VN - Ren'Py - A Life Worth Living [Ch. 5.5 Fix Public] [FiTB_Games]

Review of chapter 5.5. So I am not really a swinging fan and this title is very clear that it is about swinging and it is unavoidable. But I liked the graphics, and I am a fan of the cheating genre., so I gave it a go.

I really like multiple protagonist games that give opportunities for cheating on both sides, as long as it doesn't dive down the rabbit hole of the common NTR cuck, humiliation stuff, mandatory interracial BBC...this seemed to have some interesting elements and didn't do the common tropes so common today.

Graphics - pretty good, standard stuff but some really decent LIs from both the male and female side. Some really beautiful graphics at times, and some not, but overall pretty good.

Plot - Decent, and well done enough that it kept my attention until the later chapters where it was really tending towards the swinging bit, and the thrill of new experiences and even the cheating side began to give way for the full swing. Probably more my tastes effecting that part, the swinging part doesn't really begin to overwhelm things till later chapters. But so far it seemed to be more realistic and played what is a more realistic take on infidelity, sexual exploration and didn't do the regular plot you seem to see for any wife cheating/swinging game.

Gameplay - this I felt was very well done. I did use the walkthrough to get ideas and had saveeditor open to look at the stats that were building up. I didn't see in game where you can see any stats so that was a negative.

Why the gameplay was good, it provided multiple paths, many decisions, and a really good wide range of differences. Mostly the Male MC did not start the game off with - "I have visions of my wife fucking other men"...thankfully. He is on a path of exploration and by the time I stopped playing (before chapter 5) was not a cuck, was getting his own action while wifey was growing herself and was starting to cheat (how I played - there are faithful, sharing, cheating routes).

Some cuck stuff exists but its not directed at the MCs so far (that I saw).

Animations - a few and not something I really lose my mind for as I am happy with a series of pics and a well told story as well.

It definitely has replayability, and various paths you can take, and you can chose to not pick certain LIs.

A blackmail moment came in that other reviews mentioned, it didn't last overly long, not sure it actually added much to the plot but it didn't bother me to much as there was multiple ways to play through it.

Overall I really liked it, it is clear its a swinging game and that not being in my kinks so I had to turn off that in my brain to do an honest review. I really, really liked this one (aside from the swing stuff personally). Greatest challenge I think for the dev will be keeping up and trying to achieve the goal of keeping those different paths open.

Fun game, dev has put allot into this one, worth a go and I hope it continues.

Storyline and branches look to have lost their way on the most recent update. Just a general fuck fest rather than following the hotwife / netorare options. That, plus abandoning the impregnation / breeding story suggest this game will disappear into obscurity soon.

I downloaded this game with a lot of hope for it and, while it's far from the worst thing I've ever played, it was ultimately too much for me to keep going.

Let me start out with the pros:

• The overall plot of the game is great. A loving couple trying to become more sexually open, not only for themselves, but for each other. That is so wholesome and 10/10 perfection in and of itself (seriously, why is this not a more common theme??).
• The creators have a far better understanding of the difference between swinging and netorase and netorare/cuckolding/cheating than like 90% of the games that use the "swinging" tag do. Seriously, it's very refreshing to find an actual swinging game and not just 'wife turns into massive slut and fucks any other man with a pulse, while loving husband becomes beta cuck thrown to the side' so-called swinging.
• The game does a decent job at trying to flesh out the characters. It's a plus over other games that either immediately set you up with sex with near strangers, or people your character knows, but you the player know little about.
• Special shout-out to Mary. She is basically a dream wife with how open she's willing to become just for the sake of her marriage and her love for Fred. Seriously, if you find yourself a Mary irl, lock her up asap! I'm pretty sure there's only like 10 of her on Earth irl and they're definitely worth their weight in gold.
• The game is great with branching choices that actually matter. Each choice does have its repercussions sooner or later. Impressive compared to other games.

