Ren'Py - Completed - Dreaming of Dana [v0.099] [PTOLEMY]

Dreaming of Dana is a time management style game in which you, the rebellious black sheep of the family, attempt to find a way to get with the sister you've loved your whole life.

First the good. Dreaming of Dana has some of the best scenes I've found in a game, hands down. The characters have a lot of personality and the banter is top tier. The renders and scenery are pretty fantastic. Add that to some downright hot circumstances, and you have a winning combination...

If it weren't for how god awful the interface and gameplay are. The wonderful scenes are locked behind nebulous requirements, with almost unrelated scenes locking you out of others. If you're going to undertake this game, definitely follow a walkthrough or you'll find yourself grinding character relations up when it doesn't even have any effect.

There's certifiable gold to be found in this game if you dig deep enough. The relationship between the MC and Dana is one of the better ones I've found in porn games and definitely the most outright, shamelessly incestuous. While it's not really my kink, I couldn't help but root for the two of them regardless, and I appreciate that not a thread of it is hidden by "roommate" or "step-sibling" bullshit. The game is unapologetic bro/sis incest and just revels in the taboo.

It's frustrating that the gameplay and interface are so outrageously clunky that I still can only barely recommend the game. Dreaming of Dana is fantastic when you're watching scenes, and just awful at every other time. It would make for a phenomenal VN if the scenes could be reasonably tied together, but it'd be difficult. Honestly, even a hint system would push the game to four stars.

This is a tricky one for me to rate - overall I'd prefer a rating of like 3.65, sounds arbitrary...but..

There aren't enough animation, or any music, or overall theming to warrant a 4 or 5 in my book - however, we can't give partial stars so I did 4; tho realize this isn't a full fledged 4star. The first 1/3 of game feels extremely grindy and repetitive, doing the same tasks with the same dialogue over and over and over.

Having said all that, once you get past that, the game is a joy with lively characters, solid dialogue, and engaging scenes. I particularly like the way Dana and Chris interact with each other, it feels very modern, and this game doesn't have the tropes of so many sex games where the LI is either a brainless bimbo or pure-as-driven-snow-fertile-angel. She feels real, witty, and likeable - and the MC also gets points for not coming off like a cringey sleaze OR a passive doormat.

The writing quality for these two characters alone is enough for me to elevate it past 75% of F95 games. Some of the other characters like Andrea fall to more lazy writing, whereas John and Maria are also quite good.

If you're looking for an older game to kill an afternoon with, check it out, just don't get discouraged at the grinding in the first 2 weeks or so, soldier on, and you'll be rewarded.

Romance? Your sister is sitting on your lap, naked, kissing you on the lips in like the third scene. Your secretary blows you literally seconds after meeting you.

There is no story here. There are no characters here. There is no game here. If you just want to look at pictures of three naked women, all of whom have the exact same body, this is the game for you. Otherwise, there are much better options.

And also, please, for the love of all that is holy, can we stop with the "my dad is rich and powerful but he doesn't understand me" trope?

What a fantastic game!
The story is very good with interesting plot points.
Good to great characters (of course Dana being the best one).
The 3dCG is very good as well, sure, not great and certainly not the best, but still very good.
Only two real problems of this game are:
- Lack of sound (really there is nothing, it is however easy to play something in the background).
- The lack of a customizable character name (which can be fixed with a easy copy paste mod, thx btw, you are a hero).
So yeah, i can't think of a better Brother/Sister game, but sure, that goes down to personal preference.

I like this VN with one exception - the grinding part in the office. I would happily rate it 5/5 if that quite boring and repetitive part of the game was removed. Story is very nice (5/5). Girls are real beauties (5/5). Definitely 4/5 all rounded up.

completed review (no updates coming)

This is an excellent game.

The story is interesting enough.
there are a lot of fetishes to satisfy everyone.
the models look amazing!
The characters aren't annoying.
the Incest is fantastic.

overall it's one of the best VNs in the incest genre I've played.

For a real gameplay VN this one is rather missing. Two destinations, no real control on what to do, repeating actions for a long time without new things appearing.

No music at all.

Okay the girls are well designed, but there is seriously something wrong for me with Andrea face and only "Dana" character pleased me visually.

Too bad i hoped it would appeal to me, but it didn't.

Story revolves around the MC and his sister.
For the most part it is a sandboxy game, towards the ending you get locked in and are unable to "move around" in the world.

I played without a walkthrough and it was not too grindy. The only part that felt a little grindy was when I built up affection for Jessica(5 in game days). Building up stats for the other girls did not feel grindy in the same way because random events popped up for me providing enough new things and speeding up point gain.

It is dialog heavy for a sandbox game. Which I like. The writing is good for the most part. Had me laughing a few times as well.

There are no animations. There were some decent sex renders, but for the most part they were unappealing. The facial expressions were well modelled and varied for the most part.

I only completed the Andrea route so far.

Recommended for players who like story driven incest harem games and feel that the visuals are of secondary importance.

