VN - Ren'Py - Abandoned - Reluctant Archon [v1.0 Full Vss] [Kyois]

Normally I don't review a game with just a few days of story..but damn what an action packed few days.

The world is great. I have seen a few comparisons to TV shows that don't do it justice it is the tabletop RPG game system World of Darkness on steroids. The mythic creatures, the politics and the keeping hidden (The Masquerade in WOD) including the agents that protect the humans. Monsters with personalities, dreams and goals that not inherently evil.

A fast paced story that has you hooked from start and doesn't let go and leaves you hungering when you hit end of content.

Great character development without detracting from story or slowing pace of game The use of sharp dialogue to give characters depth of personality true craftsmanship. There are spelling mistakes and a few grammar problems but nothing that spoils story or slows understanding.

H scenes aplenty already and they fit in with story very well. The renders and scenes are quality and lots of variety.

A multilayered story with many power players that will keep us guessing for a long time.

A lot of visual clues tied in that may or may not be relevant but I wont discuss here.

Patreon has no tiers (at this point) so you get treated same regardless of how little you donate. No paywalls on content.

Review date: 7/25/2019
Game version: Reluctant Archon Chapter 2 Part 1

What can I say that other reviews so far have not covered? I am positive that if the dev takes this to completion this game will challenge such titles as "Acting Lessons" and "Depraved Awakenings" for story quality and immersiveness.

Renders are good quality, the ladies are all in the sexy realm of believable proportions and have fleshed out personalities that make each of them a character and not just a fuck doll (although eminently do-able each one).

I can only pray more people play this and give it likes and that the dev gets more patrons. This game not going the distance would be a crime. It is an absolute sin that at the time of this review he has only 6 patrons.

Review based on Ch.2 Part 1.
Nice! What a little gem of a game! It always makes me so happy to stumble across actual good writing and storytelling. If you are used to the regular tropes here on f95 then you are really in for a treat! Kyois is mixing elements from mythology and mafia stories and spices it all up with sex, action and his(her?) own brand of magic. It may borrow a little from existing fantasy but the end result is truly unique. Think of this as High Fantasy set in a metropolitan area. Sounds weird I know, but it actually works!
Mystery is everywhere, it's even hard to tell which direction is up sometimes but I can definitely feel that it's not just random things happening. They have a purpose somehow. Even the sex scenes feel like they are built into the story and not just to spice things up.
The world Kyois has built is immersive, the dialogues feel natural and I never once felt the need to skip ahead because the text was boring. The visual style of the storytelling is absolutely on point - flashbacks and dream scenes have been used to death by now by other devs, but Kyois shows us all how it's actually supposed to be done.
Renders are great and the characters are really hot! Music is fitting and comes on at the right times. I just wish there would be more.

The only (small) complaints I have are that the sex scenes are maybe a bit short (moar renders pls!), and the animations aren't that great. But the setting for them makes up for this a great deal. The sex is meaningful to the story (well most of it is) and this I feel is quite unique and makes them way hotter.

You are watching a star being born. It will be nice to tell the grandkids I was here to see it happen!

5/5 Recommended for everyone! Can't wait to see what's next!

Edit: oh yea there are small spelling and grammatical errors littered all over the place. It's no big deal really, but please get a competent proof reader!

[Review based on Chapter 2 part 1]

First off this is a Visual novel with some content gated by choice, not a "game" per say. It tells a decent story and the MC isn't a manipulative cunt, which is a refreshing change given his has access to magic and mind control magics at that.

The still renders are of a good quality and the story appears to be thought out and following a plan so it doesn't appear to meander aimlessly. We will see how long that holds true. The world building is done within the story so we learn of things quite organically as the story progresses.

I never had any WTF moments with the story where characters or plot developments made no sense which sadly is rare with so many games on the site.

Engrish is not a supported language of the game which is a welcome development of the game. Reading English and not engrish makes the storytelling flow so much better.

The game lacks decent animations and the developer really should looking to actual animations not the few still picks cycling back and forth style of animation that is used in the game. It isn't the worse example of this type of stuttery animation but with so many games giving us great animations today this game is hurt by the mediocre animations on an otherwise great VN.

There is actual sexual content in the game and you don't get the grindy first you get an handjob then you have to spend an hour grinding out BS tasks to get a blowjob crap, that so many developers think is game play today or they think is a "real example of how relationship develop sexually. The sex scenes feel a bit rushed but overall the quality is very good.

This is worth the download and as the game is less than 4 months old and has more content then some games over a year old. So let us hope this rate of content releases continues.