Now for the cons (these will be more in depth):

• While the plot itself is fantastic, the storyline... to be kind, we'll say it starts off good, before taking a very steady nosedive as it goes on. Just to be perfectly transparent, I did not make it to Ch 5 (the last one out as of this post) because the story just got so bad that it made me not able to care anymore.
• To point out some examples, I'll go with the 2 biggest ones:
  Spoiler

  You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.
• I'd also like to add that the dialogue is very clunky. I can't say its terribly written, because it's not really bad; but it feels like such a slog to get through all the dialogue just to get to the interesting parts.
• Touching on what I said in the pros section... The first post of the thread proclaims the game to be a "swinging-based game" with netorare content, but the storyline seems dead-set on shoehorning Fred and Mary into a more netorase/hotwifing dynamic. The choices Fred is presented with do, in theory, let you not go down that path; but even if you chose not to, that's still what seems to end up happening. That's probably great if that's what you came into this looking for, but as someone who was expecting fairly equal action for both Fred and Mary, it was very frustrating how
  Spoiler

  You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.
  I guess my overall complaint on this part is that, for a game that's supposed to be about a loving swinger couple, it's just way too wife-centric.

Overall, I'd personally rate this game a 2 1/2 out of 5 stars (but choosing 3 since there is no option for half stars). The game is fun over all, and there seems to be so much potential with that they could do and could have done, but the few cons I've found with it just really do heavy damage to it in my personal and honest opinion.

Big fan of this.
Story: 5/5
This is a really outstanding game. It plays like a game involving human beings, written by adults who have actually engaged in functioning relationships with other human beings. Kudos to the devs.
How great is it to finally, FINALLY get a game where the wife of the MC *doesn't* respond enthusiastically to him porking every available woman in their zip code? I'm almost embarrassed to praise this element of the story, because it is so basic that it shouldn't be a rarity.
Visuals: 3/5
The only real drawback to this game, tbh, and one that I admit is entirely subjective. None of the women in this game are particularly attractive to me, and the renders have the appearance of a game even older than this one's rather advanced age.
Mechanics: 5/5
Lots of decisions to be made, and your choices actually have consequences and make changes to the story. There is a ton of variety in the paths, and the game provides a feeling of real interactivity in the direction that the story takes.
All in all, this is definitely one of the top 5 cheating wife games (I know there are other paths, but I have never played them as those aren't particularly interesting to me).
Great work, dev!

I initially liked the game a lot, the plot, the conversations made a lot of sense, even the characters, but as I continued playing the plot began to lack sense in many choices, a couple who started out with great love basically became two singles selfish, graphically it never made a leap in quality, then the latest updates and having created an evil and hateful Mary, but with the forcing of the game to continue, gave me the final thought that the game is dead. Sorry, but besides waiting time for each update, this game also has content problems.

ALWL is one of the better - or at least longer - "NTR" games on the market, but that length also carries with it some downsides.
The good:

• Renders: Not super-high quality, but they aren't trash either, perfectly mid as the kids today would say.
• Choices: Plenty of choices, and their consequences are clear as day, for the most part.
• NTR: There is more of Netorase than Netorare in this game, as advertised, but I'll take it.

The Bad:

• Animations: Far and few in between. And then they barely qualify as animations, as they usually only portray a single pose - with 'mid' quality at best.
• Story: OK at the start, then slowly deteriorates. The
  Spoiler

  You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.
  and only makes my eyes roll whenever it slid back into the narrative. Which is definitely annoying when the next mysterious plot seems to revolve around another
  Spoiler

  You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.
  ... for seemingly no reason than to develop the story forward. But none of this shit fits into an NTS story since the wife at this point has been totally corrupted (especially on the NTR path), so another case of the blackmails is just a signal from the dev that they have no clue where to go next with the characters...

