VN - Ren'Py - Stray Incubus [S2 Ch.1b] [Flynn974]

This is a great game with a great story, great writing & so many unique & beatiful girls. I love the Greek mythology & superpowers aspect to it as well as the combat aspect. What is cool is I keep being surprised by this game, the plot twists. I like the sometimes dreamy vibes of this game.

One of the best newer games that have come out.

Pros:
Quantity: For almost a 6-month old game, this game has a great amount of content already (5+ hours probably). Dev has great update speed with big updates.

Story: The story is interesting so far, and it is more unique than most. The dev is also very good at storytelling and having tiny details that give hints into the future story. So far, it is a fun but well-thought-out story.

LIs: There is a good variety of LIs (race and personality). Additionally, there is a cute spider girl now.

Choices: So far, you can choose mostly everything you want to see, and the game has respected this so far.

Neutral:
MC: Typically MC; while he is stronger than most, he is still mostly perverted.

Cons:
Sandbox: Pointless sandbox shoved into a VN-labeled game; you cannot avoid some of them, and they get annoying real fast.

Jokes/Humor: Too many crossovers that just muddle the story and jokes; humor often falls flat or breaks the fourth wall and is jarring.

Overall, a good game so far with good storytelling. The dev is also active here, which is a big plus.

Updated Review for Ch.11 Public

I think the game has now received enough updates to really set itself apart as something solid. I was going back and forth on whether I want to give this 4 or 5 stars, and I ended up feeling that 4 still fits pretty well for me personally. Don't get me wrong, this game is much better than most games I give this rating to. At the same time though, I do feel it has clear issues that, at points, have held me back from being 100% in on the game.

I think it would be fair to say this plays more into a fun focused power fantasy than anything. The plot goes like this: being the survivor of a racial purge, we live out in a cave with a warrior that took pity on us who then decided to abandon her cause and essentially raise us as her kid. We leave the cave one day, save a ninja girl from a goblin, and decide "hey, I want to be a ninja too." 90% of the game is just about being a ninja and going on random missions that always have some fuckery going on that we need to solve, which is fine honestly. There's also a big bad looming in the background which will no doubt be the focus at some point.

The MC. What is he about? His real motivations? His personality? I feel like it could all be summed up with a simple *shrug.* Now it's not as if he's a completely blank sheet of paper, but overall he has a very nonchalant attitude that sort of leaks into everything. Sometimes it does work, and other times it feels a bit bland. He does gain confidence as the story goes and grows into a character a bit more, but most of what I talked about doesn't change much. He's a nice dude I guess, and also happens to be an OP demigod, has magical sex fluids, and of course a comically oversized dick. It also feels like the dev breaks his character sometimes to play up elements of lewd scenes, like maledom for example, which is a bit jarring to me. Also may be because I'm not that into maledom.

I think the absolute best aspect of the game is the girls themselves and it's not even close. Do they all fall for the MC incredibly easily? Yes. But where most games would probably end it at them being brainless tropes, characters in this game feel very alive in a lot of ways. There's so many small moments expressing personality that it becomes incredibly easy to get attached to the girls. A lot of them have good designs, fun dynamics with both the other ninja girls and the MC, and are very hot when it comes to the lewder moments. Also having a spider girl with four arms is like the cherry on top. Misty best girl.

One thing I want to praise entirely on its own is that this is maybe the only AVN I've played that changes the girls clothes and even hairstyles on a day to day basis. It's very nice seeing the girls in all their different getups, and even does a lot for immersion. It's a level of effort I rarely see.

The sex scenes. This is probably where my biggest point of contention is. Now they are definitely better than your average HS game. The girls being as hot as they are combined with their personalities do make the scenes hit. At the same time though, with some exceptions, I can't help but feel like a lot of the scenes have missed potential in that they could be so much more. A lot of them felt fairly short is the main thing, but I think also commonly lack good setup scenarios. I'm going to use the scene with Siera, our fill in mother, as the prime example.

