Almost Castaways

Story/Plot: Almost Castaways is a story that follows two women who fall overboard from a cruise ship and end up stranded on an island. Initially antagonistic, the two find they have to work together if they wish to survive. As you navigate the story, you will find the island you're on has secrets. This becomes more important when a native woman from a nearby island tells them they have to leave or face death. As stories go, it isn't the first adult game featuring people who end up stranded on an island, but it is the first I've played with two women. I did enjoy it since it had a lot of moments where they could be close, or when they fought they could make up. Visuals: Anyone who's played adult games whether on Steam or elsewhere will recognize the character models. This might be a problem for some people, but I'm personally fine with it. It is more important what you do with the program/engines, and I feel it works really well with this engine. If I had any complaint, it is just that a lot of time games of this sort go for the clean-shaven look on women, when I can appreciate there being some stuff like hair in that region...so it was a slight shame when one of the characters got shave.. Gameplay: This game is a cross between a visual novel, and a basic survival game. Considering the game is made with the Ren'Py engine, the visual novel aspect is no surprise. There will be numerous situations where a choice pops up and can have an effect; some immediate like the adult scenes, with others being longer lasting like choosing the background job and hobby for another. This is combined with what I consider survival mechanics. This is a nice surprise since you usually only seen RenPy done with visual novels, though I know at least two devs who've made other types of games with it. You have some traits you want to keep from hitting zero like nutrition, mood, etc. There are also activities that you can do that will fill these traits. Some activities will do more than one, and some activities will lead to intimacy with the characters. Sound/Music: The game makes use of what I consider generic sounds for effect. They weren't distracting but nothing that stands out. There wasn't much music in the game, though so you may have to put something on in the background. Difficulty: The difficulty of the game varies. The visual novel portion is nothing fancy. You make a choice, and see what effect, if any it has. RenPy has a robust save system, so you could make a save at any point. And you can speed through dialogue you've seen by also holding the TAB key. The survival game has varying difficulties. At its most basic, they have what they called Visual Novel mode. This is great for people who want a directed game. In this the mode proceeds like a visual novel for the most part, though there will be moments where you have to make a decision like to eat, have fun, etc. I didn't find this to difficult since you can read your needs. The other modes are more sandbox-like, though nothing on the level of other games. The varying modes can make them more difficult as well, but that is only if you wish to challenge it. Extras/Achievements: For those who care about Steam achievements, this game doesn't have any. So completionists might prefer something else. As for extras, nothing really stands out other than the fact my 69th review was for an adult game. Recommendation: So would I recommend this game? You don't see many adult games with female protagonists, and less often with lesbian relationships. If you like those, you might give this game a try.

Great fun women with women castaway time.

I didn't finish the game yet but it is very enjoyable, it feels like I just started it and already 6 hours just went by. Some minor survival mechanics and an interesting story about two castaways on an uninhabited island with some mystery included. Edit: finished the game. The length is about 11h. I enjoyed it till the end.

Funny, lighthearted conversations, surprisingly unintrusive survival elements, lots of attention to detail in the renders (like the different clothing combinations), simple minigames that don't outstay their welcome (and can be turned off), a limited selection of backgrounds (occupation+hobby) for the main character that get woven into the dialogue quite often (not enough to warrant a replay for me though), and a story that keeps nicely chugging along and end s with all plot threads resolved. Yes, there are sexy renders, and they are sexy, but it is the playful banter that steals the show.

Great story

These girls stole my heart like it was nothing 💘. What a beautiful and sexy adventure!

Pretty hot premise!

The writing is so good. I love the characters and how they interact. There's so much more writing than zombie girlfriend, which is good. Until you try to interact with the survival elements. I like survival games. I like fighting to survive. In zombie girlfriend, the vast majority of the character moments only happened when you pursued them or else they would be scheduled for the next day so you could plan around them. In almost castaways, the girls are constantly doing things and it feels like you never have time to engage with the survival for the first 1/3rd of the game. And then there's that stupid bouncing ball minigame. I don't know if it's a fluke of the game running at 300fps or just bad design, but it is completely unplayabe. I highly recommend the game for its writing, just sadly you can only really play on story or easy.

This...is a gem of a game! With most AVNs I've tried, I find that they either skip on the Adult part (bad renders, ugly looking women) or the Visual Novel part (the story is put together quickly, just to show off the renders, or it's by someone who really only cares about the story, and makes it as long and boring as possible). This does both amazingly! The renders look great, a sort of 2010s style I'd say, but I like the whole graphics side of this game, so that's definitely not a bad thing. And the women are gorgeous! Both the two main characters, the castaways, and any other women you will meet along the ways of your adventure. The game is very visually and aesthetically pleasing. But the story is where it really shines. I play AVNs mainly for the gorgeous women and the sex scenes, as do we all. And there's a lot of those, including several fantasies that they get to live out. I just didn't expect to get emotionally attached to them. Just expected this to be another game where the story is well enough written, that it doesn't sour the main purpose of these games, but the story is exceptionally well written. The two women have their ups and downs, their fights and makeups, and a surprising amount of character growth. From being at eachothers throats, to becoming great friends and maybe even lovers. From one woman not knowing anything about surviving and wanting to live a carefree life and being somewhat selfish, to actually caring about the other woman and going along with her survival plans. And for the other woman to learn to let go every once in a while, and to just enjoy life and have fun. They begin as somewhat polar opposites, but end up cutting eachothers rough edges off, and end up, as they say themselves, women. They're there for each other when each other is down, and they genuinely end up caring, and maybe even loving each other throughout the adventure, depending on your choices. And that's another great thing, the choices in the game. Some of them are just a matter of what order you want the scenes in, others are for you to decide the relationship you want with the other woman (even though I solely went the romantic/♥♥♥♥ buddies route. And at the end of the adventure, on the 28th day, you have to make 4 choices (2, 2, 2 and 3) giving a possible 32 endings. Now, I was a bit bummed out at that day, because there were a few achievements I hadn't gotten, but after making those choices, you can choose to go on to the ending you've chosen, or get one extra day. One day where you can do all the morning and afternoon activities you want, as many times in a row as you want, so you can rewatch some scenes, or get those missing achievements. That is a great addition by the developer. In short, this is an amazing game, one of my alltime favourites. And while I did buy it at the Summer Sale, this is one of those rare times where I'd actually say the game is well worth its full price. So if you're reading this review, go ahead and buy it right now. You won't regret it.

A beautiful and highly recommended experience. It clearly stands out for its narrative; the characters are transparent yet complex and full of personality, and the gameplay is engaging enough. It's refreshing to see someone focus solely on finding their own voice and telling the story they truly want to tell. Kudos!