Ren'Py - Abandoned - Phasmohentaia [v0.4.2.1] [Mr.Xcy]

Updated review for v0.4.2.0

This game truly feels unique. I don't think I've played another game on this site quite like it. The problem is that it's buried under a mess of jank.

It plays almost like a dungeon crawler. You use arrows to navigate and move space by space in the 4 cardinal directions. You run into a multitude of different people and monster girls, some of which you can recruit as companions to help you in "combat", combat being used loosely here. There's quests, items, stats, etc. This is just as much an actual game as it is a visual novel.

The thing is, all of it needs an overhaul.

This very much feels like a collection of ideas rather than anything refined. The UI is bad. The quests and systems can often be unintuitive. You can easily sequence break some sections and break your game without you knowing it. The movement is rather novel (for an AVN) at first, but it gets tedious having to move long distances and trying to navigate some of the rooms. The walkthrough is almost necessary to use. All of this was understandable when the game was early in development, but it's getting to a point where it really bogs the game down.

So why am I giving this 4 stars when it has all of these problems? I really like the core of the game. There's a ton of unique encounters and monster girls you just don't see very often. Being hunted by a hot living statue? Great. Romancing your spirit girl companion? Very cool. Symbiotic slime girl that now lives inside you? Sure why not. That feeling of never knowing what kind of monster (girl) you're going to run into next is right up my alley.

I think the setting is pretty intersting as well, and if some of the mechanics get overhauled I can see them being really fun parts of the game. The animations and renders are improving as the game goes, the rest of it just needs to catch up.

I think the current jankiness of everything is going to be a breaking point for a lot of people. If you can get past it, there's a fun game in here. But it's becoming increasingly harder to ignore it.

Average game that could be great, but was hindered by the insanely tedious opening segment, if your first 10 minutes of the game is wandering randomly through a castle trying to solve a puzzle with almost 0 direction, you will lose 50-60% of your player base off of this alone. Otherwise i liked the girls and sex scenes, but this needs an in game walkthrough mod, which just tells you where to go and click on the screen, because that opening is the most tedious/ boring opening I have played in a long time.

As i played the Phasmohentaia [v0.3.5.4.2 i venture with hope that is going to be just like the original game, but my hoped and arousal quickly went down as i realize it was just another text skipping game and click to move, for someone who doesn't have patience and not found of searching for puzzles all game i quit the game, and for that i shall give it my final revive
Action: 1/5
Mechanic: 2/5
can the fapp: 1/5
Animation: 2/5 (nice pictures)
OVERAL:
2/5

It's very slow to get around and easy to skip over clues because there is a lot of filler.

it does it's job as a phasmophobia parody and it looks fine, but as a game it's not actually great to play.

someone with more patience than me could possibly enjoy it more though.

Game seens promising..
All characters are unique in it's own way
You won't see what you don't want to see (fetishes)
The story is really well done
Game models/graphics/renders are good
Scenes are really nice, the animations are smooth, and we have good amount of variations
Gameplay is good and grinding is fair
I really loved it, it's one of few games that make me wanna pledge, the game just needs time to be real big and amazing, man I love this game

PROS:

1.- Ambitious development. This game is definitely not your run out the mill Renpy game, is an exploration adventure filled with puzzles and random encounters, basically is an actual game and not just a VN.

2.- Is not a scary game. Yeah you might get a super soft jump scare from time to time, but in general this is a parody game, so if you are a coward (like me) you will enjoy this game with no problems. (That said the title screen is pretty intimidating but in a good way XD)

3.-The writing is actually good!.Even though sometimes the characters are a bit tropy, you get a pretty well developed world and plentybelievable character interactions.

4.- Variety of content. You get tons of monster girls to choose from,and there are futa/trans, gay content if you are into that. ( I know I am ).

5.-Great renders and silk smooth animations.

6.- You can romance your random encounters!

CONS:

1.-It can be a little tedious to explore such a big castle and sometimes you can feel a little lost.

