Ren'Py - Mansion Affairs [v0.4] [LustfulFantasy]

This game? Man, it hooks you from the jump, total curveball in the best way. Right off the bat, it pulls you in, which is kinda rare, gotta hand it to 'em.
And the story? It's got this cool vibe from the get-go, makes you wanna see where the whole thing's headed. Seriously grabbed my attention, felt really original.
Now, let's talk about the characters. They absolutely nailed her. Her headspace, how she deals with all the crazy stuff happening, feels super legit. Like, seriously real.
She's not some cardboard cutout making dumb horror movie moves. Nah, she feels like a proper person trying to figure out some seriously messed up things.
Her inner voice? Adds a whole 'nother layer. Makes her way more complicated, you know? She's kinda all over the place - cautious, bold, even a little bit of a handful sometimes.
Gives her a real personality that jumps out. And it's cool they aren't afraid to show she's not perfect, maybe a little reckless with some calls.
The whole thing's got this definite unique flavor, feels fresh, which is awesome.
Big props to the folks who put this together. They really cooked up a killer interactive story, definitely worth checking out.
Got high hopes for what they do with this in the next go-arounds. This title's got some serious promise.
Yeah, after spending time with the early versions, I gotta say the characters are a big highlight for me, Emma in particular. How her mind works and how she handles everything feels spot on.
Just the pure potential this game shows with its awesome characters and spooky vibe? It's huge. Can't wait to see where they take it next.

The portrayal of the protagonist, particularly Emma, is exceptionally well-executed; her internal thoughts and responses to circumstances are rendered with remarkable authenticity.
From its inception, the narrative presents a genuinely intriguing premise, fostering a keen interest in its future progression.
This game distinguishes itself by immediately and unexpectedly engrossing the player, a rare and commendable feat.
A distinct and laudable uniqueness permeates the overall experience offered.
Indeed, the developers have skillfully assembled a compelling interactive story deserving of praise.
The characterization of Emma, in particular, feels remarkably human and layered, avoiding simplistic tropes.
There is considerable anticipation for how this promising title will evolve in subsequent updates.

Reviewed on: 2025/01/25
Score: 4/10
Playtime: about 3 hours
Version: 0.1 Market (Steam preview copy)

This game isn't for me. It indicates a heavy slant toward cheating, netori (MC seduces someone else's partner), and netorare (MC's partner cheats on them). It's possible to play through the story as either a male or female MC. Neither of them are renamable.
Alex, the male MC, is as dumb as they come. He gets uncontrollably horny when seeing the smallest glimpse of a woman. His constant cheating was discovered by Emma, his wife (and supposed love of his life), making her want to divorce him.
Circumstances entice them to stay married for a year longer, and stay at a mansion they hope to inherit. While Alex often expresses remorse, he never tries to make better choices, even going as far as second-guessing the player when they make sensible choices for him.
Emma, the female MC, suffers from a Dissociative Identity Disorder. In the current content, she acts like a meek and demure housewife/artist, at least until her alter ego takes over, and she casually decides to suck off Alex outside the player's control.

The main issue here isn't necessarily the content/kinks themselves, but the story and characterization. If Alex were an unapologetic cheater who'd express how much he got off on the thrill of it, that'd be fine. Instead, he constantly flip-flops on what to do. He'll briefly consider Emma's feelings, before acting like a horny 14-year-old seeing his first pair of breasts. Likewise, Emma's condition doesn't make for a compelling MC either. Why would I want to play as Emma, and make choices for her, when the game can just wrest that control from me and have her alter-ego act out the dev's fantasies?

The story itself isn't told well either. The player is never told about what's at stake, what the rules of the 'game' are, and even fails to introduce the main cast adequately. For instance, we're first led to believe that only Emma and Alex will have to stay at the mansion, until suddenly Daniel and Isabelle show up. If you decided to play Emma's route first, then you'll encounter characters who aren't introduced at all, while they are on Alex's route.

The game's style of storytelling doesn't sit right with me either. There's an inconsistent mix of the MCs having thoughts, the narrator saying what they're thinking, or describing what's happening. Worse, these aren't styled consistently. Sometimes Alex' thoughts will be colored, other times they won't. Additionally, the narrator often describes things that aren't shown on the screen. I don't need to read "Or maybe it was your persistence, (she said, rolling her eyes playfully.)". This is an AVN, show me rolling her eyes instead.

"Mansion Affairs" also goes out of its way to make characters unlikeable. Alex is a borderline sociopath. Daniel is manipulative and shows his true colors when verbally abusing the staff. His wife, Isabella, likes to put people down to feel superior, and so on. All of these people deserve each other, in the worst way possible.

One positive thing I can say about this game is about its animations. These show skill and attention to detail. Some are more basic than others, but still of a decent quality.


