Ren'Py - Straitened Times [v0.49.1] [HRelease]

The models are very appealing, I like the mom and the younger sis, they have very sexy body without being an exaggerated stereotype.

I like how the interface is built, it gives it a feeling of managing the motel and the tablet is a good idea.

While the game isn't finished at the time of doing this review, I see where it is heading, with a story where you have to investigate what happen with your dad, who was sent to prison, while having all those relations evolving through multiple interactions.

I think the relationships are well paced, and interesting overall. Frankly an excellent game in my opinion, that I'm following for further updates.

The setting, character models and the scenes are all amazing. It's almost the perfect game for me but the main flaw is not knowing how to progress. You will need a guide often as it is easy to get stuck

Games a bit of a slow burn but the payoff is great and it felt like a pretty natural progression throughout. Never felt too grindy but you probably want to reference the walkthrough for some of the more obscure unlocks. Multiple times through the game it opens a whole new set of characters to build relationships with so there's a ton of gameplay, if you are starting fresh it's probably in the range of 30-45 hours to fully clear the content. Characters don't feel recycled. All around really good stuff.

Rare W on this forum lately, can't believe I haven't found this sooner, but on the other hand it feels nice to find it when it has so much content.

The concept is fantastic, seducing a family when they are at their lowest and most vulnerable. I like that the corruption happens gradually (at least in theory, need a lot of imagination), where at first you only provide basic closeness and warmth in these trying times and then work up to basically just an ultimate power fantasy.

So far there's plenty of characters and they all have decent amounts of content, plenty of attention to detail when it comes to different character interactions based on their corruption level and a multitude of group activities in any which combination especially in the motel.

I don't know man, I just like this idea where you basically create this isolated den of debauchery and the fact that these people hit rock bottom from the top of the mountains makes it realistic at least to some extent.

I do feel compelled to not give it 5 stars though it would probably deserve it, but of course nothing is perfect and this also has some problems. Some nit picky, some potentially bigger.

The grind is at acceptable levels especially to enhance the feeling of a slow burn (that this is sort-of lacking) and there's really good scheduling that makes it so you have plenty of options to choose at any time. But there are a few lose condition early on that force a few timeslots to be locked in. Some of these get circumvented later and you get options to fix some of the bad stats that you gain by skipping some chores and I feel like it could be fixed further by removing the time it takes for navigation.

The above mentioned "lack of slow burn" is also a nit pick, There are some really good buildup scenes early on with some of the characters, but then there are other characters that just kind of get corrupted almost immediately and even the ones with the good build-up at some point there's a very sharp rise and they go from like 45% to 90%. It's by no means as bad or abrupt as some of the honey select corruption games, and where it does end up is pretty good, but some more teasing would have been appropriate for this title.

The biggest and only real problem with the game aspect is the quest/stats tracking system, It's dreadful. It creates this problem where you don't know if you're just done with what content there is so far for a character or if you're missing something really obscure. It's not awful or in need of a rework, but the descriptions need to be a lot clearer.

It feels bad to not give this a perfect score especially since it would be closer to a 4.5 stars than a 4 in reality, but with some ironing out of the more outstanding flaws and maybe with a linear continuation of the power fantasy (get to completely control various locations like the motel, stuff like that), this is a really good experience right now and it also has a lot of potential going forward, GL!

A very good sandbox, without much idle time. Gameplay largely without minigames.
Some scenes seem to be repeated several times, although the text changes.
A few more tips for progress would be desirable.

Ok i had to redo my ridiculously high rating of three stars after playing this trainwreck of a game long enough. Turns out, it is not only insanely grindy but it does it with some of the worst mechanics in any game type. It's too bad because the women are pretty decent but they aren't worth playing through this mess to see the single angle animated scenes that you get after hours of clicking. At least vary the scenes over time or when they get more intimate, if that ever happens.

