VN - Ren'Py - Light of My Life [Ch. 8 v0.8.1] [Naughty Road]

OK, here goes. My first review on this site, which should tell you something.

On to the specifics. I've seen this flash by previously, but skipped it, stupidly.
When browsing for something to download I look for certain phrases; "grind" -> out, "great story" -> irrelevant, but leaning out, "little fap contant" -> out.
So, on those merits this game/VN shouldn't stand much of a chance. There's no grind, there's that. But I generally go for sex content, the freakier the better, and couldn't care less about game or story, I've got Portal, Half Life or System Shock II for that.
And incest stuff is just annoying, partly because it often involves downloading the "incest patch" (eff, that), but mostly because it feels very cliche and forced. I'm a sick twisted bastard, so squeamishness is not the issue, but, not interesting. as it doesn't add anything.

On to this game. Played it in the usual way, skip mode and stop at the juicy bits, of which there's not that many. Left characters as "wards" and so on, because, not interesting as mentioned. But, it was ok for what it was worth.

But, something was off, I felt I missed something, so I started it again, now with the "correct" relations, as I felt that was the only way the game should be played, my instincts nonewithstanding. And, it has been said before, the designer has an amazing talent for storytelling, as I got dragged back into a mindstate I had forgotten I had, the sense of loss you get when you finish a book and you're left with the sadness of saying goodbye to characters you have come to care for. (Note to NaughtyRoad: Please let there be a happy ending, saying goodbye to Denise and Macy will be sad enough as it is)
I still want to see MC defile them every possible way from here to Sunday though.. But I trust the authors pacing and storytelling here.

The buildup of the story is perfectly paced, and feels, well, realistic in a sense. And the scenes that we have gotten are incredibly erotic (and I normally loathe "erotic", give me filth thank you very much)

So, this game is good enough for me to write my first review, and become a patron. Whoddathunk I would enjoy a game so much that wasn't kink and plowing from the first Hello. Play it, you will not regret it.
And as to the complaints about the look of the models? Well, if you immerse yourself in this for ten minutes and not by then find they look *exactly* like they should look for the best story, you must be Leonardo Dicaprio and can go back to porking supermodels on your yacht.

There's a lot of D/d incest games on F95. They run all over the spectrum from domination to seduction to magic. It doesn't take a lot of effort to make a D/d game interesting in some way. Anyone downloading and playing a game with the incest tag is pretty much into it. It's one of those tags that you're either for it... or against it.

There are few games out there that are able to weave the story to make it believable. To make it natural. There's even fewer games that make the player invested in this kind of story, mainly because to make it believable and natural, a developer really has to embrace the slow burn.

NaughtyRoad continues to reign atop this genre with Light of My Life. He has taken a genre that is overstuffed to the gills with every type of excuse on how to bed your mother/daughter/sister, and crafted it into a game that actually makes you feel. He makes you fall in love with these characters.

The storytelling is top-notch. Each character has their obvious flaws and each character reacts to those flaws in a very human way. They draw you in, and before you know it, you're trapped and waiting to find out what is next.

A+ game right here.

New to this website so I don't how things work yet.


But I have to say, this is like the most incredible game I have come across so far.


Great writing, characters have so much depth and are very interesting. Writing in other games pales in comparison to this one. I love the way how the story starts and love the dream sequences with the mother.

Edited:

Spoiler: The Mother

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The Renders are Beautiful, the color scheme used is beautiful, and the facial expressions and body language add so much to dialogue. I just love the girls and Macy is so Hot, Denise is adorable

can't wait to see where this story goes in future.

great work dev, you are very talented.

i never review or vote, but for this game, i just had to. The story is real, way above the norm, i actually lolled sometimes, even got dust in my eye. The main characters feel like real people and you can understand why they do what they do. The renders are good, the facial expressions look natural. The build up to naughty stuff is paced just right. 10/10 on everything.

