VN - Ren'Py - Rebel Duet [v0.10b] [ionDivvy]

Rebel Duet 0.8.1 (Male MC)

For those familiar enough with anime this game is essentially an avn version of an isekai (transported to another world) anime where the MC finds himself in a fantasy world summoned by a succubus "main girl." It has some of the standard tropes one might expect of the genre even unfortunately including things happening too easily/conveniently early on, lands and things that are very reminiscent of home world (this one I'm fine with), and main girl being portrayed as the best girl (and favored by MC) because she's the main girl (even if the viewers may not like her). The MC isn't overpowered at the start though like in a lot of those animes - instead the main girl is the OP one and though you're told the MC is summoned under the pretense of protecting her it's a while before it's revealed what the MC might bring to the table besides being a source of energy for the succubus. Note: When I refer to "Val" in this review here I'm talking about the succubus companion as her default name is Valerie.

TLDR version of Good/Neutral/Bad:

Good: Terrific fantasy themed background renders, wonderful use of music, glossary for world building without ridiculous exposition dumps, decent training options without training being complex or overbearing part of the game, game is already showing significant progress in some areas between Act 1 to Act 2, and it's an easy read in plain English that doesn't get bogged down in unnecessary details or overly complex routes

Neutral: Character models are a bit similar for a lot of the main girls, renders are decent but nothing particularly impressive, Act 1 has pacing and character renders have issues but both are improved in Act 2, UI/options could be improved a bit, and sounds are in the game (including lewd) but far too quiet compared to music

Bad: While the overall story premise/ideas are interesting the execution is poor with the way things are written making everything and everyone a combination of stupid (MC is particularly dumb) and not believable. The MC comes off as much more of a subordinate to his succubus companion than an equal/partner. Readers are too frequently hit over the head with over-simplified morality lessons. Animations are poor and writing in lewd scenes needs to be a bit better as well as adding more renders per scene (preferable to current animations). There's a lack of any kind of buildup with the succubus besides sexual progression and she's the least interesting of the girls in the story. Training rewards (and items from the shops) can be unclear and there's lack of incentive to use certain training options - it also barely affects anything in the story yet.


Conclusion: I wouldn't watch this if it actually was an anime but I still enjoyed the game more than I expected to and it gets more interesting as it progresses (though not necessarily more intelligent). The simplicity and atmosphere of it were really a nice reprieve from the daily grind (and even other AVNs which require a lot more thought/planning or overextend themselves). There's quite a bit that needs work here but it has some potential and the game is only through 2 of 8 planned acts so plenty of time for things to improve. Don't be scared off by the training element (I'm wary of games built around training mechanics) as it's pretty simplistic/quick and doesn't really interfere with the main story. I'd recommend giving this a try to those that are fans of the fantasy genre and like the idea of being stuck in another world with a succubus companion (though maybe wait for at least the next release). For those that aren't able to look past playing an MC who is generally pretty weak, dumb, and definitely doesn't wear the pants in the relationship with his companion (outside of lewd scenes) you'll probably have issues with this one. Putting aside my personal preferences I'd say this is still a pretty average avn with a bit of a different premise at best in its current state so set your expectations accordingly.

[V0.8.1] Rebel Duet is a tag trap covering a ok to good story.

Like it often happens on F95 the tags are all technically there but really non of the are a theme.

The game game has a training element of the girl in the title picture.

But its basically a way to have more sex scenes that are essentially inconsequential.
Inconsequential is also the description of the training system itself together with others stats the game collects. It is also the reason why the game can technically have all these tags but it still being irrelevant.

The MC can be a woman or man but even when collecting domination points the MC doesn't act this way to give a false sense of depth of and making them more relatable. In my opinion giving the MC/Player more agency in dialogue and choices instead of trying to develop a backstory would have been better. The MC doesn't use his knowledge of his home world (Earth) even in the slightest. He has a smartphone with him (tbf mostly useless I agree) but it only shows up once and then its gone.

While the game has a good amount of choices they don't really have a lot of influence. The choices you make initially for the main characters also only seem to change the dialogue on like 3 occasions. You have a training element of the main girl but her character never changes.

You can collect a bunch of different stats like love, corruption, submission, domination and such. Until now it doesn't really matter.

The good is that the story is ok enough to keep following it.
The writing of the characters makes them good enough to have a chuckle here and there and engaging enough to not get entirely bored.

