VN - Ren'Py - Where the Heart Is [S1 Rev1] [CheekyGimp]

V. season 1 beta?

the inconsistency of the art, though not my forte, is less than easy on the eye. visually i am not a fan. looks very much like a breakout project with much learning to be done.

the writing tries to deliver something beyond the normal humdrum but all the hooks are visual. the plot it delivers is par for the course by now. lacks any standout quality and only donning a harem route would rekindle any interest for me, and only as one for the spank bank. it's just low impact.
not that a harem route is plausible...

back when this first came out and was a regular to the updates page it may have gotten a close 4 star. it had very little competition and garnered a lot of interest.
that bar is not so low now though, 6 years have passed.
some great works have graced us here since while this one has meandered in development and delivered a stagnant plot that is lost in the background of what is on offer here.
i only managed as far as CH 22 before i could take no more.

now the dev is touting this as season 1, insinuating that there will be more.....
i do not have another decade or more of life to see if this pans out but i also have a hard time wracking my imagination to find anything about this that warrants another season.
there is nothing here to build on. something shoe-horned in at the death maybe?
an opening season sets the stage. this one has set a neon sign towards the exit.
the steak is cooked. serve up the meat and two veg and create a new dish.
considering seasons is like going way past well done into cremated territory.
ya can keep the dessert trolley. check please.

4/5 Enjoyed it! Cared about it! A good one right here
(I have only gone through it once completely i think)
I really enjoyed this one and the only reason I don't give it a 5/5 is that I haven't gone through every route and without doing that I wouldn't feel as honest
+Characters Hot
+Personalities are varied and have there own ups and downs, which I appreciated
+Story/setting was good for me. Enough reason for things to happen. Things brought joy and sorrow, I actually cared about my choices for the majority of them
+Really enjoyed that there are actually conflicting events depending on who all you associate with. Can pick a favorite or see if you really do have a magic dick that everyone will forgive you for using *CoughtheywontCough*

I cant really think of any negatives, Maybe I didn't notice them or I liked this so much that I am biased lol
4/5 A great experience, I think I'll keep this one around for a time

Top 2 games on F95. While the renders are ok....it's the characters especially the Katie and Jenna dynamic with MC. I love the game and big shout out to Cheeky for making my pairings possible.

P.s. The renders are good but on f95 there are some absurdly clean however i am eagerly waiting for the steam rework to see what cheeky does for the art.

This game is great, I dont know many hours I have dedicated to it but I wish I would have waited till it was completed . Anyway the girls you can romance are very, very likeable and have a distinct personality and charm to them that you cant help but like them (most of them).
There are so many paths you can follow and the interactions with them change a lot depending of your choices. I have personally tried cheating on as many LI as I could and it is so entertaining doing it, and experimenting on how to get away with it or seeing the consequences when you get caught. It is not like typical harem games where women don know what jelaousy is and just agree to it immediatly, here it is much more interesting but you can actually manage to get more than one partner with them willing to share MC if you play your cards right. It is interesting checking all those possible combinations and different outcomes.

The models are very hot, specially of the main LIs. The story is ok, just remember you are playing a porn game, dont expect GRRM level of plot. Still very interesting and engaging.
It is personally one of the most entertaining games I have played here, with lots of content and close to getting finished. Definitely recommended.

The various personalities, plot development, and plot twists in this AVN make for an interesting mix. The potential for multiple partners or a single romantic interest are both present, with various complexities in navigating these multi-partner relationships. (It doesn't seem to devolve into adding every woman the MC knows into a massive harem, seemingly at will.) The basic plot premise is relatively simple: a college-aged man receives news that his upper-middle-class father has died and left a sizeable amount of wealth, to be distributed via his Will. The plot revolves around both the bizarre conditions of the Will and the interpersonal relationships of the characters. There are some fairly taboo topics/paths, but it is overall tame and the taboos are avoidable. The writing of the female characters makes them both interesting and engaging. One of my top 10 AVNs of all time.

One of my favorite VN's for sure! I hope the creator ties the story up nicely. With the amount of women/girls it will be no easy task though.
I think there is something for everyone in this story and there is a story as well not only sex which there is in abundance as well.

