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

The graphics while good aren't anything out of the usual (although this creator makes eye catching breasts that I haven't seen anywhere else), the animations are acceptable for the most part, what makes this game a solid 9 out of 10 is two sisters with distinctive but fun personalities and a slow burn that's as effective as any I've seen. Outside the two sisters, the other characters are fairly forgettable, but the sisters carry it to a 9 out of 10. Try to use a walkthrough, choices matter and it could save you quite a bit of time.

What a great game. Don't know how I missed it (probably because I try to avoid early versions). The writing is solid, it's fun and silly in a good way (not like some other games which try to be funny, but end up being retarded). Not too many girls, but each of them is great, these are the best models I've seen done in this engine. Few games leave me wanting for more nowadays, this is one of them. I discovered it just after the update and now I'm sad that I have to wait for the next one.

Absolutely fantastic. The updates are long and great, something few games can ever boast. Besides that, the story's amazing, I mean you even have a horror section that's properly scary how did that even happen, and a prison break-in-and-out section that's hilarious as fuck how did THAT happen, but anyway the comedies are on point and the girls are absolutely HAWT. Hot enough you wished the MC had time to bone every single one of them, even that one girl that turned horror show on you. Seriously though, it's so good! Absolutely deserves more love and attention from everyone, everywhere!

[v0.9] - This game is stupid good it's kind of unreal

Caribdis. My boy. You outdo yourself with every single update... you're always improving on *something* and introducing small things to keep your story and characters fresh and genuinely interesting to engage with. This is the only game I regularly check for updates and one of the very few that I frequently revisit.

I hope you realize that you're developing a classic with this one. There's something special about Once in a Lifetime. Yes, even though this game is goofy as fuck (in the best possible way) and will only be appreciated by us nerdy degenerates playing filthy porn games they found on the internet; Once in a Lifetime is now one of the greats.
You could finish this game off with some Mass Effect 3 energy awfulness and it would still be amazing. But after just finishing this update, it's obvious you're not doing anything in that realm of things lmao. Even though it would be lowkey hilarious now that I think about it.

This game is god tier. Everyone please play this shit. It fucking exploded upwards in ratings for a reason. To get it out of the way real fast, the sex scenes are awesome. They aren't the "best", but if you can appreciate the game's look, the scenes are very satisfying. This is because the buildups to these scenes are paced extremely well and include plenty of teasing, or "foreplay" if you like, for the reader. In addition, and even more importantly, the characters in this game are *all* extremely likeable and genuinely fun to engage with. The writing overall for this game is just outstanding and of very high quality. It does not matter that this game is not an artistic, "tasteful" type of erotic VN. Those can be great, but it's refreshing to just enjoy a well made, hilariously goofy, comfy, and happy story that even sometimes manages to very lightly tug on your heart strings. It's just... really, really good! Lmao like I'm floored by this game every update.

Caribdis you're a legend, bro. Not sure what your plans are for after Once in a Lifetime, but if you continue developing content of any kind I am definitely excited to see what you do next.

Last time I tried to include constructive criticism, which was, like, immediately addressed... but I don't think I really have much to say this time. More Aiko? I'm sure it's coming. But I got nothing, man.
Maybe more petite girls? Vary up the body types a bit more in general I suppose. I'm not saying to throw in lolis and shit (unless, I guess, you want to), but I think you get it.
Would be irrelevant to this story, but in a separate game in the future (if you continue developing), how bout some love for Koreans, eh?

A few last things:

xue hua piao piao <3 (i just noticed this)
Judie is still best girl. But only if I had to just pick one. All the girls kick ass. Even the MC is a fucking bro.
I love you?

Once in a Lifetime, along with Depravity and Waifu Academy, is in my opinion one of the best games on this site. It is an absolute hidden gem of a visual novel. My initial expectations were set low since I only came across this game through an accidental click, but I'm glad it caught me by total surprise. While the writing is well done, and presents a story with an interesting combination of humor, mystery and horror, the best thing about the game are actually the characters. The MC is a likeable goof ball whom have great chemistry with his sisters. And the girls, each with their own interesting personalities, are all very cute and erotic. The use of Honey Select by the developer is probably the most interesting I've seen yet. Rather than going for the usual ideal, perfect proportion approach we commonly see, I would say the female characters somewhat resemble the girls from the anime/manga One Piece, with exaggerated features which gives off a youthful yet sexy feel. Thanks to the decent writing, another aspect that the developer does extremely well is the use of tease to great effect, giving the erotic scenes a slow, timely satisfying build up, all the while not ruining the pacing of the storytelling. This is overall an adult visual novel I highly recommend. With a memorable cast of protagonist trio (MC, Lauren, and Judie), I can easily see Once in a Lifetime becoming a successful VN series with sequels of its own. The developer definitely deserves a lot more praise and support. I look forward to future updates.