So if you came here because your bdsm/maledom filter let the game through and you want some action skip it. If not, sure you can give this a go.

My score is based on the following:

- The graphics are okay.
- The story is okay.
- The female domination? Too mild to earn the tag.
- The sex scenes as a choice menu comes across as lazy and suck me right out of the story immersion.
- On that note, no options for female domination in BDSM option?

Why only 2 stars? I played because it has the female domination tag, so i'm disappointed. If these points in the future are revised i'll change my review.

Overall decent story emersion with good enough graphic renders to go along.

However the sex scenes could do with some improvement i.e. animation looping is too short and dialogue lacking just a few sentences and then bam cum finish.

To keep this short, I liked this one. Great models and characters are very well-created. The history of this one is something that I was searching for in some VN games. It has solid and beautiful elements, decent scenes of sex, and quite a charm.
I recommend this game to all of you

Really one of the rare great games I've come across in a long time. It's not a masterpiece in terms of story, but it’s not ordinary either, it has a solid story with beautiful elements, not much psychological depth but plenty of drama and focuses on relationships. The choices you make are significant and meaningful, and the story unfolds in a magical and fantastical universe. If you like this kind of stuff, keep it in mind. There’s almost an adult content scene every day, so it’s more than sufficient in that aspect.

If i were to talk about the game generally, we're living a troubled life in the ordinary modern world (issues with paying rent, etc.), then suddenly we're summoned to another world (yes, like an isekai) by a succubus. We meet our succubus there, and a relationship develops. We find a town, meet various characters, and the story goes on from there. It’s compelling and definitely not boring. There’s no extreme content, everything happens consensually, but there are plenty of positions and situations, don’t worry. My advice? If you’re looking for a good story, something to fap to, or some chick to fall in love with, this game is like therapy for all needs, definitely give it a try. Trust me, i wouldn't recommend a vanilla game this easily if it wasn't good.

Story 2/5
Man i wanted to like this so badly....and it starts out great having a MC that feels like he has a brain, but the second it has anything to do with sexual stuff he goes brainless....i really would have liked to have been able to stop her from playing with MCs dick since it was the very first night after they just met and knowing shes a freaking deamon he really shouldent just accept it and let her do whatever the fuck she wants, considering she did kidnapp him on top of it all, he should be freaking pissed that shes now doing this to him without hes consent, dont take me worng i love the LI but would like to have a bit more brain on the MC and not just someone that goes to lala land with 0 backbone, it also makes her feel like a 2 dime whore which really isent needed either.

Also MC tries to be the nice guy but he still steal a house from someone....dosent really feel right either and again MC is brainless thinking oh well it happened cant do anything about it....i mean how about giving the house back? instend MC thinks oh well im starting to see shes a really not a bad person? lol...sure using demon magic forcing a dude to give up hes house worth a ton of money, ya shes a good person alright...fuck me....

And thats really the main flaw in this game, playing an MC where you can never speake your mind truely whos enslaved by the pussy making him brainless and a lapdog and sure as hell not a nice guy.
He even states it him self after you make a choice early on to be submissive or dom, i picked dom and wouldent you know it MC then bows down to the deamon girl calling her master...and your pretty much now forced to be her very own sex slave....thats really where i lost interrest in the game.

Normaly i wouldent even give this type of a game more then 2 stars but being a fan of redheads and twintails and smaller tits, i added one star for that alone.

For the virgin/deflower fans theres really nothing to come for, sure girl says ouch and MC says "was that her hymen" and thats it, they dident even bother to add blood.

It also has a training system, but i got no clue why since it dosent really seem to be used for anything what so ever.

Girl 5/5
Well loved the girl the hair the body so how could i not give 5 stars for her, just wish the rest of the game was that good.

Animations 2/5
They just arent good, theres so little movement, sure you can pick whatever position you like but animations are so short and boring and some arent even animated at all.

Music 3/5
Pretty averge tunes that suits the game ok but nothing special.

Choices 1/5
Well there arent really any choices, you should think of this as a kinetic novel, you cant even pick dom or sub your forced to being submissive.

Depending on what you're looking for Rebel Duet can be really good or horribly bad.
If you're looking for a game to play...then move along....nothing to see or do here.
If, on the other hand you're looking for a story to read then you may have come to the right place.

It's a story of a succubus who 'imports' a human to help fight for her. The human is a wimp and can't fight. He doesn't have a very dominant personality and doesn't seem to be able to defend the succubus much yet. I'm sure that will eventually change, but so far he's just a liability.