A lot of the game had little moments building up sexual tension with her as we mature as an incubus. We eventually get some relief handjobs, blowjob later, and she even helps us fuck one of her friends in a threesome. It was hot. It was creating that buildup to that full blown sex scene that we all want so desperately. So what was it like when that scene finally arrived?. We wake up with morning wood, she casually mentions never actually having had sex before, and then rides us almost like it was on a whim. The scene was kinda short, felt like it had few good angles, and overall felt like a throwaway of a scenario. It was disappointing. Almost all the scenes feel like quick/casual hookups with the girls, and I find that a bit boring.

I think in some ways it is, maybe not obvious, but noticeable that this is a devs first game. Things don't always flow the best, not everything feels intertwined in the best ways, not all girls get equal screen time, and overall certain elements feel... amateur I suppose (which I don't mean that as an insult). But then you look at the other side of the coin, where you notice just how much the dev has improved really every aspect over the multitude of updates that have come out. I remember being impressed by it the first time, and it's only stayed consistent. I still even feel the early game needs a rework to match the current quality.

It's by no means perfect, but at the end of the day the game truly is enjoyable. I think it's become a bit of a mainstay for some people and it's not hard to see why. Despite some misgivings, it really is a solid game for what it is.

v0.6.a
Great work on pretty much every aspect: plot, characters, scenes and scenery.

The LIs are very well done, they offer a variety of body shapes and personalities while not being just onedimensional fucktoys.

[v0.6a]

An anime/manga/webtoon styled harem game with pretty good story structure and writing in general.

In a lot of ways, this dev reminds me of Caribdis. I won't get into specifics of the comparison, but those who know will know. Humor style, horror sequences, and the choices/route design philosophies line up quite closely.

There are no issues on the English side which is always a nice first step. No awkward dialogues or cringy banter. Plus, the story has clear arcs like you might find in a shonen manga. Each arc has a proper set up and conclusion which still tie in together to the overall narrative. You get a training arc, horror village arc, detective arc, etc. It's just well constructed and easy to follow along.

The characters are well written and quite charming. You might see the 16 LIs shown on the character sheet and worry that it's too many. Rest assured, they merely occupy the same character bio page. The story isn't stretched thin to try and give them all enough screen time. Some are clearly main characters and others take a back seat (at least until their time in the spotlight comes along, I guess).

The world building is a bit strange, but it still works out well enough. It mixes Greek mythology, naruto, and DnD styled fantasy. I don't know... it didn't quite feel all that cohesive to me, but if you don't nitpick at it, it should be fine.

On the porn side, it's a bit of a slow burn but not annoyingly so. I think it hits a nice groove.

Visuals are nicely done HS2 stuff. Nothing to complain about on this front except for the usual "same face syndrome" of HS2 models.
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Now for the less awesome things about the game.

The choice system is almost entirely illusory. You look at the character bios and see stats like Trust, Affection, Respect, and Lust. Maybe you are thinking that you want to do a "dominant" approach where you prioritize respect and lust. Alas, the coding is entirely linear. You don't make choices between the variables. Instead, the choices you make are basically, "Do I want to do stuff with this character or not?" If you do stuff with them, you will get stat increases that the script decides for you. If you don't do stuff with them, it just skips that chunk of the story entirely. No alternative routes for the most part.

That leads to a rather railroaded story and the MC. For the most part, doing stuff with the girls means helping them out and just generally being a heroic little dude. I'm not gonna be overly harsh on this type of design. It's the same one Caribdis uses as well. They want to tell a specific story and don't want to be bogged down by route creep. Still, it always leave me desiring just a bit more control over the MC's disposition.

The second biggest issue was the use of "transitions." I'm talking about the renpy function where the image fades in and out between clicks. The dev uses this mechanic to show movement of characters and such, sometimes in rather long segments. The issue here is that you are clicking along to read the text, often falling into the groove of double clicking to skip the fade in/out of the text box and minor effects. Then comes a long sequence transition that you just clicked past. It's sometimes hard to even be aware that you skipped a long segment. And if you get tired of double clicking on every dialogue line and enable "skip transition" in settings, you will miss a whole bunch of the visual elements. There are definitely better ways to go about this.
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TL;DR
It's good.

v0.6a review -
It's one of the best games that I played in recent times with a nice story on Greek mythology and likeable Main character and stunning , diverse female characters and horror / mystery aspect in the game is well done . And it's always nice to see a developer who has clear idea about his game with that nice planned tags and what will / will not gonna be in the game . The things that could use some work is during sex scenes you have to click on choices to move forward in the game , it would be nice to have an option to skip those choices during sex scenes and play on like some other games do . And there are too many single choices but that was good during illusion / horror aspect of the story . But overall it's excellent game with a nice story 5 stars . Highly recommended , looking forward to next release and have to say Kudos dev, damn surprised to see how much content this game when it's not even reached 6 months from release date .

