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

excellent game with an excellent story and render not for everyone focuses on story first lewd second but the lewd scenes so far are very hot. not very realistic but it doesnt have to be game has some really good humor with believe able characters.

This game is something special and a one of its own.
Admittedly it is not the best wank of material on this website and if you are just skipping through everything to finally lay some hands on, it is not really worth the time. Even if the models are beautiful, in fact every single one of them, even if they are just there for a few scenes. Seriously, how should a man live in this town without having constantly blue balls? No wonder that half of them seem to be nuts
Perhaps that is even the reason why the MC tents to be a “little” Mr Hurricane so far what leads to the reason why the few sex scenes could be a little longer for my taste. Perhaps with a little more dirty talk or so to stretch them without too much effort, because the art is top nodge and esthetic.
Perhaps the Developer/s wants to save the long and fulfilling sex scenes for the Maingirls. I pretty much hope so, because he knows how to build up tension, and especially in the Isabel story arc I am looking forward to a scene that blows our mind.
Because the Developer/s knows exactly how to surprise his audience with emotional impact on different levels.
I played it yesterday for the first time since April 2019 and what he did with his characters and their backstories touched me in ways I did not expect, nearly made me cry (for some pixels damn it!) and revealed how much passion is put in every single character. The dialogues are mostly well thought out, some of them a little cringe, but that may be good in its own way to loosen up the tension.
So it is what it is and how it gets through to you depends on what you are searching. If you want a smutty little journal to wank one out (what is totally fine and alright), the DeLuca Family tale puts so far not really much effort in granting you that.
But if you want a fable that takes you on its wings through a journey of different (long lost?) emotions, with attendants that are hard not to love and a heartbreaking finale at the horizon with sweat, blood and (probably) jizz ( ) then this game is everything you could ever have asked for.

Easily one of the best games on the site. Be warned though: it is kind of slow burn, and not a whole lot of sex scenes.

The story is unique, definitely setting it apart from the standard games we see here, and even against the crime / mafia based games. You need to interact quite a bit with the characters to unlock scenes with them, but doing so isn't grindy and directly contributes to understanding of those women.

I was playing along expecting a porn game, but towards the end began a side story exploring a character's traumatic childhood. I was peeved at first about how long it was taking, but by the end I was absolutely heartbroken. Changed my view of the character and the game. Coming back to the present day I just couldn't think of building a harem, of breaking any of the sister's hearts. But I had already started on the path to multiple women! Argh I don't know if I can play this as a porn game anymore haha. Too much respect for that one character now. Will take a while to recover from that, but perhaps the devs have something planned to make it easier

The gameplay is split into Visual Novel style decisions (which are reasonably meaningful but usually one good choice, one bad choice - no choosing amongst good options) and a text based adventure style which was super fun as well. Towards the end of this update the world explodes into dozens of new characters beyond the 4 women we have been repeatedly seeing for several hours. Which should make this more fun as a porn game.

And of course, the renders are great, and animations (though sex scenes are not many at all, as of 0.07.2) are solid as well. Would like them to be long with several options, everytime they occur.

Really looking forward to how the devs release future updates, and all the best to them!

Gotta be honest, most of the recent poor reviews of this game have me kind of mind blown. Just about all of the content in this game is pretty exceptional. Most importantly, the humor, which is -laugh out loud- actually funny.

Most of the issues the DeLuca Family suffers from are minor at best. Sometimes the English is not perfect, other times the Fazio family suddenly becomes the Fabio family, and many people are quick to mention the lack of lewd content. From the perspective of a porn game, I guess I can see the lack of lewd content, but all paths feel like a genuine romance. The characters are very unique and if I had to choose between them, I'm not sure I'd be able to.

Another issue people seem quick to point out is the plot. I've seen the word convoluted used a couple of times and I don't really understand what they're referring to. If talking about the mafia contract itself, then my answer would be as the protagonist is not meant to truly understand it, neither are you, the reader. At least not in the moment. with the latest update, I think it's fair to say that there are many more lanes for conjecture. Mostly I think because this is such a serious, yet funny game, people miscontrue lack of understanding with the humor but because they didn't laugh, they are just confused, or leave poor reviews.

