VN - Ren'Py - Having a HARD Time [v0.4.1] [Quadruple-Q]

If you’re looking for an adult game that goes beyond the obvious, Having a HARD Time is the perfect choice. It combines comedy, drama, and decisions that truly matter in a way that keeps you hooked from start to finish. While it’s an adult game, the story and characters take center stage, making it a much more complete experience than you’d expect from a visual novel.

Story and Setting
You start as a college student living a normal life until an unexpected event turns everything upside down. That’s when the game throws you into a rollercoaster of important decisions, moral dilemmas, and twists.

Having a HARD Time shines in its ability to balance intense drama with well-placed comedy. The drama hits hard in the characters’ backstories and emotional moments, often exploring deep and thought-provoking themes that pull you in. However, the game knows how to ease the tension with light-hearted humor that feels natural, arising from character interactions and unexpected situations. This mix keeps the narrative engaging and makes the dramatic moments even more impactful by contrasting them with the game’s fun and carefree tone. It’s an emotional rollercoaster that will make you laugh one moment and reflect deeply the next.

Additionally, the game features a cool mechanic where you can pick weekend activities like working, hitting the gym, or going out. These choices develop side stories that evolve over time, but since you can only pick one activity per weekend, you’ll probably want to replay the game to see everything you missed.

Characters and Cast
The cast is one of the game’s highlights. The protagonist is a super charismatic futa with a vibrant personality who steals the spotlight, but it doesn’t stop there. The supporting cast is just as well-crafted, with motivations and backstories that really make you care about them.

The friends feel like genuine companions, the romances are engaging, and even the male characters (who are often overlooked in games like this) play meaningful roles. And the best part? The game dives into themes like desire and morality, putting you in situations where your decisions carry real weight.

One of the standout features is the system that simulates social media and phone interactions. You can browse profiles and explore messages, which makes everything feel more dynamic and immersive while letting you dive deeper into the game’s universe.

Gameplay and Mechanics
The choices you make in the game slightly influence the progression of the story, but their real impact lies in unlocking specific scenes and achievements. This adds a sense of reward for paying attention to the dialogue and interactions, while also boosting replayability since exploring different paths can lead to new scenes or alternate endings.

The combination of weekend activities and phone interactions adds a nice sense of freedom, even though the game sticks to the traditional visual novel format overall.

Technical Aspects
The graphics are impressive, with detailed renders and well-designed characters. Facial expressions do a great job of conveying emotions, although some animations can feel a bit repetitive. Still, this doesn’t take away from the overall visual quality.
The soundtrack doesn’t disappoint either. There are thematic tracks that shift with the scenes and even some sound effects that add extra polish. It’s rare to see this level of effort in the audio for games in this genre, so it’s a definite plus.

Conclusion
Having a HARD Time is the kind of game that catches you off guard. You come in expecting something basic and end up getting a story that’s immersive, full of memorable moments, and driven by decisions that really matter. The characters are so well-developed that you’ll find yourself thinking about them even after you’ve finished the game.

If you enjoy visual novels with strong stories, charismatic characters, and plenty of choices to make, this game is absolutely worth your time. Even if the futa theme isn’t your usual preference, the game delivers so much quality content that it’s hard not to appreciate.

Final Score: 10/10
For anyone looking for a visual novel that stands out, packed with personality and plenty to offer, this is the game for you!

Amazing!

Love the story, the characters, specially the MC, the animations, the choices, the humour and the deep emotional feelings of it all. Simply stunning.

Strongly recommended not rushing through the content.

Review of Version 4.1

This is yet another open-ended, character driven game, and also another that takes place in a post-secondary school setting. An awful lot of characters are introduced in the first two episodes, but it does slow down, and you soon realize which characters have been deemed more important than others. Most of the expanded backstories are very well done, but also very tragic and emotional, especially Lisa's story in Episode 4. In contrast, their is also a lot of humor, and most of it is funny and entertaining.

