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

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.

v0.4.0 Review

Overall I actually highly enjoyed the game, from the characters, the sex scene, and the length of each chapter feeling just overall great. I think the only few negatives I do have is the so far lack of meaningful intimacy in the main cast minus "corrupting" them and the soapboxing. I don't really want to feel like I have to corrupt others just to progress in their "loving" me.

Now on the soapboxing subject. I'm not against someone wanting to share an opinion on a subject, but it's only fair to research both sides of any given argument and let the reader decide for themselves. Why I prefer people keep this kind of stuff out of entertainment, which is for escapism not to listen to the devs opinions on social issues sprinkled in especially when in my opinion it's unfairly represented.

Anyways outside those things I think the game is good overall, and recommend it to anyone else.

(Review of 0.4.0)

Can't say I'm a fan of the idea of the MC getting a dick out of a lab experiment gone wrong (smells too much like superhero comic fiction to me) and I'd rather have seen a real futa from the start, but that's up to the developer. Everything else scores pretty high, from the animations that get better as the story progresses to the renders and the very nice flashbacks, not to forget interesting characters. There's both romance and drama so it's an emotional roller coaster. The whole sequence at the disco is a blast and the separate takes for some scenes where you're at the phone are quite innovative, so congratulations are in order for not creating just a "me too" game but actually coming up with new ideas. Great job.

Some faces are well known from other games but that's OK, I only wish the average AVN was this good!

By far one of the best looking games I've played. The animations are next level. But even better than that is the humor. It's like you're really there for the inside jokes of life-long friends. I don't know how the author manages it, but it puts this game in my top 10 without question. Thanks so much for all the work you've put in! I can't fathom what it must take.

... ---> Chapter 4 Review.

This game was NOT what I expected. I expected FUTA PORN. That's it.

However it turns out to also be written way better than I expected. It feels like the story's mostly planned out from the start. Story threads fit together.

Not to mention the the game is an emotional roller-coaster. Who ever said that about a futa-game before? Idk.. I guess someone did... but it's certainly not what I think most people expect.

Great renders.

Great animations.

Great sex scenes.

10/10 Futa game.

(The only thing I personally would like in addition is more kink, fetishes, and futa on male scenes. )

i liked this game from the very beginning, but chapter 4 update was just mindblowing. it's got so many imortant events.
models are great, though it took me some time to get used to the MC having face of one of characters from being a dik.
totally loved redhead twins.
shame it updates rarely, but it's still worth the wait.

Amazing game. Humor, story, designs, music, overall an excellent game. No way I am rating it lower than 5/5... . Obviously nothing is perfect. My 5/5 means that the game is in the top 20% of the games. I recommend it 100%.

Current version: 0.4.0
Rating: 5/5

Best adult Renpy game i ever played. Art, conding ,history, mechanics until now are top notch.
I some think the characters desing needs some litle polish in some scenes the appear to much doll like.
I hope with next updates the game keeps the good work. 9/10.

One of the better Futa renpy games out there!

Reviewing as of v0.3.0

Pros:

• A good amount of scenes as of 0.3.0
• Futa x female but patreon scenes has futa x futa and more
• Different choices influence different scenes to save often (or use the mod)
• Take around 2 hours to complete for now

Cons:

• Wayyyyyyy too many characters lol. Gets annoying and hard to keep up with. I swear if 0.4.0 adds any more....
• The weekend cycle sucks, it's a lot better if you use the mod

Conclusion:

Pick this game up and try it out and wait for more chapters to come out, we could be in for something special.

Good stuff for something in the earlier stages of development. Easily enough content to play for a night or three depending on your reading pace.

Pros:
- Wacky but interesting story
- More unique than other school setting games due to the rarity of this kind of protagonist
- Above average lewd scenes
- Some interesting characters
- A decent amount of player choice. Above the average at least
- Decent writing especially at certain moments

Cons:
- Scope seems to be VERY large right now. With it's side activities having 5 stages each and there being loads of them I'm worried how long it will need to finish. Chances to do these are rarer than most games
- Way too many characters. This also worries me in terms of scope but also that it won't be able to keep up with all the characters. Just from the ones with a profile (the game said they are the important ones) there is a huge cast that seems to only grow bigger. Less is more and I feel like the majority of characters barely matter as of Episode 3
- Story gets a bit silly at points and can throw you off. Not even something simple like porn logic just random stuff like a leprechaun appearing out of nowhere as what seems to be a new recurring character

This is a well made project so far but keep in mind that almost every character does not have a lewd scene with MC so far and this game will, in my estimations, take years to finish due to the scope.

4/5. Looking promising and worth a try if you don't mind having to follow for years to see it maybe finish.