The new contract system is pretty exceptional and well-written. It adds a lot of depth and time to the game which is something I really appreciate. However for people that don't like gameplay in their stories, the option to skip all of that is there in the beginning. Definitely not something I'd recommend doing, however, as I stated it adds a lot of depth and good writing to the game.

In conclusion, the DeLuca Family is capable of making you laugh. It is capable of making you cry. By the end, I bet it will be capable of making you love. It's not going to give you a quick fap, or always take itself seriously, but there are a thousand other titles around here to do just those things.

This is a visual novel (98% story) with a tease of eroticism (getting to 2nd base) and slight nudity (mostly just some breast shots). This is not a Lewd game.
This is made by someone who appears to be English is a primary language, so the reading of the scenes and dialogue make sense and flow easily.
Good humor throughout along with an engaging story of organized crime.
Just follow the quick walkthrough and you don't have to cheat on anything (if you don't want to) because you'll get enough equipment, money, and raised stats by doing the missions...which is another cool things about this VN, in that you have text-based missions the character to go on to increase his level/rank.
A very enjoyable VN and if I want lewd content I'll simply go someplace else.

It started so well and mind-blowing, but I doubt that the developer is capable or willing to get this game finished in the near future.
The story is A++, the renders are A, but the gameplay, progression and - most importanly - the LEWD section is almost not existent.
I see a slight chance for the game to become a 5*-game, but I will remain VERY doubtful- I can't tell, whether the developer is just a greedy and milking son of a kind OR he lacks in having a real plan how his game should work/ progress. Looks like too many people are getting distracted by the sweet looks of the renders..

What an amazing story. Not a ton of lewd content, but I don't mind. The writing and characters are so good, I lose track of time! If you are looking for a bunch of sex scenes, this isn't your game. If you play it and don't like it for that reason, don't rate it and move on.

Good game but not that great story feels quite incomplete despite it being in development for so long the update this time barely contain any new content maybe in future it will improve for though now it feels more like a demo with only tease and no real action.

It's funny. It's a truly fantastic game, but it's got crazy faults.... so in spite of that... it's still a five star game and that realisation kinda gives me a headache.

There's next to no sex in the game. That's probably an important point to raise simply because I know some people judge worth on that sort of thing. There's a whole mechanic where you can have a dream sequence of some of the characters in the game, and you can hang out with them at various points and get some heavy petting/flirting going but that's about as far as it goes. And that is no means a bad thing. I actually found some of the flirting scenes a bit... odd. the MC comes off a bit of a sex pest at times and he really doesn't have any right to be that way given the predicament he finds himself in.

I digress however. The story is solid. It's engaging and it's a definite page turner where you're given just enough lore to lure you in without you being buried in exposition. The visuals are also sound and fresh looking so you're not just looking at the same character models you see in other games (well... apart from the MC, but when does the male lead ever get the attention of the other characters)

There's even a mission game mechanic which is just crying out for expansion. Like an old 90s adventure game.

All in all, a great game, certainly worth your attention.

This game is a prime example of a developer milking their patrons. The last update took 9 months to be released and it contained next to no real story progression with the main characters. What has the developer been doing for the last year? Apparently, "revamping" contracts which nobody really cared about in the first place. After this last update, I feel very sorry for the people who have been paying monthly to support this project.

*Warning long review*


TLDR:

From an objective standpoint the game is a solid 3/5, compared to other adult games on the market. However, I believe 3/5 reviews will be rare. The game has very subjective elements such as style of storytelling that are uniquely divisive.


Simply put, like food and music, you will simply have to try it yourself to find out if it’s a one or a five for you personally. Though, I will describe what makes me love it, and what might be worth criticizing to help you decide if it’s right for you.


Review:

TDF is an over-the-top unbelievably believable mafia story.

