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

Well rounded and polished game. The renders are nice. Animations look good. Interesting story and funny moments. Decent amount of content and game length. Enjoyed it a lot. Not a lot more to say, I guess. Good game.

I really like the humor in this game. I loved when the renders added to it as well; wacky stuff happening in the background and flashing back and forth between silent stares.

My only complaint is that Rebecca (the teacher) is so disconnected from the rest of the plot. In some sense, Iris and Jasmine as well. I feel like the game could have been just as good or better if they had been removed and more focus put on the other characters.

This was a trip, a good trip, a trip I very much advise to take for anyone reading this.

Honey Select isn't my favorite but this game uses HS1 to it's advantage, the style, animations, story and characters all work with this medium. Plus it gave us my dude Stabby Mike... good times to be had with him along for the ride.

The story is good, little bit of everything and does not take itself too seriously, Caribdis really delivered on all fronts.

Only thing I would add would be an epilogue to go with the endings, mainly the Harem ending. Want to know how life went for them not just the slideshow but this is still better then 75% of other VNs.

All in all a solid 5/5 stars. Will definately be playing the next one!!

This game have it all from story, humour, horror elements and decent renders. It is the best Honey Select based I've played in the last year or two. I wish for more success with the developer for he actually finished it.

Best porngame i have ever played, good sense of humor, great character design, damm 3 main girl + Jasmine are freaking hot. And the way you get to the girls make more sense than most porn game now,. Hope the will be a season 2

Story 4/5

Art 2/5

Characters 2/5

Writing 1/5

For the first few minutes I kinda enjoyed this game but I noticed quite fast that the game has a few issues and I could look past looks in most games if the story grasps me but its the characters writing that I cannot get over.

The game very much feels like its written by a geeky teenages/young adult, what i mean is that its very much plays like my own fantasies when i was in highschool.

MC is kind of a nerd and the girls around him are kind of like stereotypical Anime girl archetypes "Big sister (loves cooking and caring and responsible), Little sister (bit of a tsundere rebel kinda type)

And somehow everyone think MC is the biggest chad on earth. somehow in my story my MC was failing in school but yet was your common day Rennaissance man basically he's awesome at everything and has a sixpack as well as a nerd look somehow.

And this is simply enough to make girls either throw themselves at MC in an instant or bully him.

The characters all look quite similar and the proportions are really weird, which I wouldn't have minded if not for my other complaints.

If you like harem anime stereotypes then this game might be for you but i tend to avoid them and gave this one a shot but I doubt I'll finish it unless i find out the writing does a 180 somewhere along the lines.

Not sure why this game got so high rating,and i might change rating afterwards....

Here's not so important ideas about the game:
The MC looks like a skinny buy but when he naked...
the anatomy of his posterior muscle are weird,
no body's low back looks like a trapezius,ok?

Second,if your Marathon finish time shorter than 3hrs,
then maybe you can call 4'30"/km pace-A jogging lol
For most of people,it's call-Running (hard/very hard)
The first one is illusion's problem(the polygon)
but the second may need a little adjustment

So far paly about 2-3 hrs,nothing fresh.
It's about....
the door unlock then to be seen naked/
penis or breast ridiculously huge and maybe 20 inch< female waist
besides,it's all good
What I mean is all in all just unrealistic,
maybe it's the HS's problem,i dunno(shrug)
and stop that endless so called "emotional blackmail"
cuz it's lame BTW,it'd be other smarter dialogue

It has been one of the best games i have ever played! A master piece! I really felt bad after ending it, cause the great experience that i had playing it. I laughted a lot and almost cryed a little bit..... Awesome game, i will replay it in the future a lot of times

I've realized that most of my favorite games use HS visuals. A good writer with limited 3d skills will always outshine a good 3d artist with limited writing skills.

Once in a Lifetime is a fun, young adult adventure full of realistic teenage sexuality. In a game with cults, conspiracies, and magic, the author manages to keep one thing, the relationships, grounded in reality while the story itself stays wild and fantastic. If you're looking for a believable brother/sister incest story, this is it. I've played a lot of incest games and this is the only one where I truly bought into the relationship.

My only criticism is about the ending.

Didn't try this game for a while because the art style didn't appeal to me but I quickly grew to like it and thoroughly enjoyed the well planned and executed story and gameplay. My only nitpick would be that there wasn't enough variation between the girls. They all had a very similar body (and even face to an extent). Hoping for a little more variation in the next one. Highly recommended!!

[v1.0] Great game overall, with good characters, sexy situations and writing, a decent mystery story line, good graphics with animations, in a VN with multiple endings. I'll be storing a copy on my hard drive for the foreseeable future and will be donating to the developer.

Sex: 5/5.
In the most important category for this site, this game performs very well. This is a combination of graphics & models, scene design, and most importantly writing. Personally, I find "taboo relationships" (teacher, steps) a bit of a turn-off, but everything was so well done overall that it was still hot and exciting. If you're looking for uncommon fetishes, however, you might need to look elsewhere.