I guess the further you read the more into it you can get.

Really nice graphics.
Very pretty succubus character.
Nice backgrounds.

Just don't expect a 'game'. The latest update, while interesting, only had 3 choices so far as I read, which was quite a ways.

Anyway...I was hoping for a game but ended up with a story. Not what I was looking for but ymmv.

This game has a lot of potential.

The dialogue is a little dry, but I think it improves a bit as the game goes on. I feel like the MC should harbor slightly more resentment in the beginning towards Val, but it's a minor qualm. Overall the world and characters seem like fairly standard vanilla fantasy, which isn't a positive or a negative. This game definitely plays things safe, but the dev is competent so it comes across as more charming than boring.

Visually the game is decent. It's very similar to the devs other game, with super cute but almost doll-like LI's. It's a style that works well enough for me, but does mean a bit less visual diversity.

I enjoyed the game enough for 5 stars, but took 1 off because I am not sold on the "training system." I think this part could use a bit of improvement/polishing. The whole XP/levels thing is useless so far, and I am not a fan of grinding stuff. I think a more refined/guided experience would work best.I also would like to see a bit more relationship development between MC and Val. I think they got too close a bit too fast, and some more convos could help alleviate that.

Other than that, excited for future updates!

I played through v0.7b of this isekai in an evening. The dev does a decent job with the graphics and lighting: it generally looks good. The animated sex-scenes are very basic. The world-building is okay, but there are little things which keep pulling me out of immersion. Walking cross-country with stiletto heels, for instance. One might as well use a pogo stick to cross a river.

The dialog is often distracting: everyone uses a similar juvenile banter, from the MC (a white-collar office-worker) to his succubus side-kick (who has never been to earth), to the inhabitants of the medieval fantasy world they find themselves in. This could be an artifact of the translation magic that allows the MC to understand everyone...or it could just be poor writing. The text is also more extensive than the dev can pull off with his current ability as a wordsmith; it often serves more to arrest the plot than advance it.

The MC is a shining white-knight of virtue, inclusion and tolerance; bringing a fresh woke voice into this world where all the white dudes are incredibly racist against dwarves, elves, demons, witches, and the like. He befriended the closeted gay dude right off the bat, and I am sure future updates will showcase him protecting that friend from the homophobia of the masses.

I get the impression that the story is being made up as it goes along.

The player will spend much of their time reading text with the succubus character onscreen. She possesses the same range of facial expression as a clothing-store manikin. Rather than Rebel Duet, I think this might have been better titled ‘Manikin sex simulator...in another world...with my smartphone.’

If an isekai set in a generic medieval fantasy world sounds good to you, this might be worth a look.

A visual novel must have great characters to shine maybe more so than any other type of game, because there are no mechanics to hide behind, and I really like every character introduced, but honestly, I have a soft spot Amnestria, the author definitely made elves look very elven but also almost otherworldly, not quite a human with elf ears like a lot of VN's do, I really recommend this game.

v0.7b
I am very pleasantly surprised. This game is fantastic.

+ Good looking characters
+ Animated sex scenes
+ Decent quantity of sex scenes
+ Decent quantity of plot
+ Plot is well executed enough to hold my interest, even if parts of it are not very original (isekai and soulbond with succubus)
+ Quality waifu
+ quality GUI
+ good english
+ virgin waifu

honestly, I can't think of anything bad to say about it.
and overall I had fun from start to end. at no point was I struggling to force myself to push forwards.

Rebel Duet has a strong charm to it. This site is no stranger to the succubi plot element, but Valerie is an interesting deviation. She is sweet, kind, and loving as opposed to the dominant, aggressive, horny stereotype. I'm clearly not saying that Valerie isn't sexual, just that she has a very loving nature about her that you wouldn't be expecting to find with this kind of character. I'm still unsure as to what we can expect from Rena as she has remained mostly guarded until this current update.

I love the included glossary to brush up on some of the places and concepts mentioned, but I do have one request: A brief summary of the major events leading up to the current chapter. I play several VN's a week, some new, some old, so my memory can get muddled inbetween updates. Sometimes I remember right away, but sometimes I need to start all over. That hasn't been the case so far in Rebel Duet, but I feel as though events will become more complex as the story unfolds.

