VN - Ren'Py - SnowStorm [v0.8 BB] [GleenX Studio]

TLDR: It's a great game, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone. Graphics, story, and music are all on point. The rest of the review is mostly related to the different paths you can take.

I see some people complaining about the branching paths, where you're missing half the game because you don't see the content of the other branches, but I don't see that as an issue.

Honestly, in my opinion, you should just consider the three paths as three connected, but separate games. I mean, you don't actually see everything that happens off-screen in other games either, right? In any game, you follow an MC and, usually, you have no more information than he/she does. Why would you expect any different here, just because it's folded into one launcher?

Besides, all three paths are radically different:

On the raven path you play as the helper to an obsessed and manipulative dominatrix, who's actual goals and believes are shrouded in mystery (or not, if you choose to believe her rhetoric).

On the wolf path you play as the companion to a powerful do-gooder, who just wishes everyone was nice to each other and got along, while not being shy about introducing anyone who disagrees with that to her magical axe.

Finally, on the bears path, you get roped into the ambitious plans of a chaos-loving, intelligent, and unscrupulous woman who's spent her entire life pretending to be a fool, and chooses you to be the co-beneficiary to her plans.

If I had to sum it up, I'd say that raven path is for those who enjoy femdom, wolf path is the vanilla path, and bears path is for those who enjoy maledom.

Essentially, there's a lot to discover here, and I believe it has something for everyone.

I played through v0.7 in a few evenings, right after finishing the loosely-connected prequel ‘Sandstorm.’

I don’t generally care for this style of branching game, where a single play-through reveals only a fraction of the content. Usually I content myself with whatever I saw on that first play, but this game sucked me in so far that I did three complete play-throughs and explored some of the side branches.

The pros: great characters, graphics, stories, sound track.

The cons: the sex animations are poorly done.

One thing that I found disappointing is that the MC is written as a fairly weak character. As of the latest update, all three clans are headed by strong empowered women, any one of which would dominate the MC: physically or intellectually, depending on which he took up with. It feels like the devs are angling to make him some kind of Viking warlord: but he doesn’t seem suited to that role. Each of the clans does have a less-dominant LI, and I could see him settling down with one of them and getting a job as a bar-tender, wood-cutter, or some-such. Time will tell whether that route is open.

Another thing that comes across as weak is the background story that ties this game together with the prequel Sandstorm, and the planned sequel Duststorm. It feels like something brainstormed with a buddy over a few beers: Take a scattering of gods from random pantheons, throw in some star-gates and timey-wimey stuff, and profit! I hope I am wrong, and there is some deeper story planned; but I’m not seeing it so far.

Overall I recommend this as an excellent example of an AVN.

Review for SnowStorm v0.7 WW. The story revolves around vikings and the norse mythology, and while there is some inaccuracies in the history being represented, it is still fairly engaging and entertaining. The renders in the game are decent as well. The story is split into three branching routes (clans), and ensures multiple replayability. While this may not appeal to everyone, I actually really enjoyed it as each of the clans have their own ideals, beliefs, cultures, and of cos woman. Now the LIs in the game is great, each of them are beautiful and distinct, there will surely be a girl to your liking. I'd like to mention about two of them, Nox and Mathilda. Nox is just my absolute favoute, beautiful, sexy, mysterious. There's nothing to not like about her, well except the sex scene unfortunately, I hated it being a forced scene, with her in her markings and all. The build-up to that point was already so great, having a nice and normal sex scene with her would've been PERFECT. Next would be Mathilda, now while she is constantly bitchy and all, I find it really nice how MC is able to open her up, to find a softer and different side of her as the story goes on. Really enjoyed seeing her change and growth. I do however dislike how it always resolves around Mathilda being a "good girl/bad girl" plot, and would love to have a normal relationship with her as the game progress.