2.-Even though there is some variety on the body types for the monster girls you find, in the early game all the girls you can fuck share the same body type (The zombie girl, the succubus, the nurse , the slime girl and the cat girl are tall and have big mommy milkers so I hope you like those because you gonna see them alot)

3.-Some optional grindy parts are pretty stale, and I don't mind grinding for specially wholesome events, but I kinda wish we had some variety during the grind (By example, you need to romance several times the nurse so she can start trusting you, and every single time you use the same lame pick up line you used the first time and that can get a little bit annoying, it would be nice if the MC get a few different interactions during the grind for the romance)


Overall the game is pretty damn good. I stopped playing after getting a few developer roadblocks to prevent souring my delightful experience, this game is pretty unique and I really enjoy it!

At first I was mildly amused at the idea of a porn version of Phasmophobia. Then, three hours later, I'm still enjoying the game. The writing is much better than most porn based games and the exploration of the castle is really fun. It is an excellent point and click adventure with some good monster girl porn if that's your bag. Can't wait to see more of this in the future!

at first i thought this was a very interesting game.. but after a while it become kind of boring. theres no indication of what todo next and youll just get lost clicking ,switching maps and clicking again
H Animation 2/5
Story 4/5
Gameplay 3/5

really boring. idk how ppl love clicking and reading so much? i guess this game just isnt for me at all but i its genre is "3d game" i think so i wanted to check it out. Or maybe its animation, but this feels like it was animated 10 years ago... seems like theres lots of story but it takes so damn long to click and read its exhausting.

After having tried it for a while and reached the point where the thing begins to fragment due to lack of things to be implemented (zombie, leopard, etc.) and before ruining the experience due to those faults for the moment, I am left with the experience of what following.

Dev, if you read this, have you considered changing the title of the game / project?
Many (including myself before) for saying that it was a parody without more, I had low expectations and even avoided contact with this project, but after trying it, although it isn´t a new marvel or the story or implementation model of the gameplay or the scenes It´s nothing new, at least, for the bases that you implemented, the plot and the setting, the game is more entertaining than one thinks at first and with a little more work (although it is on a scale between minor and medium) It can become a fun experience as well as entertaining, that beyond the porn that is also decent (please give the ghost more time and love), it can recreate classic experiences such as those offered in its day as example: Mystery of the monkey island, King's quest, etc., of course, as indicated above, on a scale between low or medium only because of the model and stubbornness that gives the game is developed in Renpy, instead of Unity or another , but getting back to the point ... In my humble opinion I think that you should change the name of the game / project in order to encourage more people to come and support this project, especially considering that except for the appearance one or another creature from the game to parody and some few elements, this game because of the implementation of creatures (and those that are yet to be brought) like monstergirls and role creatures rather than parody, it already fits perfectly as a very full story that at a minimum, one must respect and even appreciate, above all, given to that titles that have these elements and know how to carry it well are few and it is necessary to have titles like this that know how to maintain the balance well and not that it is only a context-base of excuse to reach scenes without more.

That if and because I didn´t check other routes other than the ghost (for me, the canon, since the succubus or the demon I think they are unreal routes for what the game wants to transmit [I know that as the ghost they aren´t "so" helpers, but from the meaning of the castle, one should not even listen to the slightest information but from the research that one carries out by any means, it must be that one can put together the puzzle of the story]) I think you should raise the level a little risk of the encounters or being better, add another threat or situation that makes things more difficult, because, unless one seeks a "pacifist" route after unlocking a partner (bubble, bubble), encounters after that point are very easy to handle (at least for zone 1) and for the joke of what you want to transmit, I think it should be a little more difficult or if this is not what you are looking for, you could enter elements such as hunger, sleep, tiredness or a measurer that as one advances or does something, this detonates in a battle event or event of something, so that one cannot go full without rest or care (because it is quite easy to reload the save, do anything to change the event trigger and continue like nothing).

Anyway, without anything else to add, a fun experience, I look forward to seeing the future of this project, good job.

Phasmohentaia is a game with great moments, great potential but equally great issues.

You notice there is something to this game the moment you start it: the title screen is there to make a great impression. 5 mins into the game, you'd give it a 5/5.

