VN - Ren'Py - Completed - SandStorm (EraStorm Saga #1) [v2.01] [GleenX Studio]

I enjoyed this alot at the start...

But things started getting weird with the arrival of Nora and this is mainly where ALL My gripes come from, gonna link here on out with a spoiler, as I'll get into more details...


LI's were good, Maddie has her ups and downs which are pretty in sync with her character. Rion has her ups and MAJOR downs which are horribly out of sync with her character. (more in the spoiler above which annoys me with Rion). Nora was a beautiful model for an LI with a hint of badassery, but didn't care for her at all outside her route. The priestess route was as to be expected lol also a very attractive model and quite the crazy whirlwind.

Animations are hit or miss, not beautiful, some of the better ones sadly didn't get multiple angles to do them justice, but I'll never judge a review score off this because animating is super hard and I respect what people can do regardless.

All in all story had a good pace up until Nora showed up, woulda gave it an easy 4/5, but it drops an entire point lower for me at that point honestly. Just hated majority of interactions with Nora, she's a good LI but shes terrible if you're not on her route and most things just dont really make sense or add up correctly.

One thing that bothered me was how a character you're speaking to has the same render image despite going through different emotions. I'm sure it was done to save time, but it just feel unnatural and doesn't allow you to build a connection with whoever you're interacting with.

But even if you soldier on through that to get to the naughty scenes, the payback is disappointing because the animations have a low frame-rate. They're just not enjoyable bc of this, in fact I'd call them bad.

Since regular scenes aren't good enough and naughty scenes aren't good either, a 2-star rating is pretty generous. The game was simply a waste of my time.

TLDR: having nice renders does not automatically mean you have a good game.

I'm not sure why this is a 4 star rated game.

Maybe because the renders are pretty good? But honestly, the "animations" are pretty bad. The story is so-so. I'm sorry to say it's just not entertaining.

Edit: This game is completed!? That's surprising given how short this game is.

In short, the game doesn't catch any stars from the sky, but can provide a decent, enjoyable, even if routine, experience. There's not that much content for each route, but if you'll decide to play through every ending - it'll take you from two to three days, give or take.

The graphical part isn't impressive at all, just the same you can see in hundreds upon hundreds of other game in the genre. But the music is good, especially Rion's, and some of the songs are worth saving to my personal playlist. Mechanically speaking, the game has only the most basic system of affection and choices, nothing beyond that.

Now, to describe the characters... they aren't special. There are four of them:

1. 2. 3. 4.
In conclusion, I can say that the game is... average. Yeah, just average. Worth playing, if you want to play something but don't have any options left, but has nothing to offer that wasn't realized many, many times before in many other games. Didn't play the sequel yet, as it's not yet completed, so, hopefully, it will be more interesting and unique than this game.

You just joined some friends on what was supposed to be a fun trip to Egypt. However, things turned sour and you got thrown into an epic adventure full of ancient mysteries.

Mechanics: ⭐⭐⭐
Content: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Graphics: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Script: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Enjoyment:⭐⭐⭐⭐

Total: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
SandStorm is a very good start to the EraStorm saga. With some well-written characters and a story that, although initially it is very slow starting, ends up being very attractive. The animations are pretty crappy and with few frames, but graphically it gives the note and has a lot of content.
We'll see how it goes with SnowStorm.

The music choice alone deserves 5 stars. Very distinctive and stands out compared to most AVNs.

The theme is interesting and plot progresses very well.

