The DeLuca Family

THE DELUCA FAMILY: The Official PatreonGamer Review General Verdict: A uniquely post-modern, porn-meets-Tarantino take on the mafia genre that, unfortunately, ended up crushing its own creator . Introduction If you excuse me, I’ll start this one with a little detour. Remember how in the past, before popular demand on the Internet changed the face of the industry forever, there used to be porn movies with plots — particularly the «parody» porn movies, which, in strict accordance with Rule 34, took all your favorite narratives from The Three Musketeers to Star Wars and generated their porny equivalents? Apparently, the genre was never too popular (many more people simply want to see other people fucking than a whole lot of plot exposition followed by people fucking), but it did have its own loyal fanbase — and, for what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure many of those same people have by now switched over to AVNs for compensation. I personally loved quite a few of those movies, but oftentimes found myself disappointed by the fact that there was too little plot in them, not too much . Because every once in a while, what you get is a craving for your favorite story — a historical novel, a mystery tale, a sci-fi epic — in which characters, from time to time, get involved in explicit, rather than suggested, sexual activities. Basically, not «porn with a bit of plot», but «good plot with a bit of porn», if you know what I mean. The same Three Musketeers or Star Wars where the heroes come across as real heroes, with all of their motivations and emotions and seriousness, not as cartoonish parodies, and you can also see them screwing every once in a while — like they probably did in real life, after all. This sort of thing can sometimes be found in (usually very poorly written) hardcore erotic novels, but it simply does not exist — has not ever existed — in the movie genre, where, for various reasons (including the necessity for people to be good actors and porn stars at the same time), it is as impossible as ice-cream in the hot sun. You’d think that this pattern — «interesting story lightly peppered with hardcore elements» — would be far better represented in AVNs. After all, visual novels and video games based on them require far fewer resources, can much tighter represent their creator’s own vision, and do not depend on finding real-life porn stars who can both fuck and act. But in reality, the majority of AVNs follow the same patterns — their creators know that their audience is here first and foremost for the saucy stuff, and everything else is just a framework. Even the best devs like Dr. PinkCake or PhillyGames, who are sincerely interested in developing their stories, are fully aware that their audience will lose interest sooner or later if they just continue to be «teased» indefinitely. I mean, really, if we start slobbering over a hot lady and don’t see her taking it all off in the first hour or so of playing the game — we start complaining, don’t we? In this context, The DeLuca Family by HopesGaming, regardless of everything else that was good or bad about it and its development cycle, is unquestionably one of the bravest Western AVNs I’ve ever played. From the very start, it was conceived, first and foremost, as a story — based on action, humor, irony, fantasy, emotions, and romance — with the suggestive promise that as the story slowly develops before your eyes, the curtain won’t be dropped right after the French kiss and nothing will be left exclusively to your imagination. But it would not be a «sex game with elements of plot»; it would be a «fantasy adventure with elements of hardcore». And those elements of hardcore, they would manifest strictly on their own time, when the plot realistically demanded them, not every thirty minutes of the game (a.k.a. «every time the player’s dick gets hard once again after the last fap»). The Setting: A Surrealistic Mafia Story In an age where games like Summertime Saga and MILFy City , with their near-instant sexual gratification, ruled supreme, this strategy chosen by HopesGaming, the developer, was almost foolishly brave and risky — an indie game like this could not be pushed on the «regular» game market by definition, and could easily find itself downvoted and neglected on the X-rated market as well. Instead, it found itself quickly rising up the general rating scale, and for at least the first two or three years of development was among the most popular AVN titles — despite not even having one full-fledged sex scene to offer to its audience. (In fact, what few bona fide sex scenes there actually are already came at a time when the game’s ratings were dropping — and even in retrospect, do not really constitute its main selling points). Even more surprisingly, The DeLuca Family is not only not a proper «sex game», but, from a certain point of view, can hardly be called a «game» as such. Although it includes a formal mechanic of free-roam, events in the game unfold mostly linearly (many of the free-roam parts, for instance, cannot be accessed until the main storyline has progressed to a certain level, and vice versa) — and the player’s interaction is mainly limited to a small, very rarely activated, set of choices which, at best, do not matter, at worst, merely lock you out of content. (Given the possibility of training your character in a more paragon-ish or renegade-ish fashion, I suppose that in the long run some of those choices could have mattered, but as it stands now, we shall most likely never be able to see in what way). There’s also the «Contracts» side game, which I will comment on later, but it’s (almost) optional and feels a bit like its own separate entity. Anyway, long story cut short, The DeLuca Family is essentially a near-kinetic visual novel with some illusions of player agency, delivered in the interlocking genres of mafia thriller and romantic comedy (dramedy) with enough elements of hardcore to give it an assured X-rating, but never enough to satisfy all of your base urges until it’s a little too late for that. Why, then, should we bother with it at all — especially today, when it looks less and less likely that «Season 1», with its frustrating cliffhanger, shall ever be followed by a «Season 2»? My answer to that question is simple: I love unique artistic visions, even if ( especially if!) they are framed within the context of a hardcore adult game — and for most of his work cycle on The DeLuca Family , HopesGaming was blessed with precisely such a vision. Of course, it was not completely original (what is these days?), but the basic concept of his imaginary universe and its story, which could be roughly described as « The Godfather meets Reservoir Dogs », looked and felt like absolutely nothing else — still does, actually. There are other sources, of course: all sorts