VN - Ren'Py - Where the Heart Is [S1 v2024-09-06 BETA] [CheekyGimp]

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.

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!!

Version 0.23

This game before this update (Ep 23), was my top 3.

So the grade would definitely be 5.0, but after this update I wanted to give it a 2/3 grade.
But I'm giving 4 to wait and see what really happened.

This update brought the sound part, which is very good, very very good indeed.

But the stories surprised in a bad way.
After 23 chapters to think that that person slept with the MC's father is going to be very frustrating, since although all the girls are great, for me she is still the best (or was, depending on what happens next), even though she is not that popular.

Not to mention that this update also made one of the girls get naked in an establishment, this is optional, but still [ I ] did not like it. (I know that the game is not made exclusively for me, but I have the right not to like it.)

The only thing I liked about this update was the implementation of the sounds and the theater scenes.
Before that the game is perfect, but as I said, depending on the circumstances the game can disappoint me to the point that even a full harem will not cure this disappointment.

I've tried playing this one over the years. The beginning chapters made this one of my favorites, but that has since changed. Most of it has to do with the fact this isn't a harem game, nor is it a dating sim.

Let's be honest, no one wants to replay this game 10 - 12 times on solo girl routes. For one, there isn't enough unique content on each route to justify the re-play; for two, there are far, far too many choices that prevent you from skipping text you've already seen. The game pushes you into accepting every girl or suffering a very dry, dull playthrough trying to only stay with one out of 10 - 12+ girls, but then the second half of the game appears to be designed just to punish the player for engaging in the 'plot'. The later chapters have completely devolved into every girl trying to push the MC into a relationship, becoming really possessive, and every encounter is filled with cringe dialogue where the MC tries to avoid the girls finding out about the other relationships.

Frankly, it's become a chore to play.

Not wanting to make a harem game is fine, but this game seems entirely designed just to punish people that came here expecting a harem. It has utterly failed to be worthwhile for either porn or plot. It's an empty shell of a game where the MC just flits from one encounter to the next, rarely bringing any real progress to the plot whatsoever, and not enough sexual content to justify sitting through the mind-numbing 'don't get caught' dialogue and the becoming-more-frequent cockblocking.

Normally I'm not a big fan of harem games where the protagonist has sex with all the females around him.
But this game is somehow different.
It has a pretty exciting story that revolves around an inheritance and its beneficiaries.
The relationships between the different people and the individual characters are interesting.
I really still don't know exactly who I can trust, or who is betraying me and trying to get my inheritance.
My favorite is Lilly, she is simply stunning!

Played it just now and i liked it very much , there is not much to complain about , its a good mix and well rounded game. I like that there is a lotta content without repeating scenes or quests ect. I hope the developer will create games for more years to come.

I'm new to Visual Novels and am really enjoying this game. The renders are well done and the story is pretty interesting. I like the amount of choices and women. I look forward to seeing where this one goes.

Woulda been a 2/5 from me but the dialogue is so damn cheeky and good at certain points and I'm a sucker for witty writing.

Positives are dialogue and storytelling, moves along nicely, the characters actually talk like you'd expect (mostly), good narrative.

Pacing is QUITE good, story flows as you move houses and discover more about your family. One thing other reviews said that's definitely true is be sure to play it for more than 1-2 chapters, it'll draw you in.


Downsides are old-looking graphics, and the mi(d)lfs who keep pestering you after turning them down 50 times.

Like it doesnt even make sense? If you turn down Katie 50 times she definitely doesn't keep trying to sit on your face. It was enough to turn me off to the game after awhile. The dev is a serious milf enthusiast (calm down mods im not rating the genre), rather the lack of decision making the MC is capable of. It'd be like playing a primarily harem game with a side ntr-tag, and then half the game is other guys catcalling your L.I.

Only short summary this time:

+ Nice story, plot reminds some old melodrama shows but really nice
++ Epic characters, with different, interesting, totally lovable and bright (not realistic ofc but believable enough) personalities
+ Beautiful girls for different tastes, not some plastic clones
+ Interesting and good looking sex scenes, very nice animated scenes in later episodes
+ Choises, choises, choises! Thousands of choises! The game forces player to make choises often to give feeling of control over MC, and the less forced actions MC do, the more he's... You)
+ A lot of content, many many hours of fun
- no music/sound
- some characters are a bit ugly at first, chars look improved only in later episodes, same with animations (I hope they'll be redone)

Played 22 episodes without skipping text, and tbh not so much text between choises)
Girls are amazing, all of them, almost impossible to remain loyal to just one...
One of the Best VN's here!

Ah well, this game started well and kept on getting better but seriously it needed to be a harem game from the start if we are given full open reign for the first 20 chapters or so, and then we are left juggling chainsaws, ah well let's see how and what happens as we go ahead. The story has been good so far and the one star less is for obvious graphic issues that were the initial releases I know that the game started way back and things definitely got much better with time but they had to go through the lower quality renders to reach there so there's that. I mostly always use WT when playing the VNs because why not. So imagine my surprise when the WT pushed me to go Chaos mode and suddenly my relationship with the central 3 girls was gone. Thankfully there is the excellent chapter select option so I used that to try the different combinations and enjoyed it that way let's see if I can't continue the chainsaw juggling for a bit longer. Waiting for the next update till then take care.