Highly recommended and I'm definitely going to try SnowStorm when I finish this.

i just played the game and i liked a lot
the Characters where very good, the story great too and refreshing from the other common stories in VN (it was nostalgic refference to the mummy 1999 for me), visuals where good too (not the best but good enough for me).
overall was very enjoyable VN and i have to comment about the soundtrack which i found it very good and the songs where very and the Rion special song i found it of the best i heard in VN and the scene at the campfire with the song was very wholesome and of the best romantic moments i have ever scene in any VN. (awesome job there)...
I choose Rion LI (one of my favorites LI ever) and i was very happy with the Ending (L, Rion Special Ending) it was very wholesome and good ending for the MC and Rion. Though i also played the R ending too ... yea true love ending for sure but i prefer ofcourse the L ending.
(i didnt try the T ending it doesnt click for me) normaly i prefer single paths for LI and on a very few VN i choose throuple choice for my ending and almost never harem especialy if there is good romance in the VN with a single LI.

So the almost forced throuple situation annoyed me in this VN with R+N and especially the timing after one of the best romantic scenes in any VN with Rion and MC (Rion song)

Nonetheless i found it one of the best VN i have played, and i highly recommend it.

I played this one because im more interested in the sequel to this game Snowstorm. It was totally worth playing tho it was a real treat. Rion carried this AVN for me though without her wouldn't have been as enjoyable.

• It's completed
• Animations range from meh - to pretty good especially the non lewd scenes
• lewd scenes most of the time feel a bit to quick tho because of the animation but some feel real good
• Renders start meh in the first chapter then improve drastically
• I wouldn't say the story is amazing or anything but it isn't bad. My only issue with the story is it felt like it could of had 1-2 more chapters the ending kind of come on pretty quick and felt too convenient I thought.
• Small number of LI which is a good thing
• Only 1 LI is really interesting to me. The other is boring and the third while not boring when I was starting to get into her character for plot reasons ends going away for a short amount of time and the ending comes on quick.
• 12 endings

Overall I say this AVN is worth it I originally didn't think I would like it cause of the previews or whatever but boy was I wrong. I could see myself replaying this from time to time because of Rion

Sandstorm [v2.01]

Pros:
+ Great replayability (many different endings)
+ A complete story on its own (depending on ending)
+ Choices actually matter and affect outcome
+ Story plot is interesting and progresses at a good pace

Cons:
- Sometimes characters feel unlikeable, annoying
- Sometimes get lost in all of the world / story lore (some may like it though)
- Limited range of emotional pull

I found myself from the start getting annoyed at the characters. Not necessarily because the dialogue was written badly, but because of how the characters acted, the things they said, and how immature they mostly seemed, which might not be for everyone. It was hard for me to connect with them sometimes, emotionally speaking. It might not be for everyone.

That being said, the game has interesting choice paths that do matter and actually change the outcome and ending of the game. Personally I liked Nora's endings and her paths the most.

Overall Rating: 8.0/10

Nice renders, though the animations are sparse and not that great.

The story was pretty good and there were several different endings, some with some major variations. I don't usually to multiple playthroughs,, but this one kept me intrigued.

Played this one after playing snow storm. Not good as snow storm. Comparing to that renders are average. But it's good comparing to may other games. Some of the Egypt myths and traditions are explored here. This one is truly adventurous. Don't worry about the NTR there isn't any. There are different endings for each route. Truly a good game also try his other game snow storm which is sequel to this. Oh man he stepped up his game in it.

Keep up the good work dev

Impressive... game.

This VN has 12 endings (!), and their theme and content runs the gamut from sweet and saccharin in the face of danger (some of my favorite) to vile and disgusting in the face of a goddess' gauntlet (admittedly, not my favorite...) with [avoidable] NTR included haphazardly across the project. Difficult to argue, the variety of endings in this will cater to nearly every niche of player that comes across it.

The graphics are good, the animations are... puzzling. The developer obviously knows what they're doing, the animation quality can be very high at times and have excellent flow (high), but at other times animations require clicking the mouse to make an action happen? For instance, in some animations a click of the mouse will cause the MC to make a complete thrust cycle... but then the animation pauses? You would expect that maybe it's the end of the whole sequence and clicking the mouse again moves you to maybe the next event, or a different animation sequence... but it repeats for one thrust? That's a weird process!