of mafia tales, post-modern dialog-heavy gangster movies, and, presumably, all sorts of manga / anime stories of which I have little knowledge. But overall, The DeLuca Family is about one-third gangster drama, one-third action-flick, and one-third surrealist comedy, based on quite intentionally absurd sets of premises, combinations, and coincidences — and on constantly defying and inverting your expectations. Oh yes, and sometimes it gets genuinely lewd... but only if you are a good boy and wait for it, very, very patiently. Don’t bother skipping through the dialog — you’ll never get to the end of it anyway. Some players would lash out angrily at the absurdity — a mafia game set in the modern age with tough guys wielding flails? karate-practicing badass nuns wreaking havoc against goons armed with UZIs? medieval honor codes taken as a serious thing? Irish criminal families operating, out of nowhere, in a presumably Sicilian type of environment?.. But, really, none of that is any more absurd than the setting of, say, Kill Bill , or Resident Evil 4 , or any other pop-art phenomena that give us alternate realities to love and cherish, provided they’re done right. And with the level of creativity displayed in Hopes’ visual art and dialog, they are done right. The universe of The DeLuca Family sets its own rules and follows them in a logical and rigorous manner. But it is also true that the game messes with you — very seriously so. As you start out, playing a young protagonist that, for some inexplicable reason, finds himself forced to work as a novice for one of the most prominent mafia families in the region, the game starts out on a surrealist / comedic path, with both male and female characters engaged in oddly Tarantino-esque dialogs, mixing the thrilling with the routine, and pretty soon you’re convinced this is all going to be fairly lightweight and occasionally hilarious. Hopes’ dialog skills are a mixed bag: with no quality control attached, there’s always about a 50-50 chance that it’s either going to be comedic genius or forced, unfunny cringe with a failed punchline (but when it works, it works! I sometimes catch myself laughing at some of his twists with the same naturalness and ease I do at classic Seinfeld episodes). Whether he succeeds or fails, though, the first several hours of the game play out like a post-modernist comedy, with your two main potential love interests — the daughters Gracie and Luna — playing out the «oddball romantic goof» and the «oddball psycho goof» stereotypes to perfection. The Evolution: From Hilarious To Terrifying Eventually, character development comes into play, and the plot begins relying less and less on goofy jokes and more and more on sentimental bits, sexy teasing, and darker, psychologically uncomfortable elements. This could have been a flaming disaster, but Hopes shows that he can handle gritty drama far better than, say, Dr. PinkCake, and while some of the scenes could certainly use a little dialog trimming, on the whole Gracie’s progression from nerdy show-off to witty strategist and Luna’s from Harley Quinn-style psychopath to brokenhearted victim is genuinely gripping. There’s even a bit of role reversal going on, as by the end of Season 1 the balance between «delicate / fragile» and «creepy / ruthless» seems to have been seriously shifted between the two main girls. I’m a slightly lesser fan of the third major sub-story — Isabel and her cuckolding plotline — but it’s still handled with seriousness, delicacy, and tact (and it does lead to what is perhaps the single sexiest scene in the game!). Now the one thing that can be a serious turn-off for some players is that at a certain point, the game does take a dark twist. Perhaps realizing that he might have gone a bit too far to the goofy / parodic side of things, Hopes begins to interrupt the romantic storyline with mafia-related sidelines with unsettling, sometimes gory details you’d probably expect from the likes of Boardwalk Empire , not from a «porn game». Some of them come on so abruptly that it takes some time to get adjusted and realize it’s not another goofy put-on, but actually a real dark twist, and from then on the story shifts from lightweight comedy to heavy gory drama and back in total Jekyll-and-Hyde mode. For me, it works, though. We know mafia dramas and mafia comedies, but we don’t often encounter such defiantly crude mixtures of both, and this combination gives The DeLuca Family its own special edge — like it or hate it, you’re gonna remember it as a stand-out. The principal test of strength comes with the «My Name is Luna» plotline, in which Hopes dares to go into the kind of territory where absolutely no adult video game — heck, almost no regular game, and very, very few books or movies, for that matter — dare to go. (Well, at least not Western ones; I’m not so sure about all that whacky Japanese stuff). On one hand, it’s really done for pure shock value, manipulative and exaggerated to the core; on the other hand, it’s executed sufficiently well to succeed in its manipulation, and just the very thought of a brutal plotline like that being made part of an adult video game already turns Hopes into some sort of Andy Kaufman of the visual novel industry. Some might say Luna’s story heavily undermines the suspension of disbelief — I think, however, that on a psychological level it agrees quite well with the goofy presentation of the character in the first part of the game, because, after all, childhood traumas are unpredictable as to their consequences, and this particular character transformation is perfectly possible even in the real world, let alone an imaginary one. Technical Aspects: On The Tolerable Side On the structural level, The DeLuca Family is not a masterpiece of craft, but not a source for serious complaints, either. The renders are largely standard Ren’Py, but Hopes makes good use of landscape assets (the atmosphere of a little old-fashioned ancient Italian town / countryside is conveyed quite well), and most of the characters are rendered with love and delicacy — well, I’m not entirely sure that Isabel needed all that purple hair, and, as usual, most of the MILFs (like Lady Cordia) look more like hot elder sisters than actual 50-year old ladies, but these are nitpicks. Hopes does a great job of letting you see the «frightened little girl» inside Luna’s usual «evil badass» type, and the «ruthless mischievous imp» inside Gracie’s «naive narcissistic beauty» personality — and when you do get around to the sex scenes, they are done diligently enough even though you know they are not supposed to constitute the main attraction. Animations, angles, curves, cumshots — you can fap to this game, yes, if you have enough patience. The soundtrack is not overwhelming — probably about a dozen or so repetitive instrumental tracks — but it is chosen well enough