VN - Ren'Py - Hard Times [Ch. 14 Fixed] [Kuranai]

Hard Times [Ch.7] Review -
Starting with positives in this game are excellent renders and girls look good . Story is in mafia setup and the game is slow paced with romance developing between characters . You can choose which girls to pursue , I loved them both ( going for harem ) looking forward to other female characters which will be introduced in the future . Writing in this game is good and all the characters in the game are well written and entertaining . In the last update sex scenes are added and it is animated and the game has music which is a huge plus to the game .
So in the end 5 stars and Good game Kuranai , looking forward to future updates .

Unfortunately the game is quite boring. There are only two female characters and they aren't very attractive. You just meet them (one for reading another for workout) and then start relationship with one of them if you want. Nothing exciting happens here. The same is with the non-sexual plot, you just go for some actions but few interesting choices there.
There is some potential in the game, like maybe in the future you could choose between being a degenerated criminal or someone who tries to avoid it and have some moral dilemmas. Maybe some tough moral decisions will be available in the future. Maybe another more interesting female characters you can save from peril? That's why I'm still checking every new version, hoping for some breakthrough in this dull action. The chapters are quite short and updates are quite often but it would be really worth if the developer paused and rethink his or her ideas before continuing. That's my opinion.

Review for Chapter 6

This is my first time playing this game and i enjoyed it. The story is the main draw to this game. the MC's background is the main mystery at this point (in my opinion). There is a lot of interaction between the two sisters and the father, but none between the sisters and their brother, Augusto. I wonder if there just hasn't been time for it to develop or if there is a reason for this. I'm looking forward to seeing it unfold.

The renders look good and the little animation in the game seems good. Overall, I recommend this game. I look forward to future updates.

[Ch.6]
The mafia genre got me interested right away. The characters are far from shallow or without emotions, and this is great. The history wrapped me up and left me wanting more. You should try this one for sure if you like mafia shit like me or want something great to play on this site.

Kuranai, thanks for providing us with an awesome history.

(Sry if I said something wrong, English is not my first language)

Mafia story count me in. There is not that much mafia games here. Oh and it's slowburn big plus for me. Really loved Alice. And thanks for adding gun shooting sounds. Liked the story plot .keep up th current pace dev. Don't rush it. Good game worth playing

Only problem it's short. And updates also contains very little content. But dev is learnig. And updates are coming faster. So well I'm not complaining about it

Alice vs Sophia, I've never been so torn between two chars before. And the details in the renders...WOW just wow, had never noticed before the simple kiss scenes. Hopefully we get option to have both after the individual paths since i feel so site choosing one over the other so far

My only issue with this VN is that I enjoy it to the point that the updates do a fly by, when you having fun time goes by too fast. Wish this was one of those i found after completion. If you are able to support this dev , it is def worth it

Scoring/rating time:

Renders - 10/10 renders here are among the best i have seen in any 3D rendering

Story (so far) - would give it 6/10, it is good & well written especially since dev is not native English speaker story come fluidly and keeps you intrigued and wanting more ( others tend to butcher translation so much it's off putting)

Gameplay - it's Ren'Py so obviously 10/10 it still the best for VN

This would be worthy of more stars if there was more plot development by Ch. 5.

Right now it is shaping up to be a multi-year (dev time) slow burn.

Graphics are very good.
Writing is ok (a few errors).

Looking forward to this story developing further.

Meh. Most people will probably like this one, but I felt that interactions between characters didn't feel natural at all. I didn't stomach the chain of coincidences at the beginning of the game very well. The MC wanting to commit suicide at the beginning feels disingenuous because we're given very little information about what drove him to that, and he just quickly changes his mind. The bar owner just offers MC a job after a couple of seconds of talking, which is pretty outlandish. Since a lot of people are calling this a "slow burn" I felt that there wasn't enough effort put into the plot to make me want to stick around for the wait.

As of Chapter 5
Nice story involving mafia theme and nicely written and the Main character who has a nice personality and has a troubled past which made him to attempt suicide in the beginning of the game and we are getting to know about his past in each chapter and the two love interest who are introduced until now are good ( looking forward to see other 2 LI stories and characters when they are introduced in the future ) and lovable suitable for romance and maybe Harem down the road . Nice renders and the game has music . Overall it is a nice game with lot of potential to be great , Kudos Kuranai for this VN and looking forward to future releases .

Really enjoying the start to the game and am looking forward to see where it is headed. So far the romances are a slow burner but I'm liking it as you really seem to be building a base with the characters.

Loved it so far.

Mafia theme is something I really enjoy. So that's a plus.

Renders are good. Models are beautiful. Though older people's models can be a bit better.

Mc isn't your typical horny creep. So that's also a plus one for me. Mc has some mental issues that led to him attempt at suicide. That part could've been more fleshed out to connect people emotionally with him.
Father isn't one of the best one I reckon. He was abusive towards Mc and probably towards MC's mother. But MC seemed to love his mother. So flashback from past with his father and memories of his mother is a good idea to implement. It would allow us to connect more with MC as people are more sympathetic towards abused people.
Looking forward to see more.

This is not a game I have come to expect on this site. Yet anyways, its a prologue so it may become the fonication party we are all used to in the future. But this game rips out of the gate as someone who has a story to tell.

The story is pretty much spelled out in the synopsis, I din't have much to add to that. It's a little like "The Deluca Family" but the situation surrounding the Mc getting involved in organized crime is totally different in this game. I don't really have anything to add or anything to poke fun at. However, there is a brush over of mental health at the beginning that I feel could have been done with a lot more care and nuance.

The visuals are pretty on par if not slightly above the majority of games on this site. I don't have much to say about them. A lot of the locations are familiar to other games. The characters models of the younger characters is nice but the older models look smudged in a way. There is no nudity or sexual content thus far so nothing to speak of there.

The gameplay is a true VN. There were moments where I thought I was going to be thrown into free roam but I wasn't. It felt like there was supposed to be something there but it didn't make it in. There were also a lot of time jumps, but some were shown with splash screens and others were just jump cuts. It's also light on choice but it is a prologue so thats to be expected.

I enjoyed the game for what it is at the moment. The emphasis seems to be on the story rather than T and A. I look forward to more content.

Ey good work
Though it's named hard times i had good times reading it.
A pretty straightforward VN that is enjoyable nothing too fancy yet but the story definitely has potentials to go different directions
Not much content yet but pretty enjoyable
Cheers and goodluck mate.

I must say, I usually avoid releases that don't have at least a "good" rating, especially demos. That said, the quality of the renders and the concept swayed me, so I gave it a go.

Having played the demo, which is devoid of adult content, I am pleasantly surprised by the quality of the renders within it, and the development of the concept. This extends to the dialogue as well, which would benefit from proofreading, but is overall convincing and "organic".

While I wouldn't normally give a high rating to such a nascent visual novel, I am willing to vouch for this piece in hopes that it will motivate the developer to continue the production of such a promising project. I look forward to future releases.

Nice demo its small but the game has a lot of potnetial all looks good it could use a few improvments but its great there not to many mafia games out there so its pretty interesting continue with it maybe in the near future you should create a discord server.