Ren'Py - Straitened Times [v0.55.0] [HRelease]

I spend some hours on it and I am not proud of. Even tried cheats to get a better experience out of it. Did not work in the end. The UI, the art and the story is good enough. But the gameplay is where it falls apart completely. It is a primitive Skinner box. It has nothing else going for it, in terms of experience. Don't waste your time on it.

**IF YOU LIKE DEEPER AND MORE ENGROSSING EROTIC SANDBOX GRINDS WITH A WIDE RANGE OF GIRL OPTIONS THIS IS ONE OF THE BETTER OPTIONS OUT THERE THAT IS SEEING ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT**

(DISCLAIMER - I used the 99999 money cheat that factors into this overall evaluation)

So yeah, as another reviewer pointed out this came as a very pleasant surprise for me after initially skipping over this in my download que and since the offered screen shots seemed to imply more of a standard "Mom and 2 sisters" setting. Instead I found a a huge amount of girls to pursue and a fairly extensive game world to engross myself into. Which I did relentlessly every chance I got for the next 30 or so hours I dumped into my playthrough.

**PROS:**
- a very large and varied model collection of girls to chase. leans a little too heavy on the milf body type focus for my own individual tastes (I prefer young and petite), but there were enough total options that this wasn't an issue
- well laid out game world that wasn't overly complicated to navigate through, and in latter updates content started inserting the always welcome "girl is here" indicator icons
- a great, non-buggy, and very extensively laid out UI with hints
- an already large amount of progressed payoffs to achieve (BJ and up)
- solid animations on the payout scenes
- unique and much less tedious world management mechanics that ditched the standard and overly annoying need to eat and shower stuff.
- I'm not a big incest theme guy at all, but the combination of the unique home setting, gradual corruption progression, and the escalating sexual tension presentation created around it as a whole is one one of the better jobs I've seen done at both peaking and selling my direct interests in such . much more so then the standard "coming home to be reunited and screw your family that have all been longing for your return" trope stuff.

**CONS**

- excessive amount of required repetitive scene grind that could be toned down a tad
-the method to find some newly opened up game areas and hint section could be more straight forward obvious at times
- the english writing, while getting a more then passable grade, could use a touch of polishing up here and there.
- as stated in the disclaimer I cheated on the money, so I'm sure for those that don't it would probably present a huge extra grind variable to take into consideration (but of all the cheats this one is always the least game changing other then just cutting out grind time imo. so I expect most to do it lol).

Of course first and foremost with all that, it has to be acknowledged that games with this level of grind are obviously not going to be for everybody. Heck, as noted in the cons even for the people like myself who are willing to not let that be a deal breaker it's not like I'm being attracted by the included grind aspect in itself either. But for me it boils down to this:

Did I find myself being engrossed in the game world and getting completely caught up randomly trying to chase all the seemingly endless varied progress options lurking around the next corner? Did I find myself turning off the game not because I got bored or overly annoyed with the grind, but because it got too late into the night and I was then logging back in the first chance Igot for another continued session? Did I feel that extra level of built up gratification excitement in that scenario where I finally got to bang the little sister that I don't tend to myself having within non-sandbox style games?

For me those all checked off the yes box. So as such, and rating this game on a separate comparison level then I would a lot of the other more mainstream popular titles that focus more away from offering any deep sandbox experience, this game gets a 5 star vote from me. Even with the flaws/cons. It is also one of those rare games I find/play here and end up pledging some patreon support to. As for a USA guy like myself there is just too few of these types to find that are actively being developed without overly foreign concept settings/presentations, and while acknowledging that they don't tend to generate the money and/or universal appeal support that others do (hence in my own head, and as far as my own self serving mindset weighs in, they need my money more if I want to see them continue).

review based on 0.13.1/0.13.2 version
PRO:
-good cg and animations presents (and thats all only 1Gb)
-great code (one of best that ive seen)
-great ui (have some little flaws)
-some hints present ig (also task/person manager ll help players)
-huge amount girls/damsels
NEUTRAL:
-game looks like 20-30% done, but in current state playable
CONS:
-some bugs present ig (some was fixed in 0.13.2), most bugs not critical, but during pt i have earned "heavy" bug- Lil stay in mc room even after exchange.
-huge grinding- i mean- im ok with that, but 90%+ players ll get overdose
-in some resolutions some text in ui looks like "w hat law e nf orce me nts has" or "ear n law yer`s trust". looks like font problem.
-game rly need wt or scene guide, cuz 99%+ people cnt read such complicated code to find out- where deadend is or what do next...

still, game good for me, but if u dnt like overgrinding- avoid game. in that game u cnt avoid grinding with console cheating- u can only use simple cheats like "Player.Money=###" or "Player.Energy.Value=100", all other cheating may break ur game.