to add flavor to the game. I really love, for instance, the main free-roam theme in the mansion, with its wobbly electric piano and atmosphere of gentle, but sinister mystery, and some of the more symphonic arrangements give a baroque feeling perfectly in line with the cultural setting of the game. Alas, no voice acting — this is one of the few games which, I believe, could truly benefit from voiceovers, but then again, you’d need actual professional voiceover talent for the likes of Gracie and Luna; amateurish acting usually employed for this kind of games would only spoil the effect. The allegedly free-roam construction of the game is totally unnecessary: with the exception of the «Contracts» section (which is formally optional, but you’ll have to tackle it at least occasionally so as to raise money and gain experience for promotions), the «main mission» and the «side missions» are actually interlocked, and some parts of the main quest cannot proceed without completing some side missions, or vice versa. Most of the side missions serve the purpose of romancing specific girls, so you don’t have to do them if you’re not interested in Gracie, Luna, Isabel, etc. romantically (but if you’re not, why are you playing the game?) — overall, little would be lost if the whole thing were to be re-designed as a straightforward visual novel with skippable parts, but then again, this organization does let you choose your own order of progressing things with the ladies, so no sweat — just keep in mind that The DeLuca Family is not really a «sandbox free-roam» about having fun whenever and whoever with you want to have it, but a sprawling mafia saga with its own linear plot, largely set in stone. Development Cycle: The REAL Tragedy Unfortunately, most AVN developers fall into two categories — those who manage to stay in control of the work process throughout (usually, these are the people who have a more or less clear understanding of how their game will end already while working on its beginning), and those who, sooner or later, succumb to their own creation and are almost literally devoured by it. Poor HopesGaming, alas, pretty soon fell into the second category and began taking his art far more seriously than your local shrink would ever recommend it. The game started leaning a bit too heavily into worshipping its own characters — to the extent that some patrons and players started worrying about whether we’d be getting any action with the girls at all , because with all that deification of Gracie and Luna, would Hopes ever allow himself to stoop to defiling their sanctified images with somebody’s dick up their butts? The game lore, too, started living its own life, bringing on new families, new antagonists, new code of honor, new drama, with each new quest containing less and less humor and more and more complexity and seriousness, until the scarcely dispensed jokes and puns began to take on an almost nostalgic flavor. Ironically, it was only at this point that the game started getting its first lewd scenes — but by this time, if I understand this right (I usually have no interest in following messageboard dramas), Hopes had gotten himself in messy fights with some of his former fanbase over the direction of the game, even becoming as riled up as to express his contempt for his critics right inside the game itself (the infamous Filius Canis scene), which is never a good thing, because this kind of artistic decision never succeeds in shaming the discontented, but often ends up pissing off the neutral or even the supportive ones (even I had to cut most of that scene out of my recorded playthrough, because it had nothing to do with the game and only stood out as a miserable, self-apologetic embarrassment). It feels as if, at some point, the game’s magic and logic simply got the better of him, and pushed him into the dangerous direction of making «the visual novel to end all visual novels» or something, taking on some subtle, unwritten epic pledge that no single person could ever hope to keep. There have been speculations that progress on the game slowed down and then completely stopped due to a variety of personal reasons (health, family, etc.), but to me it looked like a classic case of burn-out — the promise of the game simply became too much for the poor guy to handle, and left him buried waist-deep in the ruins. He was at least capable of rounding things up to formally complete «Season 1», leaving us with a symbolic cliffhanger — alleged execution of one of those game characters who took control of his own life, as if in an act of spiteful revenge (of course, it’s not technically an execution, but since, at present, there is absolutely no hope for Season 2 to ever appear on the horizon, might as well be an execution). But then he broke down for good — and I have a strong suspicion that, to a large extent, this was because he realized that, in order for this thing to proceed, it needs to get better , and he was unable to make it better. At this point, ambitions were outweighing talent, and he could not bring himself to defile his creation by drowning it in mediocrity... so he just choked it. It’s a sad, sad situation , as Elton John would say. At its still-relatively-lightweight best, The DeLuca Family offered a unique premise, a set of colorfully clichéd-but-idiosyncratic characters who felt alive, and unpredictable twists and detours that bounced between goofiness and tragedy in a rational manner. It never was much of a «game», but it gave you just enough agency to feel yourself included in that universe and set your own pace for its events to unfurl. Even when its humor went on the wane, its dialogs got way too long-winded, and its promised lewdness turned out not to be what it was hoped to be, I still kept following it to the end because, in a way, I felt myself to be under that contract — pledging to protect and woo the exquisite ladies of the house no matter what happened. But after «My Name Is Luna» came out, I instinctively knew that it was bound to crash, and crash it did. I still recommend everybody to download and play this game (maybe even pay for it on Steam if you got an extra buck to burn), honoring it the same way people honor, say, the first and last season of Firefly — it’s all about the journey, and then about thinking for the rest of your life of how that journey could have ended. Now, of course, there is still a minuscule chance of Hopes getting his second breath someday, or of him yielding the rights to some adoring and capable fan who’d be able to both understand his vision and expand it further. But do not hold your breath: the probability here barely rises above zero, and even if a miracle does occur, there is no guarantee whatsoever that after such a long break, things will truly pick up from where they ended with the same level of devotion and inspiration.

