Ren'Py - The DeLuca Family [Season 1] [HopesGaming]

As of 0.09.6:

There have been very few games that have surprised me. I am not usually a fan of "uber free roam" games. I like a good story, some critical choices, and a handful of minor choices. I tried this out thinking "oh boy, another "let's bang them all" type game. I was pleasantly surprised.

One of the most hyped AVN's in the business... is it that good?

Well, personally I have a feeling of 'what could have been'. The story is great, some of the characters incredible (MC and Luna the clear highlights) and the setting has loads of potential. However, there are plenty of setbacks.
The fact that there has hardly been any sex is pretty odd, and it could work if it was managed in some other way. For instance, perhaps an acknowledgement that the LI's hesitate because they are afraid someone might find out and kill the MC.

The square map and grinding are pretty annoying, but I kept on awaiting for a big reward... that wasn't ever there. I can tell the devs did a hard job, and that this game could have been a masterpiece, but it's far from that.

The setting was ideal for more choices, to have moral paths and choose what sort of character MC wanted to become, and such a thing having an impact on the realtionship with the family.

Hopefully, HopesGaming will improve upon these things and create a much better work in the near future. Or perhaps keep updating this one and take it to the level it deserves.

Aside from all those things, that I actually consider very important and should make it a 3/5, I feel that it deserves a 4, because there's something special there.

Before the remake the game story was already slow with long updates and no sex but i felt like it was close with you and gracie getting really close
But with remaking the game it's gonna take a long time before the game even reach the story before it was
Renders are really good
Story is good but it's missing sex scenes
No bugs
Maybe a unpopular opinion
But the game didn't need a remake It already had good renders It only problem was slow updates and lack of sex scenes with the girls

Didn't knew what to really expect from this AVN but i really enjoyed it tremendously, a bunch of characters that start as just simple stereotypes you already saw in thousands of AVN "the crazy woman", the "social clueless woman" but progressively gain much more depth as you interact with them with good dialogues.

The story is interesting with its mystery and a well made atmosphere, all mixed with some good "minigame" concepts like the missions exploration , the equipment customisation influencing the mission interactions.

All in all "The DeLuca Family" is truly an excellent AVN, featuring what is the most important to me : good and interesting characters, well written dialogues and good story, and that i put easily in my top10, heavily recommended.

Only cons that make it lose 1 star for me is that some characters that seem to be important (several of the key character of the family found in the city, the guy that is set as the classic MC "rival" type of character) are shown in the beginning and are completely forgotten quickly never to be seen again.

Short and Simple

Pro:
-Nice renders
-The story is "okay"
-Decent main LI´s

Negative:
-After 5 years there is barely any porn in this >porn game<
-Updates are rare

Conclusion:
Would i recommend to play the game? No, coz you are not getting old enough to see the end.

I was undecided on giving the game 3 stars or 5, I ended up giving it 2 stars because of the pacing. The quality of the game in terms of writing, plot and art is easily worth 5 stars. There is also a good amount of content, but that is to be expected for a game that has been in development this amount of time. What dings the rating IMO is the pacing. I stopped supporting on patreon a bit over a year ago due to the pacing, and it still hasn't really picked up unfortunately.

Over the past couple years of development, there has been minimal to no advancement in the MC's relationship with the three main LIs. The game has been in development for over 5 years now and the MC still cannot enter into a relationship with any of the main love interests (outside of an affair), and there are only two (non oral) sex scenes, both of which are with side characters. At this point in the plot (multi-months in game time) & game development (headed into chapter 13), the MC should not still be limited to kissing and hugging characters that the MC was kissing and hugging in the early chapters.

I love this game! That said, updates are VERY infrequent, which is a bummer; but I suppose it's worth it. Story-telling quality is top notch, and the graphics are excellent. In terms of lewd content, it's a bit of a slow burn, but this is much more than a porn game, so that's fine. All in all, one of the best games on this forum.

It's way too slow. I ain't got all day to play and not even see a tity. Got frustrated, decided to cheat with money yet the game still feels slow af. Maybe the scenes are good and all, but I just could not reach them. I still didn't see a naked woman...

BANGER!!