Some suggestions that (subjectively) would make the game more enjoyable to me:

• Do away with the male & female MC and create a single narrative, ensuring all events happen in a single timeline. (For instance, Emma doesn't visit Daniel's room when playing as Alex.)
• Allow players to choose if they want to control the male and/or female character's choices
• Create a canon path for both. If the player doesn't want to control any main character, the game could play out as a kinetic novel instead. If they only control one, the other MC reacts accordingly.
• Decide on the identity of your game. What is it about? What are the goals of our MCs? How do these goals align or diverge as the story progresses?
• Additionally, allow players control over these goals. It would be a small adjustment to cater to a cheating-loving audience by making Emma possessive, and a harem audience by making her not care anymore. Likewise, Emma could want to move on and explore different relationships and her sexuality in the same process, she might want to restore a loving and monogamous relationship, or become a manipulative femme fatale who wants nothing more than to use this year to torture Alex.
• Let the MCs act with resolve and forethought. Playing as Alex, a man entirely enslaved by his lust, just isn't compelling, enticing or sexy. The same goes for Emma, whose alter ego is outside of her (and our) control. Whatever you do, please stop letting an MC flip-flop on their position to then let them do it anyway without a second thought given. (Eleanor)
• Clean up the narration and let characters expose information in conversation. Don't let a narrator describe what characters are thinking, that's what the characters are for.
• Actually listen to a player's decision. If I'm not interested in Eleanor, I don't want her forced on the MC either. And I certainly don't want to read how the MC worships the ground she walks on because her breasts are humongous.
• Ensure there are actual motivations and temptations for the characters to act the way they do. Emma and Alex are at the mansion, keeping up appearances, to win the inheritance. How much sense does it make for Alex to sleep around, potentially angering Emma? She was willing to divorce him before the inheritance was mentioned, she can still leave at any time. Why doesn't this factor in for Alex? Why is he regretting his actions and trying to improve things, while still chasing every skirt?

(i hope temporary) review on version 0.3:
What started to be a potential good game with very well done assets and really interesting story setup, now turned into a mess.
The decision to turn this into a sandbox game is imho the worst decision the dev could make.
For now there is no hint system, no task list... nothing else but empty locations, which you need to click blindly to get a new scene.
Speaking of new scenes - they consist of empty short text (repeatable) without continuing any further.

Even after there would be some help in next updates, the sandbox mode over here doesn't make any sense, as there are no independent paths which would justify a sandbox mode.
All paths and relations are intertwined, which will not allow to play different paths separately - so you will end up to play certain scenes exactly in order or else everything will not make any sense.
In fact, this seems to be one of the crap "pseudo-sandbox" games, which aren't really a free-roam on your own decision, but more or less a forced "now go there, then go there ..."

2 stars only because of the very good first 2 updates until the new freeroam starts and destroyed everything from 4 stars down to 2, or even lower... who knows?

I will re-review on next updates and change my rating if this stupid "pseudo-freeroam" is removed again, or drop my rating even more if this BS is getting worse. (which would be a shame and a loss of a really potentional very good game)

It's really bad.

It consists of click-map, click-room, empty, click-map...repeat.

The time changes utterly randomly. It's 06:00, nothing happened, now its 14:00 or it's 10:00, have a 4 sentence conversation, it's now 16:00.

There's also zero content, go to the gym see an image of dance instructor then it says you see her stretching... nothing shown. Then it says you cant stop watching... nothing shown

Not showing anything is pretty redundant anyway - the characters are all utterly hideous, you absolutely would not want to engage with any of the LI's in real life, except maybe the other guys' wife, but that's only for people into that kink which Im not.

The writing is poor, but you dont experience much of it, so it's hard to compare

I tried this during the initial release and enjoyed it through the second. Story seems decent enough to keep you interested and the animation is very good. Third installment was different, jumps to full blown sandbox. You have several areas to explore but zero idea what steps to take.
I played around with the button to adjust the time and found some people. A notification comes up to talk to people but nothing happens.
I may play later down the line and adjust my review but as of this latest release I lost interest.
Also a game with the option to pick your protag and multiple directions for each will need several playthroughs. Seems like it will be a bit much with this type of sandbox setup.

After playing through the first version of the game, I have to say: for me was the character development, especially Emma. Her inner thoughts and the way she reacts to everything that’s happening around her feel very real.
It’s not just the typical “horror protagonist making dumb decisions” trope; instead, she comes across as a woman who’s trying to make sense of the weird and unsettling things going on around her.
The Emma inner voice adds a lot of depth, making her feel more complex, especially with how she fluctuates between being cautious, bold, and even a bit bitchy at times.
It gives her a personality that stands out, and I like that the game isn’t afraid to let her be a little flawed or risky in her decisions.
Now, while I really enjoyed the first version, I do think there are a few areas that could use improvement. For starters, the interaction with the environment could be a bit more dynamic. Sometimes, it feels like you’re just being led from one scene to the next without much agency to explore or make choices that affect the story in meaningful ways. Adding a few more moments where the player can choose how to interact with objects or even influence dialogue could deepen the immersion.
Overall, I loved what the game has done so far. It’s got a lot of potential with its unique characters and psychological horror. With a bit more player interaction and a few tweaks to the pacing. I’m excited to see where it goes in future updates!