VN - Ren'Py - The Seven Realms [R3 v0.05] [SeptCloudGames]

This game is incredibly solid. There's really nothing I would consider bad about it, though I believe there are some things that could be improved upon.

But we'll get to that, first come the pros. The renders are great, the characters are all distinct and the world is sufficiently unique and deep to keep me interested. I'm especially fond of the animations, they are excellently done and portray actual love-making, with caresses and kisses and little details that make the characters feel alive.

Now, things that could improve. First is the pacing: it's quite jarring and fast, not really giving us enough time to settle into the story. I understand wanting to skip to the plot beats, but having some more downtime with the characters develops them more and lets us get attached to them.
Second is the grammar: while there are no major mistakes, it's clear that whoever wrote the dialogue isn't exactly fluent in conversational English. Don't get me wrong, it's leagues above 95% of this entire website, but there are certain turns of phrase and word placements that come off as unnatural. Not exactly a pressing issue, since everything is perfectly legible, but something to consider.

Anything I didn't mention like music or sounds or UI was perfectly serviceable, I'm not one to focus on those aspects but if they were in any way egregious I would've pointed them out.

To conclude, this is a pretty stellar VN that is worth a read.

Nothing is wrong in the idea of this game. fantasy stories as a genre can be intricate, but generally all stories are simple if you reduce it to a summary or a pitch. a lot of it is in how the story is told. the reveals, the tension, the mystery, the subtlety. this game has none of that finesse. it spoon feeds you everything in boring exposition dumps. also the facts stated by characters don't necessarily match how characters act.

this is fantasy for dummies.

with popular species such as vampires or werewolves, you kind of need to have an interesting twist or unique aspect to your version in order to stand out and not just be twilight fan fiction. you won't find any clever twists here. the very beginning is interesting. you meet an attractive woman and there is a strange obsession and mystery, it is like film noir. then it all goes very downhill.

I'm still playing this game and can already say that the game is good.
It seems the game is getting better the more chapters I played, there is an actual storyline which is interesting to follow.

The lewd scenes are well made, with alot of animations, LI's are nice and have realistic body proportions.
MC is not your teenage douchebag but an adult who has a lot to carry on his shoulders.

There are alot of different locations to explore, different assets are used throughout the game, not just copy/paste.

But hey what's up with all those shaven pussies again ... some ppl actually like to see some bush down there (atm there is only 1 Chinese gal with a neat trimmed bush).

This game is a fresh wind after all the other games I played with no story in whatsoever (my new family, harem hotel, grandma's house, nudist school).

Dev, keep up the good work.

Let me start of by saying that this is a really good game and I wholeheartedly recommend it! It's obviously not perfect, but the flaws are minor. Early on in the game some facial expressions look a bit over the top or strange, and the writing can sometimes get a bit messy. These really are nitpicks though. The basic premise and the setting are really cool, I love this take on vampires and the supernatural. The story is compelling and the romance sweet. The game also looks pretty good, and the cast of LIs is top notch. It's not huge, but I'll take quality over quantity any day, and boy are these LIs quality! I'm also a sucker for the star-crossed or destined lovers trope, and this game does that really well.

The game is pretty romance focused, as mentioned, and while it's not entirely vanilla def don't play this expecting a kinkfest. I don't mind that one bit, but it's something to be aware of. While the game is good right from the start, I also think it improves a lot as it goes on, so if you're not crazy about it immediately I urge you to give it a bit of time!

So yeah, a romantic vampire game with cool lore, a compelling story and dope renders and animations. I loved it, and I hope you will too!

As of Realm 1 Completion(v0.11) I give this a solid 4.5 stars.

Overall Story * * * * *
Character design * * * *
Character Development * * * * *
Story Pacing * * * * *

I took of 1/2 point because I feel the renders are a bit too bright. They look nice but to me it seems the ambient lighting is set too high and you lose detail that would otherwise be accented by more pronounced shadows(even if only slightly).

Also for me personally it starts to irritate my eyes after a while and forces me to stop to rest my eyes.

Keep up the good work. I am looking forward to the next release.

Awesome play. Nice Story. There should be backstory to why Atlas has 3 bond mates. what makes him different and powerful. Gameplay is great. Loved it. Great concept of the game. Every updates are filled with great detail and animations.