The story is currently the weakest point of this game, there's plenty of sex and lewdity of all kinds for all NTS/NTR enjoyers. However, an increasingly non-sensical narrative and boring choices are slowly eating away at the fun of this game (

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

).

For now, this game gets a 3.5/5, since this appears to be one of those NTR stories that is getting dragged on instead of getting us closer to a finale at this point in development.

This game is a lot better than it initially looks like. The low (or lower than top games at least) quality of graphics gives you the impression that the game is of lower overall quality, but surprisingly it was amazing! The story and the actual choice with effect in this game (extremely rear in other games) makes it stand out. I think that the title and the visuals lower its visibility. I wish this game had more attention, it deserves it. I recommend it without any reservations (if you're into the staff described ofc).

Current: Chapter 5 - Part 1

This game deserves attention primarily due to its good script and dialogues. The main characters of this game share their desires and experiences with each other, and thanks to it the game acquires a certain realism.
I also want to note very interesting detective line in the game . There is intrigue, blackmail, murders, industrial espionage and much more. So as the game progresses, you suspect first some characters, then other ones. Bravo!
As for the graphics, the art is at a decent level. The pictures are very nice and don't spoil the story. Although the animations are quite simple. I hope that over time the developers will improve this component of the game.
To sum it up, this game is worth playing.

Great game.
Mature people doing mature things.
No 18-year-olds in sight, instead there are sexy women.
The wife of the main character is very sexy AND interesting.
Actions actually have consequences.
Highly recommended if you like swinging/cheating/NTR/corruption.
NTR is easily avoidable, if you hate NTR.

Played version 4.1. Fun swinging game. Kinky tags. Wide cast, interesting plot. Various routes. Hot scenes. Solid game! Hope to see this continue and eventually at the finish line. Definitely a game worth playing.

A good hotwife game..... thus far.

I have to say what ticked me off the most, the amount of renders used. there were times where the render would change every line of dialogue, even if just 1 word. while great in theory, it made it jarring.
The animations were under used, nice little loop, normally no dialogue, click and we are back to quick changing stills. The easy fix for the future updates, make more use of the animations you incorporate. you can fit a lot of the dialog into a looped animation.

that's all i can really pick on. Hope to see more.

My review will contain spoilers about the general direction of the plot

The only choice you have is whether or not you cheat on your wife. Your character will turn your wife into a hotwife - something you have no control over. Therefore, I'd recommend this game to fans of the hotwife genre. The story is well-written. I particularly enjoyed the immersive backstory in the prologue. The sex scenes aren't animated, they're a series of still images (not an issue for me). The women in the game are attractive and have nice bodies. No extreme hentai-like proportions.

ANY HIDDEN SPOILERS I MARK ARE MINIOR ONES.

Before I get into the actual review I would like to say this game has some themes not everyone is into. I'm not even into them either however I went into this game with an open mind and the way those themes were presented in this game made it an enjoyable experience. Those themes would be

Swinging - unavoidable
Blackmail - unavoidable
Hotwife / sharing - outside of the swining and a few photoshoot scenes it's avoidable based on your choices.

NTR - Dont cheat and it's avoidable. Even the NTR scenes that are in the game one is the same on the hotwife path expect context is she cheated. The other is a fantasy and didn't really happen. The last one not even sure if it happened or was a lie 100% but it seems like it was a lie and you can avoid seeing it. The only choice that may not be avoidable is if you pick wrong deciding what to do about the blackmailer however it is very light NTR no actual NTR sex happens in that scenario.

Now onto the review again I would like to say to those that aren't into the themes if you can go into this game with an open mind you might enjoy it like I did as I'm not a fan of this themes but not enough for me not play something either. As sexual content in these games arent important to me at all I play for story and characters. Franky some of these scenes I thought were kind of hot once you knew the context behind them.

TLDR : This game story and just overall experience for me isnt S tier but it's somewhere around A - B tier. While the enjoyment I got out of the story I would rate as a S tier. But since enjoyment is subjective I think between A-B tier is a fair assessment for the game overall.