Stray Incubus (v0.6a) could be summed up as "an overall pretty solid game". It doesn't nessecarily excel magnificently in any one area, but it certainly doesn't fail miserably in any others either. The story is competent and will keep your attention, which is more than I can say about most games on this damn site.

Women are diverse enough in body shape, height, and personality that I rarely had issues discerning one character from another (which can be an issue for me in HS-based games)

H scenes are varied and spaced out well enough for the most part so you're rarely ever waiting for one (and even then, the story will keep you decently entertained until then).

My only real criticism is that the script could stand to have a proofreader go over it. There are just enough spelling errors/grammatical issues/awkward phrasings that just having someone else check the script would significantly improve the feel of the story.

tl;dr solid game, good scenes, occasional misspellings

Game is really kept my interest in all of it chapter. Story is really good and fun.
All LIs in this game have thier own personality i love every of thier story.
Hope it will be keep up with this pace until the end.

Ps. Torr is the best girl i ever see in game that i played.

Very interesting story and great art. All the girls are very different and i enjoy monster girls very much, so if there were more in the future (like with different ear and tails) Id be even happe. Excited for what comes next and cant wait for more

Honestly there is nothing to say against this VN. It is just such a fun read and never gets boring. The characters are also great and look good and if you are looking for hot sex scenes then look no further.

I'm glad i found this gem, renders are nice and the story is good and easy to follow. There's a lot of content already and plenty of lewd scenes, the girls are good looking and each of them has a different personality.

And thank fuck the MC is also good, he can actually stand up for himself and hes not retarded, he uses his brain. Too many games make the MC a beta pussy with everyone walking all over him with zero player input to change him.
As others have said it can use some music and sound effects (hopefully in future updates)
For a free game that is not patreon exclusive it has a ton of content in a few months since release.If the dev starts a patreon page i will support.

5 stars, looking forward for future updates, good luck dev, great game.

Concept is pretty straightforward but it sure is well executed. Additionally the world building is not bad and there's already a lot of content. Definitely worth playing.
Yes, there are some typos and such but I had a lot of fun playing, so it did not affect the rate.
edit:
Unfortunately, had to lower the score to 4. It's still a decent game, but last two updates were disappointing.

Stray incubus [ v0.5a ]

By the time I'm writing this review I have finished ch 4 and have to start ch 5. After finishing ch4 I suddenly felt the urge to write the review. So yeah I'm here. The game is surprisingly good. Yep this one is a hidden gem.

I played the first version when it's rekeaed. I like the game liked the story concept, models were good for a HS game. But renders felt like a bit rough and transitions seems off. But story felt good.

But after playing the new update I have to say this one surely surprised me. Render quality increased. Relationship progress system got an upgrade. And I'm starting to love story more and more. Ch 4 reminded me of a top rated HS2 game in this site. Not mentioning its name it would be against reviewing rules. If this one got sound and bgm ch4 would be more horroric. I personally love ch4 but some players can find it irritating too.

MC is an incubus with a big dick. But I'm glad he didn't try to corrupt the girls with his big dick. This one isn't a fuck fest. Actually there is a relationship progression in this game.

Within 2 months of release this one got much more content than many games that takes years to give an update. And surprisingly dev don't even have a patreon page or othe accounts where players can financially fund the game. Dev you can start a patreon page so players ( those who wish) can financially support you.

+ Story
+ Models
+ Horror
+ Hours of gameplay

- no sound effects or music ( this can't be considered as a negative but game would be more amazing with it because this game surely need it. It would be nice hear sword clashing sounds during fight scenes. Thunder and rain sounds can add more horroric atmosphere. The scene where Mc looks through window and suddenly the girl appears outside wind would be more horroric with sound effects )

If you like playing HS game with good story definitely try this one. It is getting better and better through each updates.