As of v0.11
One of the best games that you will find here with an amazing story , well written characters and stunning female models and music that adds a nice feeling while playing this game . Pacing of the game is very good and sex scenes are animated and erotic . Each update has at least 1 sex scene along with the story moving forward . Most importantly game gets frequent up[dates with a nice amount of content for each update . Nice end to this realm 1 , watched realm 2 trailer , and looking forward to see how the story unfolds in the next realm .

It´s losing quality.

The beggining was very interesting and fun. There was an actual story a clear (and hot) love interest and it had a thriller vibe.
It fell on the usual traps. the story expanded too fast adding nonsense, more uninteresting love interests and right now it´s a boring mess.
I find myself clicking to get to the sex scenes, but why did i bother? It´s not worth it.

A rewrite of would probably salvage this but i´m not really interested anymore.

This Game is just Awesome. The Visuals are great (in some scenes in the early chapters they are sometimes a little buggy tho) but overall this game looks just gorgeous. The Women look pretty good and even tho i dont like the look of the MC its not that bad that you cant look at it.
Storywise i generally enjoy Vampire focused plots and i have to say this one is pretty enjoyable. Even tho the Story moves kinda fast sometimes (Basically when things are starting to getting revealed) it slows down again to a more realistic and imo more enjoyable pace. I first thought it could be a bother having such a powerful MC (Vampire Prince one of the mightiest beeings and all) but it hasnt been too bad so far. There are still things Atlas cant solve with brute force so its not beeing mindnumbingly boring. Maybe we will even see some epic fight between someone as powerful as atlas and him where he really struggles but manages to barely win or whatever

Overall i gotta say if you like Vampire/Fantasy based Storys with great Visuals you have to try this.

This one is a not so little gem. Visuals are top notch. It is one of the few AVNs where I never skip. The story is really good, like World of Darkness good. No mistakes in the writing, no bugs.(I don't use the patch)
It has a gallery and achievement system. The gallery can be a bit confusing, but is great. The achievement system helps to explore all choices.
Every character is fleshed out, I really like the MCs fair brutality. I usually don't like AVN MCs.
All in all a truly great experience and the cherry on the cake is, unlike other AAA AVNs, which get 1-2 updates a year, it gets updated quite often. (this the reason I play only after every second update)
Thank you dev for this masterpiece.

seriously this a great game
the story and writing is so compelling i found my self still playing even after fapping just to see the story unfold thats good story telling in my book

the renders and animation are on point and well defined.

i like how most things have a choice available giving you the freedom to really set the story

4 and a half stars from me rounded up to five stars. this is a game i would love to see the dev run with and keep creating this master piece of a game that it is looking like it is. thumbs up dev

The Seven Realms is a VN where you play as the vampire prince of the entire planet, find his mates, and fuck them.

I wish I could tell you there's more to this game, but there really isn't. The Seven Realms has one very serious problem that ruins just about everything in the game. The game's entire story is told instead of shown.

Mind you, I'm not talking about action sequences. This is Ren'Py, I'm not expecting the game to be a full FMV or anything. The issue is that characters tell us how they feel, not show. We are told how the world works, not shown. We are told what characters are like, not shown. Virtually everything in the game is related through clinical, dry narrative instead of through character actions or even just witnessing the scenes in question.

To name a few, we're constantly told throughout the game that the realm ruled by Lucius is a disastrous mess due to his apathy. We are never shown this through witnessing unruly vassals, plotting courtiers, violence amongst the populace, or any other signs of imperial decay. This is in large part because the world is basically never explored; once again, we're told about features in the world, never shown. The first sign we see of instability is a full on rebellion which felt more plot motivated than the symptom of greater unrest.

Another instance of being told not shown is bonds within the world. Despite being basically the pivotal feature which the game is based on, most of Atlas and Leyala's relationship takes place off screen, outside of the sex. There are multiple spontaneous time skips in the story, most of which seemed to be used to gloss over Atlas and Leyala getting to know one another, ya know one of the most important parts of any VN. What the readers learn about bonds, they learn through plot exposition and dry recitations from characters. We rarely see how characters feel and learn how the bond changes them.

