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

Based on the (as yet) unfinished v0.9

My usual disclaimers when writing reviews on here are that A. I am here for the "plot" not the plot and B. I am very picky with visual novels and think broadly they can be very subpar. So, take both of those into consideration for my review when thinking about this game.

Pros

• Top tier fap material – The porn in this game is absolutely stellar. The animations are sometimes minimal but do the job, the girls are all super hot. The writing, however, for the H-scenes is fucking great. There’s just the right amount of building and sexual tension followed by the writing in-scene being absolutely class. It also caters to a decent amount of non-vanilla kinks, which appeals to me a lot. If anything, I’d say I’d like them to be a bit longer, but in terms of fap material this is up there with the absolute best on the site.
• Rock solid atmosphere – The game at times tries to dip into territory that’s actually more reminiscent of a horror game than anything else, and when it does that it actually works surprisingly well. It’s obviously never going to compare with a proper horror game, but given that it’s basically a book with pictures, it could get surprisingly tense and spooky. Top marks there.
• Genuinely funny – Caribdis has a very clear sense of comedic timing which pays off in spades here. It’s one of the few games on this site to actually make me genuinely laugh out loud (by which I mean more than just smiling or blowing air out through my nose). It has a very dry, sarcastic tone which I really appreciated. Far too many games seem to feel they need to be super brash and crude to be funny, (e.g. the overdone trope of the female harem member who constantly insults everyone) so it’s nice to see something different there.
• Dialogue – Moment by moment character dialogue is (usually) very good and well-written. It’s coherent, makes sense and draws you into the scene.

Mehs

• Similarity of body types – Now I’m a big fan of tiny waists and big tits, so I’m never going to complain about that. However, I do think it’s a bit silly that you have 3 girls you interact with (Judie, Lauren and Iris) who basically have exactly the same proportions. Judie and Lauren are ostensibly ALMOST twins so there’s that, but then the best friend looks basically identical too except for her hair. They’re still hot, and actually unique in terms of character, so it’s just a “meh” rather than a “con”.
• Needs more roughness – Just a personal preference here, but at least at first the game is very vanilla, but it's only after you start seeing Jasmine more often that it gets kinkier and kinkier, so hopefully there will only be more of that as time goes on.
• Choices – Choices tend to be the very simple “be a good guy and get sex” or “don’t” stuff. Thus far there seems to be very little in the form of far-reaching consequences or decisions. This is normally a huge negative for visual novels where there is very blatantly no actual illusion of choice, but in OinaL it successfully masks the poor choices by having decent writing around it, so you can forgive it. Also the choices tend to be “be nice” or “be neutral” rather than “be the best guy in the world” or “be an absolute cockgoblin” (something which far too many VNs think is what constitutes “choice), so in that sense it actually makes a little more sense.
• Slow starter – This is something I’ll come back to in the review body.

Cons

• Terrible segues – While individual scenes of the game are great, it seems pretty clear to me that Caribdis basically is coming up with scenes on the fly. You’ll be sneaking through an abandoned hospital and being spooked by a monster one moment and then you leave it and you and your girls IMMEDIATELY go back to snarking at each other and flirting. Or you might spend one scene investigating a cult that is about to take over the world, being deathly serious, and then when you find the objective you then go “GEE NOW I’VE GOT TO WORRY ABOUT MY HOMEWORK TOO”. All this is to say that there is a serious tonal disconnect between big chunks of the game and even individual scenes which can be a bit jarring. For instance, having your girls all be joking around with you while their lives are literally under threat is a bit… Odd... This is something else I’ll come back to.
• Hypnotism of Tom – Man, I dunno, I think it’s worth it for the laughs, but as time has gone on I just feel bad for the dude…

Once in a Lifetime is a weird one for me. I remember finishing episode 9 and thinking “damn, this is probably one of the outright best games on F95. It’s an A-tier game (not quite S-tier) and has some of the hottest H-scenes around.” But upon revisiting I actually wasn’t having as good a time, which was odd. However, I think I might stand by both estimations and there seems to be a pretty good reason for it.

In the game’s intro Caribdis states that making OinaL was initially a hobby for him and judging by his Patreon this has now evolved into his full-time job. And I think that this shows in the game itself.

The early one or two chapters have some of the worst writing in the game. The characters are cliché and honestly a bit annoying. It’s also pretty boring and takes ages to warm up and get anywhere, both in terms of the plot and in terms of H-scenes. As an example, the game largely follows the protagonist investigating the existence of the Cult of Astaroth and the way this is introduced is by one of your sisters going. “Haha, you’re an idiot because you failed your exams. By the way have you heard of the rumours of the Cult of Astaroth that used to possibly exist in the town?” It was just really very silly.

