Ren'Py - Life in Santa County [v0.11.0] [Bold Bash Studios]

A fun game that has an interesting story. I really enjoyed parts of this game and look forward to what is to come in the future. Hopefully there won't be too long of a wait. It's not a game where you constantly have to click on the same things over and over before there is a slight change so you can do something new.

这有可能是我玩过的最棒的熟女游戏之一，人物模型精细，剧情出彩，熟女爱好者绝对可以尝试！
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Translated by Google
This might be one of the best MILF games I've ever played, with detailed character models and a great plot, MILF lovers should definitely try it!

UPDATE 6/16/24: As of Version 9.1 the story has been revamped in the beginning and makes little to no sense now with parts missing and things being rearranged and not for the better. Had to lop off a star with the incoherence. And I'm not even talking about the family stuff but the crime part of the story as well. Was one of those fun but bad stories but it's now leaning more into "it's just bad" territory... Ohhh well,



Whoo boy.. So I gave this one a shot, idk why I had the urge and desire to continue but I made it through all the way to the end which is a credit to the dev or a problem with me... I'm gonna try to break my review down into 3 sections. Graphics which cover renders, animations, etc. Story/dialogue, and general gameplay which will be choices and UI and such.

Graphics:

So first, the thing that grabs EVERYBODY'S attention are the renders. They're good, that much is obvious. I think we're at the point now where good graphics are expected if your novel is to be taken serious. If they're not good or unique in some way it will get passed over. The dev(s) doesn't disappoint here. Renders are crisp and look good, as well as settings and environment. Everything has been attended too and is probably this game's strongest point. That being said, the models are questionable. Firstly let me say this to all devs, future and current. ALL mothers do not have G cup (or bigger) boobs and thick bodies, nor do all older women for that matter.

I get that MILF's are supposed to be or seen as these thicker bigger women but thinking back I think only one woman that falls into that category isn't given back breaking tits. If every older woman has a thick body, then they're not gonna be as special, and worse than that, even the younger women or the women that are the same age as the MC have thick bodies. Don't get me wrong, it's my type of preferred look and body type, but still when it's everywhere it's less special. Variety is nice to have and makes it all the more special when there's not thickness all around. And I'm not kidding either these women's breast are the size that they'd need back braces to get through the day.

Then there's the MC. Some have problems with his look. I think it's fine, not the first game I've seen the model in. Is he a bit older looking than a person his age should be? Sure but that's nothing new here.

Animations are a mixed bag however. Some work pretty good, and some are really slow and choppy. Some scenes have animations that work well and others that are choppy all in the same scene. This is post prologue because like I'll get to later prologue and post prologue are almost like two different experiences.

Anyway TLDR on Graphics: They are good and up to (if not exceeding) the modern expectation. There's not a lot of variety in body type between the female models. Either younger big boobed big ass women or older BIGGER boobed and big ass women except for a few. If you're looking for skinny, or average models women this isn't really the game for you. Graphics EASILY best point of the game.

Story/Dialogue:

If the graphics are the strongest part of the game, then this is the weakest part of the game. I will save the language and grammar for the gameplay section, but just keeping to the story and the dialogue.... Its' weakness is in it its ability to suspend disbelief on most. This is not realisitc at all and if you expect a modicum of realism going in then you will be SORELY disappointed. Best to go in expecting a dumb comedy, harem, hijinx kinda game mixed with some elements of a crime drama.

MC is living in the suburbs with his mother, older sister, and new husband (the old one was originally divorced but later is dead). He goes to school with his annoying best friend, has a seeming crush on a girl who doesn't know of his existence really, and has a girl interested in him who is the school weirdo. Then, when his best friend gets into some trouble with the local delinquent and enlist the MC's aide, he ends up roping the MC into doing favors for said delinquent that will show the MC the true underside of the town he thought was supposed to be "good" and safe".

That's my spoiler free version of it anyway, and there's more to it but I'm trying not to spoil in this one. The twists and turns are pretty predictable, which isn't that bad of a problem. It's more about you making relations with people than it is a crime drama. The drama, and the crime elements are more side dressing or the mode of transport used to get you on your way, but they're not the real part of the journey, at least not completely. Bonding with the LI's is. Which leads me to a VERY glaring issue.

