VN - Ren'Py - Completed - Life with Mary [v1.0.2 Final] [LikesBlondes]

TL;DR A perfect time waster, but not a memorable experience.

Gameplay:
The choices in this game are gamified. Until day 12, not having enough points with Mary through choices, will lead to a game over. This makes the game less about a story, than a puzzle about saying the right things to get the girl.
For a short game like this, this is fine. Considering the simple scope and concept of the game, I can't imagine it being anything but a kinetic AVN otherwise.
After day 12, choices mostly relate to the different scenes and endings the MC can end up in. As I understand it, there are three main endings, with variations based on your interactions during the second half of the game. After reaching the Mary Solo Ending I was satisfied. She's such a nice character that I didn't feel the need to explore other endings.

Adult:
The game features several sex scenes that are fairly intimate in nature. I've only played through Mary's path, so I can't say if other routes offer more rough sex or alternative kinks.
On Mary's path you'll get HJ, BJ, (virgin) vagina, anal and some light BDSM. Some of this content depends on the choices you make.



Visual:
I only noticed after completing the game, that it was released in 2019. Because of this, I don't think it's fair to critique its visuals too much. The game shows its age, but scenes, characters (poses, facial expressions, …) are done well for the capabilities of that time.

• There could've been more variation in facial expressions, specially during conversations, since they don't always fit with what's being said.
• There are a few minor bugs where wrong renders pop up during transitions, or a wrong render is shown.
• MC's facial expression don't change at all.

Novel:
The story of 'Life with Mary' is very much slice of life. People will go through their day, and mundane things happen. Because of the gamified conversation choices, the meat of the story is in the latter half of the game. It's here where the player will influence the ending.
I say 'story', but in reality, it's more like events following events. There's no real exploration of characters or motivations. That isn't to imply that it's entirely without merit. The way the [ex] tries to influence the MC and seeds doubt about Mary's sincerity/fickleness is a nice touch. I do wish the game played this up a bit more. A missed opportunity was with Mary's driving instructor. He could've flirted with Mary, and Mary could've been naively receptive to it, feeling flattered, and accidentally giving more credence to what [the ex] said.

Characters:
The MC is described as very capable and having Asperger's Syndrome. Because of this, he appears unemotional, and talks in short, to the point sentences. Mary, instead, uses more descriptive language.
After finishing the game, I'm not sure if the MC's AS diagnosis was an excuse by the devs for having to write less complex interactions. The MC will often behave and react unlike an AS-person would.
Examples:
During the sleepover with Simone, the MC will let Mary and Simone sleep in his bed, while he'll sleep in Mary's bed. This is a weird choice. AS is a form of autism, and they're usually not that easy-going.
The MC sometimes displays a great sense of humor, and picks up on little references and in-jokes. Other times, he'll be completely obvlivious.

Mike is a bit of a mixed bag. He's a cheater, but also overprotective of Mary. We don't see a lot of him, he'll disappear from the screen near the middle of the game. He'll never confront the MC about Mary.

Mary seems like a sweetheart. I can't blame Mike for being protective of her. She's absolutely gorgeous too.
My first impression holds up, Mary is sweet and caring. Due to the gameplay mechanic, however, the evolution of a relationship with her doesn't feel natural. The player is more concerned with solving the puzzle of picking the right conversation options, instead of being immersed in her story or personality.

Simone isn't my cup of tea, her remarks and oversharing don't give the impression she's a good friend. I doubt that she's just socially inept, so I have to assume she does it on purpose.
She's abrasive, and even insinuates that she'd like to have a sugar daddy (like Mary has).
This remark alone immediately made me lose interest in her. It doesn't help that she looks colossal compared to the fairly petite Mary either.

Here are some thoughts after completing the game:

-Story: Simple yet effective (interesting at times). It's good enough, but not engaging (at least for me).
-Writing: Well done (By the way I appreciate that there are no walls of useless texts).
-Characters: I liked them all, they were well written (I mean they are not the best I've ever seen, but not bad either)
-Renders: Very good renders, though, the MC's dick looks funny (like a meatpie xD, especially in the beginning)
-Music : No music/sound at all.
-Animations: Simple looping animations.