It has been a very long time since this game left a traumatic mark on me, one that, even now I can tell, still hasn’t fully revealed its mystery for me. Anyone who has played the game will probably guess what I mean exactly when I use the word “traumatic.” Of course I am referring to Luna’s childhood story part. I won't give away any spoilers below. The only reason I placed this behind a spoiler tag is because what follows is entirely personal. It contains no guidance, no useful information, and no real evaluation for those who are trying to decide whether the game is worth playing. For those who haven't played the game, only mentioning it by title without going into details doesn't count as a spoiler anyway. The game already warns that this Luna's chilhood section is not for the faint-hearted and that players can skip it. For purely selfish reasons, I just wanted this weird echo of mine to remain buried here among the reviews. Anyone who is not interested in reading can simply skip this part in spoiler tag. Spoiler: my goddamn personal drama In short, this particular part of the game triggered one of the strangest and most unsettling mental state I have ever experienced, one that I still cannot fully make sense of. On one hand it crushed the shit out of me and overwhelmed me so much that I had spent many years actively avoiding even thinking about that night. On the other, as someone who lives and breathes stories, I could not ignore the fact that experiences in life like this are so rare, staggering and strangely valuable gifts. I won't start here to sing “Hurt” by Johnny Cash obviously, but as someone who has always sought a way to find some pleasure in nightmares, hallucinations, and even some disasters, it was inevitable for me to give this drama the credit it deserves for the effect it had on me. By the way there must also be a completely separate discussion to be had about the mindset and intent behind embedding such a tragic story into an adult game in the first place. But this is another story. I just believe, from literary perspectives to psychological analysis, one could easily write powerful and thoughtful essays on that peculiar decision alone. To be clear, I am not particularly much sensitive, nor am I someone who gets sick to his stomach or emotionally overwhelmed with ease. I still do not fully understand why this story caught me so unguarded or why it pushed me into such a terrifying state of hysteria. Under normal circumstances, I should have reacted the way many people here do by just saying, “It made me cry, teared me up badly etc.” and then moved on. Saying only that, however, would have felt absurdly insufficient compared to the real distress I experienced. Reducing it to such a simple reaction would have meant ignoring a serious bug buried somewhere deep inside my own mental framework. The closest explanation I can offer is that I myself was exposed to severe violence and abuse during childhood, experiences that left lasting trauma. If there is anything I can call an advantage that came out of it, it would be my deep distrust of people and the hardened character I developed as a result. I have never been to a therapy, yet life seemed stable. Everything appeared to be working as usual. To get to the point, this happened back when I had just discovered this genre of games thanks to my brother’s recommendations. On most nights, after my wife and daughter had gone to sleep, I would spend an hour or two at my PC, browsing and trying out these games. On weekends, I could dedicate a bit more time. Since I value storytelling, narrative structure, and originality far more than visual quality, the number of games I can genuinely take seriously has always been small, and it likely always will be. The DeLuca Family quickly climbed up and secured a mid-to-upper spot on my favorites list. Even though I generally find sandbox-style games off-putting, its originality and storytelling won me over. I do not know whether Luna’s story would have the same impact on me if I read it today. To be honest, I am not sure I want to find out. What I do know is that witnessing how it reactivated scars I believed had long since dried up and turned to stone was not something I could take lightly. The fact that it drove me to silently cry on a dark balcony over and over, shaking with suppressed sobs, speaks for itself. The emotional state brought by heartbreak and rage lingered for several days, gradually fading and losing intensity. Although I managed to hide my crying spells from everyone around me, my bloodshot eyes and constantly running nose raised a few quiet suspicions. (I mean it) On the one hand, I was shocked that such a stupid! story, written by some rando developer, could dismantle me so completely. On the other hand, I was furious with myself for being affected so deeply by something I could consider trivial. One or two weeks later, the impact had faded significantly. The strange and unsettling mental state I had fallen into even began to feel slightly ridiculous in hindsight. Eventually, during a casual conversation about games, I found the courage to tell my brother about Luna’s tragic story. He had only heard the name of the game. I softened the whole thing as much as possible and presented it in the least embarrassing way I could manage. I downplayed it and mentioned only that it had affected me deeply and even made my eyes water a little. Naturally he wanted to see it. Sitting at my PC, I began to recount Luna’s story while quickly skipping through the visuals. Before long, in a way that made me want to sink into the floor from shame, I found myself at the verge of breaking down again but right in front of him this time. Tears started flowing, and my voice began to tremble and grow hoarse. He quickly realized that the real issue was not Luna’s story, but something within me. Looking uneasy and surprised, he averted his gaze. I was in no condition to insist on continuing anyway, so I closed the game and rushed to wash my face and that was the end of it. We never brought it up again. Now that years have passed, I can sense that this story must have struck me at my weakest point somehow. Everything about it feels both deeply surreal and brutally real at the same time. I can fucking walk away from the most gruesome scenes or any disasters in real life with a careless smile on my face, yet the hatred I feel toward those who inflicted this trauma on little poor Luna in a made-up story is something I still cannot fully confront or deal with. I wish we had at least had the chance to take revenge for Luna. That the game ended up abandoned is truly a shame. It would not be wrong to call it one of the cornerstones of its genre. With its bold and original approach to storytelling, its intriguing characters and its gripping narrative, it delivers a uniquely haunting and captivating experience. In an ideal world, I might have deducted a point because of its sandbox structure and called it a four-star game. However, giving anything less than five stars to a title that has become a full-fledged classic of the adult visual novel genre would be nothing short of absurd. Even though I don't recommend the game to the general audience here, I think it's a spectacular game.