Again to future devs and current ones. PLEASE learn what the difference is between a SLOW BURN, and DRAGGING. This is version 0.8.0 that I played, so Idk what it was like for people who came in at the beginning and had to wait this long or those who came in at half of this version's updates. But some of these Love Interests are built to drag. This is primarily the mother/landlady/Lauren. Added to that problem is this game displays the inner monologues of other characters. The MC and Lauren will progress and she'll actually be the initiatior in things, then she'll pull back, then it begins to depend on your "character build" and choices you made (more on that later), and then she'll let you push a bit and then halt things cold.

At some points it feels like a build and we've seen it before in other games. She's the prize character, the one the dev really wants the player to feel when you finally break her walls down, both physically and figuratively. But at some point I found myself getting annoyed with her hot and cold attitude. You can't have someone shown to CLEARLY be lusting over a person and then get put in MULTIPLE MULTIPLE opportunities but then shut them down for no/foolish reasons. Not saying you CAN'T slow burn it, but this one was just not done well. If you're gonna do teasing it has to be done proper, not give so much, to just ass pull a reason to stop it, and keep doing that until you're FINALLY ready to reward the player. Realistically either MC would lose interest (given that he has other options already) or Lauren wouldn't have held out so long. There's reasons why she DID but still...After awhile it got to be tiresome.

Lastly on the dialogue. It's childish for the most part. These are young adults so it's fine, but then there's sometimes that the adults talk like the kids too so there's no real difference. This game can also be a "don't finish your thought" simulator. There's COUNTLESS times someone will say something in a conversation to the tune of: "Ohh I was just thinking about.... You know what? Nevermind" or the MC will be asking a LI or someone about something and they'll start talking about it only to go "I don't want to talk about this right now." or "Let's talk about this later" in the middle of a relevant conversation.

That's vexing in real life. If you're NOT gonna talk about something, either don't bring it up or don't talk about it at all. Don't START talking about it only to STOP talking about it because you need it to come out later for a story reason. It's immersion breaking and frustrating. But it happens AT LEAST once EVERY conversation in this game. I may be exaggerating but it DOES happen VERY frequently. To the point I started to see conversations as topics in this game as teasers. First you have the teaser convo then you have the REAL convo later as the drama develops... It's not how people actually talk.

TLDR: Story and dialogue weakest parts. Story is ok but could use a bit more focus. Dialogue is not good. Passable at some points, frustrating at others. If you can't immerse yourself or rely on that to pull you into the game, you'll probably be disappointed. Convos aren't real at all. (Sidenote: Dev DOES do dialogue well during sex scenes. Will give them that)

Gameplay:

So, this could even be broken into two parts Prologue and Post Prologue, but I'll keep it to one. Prologue is a straight VN. And ALMOST is like a different game or dev worked on it. It's polished. The dialogue, the grammar, the experience all solid. There may have been a mistake or two, but it wasn't that noticeable. Then you get PAST the prologue, and that's where the crack IMMEDIATELY start to show. The game opens up into a sandbox with free roam moments. They're not bad and not even that complain worthy BUT you will miss scenes if you don't do everything and there's no list really pointing to everything. Luckily there is a side menu to go automatically to different rooms. That HELPS but there's only certain rooms that can ONLY be accessed by that menu (Like the garage in the house).

Again I just got into the game now, so idk how much this was implemented to be a time filler in content per update like other games use it to be, but it wasn't that bad to me. You also get paths after the prologue. Rise and Fall. I'm not sure what they mean but the "Rise" seems to be your more bold, roguish, forceful like choices. Wheras "Fall" seems to be your more sensitive, polite, empathetic choices. Then you also get to add points toward "Intimidation" or "Charisma"

Your last choice in the prologue will open up a path to you to possibly be a criminal, or work with criminals, wheras if you choose another option you will NOT be able to be a criminal, well not entirely and as directly as the former choice. The character build elements are actually a nice touch and characters respond to your build which makes it worthwhile. Idk why people are saying choices are simplified or don't really matter, as yeah there's points where they don't and there are UNAVOIDABLE events and situations with characters but there are some characters that you can ignore and change relations with completely.

