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

I decided to play this game because of its high ratings, but I was somewhat disappointed.

The game has some good elements, such as the tie with mysticism and horror, but the developer completely lost the horror component later on. The last atmospheric horror scene in the game was when MC went to the mansion with the girls to get the immortality serum, but after that, the narrative moved away from mysticism towards a set of scenes that were tightly connected to each other. The whole idea of the serum was forgotten, and it seems like the developer wrote one script in the beginning and started making the game based on it, but later changed his mind and decided that no one would notice the change.
Overall, the plot gave me the feeling of watching a B-category series from the 00s or 90s that was stitched together.

But if the plot can still be accepted, then the almost complete lack of sound in the game is a major disappointment. I understand that it is not always possible to choose sound effects and voice acting, but music can also be chosen to set the mood for a scene and create an atmosphere. However, in this game (especially in the first half), there are only a few sounds and very few musical themes that seem to be chosen randomly. In the second half, the situation improves slightly, especially in sex scenes (where there are sounds of slaps and splashes), but not dramatically.

The characters themselves look fairly standard for this type of game, as do the animations. However, the question arises whether such a game engine is necessary. I personally like it. Female characters look good, male characters look ridiculous, and sex animations are excellent. The environments consist of standard assets that I have seen in many other games and aren't particularly memorable.

The gameplay is based on accumulating points through dialogues with characters in order to unlock sex scenes throughout the story. There are no other gameplay elements. Overall, this would be more than sufficient if the plot was well-developed. However, in my opinion, it doesn't quite reach the required level here.


The result: 3 out of 5 (or 6 out of 10).
If you are not looking for anything particularly challenging or if the plot requirements aren't very high, then this game might be worth trying. However, if you are expecting something truly unique, extraordinary, or of a high quality, this product may not be for you.

I was a bit disappointed when I first started playing this game after seeing the praise and ratings. It doesn't look great, doesn't have a captivating beginning and is underwritten. So why does it still get 5 stars from me?

I would say the base game gets three stars, it's good standard, has a nice length and is kind of funny at times (gets funnier in the end). It is however far too underwritten. Things happen very quickly with no buildup and no tension. (Absurd) stuff just happens and is over just as quickly. While I do hate when stories take too long and simple scenes end up in excruciatingly longwinded prose which just beg to be skipped I also don't like when cool moments don't get their deserved screentime because they are over too quickly.

So why do I still really like this game and would recommend it. First of all its the characters. While the MC stays a boring doofus the girls in his life surprisingly interesting and likeable. Especially in the harem path you really get the "loving family" vibe. It's just a sympathetic bunch and therefore a sympathetic game. While I do like the games with dark and gritty stories, I also really enjoy lighthearted reads.

Second reason are the models and animations. While they are rather simple they work really well. The models all look great and fit their roles (It's always a sign of quality if you can't decide who's hottest). And while the animations really have that fast-forward aspect when increasing speed they offer the possibility of changing angles which is really cool and rather rare. Actually it's one of the few games that surpasses the barrier for me from being erotic entertaining to pornographic because it has such well made models and animations.

And that ending collage, wow. Almost made me tear up and give six stars. The preggo stuff is propably the only aspect I dont really need but apart from that it hits the spot in 10 out of 10 places.

I enjoyed every moment of the game and am glad discovering it so late and completed. Great story, great girls, great scenes, i wish there were more but a short game is cool too !
Can't wait to try Eternum now, i'll try to wait a bit to play a more advanced version, but still.

Not as long as other games here, but proof that a shorter game done well is better than a massive game done poorly.
A compelling story with well-written characters helps keep everything moving along. None of the girls were flat (in any sense of the word) and had distinct enough personalities to not fall into the "one defining quirk" trap.

The writing lands fairly solidly throughout, and there are clever uses of visual work without relying on dialogue, both for the comedic and creepier elements.

The main issue I probably had was the MC's appearance looking a bit gaunt in the beginning, but this is cleaned up in the second half, and I would say it almost represents the shift upwards in quality, since everything about the game picks up from then on out.

Outside of that, it was fairly disappointing that the "good harem" ending doesn't really feature a huge sexual event to close it out, so don't expect a massive orgy or something with the gals. But maybe that many moving characters in a scene is not entirely feasible. Ending was still satisfying to reach though, didn't regret finishing the game.

