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

First of all, thanks to @whichone for telling me about the review system.

I don't usually write reviews but I felt compelled to do so after playing. I'm gonna get my issue with the game out first, so I can focus on what I loved. My only issue with the game (besides some of the contracts being annoying) is this small part where the writer mocks critiques who expect just porn and (I assume) rated his work poorly. Instead of it being a witty scene, it just felt like the writer responded with "screw you ugly bastard, go die". It was just a small scene, so it's like a small blotch on an otherwise incredible experience, which I will talk about now.

Two things that I think are incredible about this game are the characters, Gracie and Luna. I'll get Gracie out the way first since Luna's gonna take a bit. What I like about Gracie is that besides being a huge troll, the writer does a fantastic job of slowly and tentatively exploring this darkness in her (alongside her learning how to be social). The scene where she tells the protagonist that if he does something again, she'll hurt him, was chilling. Not just because of the amazing facial expression, and the fact that she proved to not be your typical dumb pretty face (spoiler, she's hyper-intelligent), but because the lighting choice gave the illusion that her eyes were an evil shade of red.

Now to my favorite (and I imagine probably most controversial) part of the game, which is Luna's backstory. I won't spoil anything, but I'm not kidding when I say that her backstory is some of the most compelling and melancholic story-telling I've read in all my life. If you've already read it, the scene where Luna is tilting her head from side to side, going, "clip clop clip clop clip clop", over and over, until she just smiles with absolutely nothing behind her eyes, legitimately disturbed me in a way horror games can only dream of doing. Luna's character is incredible and she makes the game worth experiencing by itself. But her backstory... wow 10/10.

I don't know if this game will ever get finished, but it was an overall great experience. It wasn't as "hot" as other games, but the writing was stellar.

Review as of 0.08.0.3
I waited for a while to play this game as it seemed content based and I wanted enough content to truly get into it.

It really is a very different game and I mean that in a good way. It has minimal grind and is truly fun. It is absolutely not for the "wam-bam-thank-you-mam" crowd which is totally fine. While the action is sparse it is beautifully done and well within the context of the game. It is more sexy that is is hardcore, but it is done so well.

The fact that it has multiple aspects of the gameplay and 3 ways to experience the game is wonderful. I personally love the full experience as it adds games within the game.

This game is an experience and story which are excellent. It has want you want in a good story including ups and downs, but also some true parts that can make you feel (especially the Luna story) which gives this game more depth than many books I have read.

Anyway, I am 100% hooked on this game.

Graphics 5/5 - absolutely beautiful aesthetic that fits the story well
Models 5/5 - Wonderful models that fit the characters. The women are beautiful and the men fit their positions.

Characters 5/5 - Main characters have great backstories and it is still in progress, but you can tell that all of them will be interesting.
Story 7/5 - Yeah you read that score. The story is wonderful and has all kinds of levels of depth.

Sex N/A - While it has sexual content and what it has is really awesome, this really is a Adult game where the story comes first. If I rated this for me it would be a 5/5, but I don't feel that will translate to some of our blue-balled members here of f95

Great game, took me abit to get to used to the minigames and sandbox mode but once I've gotten the hang of it I really liked it.

The personalities of the different chars is really something else, got to love Luna, Uncle Wilfred and Joey (the guy they always forget on missions, really laughed with his interactions). Not to forget Gracie, Isabel and the weird bunch of Serpents... Cat on rollerskates is really cool, they are really unique.

Game is a slow burn, lots of teasing, models are beautifully rendered, especially the close up of the faces. At the end of Ep 7 or 8 some lewd scenes are thrown in, those scenes are awesome (nice animations and length).

The maffia story is also very well written and believable, can't w8 to see some more progression in it.
Actually got tears in my eyes when watching "My name is Luna" story unfold, the "long version" really hit me. Still don't know why they released Luna? Because they couldn't break her? Hope to get some more answers in the next episodes.

A game to keep supporting!

A big thumbs up to Hopes Gaming

Greatest mafia game ever played. Game has everything, Sex, violence, Rambo, chuck Norris, more sex. Has some great sandbox feature and great side mini missions that later get sync to the main story. The game is growing into something great, also has very funny and bad ass moments. Oh did I say chuck Norris?