All in all I think Gameplay is a nice touch and helps this game along. The sandbox isn't as tiresome as it is in other games and I don't feel like it isn't pointless. And thank the lord above there's no grind otherwise I'd have not finished this game. The UI isn't too bad. There's collectibles, and such in it during the free roams as well. Weirdly though it's in the free roam conversations that some of the dialogue is untranslated. Idk what that's about. Oh, and this game NEEDS an editor. Post prologue is LITTERED with grammar mistakes and poor language in the dialogue. There's a good amount of characters saying "WTF" and "OMG" and that's just lazy and not really gonna cut it if you wanna be taken serious.

TLDR: Gameplay is pretty solid. No grind, nice touch with the character build options, choices DO matter but not ALL and only to a certain extent. There's a story to be told here but your choices can influence on HOW it's delivered instead of a WILD branching, narrative changing experience based on what you chose.

Final Remarks:

All in all, I can't lie I enjoyed this game. Maybe I was mostly critical but I did like this game and I don't regret playing it. I don't know if I'll continue to follow it though. I surprised even myself by seeing it through as I thought eventually I'd check out, but no. The characters models, and the crime elements were enough to keep me around. Also I went in expecting it to be pretty bad and my brain was pretty much turned off from the start. It surprised me in some areas but not too much.

The writing errors weren't enough to turn me off completely as I just corrected them in my head. This game did get a chuckle out of me like twice so it's got some good lighthearted moments in it as well. Most of it in general is just goofy, even the serious stuff is mostly too goofy to be taken too serious. I was never really on the edge of my seat but I was interested in getting through the problems and getting closer with the characters nonetheless. It's a solid ride. Those looking for lewd scenes there's a good amount in here. Not all of it is full on intercourse and sometimes the MC is just doing the favor and other times it's all about the MC's pleasure. It's a mixed bag really.

If you can turn your mind off to play as a dumb, horny, young adult, interested in the women around him and pulled into nonsensical situations by some ridiculous people, you'll find some enjoyment here. This game is "dumb fun" personified, which is needed once in awhile. It's sprinkled with just enough "drama" to keep you interested and on your toes though if the goofiness gets to be too unbearable. If you're looking for a strong narrative that makes you think, challenges you, draws you in with its uniqueness, then look elsewhere. This game is no strong story. It's a porn game with a pretty decent ATTEMPT at a plot.

3/5 but a Good 3/5. It's alright. Not as bad as the people who hate it say it is, but not as good as the people who love it say it is either. Somewhere right in the middle. Depending on your mindset and expectations will decide if this game was worth it or not for you.

The story is weird and nonsensical which, honestly, wouldn't be such a big deal except I think it's actually trying to be serious? Plus the translation is janky at times, and some of the dialogue doesn't make much sense.

However the worst part is the MC....he's such a cucked loser. I think he's supposed to be a kid, yet he looks like he's 30, plus the story is linear with no choices so you're forced to go along with your dumbass friend and the comical 'villain'. It's just trite and boring.

The girls look good, for the most part, even if the animations are stiff and awkward, but even that can't make this enjoyable. Play it if you've got nothing else to do, but don't expect to get your rocks off unless you are aroused by unintentional awkwardness.

Buenos renders y animaciones, buenos historia y diálogos, me encanta la gran cantidad de personajes que interacionan con el mc sin que se pierda el hilo principal de la historia, espero que se mantenga a este nivel en el futuro.

Good renders and animations, good story and dialogues, I love the large number of characters that interact with the mc without losing the main thread of the story

One of the best adult games I have come across. Don't listen to all the bad reviewers, just play it. The game has a nice story, good renders, and great animations.

Iris, Lauren and Chole steal the show. But new characters are added and there are lot of hot women in this game.

Starts out pretty strong, then it gets sandbox and pretty much all goes to shit.

Don't get me wrong, there is at least no grinding here. But it still is annoying clicking around on everything that is clickable so find out if there is a new interaction or not.

Dialoges are ok.
"Best friend" is an annoying loser that any sane person would have left in the gutter years ago.
Renders/girls are on the better side.
Story... well let's say some will say its superior some will say it's pretty bad. It is in the middle most of the time with some swings to one and some for the other.
Not only a few people in there are... strange in their behavior to say it in a diplomatic way. Let's be realistic here, the whole city would have gone under years ago in the real world. Society doesn't survive if the normal people are the minority.