I get the feeling that the developer had some ideas he couldn't "developed" for some reason and rushed the ending. The game is, maybe, "too attached" to reality, It would've been nice to see more of Vanessa and, why not, Andi, but well this is "Life with Mary" after all ...I get that as well. So... I'd give it a 7/10.

Soooooooo bland.

The pros:

• The writing and the story are pleasant
• The main love interest is very likable and definitely wife material.
• The main character is okay, I guess.
• Neat build-up to the first time
• Pasta

The Cons:

• The render is nothing special
• The chicas are okay, not too hot but not too ugly. Mary makes it up with her wifey charm, but the rest is questionable
• Sex scenes are lackluster af
• Besides all the pros the rest is a snore fest, but the pleasant feeling it gets from it keeps me up at least
• Too much pasta and Mary's mother conjure up ramen out of her ass
• Ugly ass dresses, outfits, and swimsuits are somewhat easy on the eyes
• Where pregnant sex scenes???
• What the hell is that ending? Where is Mike's reaction to the news? Did the main character propose? Did they ever get married?

This game should just stick to being a Visual Novel rather than an Adult Visual novel cuz besides the mental and life factors, it is too boring to be one. And it is so goddamn long for something that doesn't need to be.

Nothing interesting and some just irritating and off-putting for this game.

Not interested in the bald friend guy and his love life.

Not interested in the "friend" that dumps off his kid.

The MC is pretty much a non-personality entity, even as an avatar. Too bland, emotionless.

Main love interest is - too hesitant. Eager but not eager. Also conveniently bisexual. I don't care for convenient bisexuals, makes for utilitarian/bland storytelling.

The visuals are nothing great. Animations are poor.

The MC and Main LI have one night - ONE night - where they're both sort of not in the mood for sex and then decide their sex life is going downhill and getting bland and do something to "spice up" their already bizarre sex life.

Can't recommend this one.

Lot of devs these days fall into the trap of taking their sex game too seriously and focusing on everything but the sex. Same happens here. Just a lack of forethought in the erotic scenes-scenario and kink wise- which looks like purely mechanical sex between a loveless married couple.

Other aspects of the game are done well with character dialogue especially a huge strength. The primary LIs and the player avatar interact well and have some depth to them. Lack of choices take this one more towards a kinetic novel category than a game.

More of a 2.5 than a 3,this one.

Generally, it's more of a visual novel than a game, although picking the correct choices does help progression.
The story is well written with interesting plot and lengthy character development. Artwork is top notch and well conceived.
Editing needs improvement (several typos, and she calls me Levin not my chosen name several times) which is why I deducted a star. I'd have given 4.7 if I had that option, but we can only give whole stars.
Overall, it takes a while to get going, but is still is better than most of the drivel out there and definitely worth a playthrough.

This game is a solid one. It has really good story and nice characters, which are enough attractive. Some renders are not one of the bests though. It is more like romance novel, which tries to be close to reality. I found it a bit boring though. The work with clothes and so on could be much better.

Medium length story with good content and nice renders.
Nice build up of the romance between Mary and MC, conversations feel natural and have some funny banter here and there.

However 1 less star as the ending felt rushed, it's like 2/3 of the game was paced normally and 1/3 was sprinting till the end.

But all in all I liked the game

Relatively short game, I would not define this as a porn game, it is more an adult game that has sex in it, but it tells a wholesome story and it does it very well. The models are good and the sex scenes are great, but even at the risk of sounding like a meme, you should play this for the story, it is good, wholesome and really great. Definitely recommend it.

Short summary this time:

+ believeable char. reactions, scenes, dialogs (for VN ofc)
+ Likeable characters with different and believable personalities
+ simple but nice plot, good writing
+ choises/results don't neglect logic
+ well made endings
+ no wall of useless texts,
+ good made slice of life, time skips are not annoying here
+ no walkthrough needed
+- nice enough renders, not bad animations mostly
+- too much tanned girls, blondes, visuals totally not my cup of tea
- no sound
- some small render/anim glitches
+- it seems story is cut in the middle, a bit rushed endings (but still smooth enough)

Surprisingly good game 'bout relationship with solid age difference, quite short but at least without tonns of fillers/wall of boring text. Sweet love story with quite believable characters and scenes (for VN)
This game is 4/5 for Me, but game avoids some usual cliche's so 5/5

Well written story and characters. Kind a short but still enjoyable. Having multiple ending is really good. This is one of the games that I really fought myself to choose which girl to continue with. Seeing the both girls' endings was really great.
Later in the game we get animations as well but don't expect much. Still it adds something to the game.
Simone character might be annoying for some players. It feels like some scenes would've been without her. But I liked her and in my first walkthrough I got the throuple ending. So her, being unavoidable in some scenes and situations did not affect me much.

