Ren'Py - A Family Venture [v0.09 V1 Beta] [WillTylor]

I have had to review this game after trying it again and sadly as i expected the sandbox style has made the game unbearable to play, at the start its just annoying and for quite a while i was able to keep going because i really wanted to continue the story but it goes on way way too long and it becomes a chore to play even with cheats to the point i have given up trying to get to the end of the current update let alone the end of the game.

Hopefully in the future it might get reimagined as a VN where it should easily be a five star game.

Really good game in his kind not to much grind. The story is fun the corruption is good. And the art is good too. Only think i don't like like most update are kinda big but really long to come. I feel like i wait 1 year between each update.

Recognizing that the story premise is weak in the in-game dialogue can only get you so far. I played the initial release and the most recent version, 0.6 at time of writing this review and while the amount of content version to version seems to be fairly solid the overall buggy-ness and painful UI make it a bit of a chore to play.

CGs are mediocre at best, I think my biggest criticism would have to be the facial expressions and the waxy appearance of the models skin. The models themselves are fine, except the MC that looks twelve. What's with all these family porn games have runts for MC's?

TL;DR - another Big Brother clone that copies all of the bad and very little of the good.

Man this game would be really good if it wasn't so repetitive and grindy. I had to play with the cheats and I can't imagine trying to play this without them. The girls are all really hot, writing is good, animations are good, and the sex scenes are great, but the grind gets old. I don't mind a little bit of a grind but when you have to play with the cheats on to have a good time that's a problem. If the dev could find a way to tone it down this game would be 5/5.

This one is a slow burn, "Milfy City" slow, not "The Deluca Family" slow. I finished playing v0.06a. Which there is still quite a bit to be done in it, but from what I can see this game is far from being complete.

The story is top notch, the mafia is always a good choice. It's what one would expect from a "only man in a house full of women" game. Though I do like how they handled the money aspect of it. Just being more background setting and not the driving force of the story. I managed to see all of the available scenes save for two because they don't interest me and have the potential to ruin the story for me.

There are only two negatives I have to say about this game. The first is the poor work of the incest patch. I don't know if it's developer made or fan made but who ever made it needs to go back through it because there were countless times where phrases like "you're not my son" and "She is your caretaker" are said. Not to mention some scenes end up slipping up and falling back to using "landlady" and "roommates". I would see those and read them in my head as "mother" and "sister/brother/siblings" but it does break the immersion of the story. Also, go with the default name. I changed MC's name in the beginning and was still called by the default name like 85% of the time.

The second complaint which is more of a bug report, latter in the game opening up inventory would cause a crash screen. I only noticed it a little after buying and picking up the third Parry Hotter book, which subsequently was named "book 2" when buying it. So I don't know if there was a conflict. But it became annoying when I would have to use my phone and look at the cheats page to see how much money I had, or else get on the computer and go to the online store as another way to see it. Not that I was really worried about money at the time.

Still with only those two things to complain about this is still a solid 5 star game for me. And I look forward to the next update. 10/10 would recommend.

Not an interesting or well done story/game. So little to it, not to mention the animations and such are not well done. It could be so much better and actually be interesting if effort was put into it. I have had this downloaded since it started, and still very little effort has been done to improve it. If it does get better ( likely not ), then kudo's to the dev. Although i doubt it will.

Update ( 2 years since last review) june 22, 2022

So now after third year, there is very very little done in the way of advancing story. You would think there would be a lot more considering the amount of time this has been out.
Little to none in regards to improvements
You can now bang the sisters ( still very cheap with animations )

This is not a slow burn story, this is a standing almost completely still story. Give credit for the minor advance since it is now at meeting the father. Three years and this is all you have out, the laziness or lack of imagination is really showing.

I get "bad end" right after start, it's not even any "end" just dev telling me "that's not option which I want you to choose". Story at start don't seem very bad... but if in every choise I must think "what dev want me to chose" then I pass on it. Music was ok.

The game is the best of its' genre. The developer, Will Taylor, is one of the best I've seen in terms of listening to feedback, being timely with updates, communicating progress to fans, and really understanding what it takes scratch the itches of all the kinks it goes into.

The story is as believable as it can get for this particular brand of fiction.

The models are really great, mostly because they look (and act) like their suggested ages. Too many VNs make the siblings look mid 20s to early 30s, and the MILFs not too far behind. The sibs and the MILF in this however are spot on.