I just can't believe that this doesn't have more likes, Reluctant Archon deserves to be one of the most popular games here. There is an interesting story and good renders. The writing is good and updates are not too far apart. It is a really solid visual novel that is telling a good story.

WOW..just WOW..but i do have to say relevant stuff here so here i go
Render:top notch..not the top..but damn good and should please everyone..Katsumi has me so totally enchanted..that render alone is worthy of an award..she is perfection.
Story:this is why it gets 5 stars..this story i fell into..i got lost in it..i was totally immersed ..so very few games have pulled me in that hard..it is detailed and meaty yet totally understandable...you never get lost..even when it ventures into the mystic realms and such..your hand is held so you always know whats going on.
Gameplay:as fluid glitchfree and refined as any ren'py gets..there were a couple spelling errors but they have zero impact on my experience
i so very highly recommend this game..this elevated into the upper stratosphere and should be considered among the very best IMHO.
enjoy..i mean it!

All of my yes. There are only a few grammatical or spelling errors in this, but it's really easy to gloss over when the game is written as well as it is.

The models are great, the story is amazing and the pacing is really well done.

There are not a lot of choices in this game, but enough that it's worthwhile, and the I cannot wait until the next update honestly.

Review just for Chapter 1:

A game with the same premise like "The Wolf Among Us".
Supernatural beings life between normal humans.

My first though was that it will not work, it will be too cringe or too glittery but honest i was wrong.
The story takes itself serious, is interesting and has a dark but not to dark tone. The characters are like- and believable.

The CGs do serving the story. They are not bad, really, but they can be better.

Some short contras:

- The MC is in a relationship but he dont care about it and fucks other girls without a blink *sigh*
- 2 frames in a loop are barely a animation
- Some spelling mistakes

5/5 Stars for story only.
4/5 Stars overall for room of improvement.

Ok so my review is now based on the complete version of chapter 1,
the main reason i am giving this a 5 star is because the story is just amazing and mind blowing, this first chapter alone is already better than a lot of completed games in here, and there is quite a good amount of content for a chapter 1.

The story is just incredible you have Gods, Monster girls (they are all gorgeous by the way,even in their "monster" forms), Human girls ,Magic, Criminal underworld, Supernatural, the Night club.

The MC is a very nice guy who holds a tremendous amount of power and yet he is humble and most of the times choose to hide from everyone else how powerful he really is,and who he is, he is a guy who is trying to make a new life while dealing with some trouble along the way and trouble from his past.

His dreams tell us about his family and some of his troubles from the past and why he choose to start a new life far away from them, and now his family is trying to get him back...well some of them at least.

There is also a good amount of comic relief, there are some similarities with the TV show Lucifer and American gods but...those shows are the ones who should be taking inspiration from the dev because his writing is way better,i also found some similarities with the game " A Wolf among us", the cast is very diverse and all of them are interesting with their own stories and problems to deal with.

The dev give us some answers to some questions while being very subtle about it, so PAY ATTENTION to the details and hints he is throwing, like Vanessa necklace from example...,and at the same time he his also giving us even more questions, he is very good with Cliffhangers too.

Now being a bit more imparcial the only cons i found: some grammar mistakes, sometimes there is a change in the lighting in the middle of a few scenes, and some of the animations could be a bit better, but since i liked so much the story those are not a big issue for me, i hope i have sparked your interest and i highly recommend you guys to play the game and support the dev if you can, cheers guys!! i wish the dev the best of luck.

I'm rewriting this review as we are a few updates in.

This game has one of the most original stories here on the site.
Yes, it is a pretty regular Modern Fantasy story, but compared to what passes for stories here (Ugh, want to fuck my mom and my sisters! ugh!), it is pure gold.

There is a wide variety of characters, including ladies of all types, that means for me there is a lot of ladies to love, but for those who are more narrow in their tastes, it means there will still be one or two girls that are exactly what you are looking for.

The orc with a glamour that turns green skin to sexy brown, the modern Asian hottie with purple hair and a similar past to the MC, or the classical Japanese beauty Saeko who would fit well into a geisha parlor, the tough, but sensible cop girlfriend, the succubus, the probably a vampire bartender, the Amazon who used to be your guardian but who is completely smitten with you now, the lost girlfriend in memories, the succubus, the goddess...
And I don't think I even remembered everybody.

but I did mention it has a succubus, right? Right.

The ladies are beautiful, even if the renders aren't the best quality wise.
Yet in terms of posing and variety of costumes and looks etc, the game is also top-notch.

A fantastic game, only rivaled by one other modern Fantasy game right now, but the difference is for now the massive size of the update.
Incredibly impressive.
I can easily wait even longer if I then get to play that much.

One or two more updates of this caliber and this will get my patronage.