I like the main protagonist attitude. I hope next updates its not just about relationship but like make some chemistry with main character becoming bigger not just her penis but her overall more fit. Otherwise like inner changes like she cums more or she is getting extremely hornier now. Hope to see that in near future.

The Best Futa Protagonist game I have ever played! It's really good, amazing renders and animations, still a pretty open story line, but it still has quite a way to go. I hope to see it continue to be a well written, well-developed game as it is so far. If you are into this type of game, you really need to play it and see for yourself.

Note:
Reviewed on 2024/03/28; Episode 1-3


TL;DR:
“Having a HARD Time” isn't a character-driven story. If you're more interested in lewds than exploring the MC (Jane) dealing with this life-changing event, then I'd recommend this game.
If you're more interested in exploring Jane's inner world, and shape her story based on your choices, you'll be disappointed. At the time of writing, choices largely only serve to open or close paths of LIs. Most LI in this game are of the thicc(est)-flavor, in case this matters for you.


General:
Having a HARD Time starts with an interesting premise, but fails to make the narrative stick. The promised exploration of the consequences of Jane's physical change never really manifest. While she gets self-conscious about her erection now and then, she just goes about life as if nothing changed.

At the end of episode 3, a total of 42 characters can potentially be introduced (depending on choices about certain activities). In addition to this massive cast, Jane has 10 traits that are influenced by choices the player makes.
This is overwhelming, and when replaying the game it becomes clear that these traits are largely cosmetic, mostly changing only a few lines of text here and there. With a total of 10 episodes planned, I don't see how this cast can be done justice, even less if traits are considered to make scenarios play out differently.

The game has a high production value. It has a customized main screen, sound and music design, in-game achievements, a gallery, and a collectible hidden image mini-game.
The in-game phone app can be used to view a character's profile, the MC's stats, send texts, or interact with the social network.
Text is readable and a configurable textbox is included. Wording and phrasing is clear, with attention to giving each character a unique voice.


Adult:
This game deals with several adult themes apart from the lewd content. Some characters are dealing with severe mental issues, physical abuse, or the use of drugs. So far, all of this is handled tastefully and with nuance. Getting to learn more about what drives each character has been my favorite part of the game. I'm excited to see more of this in future episodes.


Visual:
Visually, the game is gorgeous. The renders are well-made, with attention to detail. Some facial expressions can look uncanny, but overall, they're well done, if not underused. The animations look fine, but don't stand out. Several of them feature positions or feats of strength that aren't realistic.
Character design is a different matter. Most female LI range from thicc to thiccer (curvy is an understatement), with only a select few looking athletic or petite.


Sound:
HaHT features an extensive soundtrack and has sex-sounds. Music is thematically matched to scenes.
The sex-sounds are hit or miss, since they don't line up to what's actually happening on-screen.
Some music tracks have lyrics, which I think detract from the immersive experience.


Novel:
As I mentioned earlier, the premise is interesting. An accident happens that results in a woman growing a penis. The player can control how this woman reacts in different situations, except not really. Often, Jane will make bad/dumb decisions out of the player's control, only because the writer wants an event to happen.
Where I would've loved for the player to control/decide who finds out about Jane's situation, so far, everyone discovers it outside the player's control.
She'll get an erection during class, and instead of waiting it out, she'll head to the bathroom, where she bumps into an LI. She'll go out in a short skirt, and gets found out because her footlong erection sticks out…

Jane doesn't get depressed, scared, angry, frustrated, happy or sad because she suddenly has a penis. She'll wear skin-tight skirts or pants without giving the bulge a second thought. She doesn't question her identity either. Instead, we'll see her getting drunk, with the excuse of relaxing… But it's never shown or driven home how stressed Jane is feeling, or how a player's choices influence her state of mind.

Player choice comes in when these scripted decisions lead to some kind of issue or confrontation, mostly serving to open or close paths of LIs, and to experience or avoid their lewd scenes. These choices can increase or decrease Jane's traits, but then these choices/traits have no effect during events with other characters. Why have a lust stat if Jane is unconditionally horny all the time? Why have a willpower stat if it doesn't open or close alternative ways to deal with her impulses?


Conclusion:
While I can appreciate the work that went into this game, I feel it isn't enough. The large number of characters make it difficult to care about anyone, and the MC's personality stats create the illusion of choice/influencing the story, while none of it manifests.
Where I would've loved the story to be informed by the player shaping Jane's character and experience, the writer forces events on the player without regard for their previous choices.
The only reason I'll come back to this game is to see if the writer does a better job at characterizing the LI than they do the MC, because their personal stories are by far more interesting.