Lastly on the subject of being told things rather than shown is Atlas himself. We're told through several sources, including Atlas himself, that Atlas is a grade A asshole who's cold, calculating, and cares little for others. While obviously he goes through a change by bonding with Leyala, we're told this sudden warmth is only in regards to her. However, we're never shown this fact. The number of times Atlas interacts with neutral characters can be counted on one hand throughout the game. Lots of those scenes feature Gina, a character Atlas can end up fucking who he insists he doesn't care about despite having the options to be at least civil and honestly a little warm towards her. Nothing about the attitude the game insists Atlas has rings true.

Outside of the story and characters, the renders and animations are decent but not incredible. While I have few complaints about the renders, a lot of the animations are awkward, though there are a few that are genuinely good.

Overall though, I don't feel like the game is worth playing. While the concept is interesting, the execution leaves something to be desired. A VN where you're told how characters feel and how the world works is missing the point.

Honestly I fell in love with this game. Despite not having the highest quality graphics (it's still good - mind you), the game is still attractive to me due to the storytelling. I love the world background - werewolf, vampires, sprites etc. It's refreshing and reminds me a lot of the time when I used to read fanfictions in my teenage year. The pacing is so far so good, although sometimes it feels a bit jaring when we suddenly go through a time skip like 'six months later' or 'few weeks later'. Then again I guess it makes sense because it makes it believable that characters get closer and fall in love not just in a span of a week.

Currently I'm playing Layela's route (I'll probably stick with her until the end monogamously). Not that other LIs aren't pretty or interesting enough, but I somewhat relate to Layela's character more. and I LOVE her chemistry with Atlas (our MC). I love how their relationship progress and their dynamic. I love the way they banter, joke in a sarcastic way, don't take themselves too seriously but can be sweet and horny with each other at the same time. Although one thing that I noticed is that I feel like Layela as LI doesn't really have that much of an interesting background (or maybe it's just me). Compared to Gina and her past, Layela's past is just not as hard-hitting if that makes sense. Hopefully we'll get to know more about Layela's, as well as Atlas' past - in a more 'flesh out' way.

Also great job with making Atlas as a tall attractive good looking bulky guy. It always bother me, especially as a female game player, when the MC / ML (male lead) looks ugly, skinny, shorty and is still a student (meaning he's broke as hell) yet all the hottest chicks and MILFs are horny for him 24/7. So thank you for making Atlas actually look like a guy majority of the female population would like to fuck. And good job as well because Atlas as a MC actually has an interesting personality, is not depressing, nor is he horny all the time and see every female he encounters with as a 'hole' to fuck. Okay I'm done lol

Awesome story. Want more.

Only a couple of little complaints i have, the mc doesn't look good. His face is kinda animalistic looking, and not in a good way.
I think a 6 months time jump is too much, 1 month seems more realistic for the kind of interactions leyala had after the time jump.(i know it doesn't addect game play, just an immersion thing.)

Oh, and can we have gina as a love interest and not just a harem member PLEASE!!

I really, really tried to love this VN because I am a sucker for vampire VNs in general. But it's not easy.

1) I don't find the MC particularly attractive. He even looks a bit deformed to me in many renders. I like that he doesn't come across like a stock photo. But the proportions are somehow... wrong.

2) the time jump after MC and Leyala met broke my immersion. The developers seem to assume that I don't need this bonding process between MC and Leyala to be emotionally involved. But in fact I feel like I missed a season of the series.

3) This VN has clearly too little drama and moments of suspense for me. Everything feels very orderly and planned, the MC acts from a position of strength and control, Leyala is the stereotype of a damsel in distress. Her character does not correspond to my image of an adult woman. Other characters who seem interesting have too little influence on the plot and are not given enough time to shine on their own. It feels a bit like all the other characters are there just to emphasise the mediocre emotional bond between Atlas and Leyala.

4) The dialogues are not very emotional. There is a certain sadness that overshadows everything, but it doesn't seem real, not sufficiently justified. The relationships are superficial and there are no ups and downs, but everything is relatively linear and the plot meanders along.

I just never reached the point where I was emotionally involved and it's hard for me to pin it down to a specific reason. But I wish the developers had more courage to really tear the world down, turn the relationships upside down and create real drama that emotionally binds the main characters, not when I am not looking but right in front of my eyes.
Instead, I am simply expected to accept when someone says to me "X loves Y, there is a back story, I'll tell you briefly. Just believe it and move on." But I am sorry, that is not how immersion works.