Scenes are definitely one of the game's strong suits. A lot of good, sexy, and very smooth animations. Especially noticeable in certain scenes that include animated movement of hair and clothing. Scenes also typically have more options than you would typically expect.

There are definitely some silly things, like how MC's dick is quite large, yet she somehow tucks it into smaller female swimwear, but I find it doesn't bother me that much. There is also a type of psuedo-free roam section that includes a staggering amount of options for weekend activities, but you can only choose one in a given weekend, so it's best to pick one activity and stick with it. By the end of episode 4, you can make it to stage 4 of one weekend activity.

I am very much interested to see where this project goes, and how it evolves going forward.

There isn't any outstanding or outerwordly aspect that make this game so so good, but just a collection of many little things, moments and details that work together to give it a lot of flavour and soul.

One is the protagonist, a super sexy futa with a solid personality, she manages to be funny, endearing and charismatic when the situation calls for it. Together with the rest of the cast, these are the stars of the show.

Speaking of wich, the cast is super diverse both in visuals and personality, and not just the romanceable ones. The 'friend' group feels legit and make you care for them, surpringly even the male ones can be likeable and manage to be more than just extras or antagonists.

The game mechanics works well, there are a lot of choices and variations, and the characters screen and phone/social media UI are fun to explore.

Graphic wise the renders are above average, but there is a lot of attention in facial expressions and animations, the longer romance scenes are some of the hottest that i've played.

The plot is very standard, but it's not why i'm here for, the real good stuff is hidden in the characters dialogues and interactions, for wich the game does great.

TLDR PLAY THE GAME!!

I loved it, it's one of the best games of this type I've played. Really one of the best, most of those of this type, that is to say with.(futa) are much less accomplished after me. Now I have to wait for episode five hoping that it will come faster than the previous ones.

Great Game. From the story to the animations. Humour, writing, visuals, girls, different behaviour patterns. It's a long shot to finish the game with all the variables introduced by the author so let's hope it will see its end at some point.

Cheers to the author, a great mix of comedy and tragedy.

This game is adorable, between the silly moments and the fun interactions between them it makes up for the lack or overall main plotline, now the individual storylines for the different characters is really good but sadly goes to tragic tropes for pretty much all of them which kinda makes it feel disjointed between the goofs and the heartbreak.

The game really suffers from lack of some kind of aid to help you unlock every path line as some feel hidden, and the stats feel useless at this point and almost should be removed and let the focus be on the different hobbies and the scenes they generate.

All in all a interesting Futa romp so far, and I hope for more from them soon.

The game starts off a bit weak with lots of character introductions and quite a bit of humor which can hit or miss, but after it gets going its so fantastic. The writing is great, the characters acts and behaves like actual people and have surprisingly amazing backstories and character progression, like I got really invested in especially the "smile" part of the 4th episode, that was some really good writing.

The character models looks good and the animations are nice for the most part, a few janks here and there, but nothing too bad. Really ends up as one of those porn games where you dont just pick whatever dialog option will lead to sex, but actually get invested enough to try to make good decisions for the character.

Cant wait for more, how dare you end the episode before we find out where Hanako went

I am a big fan of this game. It is full of interesting characters and the writing is genuinely good. It manages to pace strong emotional moments and great sexual content flawlessly.

Even though it is not complete yet, this is one of those games that is worth spending your money on.

Big recommend.

Overrated

TLRD
OK FutaOnFem fapmaterial. Bad story, no build-up.

Story
I dont get what this game is trying to be: dumb humor 80% time and then deep drama from nowere. It would be so much better if the ratio was reversed. I almost dropped the game in the middle of ep1 1 because of endless gags. The big drama at the end of the 1st ep felt like yet another joke. In later episodes that became much better, but that silly vibe is still there.

MC get a schlong and keep living like nothing happend, forgets about it all the time and dresses the same way.

What was that at the end of ep4? Copycat scene from another game, literally frame by frame. If it was a reference, maybe the name of the game in the middle of the scene to make it clear?