Then there are other times where the developer has gone full monte and provided an "auto-mode" where they will process about two minutes of renders, transitions, coupled with music (leitmotifs!) and... well, it just doesn't make sense. It's almost as if there are multiple people working on the project... which is fine, but if you're going to do that you need people to QA the work and ensure that you have consistency!

long playtime. decent amount of dialogue. the girls are modeled diverse enough that you might play through the game more than once to get different scenes as choices matter somewhat. has some decent animations. story is mediocre. the scenes are pretty lifeless and you eventually get tired of looking at sand. wish more egyptian mythology was used. props for not being a harem game too.

Great:
Fun historical type read.....
Nice graphics.....
Variances on the character's personalities. Love em or hate em at least they are different.....
Several different endings including a bad ending......

Not so good:
MC is pretty worthless and stupid throughout most of the story until the end where he 'suddenly' becomes more dominant and smarter.....
Ending, which was fine, seemed a bit rushed, but still complete.....
The points with each girl don't really mean anything...You'll probably just end up w the one you spend the most time with, or are nicest to.....

Great job. You get to wander around Egypt and a couple of temples, meet Nefertiti/Nefertari (I forgot which it was), and enjoy the company of a couple nice girls. The artwork is great and it feels like a good change of pace over the usual stuff around here.

This is Dev's first game so I'd say is pretty okay. It's not amazing, but I still manage to find myself finishing the game and trying to find all the different endings. Plot is pretty intriguing. Some of the endings are also fairly enjoyable, especially Rion's. Intimate scenes are average at best, but I can see it being improved as Dev gains more experience. Character personalities are pretty unattractive, with Nora being manipulative, Maddie being too dominating, Rion being naive/ignorant, and MC just being stupid.

Pros:
Plot is alright
Branching endings
Music
Avoidable NTR

Cons:
Unattractive character personalities
Mediocre intimate scenes
No VA
No Harem route

Basically, it's just not well written. The girls are boring as hell, nobody is clever, the writing is full of grammatical errors and weak sentences, and the plot is a ridiculous string of impossible coincidences.
Rion (if you follow her path) is an abusive, cheating, jealous, bitch, who gets mad at the protagonist for getting raped. Oh, did I mention that the protagonist gets raped?
And the sex scenes aren't any good.

Renders are nice.
The story is... present. And the dev knows something about Egypt. Well, ancient Egypt at least.

But the girls lost me.
I'm not evil. No priestess.
Rion, your early childhood friend that you're wanted forever... and you don't make your move until you're both in your mid-twenties, she's already fucked other people, and only seems to switch to you because she's upset with her boyfriend.
Maddie, who is one of the most joyless, angry, and aggressively unpleasant LIs I've ever encountered.
Nora, who has great things going for her, but.... meh, my personal reason for not being interested isn't worth mentioning. (no, it has nothing to do with her being a gypsy).

I sort of appreciate that it isn't a harem game, but then again, with three LIs you can pursue if you don't play evil, it could have been worked in without the game being bogged down.
It's nice, I guess, that you can do a Rion AND Nora path, but there is no Maddie-slash path.
With the limited number of LIs, you could have pursued a single one, any combo of the two, or all three, seeing as the game is already going for multiple endings. Priestess offers a story branch. Rion and Nora offer a throuple. As unenjoyable as Maddie is, I don't see a reason to even play her solo path, unless you're just a completionist.

MC is obnoxious, and some of the dialog is genuinely painful to read.

However, there is a concise story. Renders are nice. UI isn't complicated. There are choices with branching paths and multiple endings. No bugs. And the game was developed to proper completion.
Despite my issues with LIs, MC, some dialog, and lack of a "hard to obtain and you can only get it after beating the game at least once" secret path that could net you all three girls....
The fact remains the game is decently made and entirely competent. Rating it as terrible or poor is simply unjustifiable. But I feel a distinct lack of enjoyment from several sources, most of whi revolve around LIs, that simply prohibit me from rating this as good or excellent.