The MC is a manipulative asshole, and I love it. The corruption angle feels genuine because he does things that make it all much more believable, such as:


The music is good enough to compliment the grind. And regarding the grind, I personally think it is just enough to make you feel like you "earned" the progressions without overdoing it. It's such a gentle art and I think Will Taylor found the right balance.

I could go on and on. The light lesbian encounters (the more the merrier IMO), the NTR (well done IMO and also avoidable), the excellent writing (including grammar), the hint system, the GIFs during time skips, etc.

If I had to be picky, and this is not necessarily a criticism more than it's a personal taste thing, I HATE bestiality, BUT it is not portrayed as really happening AND it's such a small part that I was able to overlook it without getting turned off. For those of you who feel like me about that area, see the following spoiler:


Another thing I'm not crazy about, of which I know I'm VERY alone in this sentiment, is the huge cock thing. It seems unavoidable with the hordes of VNs available, every MC having unusually (and I'd say even unrealistically) massive dicks. I'm not saying I want the MC to have a small dick, but it would be nice IMO if the MC didn't have this shocking advantage as it takes away some of the realism IMO and I also want to earn the girl without being a walking penis that girls can't resist.

Well, I think I can stop here. Bravo to you Will Taylor and team, I'm certainly a fan as you can see, and I look forward to future updates. Even if you abandoned this project as so many seem to eventually do...the work you already have done is gold and you should be proud of it.

Love this game at first sight… Really entertaining, great model (the big sister ) and story. The Dev Always improving himself and Always in touch with his community (and it's a rare thing)
In the end, keep with the great work you're doing and don't worry about some review

Another Pro Cuck game disguised as a harem game, where the MC has to bust his ass everyday of the week. He works day in and day out to make money for his family to avoid his mom and sisters being town whores for the mafia. The recycled models of this game all look like adult sized middle school kids with makeup. Basically the whole game is you babysitting the whole family and making sure you have enough money because they're apparently too stupid to figure out any other ways or means of making money other then eventually becoming sluts, which is almost inevitable. Whether it's the sister stripping or posing nude on cam sites, or Mom stripping at clubs pretending she doesn't like it when in actuality she LOVES it. Poor gameplay and mechanics as well.

Wash, rinse, repeat. Nothing I haven't witnessed before.

Version: V0.06a Supporter

Review:
I just played again to see if anything has changed, but unfortunately that game is still the same shit. If you read my previous review, I apologize, because maybe I said something wrong or forgotten to say something. Lets go to what matters. This game is one of the worst porn games I've ever played, I don't think I could even say porn, because it's extremely weak content. The story of the game is very childish and silly, there are many things in this game that you will ask yourself "Are you serious?" because the content that you will see and play will cause you a disappointment for downloading it (2.5GB). I would forget to say, there are a lot of stupid things in this game, if you played this in the beginning and didn't move it to the recycle bin, you're just wasting your time.
Gameplay:
If you like sandbox games, this one will disappoint you a lot. What a bad game to play as a sandbox. The gameplay is totally uncomfortable to play, as there is a lot to grind and repeat. The game interface is awful, very few interactions and limited. And most importantly, very tiring.
Graphics & Sexual Content:
The graphics are not the best, let's say it might be acceptable (depending on your taste), on certain occasions I thought it very bad. The rendering is the same, but let's say it's acceptable and bad. There are almost no sex scenes as there are very few. Just like sexual content, you won't see enough (and look, the game has 2.5GB) it's pretty weak content to call a porn game. I just saw an HJ, BJ, maybe a vaginal sex. Anyway, some Tags that this game has are very liars, do not trust, or draw your conclusions.

So, why I did gave 1 star?
I have to say, it is one of the worst games I have ever played. I wasted my time testing it, and again. The story of the game is very stupid, the content of the game is stupid, the gameplay is quite repeated, tiring and grinding. The game does not have enough sexual content, if I am mistaken it is because I gave up playing it. I had no desire to continue, as I had played before and halfway through the game I still didn't have enough content, so it's not even worth it. Anyway, there is nothing more to say. The game has a stupid story, graphics and bad renderings, very non-existent of sexual content, repetition, grinding, tiresome gameplay. So it’s not worth wasting your time playing this, I don’t recommend it.

from first sight i love this game, but after played in this like 1 hour i start to hate this. The game very uncomfortable, gui a peace of some thing not usefull, content realy hard to find. Author start line with mom and freeze it for 4 or 5 upd? Grind and empty rooms piss me off.

Incomplete but good so far. Sound effects in H scenes is a nice touch. The progress did not just give you everything like in some games, a work and earn progressive theme is huge for these kind of games and has been forgotten from other games. Music and dialog was good.