This game is actually just enjoyable without the masturbation. The story is phenomenal and the action is hot. Blown away that this is a fan made project. Best game by a long shot. Need more Taboo content like this

High praise to this game, the graphics are good, the story is well done although there are many similar this one rather stands out. The characters are not the usual barbie doll type which i find respectable. There are actual updates with content ( wow so many do the fix bug fix bug fix bug.. for months and no content ), Cudo's to the Dev for a game well done so far. I impatiently await more of the story.

The second review I have done that gets a full five stars, and here's why!

The first thing a lot of people bring up is the unconventional look and style of the 3d characters. You may notice a lot of squirming as people attempt to describe the daughters as "not so pretty", but still pretty... don't give yourself the wrong impression with this though. The biggest shocker is that the two main characters are either original or so artfully modded as to seem original. You aren't going to find these girls just anywhere. They are also lovingly crafted in a number of poses and animations. Yes, a lot of the "tricks" are used to give this novel poses and animations but the attention to detail and production value is utterly amazing. Even though the loose interactions are made like a Paper Mario game with maybe six poses to choose from, both the poses and the simple keyframes are utilized perfectly. More complicated environmental interactions are built with gravity and with people having weight - a real nightmare compared to many other novels that simply turn a standing character 90 degrees to have them laying down. These complicated and weighted renders are then given tiny little motions for more depth along with camera travel which makes for fantastic scenes.

...Yep, play this novel and you can never unsee every other novel where characters have anti-gravity hair and clothing.

There is also the writing... oh my goodness, the writing! My apologies, but I have gotten so used to translated "Engrish". Look, it's hard enough to keep up the quality of writing when dealing with numerous branches to the story, but this stuff is amazing. It's not just a line by line recount of what is going on, the writing serves the production quality and the writer has a skill with using euphemisms and environment to further press the story. SOOOO many times I feel the need to point out to the girls (and the television they are watching at one point) that words matter, heh...

The writing also serves to make it all not feel wrong...

Look, I have a beautiful sister and I was adopted. That's a story seed for 90% of the VN's you'll find out there, but the truth is the thought of being intimate with my (not blood related) sister is pretty gross on a personal level. No matter how many times I search for incest porn, it doesn't change the fact that the reality is not so easy to make into something okay.

This VN though... The writing accurately builds the feelings that you as the MC has for his departed wife as well as the fatherly instincts for his two daughters. Simply discovering the depths of the heartbreak that these two girls have gone through is enough to make the choices you take as an MC make total sense. No guilt, simply a desire to love and protect.

Look, if you don't cry when both you and Macy talk about their individual perspectives of the mother's death, then you are obviously a soulless monster... go ahead and let it all out. Nobody will judge you.

So I eagerly await the next chapter, not just for the lovingly handcrafted sex scenes, but for some closure on these delightful characters suffering. Be prepared to care for a bunch of ones and zeros that have been made into people you genuinely give a shit about.

To me, as pornographic material, this visual novel does not "work as intended". That said, the rating of "poor" that I have given for this visual novel is based upon its merits as an adult visual novel, not as a visual novel in general.

In short, this is what it would be like if you took After Life and injected raunchy, morally questionable consequence laden narrative into it.

The quality of the renders is excellent, and while the stylization is novel and appealing in some instances, it is hideous in others. What is wrong with that? Nothing, from a perspective of realism. However, when trying to immerse yourself in an adult game, or adult visual novel, you do not want to be repulsed by the appearance of the characters you are supposed to find attractive, or to engage in sexual acts with. This sense of disgust also transgresses and permeates throughout the rest of the piece, although for different reasons.

While the writing is competent, plausible and thought-provoking, it makes you feel depressed and abhorred at the prospect of abusing your position. An example of this is in the opening, in which you are given exposition about the predicament you find yourself and your family in, it is a rather despondent and pessimistic one. Which, if this were intended to be a tragedian visual novel, would be perfectly acceptable, but as an adult visual novel? No, not at all. I should not feel disgusted and depressed, that is certainly not what I seek from this medium.