A game filled with the highest highs and the lowest lows. There are instances of great brilliance in the writing here, but others it looks like it was the work of a 5 year old. it appears this was written by two different people, one can write, the other one wrote the Green Lantern script.
The gameplay is an atrocious, tedious, convoluted mess. The random events are broken, it appears in times where it doesn't make the slightest sense, breaking the immersion. And then it happens again, and again, and again.. You'll soon learn that the 'ctrl' key is your best friend in this game. Eventually, it was the reason I quit it.. I was miserable. Midway through playing I stopped and said to myself: "what are you doing man.. what are you doing with your life?".. So, after a quick existential crises, I deleted the game and moved to another one, you should all consider doing the same.
What a shame.. this game would greatly benefit if it was a simple text VN game with some choices, not a forced, defected excuse for a sandbox game.

I liked that the story here wasn't just for the sex scenes, like in some other games and real porn, but well designed romance for an incest theme vn game. Real chemistry between the characters.

Many disapprove here that it's too grindy, but if compared to the games well known for grinding, I'd say there's no grind at all, therefore with cheats it's almost nothing, yes sometimes repetitive, but if you follow the story new scenes are like gifts and pleasant.

Disappointment is, there are scenes where you expect there should be a fuck and it may have been much hot than the other scenes, also some camera angles which show lack of the scenes and attention to details (check screens).

Body of the black girl is attractive, as long as she is a yoga trainer, though by the personality it's a turn off (she's dominant, either one'd miss most scenes), as is by the face. I guess models with short or no hairs at all is a way to economy for rendering... No animations as well.

Plus is, it have really different multiple endings. There's NTR present but it's avoidable.

So, one should play this with cheats and walkthrough, but be advised not to set at the beginning high values to the points, as it may prevent advancement and triggering next events from occurring.

Mediocre quality. (For instance, Dana's image is not well placed in scenes and has different outfit.)
Outdated graphic. Repetitive grind.
Not playable without walkthrough (certain actions seem to be necessary to progress).
I didn't play it through - too boring...

Looks cheap, be it the chara model or the environment, the model are stiff and not very good looking, the story is meh, too much useless grind, and the sex scene are ok at best.

Not a fan, would not recommend !

Finally played it and I have to say I was a bit disappointed. As others have said there is a lot of grind to get your stats up with various characters, and the repeated scenes to get there become tedious after a few rotations. There are also random events that occur throughout, but again, these repeat a lot, and after a certain amount of story progression, these scenes often look out of place.

I also think something is off with the scoring system. As a player you have no real way of knowing what is "enough" in terms of affection poimts etc with each character, or what level you're aiming for. At several points I was just lost and ended up going round in circles aimlessly, waiting for something to happen but not really knowing what or when it was supposed to come. In the end I had to consult a walkthrough to get me unstuck on at least two occasions. Maybe I'm a bit dense, but to me that says something is wrong with the structure and pacing somewhere.

What the game does well is a build a really great relationship between Dana and Chris. It hits all the right buttons and works well. The problem for me - and I accept maybe it's just my own problem - is that this relationship is then tied to lots of other female characters. Unless I'm wrong, you literally can't progress the story without pursuing the other women, it's built into the mechanics of the game. and you can't reject them until the very end. That's a flaw, in my view, because it runs counter to what the two central characters are telling you (and each other) throughout the whole game about their devotion.

It's a problem that continues into the multiple endings. Whilst I thank the dev for giving us the option of a solo ending, it's clear their heart wasn't really in it and you're supposed to go for some kind of harem option. One day one of these devs is going to have to explain to me why it's so completely unbelievable and beyond the pale for two "roommates" to end up together, yet a fantastical harem is considered believable and acceptable to society - just because it provides cover for the "roommates"! I don't get why devs seem so opposed to just committing to the ending that makes sense based on the story they've told - why suddenly get so hung up on realism and social norms at the end? As I say, maybe just my problem, your mileage may vary and I know lots of people like harems.

Anyway this is still probably a classic of the genre and has a lot to recommend it. The Dana character is beautiful and some of the dialogue, whilst a little ropey at times, is also often engaging and funny.

Okay where to start hmmmm!! This game is way to grindy. It's very forced and making the player go down avenues that they may not want. Having to literally date and fuck everything in site just to reach your ultimate goal. Then because of this you then have to invite Dana along to these 'dates' which will then 'force' you to sit and watch dana have sex with other people (maybe an NTR tag wouldn't go a miss there dev) So yeah unless you want to sit and waste hours of your time playing a game that gives very little choice in the way you play then I wouldn't waste your time. Don't understand all the 5 stars but each to there own.

This game is good, but not without faults. I feel this game is the poster child of why open world games can be frustrating. Why do I have to click 9000 times to get myself to a weekend so I can get content. Why do I have to click 1000 times to raise affection / lust whatever to a level allowing me to go on a date with someone.

It just isn't sensible in any regard. Is there enjoyment from looking at the same "Andrea enjoyed chatting with you" 20 times?? It just doesn't make sense why the game has to work that way.