If you are a fan of unbelievable, fantastical fantasy worlds, where a pre-requisite to enjoying the world is suspending disbelief, you will love TDF.
If you prefer a down-to-earth drama, you might have a hard time enjoying it.

The main character is held hostage by a mafia family, due to unknown family-circumstances. Despite the obvious threat to his life, he remains fairly calm, and rarely attempt to find out more about his situation.

If you over analyze it from an overview, it feels ridiculous:

The main character gets a knife held to his throat by Luna, gets attempted poisoned during dinner, attempted murdered during a stay at a motel, witness Luna murder several people in cold-blood in addition to other atrocities.

Despite this he never fears Luna nor the family, and falls in love with her, Gracie and possibly Isabella.

The family has elite soldiers on roller blades and with flails, and law-enforcement seem non-existant. Luna, a small girl you easily carry has the killing capacity of a small bomb. Gracie defuses bombs with no training. You stop assassins, with similarly no training.

So yes, much like a Marvel movie, the world is ridiculous yet entertaining. Simply unbelievable, however the characters and their interactions are not.

No media to me has ever better portrayed the nature of getting to know someone. What makes them amazing, what makes them human and what we have in common.

It’s really difficult to write believable social interactions in this manner. We tend to turn them into simplified versions of reality when we portray them in media. The speed dating approach of asking questions to each other.

However, the much more real approach of naturally interacting with someone around you, and gradually growing closer is so hard to capture.

The characters all talk, act, behave and move in a different way. It’s not only what they say that is different, but the way they say it, and otherwise communicate their thoughts and feelings.

F.ex: Luna has an amazingly, again border-line unbelievable back-story. (Though closer to reality than I am comfortable with). However, even if we never found out her back-story, she would be extremely memorable and loveable. Because, unlike characters that are bland until given a back-story, Luna always acts like an unique individual. The back-story simply explains some of how she came to be, it isn’t how we truly get to know her.

We get to know her through her actions and dialogue. She teases her sister, she makes fun of her, she fights with her, yet is always there when she needs her. Always worried when something Is important to her sister, when she isn’t looking.

She makes fun of you, occasionally threaten you, however when you treat her nicely she seems unsure how to react. When hugged she is clearly uncomfortable, yet appreciative.

Honestly, she is so well written and rendered that it’s hard to even describe how well done it is. And the other characters aren’t far behind. Gracie always acted smart and confident, yet timid, naive and awkward. Her backstory explains that, but is neither where you learn of it, nor where she shows it.
This depth even reaches characters such as the mother, the butler-like figure and the mc.

The «mother» of the family shows her love for her family in interactions with the butler multiple times, while remaining calm and collected in front of them. The butler has plenty of ironic humor to him, as well as a sharp wit that carefully plans from the sidelines.

However, even more than the characters, the interactions between them shine. The dialogue and banter feels natural. it feels like how you would truly treat people you love.

Many writers write social interactions between friends, like its a kid show. Everyone treats eachother with utmost respect and kindness at all times. That doesn’t feel like a true friendship. Real friends banter, tease and make fun of eachother most of the time, while occasionally giving eachother honest support when it’s needed. Most importantly despite giving eachother shit, we know it’s not serious, and that we would be there for eachother when shit goes down. That’s how it’s written in the deluca family.

Similarly flirting between the characters feel natural, with teasing and playful compliments, instead of a constant barrage of compliments and white knighting.

Are the characters violent psychopaths that in real life should be given therapy to process their trauma, instead of remain in a society filled with violence? Yes.

However, this is a game, and a world where people roller skate while shooting eachother. It doesn’t have to be thought of that logically, and play by reality’s rulebook.

And most importantly, the characters and their interactions are the most loveable i’ve experienced in any media. The Story could devolve into full on sci-fi with aliens, and I would still play it as long as the characters and their interactions remain consistent.