I enjoy this game but the recent updates don't seem to have any focus. We have barely moved into the MCs backstory, The daughters are the only characters with any real development recently. The scenes are fine but again there is surprisingly little content for a game that has been in development for so long. Hope the next updates come quicker and offer more story.

I can say that there are beautiful graphics here (it is) and a lot more, but аll you need to know: this is a game where you don't want to press ctrl. Beautiful story and characters! One of the best game.

Game has an interesting hook but is sadly plagued by a lazy dev which likes to focus more on his boring minigame than actual content. Story felt a lot worse after last updates. Might be worth playing if you're curious but dont even expect any good closure IMO

The rendes are great, the story is really interesting but I feel that the story about Luna kidnapping was to long and could be made way shorter and used that time to make progress with the main story.
The decisions have almost no weight, some to make the girls like you more, but there aren't choices that affect you at long term.
The game has not Harem tag but for what I played looks like the game force you to flirt with all the girls even if you don't want them and it gaves you the option to reject them in the last moment, kind of a jerk move. What would you think if a girl flirts with you all the time and the day you try to fuck her, she say that she is not interest in you? This game does that.
I never understand how you level up your skills, some upgrade in activities but others are unknown and the game never explains you that, and I finished a lot of works in a failure because I don't had the needed Charisma, Agility, Inteligence or whatever, in the end I just cheated and level up all the skills. The contracts are replayabled, so they don't have and impact in the story or the world at all, and looks like they are there to give the feeling that the game lasts longer, because you have to grind the contracts a lot to get money and buy things for the girls and clothes that upgrade some of your skills.
I don't mind to much that there is little or no sex content, but only if the story is good, here the story is good but is really slow paced, and looks like it would take ages until the MC will be able to make something interesting, because being realistic, he didn't do much and don't forget about his story, it will take more time.

Most interesting and fun game on F95.

Comedy, plot, action, lewdness, romance, and so much more

With the most potential as well

This has brilliant worldbuilding , character development and Romantic/Lewd moments

I have played this game thru the 0.6.x release and found it to be a very likable story. The character development is good and not just all about sex all the time. Great renders and lots of mini games

As of V0.07.2

PROS

• Model's looks good
• Not the usual same old story or setting

CONS

• The "Forced" aspect of the setting is an off putter.
• Scenes aren't great.
• Characters are unlikable.
• Choice's are meaningless to the story (which is always bad).
• Forced into LI routes to carry on main story.
• Mini game leveling is repetitive.

CONCLUSION

If you just want to dive into scenes regardless of character then you'll probably enjoy.

If you like a little freedom of choice and routes then skip it. This far in it's not going to change now.

I rate games from three things the story, LI and content(meaning sex and character development) the game is 3 stars almost solely because of the story and the LI cause apart from that the game is still very underdeveloped on the content portion of the game. Most of the main LI lack sex scenes and any real development outside of my second favorite character Luna (the first is Lady Cordia) and Isabella is limited and the missions segment are a major hit or a miss with miss being the majority. Until this game get some serious bump in update speed I'm not sure if this will every be finished to the level people hope or expect. Update the version 0.8 update is nice story wise but again this game pace is like a snail stuck in a glue trap trying to go up a steep cliff with hurricane winds going against it. I didn't know/realize that this game is 4 years old but it has like 4 hours of content with 1 actually full on sex scene with dick in pussy not oral sex and even oral is counted on one hand, so for that this game loses a star no way in hell a game that is this old should have this meager of content and if the update speed is not seriously increased I'll reduce it to 1 stars in 6 months. Update around 7 months and no update so making it one stars, no matter how good a story is if it takes too long especially with games and 1 update a year with 20 minutes of content if you can actually read at a decent speed, I'll be in my 40s before it's finished

Oh man, a BRUTAL slog-through without any sexual content till the tail end. Story tries to be realistic and does establish the clichéd archetypes well enough, but it's strangely nonsensical. A tale about the mafia with 19 year old girls dodging bullets head on and blasting thugs' heads at close range. Really hard to take anything seriously after that. The hero is a tepid wet blanket and the choices are all of the just keep grinding till you see the next event with every girl variety.
The three primary LIs are cute and the interactions okay. Maybe I'm a victim of false advertising but I didn't expect this kind of game on a porn VN site. Put this on steam and it'll be a generic adult kinetic novel.
One extra star for all the effort and the renders which look great. Immensely frustrating game.