Besides the open world the game is pretty good. The relationship between brother and sister is done pretty well and some of the side relationships are interesting. I genuinely cared for Dana throughout the story. The MC on the other hand is like the most boring dude ever. He mutters like 3 words for every 100 a character says to you. I'm not sure why he was made to be so boring or dull.

All that aside, the game is pretty enjoyable, at least the scenes; clicking to get to said scenes is awful.

I would totally be willing to have upped my review if it wasn't for the repeating scenes and the MC being so dull. Definitely recommend it but I also strongly recommend using a walkthrough.

For the last 3 weeks i have been playing a lot of these types of games i think over 40 games gone through and have to say this was just the best.
The story engulfed me so i played the game through in one go even though i had been up for 20 hours before i started the game up but it pulled me in and it seemed to go so fast just hoping that someone will make something like this again soon.

I liked this game a lot. Characters are interesting as is the story. Renders and scenes are hot, diverse and kinky!

I particularly like how the character stories can tie into one another and make for some group fun. That seems to be one thing that often lacks from most stories as they tend to compartmentalize each characters romance arc separately with little or no thought put into the MC getting together with multiple love interests at the same time.

Very creatively done IMO, art is good, sex is good, story is good, choices make a big difference, and lots more kinky fun then the standard vanilla stuff!

Usually I hate that the story doesn't end or the game is never finished....in this case I only wish there was more!

The dev says the game is completed but seems like its not.
I only reached an end with the secretary and two with Dana.
Your relationship with the black girl enter in a loop where i can´t get more than repeating dates i´ve done before.
A thing i can´t understand is that this girl tells you that she was in love with Dana because she is lesbian, but she ends having sex with you anyways, even she tells you that Dana wanted to be with her but she was not into girls so she was dreaming about having a relationship with her since this, but the silly thing is that Dana can fuck every girl in the game, incredible for a girl that dont like to have sex with another girl.
Another thing that annoyed me is when you share Dana. She seems no interested in this thing but suddenly she comes to you asking for permision to fuck the other man and if i go on with the swinger path i can´t have any more scenes with her, the other man fuks both girls every time, MC seems to have lost sexual appetite, from fuckink 4 girls to abstinence. And if I share her and i broke up with her, MC collapses uncapable of living without her and forgives her begging to stay toguether forever and i am unable to select an option to break up with her.
Great renders but i did´t like the story at all, so many script holes for me.

I just finished this last night. I liked the story a lot. I do have some overall character and game-play critiques.

SPOILERS!!!

Characters:

OP: The OP was good for the most part. His character model looked like a generic blow dick though. I really liked the interplay and chemistry between him and Dana. My only issue with him is that he's a bit too single minded on crushing puss. He needs to be a bit more serious of a character. Like when him and Dana finally get together and he's constantly asking for motivation when she asks him to do something. It got kind of old after a while. It's not like he didn't know he'd be giving her the D later anyway. I did like how he said every girl he's been with was basically a placeholder for Dana.

Dana: I really liked Dana. Her character model was gorgeous and she was fun. She was a bit too bossy at times, but I imagine that was to balance out OP's single mindedness. My only real issue with Dana was her constant needy reassurance that OP loved her. I had an ex that did that and it aggravated the fuck out of me. I did like how she started with a boyfriend and you had to deal with that. It added some growth. And her lesbian scenes when she's constantly looking at OP was hot. I also really liked the ability to get her pregnant.

Andrea: Andrea was alright. She was a beautiful girl. I'm not sure how I felt about her family issue causing her to basically regress to a child when she's with you. I didn't know if she was actually mentally regressing or if it was supposed to be some kind of role-play. The blonde stripper at the club turning out to be her half sister was kind of cool. Andrea's ending is the one I choose because I liked her a lot more than Maria and John.

Maria and John: I didn't care about these two one way or another. I'm not big into swinging, but it was fun telling John you'd kill him if he touched Dana and Dana literally getting off after overhearing that was a very nice touch. I also didn't think Maria was particularly attractive.

Jessica: I hated Jessica. I couldn't wait to be done with her.

I didn't have any issues with any of the ancillary characters.

Game-Play:

It was a bit too grindy. Either that or I didn't hit things until long after they were available. For an idea, when I finished both Dana's and Andrea's affection and sexuality were near 400.

There were some typos and grammar errors here and there but it wasn't a major issue.

I didn't understand the point of having buttons available if they weren't functional. Such as:

• The employee records button in OP's office is present the entire time but only actually used once.
• The 'surf the internet' button is never used.
• Each character's 'take out to lunch' button even have a notation saying they aren't functional. Then why are they in the game to begin with?

As I said I did really like the story. This is a solid game for the most part. Just needs to be cleaned up a little. Despite the fact that there are a couple of different endings already I look forward to any improvements you make if you choose to revisit this game. As I've seen others say, it would be cool to see either a continuation or sequel to this game with the same characters (or at least OP and Dana).