This was fun one right from the start, and despite having so many girls avaible, it never felt like some of them were getting less love. Now, with improvements for first chapters it's still as enoyable to play as ever, and looks even better. There is a ton of sex scenes, and yet it doesn't feel like it's too much. And those are pretty well done too.

This game also has the unique feature of starting from any episode, while picking your relationships status with everyone. I can't stress enough how AWESOME it is. And with this feature, the last episodes started to bring completelly new kind of fun, and that is repeating them with different relationships combinations, while trying to hold as many girls as possible, without any of them breaking up with you. Seems silly, but it gives way more fun than I expected.

Incredible.
Corruption, teasing, but the rewards are real.
It has a fantastic narrative.
Many girls to pick from and the varied fantasy scenarios.

Dev reading Wish: When picking creampie as an option, I'd love to see more creampie rendering as it drips out of each girl.

This game has so much content, it's been running since 2018 so it makes sense, I remember playing this long time ago and I was also impressed back then.

Renders: 4/5 ⭐
At the start there are some lighting issues but you can tell the developer improved renders over time, the characters look nice, each has their unique figure/face that fits their personality.

Animation: 4/5 ⭐
Again, this been running since 2018 so some older scenes, look bad, the further you play the better it gets.
It seems the dev decided to retouch the old content with their steam release so make sure to wishlist that if you're interested.

Story: 4/5 ⭐
While the main premise of the game is kind of missing from the overview, it's a bit crazy in my opinion but at least it's unique.
Long story short, millionaire father died and put rules so stupid in his will, so that if you decide you want the money you will live miserable, he also put some rules on the other family members to make them compete with each other, the MC is trying to figure out which family member is on his side and which just wants the money.

Gameplay: 4/5 ⭐
Typical VN, click to progress and choices, it seems you can reject most love interests if you want to, didn't try it though.
The choices in the beginning of the game are so annoying without a walkthrough, like you can't figure out which character will take offense at a joke, or which character will flip out if you flirt with her, but I guess you get used to their personalities after a while.

Sounds: 0/5 ⭐
Sadly this game has no sounds other than main menu music...
again: It seems the dev decided to retouch that with their steam release so make sure to wishlist that if you're interested.

Overall:
This is Good. This would easily be 5* for me with sounds/music and improved old content.

Where the Heart Is really surprised me by how good it is.
I wasn't expecting to care about all the characters that much, but the combination of a very well paced slow burn and the good writing really deliver some life to build interesting characters.

The story helps to setup the atmosphere with some mystery about the will conditions and the various shenanigans around it.
Definitively worthy of 4 stars

This game really has a great story and good twists and its worth playing even if it is a very long game.

It might drive you crazy in the start atleast it did for me, the constant pushing of girls on MC is soooo annoying, the mother i mean fuck me that was so bad to play through when you have 0 intrest in her as a romance, telling her no a million times and keep getting pop-up questions if you want to look at her ass, even when you say no to relationships it still ask over and over and over......clearly this writer has never heard "no means no" it truely made me so close to quiting which would have been a shame since the story is really good.

It also has plenty of girls to pick and choose from, it did annoy me that 99% of them was has big or huge tits which is a pure turn-off for me, there are a few maybe one or two side girls with smaller tits but none that matters in the bigger picture.

The choices in this game is some of the best ive seen, with so many girls and multiple paths its almost unreal that everything seems to work perfectly, dont even want to think about the work put into this, it must be a ton.

I only had had 2 issues with this game.
With so many LIs they really should have made something for everyone insted of having almost pure focus on big/huge tits, i think elvira was my favorite and all you get to do it kiss her once, other one that was ok was the carny girl but shes also just a sidekick.
The other issue was the lack of music to set the moods, there is none well untill chapter 22 which is way to late to make up for it.

Those 2 reasons was why i only gave this 4 stars, even though its a 5 star story.

Years ago, this game was ground-breaking. Now, it just kinda' exists.

Your own (non) family instantly wants to bang you, as does everyone else. Despite you not being particularly remarkable.

