RPGM - House Chores [Beta v0.20.1] [Siren's Domain]

Originally reviewed in v0.10.1, updating for v0.18.1:

I really enjoy this game. The plot is very thin but the art is good (and I like that the women are curvy but not impossibly curvy like Siren's other games) and the dialogue is spicy.

Plot: You're a high-schooler on summer break. You've never been interested in much more than video games but one day, as you're playing, your [maid] starts vacuuming and gives you a peek at her underboob which causes you to experience new feelings. You start creeping on her in the shower and she finds herself unexpectedly enjoying your attention. Then her sister arrives, bringing your [roommate] home from college and the sister is basically a huge pervert and encourages the maid to go for it.
The sister and roommate are basically just horny and notice you have a big dong. It's disappointingly standard for these types of games.

Gameplay: Standard point and click. Navigation is all done by arrows but the house is small enough that it's not a big deal but I find the layout a little confusing when trying to remember which direction goes from the living room to the bedrooms. The relationships are all gated behind the [maid], you have to go through some of her storyline to unlock the other two but you can do those simultaneously.
It's a pretty basic grind: every character has a hidden love stat that you raise by doing a character-specific action at various times of the day. For the maid it's dishes, her sister wants you to work out, and for the roommate you play roleplaying and videogames. You also get stat through sexy activities and it's a little unclear whether it's two separate stats you need to build or just one. The major thing (that I missed this playthrough) is that using the talk option on any character will tell you what you need to do to advance their story. You generally have multiple time blocks in which you can do actions for each character so you can rush one or work on all three simultaneously.

Content: Since my last review, there's a lot of content for all three characters and we even have threesome action between the maid and her sister with the roommate's threesomes soon to be added. If you're an anal fan, there's none of that since it's not Siren's bag but there are plenty of other sexual activities all over the house.

Overall, this is a really solid take on the "well-endowed shota bangs all the women who live with him" genre and it's only the lack of originality keeping it from a fifth star.

a bit boring. nothing happens forever . very clunky interface . you have to click multiple times for something to happen. scenes are simple, hastily drawn with little imagination. if it was 1998 this game would be good but everything moved on. the name summarizes it very well. it is a chore to play this game.

Reviewed Version: 0.9.3 Beta

House Chores is another great title from Siren's Domain

Gameplay-wise, it's just a regular VN point and click game, where you try to progress your relationship with the girls. It's simple, yet entertaining at the same time. Nevertheless, the lack of gameplay could be a turn-off for some people.

As to be expected, the H-scenes with the currently available chicks and the character designs are quite hot.
I hope there will be wider variety of H-scenes and maybe even mini-games.

If you like point & click visual novels with a simple premise, I can definitely recommend this game.

[ Update for v.0.10.1 ]

This update added the sister/tutor arc, but nothing else gameplay wise. This update is amazing if you like your women assertive, which I do. The artwork is still so fucking good.
A very good update, but a very small update
[End of update]

[ Review Subject to Change. Review for verstion 0.9 ]

TL;DR: Holy shiet, do I love what House Chores has going for it so far! This game really goes hard on stealth fucking (which I didn’t realise how much I love until I played this) and the developing feelings of the characters involved.Great beta with great art style, great dialogue and great characters. The game isn’t very slow to get to the good stuff but there is still some very good build-up. I can’t wait to see how this develops.

The Good: You can easily toggle incest-mode by changing the name and title when prompted. Character design: I absolutely love every single one of them, except one. The character interaction is good as well, if limited so far. The sex scenes are very well made, and I like revisiting them from time to time.

The Average: The MC design is… boring. I don’t love his design, but it doesn’t bother me. The navigation is competent. It’s a point and click type thing, but you need to click room to room by finding where in the interface the click-boxes are. I’d rather there was a mini-map in a corner.

The Bad: Nothing so far.



Thorough Review:

Story: Good

It’s your typical ‘it’s summer break’ story line where the main character slowly develops a sexual relationship with the women around him. It’s a tried model and it works well in this game too. The game starts with your maid/mother and over time your tutor/sister and your neighbour/aunt. These three will be your main interests as far as the story goes now and as you interact with them you can increase their mood and passion towards you. It’s a competent system and has a very smooth progression.

Characters: Great

All the characters as far as they have been developed are great. They don’t feel one-not and their dialogues don’t feel immature or of poor quality writing. There isn’t a lot of content for each character yet but what is there is really good. The MC is also not an asshole which is a huge plus. There is a good mix of lusty and lovey dialogue as well which I appreciate, especially the latter.

Gameplay: Competent

It’s a point and click game with a daily progression system. So far, even though it takes place over a summer holiday, because of the lack of content there isn’t really much to think about. All characters have the exact same daily schedule that mixes up a little as the story progresses and you develop relationships with them. It’s nothing exciting, but it works.