Writing: 4/5.
Iris has basically no personality, everyone is attracted to the MC (and OK with not being monogamous) for no reason, sometimes the plot languishes while other times it leaps, the plot is a bit thin, there are parts of the story that are unnecessary and so on. However, the game has a story that is compelling enough to be interesting even without the sex, and the erotic writing would be enticing even without graphics. The humor is well done and doesn't (usually) go too far. Finally, the text itself flows well and has few (if any) errors.

Graphics: 5/5.
Not an important category for me, but still one the game does really well at. I did have a little trouble telling characters apart when I started, but got past that after a bit. The body types are all pretty similar, but they were still pleasing. The animations are some of the best I've seen.
I have some different preferences for styles and lighting, but don't feel that this should affect the score here -- everything was very well done.

Gameplay/Choices: 2/5.
This is where VN's fall, in my opinion, since the choices are necessarily few and far between. In this case, the story doesn't branch much, and is largely "do you see scene Y or not?". A first playthrough gives you some of the scenes and all of the story, and replayability at this point is a matter of rereading hot scenes or skipping text to figure out how to get a scene that was missed. The only real branching is toward the end for the different endings, but I'm happy that those are there.
In particular, there were a few scenes that were annoying to unlock because the locking choice didn't make sense until well after it was made. For example, to unlock Rebecca's final scenes, you need to have taken an LSD potion several scenes in the past, there was no way to know that was required (or related to Rebecca), and there were several other options that also could have been useful. You could argue that this increases replayability, but I found it tedious and frustrating instead. A "path lost" notifier in the path screen shortly after the potions decision would have made it much better.

Again, a great game that I'll be keeping around so I can reread the scenes.

The art style is not my cup of tea but everything else FUCKING MARVELOUS.
The story, characters, script is top notch. Don't even get me started on the humor. Never laughed so hard. Totally worth playing this. Its rare to find this good content in here. 11/10.

Probably the best AVN ever made. cannot praise it enough! Nice scenes, good and original story, great characters and oh so funny, found myself laughing out loud so many times! I can't wait to see the new game from Caribdis!

I had a really good time playing this title
Story is kinda interesting and COMPLETE!
Amazing right?
Imo stands out from the crowd of average harem/incest games
Girls are hot and there are some funny bits
Download it asap

the best game i have play ever....
finally i found a good game with a beautiful ending....good job to the creators of the game...can't wait for your next game.
I hope to find another game with a beautiful ending like this one.

First let's talk about the goodies, story is well written and well executed, sometimes I forgot this an adult game lol. Did I mention this game has humor in it? And the humors are pretty funny ngl. All of the characters are very beautiful, very likable and relatable. Last but not least the musics, jeez when I heard the music at the harem ending, I almost cried sheesh. Fyi, the sex scenes are animated(not some frame to frame thingy) and Caribdis absolutely nailed it! This game can be played on android too!(Big thank you to the person who ported it to android btw) No need to worry about panicking to close your computer because someone came into your room suddenly, if you get me.

Now the baddies (things that could be improved in my opinion). Aiko, Iris and Jasmine's relationship with the MC should be explored more, because I feel like(as a player) I didn't know about their backstory that much so it could be interesting to get to know them more. Another thing to point out is that the game could use more music, background noises and sound effects, because it makes the game feel more alive.

Overall, this masterpiece is worth every second of your time even though it has it's weaknesses. I promise you this will be a "Once in A Lifetime" experience. (Lol that's cheesy)

Big thank you to Caribdis and his patrons and everyone else that helped make this project possible. Can't wait for Caribdis's next game "Eternum".

P.S. My favourite girl is Lauren, would simp for her(if she's real lol)

Caribdis was able to tell a story without going to much to one extreme while forgetting about the other.
Since this game has a pretty good balance of humor, some action,sexual content and a little of horror.

This game shows that honey select graphics still convey a sense of beauty ,lewdness and cuteness when properly done.

The girls are sexy without having cannon balls for tits, the mc is not a goblin and not a shy dormat, special mention to a surprise character that at first seemed to be unimportant but became quite the asset to the humor and plot.

I recommend this game if haven't tried yet (or play it an incompleted version).

PD: And be attentive since while the game is completed it seems an epilogue will be coming after the Dev. release his next game (Eternum/Eternium ....i forgot how is written ..sorry)

Pretty straight forward game, you get what you came for without much effort. Their humor and female 3D models (Lauren best girl) , although a bit simplistic, are great. ( BTW some sex scenes are animated ,which is always more than welcome)
Some weak points would be their narrative and most of their male models, specially the MC.
Definitely a must try if you enjoy 3D VNs

I'm awful at writing reviews about good games, so this will just be a rant about how much I loved this amazing story that turned out to be one of the best, most entertaining experiences I've ever had with a porn game.