Story - The premise of the story is You are a married couple on top of running into a rut when it comes to sex you and your wife seems to be having trouble getting pregnant. You go to a therapist to help. As well as blackmail and murder mystery are presented into this game.

The way the sexual themes are incorporated into this story do not feel forced but rather kind of organic. It was done in such a way that someone like me who isn't a fan of the themes in this title was able to enjoy them more than anticipated. I really like how realistic this game can feel for the most part as it's going through the MC's day to day to life with very little time skips but some do occur.

One thing some may not like when it comes to the story is some very minor things might be over exaggerated a tad here and there but not very often and is a non issue. As well some may think the blackmail stuff went on to long. Honestly I thought it was fine as I was enjoying those scenes not for what was happening but just for the story aspect of them. The only other negative I can think of is a forced relationship some might have issue with. However I think it works in this game Ill get into that later

One thing I didn't like about the story personally was it felt after a bit in the story the therapist idea was just dropped and they haven't gone for more sessions. That's also when some of the more advanced sexual stuff occur with their new lifestyle and the comfort level of Mary doing them skyrockets. Maybe they still are going but it's off screen cant be sure.

Characters - Other than the MC"s wife and the MC for the most part I didn't think the characters were well developed. A few were here and there but overall no. But I don't think they needed to be either has most of them were minor character you have a interaction with here and there. The ones that have more of a presence did get decent character development.

Mary - The MC 's wife and the forced relationship in the game. While usually that's a bad thing it works in this game because the other LI the MC can hook up with are more one night stands and not really a LI. Tho one might have a potential to be a constant LI depending on how this game develops the story around that character.

I must applaud the dev for how much of a good job you have done with Mary. I found she is a perfectly balanced character that's sweet, kind, caring, capable of being bitchy when needed along side a small hint of being a bit of slut but not to slutty at the same time. All of these traits made her to be a hot and compelling character. I loved how realistic she comes across as a character it's real refreshing to see characters that feel realistic like they are a person other than a LI. I actually liked this character enough to put in my top 5 or 10 LI.

The only negative and honestly that's a personal thing I wish Mary took a bit longer to get comfortable to do some of the things she does with her new lifestyle felt a bit fast all of a sudden at one point for me. But I understand why she got comfortable somewhat quickly after a certain point, the blackmail pushes her along as well I assume just a dev / game decision for better pacing of the game's story overall instead of stringing players along that don't like things to go too slow.

The MC - Not alot can be said about him other than it seems like he ignores some issues for to long at time once in awhile not often tho. As well as he can be too trusting. Also with one certain character that did things to make his wife uncomfortable he just makes up an excuse for him so she will still help him out then gets mad when he makes her do more. But outside of that one issue I didn't find the MC too dumb or annoying or anything. Just your average smart MC that can be make dumb decsions from time to time but not very often.

Renders and animations - Honestly the renders aren't the best but they are decent for the most part. Animations is the weak point of this game while some look okay here and there they don't feel like animations you expect. But they are good enough as I get the feeling the dev is focused on the story and other area's instead of delaying the updates for months to learn to do high quality animations.

I played this today and found it quite interesting. Well worth the time invested, as the story is interesting, and the writing is fairly well done. Visually it could be better, but the writing more than makes up for it here. If you are looking for visually stunning, this is not where you will find it. But if you enjoy well-written dialog and a story that drives things in a mostly logical way, this is a winner.

I like a lot about this game and recommend it.

Renders are good

Sound is good

Writing is good for the most part

The story is great but unrealistic in places. An example, there is no way a doctor could spank (not the good kind) a nurse as a form of punishment in front of a crowd in a Western hospital today.

The characters are diverse and interesting. I'd love to know more about most of them, even the bad guys. Plenty of interesting girls to play with, Charlotte and Kelly are sweethearts.