It’s not until the beginning of the middle of the game, where the actual players of conspiracy has been revealed that it suddenly feels like it picks up. It also helps that this coincides with a rapid increase in the quantity of H-content, which as I’ve already said is some of the hottest around. Seriously, it’s largely pretty vanilla and yet seems made to suck my soul out through my dick.

It’s not just a case of more STUFF happening (although that definitely helps) it also feels like there is a surge in confidence and ability in the writing and style of the game. Even the animation steps up a notch, from a few frames per H-scene to now multiple positions and speeds.

I mentioned that the overarching plot and individual scenes of the game were a bit rubbish and this specifically doesn’t actually improve. However, while at first this seems like just jarring tonal shifts and bizarre lurches in dialogue, later on though the game and writing seems to lean deliberately into the absurdity, treating it as a comedy and this is 100% the right decision because suddenly it’s much easier to take the whole thing less seriously when it is also not taking itself terribly seriously.

Whether it is the tonal shift that saves the game or the addition of actual events, I think the key point is that Caribdis seems to settle into the groove of making the game. If the first couple of chapters are the shaky steps of a new-born deer, by chapter 5 he is bounding along gleefully and the game just absolutely sparkles.

Overall I think the game deserves a 4.5/5 on the F95 scale (rounded up to 5 because it’s on the higher end here) and I think there’s something for everyone here. The only real thing is that you have to basically force yourself to get through at least the first chapter or two in order to get to the good stuff.

One of the best harem and incest games on this site!

The story is unique and interesting. The writing is well done and humorous at times. The writing never gets too verbose like some visual novels I've played.

The game is very creative and well written!

There are plenty of sex scenes which are good to excellent. The animations are well done also. I really liked the alternate views with some of the sex scenes!

The character development is very good and you grow to love the characters in the game.

The game has a good blend of story and sex scenes, one of the best that I've seen on this site!

There is a lot of content for this game currently and I never got bored with the story.

My biggest complaint with the game is the use of Honey Select. The character models are badly outdated. They do the job but could be much better! Honey Select models lack skin and body detail. They all seem to have pear shaped bodies (small torsos and waists with huge hips and butts). For once, I'd like to see a female Honey Select character model that didn't have this body shape!

Despite the poor character models, the other visuals in the game are good.

Overall, the author does just about everything right! The game is a near masterpiece!

I thoroughly enjoyed this game and encourage others to give it a try!

wow this game is amazing, the renders look so good, even though the main mc looks kinda trash ngl but it doesnt matter much, the girls look super hot, but more imporantly the dialogue and comedy always make me laugh, and those fallout easter eggs, this game is a must play, also the best character is hiromi hands down

Damn, I've played dozens of games from this site but never bothered to post a review since my keyboard is broken and writting with the visual keyboard from windows is a pain.

This game is awesome

The story is fun, sex scenes, even if scarse (thus making them really rewarding), are hot, the humor is on point, "scary" moments made me shudder and even if the protag is uggly as frick, the faces he makes are just priceless, making me love him <3

Way to go, definitly will subscribe when I get the money

One of best the games I have ever played. The characters are stunning, like in many games, but here the poses, expressions, and use of eye movement are quite extraordinary. Every other frame especially with the sisters is like watching a super model pose subtly and suggestively while telling you an awesome story.

The humor can not go unmentioned as well. I do not remember another game that literally made me laugh out loud, at least not this many times.
The use of recurring characters and jokes is extremely well done. The humor alone made me become a patron.

The story is great, I can't wait to see where it goes in the end. I also love the touch of horror.

Also...Mike is LEGEND.

One of the best games by one of the best devs. Mixes humor, plot and sexy times without it feeling jarring or out of place. Story's great so far, interested in where we'll go in the future. Keep it up, man.

Pretty good game. A lot of the scenes are hot. It has a few problems but the story was surprisingly engaging.
Biggest downside for me was that while all the girls and scenes were pretty hot and felt different, their body types are all identical.

Great storytelling and beautiful girls! There were many scenes that made me burst out laughing. Definitely love the humor style. Also, I like that this game doesn't have repetitive clicking to level up like the other games.

This was awesome, very well written. plenty of humour and enjoyable characters. Very well made! This is an amazing game. It has great storytelling, the characters are compelling and have interesting storylines

The good: The story is actually moderately interesting, the storytelling is quite immersive, the writing is OK and at places even good and funny. The LIs and even the MC are reasonable relatable and interesting.

The bad: I personally did not like the art very much (in particular the HS MC);
the story was a bit too stupid at a few places (E.g., MCs and LIs lives are threatened, but MC has nothing better to do than to plan to get into some party uninvited?). Also, this game shares the usual problem that all male characters other than MC and a few tokens are creepy disgusting and evil and meet immediate and unreasonable aggression and suspicion from the MC (well, in this story not "unreasonable", as most male rivals seem to turn out to be incredibly evil anyway... which is another instance of the story being dumb). And, the MC has the usual monster cock, which I find a bit ... tiring.