The writing is excellent, the story is intriguing and the comedy is great. I've never laughed so much with a porn game in my life. Hell, I can't even remember the last time I had so many belly laughs with... anything. I like how the comedy is incredibly self-aware and makes great use of awkward moments, long pauses, pop culture references, events that happen in the background, etc. It doesn't feel like reading something that was made for people to jerk off to. It feels like watching a genuinely good comedy.

Another thing that I love about the writing, and probably what I love the most about it, are the characters and their interactions with each other. I could read some of these interactions all day without getting bored. I could sit with a smile on my face as they talk about the most mundane stuff, because every single one of these conversations is entertaining, endearing, wholesome or funny. The characters feel so human, and I don't say this lightly. It's incredibly easy to empathize with their feelings, struggles and ambitions. It's incredibly easy to fall in love with their personalities to the point of wanting to see more and more of them. Hell, I even loved the male characters. Unlike every western Ren'Py 3D visual novel ever made in history, the males don't exist with the sole purpose of stealing your girls. They offer hilarious, wholesome, and even emotional moments that really make for a great experience.

Surprisingly, another thing that this game does well is the mystery aspect. While the twists and turns won't exactly blow your mind, the plot is intriguing and the storytelling is amazing. A few moments even manage to be genuinely ominous and thrilling. I'm the type of person who doesn't even flinch at horror games/movies and their stupid jumpscares, so the fact that I was actually captivated by the hospital and the village should tell you just how great this game is at setting the mood.

Speaking of mood, that's another thing that I love about this game. By making great use of the ambience, BGM, lighting, social cues in the writing, etc, the story delivers some very immersive moments that just make you sit back and enjoy what is a truly captivating piece of storytelling. Rebecca's wedding, Jasmine's cute bitchiness, Carla's internal struggles, Judie's and Lauren's adorable affection towards the MC, Mike's companionship, just to name a few of the things that this game delivers so incredibly well that you might forget that you're playing a porn game. Despite the limitations of Honey Select, the developer managed to write so many moments that just pull you in. It's amazing.

I only got the harem ending so far. And although I doubt that anyone in the history of mankind has ever played this game without going for the harem ending, I like to see what a game has to offer, so I'll definitely go for the other endings one of these days. Seeing a bad ending right now would leave a bad taste in my mouth after experiencing such an amazing piece of art. Honestly, I'm not ashamed to say that I got a bit emotional during the final montage. Very few stories manage to make a dent on my cynical heart, let alone porn games, so it's fair to say that this is a masterpiece. But it's not like I cried or anything, baka.

This doesn't feel like just a passion project made by an amateur developer. It feels like something made by someone with actual experience in writing, dare I say professional experience. This game managed to captivate me in a way that most western TV series don't even come close to.

Do I have any bad things to say about this game? Hardly. This being a western Ren'Py 3D VN with a lot of incest, I was expecting something generic. Going shopping for clothes, clubbing, a thousand shower scenes, dudes constantly hitting on your girls, half of the game taking place in a beach, MC taking the girls to a remote island where incest is normal, etc. I'm sick of that, and this game does not go that route at all. This game is inspired. Even though everything is derivative nowadays, I know I won't find anything like this game anytime soon. Hell, the fact that this is a finished product already sets it apart from the graveyard of abandoned scams that we see in the Ren'Py section.

One thing that I can complain about is how little time we get to bond with the girls between "missions" during most of the game. We go from one point to another, never stopping to catch a break and just relax with the girls. The final update definitely delivers in that aspect, however, separating much more time for us to be normal for a while and enjoy our time with the characters without constantly worrying about secret cults and the end of the world. The sex scenes in 1.0 are like trophies, and god, do they feel rewarding. It's like the developer himself descended from his throne, gave you a pat on the back and said, "You treated your girls really well, champ. Here's your reward. Enjoy." And the montage at the end, again, is flawless.

Fuck, I was supposed to talk about something negative and ended up gushing again. Well, you can't blame me. Anyway.

In conclusion, I definitely recommend this game to pretty much anyone. There's not much else to say that hasn't already been said. This is a great experience unless you're exclusively interested in the porn and nothing else. The earlier sex scenes in particular could be better, and the sex scenes in general could be a bit more vivid and detailed with their presentation through the writing. Besides that, I have zero complaints, and this isn't even a complaint because I don't really care about it. This game is a masterpiece.

And to finish this review, I'd like to personally thank the developer for creating this game and having so much passion for it. I'm also happy to know that we'll see more of these characters that I came to love so much, you have no idea. I'm also excited for Eternum, and I'll definitely support you on Patreon/SubscribeStar in the future, because you're one of the developers that deserve it the most around here. Thank you.

TLDR: god-tier overall package, an easy must play or at least must "try to play" suggestion for everybody.

pros:
+ great game pacing
+ wonderful characters, models and animations
+ a lot of different scenes
+ humor - maybe too cheesy for somebody, but i do enjoy it
+ presence of sound effects

cons:
- no option to customize girls in any way (like clothers or hair during action scenes)
- difficulty to find similarly great experience