Never tried this game because it had poor reviews, but I gave it a go and was VERY pleasantly surprised. This game has A LOT of content. Most of the complaints you'll find are the grindy-ness of the game. I did a playthrough with console commands to cheat things like energy and money, and found the pacing very enjoyable and rewarding.

The characters and renders in this game are great, with some high quality animations. I'm especially fond of the Principal character. Right now I think this game is overlooked and underated, and deserves more attention. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Played it numerous times using different strategies. Always ends up in a game over when one of the sisters moves out. No warnings, no hints - just BOOM, game over after an investment of time.

I want to like it, I've given hours to it. Not worth the grind for GAME OVER

The game is really good and kinda realistic but has a lot of grinding, and sometimes I understand that, I don't expect the MC to fuck his family in an hour or immediately but It's really boring repeat and repeat and repeat to obtain an amount of points that aren't clear because it don't say what's the maximum or how much you get with actions.
I know the game is near to a year of updates but the amount of content is low because the developer doesn't have a lot of patreons so the updates are a few renders and know is adding more animations and those are good.
Pros:
-Good looking models and renders
-Good animations
-Good story and interesting, can be developed a lot.
-Good variety of characters and personalities.
-A lot of interactive places.
Contras:
-Money in the game, at the start is hard to obtain but when you advance you can get like 1000 every week but it's tedious and should be updated.
-Low content updates, and with all the characters in the game is impossible that all get content in every update.
-Too grind/repetitive.
-Lack of point system, you get a description but you don't know where you are at and where you could be.
Conlusion:
Is a good game but lack of support in patreon so he does this as a hobby, you should play it if you are into harem, incest, milfs, "bimbo" characters and an interesting story.

This game is great, but it needs more visual investment and additional support for Developer: HRelease a few more cups of coffee. That's why I wrote this review out for you to see.
The first is about the plot: Quite ok and lively, diverse, many different environments combined: Hostel, School, Police Department, Town etc ...
About gameplay: Quite creative, allowing players to choose many different paths in each choice which leads to you having to save many times ) (watch out for skipping certain scenes).
Family incest story, currently a very hot topic for 18+ games today. This topic is shown and led by Developer: HRelease is quite good and does not make players bored quickly.
Maybe the boring part is waiting for the game to come out for a bit too long ^ _ ^.
The image of the characters according to the mines is quite nice and good. The effect of the animated scenes is quite soft.
But now, because the game is quite new, only owns a few Animated scenes.
In general, I really like this game and write here a few lines to hope Developer: HRelease have a few more people to support him a few cups of coffee so that he will not quit his job like some other Developer ).
Finally, hope the masturbation community ... try to maintain and promote continuously )
Google translate )

If this game would have more Animations from early game on, (BJ,HJ in the room; actions in the car) it could get definetely a 5 star rating and could be a real classic. The money grind is a little too much. I used the console to avoid it.

Great Graphic and good character . But a little bit Yeah little bit that Task is hard to read and hard to find another place But totally good. in other word i really think this game is a Good in my list H game.

EDIT: 5/31/2021 Updated Review

He's made some minor improvements. That's great. However, it's all still too confusing.

The problem is the mom is so hot, she distracts me from being able to think logically, so figuring out the game becomes ten times more difficult.

There's still a problem of TOO MANY WOMEN. He's added so many women, that he can't give them all enough content.

---------------------------

This game is a double edge sword.

PROS
- I really like the renders and poses of the mom. I enjoyed working to unlock the scenes with her. I was not into any of the other women though. If you're like me and you REALLY like the renders and look of the mother, you should play the game. There are some VERY hot scenes with her, especially in her bikini.
- The furthest I got after 3-4 hours was getting hand jobs from the mother. I was mainly interested in scenes where she was in a bikini. Everything outside of that was uninteresting. I would not play the game again to attempt to unlock anymore of the mothers content. The game is too grindy, so it kills the mood after 3-4 hours.

