English: 8/10
User Interface: 4/10
User Experience: 8/10
Art: 8/10
Dialogue: 9/10
Story: 6/10
Opinion: 6/10
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Avg: 7.0/10 [4/5]
Let me start off with, for the longest time, this was in my top 5 stories on this site. It starts strong with good believable characters. Dialogue that isn't dry, poorly translated, or contrived and forced. And fairly unique looking LIs with the "big eyes clay doll" look, that I do like. I'm tired of the same 7 DAZ models in everything. Admittedly, when this first came out I was more horny brained, and was like "What is this? Barely any sex.." Now my third eye is opened and story is a must. The problem is, the story has fallen off and my past self would be pleased. Not that that's necessarily bad, but it is unfortunate. At least to me. The last few updates have been disappointing, especially with the Jaye and Mallory "cameo" that just feels a little cheap. (Granted, when I first saw that part I never played that game, but now that I have, the jewelry store scene is even more of a grating experience.) But I'm sure the average F95 user is plenty happy with how the story is progressing, or lack thereof. At this point there is only one way things can go. Shannon somehow catches MC and Abby in an intimate moment, then the harem flees to the mansion they got for free and infinite sex happens. I don't see how there could be a chapter 2. My diminishing opinion of this aside, it's still one of the better written stories on this site AND written by someone that speaks English. What a treat. Although, they don't know the difference between "to" and "too" as well as "then" and "than." Which happens almost every time. You're welcome for ruining that for you. Also, the dreams. Them rationalizing everything and happening every night is heavy handed and annoying.
Anyway, you play as MC [Frank, because theres a full chapter that forgot to change to the name variable when Becca helped Mei]. He recently caught his wife cheating on him, is getting divorced and is now Single Again (tm). lol. The first parts of the story is MC struggling with the fact Shannon cheated and he lives with his 19 year old, Abby, in a one bedroom loft. To the seven people that haven't played this you might think "Oh, so now just suddenly sex happens." Thankfully no. This is written in such a way that it actually feels like there is genuine familial love between the two. At least for the first 1/3 of the current game. He also has to navigate keeping a relationship with his other two step-daughters Becca and Lilly. Lilly hates him because daddy issues and Becca is in love with him because daddy issues. Now, I know that's reductive, but it's true. I will say I like the characters, they're pretty well written, about up until current end-of-content when it falls apart. Lilly and Abby are sort of together, but not when Lilly is dating someone. And Lilly is over-protective of Abby for territorial reasons. To the point she pretty much constantly antagonizes MC, acting like he's gonna be be a perv. Which, for quite a while, isn't the case. MC is level headed, if not an over-thinker, and is an actual human being. Not the usual "I have to comment on how hot or how much I want to sleep with the girls" type idiot. At the start. Eventually, you the reader, and Abby, learn Abby is not MC's child. And that's when things start to get shaky. At least for me.
After that, Abby does this "I love my not-dad, I must be in love with my not-dad." Type mental gymnastics, I guess. As, up until the end so far, Abby is the only character you have no clear idea about how she really feels. I mean, the sleeping in underwear together and trying to shower together is a bit of a signal, but still. The Abby interactions are uncomfortable. She acts like a child, MC has a giant internal monologue every time something happens with her, and every person who knows says its either fucked up or wrong. Aside from Becca the cuck. And honestly, I think one of the strong points of this story is the conflict about not letting Abby know about MC's relationships. Then, Becca reveals her feelings for MC. She's been in love with him forever and also gets off to him being with other women. A trait I usually criticize, but this story explains it in an INFINITELY more fluid way than ANY game on this site BAR NONE. So I guess it gets a pass. But only for Becca. Lilly, Meiko, and eventually (probably)Abby just being okay with sharing someone they love as well is always gonna be a dumb contrivance I hate in these games. If there's no problem or character drama you might as well just watch porn. I say this because the over the top, jealous Lilly, that falls in love with MC in about a week, suddenly changes to a demure daddy's girl that eliminates the interest and possible conflict between LI's. At this point she's just around to gatekeep Abby. And I'm not even into red heads or daughter figures that act like eight year olds, so she's not some goal I strive to obtain.