Easily my favourite vn story-wise, the quality of the visual content the entire way through the story makes it a fantastic mass of content. The depth given to each character is awesome, presenting their flaws and showing their progression to amending them through their relationships with the MC make them all loveable.

Luna is best girl

The very first AVN I played and still in my top ones, but it is falling faster and faster. Game just does not get updated enough. It started to feel like the story was lost in it. I really liked the story and the direction it felt to me it was going. If it ever gets done, would make great play.

The DeLuca Family [v0.07.2] [HopesGaming] is one of the first adult games I ever played, and is still one of the best to me to this day. The story is unique with amazing differentiated characters that I could honestly see as a well-made TV show, minus the porn of course. The renders are amazing with the animations as well that we currently have at the moment. The only downside of this project is how long it takes for an update, but if this isn't a game you don't support at least once, you probably won't support anything at all. I absolutely love this game and can't wait to see what's next.

Nice game and enjoy the story line, its awesome experience. For the wonderful plot and expecting what comes next was a wonderful thing with Deluca Family. Enjoying every bit of it.

Thank You for the wonderful gaming Hopes.

The DeLuca Family (0.07.2): 3 stars. Spoilers ahead.

“All happy families are alike, and each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way”, Tolstoy wrote in Anna Karenina. The DeLuca Family skews somewhere in the middle of the happy-unhappy curve; the individual characters hide behind a mask, their moods indiscernible. Behind the veil, the DeLucas are deeply and profoundly depressed, and it is up to us to make them feel secure in their minds. (If one hasn’t gotten the hint yet, the DeLuca Family is not really a porn game. It is a self-described "story based adult game".) There is nothing pornographic about the content. Pornography is about what Schopenhauer called “the objectification of the will”, the violent acting out of the passions, of sexual urges and desires. Elements of porn are present throughout, but the porn is rarely the focus; there’s very little sex in the game. It’s also not about the story, because the story, as with the porn, is used as a counterbalance to tell what is essentially a character drama. Due to the game’s proximity with other porn and story-driven experiences by lieu of its engine and render choices, the DeLuca Family is unfairly judged under the same criteria of either/or. Yet it should be judged on its own merits. As of this moment, the game does occupy the middle ground, a solid three out of five rating. It is an entertaining and jaunty romp hampered by pacing issues, which as of this moment, remains unresolved.

We control a new initiate of the DeLuca clan, a figure clueless as to his talents, as if he were an amnesiac. He’s a total blank, with little recollection of who he was. (He functions mainly as the story needs him to act. Most of the time, he’s the straight man.) In time, the protagonist works up the ladder, and joins the crew, with the help of Cordia, the Godmother, her adopted daughters Luna, Gracie, and Isabel, and her inveterate consigliere, Uncle Wilfred. (It goes off the rails when the underclass of capos is introduced: a pair of nuns, a rollerskating chick, and a samurai cowboy.) The main thrust of the story concerns the protagonist’s quest to find out who his mother is, and her relation to Lady Cordia. How did she get involved in the mafia, and what changed in their relationship, as to treat the main character in a destitute manner? Initially wanting to get out of the contract, he takes on the Omerta oath to fuel his quest. The overarching plot concerns the purchasing power of the families and their territorial disputes. The DeLuca Family, being the strongest, deals with challengers to the throne. The threats are explored in small minigames called “contracts” (there are many nods to Hitman throughout) as well as through the main questlines. Contracts are well-written and enjoyable text adventures, and a nice change of pace from the monotony of the free-roam sections, which the game does its best to reduce the amount of grind that these types of games inevitably have. Progress through the game is dependent largely on these contracts, the main character has to finish these contracts for money and upgrades.