CONS
- Omfg the grind, mechanics, interface and quest journal are a NIGHTMARE. I had to get help from 5-6 people just to learn the basics of the game.
- I still don't understand what the hell the Discover Interests mechanic even does. It doesn't tell you it's basic function. It doesn't say, "If you click all the circles, and the circles turn blue, the following happens...." I would randomly click those interest circles, BLUE for GOOD, RED for bad, and it didn't seem to do anything. The interface doesn't show you any result from it.
- The game doesn't tell you that if conflict between your family gets too high, it results in game over. Maybe it does? But, I didn't see it.
- The quest journal bombards with you 490580489 different objectives at one time. You can't do that. The new player should only have 2-3 basic tasks and choices throughout the whole game. Don't bombard them with so many objectives, because it gets confusing, especially if those objectives aren't porn related.

SOLUTIONS
- He should go through each quest and simplify everything. That means make LESS objectives. Hide the ones that don't need to be shown.
- Make each quest tell you EXACTLY what to do. Don't be vague, expecting the player to be a brilliant puzzle solver. These people are playing a porn game, so they're not in the mindset of figuring out some psychological crime thriller plot.
- Explain the exact purpose of the discover interests mechanic. Explain what is actually causes, what results you get from clicking each of those circles. What happens exactly? Does it raise a stat? I have no idea. The whole time I was doing it, I honestly felt like nothing was happening.

Playability: -10/5: (Yes negative 10 out of 5.) This game is extremely difficult to figure out. I had to get help from many different people. I even had to talk to people in Private Messages just to figure out the game. I couldn't figure out how to unlock the swimming pool area for 2 hours! It turns out you have to talk to the hotel manager lady at least twice. So you literally have to re-ask the same question. That's odd.
- The game changes the colors of each dialogue randomly. It's annoying and serves no purpose other than to confuse the player.
- The Quest Journal is worthless, and most of the objectives ARE VAGUE. The purpose of a quest journal is to provide guidance, not to present puzzles. Just tell the player what to do. From a programming perspective, he did a good job designing all these systems.

Story 2/5 - The story is extremely generic. The dad is in jail. You lost all your money. You live at a hotel. The idea of going from rich to poor is interesting, and I guess it works okay.
- I talked to the dad one time throughout my whole 3-4 hour play experience. It was just too boring to talk to him again. Not worth giving him the time of day IMO. Unless you cuckold him and destroy him or something. I'd be open to destroying his soul so he kills himself. That would be fun!

Originality 1/5 - Nothing special. The renders of the mom are SOOO fantastic though. I really like the model he used for the mother. She's a favorite of mine on the DAZ3D website. That's probably the only reason I gave this game such a huge shot.

Mother Character Morph & Texture Quality 5/5 - The mother character and her renders are great. This is the whole reason I played this game.

Character Morph & Texture Design 1/5 - Unfortunately, I found the rest of the 98% of the women to be unattractive, falling into the uncanny valley. (However, the MOM came out FANTASTIC. I really liked how she looks.)
- I think one of the step sisters looked okay, but I never found her in game. I only saw her render in the games images folder. The game seems to hide a lot of women and finding them is extremely difficult. The name of the folder is StepYS. She was attractive, but I never saw her in game after 3-4 hours of gameplay.

Sound 3/5 - Good sound effects, but no music.

Bugs - The game had one bug so far. Somehow the room you sleep in went from double bed to one big bed, even though I didn't' change it. Not a big deal. (From a programming perspective, the developer knows how to code well IMO. He does a good job programming all these systems.)

Amount of content - I think the game has a good amount of content. Keywords: I THINK.... I focused 100% on unlocking the scenes with the mother, and that was after 3-4 hours. The game is VERY grindy in a negative way. I would never go through that grind ever again, maybe like two years from now when there's double the amount of content for the mom.

OVERALL VERDICT: The game is worth playing at least once and GOING ALL IN on one of the women. Find one woman you like in the game and focus on unlocking all her content. If you try to unlock all the women's content, the game will take too long, and it won't be good for fapping.

I'm giving the game 3/5 stars JUST BECAUSE OF THE MOM, that's it. Because I liked her A LOT! Her scenes are totally hot. If you like her, then it's worth playing just for her, but be ready to be frustrated to hell with the mechanics and interface.