I love this game and can’t wait for more. If I were to add some more criticism, it would be to take more advantage of the visual medium. There is a lot of text, contra renders. Which is a shame, coz the renders are beautiful and I wish they complimented the dialogue more often. Especially with the new contracts. Render rewards are nice, but feel too much like collectables.

I would much rather have more moments like the one with stumbling onto the mafia chick in her backyard, where renders are more naturally integrated with the mission. Especially the one where you stalk a mafia family on your territory to their base with a date is brimming with potential.

To conclude, I love this game. I love the over-the-top silly plot. I love the characters, and I love the interactions and the world.

However, I can understand that it won’t be for everyone. I just hope that the developer/s don’t get discouraged by those it didn’t connect with, and finish their amazing game for everyone it did connect with (including hopefully themselves).

Can’t wait for more content now that the systems are in place. Good luck with future developments, and thanks to anyone insane enough to read this.

Played this waaay back before the latest update and loved it. The update revamped some stuff but unfortunately didn`t progress the story or char relationships.

The story is crazy and engrossing as our MC adapts to life in a top Mafia family. I like how we can choose our MC`s path via cold ruthless type or pacifist nice guy, although I don`t think the choices matter as yet.

The characters in this game are bonkers, almost like cartoon types. Luna is my absolute favorite, her personality and renders are amazing. Her backstory hit like a truck...hits you in the feels. Isabelle is so hot as well..

The renders are great and the story is cool but the sandbox parts can get monotonous a bit.

I am dying for the story progression update and to advance my MC further.

Great game that hopefully the dev can now concentrate on the story updates.

I don’t think I fully understand the love for this game. It’s not bad, but it is certainly not amazing. It has good renders but no lewd scenes after years of development. It has an overly-complex plot that is really disjointed and full of MMORPG characters who are all “really cool and totally badass! Like seriously!”. The whole game is this very odd mixture of serious mafioso plot with ridiculous over-the-top happenings that never make sense if you try and think them through. I know stories don’t have to be water-tight with their logic, and I’m okay with a little hand-waving, but it feels as if the dev has not sat down and plotted out his whole story to make sure that it makes sense

The further I get in the game the more I feel like it is the VN version of an RPG with the Dev’s friends. All the main characters are awesome, people have “levels”, and everyone is wearing whatever cool custom kit/skins they can find. “Wouldn’t it be cool if my seriously bad-ass capo wore short shorts and rolled around on roller skates?” “Oh yeah, well my dude wears a fur coat and carries a big-ass flail!” The game is filled with weird in-jokes that remind me of the type I used to have with my gaming friends. It just breaks the immersion.

I thought the dev was going for Tarantino vibes, but now it just feels like a bad anime/MMROPRG.

• How is it that a crime family openly employs like 500 people? Crime Syndicates are actually very compact because the more people involved, the more liabilities you have.
• Why are “training bullets” a thing? Seriously, these are fucking stupid. Especially sniper training bullets.

TL;DR – This is an interesting game with almost no payout (yet) for sex. It has a storyline that can’t keep track of itself and delves deep into “juvenile” too often. Finally the main character is all-over the place: Simultaneously a “regular joe”, “bad-ass who can get the jump on trained-assassins”, “terrified of killing anyone”, and “willing to get killed in a very slow and painful way just to get to second base”.

TL;DR: An overrated slog.

I originally played this when it was on patch 0.2 and kept up to date until about 0.5. The story was long and slow with the promise of wanting to deliver a satisfying story along with sexual elements. Unfortunately that just wasn't the case since about 1% of this game is compelling sexual exploits and the rest is not what I would call an interesting narrative.

The worst part is that I can see what the author is trying to sell as a narrative, but it's just so ham-fisted and tries to take itself so seriously that it's impossible not to cringe at many elements of what is, supposedly, a deep and well-rounded plot.

Contracts are a dull affair that very, very few people here will be interested in. Let's all be honest - would you prefer dev time be spent making mini-games to increase arbitrary stats or developing sexual content/improving the story? I think almost everyone can give the same answer here.