Back to those mechanics......the dev thought adding contrary values was a genius idea. On one hand the girls feel "conflict" over different things as they are getting more intimate. This includes sharing a bed even when you are having regular sex. When you initiate sexy times the girls lose respect or feeling for you but feel more lust........Things you need to do to progress with them result in increased feelings that are negative and not in your favor. So you have to switch everything up to decrease the negative feelings. It's so dumb that I didn't even understand what it was until I searched why nothing was happening. So I checked my ingame stats only to see all of them have high conflict values that I have to work to bring down. So sleeping in separate beds and not having adult channels etc is how you bring down the negative feelings. Why even bother making an adult game if your goal is to bore the shit out of the players by having to balance these stupid made up mechanics?

This brings me to the scenes themselves. Usually they are passable enough. Whatever they are though is all you will see. Like seeing the same exact scene 50 times? That's good because that is all you will see. The animation is rough, which isn't a dealbreaker really but the choice of camera angles is not that good on top of it. At least render a couple different angles as a reward for the player trying to balance the dumb mechanics.

I think if you are doing thirty years for murder this would be a good way to make at least 15 of them pass by. Honestly I think this game would have been not bad but the grinding and those ridiculous balancing acts of feelings and lust that just aren't worth working through. If you share a room or bed too long they get pissed. This results in having to stop doing anything except clicking through days and days doing literally nothing but repeating the daily events of school, work, etc. Even using cheats the game is so grindy that I played it almost a week before anything really happened and unfortunately I racked up almost max conflict stats as a result. I tried to go back but realized I had to basically go platonic to get those negative feelings down and that was enough.

Terrible mechanics, no real story, the same scenes an insane amount of times and nice models in general equals ONE star.

2.5/5 But I decided to round up because I do think there is enough here that I like that it could be and easy 3 stars or higher
I am honestly not sure where the story is at lol! The games little description here seems to not have all that much to do with going on; "Commune" "Mother Superior", "Holy Father", "Novice Sisters" - These all seem to not have anything to do with the actual story lol! I thought this was gonna be like a Religious Patriarch is removed and MC takes over and corrupts, not really my jam but I figured Id give it a go, But no It more just a well off Family of 5 is thrown into turmoil after the Father is arrested! Fairly simple premise lol and the Main Story seems to have little bearing on what happens as I basically ignored it and still got to the lewd content

+I liked the Models
+Actually liked the Freedom to just pursue whichever character I wanted to, Normally I like more of a specific path or gentle push to keep me on track but this was Good
+Good build up of tension between characters, Not a "meet&fuck"
+Thought the Animation were good! Some fairly simple, but still good
=Wish some of the Still-scenes were actually animated even just a bit but It never felt like a negative

-The Grind! It almost seems not that bad but then there's not a super clear sign as to how close your grinding is getting you to... anything!
E.g.- Cuddle Girl 4 times unlocks a variation of the cuddle, or unlocks something more intimate. Now do that 3-4 more times maybe, But also keep doing some other things as just because you unlocked a new event that doesn't mean you have enough points to unlock what comes after
-- Spelling, Grammar, Word Choice
All were fairly rough. *I am no expert but I also feel like that's a red-flag when I start noticing shit. I'd describe it as "Edited Google Translate"- Unusual/Specific words that arent used in general, Stiff structuring, But Nothing was actually that out of place in the sentences. As if someone Translated it and then tried to make it seem more genuine. Or someone needs to put down the Thesaurus and use just the regular words in common speech lol! *Though I did learn that "Straitened" can mean "characterized by poverty", As I went through most of this thinking it should be like "Strained Time" maybe(?)

I ended up downloading and using cheats to blast through some of the grind to try and experience more content before I fully gave up, Im glad I did because some of the scenes are definitely worth some grind/work but not what is currently there. Or make it more clear, and visible how close we are getting to new scenes and events!

2.5/5 If the negatives hit half as hard this would be an Easy 3.5. Room for Improvement, and I wouldn't mind getting to see that

I really like this game. Many characters, lots to do and hot scenes. But I cant give it more than 3 stars because even if using codes to cheat it's a terrible grind! All process requirements could be half and it would still be a lot. Make it more player friendly and this could be 5 stars

I love the games models, scenes, characters, dialogue, creativity, options. A lot of it's great. When you unlock a scene, even with a character you're not that attracted to, there is usually a good twist to entertain you about the scene to make the worst looking characters good looking. A must for this game is the cheat console with SHIFT + O. Normally, this would be a problem, but I'm doing it so often, it's practically a part of the game's mechanics. You still get the scene after a few seconds of changing energy levels or lust stats..... exploring the game takes too long without them, and if you didn't have that option, this'd be an unplayable game. I started over twice after found it doesn't take too long to get back to where you are if you start over and know where to go to get the scenes.