- I would give the game an extra star if he simplifies the Quest Journal, and makes each objective more specific and less vague.
- He should also explain precisely what the Discover Interests mechanic does. The bubbles fill up, but for what purpose? What is the purpose of the Research Interests mechanic on the phone?
- After 3-4 hours, I still had no idea what any of these things were for.
- After 3-4 hours I could never find the NPC called StepYS (folder in the images directory). Too bad she's not your main sister. I found the red head step sister unattractive, her look was annoying, but I think a lot of other people liked her so that's cool. I REALLY like older women, so I'm weird like that.

Quality renders and gameplay so far!
Would definitely love to see the game more fleshed out in the future and where it goes from there.
Could do with some work on the discussion system and a few small things though

The UI may be grindy. Yet the story line and models are better than some popular games.
I would say its a good sandbox game (with actual time and resource management instead of just running around) that worth to try and be tolerate with those flaws.
I sincerely hope the dev do not give up despite its being underrated.

Great game. Bit grindy but can be solved with console. No idea why people rated it so low. Models are good, the character interactions are more believable than the standard VN and the MC doesn't look like a pre teen.
I really liked the detective plotline that the game is building up.
Other reviews talk about engrish, but I didn't notice too much of that.

The game contains original graphics with really different shapes and figures.
The mechanics may seem a bit too much but and grindy but the introduce some freshness in games like this.
Keep up the good work

Finally - an incest game where slow burn makes sense. Beautiful milfs (there is ebony one too), decent writing, believable characters, some very good dirty talk during sex scenes. Yeah, there are some cons - grind, grind, grind and not that much content behind it - but it is 100% worth it. Also my dick will kill me if I rate it less than 5 stars

This game is great. The dev needs to redo the entire grind for sure, but just use console commands to give yourself money or to adjust character relationship values if you need to, and it is super hot and sexy as fuck. There is a slow burn of sexy moments in which sexual tension increases for both the characters and the player.

The incest fantasy is entirely based on the fact that characters have familiarity and rising sexual tension, rather than strangers fucking which is hard to do correctly in a way that makes the player get invested in the sexiness. Because of that, the sexual tension and moments that build up between characters in this is amazing - this game could be one of the best on the site if it fixed the grind and as it stands it still is if you console commands to negate the unpleasant parts of the grind.

From the older sister's unbashfulness about you seeing her naked, to the younger sister's increasingly obvious sexual infatuation with you, to your mother's strong commitment to regular morals, this game has some of the best sexual tension in the industry. The models are sexy and believable.

I would give this one a try, use console commands once you don't wanna grind, and don't let these other reviews get you down.

To another well-liked review below - you can study interests only 3 times per session, not 3 times per day. You can just sit in a single night and max them out, it's really not an issue. You have a lot of extra time in this game, just get them to max early in your downtime and then everything is easier from there.

To potential players: make saves when you find out what 5 conversation topics a character likes, so that you can just open your save menu and double check later one what they like once more.

I don't understand that this game gets such a low score.
This game has great potential and is full of attractive characters.
If I were to pick the game that I look forward to the most in the future, it would be this game.
It can develop further depending on the story that will come out.
It's a shame that I don't have a "competition" between my favorite main character and another man.

This one is a hot mess. It's loaded with Engrish, a ridiculous grind and hidden mechanics that cause you to lose stats over time and can lead to a game over/no win situation. I couldn't recommend this to anyone.

excessive grind. don't waste your time on this. it just isn't very fun to play. it's more like a chore to play. cannot recommend this in its current form. heres hoping they make drastic changes to the gameplay. just isn't worth it in its current form.

I want to like this game. The characters are well done and beautifully-rendered. But there's just wayyyyy too much grind for wayyyyyy too little pay off.... the "Interests" fade with time, meaning you have to keep doing them, which eats up time.... and you're only allowed 3 per day (in version 6.2) which means you can't get up the many many many way too many interests to a complete level before half of them fall again.... it's a good concept, but you need to streamline it... make it so once the interests are maxed out they stay maxed out.... if you wanna make them go down until then, fine, but make them static with max out.... it'll make the game less grindy and more focused on the central plot.....You have a potentially great game here.... right now it needs a lot of work though.