Moving to the cons, I feel the main drawback to the game would be the animations. Some scenes lack animations, while in others the animations feels clunky. The camera angles also needs improvements, as they are not really enjoyable at the current state. The scene with Astrja also feels really rushed, and to top it off, being caught as well. Why not make that scene into a blowjob scene instead, would have flow together nicely. MC is also pretty stupid in multiple instances, like why wouldn't he know where the milk comes from? Some choices also feels like they don't matter at all, such as when getting caught by Candrid, non of the 3 choices changes anything, comeon, I want nothing to do with Candrid, just let me enjoy Mathilda. All in all, I feel SnowStorm is a really great game worth playing, and with some improvements, it can definitely be a 5 star game. Hopefully dev takes a look at all the comments/reviews, and make some improvements on them.

Pros:
-Interesting story
-Decent renders
-Characters are unique and different
-Beautiful models, Nox & Mathilda
-Some bgms

Cons:
-Scenes feels rushed and unrewarding
-Some choices does not matter
-Unavoidable scenes
-Stupid MC
-Gallery filled with story scenes, please only put H-scenes

Snowstorm [v0.7 WW]

I've been watching the development of this vn since its early days, but I've always thought, it's too early for a fair review, yet. With the most recent 0.7 White Wolves update out completing chapter 5, there is enough content for a proper review. (Still I might edit this review at a later development stage)

This VN is part of a series by GleenX Studio (Sandstorm being the first part, Snowstorm the second). You can play Snowstorm without having played Sandstorm of course, but it is recommended to play the latter also for the background story.

The story of Snowstorm is supposed to take place in the Viking era, but it’s a pure fantasy game, which just uses the Viking era as backdrop scenery. Neither the behavior of people, nor the costumes/outfits, weapons or the three clans divided into hair colors and professions are in any way historically accurate. So this is a mere fantasy VN with only very vague resemblance to the Early Middle Age.

Nevertheless the story is pretty much entertaining so far and the writing of dialogues in general is well done.

Personally I do prefer more linear VNs, so that I can experience almost all of the content in only one time efficient playthrough.

But Snowstorm, just like its predecessor Sandstorm, offers several main routes with different content for certain characters. Snowstorm offers 3 main routes depending on the clan the player joins during his playthrough, which then will determine to which characters the main character might be able to get closer or not. So if you really want to see all of the content, the game has got to offer, you will need several playthroughs.

There are a few hard game overs in the game for the time being. F.e. Vikings like all kind of raiders & pirates in history did plunder and rape, but if the player also decides to rape a npc the dev punishes this behavior with a game over, although other npcs in the game do rape, which isn’t sanctioned in any way. So only when the player does it, the dev is going to punish you with a game over screen, which is inconsistent. This is probably due to the fear of the dev to get excluded from Patreon, if he allowed non-consensual sex scenes of virtual daz3d models.

Concerning graphics the daz3d models are great and have enough variety. The outfits & costumes are fantasy not historic.
Some renders are breathtaking, while others are just basic or even look odd sometimes. The renders are very much a mix of quality, but in general enjoyable. There are also some animations, but mainly focusing on scenery, not on characters or sex scenes.

Having mentioned the latter, there is lewd content in the game with different characters for the time being, but most often it doesn’t feel that much rewarding. Some scenes seem to be rushed and they also could be a lot hotter in my opinion by adding more renders and showing different angles. Sometimes you won’t even see the bare breasts of a female during sex, which is an absolute no-go in my opinion.
Unfortunately the sex is pretty much “meh” in this game, despite some optically super-hot characters. In the lewd department there is really lots of room to improve.

Least but not last various music tracks add a lot of atmosphere to the game, which is a big plus.

I will rate this game with 4 stars, despite the flaws, I’ve mentioned above, because I really like it. An honest rating would be 3,5 stars for the time being, but I really hope, that the dev will still improve this vn in order to earn 4 stars. Snowstorm even has got the potential to become a 5 star game, when finished and polished, but that's still a long way to go.

The models are great, the story seems competent, but I simply can't abide missing so much content simply because of a starting route choice. If you don't mind that and don't get FOMO from just 'hearing' about all of the other stuff happening instead of actually getting to see it, I'm sure you'll love the game.

Also this is very much not "How to Train your Dragon" for adults. It's pretty not wholesome, with slaves and thralls and rape and stuff, at least all heavily implied. Should have figured with the whole viking motif (but sometimes the darker aspect of vikings are toned down, like in the aforementioned how to train your dragons, so don't be fooled like me), but I didn't play the dev's previous game (because it has NTR and rape tags) and figured this would be different, since those tags are absent.