Visuals: Great

The artists behind this game have done a tremendous job. The characters are all beautiful and the designs of the house is very cozy. I just wish the MC didn't looks so boring. Not sure what could be done to improve him, but I don’t love it as it stands now. Everything else is a huge success.

Summary: Great

Wishlist:

> The game is called 'house chores', but once you've banged mum you don't have to do any chores any more. Weird.

> Kissing. Why is there no kissing?

> Cunnilingus. I want my MC to eat the dinner the women are serving. Get down there and show them they deserve their share of pleasure too.

> At some point in development all this unprotected sex will need to lead to some consequences. I’m talking pregnancy, of course.

> More timeslots in the day, or more activities per timeslot before time progresses.

> Mix up the daily schedule of the characters so they do different things on different days of the week

> Remake the navigation system to use a mini-map instead of clicking on parts of the walls or on doors to move around.

> More lovey-dovey dialogue

> More stealth fucking, oh jeez it is so good!

House Chores 0.93 beta is amazing, has a lot of potential, animations are super hot and everything seems to work fine. Now, looking at other Siren's Domain works, you will notice that this game is more like a sandbox or proof of concept, point and click/novel than a proper Sirem's Domain game. There is nothing new in the story or situation of the MC. In fact, there is no motive at all or development or even slow burn in the story. So the 5 stars are because of two things.

1) There is a real improvement in the art quality and animation from Zombie retreat. Poses are more dynamic and movements are more smooth.
2)is a vote for future updates and even if the game ends in the 1.0 version, i think is a very good condensed game on its own.

[0.9.2] Great artwork and a simple progression system make this game a simple, yet enjoyable experience. The interface can be a little slow at times when wanting to speed through dialogue, but it's only a minor issue. I like the mix of characters and the character development has some potential once more content is developed.

I like the game alot, my only issue is how the relationship between mother and son go from 0 to 100 in like no time at all. Art is nice and clean, animations are good, scenes are most definetely fap worthy.

Both game mechanics and navigation are excellent. Art is also beautiful. This game was on my watch list almost since the first version and even though updates are kinda slow I believe this game has high potential to become amazing.

People are complaining that this game doesn't have a slow burn to it but with how infrequent updates are it sure feels like it does.

(Fr tho, game is good but there is quite literally no content and no burn whatsoever.)

promising game more scenes needed, looks like there will be money system implemented, animations are nice, there could be some system like gallery showing how many scenes are left because i was grinding tutor and neighbor for some time even tho i had to talk with them instead so something could be done with it either update journal or something like it, the messages i get in bottom left corner are disappearing unnecessarily they could stay there until i click on them so i know if there is new scene or talking option somewhere

I love all Siren's games for sure. They are always a good mix of great artist and hot animations and that is what a pure ol' good porn game is all about.

House Chores however is on the weak end of those games, it is a bit unfair to compare it to things like ToP so I'll stick to what it has and what it lacks.
It has good animations, hot and well designed characters and the guaranted fact that it'll end up good because it is Siren behind the wheel. That aside, the game is hella short as of now and it had more than enough time to be better, seems like developing multiple projects really is hurting it. Plot is generic at best and characters just do two or three dialogues before you get a small scene that you'll mostly be repeating due to lack of content. It lacks interactions and any reason to be called a game and not a VN, since it is made as an RPG.

Also the MC is a child, I hate that.

TL;DR: Siren's games are always a mark of quality. This one has SOME great animations and good designs but that is all there is to it and you'll have to wait a long ass time for it to be better.

This game uses the tried and true "boy stuck in a house with lusty busty babes" formula, and it executes just fine on it. Like many in this genre, it has strengths and weaknesses. I would say the strengths are the art and sex scenes. You get a mix of full-screen scenes and some sprite scenes (even mix, it works). They're all animated with multi-speed options, the dialog within is healthy, with audio to boot. Perfect - if a game had to pick one area to excel, this is the most rewarding one to do so imo. Even today at v0.7 there is quite a bit of this to be had:
You can see that it is mostly skewed for one character... but the best one, imo! Actually, this is one of the few games where I'm actually somewhat more interested in the sister character, a shame there's nothing good there yet...

So, what are the weaknesses? Well, it's a shallow game. This in itself has strengths and weaknesses - strong in that it won't take you too long to play through and fap, but weak in that it's not very imaginative or narratively exciting. It's fine really, I definitely prefer this to those BS stories that drag out with unnecessary complexity, but it could definitely be better as well.

Otherwise, it's fine. There is a teeeeeny tiny bit of fetch-questy/grindinesss, but you're usually able to make a relationship progression in one in-game day which is perfectly fine by my standards. I suppose I can mention that the game is built in RPGM, which is a bit of an odd choice (dev is probably just more familiar with it due to his previous titles). It's fine, it just means you're missing some features like rewinding text, skipping text, etc.

