Your personal enjoyment of No More Money will hinge on a few things. You need to know that this game is about the mother and the sister (applying the patch is highly recommended or else nothing makes sense). Every other female character in the game is more or less just a diversion, a consolation prize, merely exists to provide some action while both the mother and sister are slow burn characters.
As of Season 2 Episode 8 there is zero sex with both main love interests. You should know that going into the game. There is only teasing. Now the teasing will get more steamy as the game progresses, but nothing has escalated further so far. If that bothers you... I would suggest you wait maybe another 6 -12 months or so and then play the game.
Now of course the side characters are not necessarily boring, but in my opinion they really are just meant to provide some extra content.
However, you will get most scenes with the mother and the sister. And the side characters make very sporadic appearances.
In my playthrough I focused of course on the two main characters, Charlotte, the mother, and Tris, the sister. I broke up with starter girlfriend Emma at the first opportunity and I did open the route for aunt Denise and then Lisa and Bea (the latter two only to provide at least some diversion, but they are ok and not bad in any way).
So I cannot tell you how the interactions with the other potential love interests are, but as far as Emma, Lisa, Bea and aunt Denise are concerned the interactions are quite limited. The MC will get a scene with one of them... and then they disappear off the face of the earth only to reappear eventually.
Aunt Denise is introduced late into the game for example... stays for two days... then leaves again... and only returns at the end of the current build to maybe stay a few days longer this time. Bea has very limited interactions with the MC as well. And zero sex (like Denise). It's still very early on her path (like Denise). So not even all of the side characters will guarantee action, if that is what you are after.
These very sporadic appearances do not always feel realistic of course. For example, the MC can actually have sex with Lisa eventually (she's sweet and worth your time, in my opinion).
One might suspect that the two will at least have numerous phone calls or exchange plenty of messages after that. As people usually do after they've had sex. Or maybe have more dates even, as most people would want to in similar circumstances.
Nope. Lisa disappears for a long time and you hear basically nothing or only very little from her after her first sex scene. Same with Emma, you can keep her as your girlfriend. You will get very early sex with her (this is unavoidable, it's the beginning of the game)... then the MC has to move to a different town and for the longest time she's gone. She only makes her return in Season 2 with just a few phone calls and text messages here and there before that... but even after her return interactions with her are apparently limited.
That's why I said all the other potential love interests are mere diversions and consolation prizes in this game, they are for the most part just fluff, they add some flavor. This game is about the mother and sister and maybe the aunt. No one else really.
Still, the side characters are not completely without merit. They do have some depth to them, not too much, but they are more than just potential sex partners. Emma for example is actually a pretty nice character, she really loves the MC... if you break up with her she will be heartbroken and chances are you will feel really bad about that.
The writing is, for the most part, pretty good in this game and the dialogue feels natural. So Emma may give you a bad conscience when you ditch her.
Unfortunately the dev decided to give Emma a makeover in season 2, she gets breast implants... which is just plain silly. She was already pretty to begin with. I suppose Emma is so insecure that she wants to look more like the MC's sister (or maybe the mom) - even Emma's new short haircut looks similar after the makeover.
So pursuing side characters is not a complete waste of time, you do get some nice content here, but still, it's pretty limited and the mother and sister have by far the most interactions with the MC and the most screentime.
A quick word about the story... it's your usual family themed game. There are no surprises here really. You will know the drill. There's yoga of course... sunscreen scenes... this game does not win any prizes for originality.
Mother Charlotte is of course very attractive and hasn't had sex in five years, sister Tris is equally pretty and still a virgin, husband doesn't treat his wife right, he always works and gets into frequent fights with his wife. At one point he even calls her a whore (which is entirely unjustified, the mother is faithful and anything but a whore)
So there's talk of divorce several times and the MC will get closer and closer to both his mom and sister as the game progresses. Now you can , in theory, reject them or try to not be on their path... but quite frankly, that makes zero sense, since the two are the main love interests with a majority of all scenes.
You should not play No More Money if you don't want to pursue Charlotte and Tris, in my opinion, since that makes no sense. So don't go into the game with the idea to maybe focus on Emma alone... or Lisa... or Bea... or anyone other than Charlotte and Tris really. That would make for a very frustrating experience.