It's a good(ish) game. It tells a novel story and there's real effort in the world building. You can see there's a vision for a story to be told. The art is good, the h scenes... so so. They are largely mechanic and lifeless. The writing is... just ok, there's much worse here.

Still it is charming in its own way.

What really bothers me though, is the way women are written, especially the MC. I often realize that this is not what a woman would say or phrase it that way. It takes me out of the story regularly, because it feels like a man trying to impersonate a woman. Many male writers have that issue (and vice versa I am sure) but it really annoys me here.

It's not the best, but its good.

I like the story and the game's concept, but some of the conversations and plot development feel a little forced.

Regardless, the biggest problem I have with this game is the expresionless faces.

Like if the MC thinks to himself "I can't refuse that cute expression" when the womans expression literally hasn't changed since the moment they met, it just kind of takes me out of the flow of the story

The art looks nice enough and is what brought me in.

The dialogue is... clumsy. It was really bothering me for a little while, since I couldn't place exactly why, but then I realized: the game directly quotes poorly translated JVNs constantly. I don't know why, because the English is overall fine. But then you get hit by a line or two which feel like they were pulled straight from JVeNglish. It's somehow worse than when everything is written like that, because it mostly isn't.

For example, something along the lines of "you want to do... that?" (If you know, you know) Can't be bothered to go find specific examples, but the sex scenes in particular are full of it. I half expected someone to say "h stuff."

Generally speaking there just isn't much good to be said for the writing. Relatively few of the scenes really advance the plot, insofar as there even is one. It kinda just wanders, with a lot of time and effort having been put into some generic sword training scene or something which doesn't achieve anything and doesn't feel believable.

Overall it's fine. The sex scenes have some variety if you can get past the writing. The art is overall better than average. But I ended up putting it down before hitting the end of the current content, just because there's nothing to keep me engaged.

v0.4b

tl;dr - Its worth checking out right now and checking back on when it has some more content developed.

It can hardly be called a game just yet. Aside from the length of expositional dumps, there really isn't much actual gameplay. It is, however, a rather well assembled tech demo.

The Dev has clearly put a lot of work into this concept and it shows. The renders used in the game are, on the whole, fairly impressive. The story is a little cliche, but is largely internally consistent. They even managed to avoid falling victim to the 'talking head' trope when trying to introduce setting and context.

I really appreciated having a choice of gender for the protagonist, even if the changes to the script for this were minimal. My biggest complaint is the 'protagonists hidden backstory' that gets dropped in at places. With no context, its a little jarring.

I also love that the Dev is active on the threads discussing where the game is going. This is a double edged sword though. Lofty ambitions have brought many a game to its knees and time spent answering and discussing these plans is time not spent actually doing it. So on that end, time will tell.

First VN since Ethereum where I find myself not being able to wait for more to be released<3 Sure there is little instances where you will think to yourself it could be slightly better, but the setting, themes, animation, and story is GOLD. If you are a fan of magic then you will love it. I would also like to say it is perfectly balanced in its themes and story as-well. I am not sure why I have read here that is is awkward... I never felt that way about it lol. Also you can choose to be a male or female MC, I chose the Female path.

Version 0.4b

First Impression:
I went into the game intrigued by the setup. Fantasy setting with Succubus summoning but Uno reverse sounds like just up my alley. And the game just wasn't what I was expecting.
In short: The entire game feels so plastic, artificial. Story, setting, characters, even the visuals. It's like witnessing someone playing with virtual dolls in a fantasy dollhouse. It's hard to describe.

Visuals and characters:
The visuals are its biggest strength if you don't mind the porcellan skin art style. It does fit the vibe I'm getting from the game. Spellcasting looks gorgeous though a bit too flashy for my taste.

I could look past the doll aspect if the rest of the characters, their motives, expressions and emotes were more human-like, or at least interesting. They're not; these characters emote and behave weirdly.
For example, once you're thrown into the fantasy world that's basically it. The MC and succubus girl take all of it in stride. Like, why does the MC not interrogate the living crap out of the succubus? Why not confront her with succubus folklore - you know, souls, sex? Why do they barely react to the entire thing?

Then there's the expressions: succubus girl constantly looks at you (especially in the early game) in this lifeless like kind of way. It never felt quite right to me.
Then there's a lot of disconnect between facial expressions and what's currently happening to the characters. I don't think it's intentional for succubi and regular people to be so nonchalant and unfazed by everything all the time. Succubus girl in particular just comes across as unintentionally alien. However, tt does get a bit better with time.