I've no doubt that this game appeals to many, and there is nothing at all wrong with that. I'm sure the high rating is earned, from people who rated it as such. Please, don't let me put you off trying this game. But I think people who approach games the way I do will find that this, sadly, does little for them.

SandStorm is a well made visual novel with four main branching paths that can change the progression of the story and its ending drastically sprinkled with a couple of minor choices that are there to add more content. You are a rich young guy who is traveling with a couple of old friends in Egypt and slowly unraveling some mysterious plot alongside your girlfriends that will become your interest. The game really pulls the Egyptian themed text with a bunch of lore from that culture but not so much to get tiresome. Maybe a bit at the beginning but the character relationships get to be the focus soon enough. The models are good but not something fantastic, and the characters are significantly different either physically or their personality. Some girls require a more docile approach, some are more aggressive. The result for what romance branch you pick is many scenes scattered through this not so long story. It is a very good VN without a doubt, the plot get a bit strange but nothing too over the top and the girls have nice personalities with the exception of one. If you finish the game once you will miss over one fourth of the scenes because this game was meant to be played multiple times. After getting them you can easily access the scenes on the menu screen. The only bad points I can pick is how vanilla the scenes are. In a VN you can go crazy with the tags like with Fetish Locator. But in SandStorm the scenes are more tamed with a couple of exceptions dealing with the same tag. This is a good recommendation and GleenX Studios next game seems like a continuation of this one.

Written as of version: 2.01
Genre: Mostly urban fantasy and romance
Score: 4,5/5
TLDR: Good story with beautiful women of rather unattractive personalities.

Weak points: flawed main girls’ personalities; forced to romance any main girl or being evil;
Neutral: animations; few instances of voice acting;
Strong points: story; amount of content; beautiful characters; music; graphics; choices; branching; endings; performance;

Weak points
Main girls possess qualities that turn me off, like:

What’s worst player is forced to romance at least one of the characters or be on the evil path. That’s not the most well-thought-out solution. Some players may not be interested in girls for any reason (despite their excellent looks), and giving them the evil path as the only alternative is a little devilish.

Neutral
Few animations are really good, most are about decent, and some are bad. The problem is that animations of lower quality also occur during sex scenes.

Almost no voice acting. There was at least one moment when it appeared. It didn’t disturb and rather didn’t help the experience.

Strong points:
Interesting story. It could be a game without sex, and thanks to the story, it would still be good. It contains adventure, romance, slice-of-life moments, and mystery. Narration build-up and relation development exist.

There is a large amount of content. In respective variations, most of it can be seen on any path, but some of the content is exclusive to some choices and ways. The game gives you lots of choices and possible endings.

Experiencing good graphics and beautiful characters is enhanced by well-chosen music.

Performance shouldn’t be an issue. It was tested at 12 yo laptop from mid-range.

Considering this was the dev's first game, it was pretty decent. The animations felt a bit forced, but it's alright since the dev is gaining experience. Personally, I feel like the dev was interested in the history of Egypt and decided to create an entire porn game around it. Maybe that's why the characters feel a bit forced in the game. However, the models looked fairly original and the plot was also rather interesting. I would give this game a 9/10. Really well made for his first game.

Character Analysis:
First, I will talk about Rion. Personally, I'm fully invested in the childhood friend topic. Nearly every other game I play, I immediately go for the childhood friend route, but here Rion felt a bit forced. She didn't have much of a plot or backstory and was only present to show a poor innocent maiden in distress. Her motives for cheating on her partner were also really weak. Even in-game, she didn't have much of an impactful story and was only there for the sake of it.

Now talking about Maddie, her personality and backstory was very interesting and fun. It looked as if she had a genuine place in the game as the "expert". Her in-game story and motives were also very strong and her ending felt fulfilling with respect to the dev's next game.

Nora also had a very well-made plot and personality. Her role as a local expert was perfect for her and her endings and motive were as fullfulling as Maddie's