VN - Ren'Py - Ravager [v5.3.1] [4MinuteWarning]

tldr: There is one well-written love interest (Heloise), if that's enough for you, try it with a Power Fantasy mode. Otherwise there is a lot of rape and netorase/netorare, but even if you're into it, I'd not recommend trying.

What a mess. I'm not even sure where to begin. If you know the tale of "The Swan, the Pike and the Crab", that's pretty much a summary of whatever happened here.

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The bad:
Voice-acting, idle live-2d animations, porn-animations and harem members/prisoners;
They are not bad as in they're a badly made (although I've disabled audio completely, so maybe they are), but rather, they're distractions. They're not here to make the experience better, they're here to distract you from...


Writing;
Basically, we're juggling 10-20 themes here. Just because. Well, not really, the reality of the situation is, the writer has nothing to tell, so every time that we have no ideas, we're just adding more themes, because it'll help to manage this mess better. Somehow.

A lot of names and locations are thrown around, along with their descriptions, but what is the point, if the said name/location doesn't show up at all after it's mentioned. It's simply forgotten after it's introduction.

I cannot call this writing mediocre, because no one even tried. There is literally no story here.
Ch1 - A 10-minute prologue, really.
Ch2 - You need to find a safehouse, we have no time to explore story/world.
Ch3 - You need to...wait(?), we have no time to explore the story/world.
Ch4 - You need to conquer the realm, we have no time to explore story/world.
Ch5 - You need to sleep, we have no time to explore story/world.

Remove all love interests, and we'll have about 20 minutes of the main story that can be abridged into 30 seconds synopsis.


Inconsistent artwork, animations;
There are a lot of artists, so the scenes vary in quality and some of them are without animations.


Game mechanics and illusion of choice;
It's also a distraction, but I wanted to discuss this further.
There is grimdark mode and godmode. Grimdark is the intended experience, it's here to encourage to replay the game, but it destroys whatever miserable choices you could make, because you're not making choices that you want, you make choices that raise your stats, so that you don't get a bad ending.

In Grimdark you need to sacrifice characters to get stats. Which means you don't have all the characters in your playthrough. Which means you replay the game. The thing is, there is really only two playthroughs you can have. Be good and get love interests (There are about ~5 characters that do have a love-route), or rape/kill everyone. That's what you can get from godmode, because you do not hunt for stats, 2 Playthroughs. Or you can play Grimdark and do the same in 6.

//

The good:
Heloise.
That's...pretty much it. The only character that is somewhat well explored and established. The only reason this is not a 1/5


Version - v5.3.1

The VA, models, and scenes are just too rough. I really wanna like this game and it has been worked on for far too long, but it is simply way too rough of a game for me to enjoy. It has the formula for me to like it a lot but the execution makes me really sad.

This is one of the best and worst games you'll ever find. There is nothing average about it.

* One of the best games for overall originality.

* One of the worst games for wankability.

* One of the best games for rarified writing/vocabulary (though this can absolutely be a negative if you find it pretentious or tiresome.)

* One of the worst games for relentlessly annoying characters (though this does make raping and eating everyone more fun.)

* One of the best games for dark comedy.

* One of the worst games for voice acting. Though the voices themselves are often lovely (if annoying due to characterization), there are a lot of overactors overacting and drawing out every sentence longer than it should be.

* One of the best games for content options. There is a lot to choose from, and few people will want all of it, so it's cool that you can decide what to eliminate before the game starts.

* One of the worst games for number of playthroughs (and attention to walkthroughs) it takes to see all content (though this will absolutely be a positive for some people.)

* One of the best games for overall quality.

* One of the worst games for sex scene quality. (There are two very different art styles used, with the far lesser one reserved for sex scenes.)

* One of the best games for unique characters.

* One of the worst games for technical audio consistency. (About a third of all lines are randomly unvoiced.)

* One of the best games for availability of unusual kinks.

* One of the worst games for human-on-human sex (if that's your preference.) It's extremely rare in this game, if it occurs at all, and MC is 100% dragon, physically, meaning he has talons and his cock is not only larger than most animals, but it looks nothing like cocks you're accustomed to.