Visually consistent, the character design is unique and is arguably the strongest aspect of the DeLuca Family. The renders on the characters are often stylish, a lot of work has gone into making the women look distinctively striking and beautiful. The dialogue writing is great, and all too commonly, overlooked and underappreciated. The characters have a droll, sarcastic pitch, while being oddly prim and hyperfixating on manners. It also seems they are always ribbing each other when they are together, a bit reminiscent to how one might laugh with their friends when placed in a ridiculous and surreal situation. Genre-bending stereotypes are employed to comedic effect: Cordia, the cold, frigid, and blonde ice queen; Gracie, the innocent and precocious daughter; Luna, the crazy gun-toting psychopath; and Isabel, the mob wife and part-time yoga instructor. They all work well together despite these well-worn traits, because the writing is self-aware, and it feels like everyone is playacting at being in the mob, which adds a level of charm and wit to the humor. The music is well chosen, and works when needed.

However, one significant and severe moment, a flashback scene (“My Name is Luna”) is a major sidestep. This sequence is an extended howl of anguish, and it sticks in my craw for one particular reason; Luna’s tragic downfall is unearned. Not in the context of her suffering, but how her scene was written. Her character suffers a mental break through severe and sustained abuse. She is beaten, stabbed, and forced to commit the most heinous acts. These acts are elaborated on in the most minute detail. Now, before this scene, the tone was fairly light, and the game does not take itself seriously to warrant such a moment. This lightness of being is suggested in its verisimilitude, as it plays around with genres: action, crime thriller, comedy, and a coming-of-age romance. The jump to horror and torture porn for the sake of it felt cheap and manipulative. Luna was sacrificed at the altar of plot. Her scene, which should have worked on an emotional level didn’t, because of how crude the approach was. Compare it to how the other characters were handled. Isabel suffered from postpartum depression following a miscarriage and her subsequent struggling marriage problems with her husband, Antonio. Those scenes were tactfully hidden. Imagine if there was a hospital flashback, and her baby was shown on screen, it would have ruined the casual relationship between the main character and Isabel. Gracie is emotionally stunted and psychologically, she resembles more of a child than an adult. The game doesn’t focus on her fall or how she arrived at such a point; instead there is a focus on her intelligence and capability in other scenes. There are other scenes, the mobster killing his son, but this was more melodramatic than dramatic, and since the son was the villain, it wasn't emotionally affecting. The Luna flashback, it felt like the game was trying to do too much, and in doing so, the plot trumped over the characters in a distracting way. This scene represented the microcosm of what was wrong with the game.

False advertising is a major problem. This is not a "story based adult game". It only has the patina of sex about it. The game is mostly teasing, and the sexual content available feel rather disconnected from what the game is trying to do, which is geared towards the completion of character arcs. The sex is coming of course, but in a weird contradiction, the sex almost feels like a detriment. The DeLuca women are too weird, too underdeveloped. Luna is insane, Gracie is too childish, and Isabel is still married. and so far, the plot merely exists to have the characters react to events and relate it to their past selves. The porn, the plot, and the characters have not come together yet; they do not cohere into a unified whole. Behind the scenes, there are promises of a master plan, more ‘lewd’, non-Christian content, talks of multiple seasons, and so on. However, the pacing is glacially slow, and when progress does come, The DeLuca Family is hinting at something darker (as it showed in the “My Name is Luna” section). It’s unclear whether it’s prepared to go there again. It’s been four years, and the ambiguities and uncertainties as to the direction of the game remain on the table. The pieces are in place, but will the pieces ever fit together? It’s still too early to tell; we can only hope.

Game looks great, cast of character are vast and nice, main girls are the best, but got to love them all, rendering and everything is pretty great overall aswell! story so far is interesting and can't wait to see what else happens!

The story is good, the characters are interesting and graphically appealing, but what makes the game special is Luna! And the moments when the MC shows that he can be a leader and not just a weakling

But the game also has problems.

For example, I find it difficult to build up a relationship with Grace and find her endearing. She rather disturbs me.

Furthermore, I don't think much of the Isabella storyline! All the teasing and unfaithful behavior is not my kink! Bros before hoes, and stealing your mate's wife is not a cool thing to do no matter what the problems are in the marriage. Yes, sex is optional, but such a close friendship after all the teasing and sexual behavior is more than platonic. I wish we could just tell her to fuck off and go to her husband.

And he should have let religion out. The sexy nun shit is not mine.