Pros: Absolutely nice writing, unique plot, lovely characters and nice relationship building. Music also fits really well (especially very well during action scenes). Humor is well placed and slow burn for sure but worth it for character development and immersion (cuz you cant just go balls deep into top mafia fam members straight out the gate lol). My fav part was the cage and the birthday scene literally made me cry cuz that portion was soo emotional. Hoping for more character building and relation with Lady cordia cuz she seems to be my favorite. Also, GAME IS NOT LEWD HEAVY. If that's all you are looking for then move on cuz this piece is about emotions and good plot rather than senseless genitalia smashing every 5 sec.

Cons: still waiting for VN mode only but honestly if you play with cheat mod the sandbox part is easy breeze.

Verdict: Abso-fucking-lutely play this game. DONT SLEEP ON IT. It just hits the right notes and pulls on the right strings in your heart.

The content is incredibly sparse, and it when you finally get it after a ton of waiting, it's just not that great. If you're playing these games for the porn aspect, I would recommend skipping this one.

So this is my very first review on this side… it’s been a while since I found a title I liked as much as this one, so I thought it’s a good starting point.

These are my impressions after my first play-through for the content that’s available so far (v.0.09.6):


Positives:


- I think the biggest strength of this game (by far) are its likeable characters. Not only are the characters well written, they are also very distinguishable by their “behaviour” and still there is a natural “feel” to their dialogue. The progression of the main characters is overall well paced and the side/minor characters are interesting and well integrated. In my opinion the author (or authors?) is clearly very talented and I enjoy this characters a lot so far.

- Which leads me to the second big strength of this game: the story and overall writing. While I have some minor complains here and there, I still think the writing is comparatively excellent. I find the main story and the individual character story arcs very intriguing and well paced. Now there is a small disconnect between some of the character arcs and the main story (depending on in which exact order you play them) but again these are minor complains and hard to fix if you want to keep the story somewhat interactive. Also: I very much enjoy the (mostly text-based) side missions; just some fun optional short stories in this world, to either immerse yourself in or skip (almost) entirely if you do not fancy these.

- The two points above lead to a third big positive: the world building. I personally like the anime-inspired mafia theme that is going on here but besides that I also appreciate in general the way the world is presented to me via the game. Because I like the characters and because I’m invested in the story I want to know more about what’s going on in this world. I think the developer hit a very good middle ground between show and tell. There are some exposition dumps here and there, but in moderation and a lot is learned through dialogue, through action, through change of perspective in some scenes and by playing side missions or reading “optional” dialogue.


Neutrals or positives with room for improvement:


- One of the main gameplay loops here is what I would describe as early-90’s-dungeon-crawler inspired (text-based) exploration. Basically your given a very simple map on which you can move from room to room (or location to location) and run into several obstacles which you can overcome via skill-check and/or decision-making. I very much like the concept and to a degree I also like the execution BUT… at this point it’s mostly a very good idea while the available content is very basic (when it comes to actual gameplay). So I see the potential and hope there will be more content in the future that utilizes said potential.

- While for me the visual appeal of the game is high, I can see some legitimate criticism here. The developer clearly likes a specific style of artistic posing (for the girls) in stills and dynamic shots over animation. I would say there is a quality over quantity approach when it comes to sexy/adult content here and that is fine (especially if the quality is high)… but also: a little more quantity would not hurt.

- Which brings me to the adult content. This is definitely not a game for a “quick fap”... it is a slow burner in the sexual department. I personally think in this game it’s very fitting and somewhat earned by the excellent storytelling, but I can see how that’s not for anyone. I think this aspect could be improved by simply adding side missions with more explicit content – the story would not be affected by that and it would maybe be a little more “satisfying”.

- A completely different thing are the choices throughout the game. I generally like at which points of the story you make your choices, but I dislike that 90% of the choices are merely feeding into a (partly hidden) point-system for later and only few choices have a short term impact on what is going on. I believe there is a balance between making me (as player) feel my choices have an impact in the moment and having choices which will have consequences later on. I think the balance is not yet found here and the game needs more choices with short term impact (even if the majority of these would only be “illusion of choice”-choices).


Negatives:

- There are quite a few bugs at this point, especially regarding the system for the (side) missions. I encountered nothing really game breaking, but some annoying stuff none the less.