As a tragedian visual novel, with sublimating tweaks to the renders and writing, this could be a good, or excellent piece. Yet, as an adult visual novel, this is below average, or poor, because even the most average adult visual novel does not make me feel dejected or revolted at both the narrative and the visual characterization.

In closing, the developer is obviously skilled and dedicated, but I feel the core of this narrative would have been best told within a tragedian visual novel, devoid of the baggage of expectations that come with adult visual novels.

I dont know how i missed this one earlier but i am glad i found it.
The screenshots got me intrigued because i loved how the different ladies looked. Like people and not dolls with silly proportions.
I also appreciated the little details such as one the sexy ladies having a bit crooked teath and such imperfections helping me really immerse myself.
The only problem i have is with the "animations" that are pretty much just 2-3 frames.

Whle it works for breathing life into models by having them blink(loved that detail).
It was less appreciated and immersive when it came to the sex act itself. While i did still enjoy them they still felt a bit underwhelming
especially since i loved the renders(or should i say models?) so much.
I also enjoy how you can name pretty much everyone(although i only change MC's name) and even more so since here they use my newly discovered favorite of not showing the MC's face.
Which is incredible to my immersion which i am very attached to.

The sexy ladies drew me in but it was the writing that got me to stay through all content that is there right now(chap 4).
The polar opposites of the girls makes each day interesting or enjoyable and i love how they care for each other even when they argue.
Seeing that side of them makes me want to do everything in my power to love and care for them so we can all be happy.
I also enjoy the little daily things that both add to the immersion and heh, my enjoyment.
The atmosphere while being serious and dealing with grief and loss also manages to incredibly heartwarming and endearing.

I am definitely going to keep my eyes on this one and probably throw some many the creators way as another way to show my support and thanks this VN.
I also am having some nice fantasies of what the future might bring and this may be outside of the goal but the possibility of a harem would be nice.
They all deserve love and affection from the MC. But keep up the good work and if you can and also enjoyed this one please support the creator financially if you can. I really wanna see this one through.

Cheers!

Edit: Derp, just as i published this one i remembered that i also wanted to mention that i really enjoyed ALL office shenanigans very much.

The main issue with this game is pacing. While some will say that it's great how the story is slowly developing I'd say that it's the greatest weakness of the game.

The fact the game doesn't rush immediately into sexual content is not a problem, it's that over a year in development now and we still haven't gotten to any significant/major sexual content with the two daughters which are considered the main content of the game (the warning messages about locking yourself out of this content states as much).

While the writing is good as others have mentioned, it does have a repetitive nature that so many games/visual novels suffer from. The developer/writer has gone for a day by day breakdown which has repetitive scenes that slowly add new content/dialog, often not of that much value.

Having to select to knock or not knock on the bathroom door most mornings (which has no impact on anything to date) is just one example.

I also find for me personally the attempt at humour/comedy doesn't work with the overall tone of the game. The breaking of the 4th wall and talking about other visual novel games and the one office story line don't seem to fit the overall narrative.

The office story lines also seem more like a delaying action with sexual content to distract from the daughters than anything else. A tactic used by so many other games before this one.

This game could ultimately deliver in the end if it does an excellent job when it does start delivering more sexual content with the daughters, but it could just as easily be another game that abruptly gets an ending or gets abandoned altogether.

Perfect
Models are stunning, story progress slowly but surely.
The game is intuitive, no need to do and redo boring tasks.
The first time I see uncommon models like that.
Artwork is just genious.
Can't wait for story progress.
Congrats to the developper's work.

This is one of the Best written and most unique art style AVN that i have experienced.. It was truly a wonderful experience to follow along the story that the dev has prepared so far, and cant wait till his vision is finished!!

Light of my Life is in my top 5 AVN's this year...

A genuinely interesting game that- unlike many adult games, seems like it actually has something to say with its story. There are many people who seem to think it's funny to go off about the appearance of the characters when it's actually an intentional choice by the developers and plays into some of the game's motifs and doesn't take away from any of the story or the sex scenes themselves. I'm extremely excited to see where it's taken next.