However, you quickly realize that it has serious issues.
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The 3D renders are great and H-scenes are well animated. 5/5. *
(*) But useless renders are everywhere. You'll first notice it by the size of the game files. Then you'll get to your first cut-scene in 2fps step motion. They are really bad -- trying way to hard to turn the game into a 3D game.
Because it think of itself as a 3D 1st person horror game, it tries to mimic its displacements. But it make things worse. The game should learn from good dungeons crawlers. Maps should be designed as grids for clarity and because it make displacements way less confusing. You are in a dungeon crawler, you click to go left, you expect to go... left? But not here, you either turn left, move left, cross all the corridor on the left, make a tiny move on the left in a big room: there is 0 logic. It tries and fails to give freedom of movement because -- control are too confusing. Add to that the 2fps gameplay and you'll truly hate moving in this game.
When you will not be raging over the controls, you will just stare at open doors with no option to go in. Because yes, no flawed 3D experience is complete without good old invisible walls. But it doesn't stop there. Why would it? To add insult on injury, the move button on top of the screen can be hard to see. So sometime it's not even an invisible wall! So you keep looking at invisible walls because who knows, maybe there's a way to move forward. A button? A lever? An object? Are you stupid for not noticing? Are you stupid for looking when there's nothing?
TLDR: It's trying very hard to be a 3D game, and succeed, only to end up being a seriously bad 3D game. It should stick to 3D to H-scenes only.

The game lets you view H-scenes again! 5/5 **
(**) But this only is for main entity-waifu. Slime waifu is an exception but you will get teleported to view her H-scenes. You have no option to view any other H-scene. Your choice for main entity-waifu also locks you out from lewding any of the 2 other main entities. Unlike the previous point, this does not make the game worse but it's certainly is a waste because it could easily be improved.

There are many spooky sexy encounters! 5/5 ***
(***) But it's just Pokémon battles with a lose option, flee option, and an elusive win option locked under many conditions. It's does the job but it's not exactly what is sold to you at the title screen. I though my first battle was a one-time joke before realizing it was a game feature.

Exploration! 5/5****
(****) But progression is dependent on objects that are all very hard to find. Worse you don't even know you need objects or that you can click on them because the game never bothers to tell you. Worse again, some events will unlock new areas but you will not be made aware of it. You'll check every dead-end in frustration , click everywhere to get objects from despair, and that's exactly how you are expected to play unfortunately. Worst, because the game is not finished, there is a possibility that you are doing all that for absolutely NOTHING.
TLDR: Progression is the other main flaw of the game.

The story... is actually good.
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The game is flawed but playable and enjoyable. Some content is genuinely good. Like most games on Patreon, the game tries to oversell itself and is clueless in some areas BUT it does feel like a genuine labor of love.

cant say nothing bad about this game currently since its still in dev bugs etc are a given but its well done love the models and the can only thing i hope is that there will be some nice creampie/cum animation in the future and not just low level "water" sims anyway will keep an eye on it <3

★ Chef's Kiss: rare genre done well, absolute legend of a dev to have the balls to dive into the horror theme

+ Good renders; definitely not top-tier but good nonetheless
+ Self-aware humor
+ Branching choice for main LI which can bring replayability when the game is finished
+ Horror references galore; the doll from that meh horror film saga, sexy nurse from SH2, weeping angel statues, etc.
+ Animations are great
+ Stats and relationship systems
+ Dev interacts with community

- Not really 'horror' or 'Phasmophobia', it's a dating/cg-collection game and the love-interests act like girls straight up from an anime
- Can be a bit buggy
- Sometimes tedious; some items are hard to find without a walkthrough, hunting encounters can come one after another, a bit confusing to navigate in a few areas
- Lacks horror but it's a VN made thru Ren'Py so I'll let this one slide
- MC and matthew look like unrealistic femboys but this is subjective to preference so I'll also let this one slide

An entertaining bit to pass time I would say; it doesn't really stick but I don't regret playing it. Overall, I'd say definitely give the game a try.