I still give it 4/5 stars, because... well most games here are still way worse (yeah it is kind of sad I know) and you can have some fun in there. Maybe drink a beer or three to numb your brain a little.

This game is pretty great. I really like the premise and the way the dev is going about tackling it.

It gets 3 stars for its character design, world building and UX. Where it falls completely flat is the dialogue and story. I feel like hiring someone, or paying for pro Chat GPT, to fix all of the English issues would be a massive improvement. There are times when it is incredibly hard to follow what characters are saying. You get the idea of what the dev wants to get across but there is no depth because the words they are speaking are so disconnected from reality that I have a REALLY hard time making a connection to any character, MC included.

The models are top tier though, you can tell they put a lot of work and love into making sure each character looks unique and is sexy in their own way. Its refreshing to have family members that actually care about you out the gate instead of the bitchy sister trope. But again, its all surface because of the dialogue. A great example This whole scene could be expanded on. Made longer. With better dialogue. You would have a real chance to build a connection with the characters.

Also the skip from prologue to chapter 1 was incredibly disorientating. Like SO many events happen that you don't know about in that time, that you really should know. I recommend that the Dec take the time and just find a way to montage this info with some nice renders. Wouldn't take too much effort I don't think.

Anyhow. Solid game, worth a play through. Can easily be a 5 star game with some help on delivering the story.

The renders have an amazing quality, beautiful girls, that almost all the good things I could say about this one.
The MC is the tipical stupid guy that can't say two words without saying or thinking something stupid, like after he has sex with Ron's mom, later when he is with Ron, who is kind of injured so the MC has to carry him to his house, Ron tell you that maybe his mom will be calling you, the MC suddenly start to freak out like a 12 year old kid that was caught out with a porn magazine and ask "why your mom has my phone number and why she would call me instead of my mom?" The next scene in the kitchen, his mom say that Karen (Ron's mom) called and the MC ask if she said something about him.
The teacher is scolding the MC for being late and the best that the MC has to say is "Seems like your feet hurt, I give foot massages to my mom all the time, you want me to give you one?"
The next day he is scolded again and he say the same thing, looks pretty obvious that the Dev has a foot fetish and didn't know how to put it into the game in a smooth way and he tried to force it.
Like you saw all the scenes are about the MC saying stupid things that a guy at his age wouldn't say or think.
All the women are practically sluts, the crazy classmate craves for the MC dick, the teacher too, Rachel, the sister, I wouldn't be surprised if even his stepfather wanted to have sex with the MC and all of them are interested in him for no reason.
The story is not really interesting or deep, is pretty basic, I would just play it for a quick fap and without losing time reading the plot or the stupid MC thoughts.

In short, this is a very high quality game.

Story is intriguing, nothing special tho.

BUT the GRAPHICS. Renders, models, animations all 11/10, just amazing.

Cant wait for next update, hoping for Hana/Ran action.

Keep it up devs!

Bad:
Story is headache.
No plot for the corruption.
Most the girls are bitchs.
MC is toxic.

Good:
Dev did hard work to script a clean interface.
Good graphics and animation.

Result:
Dev is skilled, but not smart.
Worth downloading for quick fap without wasting your time reading every boring detail.

This game has good art, and the blurb on the front page makes it a genre I tend to enjoy, even when the actual piece of media is painfully mid.

But it immediately pissed me off. Fourth wall breaking shit just to confirm I am an adult? Utterly incompetent humour? All in a few bits of dialogue and renders. It immediately put me in an unforgiving mood.

And guess what? The dialogue needed me in a forgiving mood. Let me go with a random example from the first sequence of the game:

MC: "I'm probably gonna regret going with a dumbass like you but I have to."

Let's ignore the lack of elementary school-level grammar. Why is it structured like this? Entirely to give an info dump that the MC thinks his best friend is a dumbass, despite that being obvious from the interaction itself. What should this line have been?

MC: "I'm going to regret this."

If you're feeling generous, and don't believe we have enough to know the MC thinks his friend is an idiot, then:

MC: "I'm going to regret this, you fucking dumbass."

And this has been the case of every line of dialogue in the game so far. Not just a few. It is utterly incompetent and something I cannot forgive.

If you don't give a shit about this, then you may enjoy the game. The models are all really nice. As for what is meaningful to me? It is atrocious. It makes me angry that it sounded so good when I stumbled across it.