To me, there are 2 major flaws to the game....but at this point I don't know if they're flaws or designs to compel playing. Either way, I can't say it's a great game because of these to issues. The biggest is lack of direction of the main story. Side story, you can look everywhere, and pusuit anything, but the main story.... no advancement at all. Father is still in his cell, the pattern of life can go on for thousands of days, once you screw the characters you want, you can do it agian but you get to a point of.... "what next" or "what for" that is never really addressed.

The other major issue is that I don't know what's in the game. It's kinda fine because the discovery of scenes is great, but if the game is not complete and you get to a certain point of exploration of a character, you don't know if that's the end of the even chain or if you just didn't find the one element to push beyond the event chain. Under the "progress" section, all you see is "still effective" which tells you you can do something again, and it raises tension, but at the bottom of the progress screen, it says there may be more scenes in this chain..... but those are the only hints you get after already unlocking a scene...once you get to "too depraved", there's no direction on where to explore to unlock more scenes. You hit a lot of brick walls, and you don't know if it's an under development brick wall or a "you have to be at the bathroom on the second floor of this house at 2:45 in the afternoon on a Thursday under a new moon" brick wall you have to search this forum to find. This really should be something in the gallery or progress screen of what % has yet to be unlocked an option for a full list of "Not yet discovered" so you can see what and where are the missing scenes. If those 2 issues were resolved, it'd be great, but as is.... it's good.

I don't know how long this game has been in development, but it seems it's going nowhere. The overall storyline seems to be stagnant at this point with the whole prison/bank/lawyer thing that's been going on.

The game still has no music background or sound effects during the sex scenes. Plus the fact the animations are extremely basic with no option to change angles to see more penetration. They are a simple loop of a few images and that's it. Nothing special to write home about them.

The UI and buttons need a major overhaul considering 95% of the time they are useless when it comes to the sex activities. Why bother adding them to certain areas of the motel if they have no use. One would assume when they click a character and the options come up for certain actions they are going to work.

This game had real potential but seems to be going nowhere any time soon. Maybe in another 3 to 4 years if the game is still being developed, we might start seeing an update with the overall storyline finally going somewhere.

This game seemed interesting when it started, and the early updates actually introduced some fun interactions with LIs, but for the last year or so, the updates have introduced small changes, without any sense that the story will ever proceed -- all signs that the dev(s) have decided to milk this for subscriber payments, avoiding any chance of moving toward an advance in the story that might make it possible for the game to eventually conclude.

Short summary:


This game is best described as a To-Do list and spreadsheet manager, with fake tasks and some renders as rewards. If you are into the pointless tasks and time-eating activities, this got you covered. If you are looking for an engaging gameplay or good story or good characters - this is not the game for you.



Good Things

• Interesting choice with animated avatars
• Some characters are pretty
• Some renders are not bad
• Lots of content (if you are into meaningless banter and clicking the same thing 100 times)
• Isn’t the worst free-roam implementation

Bad points

• Story? What is that?
• The character’s actions, clothing, responses to your actions, and banter are not believable
• Bad writing
• Inconsistencies in lighting, situations, responses

ok, I vote this 5/5. it is closer to 4.5 out of 5, but heck, the quality of games in the last months has been abysmal.

I'll keep it short: scenes are hot, corruption is slow-ish and half believable, obviously the women are all borderline insane for putting up with their son/brother, but it's slow enough to be satisfying the deed happen.

Sandbox is small and give you some sort of control when and where something happens, also you can progress specific characters and ignore others (if you would like).

Yes there is grind, but it's really not bad, and most scenes have some for of reason to replay them. Also there is a built in guide (or use the cheat mod)

All in all, good game, keep it up!

Big Brother was one of the games that brought me to F95. Loved BB and this game brings back those memories. It's very similar to BB in the playstyle, so yes, it can be a bit grindy but that's just the way these types of games are. Not to mention the family dynamic being similar as well. However, there's definitely plenty of differences to set it apart as it's own game and not just another copy cat.