- I really hate (!!!) this common gameplay mechanic in which you have a basic system with a time of day and some locations where at specific times specific events take place. 99% of the games using this system do just use it as a time waster (or a way to make a linear progression “feel” more interactive) and sadly this game is no exception. If you want to use this mechanic, you need to implement some kind of “deadline” and with it missable content if you fail to meet specific requirements. As it stands imo there is nothing gained by the system other than wasting my time by clicking a lot.

- As a consequence the “flow” between gameplay and storytelling is not great at times…

- As good as the writing is for the majority of the games content… the writing for the sexual content is somewhat disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still not bad compared to a lot of stuff out there... but it’s at least one or two steps below the rest of the writing. Again, I don’t mind too much, every writer has their strength and weaknesses and when the overall level is high, it becomes a small nit-pick.


Conclusion:

In my opinion The DeLuca Family is a far above average game on this site with the potential to become one of the very best. The writing is in all aspects very good, even excellent at times (especially compared with other AVNs). While I criticise some gameplay elements, I appreciate that there is actual gameplay and I recognize the potential in this area in particular.
For an AVN there is not that much sexual content (yet) but I think the pace in which it is presented very much fits the narrative and I personally don’t mind.
I think there is a lot to like about this game, it stands out among a sea of mediocre titles on the “market” and you can feel some heart and soul put into it.

If you can live with less sexual content for the sake of a good story and fun characters, I would recommend giving it a try.


4 out of 5 for now (with the potential for 5/5)

While the art is amazing and the characters are loveable, I find the true charm of this game to be in the contracts. They are structured in layers, layers that slowly come undone as you achieve certain stat requirements; the hidden stories and interactions hidden in each crevice are amazing. Hopefully this quality stays the same as the game develops.

This game seems to have a lot of positive hype around it, but so far this seems like one of those ambitious games that ends up failing at basic functionality and game structure. I suppose I can understand how some people would like it, but it seems like a big buggy mess to me. I like some games that can be a bit unwieldy at times, but this seems like a pile of loosely related game mechanics that are not really explained, and quests whose descriptions leave out a lot that is needed to understand what needs to be actually done, at least to a new player.

It is obvious from the screenshots alone that the game designer is a big fan of dramatic poses and lighting, but the characters themselves are typically bland, intentionally irritating, or a blend of both. And the more irritating the character, the more often and harder the plot seems to shove them in your face. One main example is Dominico, who is the stereotypical uber-brat without any redeeming features, who I think is supposed to be a rival for the MC, but is really an oblivious jackass who is just there to constantly be an disruptive asshole because the writer couldn't be bothered to give him any other traits.

I might be willing to give this another chance, but so far this game hasn't really stood out in any positive way. Heck, each time I load a saved game, I have to complete a mission I already completed because the game doesn't save that progress, and my character is literally stuck in the game menu until I do it all again. Each and every time I load a saved game.

Maybe this game gets better later, but so far it needs work on every aspect to even be considered functional, and even further to actually be enjoyable.

(review for v0.09.6 )

This might almost be a 4/5 for you if you genuinely are here looking for a drawn-out casual story and almost no porn. If so, congratulations, this is probably worth your time.

Personally, I spent hours playing this, even while skipping a lot of the dialogue, and even then there was only a single actual fuck scene, and that was with a side character. And yeah, to me, that's a problem.

That said, the story isn't BAD overall, it just has a few bad sides to it. It really manages to drone on at times, dwelling on certain scenes a lot longer than necessary and over-explaining things where a shorter scene would have filled very same purpose without feeling like the game was, in those moments, wasting my time and nearly insulting my intelligence. It's far from always like that, but often enough that it gets a bit grating.

Another problem is tone, it really feels like the story can't decide whether it wants to be like a modern Godfather and Sopranos OR if it wants to be one of those battle anime that feels like they're going "Look at me, look how much gore and violence I can cram into this, isn't this so very adult and grim???". Well, I can tell you with full confidence that those two different vibes VERY much clash and gave me pretty much tonal whiplash at times.

I will also say I think VNs are fundamentally a poor medium to convey action scenes. It was simultaneously true that I was at times even impressed by the developers sheer effort in trying to convey the feeling of action, AND that it never really got there for me. But again, more of a problem with the format than anything the developer specifically did wrong.

But to not come off as a complete Debbie downer, the story is overall well told, competently written, and even downright witty and interesting in spurts, at those times where it finds its stride in ONE of its themes and manages to hold a good tempo.