This latest update took 9 months to release and (as has been mentioned in other reviews) contains no sexual content whatsoever with the main characters. Even the story received next to nothing. It appeared to be nothing more than a revamp of the system - without actually revamping nor fixing the system.

With how seriously the game tries to take itself, it just simply fails massively.

Rating only renders and sex scenes, using as a paradigm other adult games I like and follow, this game merits a 2.5. I'd happily round that up to 3 but the writing/story and sandbox aspects are too unnecessarily annoying and inordinate not to factor into the calculation.

The only good thing I can say about the writing is it evinces the fluency of a native english speaker. As for the bad things, I don't want to spend 40 minutes detailing them but the most obvious problem is the idiot plot.

'Idiot plot' isn't a description of the game's actual plot (though it might as well be) but a narrative trope defined by Roger Ebert as 'a story that would resolve itself in 5 minutes were it not for the fact that the protagonists are or pretend to be idiots'. Idiot plots are not necessarily evidence of bad writing, since they are usually the best medium for meta-narratives, eg modernist/post-modernist/experimental fiction (especially comedy). Unfortunately, this game isn't any of those things. It's an adult game that doesn't seem to know what its point is and doesn't seem to care either...

Player character gets kidnapped by and then inducted into a mafia clan under pain of torture and/or death because of *checks notes* something to do with his dead parents' mysterious past, yet does not seriously attempt discover anything more about said past. Even after developing close friendships or romances with his new masters/wardens, he continues to lack any apparent interest in settling let alone discussing his predicament with them. Instead, he feels proud of risking his life doing missions for them, despite the fact his reward for doing so is... getting teased and very occasionally blown by the sexy mafia sisters... whom he is explicitly forbidden at the outset to lust after, under pain of torture and/or death. But he does it anyway. I guess because the mafia thing is an ironic larp? Then again they're literally shooting and torturing people...? Uhhh it's about family, that must be it.

The actual narrative - in this case, ordinary bored peasant youth suddenly finds himself in a castle full of intrigues, luxury and edgy princesses who want him to prove his inner worth so they can fall in love with him - exhausts itself very early and the rest of the story is just a series of loosely connected teasing and anime-type "romance" scenes derived out of that premise.

There's nothing wrong with any of that per se since that's what porn stories/narratives usually are - vehicles for showcasing porn and not literary creations in their own right. So why not put some porn in it instead of dragging out this sophomoric mafia story?

Some might object that the crazy mafia waifu romance+teasing is itself the object of fapping/edging, and of all the rave reviews. That may well be the case but the main criticism still applies: even if teasing/denial is the point of the story and characters, they do a bad job of it.

That was considerably more words than I wanted to write about this game so I'll wrap up by saying that the competently designed sandbox gameplay makes up for in monotony what the writing lacks in sense or substance.

Great in almost every way!
The story progression is well paced, the characters are very much likeable.
There really isn't that much sexual content implemented yet, however the amount of sexual tension is driving me crazy! It's like a never ending tease of what to come and I feel almost like a Simp.
However! Even if there would be no additional sexual content, I would still play the coming updates just for the story itself.

The story is largely disjointed. The game utilizes a multitude of hooks and never touches upon them until applying some other situation and disregards any previous hook that was present until it is convenient to bring up for whatever reason is selected. In many of these instances, some utilization or play upon it could have easily been inserted but they are instead ignored in some rush to get some really great idea out. Which lessons their entire presence when they reappear. There isn’t any real foundation and instead merely jumps around.

Even characteristics are ignored simply for the sake of a great idea. A primary indicator would be the concept of an uncanny cunning applied to the MC. Yet this only appears when it is convenient and other instances it is completely ignored. The most prominent is the application of this particular way of thinking since youth and what could easily be explained as a particular nasty habit of being anti-social unless it comes to the opposite sex. The MC is denoted as constantly utilizing this… and yet on many occasions it is not utilized or utilized poorly. One infamous situation is, without any denotation of anything occurring, the player ‘easily’ outwits an assassin… that you were never given any indication of nor and real display of this ‘cunning’ used prior to that event. The characters, themselves, become little more than props.