To highly rated for what it is. There are some nice models and renders but overall it doesnt do anything special. The setting is the only unique thing about it. A few good animations at the end but you have to invest a lot of time for that. Could have become a good project but definitely needed way more work.

My current rating will bring the overall rating of 4.5 But i do consider this work much better than some unfinished slop is placed here and rated higher. This VN doesn't need sandbox or rpg or they should have been made more thorough. But due to them being there (recommended to play them by dev) i felt stupid to complete same missions to grind up $3k to progress the story...The problem is you feel like after ceremony of being made man you will get other quests......But no you get nothing and still have to complete missions for those $100-150. Not to mention completing quests gives you far more exp than you can have i.e. max level 5 whilst the amount of exp you are given is far more. It feels like if dev only concentrated on VN part it would have been completed much faster with more content and more interesting. (Since sandbox element missed a few timelines. Now for the story: I will be honest, i liked it. I actually had teary eyes for a few moments and that is something rare. While the concept was silly and too "liberal" yet i liked it for bringing depth in story and characters. On the cons of the story: As some people pointed out when you start you are introduced to many characters. And VN part mentions some contracts that you did but you actually didn't do them in sandbox-rpg element. My point is that it seems at some point dev likely dropped the RPG element of the game then the sandbox and finally decided to concentrate solely on VN, at least it seemed like that. Porn game element: It's tempting, a lot of building up and teasing but as for the action itself? Not much to say. I do not judge harshly if there was minimum porn element. I'm more a story connoisseur which tickled my interest. Overall: It's not a bad VN but a terrible RPG-Sandbox game. I liked the story (some critics below me were rather harsh). Characters and story while to some degree troupe like it still tickled my interest. (I have what to compare to) It's short, if looked only from the VN perspective but renders-animations were ok. Most importantly for me personally, i was emotionally invested in the story and it didn't feel artificial in sense that drama was natural. Many scriptwriters are lacking in that department. I dislike the mystery part but if it made drama natural let it be so. Much better than artificial drama that comes from nowhere or is being forced by utterly dumb choices MC makes.

Blue balls simulator A very ambitious game for sure, as you can choose between either a "just for the story" VN or a "full of minigames" sandbox approach. This isn't a common goal by any standard, so the developer deserves praise for that. While I'm aware many players disliked the start of the plot, calling it unrealistic. In an AVN should we expect much better? I don't think a game where you act (actively committing those crimes) as a hardened criminal involved in racketeering, drug trafficking and murdering would be a suitable background for a story of sexual nature, particularly when you intend to bang the 3 heiresses (one of which is married to the actual mob heir by the way) of the criminal family you work for. An almost cartoonish mafioso family, on the other hand, lands quite well. This way the story mostly gets the potentially good stuff: wine, gorgeous women, nice garments, lupanari (brothels) and unashamed sex. Yet, the dev decided to put too much violence in it. Violence isn't a problem by itself, but it slows down too much a narrative that is already slow to begin with And that's the real issue with the game: too many stories, but only a few would suit different players. So, this doesn't get a 5 because it doesn't get anywhere really. Let alone offer consistent adult content. There's only 4 scenes on the first two thirds of the game (a little further after the previous release ended). One of them (Elektra) is short and almost softcore, and two are only blowjobs, one of which is performed latex nun, something not suitable to everyone's taste. This is nothing really, as the game is considerably long. Therefore, this game should be barely classified as adult actually. Also, the the action (violence) scenes are out of the place, stalling the pace with "over the top" action, when the game just looked like it would reach somewhere regarding the love interests. Plotting schemes (scenes with conspiracy plans) are just outright boring. Only after 15+ (minimum really) hours into the game you finally get sex with a LI. However, by then, you'll be ultimately bored and already ceased to care entirely, as the quality of written material plummets after Luna recalls her childhood story. What a pity! This game could have been a good example of what other games of the genre should pursue. Still, it only stands out on how to ruin a game that started well.

As with almost most of the VNs here. The issues are consistent. 1 . The story is total bland (might be stimulating for brainless fellows as I see no f***nn reason to give it a five star. 2. As usual the mystery writer don't know how to bring mystery without breaking coherency. Their brains are not simply creative enough. The best story VNs are without a good visual and the good visuals are without a good story. That's the trend here. The guy( Akeraux ) under my review explained the issue perfectly so, I am not going there in detail. 3. This guy here is a complete milker. I mean he created good models but not enough content. It could be because he could not achieve mastery over erotic scenes but given his past incomes he could have easily outsourced animation bu no, need to gobble all the money.. Now if you are someone who is unable to catch on to the broken coherency, forced mystery and plot imbalance then this one is just for you. It is a great surface story no doubt. Now if you enjoy deep coherent story you are warned, this is not for you, I would have given 2 star because of the good model but I can't give the extra star as there was simply not enough content to deserve that. So. 1 star,,,,,