The Mom is forced onto the player at the start, and she apparently is suffering from some kind of IQ issue, as she and the MC have some true porn-tier plot contrivance moments. The MILF trope honestly grosses me out and it's SO overplayed in adult VNS. I don't like Monica, bro. Stop pushing her onto me. Same with Zarah.

The other characters are fine. Katie is cool, Jenna is sweet. I really liked the Angel/Wanda dynamic, and I found Elaine to be a charming character, despite me not being into her too much attractiveness-wise. I also liked Bella a lot, despite her looking frightening at certain angles.

Also, I will say, there's a ton of content to dive into if you're just looking for some (win)cest harem-bait.

But, man, I just didn't have fun playing this game at all.

I've said this like 10 times in previous reviews; the whole point of (win)cest is that it's taboo. If your entire (non) family immediately wants to fuck you, then where's the taboo??

Blah, sorry, CheekyGimp.

This game does a lot of things right, but a lot of things wrong. Let's go over them.

PROS
- Best damn flirting I've ever played in a porn game. The dev really did a good job with the flirting styles. I could really feel the connection to the Monica and Katie characters.
- This is the first game I've ever greatly enjoyed, where the MC is with an older lady, but no incest patch was involved. I usually always need an incest patch to spice things up, but the writing with Monica is so well done.I really like Lilith 7 DAZ model, and Monica's personality is great.
- I love Monica, Katie, Jolene!

CONS
- The game has massive bugs in the start. You have to click "ignore" to by pass all the bugs. He needs to declare persistent variables EARLY in the code, giving them a default value, or check them for Nonetype before comparing them against a value. I can help the dev if he wants, just dm me.
- The game makes the mistake of forcing unwanted sexual scenarios with girls you don't like. If this was 2016-2017, it would be okay, but now in 2023, the new thinking is to let the player reject the women NPC he doesn't like. The developer of this game is very good at plot flag management and dialogue choices, so he could've easily allowed us to stay friends with girls we don't like, and choose to be romantic with only the girls we like.
- I hate Zarah. There's a scene where she forces you into a photoshoot with monica, and it's just a complete turn off. It completely killed the mood. I want the MC to be in charge, not Zarah. This isn't femdom. I like femdom actually, but I don't think it was the dev's intention, so it just felt really weird. I was a complete turn off and completely destroyed the mood.

I would sub to his patreon if he could let us reject girls we don't like. I only like Monica, Jolene and Katie.

The scene where Zarah forces you to do stuff with Monica, I wish I could skip that, that was bad.

I stopped playing because the game just forced too many unwanted sexual scenarios which resulted in a turn off. If he could just give us more options to reject girls we don't like, the problem would easily be solved, I'd give 5 stars and sub to his patreon right now.

I bet if the dev listened to my advice, he could easily clear $10,000.00 a month.

QUALITY is better than QUANTITY of content. It's okay if the player only likes 40% of your content and skips the 60% he doesn't like, i'd still support it on Patreon if I only like 30-40% of the game's content.

Is it really hard for a developer to understand that a player won't like everything in the game? It's not realistic. No one is going to like EVERY girl in your game, so you simply let the player reject them, SIMPLE, DONE. PROBLEM SOLVED. Why is that so hard for all you developers out there? IT"S NOT HARD MAN.

EDIT: I've scrolled down and read other reviews. It looks like I'm not alone. Other people don't like the game forcing girls on them they don't like. The solution is so easy too, hopefully the dev fixes it.

A typical harem porn game with a large variety of characters and somewhat decent plot revolving around MC's rich a-hole father's will. Quite a few wrongs, but the rights outweigh them, so won't hurt to give WTHI a five....

The thing that made WTHI really stand out for me is chapter selection, most games lack that.

Additional praise for the upcoming remaster, bc some of the characters look like shit in the beginning (e.g. blue skin Jenna) and better later in the game.

UPD

For me, it's a solid five star game... Why? You can have different routes... That way you can also unlock new scenes... Is a game that invites you to play it over and over again... Is not repetitive and his style of being just a VN makes it very fluid... The characters are well made - there's almost everything here, ebony, milf, blonde, teen... the main plot is very cool because even though is "the plot" of almost every +18 game, it has their own essence. The scenes, the art, the way the MC seems to get deeper into every relationship and how the game has progressed deserves five stars. Highly recommended.