Definite 5/5, can't go wrong with trying this one out.

Once in a Lifetime is undoubtedly one of the best games I have ever played, with its best story, good animation, best dialogues, and best ending. I highly recommend it to anyone seeking a Good Storyline and Good animation experience.

The story is great, the girls are super cute, the humor is self aware, the animations are good too. I must say it was pleasure to get my own harem with all of these sexy girls with actual personality. And with incest patch its perfect game , many choices which ones are changing the girls attitiude 5/5. Would blind play again.

IIRC this was the first western VN I've tried. Not sure what can se said about it, that hasn't been mentioned before - it's a quality product with sizeable content variety and branching. Personally didn't take well cringy humour and some of the scenes and characters (like Mike) made my eyes rolling, but to each their own.

One of the best games I had played.
Loved the story, the girls, the relationship between characters, enjoyed every minute of that game. There was funny, sad, horny moments and at the end all i wanted more of this girls, their smiles and was really happy with happy ending. 10/10

It’s not fair to benchmark OIALT with Eternum, but since I had the “misfortune” of playing the latter first, I couldn’t help but compare one against the other. All I can say is Eternum is a big improvement in all aspects compared to OIALT, but make no mistake - on its own this game can still garner a 4.6+ stars as well.

Story
The story is relatively straight forward i.e. MC and his two step sisters will be investigating an evil cult and of course at the same time have lots of “fun” along the way with other LIs. The story itself might not be much, but Caribdis’s top notch skill in script writing that amalgamates adventure, humour, tension and emotions is on full display here.

The developer is also very good at making use of cut scenes to make a point or maximize humor impact. I will always remember the rapid alternate close ups between Oliver, fat girl and the elephant statue at the pool. OMG, that was scary and funny at the same time.

Game Mechanics
AVN with choices - most of the choices affect your points / scenes with a LI although there are a couple of them towards the end that will affect the ending.

Background / Character Renders
You can trace the developer’s improvements in graphic rendering along with the game. Initially most of the background and character models were very Honey Select default, as the story progressed they improved significantly and some of backgrounds in the hospital and mansion were actually very detailed and carried the horror mood well.

Character Development
This is a light hearted harem story so naturally you ain’t gonna see much in terms of character development. However I would say that OIALT has managed to craft each of the LIs to be lovable in their own way - Lauren is sporty & cute, Judie shy & smart and of course other minor LIs who are adorable in their own ways.

Other non-LI characters like Tom, Jack, Stubby Mike, Oliver also add a lot of fun into the story. Not many AVNs bother to spend much time developing other male characters, so kudos to Caribdis for making the effort.

Sex Scenes
Similar to the graphics, players witness the improvements along the way. The initial few lewd scenes were bleh… typical plain Honey Select animations. By the time you reach the last quarter of them, the developer has injected his own unique style and many of the threesome scenes were steamy hot!

BGM and Sound Effects
One of the sad missing areas is the lack of BGM during much of the game. While there is some minor background noise and sound effect, you will be playing the game mostly in silence.

Thankfully things start to pick up during the second half with BGMs and sound effects becoming more pronounced. The scene where MC got trapped in the bath with other males with that strange Chinese song was goddam hilarious and has stuck with me ever since.

Conclusion
OIALT is Caribdis’s first game and it shows - the initial graphics and music were bland and did not stick out from the competition. Thankfully the quirky dialogues and funny cut scenes provided initial entertainment for players to grind on and by the time the second half came by things have improved tremendously to the point the game can stand in the first tier on its own.

It's been 3 years since I've read the ending of this game and it remains an unforgettable experience. There are many technical faults you can find within the game, such as the lack of music and sfx during a large part of it, or considerable visual choices that don't really look that great, especially when compared to the developers' next game, but that's just the mark that the developer has improved over time; even OIAL itself fixes these towards the end of the game, having more music and becoming more visually appealing.

Nonetheless, no amount of technical fault or stylistic choice can hide the fact that this game is simply fantastic. An incredible story, lovable characters, keeps you interested throughout, will make you laugh and is just a good time in general. The game is excellent.

it's the first game by the developer of eternum. of course it's not as good visually, but the personalities of the characters and the plot are excellent. you can't stop laughing in many parts of the game.