Highlights of the game I felt was the FBI coming by weekly (super pity there is hardly much about her) and the cosplay with taking pictures. Wish there was a lot more of both.

Now for the bad -

Felt some of the models facial expressions was odd, inhuman like. Could just be me but if the method used has its limits.

The map feels a bit devoid/empty. It be nice to have some interaction in other places, but I suppose that would mean more characters probably. Do not like the mechanic/UI roll out short cuts on the bottom to go to places. Maybe if placed on top and in much small sizes so its easy to click on them.

Looking forward to new content. Maybe some scenes with other characters or introduce. DO not have a lot of money on myself but well completed games I find do get a donation from me as if I was actully buying a new a AAA game and this game is diffidently heading this way.

As of 0.04f-Xmas

Tl;dr - it's not great, not terrible as the meme goes.

Characters

The main character is... somewhat better inspired than the average MC we have to play in an incest game. Don't get me wrong, he is a creep (actually a bigger one than some other MCs) but at least he embraces it and goes with the flow. No poses, no self-justifications - he wants to fuck all the women around him and does whatever he can to do it. And the horse dick.

The Mom (Jakie or however) is actually somewhat better than what one expects. I kind of like her, even if the way she goes about incest is probably the stupidest excuse in a porn-game ever.

The Little Sister - well, she is a slut, just like most little sisters in those games are. Probably the weakest story line overall.

The Big Sister - gladly dropped the "big sister bitch" very quickly. While her motives are about as believable as tho mothers... they are some of the most hilarious moments in the game.

The Aunt - remember all the jokes about blonds. Yup - she personifies them.

The Cousin - gladly is almost not in the game.

Special mention to the FBI agent. She actually is quite original.

Can't talk about the NTR - I avoided it a lot.

The Story

On the surface it's nothing bad. Boy has to pay off the family debt. After that... nothing much happens. Everything happens just to introduce the next chick. My personal reaction is - meh. Decent plot, horrible story. But I would say this - judging the game for what it is - it does the job.

The Gameplay

Works, but it's not great. For one you have a bunch of stats, that rarely do anything and don't follow the same rules. Some are capped at 10, others seem to not have an upper limit. Some are gained almost randomly. The stats are a mess. Maybe the best part with them is with the aunt hub, but at the same time that is the most soulless part of the game. Anyhow. They work, they won't break your game, they are just a little bit annoying.

The UI is anywhere from horrid to great. The ability to pop up the girls stat-cards is very useful. The excessive amount of clicks to do simple things like skipping time (something you will almost always have to do at the start of every new day) is closing deadly sin levels. Maybe, when there are more events in the game it won't be as maddening, but currently I wanted to scream at some decisions.

Let's look at the laptop as an example.
To view the cosplay photo shoots and advertise them (something the game encourages you to do daily) you have to:
1. Click on the laptop.
2. Click trough 3 or 4 screens of text with a dumb joke about the password.
3. Click on the browser.
4. Click on the section of the browser where you enter that site.
5. Click trough 1-2 frames of useless text.
6. Click on the advertise button.
7. Another screen with text.
8. Manage to click on the X button to close the browser (a very buggy UI element).
9. Click on yet another X button to exit the laptop (also buggy).
And that is every fucking day. It's clicking for the sake of clicking. And the game is full of it. 20+ click at times. Holy Mother of the Russian Grind, that's just ridiculous.

At least making money is trivial. But since there is no story attached to it, there is nothing hard about it and there is no economy of the game - It's just another bunch of clicks you just have to do almost every day. Personally I would have done that part of the game in full, before anything else. Or just slap a fucking button on the City Map "Go to Work" and reduce the clicks. Jesus fucking Christ on a pogo stick, I think I reduced the life of my mouse by 20% just to play trough the game. Not cool!

That said, there is a lot of potential, so maybe in the future the game will be better.

Also sometimes the game tells you what stats you need, sometimes it doesn't and sometimes parts are closed behind illogical triggers.

The Fetishes

Promises a lot of girl on girl family action. That's cool.
NTR is entirely optional. Even more cool.
Bestiality is not optional. Not so cool.
Currently you can't do much with the girls. And that's ok, taking it slow is ok. The problem is that you do have to grind stats, so you will be sick and tired from the photoshoot. Hopefully with the addition of more events there will be more stuff to do and the grind will drop down.

The Visuals

So, the X-mas update showed that the dev can make actual animations. Cool. I must say the pacing of the "animations" before that (basically two repeating frames) was horrendous, especially when you can't skip them when you are forced in to them again and again. God bless RenPy's CTRL function. But even than, since it's a fixed amount of repeating frames, and not a single one, it just sinks a lot of time.