Girls: 10/10
MC: 10/10
Story: 10/10
Writing: 10/10
Humor: 10/10
Animation: 8/10

PS. Lauren is best girl.

Fantastic game with an interesting mix of laugh out loud comedy sprinkled with horror elements which I never thought I would be a fan of! Just play for 10-20 minutes and you will know instantly whether or not the writing style and comedy is for you!

Can't recommend enough as this is a game I would play and purchase even if it had no sexual content though I am glad that it does and that it has one of my favorite kinks (just look at the majority of games I support and you will most likely be able to guess my favorite kink)

Keep up the good work Caribdis

This game is amazing and while i'm not usually a fan of this kind of art style it's a great looking game. The writing and characters are top notch can't wait too see more I'm surprised this game hasn't got more support it's definitely one of the better ones I have played.

This is a great game! can't wait for more update.
-Renders 5/5 good
-Animation 4.5/5 not that many so far but great quality. great angle!
-Story 4/5 interesting
-Characters 5/5 Each character's so attractive.

This game is actually really good, the developer is a decent and funny writer! This is how porn games should be, it does not take itself too seriously and makes you chuckle once or twice.

Animations are not the absolute best and there are no branching paths but overall I'd say it is a good looking game with attractive renders and an interesting story.

Do give it a try if you haven't already.

Reviewing as of 0.5

Pros
- Unique, engaging and well paced story
- Well written characters with distinct personalities (not cookie cutter as found in most games on this site)
- HQ images with both excellent model work and render quality
- Well developed and funny protagonist (once again a breath of fresh air compared to most MC's)
- Quiz and games aspect is also an interesting feature which adds a bit more depth and novelty to the game, making sense in the context of the story, instead of standard good/bad choice

Cons
- Sex scenes could be developed a bit more in their pacing and length
- Bit of an info dump in the early chapters which could be polished

Overall a really good game with great potential. This dev definitely deserves more patrons than they already have.

Great game . Has humor, visual story telling using comedic timing, and closeups, good character models, game quality, a not overly horny mc, with a more than meets the eye plot and good characterization of the romantic interests. Story is linear and there are no routes or branching paths. Definitely a game worth paying attention too. The only concerning detail may be that some characters might have a perma blush but honestly I find that a positive. Ill give it 5 stars to encourage people to at least try it and to encourage the dev not to abandon this project. Hoping to see more

Overall it's a good game.

The game uses a good quality HS, with very pretty girls. Each of them with different personalities.

It has sounds to give more atmosphere. The story is entertaining, if you like the horror genre. Maybe some puzzles and mini-games can be annoying, but it's not something that ruins the game either.

Looking foward for more content

Very fun game, looking forward to more updates! It has a decent and fresh plot, one that is more than JUST trying to fuck his family and I've been enjoying it so far. Things are more or less believable as well which is a plus!

This game is just...excellent...nothing below it. I can't even explain how great I felt playing this game....The dev deserves a lot more praise and a lot more supporters than he currently has...It is a bit mystery as well as trivia type but a simple walkthrough will get you through it easily and the reward you get at the end is well worth it...The dev knows when to tease us making us want the scene in the future even more...Very underrated..Definitely should be put in the recommended games in the next iteration!!

I would give it a 10 out of 5 if there was an option for it!

One of the best games on this site. Its funny/interesting enough that I would play it even without the H scenes, which are great. Plus the Honey Select models look much better than any of the other Honey Select games that I've seen.

the art may not be everybody's cup of tea, but it works for me. The story definitely held interest and I'm looking forward to more. The scholastic questions could be bothersome to many. I admit I cheated with the walkthru mod. You also might be able to roll back the text and retry until you get the right answer. Might give a few people a sense of accomplishment. Oh and the walkthru mod also helped with the fight.

