Romantic Comedy Adventure: The Complete Package
I recently played Caribdis's latest work Eternum. Initially, I was just messing around, reading while multitasking. After a little bit, I sat up and put my full focus onto Eternum. I finished the first episode and immediately started reading Once in a Lifetime and finished it within the span of a couple days. Caribdis is a fantastic writer - he has a good ear for words and understands pacing and variety, which makes playing his games such a joy.
Once in a Lifetime is part high school romantic comedy mainly focused on the step-sisters and you, but also involves a host of other girls. The other part of the story is a mystery adventure involving cults, conspiracies, and traveling the world.
Comedy is a huge part of the story, and thankfully it's done well. The vast majority of other games often delve too much into the cringey territory of humor, which is appealing for some audiences, but not for myself. Caribdis knows when to push and when to hold back - it becomes so easy to get lost and really get immersed into the world.
It's not perfect though. The side girl romances aren't quite fleshed out enough. The underlying story about Astaroth starts strong but ends up feeling a little weak. Similarly, with the lewd scenes the best scenes are in the beginning when the characters still had this apprehensive tension. With this type of story, I feel the nature of lewd scenes in the later portion of the story should have the characters become even crazier and naughtier as they feel more comfortable with each other. While this is the trend, it doesn't feel like it was completely capitalized on.
I'm giving this a 5/5 because despite the flaws, there is no denying that this is such a complete package. You're going to get a bit of everything and everything is very well done. I would liken this to receiving a gold Rolex that's not quite the shade of gold you wanted, but hell, it's a fucking gold Rolex, and you can't deny you're happy with it. Caribdis obviously worked hard to be this skilled at writing and should be one of the developers you should watch updates from.