The girls are ok. I was finally glad to see some small boobs. Their skin has some really strange colors at times but otherwise they look good.

Other notes

The game has potential and the updates are decently sized. It's not a waste of time to play it. Just take it as what it is - it's not a drama. It's a comedy. Whit some really, really fat humor. ATM it's just average. Has potential to be really good, but nothing more. Not great, not terrible, if you have several hours you don't know what to do with - play it.

A good surprise, even if a bit grindy

I didn't expect much of this game when I started, but it came out as a quite addictive one, that you will have hard time stoping.

--- Chara Design :
We can find better quality renders and characters nowadays, but they were still to my taste and good eye candy. Their personality are fun and lively.

--- Story/Background :
It is not the most original story, nor the most believable one, but it is enjoyable and I kinda like the way it was built.

--- Sex/Animations :
They are okayish, not bad but not professional level.
However, we can see a clear 'step up' on that matter during the Xmas Event, which can make us believe that the Dev is progressing fast on that subject.
The cumshots and squirts are well done tho'

--- Contents/Gameplay :
Contents are huge, at 0.4 there are 35 events + many routine stuff, you won't bash that in one night.
The gameplay is pretty good I must say, although it could be better with less grind and some options for better navigation.
++On the plus side :
-> The way to earn money with cosplay is pretty fun and well done.
-> The different options to use your money or not are quite interesting
-> The characters stats management is pretty good but a bit grindy
--On the down side :
-> Although the grind is understandable to really show the evolution and corruption process, but sometimes it is too much.
For example, I don't feel it is necessary that we repeat 6 times the cosplay photosession to have enough point to unlock all positions. Maybe in 3 steps it would have been enough.
-> There should be a direct option to skip the time of the day quickly, by clicking on the sun for example. Right now we have to do 3-4 clics through the phone or the room, and bear with those stupid 'memes' every time, it is a pain.

I think some people did not rate this game 5 stars mainly because of the last 2 points I mentionned on the gameplay. I almost did the same, but I will keep the 5 stars rating for all the work that has been done which deserves support, and because I think it can probably be corrected easily in the future.

I honestly don't understand the praise this game is getting. Here's what I see:

• Grindy
• Porn not worth the grind
• Mediocre porn
• Boring Progression
• Makes fun of other porn games, has the exact same plot as the stupider ones ("oh no auntie, I can't pee if you're looking. No, don't go, it would be better if you showed me your tits, then I could pee")
• Art is "meh" but that's subjective
• Animations are "meh", this is not subjective. Objectively "meh"
• No other kinks outside of incest (maybe some pee stuff, but that's me being hopeful)

So what do you get then? A very avarage incest game where you can pretend the children are all underage (if that's your kink. They do look that way, and they behave that way too, so yeah). You could argue it's above avarge, since the avarage is so god damn low. But it's not good. Go play freeloading family instead. Even the never to be finished "Big Brother" is a better time investment IMHO

DAZ grain, broken areas around the female genitalia.
MC who looks to be 12 with a huge dick which pumps up as a stuck hose when he cums.

I'm not impressed TBH, "games" like these just make me wonder how old the developer/s is/are...

Pregnancy and bestiality caught my interest but "Nothing to see here"
Compared to other "I don't fuck with my family because there's a patch"-games this at least doesn't have zeppelin tits.

Unpacked, watched the renders. Moving on...

Rating based on v.0.0.4e

This is a great game. It is funny, good models and great renders. The story is not very original, but that is not neccesary.
There is enough content to make it worth the effort, and the maker gives updates quite regularly.
You should just play it.

There's a decent amount of content to enjoy despite the time of this review it being at v0.04e. The game has a great sense of humor. Consistently solid, regular updates. Dev engages directly with the community. When bugs are reported they are fixed quickly.

This is a great game with awesome characters, all of the family is great, I'm particularly fond of the sisters, Lauren and Sidney. There is a lot of content already and many fun events, the humor in the game is great, and theres some choices to be made too.

A minus for me is the grinding and repetitiveness but not as bad as many of the other similar "free-clicking" games, it could've been a little less even if I understand its a game-mechanic.

Great game that I currently rate at 8,5/10.

Edited: I feel the game has gone downhill, more grind, less focus on the story and the people already there, it mostly feels like a repeat of the earliest events in the game, just "more" of the same thing, 6,5/10 will be my rating for now.