The game starts with a strange situation: the main character (MC) finds himself forced to "serve" a mafia family due to a contract he knows nothing about. Realistically, the first thing anyone would do is ask to read the contract—just to find out whether it actually exists. If it does, then the next questions would be: What are the terms? Who are the parties involved? How is the MC tied to it? And how exactly does this contract force him to serve a mafia family? All of those are perfectly reasonable questions. But the MC is a brainless idiot who just accepts the situation and moves on without even knowing what the hell he's doing there. Honestly, this is somewhat expected—it’s a kinetic novel, after all. There are no meaningful or actual choices, no ability for the player to influence the MC’s personality or experiences as the story unfolds. It’s clearly a kinetic novel, yet the developers refuse to acknowledge that fact. And I really can’t fathom the high ratings and all those five-star reviews given to this "kinetic novel." The two stars I’m giving are solely for the decent visuals.

Wow, I've got to say all I feel now is a little depressed. I know that this game is rough around the edges considering its age, and the story is a little silly, but it was still able to pull at my heartstrings all these years later. Something about the music and the atmosphere that this game builds is still better than almost all the other titles I've played since. The creator's soul shines through the script, this person was trying to create a story and a piece of art instead of a crude vehicle for porn (even though the scenes were still very good imo). As sad as it might sound to say, this one has always been in the back of my mind since it was released, and like a good movie or book I don't think I'll ever really forget about it. It's not everbody's cup of tea, but I still think everyone should try this one out. Very sad to see this abandoned. I'd happily fork over 40 bucks right now for another season's worth of content.

On my infinite hunger for new stories to assimilate consume, I found myself in front of this one "The DeLuca Family" which seems to be one of the top best reviewed...And I can't stop asking myself the same question one and once again: why... Story: 3 Almost-Hard Bananas out of 5 While it does a great work introducing us to its world and to our MC on the first minutes, this first impression fades away fairly quickly when you get introduced to a lot of characters that wont matter at all for the rest of the story. Perfect example is this blonde guy (I dont even remember his name) that seems to have some type of grudge against the MC and is presented on a way that seems like he will be a very present arch-nemesis on our story, but after his second appearence on scene, we wont see him again. Appart from how ridiculous is to have your mob army training in the front gardens of your mansion, the premise is good and very exploitable, but that's it sadly. Overall, the story seems like its too ambitious for its own good. Characters: 2 Resting Bananas out of 5 The femchars look good overall but like I said, things go south quickly... Important and big characters are introduced quickly like powerful figures on the game, but we actually never see them be actually powerful and dangerous, this is evident with Wilfred all along the story, he's respected by other characters for things he did in the past shown to us in flashbacks, but in the present, he seems to be outdone by the protagonist on some occasions, a veteran on the mafia outdone by a complete rookie on the scene...Makes me wonder how did he managed to stay alive that long on his work enviroment. And speaking of the MC: he's your usual Gary Stu: A highly intelligent and talented individual that will thrive on any situation and save the world all because the writter wanted to directly participate somehow on his own story. The girls...Isabel and Gracie look like sisters even when they are not, Luna is the embodied "dont stick it in crazy" meme but once you get to know her better you may want to get her on a psychiatric hospital but at least she gets some character development, so there is that. Eiza is introduced too late and is a carbon copy of Cordia, at least personality wise. But she's a redhead so everything's fine, best femchar ever (Non biased opinion btw) And finally Cordia, the Ice queen tea connoisseur...And that's it... Umm? What did you say?, that I'm forgetting about Antonio?...No my dear reader, Antonio is like a lamp on your living room, he's a piece of furniture only used sometimes, like when you want to read or you want to chat with your friends while looking at each other, you turn it on and you forget its existence until you need to turn it off. Mechanics: 1 Sleeping Banana out of 5 Grind Fest alert *Not gucci* There's a VN mode (which I ended up using for the remainder of the run after trying the full experience) and for me at least, its the way to go...Even when its rough on the edges: You have no notion of how much time passed betweeen transitions, some transitions can be too abrupt, like the MC going to sleep and pum, next scene you have Luna, on a completely different location, asking you if you are ready to go. Options are good when they are well implemented, but I dont get why some scenes are just adventure-text like...Considering this VN is developed on ren'py, this decision seems like a step backwards. To anyone willing to experience The Deluca Family, I highly suggest choosing VN Mode, otherwise, you wont feel rewarded enough for all the grind. Content: 1 Sleeping Banana out of 5 Considering we are speaking of a complete season here, there's simply NOT ENOUGH scenes. Your decisions won't matter in the end of the season. At first you may think this a slowburn, but in reality the whole season feels like a big tease of something bigger to come... This VN has been in development since 2018 at least, and all you have managed to deliver us is "a promise of something bigger" on all this time? Ending: *404* After all the grind (or not) all you'll get is an incongruous cliffhanger ending. Spoiler: Here's Why Considering how strong and well prepared The DeLuca's are (According to Wilfred) There's no way a powerful mob family like The DeLuca's could be attacked like that, in the broad daylight, in complete silence and with such firepower without their own army fighting back and alerting the family itself of the incoming danger so they can get to safety. But lets assume the DeLuca's army was eliminated SILENTLY to avoid alerting the Family, why would the enemy shoot from outside the mansion when all the defenders were eliminated already and when they could enter freely and take the family from up close? From the narrative standpoint, this makes no sense More than the end of a season, it feels like the end of a friday's evening chapter which will continue on monday with a Deus Ex Machina on which all the main chars are saved by a miracle. ...Why so much people recommends The DeLuca Family is beyond me: It has not enough Adult Content , if you play the Full Experience it becomes a Grind Fest with little reward, if you play the VN mode the read is not engaging, and any future season (a big "If there's any" goes here) will be sold separatedly as a DLC on steam. BUT, the premise is good and very exploitable, given the proper RPG elements are included on the narrative, the characters get Revisited and the unnecessary gameplay elements are eliminated, then we could get something really good here, but that would certainly require a complete Rework, which in this case could be something very good. But on this current state, The DeLuca Family is not recommended.

