TL;DR:
- v0.3.6.2
- pure Nostalgia
- nice 2D artwork and well-made animations
- fitting sound effects
- it's a little bit of a chore to play
On one hand, I absolutely love this game. It throws me back to the newer Zack McKracken game, and not just because of the style and game mechanics, but because of the humor as well. I also quite like the art style. It works. Normally, I would complain about the amount of work necessary to advance in the story and unlock the saucy scenes, but, in this setting, it's still a lot of fun!
I still have three major problems with this game:
1. While making your way through the storyline and unlocking scenes, it ALWAYS feels like I'm about to see a message telling me that I have reached the end of the game.
The diary does a great job guiding players, but seeing row after row of "in construction", "in development", and "Completed", while I have to senselessly sleep days away to wait for some event to trigger, makes it feel A LOT less fun. Like, I asked the aunt if she had some work for me to do, but after her response, I get a screen telling me that this feature is under construction. So, when I needed to get money for the bank to stop the foreclosure, and Nicole says that her mother could use someone who does work for her, I was sure the questline was over. Or when I had wrapped the Christmas gift for the mother and wanted to put it under the tree (because she even mentioned putting the gifts under the tree), I, again, got a "under construction" screen. Only by pure coincidence did I find out that I can give it to her directly.
If I hadn't seen the preview pictures on the OP page, telling me that there ARE scenes I haven't seen yet, I'd probably have turned the game off and waited for a few more updates by the time I completed the household repairs and finished the spring-cleaning quests.
2. There is absolutely no dirty talk whatsoever.
At some point, the devs even had the balls to make that some kind of skill! The game straight up tells you that your "dirty talk isn't high enough". The MC needs a damn skill to call the woman "Mommy" while she blows him and, at least, deliver on the incest kink? He needs a skill to comment on what he's feeling?
Dirty talk isn't hard. What IS hard, though, is unlocking the damn scenes. And then making me gain extra skills to retroactively improve on the repeatable scenes I already saw makes it feel damn tedious!
3. The MC is a Goody Two Shoes to a disturbing degree.
You can't touch anyone without expressed permission. You can't even try. You have multiple characters openly lusting after MC, like the aunt and cousin, but MC consistently rather runs away than inviting them in. When you try to watch the sister sleep, the game even pops up a message about "being as pro-consent as possible". When you tell the mother what was wrong with the grandfather clock, the game even SCOLDS you about lying by omission! If you want to show people how unrewarding it is to be the nice guy, have 'em play this game.
All in all, after a few updates, I would happily recommend this game. But, right now, it's a solid three because gameplay and content are on opposite sides of the scale.