*One of the best games for fun, vibrant, cartoonish art.

If you're going to play, do it for amusement. If you want to get off, there are a thousand better options.

Promise, wrapped up as a hugely frustrating mess.

The story is packed with choices, which sounds and seems like a great thing...if not for two things: you're on a timer and everything (including yourself) depends on limited, mostly obscure, one-time choices.
This means a huge bias for playing "optimally": to do things "the right way" and to shove as much of it as possible in a timeframe.
Some things you're bound to be unable to do - not because they're naturally exclusive, but simply because you're not allowed by timer. Choice, agency? Nah. For example, you don't get to decide how physically strong of a dragon you want to be - in fact, you don't really get to decide if you're going to be strong at all. These are limited by select few opportunities, which if you're lucky, you'll cherry-pick dancing around eggshells, potentially conflicting with your other choices story-wise and roleplay-wise. You won't be screwed on a playthrough and will be satisfied only in case you somehow manage to balance this frail construct, if possible at all.
This puts you into a nasty position where instead of being in control of what you want to be and how you want to act, facing the consequences, but rather being a consequence yourself, sort of a hostage of how things just happened.
In other words, it is build to go in blind, with no real agency over anything, not even over your own development.
I agree, there's some appeal in just letting the shit happen and roll with it, without care and the feeling of presence. You know, "whatever", just accepting anything.
Otherwise, unless you enjoy "playing" by the walkthrough and/or constant save reloading, or starting numerous playthroughs and do things over and over again, you will be left lacking and disappointed.

1. firstly, needs to be addressed. this game is god knows how many years old tho everyone paid in full on steam a long time ago. it is a VN, not a 3d indie game and has NO EXCUSE for having only CH 1 done after all this time. this is why you should support REAL developers who don't only work when they feel like it, and can't legally wiggle out of a sale like thieves. real companies, real transactions, real finished products. not merely the promise of one with no guarantee of what you get, in what bugged state or if you get it it at all.

2. eroge focus. this developer is a fiend for cuckoldry in this title. it seems to be the thing in focus with 'harem' as an afterthought. that's what you can expect here as the NTR content is not only more, but apparently better quality. the 'love interests' straight up don't want you. don't like you. and there is no 'love' here no matter how you treat them, no matter your stats, or how any interaction is approached. everything must be forced. NTR is featured alongside other fetishes such as pregnancy, but it is in no way equal to that, as it is featured in comparison as a minimal afterthought.

3. content. dev focus is on softcore. HJ/BJ. that is what most 'waifu' offer. 2 maybe 3 scenes of that. most offer 1 scene if you are lucky of actual sex. many offer no sex. and if they do, it is not repeatable, just SC scenes. disabled tags matter little because hj/bj can't be disabled and are forced through scenes to get to the thing we ACTUALLY wanted. while ntr is always penetrations. i didn't buy this for other NPC's to get content, the main character should be on the receiving end.
if you thought you paid for a sex game and not hand/mouth trash content, you are not alone. this is the state of US patreon based eroge. it is a scam for so many to get easy rent money with none of the obligations that come with the traditionally binding practice of reputable companies offering full product in exchange for coin. patreon devs push SC because it is easy and cheap to spam it's assets as the only thing you are seeing is a phallus. not because it's popular or anyone wanted it. (what straight male gamer would buy a eroge for HJ/BJ content?) plus they have the freedom to quickly abandon the game on a whim not having to honor any binding transaction using the abused crowdfunding/donation loophole. and creating the actual sex scenes forces them to work for the money they get. imagine that.

4. characters. simply put unpleasant. these are not made as love interests. only as forced conquer-ables. you were never meant to like them, nor they you. it is not designed to be pleasant. ridiculous use of terms like, 'lover' and 'wife' is absurd.

catgirls: hj/bj, uses/lies to you. only sensible as slave

princess: femdom, she rules and you are a pet, cucked and used up to hell by default then given to you like it was a gift from the dev. disgusting.

chanwe: softcore only. worthless character.

darja: too much emphasis on using you to to be a princess to be a 'waifu'. transactional.

the 2 elves: they are made to sound as you will have a bad end for producing the kid with them. wasted potential.

maelys + mina + naho: hateful scum. unlikable no matter how you deal with them

everyone else: doesn't want your dragon no matter how you act, has to be forced into most acts.

bottomline: this abandoned game is not good or even the game it's marketed as even without being abandoned. sharing many of the same before mentioned bad traits akin to PARASITE BLACK and SEEDS OF CHAOS. it is a waste and to be avoided.