Overall an amazing game, it quite uniquely combines a well-thought, captivating and adventurous storyline with genuinely humourous scenes and, of course, an abundance of hot, high-quality scenes with gorgeous girls. The dialogue flows naturally and makes the characters and their personalities memorable and relatable, while simultaneously maintaining a refreshing approach that avoids relying on corny tropes and taking itself too seriously. I highly recommend giving it a try!

I always get into trouble. When I was confronted with a code-breaking session, I had tried it on and on, it turned out that the results were wrong and wrong. I've been looking for clues, and got lots of numbers in each different session, for example (6174), (8024) and so on. Until I got stuck in a session where, the character I played was in an old building and inside was a girl's corpse, and around her we got a clue in the form of a number. Which functions to open the door on the left when we first entered the place.
Therefore I really ask for help from all of you, give me the code number in each session please.


And I apologize for the language, because I use the help of google translate.

Good, don't know if I missed the way to do so, but would vote 4,5/5 stars if I could.
Nice game.
The graphics are beautiful, the music is good, the choices you make are logically sound, i.e. the MC does what you think the choice entailed.
And it has a good story linking it all up.

Version 0.9 - Minor Spoilers

A boy and his harem try to save the world.

You'll only end up disappointed if you try to take the story too seriously. It flows well enough, but the writing jumps back and forth between "serious" and comedic far too often. I say "serious" because more often than not, the scenes that are meant to advance the main plot are interrupted by ill-timed humour or are just plain cringe-worthy.

The jokes and humour are decent overall, but largely inconsistent. It seems like the worst jokes are constantly reused, and the funniest scenes are few and far between, but there are some genuine laughs to be had with this title.

My (second) last negative point is about the heroines and their behaviour; it, like the humour, is inconsistent. Most of the characters contradict themselves from one scene to the next - the sisters especially. They go from willing and ready for action to one scene, to timid, overly cautious, or prudish in the next without any good reason for it. Then in the next scene that you'll see them, they're back to the opposite behaviour! This nonsense continues for far too long.

So why am I rating Once in a Lifetime 4/5 stars despite my apparent grievances? Well, I would rate it 3.5 if I could, but the dev deserves the rounded-up score because of the clear effort that's put into this work. There are tons of little details in the backgrounds, the girls have multiple outfits and hairstyles, and there are some appreciated technical features, like the relationship tracker and different camera angles during sex.

And while the visuals may not be the cleanest, and the animations may not be the smoothest, the sex scenes are definitely hot. The girls are gorgeous - which makes the MC being ugly that much worse - and their different personalities make each of their sex scenes feel unique, at least early on. This particular quality is dulled once they all become more open/outright addicted to sex, but hey, it's a harem game. Give this one a shot if you're a fan of waifu collectathons.

Lighthearted, funny, well-written story, and fantastic sex with girls that aren't morons.

Now, most of the choices that the game grants you determine whether you stay with a girl or not, or whether you're on her good side, or how well you do in the game. It doesn't provide you with multiple winning paths. But the one they give you is a good one as of 0.9.

This is an amazing game. It has great storytelling, the sex scenes are fantastic, the characters are compelling and have interesting storylines, it's the real deal.
I enjoyed it greatly and I am looking forward to the next update!

Edit: Thought I should update this review since the game has finished. What I've said about this game previously still stands, however now that I've had the chance to play more games, I've got to say, this game still stick out by far in terms of quality. Was a short run but it was a fun one. All the best to Caribdis on his new work!



Probably one of the best porn games I've played. Good mix of comedic writing and quality sex scenes mixed in. Wish the game was longer, but it being short has probably helped prevent it from becoming stale. Hope we get to see some extra content for the game after Carbidis starts working on their new project.

One of the funniest games. Woman are also very cute too. I hope the game has a sequel or something. Also pls more of Iris can't get enough of that redhead. Also I wander how will the sisters going to react once they find out about two timing them with each other and every other woman too.

Absolute great game. I love the story and the humor.
The transition of Tom with him doing weird stuff in the background and giving you the thumbs-up was just hilarious. The struggle of the Swedish exchange student, the time when you meet the dildo guy from the train again...absolutely great. Already looking forward for 0.10!

This game is great, the writing is very good, the characters are charismatic and have personality, the MC is one of the best, and to be honest i usually hate comedy, but in this game is good really good, I laughed a lot, the history is interesting and the plot goes whatever it feels like to go but in a good way, the only thing i feel is bad is the music, a lot of times you don't have any, but is whatever because in general is so good that i don't mind that problem, the game will have a final in the next version so yeah i totally recomend , i play with the incest patch because if feel it's mean to played like that.