While I adore this game, I admit that I can't talk about how intuitive any choices may be to make since I simply followed the dev's walkthrough to do things.

That being said, I adored almost all of the characters and the writing really pulled me in. I cracked up numerous times and felt a genuine connection to the characters because the dev actually made me give a damn. I honestly didn't understand why people mentioned "Stabby Mike" so often with regards to the game, but my GOD is he a wonderful character. He really grew on me and became my favorite character if not at least being in the top three.

The scene quality is pretty nice and the characters all look great. I personally highly recommend using the dev's official walkthrough, but that's just because it's nice imo to only have to play through once per ending instead of having to spend a lot of time experimenting to figure out how to get stuff (although it may not be bad at all since I'm not able to properly comment on difficulty of achieving endings).

One of the best AVN's I have played. I am a big fan of harem games and this one delivers. The other paths are also good. Graphics and animations are better nowadays, but were top of the game as the AVN was published (you can see what the designers are capable of with their successor Eternum).

7/10
Just trying to keep a list of games I've played already.

Just 2 characters for fun, but good storywriting
Somewhat immersive worldbuilding, leaves us clueless at times
Decent dialogue,
Forgettable MC
Sex is forgettable
Not grindy
Play time was about ~10 hours.

Just a quick review, but beautiful and amazingly written and done AVN.

The best ever and should be considered world gem, great work Caribdis, you are master in your art.

Thanks for doing this and have only the best luck in your life.

(And I see you watch these reviews and rate them,
so I hope this will make your day just a bit better )

One of the first game I had played back in the day where I really enjoyed myself purely for the story.
Though, the sex scenes made everything better and the sexual tension was amazing to "read."
Highly recommend if you never played a full story porn game.

After much procrastination I finally got to this game. And I'm damn glad I did.
If you love Eternum, you'll also like this.

The story kept me hooked from start to finish
Your choices affect what ending you get and who you will end up with.
Don't expect anything super serious or realistic, you won't find that here. I always go into games with no expectations and I am usually pleasantly surprised, this game is no exception.

The renders looks good but they definitely show their age, especially in the early chapters. And the animations are smooth and with good quality, I don't know what else to say.

LIs are enjoyable there is little variation between them, even if it could have been a little better. I also felt like the main girls started acting a little differently at a certain point in the game, like if the dev said in the middle of the game that he will change their traits a bit, but maybe that was just me.
But I really liked the other characters too, and I can definitely see where the dev took inspiration for a character in Eternum who likes to sell things.

The whole game isn't very long, which is definitely not a bad thing, and you can get through it in a couple of evenings or in one or two long sessions.

I recommend playing the game at night, as there are a few horror parts, and playing it at night made them much better.

And did I mention the humor this game has? I laughed out LOUD several times during the game, which is not something any game can do.

Also appreciate the references to other games this game has and the use of some Source engine textures

The weakest part of the game is the audio, most of the game is silent with no background music, there is background music in certain moments of the game to set the atmosphere or to enhance the joke.

If you haven't tried Once in a Lifetime, you should fix that!

This game is very goated, very good plot and twist, animations are decent but cus its the first game of the creator so ignore it. But the ending is so fucking good ( legit made me teared ). So it's recommend if people want to like play and watch a good story with a different outcome based off their choices

Okay, this one hasn't aged well.
OiaLT started as sweet school setting incestous harem VN with decent HS graphics (for 2019, of course) and lovely characters. But then it turned into the non-stop trip with constantly changing decorations which was kinda hard for me to follow. Well, it was cool to see girls in different sexy costumes, but Eternum has more believable excuse for that.
And the final nail in the coffin — Stabby Mike. His appearance was brilliant first time, funny at the second one... And became absolutely disgusting when Stabby Mike became the only one story driving thing. The whole experience is ruined for me.

Kind awkward that literally all females are children faces and no pubes at all. Doesn't appeal to me as I am not that kind of person. The story is good and it's amazing how other devs steer away from the horror genre and I'm guessing most heterosexual males that play AVNs love some horror/thriller