Let me end this review on a high note though. I appreciate the work that went into the renders, animations, the universe that has a lot of potential to entertain several VNs if done right. Many of the secondary characters have amazing models, there are hints at personalities that I find appealing despite not having the focus they deserve.
If Seven Realms were a TV series, I would probably have said that I liked a lot of it but the main cast put me off. It's just one of those stories that could be so much better.

Version .8 review

I've been playing The Seven Realms since the first update and I recommend everyone give this one a shot.

The devs are fairly new to VN development and as people who have a small amount of experience under their belts, they're way ahead of some other devs out there. The renders are great, the writing is well done, they give the players plenty of choices which allows you to play whichever way you'd like to play. The devs are also extremely genuine. They involve themselves in conversations that happen in their discord server constantly and are always up for discussing 7realms or other topics outside of the VN. Great devs all around and I encourage you to check out their discord server and pop your head in once and a while.

Moving onto The Seven Realms... It's one of the most interesting stories to be released in a long time imo. Tae and Jay do a great job writing the story, creating renders and creating animations. They aren't veterans to this so what we see is from a short amount of time learning daz/coding/etc.

We're given choices for basically every action the MC takes which helps to immerse you into the story. There is one forced scene, but it's relevant to the story and you have the choice to skip it if you'd like (you're crazy if you do). All the models used are all custom; there isn't a character who was just pulled off the daz store and inserted into the story so it's a breath of fresh air. The music is something that's also well done. Plenty of different tracks which all play depending on the scene. And finally, the MC isn't a complete tool/idiot. He's described and written as someone who's intelligent and uses his intellect to aid him. His model is also custom and not one simply pulled from the daz store as I previously mentioned. He's not some 5'2 kid packing a foot long who looks to be out of place around everyone, but he's someone who you could vision would be in the position he's in

Overall, this VN is a breath of fresh air. There aren't many vampire vns out there, but out of the small handful that there are, this one most definitely tops the list. The story is great and so are the devs. I give this two thumbs up

Version played: v.08

Just incredible! I think I have played 2 other vampire theme VNs on this site so far but this 1 takes the top spot. In terms of renders (and characters), story, lighting and music, this surpass both of them. The renders are very nice and the characters look attractive on both genders. The story really had me invested with good pacing and its sex scenes are erotic enough. I was never bored and kept reading eagerly.

I very much recommend this and most importantly I would like to give a chef's kiss to the composer of lucius's theme, its a really damn good piece. Also for those who don't know, the track can be found inside the game's game folder titled-music and the track is called King of the realm.

Game version: 0.8

Another game, that fits into the "came for the fap, stayed for the story"-box.

The overall render quality is superb, the animation/ scene quality is slightly better than average, the sound is good.

What really catched me, though, was the art of storytelling and story writing in general.
There is a consistent plot, that is NOT just focused on banging the hell out of every woman the MC sets eyes on; he is mainly monogamous.

The sexual sharing "kink" is optional (at least I remember some choices leading to non-sharing paths, but did never try them), but is heavily tied to the story and therefore recommended. It's straight forward gangbang, but in an almost understandable way (no spoilers here)

The women look hot, well proportioned and have beautiful faces and individual traits, which elevates their existence to much more than "cumdumps".

The only thing I don't really like is the proportionality of the MC's body himself. His head looks much too small for the bulky, almost hulk-like body, which makes the overall aesthetics weird and unsatisfying.

27/07/22 - V0.8

This game became one of my favorite.

Pros:
*Good story
*Nice models
*Music that fits it

Negative/Neutral:
* Story can feel rushed at times
* Missing tag pregnant

I would recommend this game to all who like a story drive AVN.

4 stars, for now, 5 stars is for me a perfect game. (that does not exist yet)

Dude, why is this story so good?? The game's supposed to be trash filling around big tits and swinging dicks, why am I skipping sex scenes in annoyance to get to the story??

But for real, this could be a goddamn book if you just took out the porn. It's crazy how much thought has gone into the lore of these mythical creatures, lore that is both unique but familiar to the usual mythos surrounding them. I'm definitely sensing a lot of Masquerade vibes, too, and I like that.

So yeah, definitely a great game, though anyone looking for just straight-up porn might not like it as there is quite a lot of text...however anyone who loves a good story on the side will find nothing wrong with this.