 9/10 to me and I can't wait to try out Eternum..

I was genuinely surprised at how actually funny this could get. Your... mysterious friend was definitely my favorite character and they also offered the most laughs.

This VN has a little bit of everything: romance, humor, creepy vibes, etc.

Once in a Lifetime was one of the most compelling VN's I have ever experienced. I almost didn't want it to end but if it never ended I never would have found out the end of anyone's story.

Some Honey Select games suffer from a bit of "sameness" between the characters but this to me had plenty of uniqueness between the looks and personalities of the love interests.

Honestly i wasn't expecting to enjoy this game as much as i did i usually don't play games that have Japanese looking characters because i don't like the look of them but i am happy i played this one. honestly the preview pictures don't do this game justice it looks a lot better than it does in the previews.

Story: 10/10 honestly i really enjoyed the story it kind of captured me in it and after the first hour or so of playing i was hooked it had quite a few moments that made me laugh all in all a really enjoyable story.

Render Quality 6/10 pretty good quality overall had a lot of locations i have never seen in any other AVN's before which i liked. all of the characters looked pretty good i liked the models for the few monsters there where.

Animations 8/10 all in all the animations where great. I did notice a few messed up thing for example at the party with the mc and Judie closet bj you can see the mc moving his hips but his dick stays in one spot i know they can be perfect but its just small stuff like that i noticed where off.

Overall the game was pretty fun and enjoyable if you are looking for a fun game that doesn't have a stupid amount of sex but is mixed almost perfect in my opinion with the amount of both sex and story building then i would recommend you check this one out.

(P.s. sorry if some of the review doesn't make much sense i am not the bust at reviewing things so please forgive me if i said a lot of stupid stuff that doesn't make sense outside of my head.)

I was skeptical before with this game because i didnt liked the renders very much, but give it a try after seeing how good the rating is and im someone who are seeking a good plot rather than beautiful renders after all, not saying that this game renders not good tho. its still good but not one of the best, and it turns out not dissapointed, in fact its one of the best game in terms of storyline.this is how a good game supposed to be imo not just having a great renders but very bad on the plot.

Man, I really had fun playing this game. At first I wasn't sure with the look of my MC cause it looked like I came out of a graveyard but I got used to it. The game itself is great and the humor is something else, while the hentai part of it is great too. Really balanced.

Playing this game is definitely an enjoyable process even though I am not a fan of this kind of fantasy theme.
First of all, I witness an incredible improvement of art, modeling and posing. It is very important for me that a game has good art so I can enjoy the story and writing without being disturbed by weird human face.
Secondly, the style of Caribdis' game unexpectly matches my taste. Though I think his writing still can be improved especially the part of dialogue. But character's body language and expression can make up for the dialogue deficiency.
Last but not least, there are three elements in this game that I have to give 5 stars for them. 1. Aiko is exactly my type, both her face and personality (I still can not find a girl I like so much in Eternum) 2. As a huge Evangelion fan , playing Animenzzz's version of A Cruel Angel's Thesis (Evangelion theme) during wedding can't satifisfy me more 3.the Chinese meme song (beifengxiaoxiao) at bathhouse made me Lmao. Haven't find any other dev using memes such well.
And there are still other things I cant tell clearly. I am not a fan of horrors. Caribdis' horror is scary as hell both in OiaL and Eternum. But I just couldn't skip the horror parts. There is an urge to slowly watch the scary scenes I totally don't understand. Maybe it is some kind of Caribdis magic.
I missed the development period of this game to share my emotions with others in time. These are just some thoughts crossing my mind.
Anyway, big thank you to Caribdis for making such a wonderful game.

What can I say about this wonderful game that hasn't been said yet.. I've read so many of the review here in this site, and each one is a revelation. It is amazing to see the joy that the game has brought to so many people, it is heartwarming to see that so many connected this this tale just like I did.

It is a testament to the quality of this game that I just finished my second playthrough and it was even better than the first one. The game has many strengths, of course, but I need to mention one in particular: Caribdis has woven a tale that makes us care about the characters. This may sound easy but in reality it can be something very difficult to do, and the author nailed it.

Caribdis is obviously a very talented developer, and we are very excited to see all their future creations. I'm eager to start their new game "Eternum" which has also gathered so many rave reviews here and elsewhere. I'm also looking forward to playing "Once in a Lifetime" again in the future. And when I do, I know that I'll still love it as much as I do today.

I know it deserves 5-star rating, but there are still some things that I just cannot oversight. First, about the amazing things in this game:
+ THE FUN. Wow, it made me laugh so hard multiple times, the way the studio is playing with the sounds, with the camera, with the situations. Just wow, it was definitely a thing that kept me in the game.
+ The characters. Well, Stabby Mike is now my favourite character among all the characters in any adult game. Apart from this, they are all quite well written and have their peculiar traits. But overall, none of them can compete with Mike
+ The story. It's ok, keeps you in the loop and brings some horror and. I think the dev is really good at keeping the balance between the weight of the story and the lightness of the atmosphere.

Now, about the things that I just can't skip.
- I guess many have said that Clara is too young and sisters look alike pretty much (yeah, they are sisters, but still). Maybe it was more crucial for me that the bodies of the characters are quite a like, same shapes of female figures, 2 sets of boobs size, no real pecularities that can differentiate one character from another. That was sad for me, especially Clara's being too young kinda ruined the entire MILF-boy connection.
- Fetishes. I wonder why none of them have fetishes. And in that sense I believe that the best written character is Rebecca, the teacher. She has a fetish, her face is very different from others, some traits of it are quite sharp, she looks older. So, yeah, with this one they really did some work out of the box. As of fetishes, again, the sex with different characters is just the same. I understand that the build-up, step-by-step, could be and it has its thrill, but when the trust and passion is higher you want to explore more, I guess.
- The dev even included optional NTR that just does not make sense. Not because of the story, but because it does not really satisfy the needs even for those who would appreciate some NTR. And many opportunities through the game has been lost. I personally would appreciate some different fetishes in the game, that basically could be as a fanfic. Besides, even the NTR scene is not in the gallery so it's hard to tell if I missed something.

Overall, the game is fun, characters are very likeable but sex wise it's a bit too raw, which is still ok as the build-up with the characters is what kept me in the game.

This game was absolutely amazing. I love that the creator of this masterpiece didn't choose to make as many meaningless sex scenes as possible, but instead he decided to make fewer scenes that made a lot of sense and had a great buildup and were very nicely animated. You can also easily notice that by each version the animations and music get better.

I thank the dev for a truly once in a lifetime experience! I just really hope that the story in his next game will be as good as in this one.

I absolutely loved this game. I have played through a few times and changed bits and pieces of along the way. Each ending has its merits but my favorite is the all together one. Highly recommend to play this game. Also check out other games by the same creator.

This game was honestly amazing!

I generally don't like over complicated stories when I'm just trying to get off, but this still managed to suck me in. The story was great, the characters were charming, the scenes were hot, the humor actually made me laugh.

Honestly, by the time the game was over, I felt a little sad. This was one of the few games where I felt attached to the characters by the end. Hell, I even got attached to some of the male characters.

Ironically enough, I found this just browsing through games with the pregnancy tag. If there's any of that, I think I missed it... so kind of misleading for a tag. Obviously I don't regret playing though. Thanks again!

TLDR: Great game, I played it for free, I'd pay for it... Gonna go see if I can scrounge up some money to donate.