The demon path turns the MC into a slut/slave, no other option. Just take it or leave it options, no turn it around option. Lack of option, boring for now. Some of the character's designs not so appealing to me, especially the MC.

The currently implemented mechanics and proposed mechanics in this game are definitely a breath of fresh air compared to what you typically see from RenPy games; not to mention ambitious.

Generally, RenPy titles are restricted to either a linear Visual Novel format, or the dreaded sandbox variety that many users, including myself, tend to hate. Instead, Phasmohentaia is an exploration/puzzle horror game that really pushes you to explore its vast maps and interact with the wandering entities therein.

The foundation that has been laid down in just these early stages of the game is very promising. You don't have to wonder what else is in store because you can visibly see the areas you're unable to access just yet, which makes you more excited for that content to be released.

The animations for character introductions have so much thought and effort put into them, and the models themselves are uniquely crisp in a way that I haven't seen in any other 3D modeled game thus far.

Unlike other games I've played, where dialogue with/between characters just made me want to commit sudoku, Phasmohentaia actually has fleshed out lore with believable conversations between characters. Certain factions have a natural disdain for one another, while others exist in content servitude.

To figure out "why?" to any given question, you have to actually engage in conversation and interactions with your companions and the beings you come across, and your character gaining knowledge of this lore actually has an effect in the game. Meaning, yes, your character actually learns by asking questions. It's not just flavor text.

"But will I coom?"

Probably, yeah.

Now I'm not usually one to play games with horror themes in them. But I had to make an exception for this one. The monster girls in this game are unique and very different from one another. Some like it rough, others like a more soft approach to winning their hearts. Even though this is a prologue for now, it gives a good sense of the tone of the game. The sound direction is on point and keeps the mood suitably tense when needed. Do not be fooled into thinking this is a standard honey select game, it is anything but. I cannot wait for the next few updates to build upon the direction of the prologue, not to mention the adventuring sections where the player is let loose to wander around the area.

This is my jam. Great story, great art, funny and sexy. 10/10, can't wait for more updates. I'll be keeping an eye on this one, very impressive. The themes in particular are spot on, and the art direction is very consistent. Love the kitty!

I loved the idea! Such tension and excitement in an ren'py game is really hard to create, especially to put a different type of gameplay. The model of the main character is f*cking good. Also seeing him with the The demon is so cool <3. Looking foward in patreon

Alright, I'm giving this a VERY eary 5 star rating, even though it's only a prologue for now, which means it's very short and light on content, but this thing has a ton of potential if the dev can keep the updates coming!

Some big positives include;

1. An actual atmosphere! A lot of these games rarely manage to create an atmosphere to match the setting despite being well-written with good CGs, but this one definitely has a vibe to it. It's dark and gritty, and does a fair job setting up a world around it early without bombarding you with exposition, such as "My life was going great, then *insert a thousand-word backstory here*". It shows you what the game is gonna be, and introduces some early characters, and then throws you right into it!
2. It actually has a soundtrack! So many visual novels grow stale as hell very early simply because there is no soundtrack or ambient noise to fill the space. This also helps massively with establishing an atmosphere, as mentioned earlier.
3. CGs are good and it has actual cutscenes at times, and not just for the sex scenes!
4. The writing is definitely serviceable! It's still early, so we'll see in the future if the dev can flesh out the world and characters more and keep it interesting. The characters we've been given in the prologue are different from each other, at least in terms of their appearance. I'm still looking for them to develop more distinctive personalities in the future though.
5. It's ghosts, spirits, demons and sex. What's not to like?!

Things I'd love to see going forward is to keep expanding the character development around our main character. Why is he who he is, and why has this entity taken such an interest in him? I'm definitely hoping his personality will change over the course of the game based on our choices! I'm also very curious to how the actual "gameplay" is gonna shape up in the future. I'm hoping for a sort of point-and-click style adventure in regards to the whole spirit-hunting gameplay, only very creepy and ominous. Will it be a very linear game, or will it have some free-roam elements to it? Both are viable options forward based on what the prologue has shown us!

All in all, I hope this shapes up to be a good one, it has a solid foundation!
Keep going, and good luck, dev!