Now the downside - the wife. I just couldn't connect with her. There are just too many issues to list with her here. And yes she is not real, but I am here for good erotic visual stories not porn, so I want interesting characters and an element of realism. Mary is not interesting, she is frustrating. Maybe future updates will change that.

A Life Worth Living is a VN about a husband and wife and the kinky adventures they undertake while trying to spice up their sex life.

I mean, I suppose you could technically avoid a lot of that stuff, but the game is really about swinging at the end of the day. The MC's choices generally revolve around whether he wishes to cheat on his wife, remain faithful, and/or encourage his wife to consensually mess around. If you're too neglectful, waifu might start to cheat as well, though that tends to go hand-in-hand with the MC cheating or deliberately being an asshole, so all's fair, right?

There is a small amount of blackmail from a third party that causes unavoidable work-related sexual harassment though. That's not my cup of tea so I figured I'd warn people. It's only a small piece of the story though and eventually you can opt out.

Anyway, with the general gameplay and warnings out of the way, the story is generally a slice of life style thing. There's not much of a grand overarching plot, though there are plenty recurring characters to keep up with. Unfortunately, the majority of them are uninteresting to the point that they all kind of blend together into a forgettable blob in my head labelled "too damn many characters." Even with weak characters though, there are some fun swinging based circumstances that are worth reading.

I do have to point out that the intro is just about the most awkward thing I've read in my life. You've got the MC pouring his guts out to a random old man, the MC's wife coming clean about childhood sexual abuse as the story vehicle for their problems in the bedroom, and then straight into a reasonably low drama slice of life story that really didn't need either of those things? It's a weird choice, but things become more normal afterward.

Otherwise, the renders are decent, but nothing wildly impressive. There are animations, but they're very short with very little movement. I'd recommend this game to diehard swinging fans, but if that's not your jam, there's better offerings around.

I really enjoy the writing and the renders look good. I enjoy the swinging aspect, although I'm torn between wanting it to progress faster to see a little more action, and finding it a bit weird that a super shy wife is stripping for her old neighbor and letting him jerk off to her. I guess I don't really get the wife character... and I really want to.

The other characters are very believable and you can tell the writer has a good understanding of couple dynamics and behavior. I'd guess that the writer is at least middle aged and has some relationship experience.

I'm giving it 4 stars rather than 5 because the writing can get a bit long winded and become hard to pay attention to, and the actual sex scenes are kind of bleh and not nearly as good as the writing. Also, while it's nice to have a gallery, I'm dying for some kind of unlocker becasue after multiple play thru's there's still a couple of scenes I can't see.

One of my absolute favorites! While it does take a while between updates, these guys make sure you aren't cheated whenever they release a new chapter. Some of themes probably aren't for everyone, but I find the story and the characters to be among my all-time Ren'Py favorites.

The game sounds like it has a well-developed storyline with interesting character interactions that keep the player engaged. The themes of trying to keep a marriage fresh and starting a family are relatable and offer a sense of realism to the story. The fact that the player's choices affect the behavior of other characters, especially the wife, adds an extra layer of depth to the game and allows for multiple possible outcomes.

In terms of the game's visuals, the renders are of high quality and add to the immersion of the game. This attention to detail and quality is always appreciated in a visual novel game, as it helps to create a more enjoyable and polished experience for the player.

Overall, it sounds like the game has a lot of potential for future playthroughs, as different choices can lead to different outcomes and endings. This replayability factor is always a good sign for a visual novel game, as it encourages players to explore different paths and make different decisions to see how the story changes.

I believe that what is to come will be a big surprise for everyone.

the game is slowly developing, but with each chapter the tension and excitement increases, I recommend it for fans of sharing and crime, with an extensive plot organized around the crime, circumstances of reaching it, collecting evidence, investigations. very nice graphics. interesting dialogues
The main female character is beauty and graceful.I recommend a little longer sex scenes with more details, but overall I rate the game 5 stars