I cannot figure out who would give less than 5 stars. This game has such a complex style of characters, the amount of time the developer has put into it is really nothing compared to lessor games. In this game choice matters in the extreme!

Where our hearts is!
This is a remarkable game with numerous amazing characters, even temporary characters, sometimes it is hard to choose one of them , each one has its own charm , story is very intriguing , there is always suspense that something menacing gonna happen next time , I like that inside the game.
One of the features I love in here is that you can start any episode and start from there , this is really makes playing long game easier.
Definitely one of my favorites.

This review is for the end of Ep. 23. Story right now is at climax. First of all this is a very long game, I am in my first playthrough, i flirted all and tried to keep all relationships casual whenever I can, I still have 3-4 girls who I can go serious with and there is like minimum 20+ hours of content. Also there is on spot RP table system which is somewhat a guide, but can break immersion. It caused me to minmax RPs in my playthrough but it is optional.

Due to high number of episodes, things can take a while and player might feel exhausted from laying groundwork to relationships with all girls. The intriguing main plot is here but pacing is slow. You may have to grind till Ep 10 or so to get some excitement with the plot after all the introduction. But the girls, dialogue and different dating occasions (side quests) kept the game going for me, and after a certain episode I didn't want to reach the end of Ep. 23. You sometimes forget the main plot and enjoy this as a dating sim. So the length comes from not the story but the dating aspect. There are high number of LIs which all feel somewhat original respective to MC. And since it is a long project the production quality varies from start to finish. (Though, the dev states a remaster is in order after the completion of story).

Good:
- Mildly kinky
- Girl variety: both physical, age and characterwise.
- Manwhoring is punished somewhat, but leads to both comical and sad occasions.
- Render quality: it gets even better in later episodes.
- Good dialogue writing. One of the few AVNs that I LOLed while reading, some segments are hilarious.
- Inner talk is concise and on point. (which gets tedious in some VNs)
-Sitcom like humor is appreciated, not even cringed once.
-The plot has some twists, betrayals and situational comedy all over.
-"Side quests" of LIs are well-varied and keeps the game flowing.

Average&Bad:
-Animation quality: it was straight bad at the start but now it seems OKish, a pass.
-Ego Boosting Flirtation: Nearly every girl needs an ego boost every time you meet and flirt! Nearly every girl is brittle about romance etc. It gets tedious in early episodes, which may cause some players to stop or even quit. Good looking big dick stud has a way with woman to do whatever it takes to flirt and seduce them kinda tedious.
-Can't see MC's face. Most of the novel is in 1st person POV, but not always I rate it average for inconsistency.
-No SFX or soundtrack except Ep 23. (dev promised to amend at a later date).
-Starting conflict and setting is meh, I mean i couldn't sympathize with MC at start.

In short: a rollercoaster of emotions, suspense and laughter. It can be one of the greatest if the dev can disentangle all the mystery and intruige developed in 23 episodes and end the game in a satisfying matter without plot holes.

5 stars, just 5 stars.. I mean there is shit here for everyone and it's just awesome!
So many girls, in a good story, with plots, and there are lots of kinks too, but the outstanding ones are.
There is something here for everyone, just and about!
there is little, very little netori (girl gets taken by protagonist and cucks), like 3-4 scenes, no netorare (Girl cheats on man or cucks him/mc) i think? Which I myself am a fan of, but even then this game is 5 stars, I am also femdom fan, and it's not even until later part of game that appears.
Magically one of the best games ever. It just has so much and is so good! I think Mommica is too well made! Just too good! I hope she burns me

It is one of the best AVN of games here!! It is in my top 10 easily of all times!!

This is one of the most well written games I've ever played. Each character has a different personality and their dialogues stick true to their character.

The story is amazing and the options which influence in the relationship with girls, the multiple path options that change the content.

There are several fun interesting characters and funny moments!!

The characters look realistic, like real people. Not as some pornstars or supermodels. The older women also look true to their age, like real MILFs... not 20 years age..



Thanks @CheekyGimp for creating such an awesome AVN game!!