I find the title of the game highly misleading... you would think that money problems are a major concern here... and sure, the father was fired, gets a new job in a different town with less money, the house is much smaller than before, the mom has no job at all and will eventually run out of money (she gets nothing from her husband), but the MC is more or less swimming in cash once he accepts the job offer early in the game. And the MC can buy gifts, clothing etc for his two sweethearts (and eventually the aunt) at home, so no, there are no real money problems.
The one huge difference in No More Money is that in most other games of this genre either the mom or the sister, sometimes both, have already a crush on the MC and are secretly in love with him. And in many other games the MC is lusting after his family right out of the gate.
Not so here, the sister kind of has a secret crush on her brother, but it's rather tame in the beginning and only grows as the game progresses, the mother has no built-in secret lust for her son at all really in the beginning. And this is why the path for both of them is very slow. They need to overcome the taboo aspect of it all, the mother is further held back by the fact that she's married.
So the mother first has to develop feelings to begin with, then she has to overcome the taboo aspect and then she has to cope with the fact that she's married. That takes time.
On top of that the MC is also not a complete horndog and he too has to overcome his inhibitions... early in the game he is weirded out by his budding emotions for his mother and sister. So he's not already in love with either the mom or his sister when the game begins.
The MC will spend long stretches of the game in one room with his sister, sharing the bed (the house is small, it only has two bedrooms) and this is actually more or less the starting point for his attraction to her. The game tries to be a bit more believable with the two main relationships.
And I think the game does a good job with all of that. I don't feel things are too slow. It more or less all makes sense with how things develop and unfold.
So in my opinion the two main routes do have sufficient progress. Sure, there's zero sex with the main characters after about 50% of the game (it will apparently have 4 seasons, season 2 has just ended), but with how things are at the beginning this makes sense. It would feel wrong if either of the main love interests jumped on the MC that easily.
That being said there is not just teasing, the MC will eventually kiss his mom quite frequently and she is 100% ok with it eventually... and even caress her a bit and touch her breasts etc. The sister is more of a tease, but in a fun way, it's not malicious. There is a very short oral sex scene with her, but she's stone cold drunk and the MC stops her because he doesn't want it like that from her.
So it's not that the sister is not physical with the MC at all (there's also a typical grinding/ rubbing scene). But of course you may find it annoying that there's still no real action. So be aware of the slow burn!
If these things annoy you I really recommend you wait some more, as mentioned further above, come back when season 3 is finished.
But if you like slow burn and a game that mostly has a fun atmosphere, No More Money is enjoyable, even now, even though the main love interests are not beyond the teasing stage yet. As I said, in my opinion there is sufficient progress here. But most of it is psychological.
At the end of the current update it's obvious that both main love interests and the MC have made their peace with basically everything and they are now on the path of becoming fully committed to a romantic relationship. Things will certainly come to fruition in season 3.
A few words about the technical aspects... renders are pretty good. The characters attractive, body proportions are realistic, the mother is of course the typical mom that doesn't look one day older than 25, maybe 30... the aunt also looks equally young.
This game has a third person view, so you will frequently see the MC. This of course helps with camera angles and composition of the renders. If you prefer POV you should be aware of that.
Animations are fine. They are competent but probably nothing that will wow you, you know the typical animations in DAZ games. Kissing scenes are fully animated which is always welcome.
I didn't like much of the music though, but that is very subjective. I eventually muted the music and played my own. I found it too distracting and I didn't like the genre of some of the tracks.
Also, the dev is in LOVE with slow motion panning. So many renders are panned, and the panning is really slow. You can interrupt that with the space bar etc, but if you want to see it all there will be several times where you will have to wait a long time before the panning is finished. Several times you will get montages of renders that are all panned. This can take quite a long time before it's finished.
I am not a fan of this excessive panning, so I interrupted it most of the time, especially in season 2. Unless it was a montage. But things like riding the bike in the city don't require panning.
A few more words about the story... as I said, this is your typical family themed game. You know the tropes. You know the archetypes. Good thing here is that the sister likes the brother, she's neither bitchy nor does she have an attitude. The mother is also sweet and caring. Both are very easy to like.
And at least on my path and with my choices the MC is also actually very nice, he cares deeply about his family and is a pretty decent person and not your typical superhorny sleazeball. Of course you can also turn him into a manwhore who bangs half the town, if that is more to your liking.
There are paths in the game, some of which are mutually exclusive. You cannot have all love interests in the same playthrough. For example you have to choose between Lauren and Lisa. One is a bit more kinky, the other much more normal.