Visual
It's not that important for me, but it's OK. In first episodes, a lot of strange facial expressions and midiocre animations

H scences
If you want to get a sex scene, you need to make dumb choices, and I hate it. No buildup; scence just happens. Visually, scenes are good but 70% of them boring as fuck, tepical "AAAHH OOHHH WAT A BIG COCK"

Mechanics

Love/corraption points don't matter, right now (ep4) all LI have only one path.

Weird mechanics. Stats are just for some flavor in dialogues, and that's ok, but why create 8 weekend activities with progresion and restrict one per week (ep=week)?

Another shitty phone with chats and Instagram. It's easy to accidentally miss a message, and one scene can be blocked because of it.

This is top tier writing. The characters are well thought of and intricate. However i dont like it. Not because its bad. Infact, i dont like it because of how good the story is. I'm an avid reader so if i wanted good stories i would just read a normal novel. I read avn for the intricacies leading up to sex scenes, not for romance or an intricate plot. That's literally the only reason i did not give this a 5 stars. If you want a good plot, with good characters and great humanized back stories with great sex scenes, then yes, this avn is for you.
If you are like me, the other parts of the story would probably keep you reading. i normally stop reading content when it doesn't fit what i want, but the story did keep me engaged even though i did not like it. The one objective critique i have is that i feel like the mc's behavior does not seem to be consistent. Her introduction made her seem like a hardass but then she soft from then on. And then she randomly flares back up into a hardass attitude.

Damn this game is GOOD!

I'm not into futa games, but I decided to try this one out based on the good ratings it has. And well, I'm really glad I did.

A nice mixture of humor and tragedy, this game goes way deeper then I expected. Someone mentioned Leap of Faith in their rating, and I can totally see where that's coming from.

The backstories of the main characters are amazing and teared me up a couple of times. The main protagonist is a joy to play.

Best of luck to the dev. Amazing job.

I want to kill Lucas with every fiber of my being, and every single character has a tragic backstory, but the dev is making one of my favorite games I've played in years. Super excited to see where it goes from here!

It starts terribly by introducing a huge number of characters. However, after the intro everything starts to make sense. Story is excellent, scenes too. It's obvious creator likes huge asses, but it would be cool if he introduces npcs with normal bodies. Other than that, game is solid 5 stars!

This game has already become one of my favorites and it's on the way to become my absolute favorite. here on this side. It has a very captivating story gorgeous and sexy girls awesome sex scenes with voice and sound effect. The humor is hilarious, so many times I laughed my ass off. But it also has a very serious note and it makes you feel with and for the character. I almost teared up at the backstory of Lisa.
Congrats to the developer(s). Can't wait to see how the story develops.

This is an absolutely fantastic game, and an instant addition to my very short list of games I support financially. If you're even a smidgen into futanari, this is a must play. period.

On a technical level, the renders are above average, and seem to get slightly better as the story progresses. There's a couple nice effects here and there, and I didn't run into any bugs. Animations are also really good.

The characters look good and come in all shapes and sizes, even though you'll recognize some of them from other games and they could be described as stereotypical, at least in this genre. My only complaint here is that I'm not totally sold on the MC's looks, but that's just a minor nitpick.

Choices matter. I mousewheeled back just to see what my other options were, and got treated to an entirely different outcome of what I thought would happen, and one of the fucking hottests scenes I've seen in an AVN. Let's hope the dev can balance all these different outcomes as the game progresses. Choice-heavy games can be a bitch to program, and make everything so much more complicated to develop.

In the beginning of the game it seems as the dev dumps a bunch of characters on us, but as you progress (update 0.4 at time of writing this review) you'll realize that they're actually fleshed out and earn their place in the story.

The story... Having A Hard Time does so much more than your typical futa game. I didn't expect to get hit in the feels by this one, let alone this hard. I'm talking Deluca Family, even Leap of Faith levels here. It even has a sidekick character that blows Derek from BADik out the water completely.