TL: DR, visuals are great, story is competent, hated the vibe, lots and lots of FOMO.

I rarely take time to write reviews on porn games, but here we are. This one really captured my attention.

Lets start off with the good points:

1. The setting: The game does a really good job of capturing a norse atmosphere. Especially the time travel aspect helps a lot here. Yes there are some historical inaccuracies (like the MC being able to understand 11th century english), but in the grand scheme of things, this is negligible and a good setup for the MC feeling quite alien to the setting and slowly but surely learning the language and customs of the time and culture he was thrown into. The story being set historically around the battle of hastings and Harald Hardraada is also pretty interesting and might have further implications for the story going forward.

2. The atmosphere: The imagery is pretty good and well thought out. The caves mostly feel like caves (although kinda too bright interior lighting imho), the forests feel green and realistically dense (keep in mind the story takes place in norway). I usually don't care about ingame soundtracks in VNs, so I put on some Warduna and Danheim and it felt pretty damn atmospheric.

3. The story: Definitely one of the strengths of the game. There are three main story branches. These are also intervowen, meaning whatever happens in one clan also affects the others. You start as a pawn in one of the three clans, get to know the whole village, and basically fight/favor/manipulate your way into the upper echelons of the hierarchy. Every clan has its unique traits. There are supernatural elements to the story besides of time travel too.
The world feels alive, things are happening without the MC's interference, but his decisions also don't feel without impact. All in all, the story is much more interesting than the first game in the series, Sandstorm.

4. Replayability: A lot. There are 3 main story paths, and some girls are locked behind certain paths and choices you make. Every story path feels unique, so I would definitely advise to replay twice to get each path.

5. The girls: I won't get to describe or rate every single LI in the game. Suffice it to say that their characters and looks are pretty distinct. Bitchy, caring, unexperienced, very experienced, muscle mommy, backstabbing, not caring, every kind of woman for every taste.

6. The renders: Some renders are basic, while many others are outstanding. All in all, the quality is pretty good tho.

7. The animations: Probably the biggest flaws are to be found here. Many animations feel clunky and some of the sex scenes are not even animated.

But in my opinion even that isn't enough to diminish the 5 star rating this game deserves.

Short summary:


Surprisingly good VN based on viking lore (and some time travel). Story is interesting, characters are good. Renders are mostly good.



Good Things

• Interesting, unique story
• Characters are interesting and different
• Some models are amazing
• Music adds to the atmosphere

Bad points

• Inconsistent render quality - some are great, some are just cutouts in front of the backdrop
• Some sex scenes are rushed and unearned, while others are dragged on
• Unlikeable MC
• Some choices are crazy, and usually the crazier the choices the better the outcome
• Multiple paths, but 80% of the content is same in each path
• Some of the lore and sidestories don’t add much, but distract from the main game

I currently give it a 4 , but a lot of it will rest on its evolution and potential . I like the lore , the universe , the clan , the girls . The visuals are outstanding . Maybe no the most realistic , but stylized enough to look like they belong to a specific game , not another model recycling factory . I already liked the art in Sandstorm , but it improved tremendously .

Now on the negative side ... while i like the variety of girls and choices ... the MC still feel too uninvolved in the decision process . I mean while i understand needing events like a raid for him to prove his worth and loyalty ... it should not take 4-5 chapters for him to get noticed by the clans , and not just his fangirls .

It's kinda hard to pinpoint and express , but cheating your way in the game kinda shows it . The game got stats , but i could dump 50-100 points in each of them , it still would not matter and make MC look good or strong . You'll pass the minimum required checks , which are low anyway , but if you're supposed to fail you'll just fail . At this point the stats and most decision involving them are window dressings . The only that matters are the affinity with the girls .

Still a good , possibly great game , but hoping that it will further evolve and be reworked

Really love it, Story setting really interesting also it's following previous game that's cool. Love the charactes design, a lot various characters and not boring character design or common design. They are unique every one of them. I'm really in love with Nox hope she get more intimate scene with MC. Dialogue chose also interesting and combine with a lot path. Overall excellent.