There is also a major branch pretty early in the game where you have to decide if you want to work as real estate agent or in a club. And this affects which of the two potential love interests you can get closer to. A lesbian couple of all things. So they are actually bisexual. You will rarely find true lesbians who want nothing from any man in most VNs.
I do enjoy the slice of life aspect of the game. As mentioned, it's nothing new, but the banter and interactions with the mother and sister (and eventually the aunt) are quite fun.
However, No More Money makes the same mistake so many other VNs make... it wants to be too many things at once.
Imagine you watch a movie like Pretty Woman... and after one hour the movie suddenly introduces a sideplot about the Mafia and tries to be Godfather and Pretty Woman at the same time. Then Richard Gere gets kidnapped by the bad guys, is beaten up and ends up in a hospital. You would probably feel confused and a bit annoyed maybe even. You want more lovey dovey scenes with Julia Roberts, not this stuff!
This game railroads you into a completely unnecessary - in my opinion - side plot about the BDSM underground club and sex drugs. An undercover detective will approach the MC and ask for help with finding her sister who may be kept as a sexworker in the club, and the police also wants to bust the club and the owner (a potential love interest) for the drugs they manufacture and distribute.
Any sensible person would say "no thanks, that's nothing for me, I am not a cop"... here you are railroaded (zero choice!) into helping the detective and thus the VN is now a weird hybrid of Pretty Woman and Godfather or something like French Connection. Why oh why of all things do so many VNs do this??? Commit to one genre and stick to it! I don't play a game like No More Money for side plots about criminals and drugs.
I really wonder why so many devs do that! The slice of life aspect and the interactions with the mother and sister (plus the interactions with the side characters) provide more than enough content, an inane and super annoying (again, just my opinion) sideplot about the BDSM club and sex drugs is not needed at all.
Romantic comedies and stories about crime gangs don't mix well.
Well, the ctrl button will be your friend. I am fully determined to give any scenes about the BDSM club and any interactions with Katrina, the owner (I ignored her in my playthrough), the ctrl treatment in future updates. I have no patience for this. It's not needed, it's wasted time and a waste of resources if you ask me.
Especially since this plot element is introduced very late into the current build just when things with the MC and his mother and sister are close to the turning point, where both main love interests accept their feelings and slowly overcome the taboo aspect of it all.
That should provide more than enough content for future updates? Especially since the father is still living with the family and none of the love interests know about each other. So lots of conflict can happen here. Crime gangs are not needed to spice things up.
Anyway... who will enjoy this game?
If you like slow burn, if you like teasing, if you accept the fact that not all love interests in this game are created equal, and that the mother and sister are the major characters in this game with everyone else just providing some diversion here and there... then you will almost certainly enjoy No More Money a lot!
If you want to choose between love interests though and if you expect that you get sufficient content with all of them... if you hate slow burn, if you hate teasing, if you prefer instant gratification and if you want a variety of kinks... then you should either avoid No More Money or maybe wait until the game is completed. As things are currently you will almost certainly find things infuriating.
One very positive thing about the game is that updates, so far, have been very frequent and that chances are very high that this game will keep getting frequent updates. So you won't have to wait months and months between updates.
The game receives updates every 4-6 weeks or so, the dev also provides regular updates about the development progress, so you see how much work on a chapter has been completed and how much is still left. This is exemplary and deserves a lot of praise!
So... slow burn fans should not hesitate. No More Money is lots of fun if you like slow burn and teasing.
Everyone else should either look for a different game with more instant gratification or maybe come back in a year from now when all the routes have made sufficient progress. The dev is pretty open about how certain things will progress and sex with the mother and sister is not the endgame here, it will happen before that. In season 3. So it's not that far off anymore.
But an unneeded side plot about the drugs and BDSM club, side characters that are literally sidelined for long stretches (and thus feel a bit unnecessary) and the excessive panning keep this game from being truly excellent. But it's still a very good game, overall a fun experience and absolutely worth your time!
I had a blast here and enjoyed all scenes with the mother, sister and aunt. If the BDSM club / drugs stuff will not get too much screentime in the next few updates I can forgive that aspect. This game should have a laser sharp focus on the family. And little else.
- "Uh yeah, dad, we just figure we'll live a little closer to where we work and go to school and it'll allow us to save money while also getting out on our own a bit." "Why do we only have one bed in the condo? Uh...how's things with mom, you two getting along any better?")