The largest thing is the story elements most likely require a re-work to be more consistent. This wouldn’t be an issue if it was an occasional or minor situation. Unfortunately the inconsistency piles up quite quickly.

The difference in the contract system is vastly notable, and considered a welcome expansion. The utilization of unlocks and rewards do bring a unique feeling to the game and do bring up a lively feel. Some are displeased by it, though the game has been provided multiple types of play that allow for ignoring of such an aspect should it be disliked. Though I will denote this can also be seen as ‘cheapening’ other experiences given the render unlocks from playing a certain way, thus skewing everything toward a particular experience over that of others.

I enjoyed a lot the new gameplay. It makes the contracts way more interesting, instead of the old simple system of success or failure. The text based fits well and the addition of renders in some contracts was a great idea (I just would like to happen more often). Also enjoyed the fact that in some contracts, it introduces some new characters and then further, we get to see them how they look in the main story.

Renders are pretty good, detailed and show the mafia atmosphere well. To highlight the face expressions, that show perfectly the emotions of the characters (happiness, anger, thoughtful, etc)

The downside of the update in my opinion were the new lewd scenes. I didn't enjoy because it felt a bit rush and out nowhere, but not much of the deal since it was with side characters. I’m more of guy that appreciates a great story and the lewd scenes I don’t give much value, so it can be because of that I didn’t enjoy.

To sum up, it’s one of the best VN and I highly recommend to play.

amazing and nice story,pace,characters. entertaining and funny. looking forward to more content of the game. visuals and art are breathtaking and beautiful. worth every single second to spend. thank you for the masterpiece

The BEST part of TDF is the story, so if you don't like grind element of the game or not a fan of RPG gameplay just choose Story+freeroam mode at the beginning of the game.

Don't get discourage if you don't like the gameplay part of the game, just skip it, you may lose a few renders and minor plot but nothing major, and dev said in the future update he plan to add those missed in the story mode, so no loss there.

* Story 10/10, the story or plot of this VN is AMAZING, the best of all AVN I play right now, and I'm no a fan of mafia genre. The dialog and writing is very well done, hilarious, romantic, immersive, and memorable. Beware though, there is one event that have very dark story tone, and maybe to much for some people, but you get warning before hand, and you can choose mild version of it, if you don't like tragic and depressing story.

* Renders and models 8/10, Renders are great, beautiful, and detailed, the girls all beautiful, hot, and diverse. Little downside is, large part of dialogs is just using static background, maybe this is to save development time.

* Character 10/10, all main character have great writing, lovable, and memorable, even side character is good. There is a lot of side character in the game, and all of them have meaningful part for the story, and I like the factions, ranks, and lore of the game.

* Lewd scene 7/10, It's promising, as for now, main LI's just have mild lewd scene (that is very hot btw) because of slow burn, and it's great as lewd is not the main focus of this game, I have read dev said he's done with the romance build up of all LI's, so we'll get to the "main course" on next updates. There is lewd and sex scene in ver 0.07, but it's average quality, because of little build up with the character, but that is fine because those are just side characters. So far the LI's romance and build up pace is good and believable.

* Gameplay 5/10, I don't play the new overhaul gameplay, because I don't like grind in a VN. I have tried the old version gameplay, and it's quite grindy. In new gameplay dev decided to have more detailed and long gameplay in a contract, and I can imagine it will be more tedious from before. Luckily dev give the option to skip gameplay mode in the beginning of game, it's a very good decision, so I can skip headache and frustration and get to the gem of this VN which is the story.

A few cons, there still some bugs with gallery, and UI is not to good. A little critic, there is a few scene contain a bit jokes about church or religion, I hope dev don't go to far with that.

Overall TDF is Highly Recommended to play, I hope dev deliver his promise that he's done with the gameplay part of this VN, and get faster updates for amazing plot and story of this game.