That being said, the models and renders are all great. The animations are all great. There's more than enough content to keep you occupied for hours upon hours. The main story and side stories are engaging enough to keep an interest. The progression with the various women, while not always logical, is slow but progressive enough to make them acceptable.

There are a few cons of course. First, the system can be a bit confusing. Particularly the "personal status" page on the phone menu. It's not really easily understood. A help page, some hover tips, or something would be helpful without having to seek outside resources to better understand certain aspects. Second, EVERY woman in this game has big to massive tits. Yes, I'm a lover of big breasts, but variation is the spice of life. So some cute women with small perky tits would've been nice to see as well! Adds a bit more realism to the games.

That said, cons aside, it's a great game and I'd definitely recommend if you don't mind the slightly more grindy games. So I think it's definitely underrated a bit and thus, for me, I'll happily give it 5 stars.

Lots of fun lots of content models are all great i think the one red headed sister looks like a dog but im kinda into it. Its grindy but I love grindy so be warned. Some parts are confusing so just search the thread and youll find out how to unstuck yourself. First time i ran through the game i got pissed because it gameovered me and i didnt really know how to prevent it. Its as easy as changing up who rooms with who.

prime vidya play it

I like the characters, the dynamics, the mechanics and the overall game very much. I really like the scenes too, even if there's no sound. Some criticize the UI, but I like that too because when I understood how it works everything was quite clear, except maybe for the "your relationship are too depraved". It's a bit grindy but doesn't feel like a burden. Some events are RNG, can be irritating. And you take one hour to move from one place to another in town, while having to be at "home" at 19:00 or you lose relationship, so you have to plan a bit sometimes lest waiting a whole week for some events. In summary: 5 stars.

huge game, tons of people to get with and lots of scenes. Been playing on and off for the last couple months, and I still feel like I'm not even halfway through. If you liked Big Brother and Milfy City, check this out.

Wished the animations had more variety or were longer, but besides that I don't have much else to complain about. I guess you could consider it a grindy game, but I've never found myself annoyed at this game. As others have mentioned the UI is confusing at first, but you can ignore it for the most part. If it was something you had to constantly use, I'd complain about it.

IMO the game deserves at least 4 stars

Game is really good. I just wish the UI would be more comprehensive and compact at times. Also a lot of bad grammar, but I don't care about that. If you don't like grindy games you shouldn't play this one, I personalty find the grind quite manageable.

Tons of grind, why add it to the game? Visually, it's well done, although the models look a little dated. I didn't like the interface - it's inconvenient, filled with all sorts of nonsense, and looks bad. There is no autosave in the game, I played for about an hour, grinded and grinded, crashed and progress was lost. The gameplay is also quite clunky, sometimes making it unclear what you need to further progress in unlocking character/story content. There is no soundtrack, it would be possible to insert at least some primitive music into the game, I’m generally silent about the voice acting of 18+ scenes. In a word - weak.

Good is the right adjective for this game imo. I give it four start but more on the low side, so like 3 and a half stars is the actual rating.

I played it for a lot of its updates and at first it is great. Like a VN but with exploration and free roam, which is also well made (with some improvements but ok for the most part). UI is bad. Too much information and difficult to navigate. And you do get used to it, but it is so counterintuitive that I had to learn how it worked every time I played a new update.

Now for the renders, they are good. The mom is the only one that I don't like (maybe it's her eyes, idk).

Writing is ok, character is the silent type (which I like) and player is the one that "talks" by selecting speaking options. Dirty talk is one of the best things this game has, for those incest lovers out there, this game is worth a try just for that.

Characters are ok, they don't really have much of a personality tbh. I mean they do, but most of their actions/responses are based on a point system that determines if they get angry or not at what you say/propose to them.
Speaking about gameplay, the game does feel a bit grindy some times, but it does reward you with great animated scenes.

There's probably more positive/negative aspects to the game that I am missing, but overall I'd say it is a good game to play if you like incest (which is the main theme), and only once and wait for the final release, or straight up wait for the final release since it can get repetitive if you follow it up like me. This was the last time I did it and decided to wait for final release to replay it.