Have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand I love the models since there is enough variation, the setting is nice too. Unfortunately the problems start here. Let's start with the MC who is given shitty option after shitty option and has basically become doormat at this point. Then there's the girls at this point I'm not sure if the dev is doing this on purpose but one by one the girls are becoming unlikable. Case in point Nox and Candrid who are manipulative bitches with your two options being outright ignoring/betraying them or caving in to their every whim. There is no middle ground where you can get them to be true partners. Finally, for a Viking game there is very little pillaging and raping done by the MC himself which is a sin of it's own.

This game is amazing, the characters are god tier, and i know a lot of people who don't like games that requires you to play multiple times and i'm one of them, but it works so well on this game that i'm doing every playthrough possible, amazing job from the developers and i wish the best for them

This game gives me such mixed opinions. On one hand the art is great and the setting and plot is actually very interesting. The characters are all unique and have developed and distinct personalities. I also really enjoy the gimmick of the MC not speaking the same language, and trying to figure out what they're saying myself based on words I've learned with the MC.

On the other hand, the MC is super unlikable. He comes off as a miserable and naive douche who's asking to get himself killed. It's never a good sign when the player is given a dialogue choice between multiple options that suck, and this occurs repeatedly throughout the game. Even when you have no control the MC is out here narrating everything in such a smug shitty way you just want one of the characters who can speak English to smack him over the head instead of humouring him for some reason.

If you can grit your way through the MC the rest of the game is genuinely very good, but the MC is such an important aspect of what makes a game likeable having one you dislike really hurts the enjoyment factor.

V0.5 BB blue balls
I enjoyed Sandstorm and was eager to try this devs new title.
The women are some of the most varied and beautiful of any VN and also seem to be original creations not just some generic model.
The setting in the 10th century is also interesting and I can negate the fact that English then would be almost completely alien to a modern English speaker.
The problem here is there's so much build-up, with little to no payoff. As an example one of the most desirable women in the game finally wants you all for a very short scene in which you get interrupted, wtf?!? If you're wondering why you have so few supporters, this is why. No one wants a constant sexfest, but this is just miserable.
The MC is a pathetic douchebag moron who would've had his head cut off shortly after being released when commenting about the chief's daughters to the chief! A lot of his dialogue is cringe whilst most of the other characters are quite endearing and completely out of his league, not even in the same universe.
If you're here for merely a mediocre to good story its fine, otherwise don't waste your time. Try the gallery mod to see for yourself what the "reward" is after hours of gameplay.

Wow. Impressive.

Sandstorm was still really rough around the edges. It had a lot of charm (and Rion) but it was also very much a debut into the genre with renders and mechanics being iffy at times.

Snowstorm is better in every way. I don't care so much about the renders but boy, they are MUCH nicer. And the research into the culture and the depth of the characters and culture is unique in a game like this. Seriously, it is worth supporting just for that.

I should take off a star though for making me cheat on Rion. You should be ashamed, Dev!

So far (only did 2 playthroughs, one with only the wolves for Astrja and one with the raven for Nox) i've been very impressed by SnowStorm as i found it a major improvement over SandStorm that i found had some good but unfortunately for me it had many shortcomings with too many immature type of dialogues.

While there are some weak points in SnowStorm (the major low point to me was the Milka story that was frankly absurd in the way the MC can't figure out where the milk was coming from despite how completely obvious the situation was), overall the multiple paths (choosing a clan deliver some interesting story variation and allow to explore characters in different situations)really make up for it.

Of the characters, i found Lizgard "shy and embarrased" characterisation like if she was an out of place manga "waifu" trope often makes no sense considering the specific clan she belongs to and the overall viking culture she lived into, and Candrid is mostly ridiculous(the "hidden loot" sequence was facepalm inducing).

As a character the MC himself sometime react oddly, like in the village raid sequence in which you can choose to have the MC trying to defend a civilian from being raped, then a minute later the MC will just leave another civilian being raped without a care (and even worse the only other choice in that situation you have is to have the MC watching like any asshole).