The models are even better than what you see in the previews, it's just a shame they're not actually shown off properly all that often. The animation ranges from at least competent to very good at times, although a little stiff sometimes.

In the end, I just can't get past the glacial pace, the thematic disparities and the big lack of sex content. I really do enjoy a good story, I just know that if all I'm really looking for is a good story, there are a million places I could look for professional grade story. What I'm really looking for out of an AVN is a good story AND some good porn at the same time, in basically equal measure. This, despite a lot of effort, doesn't really deliver on that for me.

Excellent game. The writing is superb. The story is gripping. And the lewd scenes are not overly abundant that it takes away from anything. Yet not too little to not be relevant. It is refreshing to see a fairly original story in the sea of amnesia games and gone from home for a while games. Hope that Season 2 has even more greatness. Also hope there is some events with Cordia in it as well.

Excellent story, excellent character building.
The characters are pleasant with individual personalities. It is fun to interact with them, even if it is not nsfw.
Also the story felt deep and secretive, so it is more fun to make progress.
The combat system is on the simple side, but not bad for VN.

V0.09.5

well this is dull.
if you take one characters back story out, which i gave 1 star alone for, and then the art, which is not great but worthy of a star, you are left with a stink of a game.

the story is boring. pretty much run of the mill fare for this site. aside from the afore mentioned back story, there is no hook. it is too busy meandering to nowhere.

the game design is one of the worst i have seen as the sandbox is almost completely pointless. take that and the whole stat system out and really nothing is lost. it seems more like a device added in order to hide the lack of content, which after 5 years in development, is low, bordering on extremely so.
clearly lacking in developer commitment.

so 1 star for the art and another for the only plot device worthy of mention. the rest is just meandering game play. mediocre.

would have made a fairly decent VN if developer had remained focused but looks more likely bound for abandonedville than completed city

Playing as of v0.09.5

For a game that came out in 2018 in about 5 years they only managed to make one season which does not have that much content, which kinda makes what I already play feel like a prologue+bonus content.

I ended up playing the only story+free roaming but that mode is pretty tedious when it comes with progression and the full experience seems even worse.

I think the characters are fine with my favorite being Luna and least favorite one being grace. (for being a know it all, mary sue)

So I ended up giving a 3 stars for the gameplay loop, lack of main character development and rather poor pacing. We get introduced to new characters while we still barely know anything about the MC or his contract. Also a cliffhanger ending. (yikes)

Either way I'll come back to this in a few years and see if I'll change my rating.

Love this story, I wouldn't really call this a fap worthy game, if that's what you are looking for or at the very least a quick fap... might wanna go somewhere else. But if you like well developed characters you'll actually give a damn about this is for you. If I could have a complaint it would be nice to have more say about how the MC reacts to things

Pros:
- Beautiful renders and models
- Cool premise
- Journal is easy to follow and understandable how to progress

Meh
- Story could be interesting but as the dialogues are being dragged out, I can't be bothered to read all the filler. Thus I'm also skipping quite a lot of important story information
- UI "feels cheap". Don't know how to describe it but with such beautiful models, the UI and navigating just feels out of place.

Cons:
- Contracts. I thought this was supposed to be visual novel, not text based "move up, explore, pick up axe, chop your left nut off". Navigation is extremely annoying.
- In 0.09.5 navigating the town of Lucania (or whatever it's name was) is again, absolutely horrible. Feels like another way to drag this game out. Why can't I just visit "Tavern" by clicking on it's icon, why do I have to "go east", read a bunch of filler text, "go east", more filler. Then realise the Tavern is not there and have to backtrack.
- Fan base. Worst part about this game in my opinion. If you don't agree with "how great this game is" they get vicious and start pointing out that you are "wrong" in your opinion.


I first tried this game out 4-5 years ago when it first game out. I loved it initially, had great setting, interesting story, beautiful models. But with every update to me it seems to be getting worse. There is sooooo much filler. My god how much filler. And the fan base is clapping along: "what a great story, best AN out there!". Personally due to those insanely long dialogues, I stopped following along and just hold CTRL for most of this game. Only reason I return to this game today, is to see if Isabella has had some content.

I appreciate that the dev wishes to develop the game how he sees it and the game has a lot of die hard followers. But don't be fooled. This game is not for everyone, especially if you are looking for something a little more fast paced (even DmD moved faster than this).