So now that Becca has made her intentions clear to MC, a 40 year old man that raised her, he never puts his foot down and says something along the lines of "I just divorced your mother, I care about you, but this is wrong. I have too much to worry about to get involved with someone half my age." No. He acts like Chuckie Finster any and every time a female initiates anything romantic or sexual. Becca also wants MC to be with Lilly and Abby, and eventually Meiko after she appears. All because growing up she got off to watching MC and her mom have sex, so it became a thing. But MC, in his wishy washy fashion, says "No. Don't.." in his least convincing voice, and does everything Becca wants. Which I don't get, and to current end of content, MC still internalizes everything and says how wrong everything is, but does it anyways because he is, in fact, a moron with zero agency in his own life. I guess I can say it's well written how wholly and completely Becca seems to love MC. But the idea he loves her and Lilly back so suddenly seems odd. I don't wanna say rushed because this has been out forever. But Becca essentially tricks Lilly into thinking she has feelings for MC, and through dumb luck, convinces her that she's(Becca) sleeping with MC, to put the share bug in Lilly's head. And fresh off a break-up, she rebounds onto MC. Which is another big issue I have with Lilly's story. Not the checkered dating history, not the Abby stuff, not the daddy issues. She's gone through THREE dramatic and traumatic experiences in a short time, if MC gave a shit like he says, he'd help her with more than his fucking dick.
Lilly's gone through: Parents divorce, separating her from someone she truly loves. A break-up after being cheated on by someone she cared about. And learning that her mom was cheating on MC with her father that abandoned her years ago, that's fucked her up already. So all of that within a few weeks, she doesn't know what she wants. But somehow now she's in love with MC, not gonna be jealous anymore, and wants MC to be her dad. You know, the guy she hated for 10 years. And the unfortunate truth is none of that's really gonna be addressed. If it is, I'd love it, by all means. Flex those character writing muscles. But, especially the last few updates, MC's been in a hotel having constant sex, most of which isn't shown(?), with Lilly and Becca. All while every other line is "Please don't be mad..." "Are you sure you're okay?" towards Lilly, ad nauseam. I get their relationship for a decade was rocky, but it wasn't illustrated well to the reader, even with Lilith's side story. After all that, her character changes a lot too, so now she's not strong willed and feisty. She's horny and just like her sister, only with small boobs. Wow, way to cheapen her up. And they have Meiko as another girl to add to the relationship. But she's just a Japanese stereotype that had a childish crush on MC 15 years ago, and for some reason she loves him again. Now she wants him to teach her sex. The end. I could see me liking Meiko, is my issue. But she doesn't get a personality beyond "I'm shy and my parents sheltered me, but I wanna please you." She's also the most viable option for a partner for MC, but I guess shame is a big kink for him. Also is she 24 or 26? She was 24 at the beginning and so far the story takes place over 4 weeks.
I could really go on. About how his only friends(?) Nessa and Beth are oddly accepting of MC's relationships. The fact that the dreams are too much and should have stopped a long while ago. Or that as soon as there was a monetary issue, money and a home was just handed to MC. Or now Abby's suddenly gonna have freckles because some patreon whale probably had a hissy fit about their redhead fetish. But with ALL of my gripes and moanin' and groanin', I actually like this story. Sure, it falls apart to a sex fest, that oddly skips a lot of the sex. But it can still turn it around, I hope. I also like the nod to Letterkenney lol. But the English is good. There's a lot of spelling mistakes as well at the to/too and then/than issues I pointed out. But Someone who speaks English has a direct hand in the writing, so I'm happy. The UI is bog standard Renpy outside the choices' backgrounds. It's been like THREE YEARS customize the UI. And the UX is fine, I might be changing that criteria in the future. I like the art, but that's just me. I will say this is one of the only games where the animations and stills have the same lighting and quality, that's a big plus. But the faces and poses seem a little dead. The dialogue is great. Believable characters, decent interactions, I like it. Although everyone talks the same, kinda. The MC internalizing and second guessing everything, and the dreams are annoying, but still. The story is getting weak, and not much more can really be done that isn't completely obvious. A shame, but it is what it is. Still one of my favorites, though.