I enjoyed this game quite a lot. Is the story believable ? Ofcourse not, the story is not realistic at all, but that is not a problem for me, I was not playing for realistic story. But is it fun and interesting? For me it was very much fun and interesting. I think the characters also had enough depth in them too. Is there lot of sex? Not really, but again for me it was not a big problem, I was satsified with the amount of lewd scenes in this game. I liked the LI. Are the character designs good? I think the character designs were great. The game has some rediculous part, but again it was not a problem for me, I am not playing the game for super immersion and realism. I also sort of enjoyed the text based RPG system. The chemestry between some of the characters were great. Overall I really liked this game. Hopefully the abandoned tag does not mean it is totally abandoned and the dev will return to it.

(Review of Season 1) So, I played, or should I say, tried to play Season 1 to the end in VN mode. The story is interesting at first but it soon becomes evident that VN mode is too rough around the edges and plenty of stuff from the other modes is still there, like switching to text only mode all of a sudden. That wouldn't be too bad but after reading so much praise about the game I was expecting so much more. While the premise is interesting the experience gets more and more boring as certain scenes try to be fun but fail and instead become a nuisance. Simply put there's very little mafia-like behaviour here other than the odd render here and there, and I'm not exactly thinking about Luna's bedroom with weapons scattered all over the place. The daughters behave like spoiled brats, I can barely find a single character that plays the part and is believable. By the time I reached the "prison" with the girls I decided I had enough. Technically the game isn't bad, renders are fine if you don't care that some characters look like robots but the story IMO leaves much to be desired and that together with the idiotic or weird ways characters behave is a deal breaker for me.

This is an influential game in the adult VN genre, a pre-covid development that has stood the test of time. However, playing it now in 2024 is a bit rough. The models are pretty solid, the story is somewhat solid, what gets me is the dialogue and specifically, how Luna, Gracie, and the MC speak. Everyone else seems to have coherent dialogue, although Anthony also is problematic so let's just say the DeLuca siblings and the MC. They talk like they are characters in an anime, in real-world situations that make no sense. When you have grounded characters that make this world seem more like the Godfather and then all of a sudden Luna comes in guns blazing akimbo laughing like a demon, or how Gracie goes into "super smart" mode, it's weird. It throws the story off and takes away the seriousness of what's going on. In my opinion, this game could have been a top adult VN of all time, but the weird tonality shifts hold this game back. The relationship with Isabel is S-tier, but the other romances seem...off. I don't know how to describe it. I think the author could have gone all in on the seriousness or all in on the goofiness of it all, but instead, we have this blend that doesn't feel great. That being said, the reason this game didn't receive a lower score from me is the effort the author put in, and the consistency. You could argue that only having 1 season after 6 years is a low amount of content but I think they have achieved their vision for the game so far, it just isn't for me.

Played in VN mode Thank god for the VN mode , because after having played 3/4 of this game in Sandbox mode in the past, and after having completed the Season 1 in VN mode today, I can honestly say that the sandbox parts add absolutely nothing to the story and, even worse, they obstruct the natural flow of the story, definitely not recommended with a game such as The DeLuca Family imo. I truly enjoyed almost everything in this AVN except for the bratty attitude of the 2 main girls, they quickly get annoying, especially Gracie, aka the spoiled brat, who never takes NO for an answer. And, conveniently, the MC never says NO to any of them (no choice, their side stories are kinetic, the point system has no impact so far). The renders are very good (keep it mind it started in 2018) and particularly polished to fit the scenes and dialogues. There are a few good animations too as you progress the story, but don’t expect too much in this department. The slow-burn with each of the 2 main girls is totally justified and on spot. On your right you have Gracie, the pure and naive virgin sister with no social life and only books to learn about life and things ; and on your left you have Luna, the badass and blood-thirsty sister who only knows about violence and murders, her childhood trauma ( they can’t break me! ) not helping when it comes to romance. Then you have Isabel, the flirty married woman, someone you can’t fuck on day 1 either, her husband being the heir of the DeLuca family. The overall story is one of the best I’ve had the chance to read in a visual novel because the mafia plot involves many families, each with their own history, their own traditions/rules, and their own way of dealing with politics, conspiracies and provocations. And let’s not forget about some very humorous moments where I could not resist laughing out loud. The cocktail of humor, drama, mystery and horror is rather perfect. But be warned : Luna’s past would make an incredible horror movie, one that would be very hard to watch, so when given the choice, choose the short version if you are as emotionally sensitive as I am when it comes to children abuses. I can’t wait for the season 2 (even though the developer doesn’t seem to be active anymore), especially after the unexpected cliffhanger at the end of season 1! 4.5/5

That's such a weird game, i can't even say if it has potential or not, i couldn't even pay attention half of the time. I do know that what i read was pretty bland, bad paced and the characters don't feel alive at all. Only the uncle, kinda, somestimes, seems like a interesting person to interact.

