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

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).

(Version Reviewed: v0.09.5)

What I enjoyed:
+ Excellent premise. There needs to be more mafia themed AVNs.
+ Good storytelling. I love the updates where the background of the character is written about. Luna's backstory is one of the most heart-wrenching tales told in an AVN.
+ Art. Renders aren't excellent, but they can be considered in the pretty good category.

Meh:
= Character interactions. While I loved how the dev fleshed out the characters, the interactions with them always made me like "people don't speak like this, right?". Perhaps, the DeLucas are all a bit unhinged or immature or both. But, I could never take their interactions seriously.
= Action. I have two thoughts on this. On one hand, I loved the anime-esque fights. It looks dope when done right and this game achieves that. On the other hand, I would've preferred if it fitted the realistic setting that the rest of the game goes for. Would've preferred if there was a lot of war in the shadows rather than in your face shootouts.

What I did not enjoy:
- Music. Same track for most of the time. It gets maddening after a while.
- Contract Missions. I just don't see the appeal in the them. These missions could've been carried out in a normal VN manner instead of a text based one which you have to squint to read. The missions are mostly a source of money which can be used to buy boosts to clear other missions or for whatever quest during the game.
- Lewd content. The content is pretty sparse for a game that's been in development for almost five years.

7/10 is a fair rating. I just feel like the game has a lot of wasted potential. It could have been an all-time great game, but it merely stays at the level of being considered as a good game. Still it's a good job by the dev. Hope to see the next update soon!

+ Powerful storyline
+ Beautiful locations and scenes
+ Excellent characters
- Contract structure needs to be improved
- Limited choices in the story (but not disturbing)

One of the best adult games overall.

Don't get me wrong. Deluca is my favorite adult game (sandbox or not) and I see a lot of potential here. I first played this game when it wasn't even popular. But there are some things that annoy me so much.

+ Renders are great. I love Luna, she is amazing.
+ Story is awesome. Undoubtedly the best adult game with story. Period.
+ Tasteful H content. No absurd and unrealistic porn scenese
+ Lots of groping ❤
+ Romantic path (which actually touch hearts)
+ I love forgettable Joey, best character imo.
+ There were scenes that almost made me cry

- Dumb MC
- Only 5 missions so far
- Text is too small, and narrative text-based adventures will bore you to hell
- Characters are wild. And doesn't seems in-place. For example Battista and his slut nuns, Cat on her roller scates. I liked Gattardo at first, but the story introduces too many of "special" characters.
- Sibling quarrels are irritating (calling each other stupid repeatedly)
- Don and Jalen's chemistry seemed forced. Guy friends don't talk like that
- Grammar mistakes, though that don't bother me too much
- Stats are meaningless. This game doesn't require sandbox at all.
- Very few choices, again that don't bother me much.

This is my first review. And I want the dev to consider it for future releases. This game has the potential too reach #1 place.

Graphics = Very Good
Story = Very Good
Characters = Very Good

One of the few Masterpieces out there. I highly recommend playing this game. for everyone who is searching for more then just every 5 Second sex games.

Great story, the only thing I can ask for is to give us more Luna's content, but in general is a great game, I love that you can choose if you wanna play a VN or the interactive way. I hope the next version won't take so long.

Sorry for my english. It's the first review i writting and i did it because this game is amazing.
Just want to say it's the best game i ever played on this site.
Hope it will stay like that.
Take all the time u want for keeping the story good.

Boring and kinda pointless, lost interest long ago. Too bad because it showed lots of potential, but it's a boring grind and a story that takes too long for anything significant to happen, and the lack of smut doesn't help either.

My review of The DeLuca Family [v0.08.0.3]

This game is a pretty mixed bag so I'll just list the pros and cons instead of doing a traditional review.