Heard alot about the game, gave it a run and i was pleasantly surprised. The sex scenes arent the best ngl but the choices you can make are vast and carry the game for me. So many outcomes and diffrent things that can happen pretty much forces you to give the game a replay which is good. Only things i dislike are the day counter in the beginning acts since i didnt use a walkthrough on my first run ( kinda wanted free reign to fully explore) but more importantly how the games still not finished even after so many years and honestly its not that long of a game when you do only one playthrough smh but theres HELLA potential here and i loved my time playing.

The game's pretty good, I got pretty far in. Unfortunately regardless of your preferences you may end up seeing something you don't want to - I made a choice for the stat boost and assumed it'd skip anything that clashed with my preferences and instead got something that very much killed my enthusiasm for the game so I doubt I'll continue with it and finish it off.

In fairness though, I don't want that to affect my score here so;
The art during sex scenes is pretty good and the descriptive writing is also solid which makes a lot of the scenes pretty hot. On the flip side they're mostly very limited/basic when it comes to the individual girls and the game touches on but doesn't explore quite a lot of different kinks so unless you specifically love dragon cock/torture you might find things pretty hit and miss as far as that goes.

Conceptually the game's quite unique, can't really think of any H games that put me in the shoes of a dragon. The story's pretty much what you expect, shallow but engaging. Mechanically it, again, goes kind of jack-of-all trades; there's light RPG mechanics and light management mechanics but it's not really fleshed out in either area.

Finally the game's voice acted so props for that. I'd give it a 6.5/10 overall

This game is the closest to perfect I have ever found. Ravager is definitely my favourite nsfw game I've ever played. The characters are great, the art is great, the writing is great. Despite being over here on the piracy cite, I still feel like I must say, Ravager is absolutely worth whatever it costs over on steam

Game's been stuck in Act V for years now and the devs show no sign of actually finishing said act, glad I didn't waste money on this years ago like I considered doing.

Yet another early access cash cow for devs to sit on and doing not a whole lot with, best spend your time(and money if you choose) elsewhere.

I think this is one of the better VN's I have played. It has a little of something for everyone. It can be messed up, it can be funny, and it can be nice. I also enjoy the fact its got fetish's for everyone.

The game has a few issues, like art and voice acting. The art can be very good, but then changes to a different style of art. Even though the different styles are good, some of them are bad and can be very off-putting. The voice acting can be very bad or alright. Sometimes it doesn't have voice acting for a few lines after it did. I still like it though, hope it improves.

This game has a fantastic dark fantasy world and story.

Most of this game's content wasn't for me - didn't bother me, just doesn't get me hot (I'm here for incest content and it's fairly minor in this game) - and yet it's still a 5 star recommendation from me for its fantastic story and voice acting.

I am a little worried, with how much variety of choice that seems to matter and carry forward with you, that some of it will be dismissed to allow for a cleaner throughline of plot or the game will abruptly end or not value all your decisions (which Lair you choose matters a LOT) but as of right now I think they know what they're doing.

I hope it continues for a long while.

There's nothing new that I can say that hasn't already been said. It's worth a look for the gallery if nothing else.

The characters have no real depth, everything is heavily railroaded forcing you to either view a scene you have no interest in or replace the character you like with one that can actually progress the story.
The art was decent at one point early in the game's development but it's all been replaced by a genuinely awful 'style' for all of the scenes where all the women look like men in drag and are completely different from the anime styled portraits that characters have, which actually look fairly nice.

It's been disappointing to see the game degrade itself for god knows what reasons.

It's a game for just a few, not a crowd pleaser (7/10) - It's a very particular game with very particular fetishes. Is not for everyone that'st for sure, but has lots of potential for its audience.