It's been a while since I came across a game this good on here. download it, play it, support the dev if you like it. Give it a chance even though you're not into futanari content. I wasn't either a year ago but here we are.

S-Tier game. Seriously, amazing scenes, amazing models, amazing premise, everything is executed perfectly.

The latest episode, Episode 4 at the time of writing this, is a masterclass of comedic, sexual, and serious writing. Everything clicked at a level I have rarely seen in a porn visual novel. I am trying to find a flaw in this game so far and there is none for me. The game tackles the absurdity of the situation in a great way, with extremely hot and sexy scenes, the 3-way dominant scene in the latest episode is a great example, as well as in the same episode the "cuckold" scene.

Then the episode ends on a backstory so tragic that Oliver Twist would be like "Damn girl, my life rocks." I haven't mentioned any of the specific characters to avoid spoilers, but each character fills both the story well and the specific porn niche they occupy, the milf, the milf's best friend, the childhood best friend, the bitchy cheerleader, the tsundere bad girl, the girl next door, all of it rocks. I cannot wait to play more.

A wonderfully imaginative tale! This is pure escapism. However, it does touch on some real world issues...the smiles that hide the darkness beneath. The humor is interspersed throughout the chapters and it empowers the storyline in a positive way. However, the darkness remains...a direct contrast to the humor and light that shines.
QQ is creating a tale that will resonate with many people...the characters are complex, but engaging, and as a 'futa', you are treated without disrespect or disdain.
It's an enjoyable romp and well worth the download!
[Edit] I have just finished the latest update, I cried like a baby...it was so emotional and heartfelt and it totally took me by surprise.
An excellent game!

Holy... ok, I love a proper Futa VN, i.e. both genitals. Otherwise it's not a Futa, as per definition.

The models are great, I love the humor and I really like the smooth and long animations.

And then there's the stories. Some stories are simple, short and fun, that's great. Then some that are deep and engaging. Then, oh boy, there are the heavy-hitters. Damn, this last one in EP4, with Lisa, I mean what can I say? Well written, heart-breaking. I mean, that last laughter when she found her mother had me looking away because her eyes just spooked me. Great build-up over the previous episodes. Love it all.

These bigger, more thought-through VNs are great. You got hot steamy fucking to enjoy, and also tear-jerking stories that pull on the heart strings.

One of the best VNs I've played hands down. On par with the Deluca Family when it comes to gripping stories. I am really looking forward to coming EPs. Well done dev, well done.

Ver 0.4.0 Reviewed

A high production-value effort with decent writing, art, and features that suffers somewhat from diluted character development due to an overabundance of characters and the dev's repeated need to advertise his politics via the MC whom the player is ostensibly choosing a path for.

This is an ambitious effort, and while the central fetish isn't particularly to my taste, there's a lot to admire in the execution.

The dev has put a lot of effort into the title, and is very capable of character development as evidenced in the central core characters, while others wait patiently for some love. As the game develops, I will retract that complaint if he somehow manages to give each character their due, however I suspect he's going to find he's bitten off more than he can chew here.

I felt that choices were organic, with some ambitious branch adjustments in some cases.

I appreciated the episodic feel to the release cycle so far, but found the character attractiveness to be hit-and-miss.

That said, the art is competent enough to not undercut the other production values, and I appreciate some of the effort taken to add life to mundane scenes, such as flipping pancakes.

I do appreciate moments of real maturity that are interspersed among the silliness.

The lewd-to-drama ratio is pretty consistent and a good fit for my tastes, even if I find most of the sex to lack buildup or to feel adequately "earned," but such is the AVN landscape.

The humor lands inconsistently for me, but I chock a lot of that up to cultural differences between myself and the dev.

All in all, if you are good with "female" protag games, this is a worthy project to invest in, both with your time and your patronage.

I would have supported this project myself if just had the restraint to focus on entertainment and not periodically evangelize a worldview to its audience.