Great game, good story with good character models. Hopefully there will be a lot more to come from the game over the course of it's development.
I'm not great with reviews so I am struggling to hit the word count, I just felt it deserved a rate from me.

• Real looking characters
• Art 100/10
• story line 100/10
• a mix of sugar and spice everywhere

Only visual novel I enjoyed reading line by line and the well fitting art to make it more beautiful.

Thank you.

The main characters remind me of stylized versions of Nora Attal or other women of Moroccan (and French-Moroccan, Pakistani-Moroccan, etc.) descent, combined with Spanish "gypsy" characteristics - really unique and georgeous looks.

The entire VN has stylized characters combined with unique and/or HD details; there was some real thought put behind the presentation of all characters and that does add a deeper level of identification with them for the player, IMHO.

The game mechanics are seriously top notch , including things such as simple eyelid and chest movements to impart a sense of living beings, subtle "live" background effects and rotoscoping layers. They have been very careful about clipping, believable poses, materials choices, lighting, scene quality, etc. and it really helps with immersion into the story. Even the use of custom fonts for each character label shows how deeply this work has been designed.

Wonderfully polished game with evolving personalities and extreme behaviors and actions that somehow stay contextually relevant in most cases (hey, it's an adult VN, so latitude is given). But, the proof of its greatness is in how we feel at the end of each chapter, IMHO: we want Denise's naivete to drive out everyone's inhibitions and somehow add to her confidence as a maturing woman, we are pulling for Macy to separate the deep love and passion that have fueled her inner turmoil and the MC is their grounding point who feels just as scared and lost - we want him to help provide the solid foundation for all of their growth, happiness and safety going forward ... despite pressures and weirdness around them (and behind them). They share a common history which defines their problems and path to happiness at the same time.

It's a fascinating story. It is very detailed with a lot of background but never boring or a lot of text to skip. And I love the graphics. You have to get used to the Appearance of the girls but it is very special and different from the usual 95%. Best game, I played here. Can't wait for chapter 5

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Edit:
Man, the wait for the latest update was excruciating, i almost gave up on it since it took a few weeks shy from a year, but damn was the wait worth it. Every character and story line got further developed, and in the best possible way. Macy and Denise are cute as ever, especially Macy, she is just too god damn beautiful, and her story was the one i was the most interested in, and the game did not disappoint, though it took some time to get there, and once it got there it definitely felt like the best was left for last. Absolutely amazing, cant wait to see more. If there is one thing that is terrible about the ending, it is the fact that the next update might be just as far away as this was.

What an amazing game and story, Macy and Denise are such cute characters, i was invested in them from the start. The writing is excellent, its probably the best i have seen so far, and im eagerly waiting for the next chapter because for now it ended just as things were finally getting interesting. Cant wait for more. I love the art style, especially Macy, she is so beautiful, she is definitely my favorite character, closely followed by Denise.

One of the best games out there. If you're at all on the fence, just give it a try.

The art style took a while for me to get into, but I quite like it now. The renders are excellent and it makes smart use of sprites which more games should do.

I quite like the recent addition of letting you choose options with the number keys as I use enter to advance text and now I don't have to keep moving my hand back to the mouse as I can just use the number pad. I hope this becomes a trend.

The story and prose are both excellent if you're into the daddy-daughter schtick.

My only real complaint is with the points system. If you read the walkthrough, it's clear the developer's intention is that you shouldn't need or even want one. However, I still feel like I do or I'm not going to get the results I want from characters where their points are more infrequent. I'd much prefer if the choices let me direct the story in a way which feels most interesting to me without making me feel like I have to make certain choices or risk missing content later. For example, why do I need to worry about love or anxiety points? Unless I'm a raging asshole, I obvious want to lower Denise's anxiety. And if I don't click that I want to avoid a character's scenes, I obviously want her love points. I think the game would benefit from removing all points entirely.