Pros:
- Good base story
- Really great Luna (psychopath blonde girl) storyline
- Pretty funny scenes with the boss (woman on the left) and her butler

Cons:
- Barely any content after 5 years (close to zero progression on MC's story)
- Obnoxious mini-games that don't affect the main story at all and are hated by everyone
- Annoying sandbox that forces you to check every room in the house 5 times a day, to see if a girl has new dialogue or events
- Higher ranking mafia members act like kindergartners (not my kind of humor)
- Barely any story events with the interesting older pink-haired girl yet
- Gracie (200 IQ Mary Sue brunette) story events were so boring I stopped playing

Overall a below average game, that I wouldn't recommend to anyone.
I'm only giving it 3 stars, instead of 2, because the Luna storyline was really good and entertaining.

Oh, and for the coomers: This game has no sex scenes yet.

Liked the game, and checking frequently for updates. Decent story line, totally fell in love with Gracie and Luna, has some interesting future plots, and some sad story aswell to get you more hooked in to the story. I mostly play these games for the story, The "Adult" part of it is just a fanservice in my head like in TV-series like got etc.

Story , interactions and dialogues are very captivating, it's very moving and beautiful, relationship parts easily top-of-the-lines , it's so alluring and intimate that looks like real thing , sometimes interaction is so tense that makes heart palpitate, also comedic elements are pretty funny ,you can't get better.
The warehouse plot defintely one of best scenes that I saw in any game, very smart and well-written, there is of course many more, for example Luna's story which is heavy and dark
I feel like story sometimes can be complicated and hard to follow, probably only complain for me.
Having quest for advancing story is better than just clicking mindlessly, it makes more pleasurable experience.

Very well crafted storyline and characters development. At first I just downloaded the game with the expectation of seeing some hot s** scenes but oh boy, I completely forgot about them. I got hooked on stories of the game and the background story of each character is so good, especially the story behind Luna's past. I have to admit that I almost cried while playing "My name is Luna".

A good story it is very well written with depth, intrigue, and
intelligence, with quite a bit of humor, nice quality images, very attractive models, and gameplay is always welcome. one of the very few games that I would recommend.

The game has fantastic renders and looks interesting at a first glance but turns out to be generic in every way with a wet noodle of a main character and decisions that pretty much go nowhere at all.

The story and characters don't seem to fit the mafia environment that is portrayed, i also think the lack of sex scenes after so much dialogue makes this game a bit off a chore to play.

Version 0.08.03

7.5/10

Firstly, great premise for a story. Good execution too with the free roam and contracts added in, it adds A LOT of extra content, regardless if it's tied to the main story or not. Models look good and whilst the writing isn't top notch. It's funny/cute/interesting enough to make for a good story.

The music fits the theme although I would give it a 6/10. There isn't anything here to bolster emotions that much, some tracks definitely help but vocals are way more powerful.

This game has so much potential but is a slow burner. It's not often I play games that are fun, sometimes boring and make me yearn for more all at the same time. 10+ hours of content for the game and like I said I wanted more (to do with the characters). This isn't a bad thing per say, but you have to tread a careful line in future, adding enough character content to balance main story content whilst weaving those characters into main story content also and have the scenes reflect your relationships, not easy.

Due to how the games started and being a slow burner. It gives me hope that dev is trying to make a long and impactful game. It took hours to get into Luna's backstory and damn that made me tear up. It was really well crafted. And you aren't instantly "with her" after finding our her story. So I think we will really get to know these characters more along the road. MORE LUNA CONTENT!

Conclusion:

If you are just here for the sex scenes, don't bother lads. Too much effort for the return However, if you want to see the start of a well crafted story that will lead to sex scenes (hopefully) with meaning as you build relationships/trust with the LI's then give this a go. Luna's story really touched me and I care about the character's wellbeing a lot. Sure, it's only 1 character so far but it's alot better than most games where you have no emotional attachment whatsoever.

Best of luck!

after playing so many different kind of avn I grown tired of mindless sex and random horny. games like these really buts the different to the genre of VN . not alot sex in the game after many updates but the story holds up super. really good characters. awesome story where there is backstory and slowly revealing itself and you anticipatie what would happend. and god damn,, the luna past. made me fell and cry a few tears. thats what a game to do to me. sometimes fun games are nice and mindless sex but a true game were it plays like more real life or just not mindless jumpo. it really gives a kick to a veteran., ... <3 keep doing what ur doing.. great game so far cant wait for future updates.