Even though this is right up my alley, I'm unsure if I'll ever put this on my 5 star list, even once complete. It would have to really ramp up in kinkiness or... suspense or... idk, something. It's great, honestly, I just wonder if I'd ever consider it to be amazing due to the shallow story I mentioned.

(v0.7) The art is the highlight so far for the game, it does what it needs and is definitely on top of the average. Content is lacking but for what's there with the main lady you'll get some enjoyment out of, with a little on the side from the other older woman in the game. Not much in the way of interaction from the player like for e.g. minigames, so what you get so far is barebones but nonetheless look forward to future updates.

I'm really enjoying the game, but having to choose your relationship with each character is quite disappointing, mainly because you can't know before choosing, it would be much more exciting to have everything pre-set. This is just my opinion, the game is still very good.

i like the art and animation when its handled by the first artist where it shines the most from all other siren game.
but now it just looks like a generic siren game with mediocre effort to the animation scene.

imo should've try hard to keep the first artist and focusing on this game instead of ZR2

A quick stream of thought ramble on House Chores and the incest genre:

House Chores has flaws but what it does well, it does very well. This game captures the ultimate essence of the incest fantasy. There's no absurdly contrived mind control, magic, or mafia forcing the issue. It's just the simple fantasy of a teen boy living at home and having regular sex with the women in his life, all over the house, whenever he feels like it. And idk why, but that's the dream for fans of this genre. The fantasy of blow jobs to get out of bed, tit jobs when you come home from school, sex before you go to sleep -- the incredibly mundane when mixed with incest, that's the juice, that's what makes it so erotic. I wish more devs embraced the simplicity of the fetish.

Games with similar vibes to House Chores:
-The Wish
-Stay at Home

I'm disappointed with that game, it was supposed to be a mini game and that deserved 4 or 5 stars but as an extended game it's not interesting.
No real story, no character developpement, no gameplay to support an extended version.

It has nice graphics for sure and the animations have the merit of being present even if they are simple...
But the voice "acting" is really crap, she sounds like she's doing sports or taking a heavy crap instead of having sex, really a turn off. It breaks every immersion you could have. Not even sure a woman is doing the acting, sounds like a teenager's voice broken.

Version: 0.6.9.1 Public

• hot intro
• cute art style; the various "in-environment" drawings/animations are a good touch - something about that immersion makes it more erotic
• animations are simple but effective
• not a fan of reusing the exact template animations for a different event, in the case of the bj being the same in the kitchen and bathroom (latter with no clothing) - a different angle/position could have been drawn; perhaps she did the bj without coming out of the bath
• opposite of a slow burn which I'm not a fan of; the sexual progression is fast; scenes themselves play out as fast as they come - should be fine once there are a lot of things to do
• there's only substantial content for the mother rn

GOAT THE BEST TO EVER DO IT SHIT IS LIKE 20 MINUTES LONG AND ALREADY THE BEST GAME ON THIS SITE WAIT TILL ITS FINISHED THIS SHIT CHANGING THE GAME FR SIREN IS ON A NEW LEVEL ALL THE WAY UP THREW THE ROOF ASCENDING A GOD

Honestly, it's not bad. If we're being honest, what really caught my eye was the preview art alluding to the "hot milf scrubbing the floor in front of the son playing video games" meme. The art is HOT, and it's what reeled me in to try this game. Does it disappoint? No, it's pretty good, but it's still very much in development. as of 0.6.9, the sister route isn't fleshed out as much, but the mom route? Holy shit, it's pretty okay right now.

Pros:
- Great art

- NOT grindy.
I think this is what shines with this game. I've played a lot of VNs and RPGMs, but this game in particular manages to AVOID being grindy. The point and click mechanics are very rudimentary, the flow isn't complex, and the hints are VERY straightforward. There's literally no need to cheat in this game so far (at least as of ver. 0.6.9). For me, this is a breath of fresh air because I think this is how porn games are meant to be. I mean, shit, they're PORN games after all. The porn takes priority before the overall gameplay aspect. Regardless of this, gameplay elements are still very much present ofc, and it works like your standard "day cycle sim" where you perform actions throughout the day. You can skip time, or interact with your fellow housemates or loved ones. You choose!

-Good writing
The "corruption aspect" is fast, but the writing isn't braindead. It's good. It sets the stage. It teases, but it gets the job done, and it delivers after enough time.

-Don't like incest? It's fine! You can change the relationship that the MC has with the characters, and you can do it right from the get-go

Cons:

- If you're looking for a slow burn, this ain't it, chief, but otherwise, if you're looking to fap from a basic story you can digest after 30 or so mins, you've come to the right place.

-Lackluster content. So far I've completed the "mom route," but the sister route has yet to be implemented.

-Despite the last "pro point" about relationship customization, it feels awkward to assign a maid role, or a tutor role, or a NON-incestual role to the girls. At the end of the day, no matter how you change it, it still feels like you're engaging in an incestual relationship, especially when it comes to how the dialogue is formed. Make of that what you will.