I wish the animations looked like the chracters when they talk. The H animations imo are worse and don't reflect the actual models you see when you chat with them.

Besides that it some interesting branches and the difficulty makes it high stakes.

Tried the game and was willing to forgive a lot of it's weaknesses (and it has a lot of them) but it's a deeply flawed game.

It's far too easy to get a game over on the Dark Fantasy game difficulty without using the walkthrough. There are only two game difficulties, normal and easy. I'm all for a challenge but when the game gives little help on directing the player it becomes a real problem. A quest journal with tips would have solved this. Instead, the dev expects new players to read a 204 page PDF walkthrough guide in order to complete the game on the normal difficulty level.

The player has to do hyper specific things in order to advance the plot in some cases. Some things have to be done in a hyper specific order also.

Every time I started the game, I had to go through the game intro and reset my game preferences, every single time. It said that it was the first time I played it each time even though I had multiple save games.

The animations and sex scenes are hit and miss and vary widely in quality and execution. Only 25% to 33% of the sex scenes in the game are animated. Some sex scenes don't even show the MC's dick, it just says that you're fucking the girl. This is common with the dream sequence sex scenes. Huge inconsistency with the sex scenes and sex scene animations. It's one of the most jarring parts of the game IMO.

The writing is quite decent and sometimes even good. The game is cute with cute art but the game mechanics are severely lacking as explained above. I was having an acceptable (but not great) time with the game until my forced game over at the end of act 3.

If you're going to play the game, play it on the easiest difficulty level unless you plan on reading and following a 204 page PDF walkthrough guide.

Tiny bit rough around the edges but I love it. The characters are interesting, the sex scenes are hot, and they do a good job making me really feel like a giant fuckoff dragon. The best game of its kind out there (I wish there were more!)

Pretty intense and dark but in a good way, the only thing that slightly put me off is the change of art style when going from the normal gameplay to the sex scenes. Other than that it's a gem of a game

Came here for the incest, and I suppose I stayed for it as well, though the initial route I had planned didn't quite come to fruition.

The story is fairly decent as far as these things go, it actually surprised me with how often certain choices that seemed to be the "correct" one would later come to bite me in the rear.
The resource management in the 4th act is a bit of a chore, but I'd argue the system as a whole is one of this game's main appeals.

Reactivity is pretty good; most minor scenes have around 4-5 variations, some drastically different from the base.


The only major bug I encountered, (if it even was that) is that I couldn't build the torturer's chamber in the sunken temple, which was a bit of a problem as one of the captive's content basically revolves around being sent there.

Version 5.2.5 Android
i was playing past versions of this game and they ware a little better
Game start with 2 girls throwing wall of warnings about the content
honestly i end with most things disabled from the game

Difficulty
Dark Fantasy is unplayably hard
Power Fantasy is shallow experience
game lack middle ground difficulty where you still need to engage with mechanics, but without failures

Stupid fetishes
unless you go with power fantasy person who have no preferences for all of the game content have no bargain with the game

Warlock stolen my woman
idk why but warlock asked for help with magic and i had no idea he will take ladies forever, its a bit stupid design when you turn off sharing bestiality and NTR, but game still find a way to get you cucked like that

Time limit
instead of having fun and exploring the game i must do some weird preparation before assassin show up and kill me
im not sure what should i do to increase the chance

my priestess had mental breakdown and refuse to speak with me
so i fucked her and when i try to visit game told me i can't idk why

most of the girls don't even wanna be there and have limited functions
drunk girl can only get fucked
wolf girl pretty much the same
darja the same
goblin can only talk
i was hoping warlock could take BORING characters not the cool ones

Summary
i would say: unless you are complete degen don't play
average renpy game have more charm and chemistry between characters than this, author put too much focus on cruelty and fetishes to make a room for intimacy, love, politics or happiness

Really well made adult game, only gripe I have with it is the different art styles at times but that's cause of the different artists and that a lot of the scenes aren't animated.
Few games do I endorse for people to go and support directly on this site and this is clearly one of them that deserves support in my opinion.
Developers that put time and effort into their adult games consistently is sadly rare and we should support the ones that do!