But overall all the other characters are interesting and following the multiple paths of the game allow to discover more depths and hidden agenda to them, giving SnowStorm an interesting layered story.

4 stars , very close to greatness if it was not for some of its weak points.

Well i just played the recent update and i might say this is the one game got my heart racing lust going

Characters Story overall game is great you can if simulation invented i would be staying in this world with this characters to be frank it would be worthwhile endavaor that's how good it is.

updating my analysis after update 0.7ww

I just wanted to say a few things I noticed in my last gameplay.

The story is good, it tells about Norse mythology involving gods and goddesses, demigods and time travel, and with references to Sandstorm, the dev's game. The pace of the story is good, it's not rushed, after many impactful events he knows how to take things calmly, for example after an invasion or dispute or chaos, the characters take time to calm down, hang out with each other and see the landscapes, so I would say that the rhythm of the story is good, as is the progression with the characters.

about the characters' routes, it's something I didn't like, it's very easy to lose track with some girl or with all of them... you can really be left alone if you choose the wrong things or choose just based on your tastes, I feel sometimes that I'm choosing what the developer wants me to choose, if I don't want to be without the girl I like or alone. And it's very unfair because when you lose points with a girl, your points with her are reset as if she hated you and goodbye to this route,
example Matilda is arguing with the carpenter to fix her wooden door and a chair and they are fighting, the mc appears out of nowhere as if it were destiny, and instead of just remaining silent the dev forces the mc to interfere, and Matilda insulted Astrja and her entire family, then the player has the option to choose between defending Matilda or defending the "honor" of Astrja's family, as if what a single person like Matilda who has a bad reputation for treating everyone bad, would had weight in the words, what if she's talking bad about Astrja's family, no one likes her, but the player has to choose whether to defend Matilda or Astrja, Astrja's sister appears behind the mc, out of nowhere as if it would be another meeting of destiny watching everything and it ends with MC, treats him badly, a very bad scene takes place and she says goodbye and leaves and the points with her are reset, the same thing if defending Astrja's family, Matilda say goodbye too.

Why didn't the MC just stay silent? but it was a forced scene for the player to lose the route with one of the girls, which ended up collecting points for nothing throughout the entire gameplay, so it's a bit frustrating and this happens with all LIS, no matter how much you invest in a LIS, the game will get you making you choose something stupid just to lose something, and sometimes the save is too far away to go back and recover.

Another thing that I didn't like was the animations in the +18 scenes, it's as if the dev took two photos and kept changing the photos with each click of the player, you click on the screen and the photos keep changing as if it were animated... The game's animations leave a lot to be desired... and the dialogue in these +18 scenes is very weak, without depth, it makes me want to skip the +18 scene with that girl I was waiting for a while to have something... so it kind of is not rewarding

I would say that what keeps me in the game and what makes it really worth it is the Norse history, the mythology, because in terms of relationships with the girls, either you lose them forever by forced choice or the scene is 2 photos in transition.

Decent game with way more potential than what it delivers so far. It has several good renders. The models themselves have enough variation to keep interest including petite girls (always a plus) and non-creepy looking muscle girls. The Viking era is a nice addition to the story especially with the MC realizing that modern science knowledge wouldn't translate to immediate practical applications. I especially love that there are 3 clans (flavors) of Vikings you can join and even switch at certain points. It also doesn't become an exposition like so many wordy VNs here. Now for the negatives. Many have said that a lack of choice is the biggest problem, but I'd say the problem lies deeper than that. Rather than simply a lack of choice at certain points the actions of the MC are not even in line with his thoughts i.e. consistency like when he's furious about being drugged and how easily he forgives with no explanation. Then there's the options for the girls which have you at times thinking it will allow you to romance (when in a clan) certain options, but then they sort of fizzle out and nothing comes from them. Finally, Candrid needs to be killed or at least be cast down to thrall (slave) status.

Such a great game, i was kinda surprised how much I liked it given i ran into this game by accident, instead of seeing it recommended by someone else.
Great, well defined characters that each has their goal and aspirations and plays a significant role in the overall narative.
Meaningful choices that can take you to surprising outcomes.
Game looks beautiful.
This was a top notch experience, and I can only hope it continues in the same vein.