A game I can easily recommend...

Good

So the game has a lot of good going for it...

- The character design fit the girl's personalities and enhance the experience

- The story with the mini-quests each chapter is also well done

- The sex scenes are also enjoyable and have good lighting (they don't look grainy too)

Things that can be improved

- Well like mentioned in the comments, music would be nice (some royalty free music fitting the theme would enhance the playing experience)

- Having the sex scenes on the first 2 chapters be animated too

- Some grammatical and syntax errors


All in all, the story is very good and I'll be looking forward to how it goes...

A personal gripe tho is that mc does look like a shota (young boy) even though he's 175 cm (must be the very slim build he has)...doesn't look that well with how big his dick is being incubus and all, though it didn't make me not enjoy the game tho

4.5 Stars
What I like:
Great renders
Great story that's different from the usual
A talented Dev who actually listens to constructive analysis of his game...a feature lacking in a lot of other games

What I don't like:
So many choices that have one choice only...Why?
Random search puzzles that are really just lucky dips with no way of knowing which way to go. These are just frustrating and don't help the game at all in my opinion
The mc in bathers with a normal groin bulge but when unleashed, a cock the size of an arm....that's one hell of a 'grower' and even in this magical world it's a bit hard to swallow (pun intended)

Overall, I thoroughly recommend this game and I'm looking forward to the next chapter. As I said previously, Flynn974 is very talented and I hope to see more of his work in the future

Version played v0.4b

Story so far is actually rather enjoyable. I really won't go into it much besides that.

Renders are good for the tech used but it does show it's limitations. Even there I have seen better
Animations are a bit simple / stiff and there is even some clipping going on, so really not great.

Another thing I don't really like is the comically large dick of the protagonist, I know the tools used to create this basically force a large dick but this one is especially huge. I understand it's an Incubus but still. I also know this is personal taste, it just seems to be a bit weird, when dressed there is not nearly the bulge that one would expect.

In terms of scenes there are a few but less than one would expect given the the harem with an Incubus but it works nicely enough.

Still overall it's pretty good and on the plus side the lesser focus on visuals also meant the game progresses quite fast. Which is certainly worth something. Providing the plot doesn't go on forever and overstays it's welcome.

decent protagonist I like the personality you've given him, well the characters in general but the main having a brain that he actually uses and isn't an idiot is great it gives him more depth, I like the art, and the story gets a bit hectic suddenly and switches back to its normal pace suddenly that it gets a bit confusing but I understand why. also the grammar isn't bad to be frank its much better than others, even story wise

v0.4a

fantastic art, and animated sex scenes. with very cute girls.
interesting story. really exceeded my expectations.
interesting worldbuilding. seems like a meshup of various mythos with a focus on olympian.
a pretty unique game, very much not following the norms for this site.

early on it feels a bit rushed in terms of pacing but it improves with time.
choices are mainly in the form of letting you avoid romancing certain characters.
usually pretty obvious but sometimes unclear which choice would make you miss out on content until you try out both routes.

As of V0.2
Honestly I'm surprised by the fair amount of content for V0.2 , I more or less expected a demo or prologue but nice to see quite a bit of content to play in the end . After reading the overview of this game , I decided to give it a go , have to say the story is fascinating revolving among some greek mythology . Female charecters looks good for an Honey Select game . However I'm not gonna it is without any negatives - there are some like even after choosing Main charecter name , Zycris name is found in the script and there are few minor typo errors as I'm not native English speaker , I don't bother much with it . Overall a good HS game with a interesting story to play , looking forward to next release .

I just finished my playthrough and it serves a solid introduction.
Plot is interesting, but at this point it is just hopeful conjecture, as there only exists a bare-bones story foundation. Could use a little bit details on the lore about the world and the races etc. Just to feel a layer of extra immersion.

Renders are good, considering HS.

The girls look beautiful, could use some variety, maybe just what I felt.

There are some spelling issues, here and there, not glaring tho.
Looking forward to more.