A Thrilling Masterpiece of Deception and Strategy! This Mafia game is an absolute gem! From the moment I started playing, I was hooked by its immersive atmosphere and engaging gameplay. The tension builds as you try to outwit your opponents, whether you're a cunning Mafia member or a sharp-eyed townsperson. The character dynamics are superbly crafted, making every round feel fresh and unpredictable.

Everything seems just a little too forced. Not so much that I didn't keep playing it, but enough that I fast-forwarded through a chunk of it. The premise is interesting but it never quite delivers or feels natural. The protagonist is with a crime family, but they're all basically caring and mostly well adjusted. And there's a lot in the "this crime family isn't like all the other ones you may have heard about" vein. The dialog feels like it was written for a Japanese audience, with all the odd mannerisms that come with it. And the writing is not concise. Not painful, thankfully, but not concise either. And the conversation level feels early teen rather than adult. The characters are mostly fine, but Luna and Gracie are a bit too exaggerated to be believable.

Only play this if you love anime. I played the mode without the RPG elements, but with free-roams. Probably the most bizarre AVN I ever played. Pros: 1) Decent visuals with some interesting artistic choices. It's curious that the game utilizes sprites, something that is common in VNs but exceedingly rare in AVNs. 2) Specific character: Uncle Wilfred. I like this guy, he's the only character in the game who looks and acts like he really has something to do with the Mafia. Cons: 1) The setting is insane. It's modern, but has a character wielding a flail, sexy battle nuns, 17-year old ninja girls, the MC who is destined to be the ultimate fighter, Naruto style… It's all just too anime, but there is nothing heroic or pretty about Mafia. Mafia is when a thug crushes a businessman's fingers for not paying the protection fee, when a respected member is suddenly garroted to death for saying a single word wrong, about assassins (totally ordinary guys on the outside btw) who cease caring about human life and get dog-loyal to their masters… I was going in expecting The Godfather or Scarface , but what I got was a goddamn Sailor Moon ! It could be such a good drama about a young boy whose contract forced by his family's debts makes him murder innocent people, corrupting him into a heartless butcher, but instead he's the Chosen One… 2) In free roams, while the Main Quest is always there, the MC has to get side quests on his own. This leads to lots of extra wandering around the mansion checking on the girls. 3) The MC is generally decent (and well-designed), but placing hidden cameras in a Mafia mansion was beyond stupid. I was like, "You wanna get your liver ripped out, fool?!" 4) Next to no sex. 5) I'm not a fan of the LI selection, as being a careful guy who doesn't want to risk romancing a DeLuca isn't an option (it's especially crazy if the MC picks Isabel: that's basically a death sentence). Having a non-DeLuca MG further down the line could be neat. The overall very good production quality doesn't let me give this game 1 star, so 2 it is. This is a crazy game for anime lovers.

First, I did a VN route, so I didn't see the "Sand box" or the "gameplay." So this review will be based on that. Now the verdict: This game was really a pure joy to play. It was so refreshing to see those relationships with the LIs grow and flourish over time. Make no mistake about it, this is a slow burn game, but it is so well done that I didn't mind the pace at all. So if you are reading this, and considering playing the game, my advice to you is: STICK WITH IT! It will get super better after a time. As the game progresses, there was always something that caught my attention and kept me going. The writing is very good. I mean I catch myself sitting at work day dreaming about the events I've seen and creating theories about them - good. Art-wise, I wouldn't say this is not a top level art AVN. But it holds it's own well and it does seem to improve as time goes by. It has it's own unique artistic flavor in a way and it grows on you after a while. The music and background sound was appropriate and unintrusive. It did it's job in setting the mood right and complementing the story line. The choices I made mattered to the story, and I enjoy that in an AVN. It is done well and skillfully. I have not complaint in this department. Replayability is an interesting one here. The biggest question I had was to go for all the three girls or not, and the entire Isabella route has a couple of very important fork in it too, especially if you are with Gracie as well. In the end, I found myself with 2 saves at ending of Season 1. With Isa or without. Not much. All in all, I would highly recommend this game. Go for it! and please support the dev HopesGaming if you can. Without them, there won't be a game for us to talk about.

What an excellent game! Immersive AF. I played the VN version, and was thrilled. I love a good story, well written, nice animations, and dialogue that pops. Though there were a few times when I thought the banter began to overwhelm, it was worth it. At times -- hilarious! Gore, lore, hot girls with very distinct personalities, and an MC who's just unpredictable enough, with convictions and a confidence in his own values, to be believable and interesting -- and I buy that the women he comes across find him almost irresistible (which is a rare find in AVN World!) I really don't care HOW long the dev needs to bring us season 2 -- take as long as you like, there are other interesting VN's to keep me occupied... but this is really one of the best IMO. Bravo!!

I haven't played this in such a long ass time. Simply because there are no updates. I completely forgot about it, came back, and still no update. It's easily been over a year without new progress, besides relabeling to "season 1". Some games keep changing while maintaining a consistent level of quality, while others fall off a cliff, seemingly dragging it's feet. This game is doing the latter, which is a shame, because it was pretty good for what it was.