This game takes some getting used to

Initially I thought the characters were pretty terrible looking. The first actual sex scene the womans skin looked so grey she looked like a zombie, but I soldiered on and have begun to really enjoy this game and the characters look better and better

The MC I think is one of the better looking MC's from VN's I've played. I don't mean that in like his overall attractiveness, but rather that he looks believable and not like a weird, goofy teenager with a pompadour. The scenes are animated pretty good and the graphics overall look great. Visually its stunning, and like I said outside of the initial scene everything else looks amazing. The proportions for some characters are obscene but it adds to their appeal, and it looks like there's a wide enough variety of body types for whatever you're into. Even though certain characters were seemingly designed to have below-average faces with a crazy body (the cousin, who the MC basically says has an ugly face with a big butt), her scenes are actually pretty hot and she's becoming one of the more interesting characters

I do think things feel rushed though. The anticipation isn't really there for anyone but the mom as the rest you can get with without much effort. There probably should be a lot more apprehension and resistance about this sort of thing than there is (incest), but hey, it's not so bad it breaks the game or anything.

Lastly I love all the extra features and systems in place. The ways you can make money and the branching paths you can take are great fun. My only hope is that it doesn't become a thing that gets far too big too fast then the updates become smaller and take longer before they slowly stop coming

I completely disagree with people asking the devs to abandon this game. It's super fun to play and hopefully only keeps improving

An awesome game with really good renders and animations. The pacing is okay and the overall quality is excellent. Best thing about it is that it has lots of incest! Two sisters, mom, cousin and aunt.

This game, as well as many others, presents restrictions in its content, which pissed me off a lot when I finished playing it and I realized that I had missed a scene, for those who have not played it, my advice is to put the maximum from the beginning score with all characters, same as intimidation and charisma of the protagonist.
Another aspect would be the fluidity of the animations, I don't know if it's just me, but some of them looked disgusting.
Otherwise excellent entertainment, this game is not based on a good story but on the interaction with the characters. Excellent.

Excellent AVN
IT has everything, not boring sanbox, amazing renders, hottest female designs...
The aunt , the mom and the teacher are the best not only their designs, but the interactions with the protagonist.

This review is based on v0.7.2

The dev is talented in making renders, that's for sure but story telling isn't his thing. I tried. I tried really hard to develop empathy for MC, but it just doesn't work. MC is just a complete idiot. The choices the story forces the player to make are just plain stupid. I have no problem with an AVN lacking in realism. It can still make a good story though. Here, on the other hand, you just want to wish the protagonist from the very first moment that his brain hadn't been removed after he was born. But the other protagonists are also so one-dimensional that it causes me physical pain when I have to read the dialogues. It's a shame. Graphically it's really well done, even if MC is ugly as night is dark and some of the other protagonists wouldn't win a beauty contest either. Unfortunately, good graphics do not make a good AVN. If AVN with bad graphics can still become a top AVN through a very good story, the reverse is unfortunately not possible. Bad stories can never be saved by good graphics. Two stars for the effort and the graphics.

I hope the dev breaks up with this game and start something new. Like I wrote he has the potential in his graphic skills. He only needs good storytelling. This AVN can't be rescued. Just break it and try something new. It's okay to fail. It's the first attempt. The next will be better I guess.

I played this for 2 hrs and i removed it, MC is literally a pussy who every NPC dunks on him, no self esteem and u can't make any major decison, until what i reached so far, choices are just cosmetic they do nothing its like a knetic novel, you are getting blackmailed and humiliated and have no say about it, and you have to do all this to defend a stupid NPC who is rude to you and wants to fuck ur mother, all sex you get you had nothing to do with it just other characters forced you into it.
0/10 fucking waste of time

Love the game. Some aspects can be difficult when figuring out the net affect of choices and content lock/unlock, but very good art and Lauren is a 10.

MC's hair is a little weird and I am not a fan of his patchy facial hair that just makes his face look dirty. As long as scenes are POV, it's no matter.

Can't wait for the next update.

milfs are the best
the beginning is a bit boring but after the intro the good part begins
the bodies look very real and toned, in addition to the drops of sweat that are observed, too real
I will be waiting eagerly for the new update