Scenes:
The bond between the MC and succubus girl starts off weird. But I can at least turn my brain off for long enough to accept the scenes on their own. It's not exceedingly well written, but good enough to be enjoyable. Sex scenes are a bit generic but there's a large variety on offer in the "training" scenes. Overall it's alright. If you dig the look it's even good.

Gameplay aspects:
The game allows you to choose between a male or female MC as well as an overall approach to situations or maybe description of your character. If there are forks in the paths I have not noticed nor tried.
There were only a few choices thus far. Most are fairly self-explanatory in what they'll entail whether you play with the walkthrough mod or not.
Not sure what the deal with the corruption vs. love and dom vs. sub stats is - it's so infrequent I'm inclined to think it will never be of great relevance beyond a couple of scenes.

Setting and Story:
Don't go into this expecting any sort of interesting world or setting. There's setup and lots of fantastical words being thrown around. But it never clicks, the game never feels authentic. For example there are no establishing shots of the places we move in that I can recall. Instead we get loads of close ups. Many of the daily life stuff you'd expect to happen in a fantasy setting just don't and the camera is always so close on Succ girl and at tops a single other NPC that the entire city comes across as incredibly empty, undetailed and or desolate.

Concepts, especially magic, are introduced whenever it fits the current narrative - which I personally despise like the plague. It's not to the level of japanese magic fantasy - the "hurr-hurr I cast a spell on you that does this and that to you and cannot be undone unless this and that happens" dialog - but it is noticeable and crops up often enough that it bothered me strongly.

I don't have much to say about the plot. It is there, builds a mystery and has some flashback, flashforward and flashsideways(?) moments. I wasn't really that invested since the dialog isn't particularly strong and the setting is as it is. It also doesn't help that the MC is neither particularly likeable nor interesting.

Conclusion:
If you dig the look you'll probably enjoy it well enough for the sex scenes. The story idea is interesting, but it just doesn't follow through. And it's not porn-logic, whacky or horny enough to redeem itself that way.

This is a review of v0.3.

I am in many ways impressed by the game at this time. Character visuals are some of the best I've seen, though environments can sometimes be overly bright or undetailed, standing out sorely in comparison. Above all, the ability to play as either a male or female protagonist is just something I wish far more games would offer.

I do have several complaints about it however.

Foremost, the MC's dialogue is very...wimpy is the best way to put it, I think. They constantly stutter or awkwardly laugh at even simple statements, which is actually pretty cringe-inducing. I understand they're in an unusual situation, but I would feel better if I could portray them with the confidence to understand what needs to be done and work towards it, which I don't currently feel is possible at all. Truth be told, I actually feel the MC is portrayed in a rather poor light, as they don't have even a single moment in this version where they show themselves to be useful, convincing me that an accidental hemispherectomy took place and Valerie left half the MC's brain on their apartment floor. They seem to be completely incapable of reasoning through or reacting to situations, and the story as a whole suffers greatly for it. It's to the point where I considered doing a rewrite mod to address it, but the game is pretty early in development so it hardly sounded worth it at this time.

Secondly, the knowledge gap. This sort of relates to the MC's dialogue, but they often don't seem to be familiar with terms I'd expect them to be. You will never convince me that they know what "cosplay" is but haven't heard of the idea of "parallel worlds", those are pretty intertwined in modern circles.

Besides these, I noticed some fairly minor things as well.

There are a couple screens where the MC fully outstretches their arm (such as the "give nipple pinch"). These look very odd, the bend of the arm is completely unnatural.

Additionally, following the , where the MC and Valerie are talking inside their home, there's one frame where Valerie's hairstyle suddenly changes (I chose her pigtails as my preferred hairstyle, but in that one frame it's suddenly a pony tail, then goes back).

There are some inconsistencies between scenes too. For instance, during the sword training, the MC is shown to wield the sword with their right hand...but the sword is later shown strapped to their right hip, as though wielded in their left. The sword then reverses itself entirely when the MC and Valerie are walking through the woods, in a way that would make it completely impossible to draw. It's incredibly jarring.

A slight bug I noticed. During your first night in the house, the game tells you that you can choose 5 sexual acts per night, but I was only ever able to choose up to 4.

If the game continues to maintain the visual quality that it possesses now, but improves upon the dialogue and presents the MC as a non-lobotomized character, I can see this game being a 5 star.