I just finished, so here we go. Ignoring my old review from over a year ago, and writing a new one.

DESPITE LOVING THIS GAME AND A 5 STAR RATING, THIS GAME DOES HAVE CONS.

So, pros first:
The art is beautiful. I don't know the different programs people use for models for these games, but I do know that I TEND to view games that look like this one (which I assume use the same modeling program for renders) as... not as good, and not nearly as attractive.
This game is a SHINGING example that, if the dev knows what they're doing, they can get the most out of the tools they're working with, and in this case, the women are actually beautiful.

The characters, from love interests, to side characters, were great.
Fat/fit jack was amazing and needed more screen time. Stabby Mike was the hero we needed, but never knew we needed.
The girls and their relationships... well, it's a porn game, so only so much in the way of realism, but it felt earned. Maybe more importantly, it felt like the MC was actually in love with them and not just looking to get his dick wet. In a lot of harem games, we're told how much the MC cares, but don't generally see it. So, well done!

And the writing!
The dev did several thing, all of them very well!
1) character establishment anbd development
2) plot establishment and development
3) romance
4) atmosphere
5) humor
and the pacing for them all was generally good.

In that sense, while hardly as deep as some other works, the fact is, this game hit the nail on the head with good writing.

So, last pro is the story itself.
Enough horror to be captivating without any real fright/tension, enough mystery to make you want to keep playing to experience more of the story. Enough slice of life to be just genuinely fun.
And an MC that isn't brain dead.
I was invested in seeing the whole Sons thing play out, who was betraying who, all of it. And while, sure, some parts could have been fleshed out more, the story doesn't suffer from it not being so. In the end, the driving narrative was very effective and interesting, and not merely a vehicle for porn.

so, what are my cons, then?
I have three. All in spoliers, because all involve late game, endings, or relationships.
Obviously, none bothered be enough to drop a star level, though.

In all, I loved the game. And I'm very much looking forward to your new project!

A simple yet surprisingly engaging game. The visuals are not that impressive but the fun writing with a simple but good character cast, conspiracy mystery story with hints of violence and sex as well as genuinely funny and well-written dialogue and interactions between characters make up for the visuals, including some good intimate scenes and dialogue choices throughout the story mostly regarding specific characters progression and affection.

Good Points
+ Girls/Women looks realy cute, uber cute I mean DAMN CUTE! Jokes aside their bod and face drawings looks pretty good.
+ Render quality looks quite good.
+ Story is well written and realy interesting, gives you feeling you wanna learn whats gonna happen next and i cant say im disappointed with finale or story of game generaly.
+ We have animations and their quality is realy good not best ones but still good. I would love to see better quality animations but at this rate I can live with that
+ Choices matter and that makes our playthrough more meaningful.
+ Main Character is cool guy and he is handsome enough to not kill sex scenes joy
+ This game have amazing sense of humor! In lots of scene i literaly cried while laughing Even we have some movie refferences to and all of them are hilarous LOL
+ In V1.0 we have 6 different ending. Harem, One Girl, Prison, Astaroth, Dead and Secret ending. Some of endings like ''One Girl'' ending is lacking lots of content actualy but all of them was good. Espacily Harem Ending just made my day... It was amazing...

Bad Points
- Sex scenes and general quality could have been little bit better. But thats not big bad point.

For The End
This is one of most amazing games i played in VN and Adult Game category... I realy loved all scenes, story and everyting... I do wish DEV never stop making games and always makes games like this. Totaly worth every second of time... Thanks <3

Good renders as far as Honey Select goes -not quite upto Depravity and The Inn levels, but good nevertheless. The characters themselves are interesting enough. The sisters primarily, since we haven't really seen too much of the others. Rebecca's an interesting enough character, especially with her fiance, from a story point of view.

The interesting part for me, is the story. I have no idea where the dev is going to go with it though. If they are actually going the fantasy route or if they will keep it realistic, but I'm interested in the story either way.

The lewd scenes are rather nice too, with the HS animations but from rather nice angles. I'm giving this a 5 based on what I've played so far, as this has me intrigued. Keep up the good work Caribdis and all the best for the future.