I finally learned about VNs or porn games one day during the first lockdowns of the 2020s and this was one of the first games I got to play. I had liked it then and this was my first playthrough though I don't like surprises and play as much as with walkthrough mods I still love the interactions and dialogues. This was really a simple and shortish game and I love it. This is one of my favorite games along with Acting Lessons, Being a D, and many wonderful people doing many more excellent works. Also, something that didn't hurt was that it was a complete experience. I would definitely try Rebirth by the developer and I wish them many years of success and would definitely pay for these on steam as and when I am able to do so. Keep up the great work guys.

This game can best be described as a solid display of an older guy living with a college teen girl.
Characters and story telling are believable and well balanced for not being overly shallow nor overly complicated to follow. The male protagonist is your typical nerd douche with a boring life and who apparently cannot say more than simple one liners. This has been criticized by many but I treat it as a design choice for the plot as it contrasts to the lively teen girl character.
Perhaps by biggest downside here is that while the sex scenes are lewd, there are only few and animations could have been a lot more, especially not limited to just speeding up existing ones. But it is no secret that these are a lot of work.
So overall a solid game for anybody who is into this fantasy. If you are a futa/incest/tentacle orc with five dicks lover, then you should move on.

Life with Mary is - for the most part - a short (you can finish the VN in one afternoon) and sweet wholesome romance between the MC and the titular character of Mary who is the daughter of a lifelong friend.
The VN is a slow burn romance and it takes a while before things develop, don't expect things to escalate quickly. So if you like that Life with Mary is certainly worth checking out.
Life with Mary is also one of the rare completed VNs with a proper ending, even if the ending is a little bit rushed maybe, but it's a proper happily ever after (if you make the right choices).

There are some choices in the game, but most choices essentially boil down to this: gain enough points with Mary... or else it's game over. There are several checks in the first half of the game... and if you fail to accumulate enough points Mary will move out of the apartment, ending the game.

Only somewhat later in the game do you get a few more choices, mostly about whether or not you want to actually stay on the solo Mary path, or if you want to become a throuple with Mary's best friend. You can also cheat on Mary but that means game over (Mary is not ok with the MC fooling around of course).

The story is not spectacular, but it's ok, it does the job and there is not too much unneeded drama or things like magic, mind control, corruption, super evil husbands or any other silly side plots that distract from the main story.

On a technical level the VN is alright, there is no sound and music, so you need to play your own soundtrack if you want music. The renders are mostly ok, but here and there you can see a few errors (either a bug with the lighting or textures), it doesn't happen often though.

There are a few animations later in the game. They are at best "ok", but not really a highlight, they are pretty basic, but the VN is more about the story than the sex anyway, so it's ok. Just don't expect lots of sex (there is some of course).

What I did like was that the first time for Mary (she's a virgin, as usual) was not this stellar experience with multiple orgasms and gymnastics galore, but a bit awkward and less than perfect. This is actually refreshing to see for a change in a VN. Mary is also very awkward at first when it comes to oral sex. All the scenes are still very sweet of course, but Mary is shown to be very inexperienced and that only improves as the game progresses. So that's a nice touch and I liked that aspect of the game.

It was also refreshing to see that Mary's mother is absolutely not ok with the MC dating her daughter and is not even a possible romance option, she is at first appalled that an old(er) man dates her teenage daughter and it takes quite some time to convince her that the MC and Mary are serious about each other and that it's not just some fling.

The characters look alright, Mary is cute and has normal body proportions and since she's the main attraction that is what really matters. One might argue that her mother looks prettier even and looks more like Mary's sister than mother, but VNs rarely get somewhat older women right and they usually look far too young for their age, it's not too distracting though.
I didn't care at all for the look of Mary's best friend Simone, but every other female side character looks pretty - but don't expect any interactions with them. This is not a harem game. The MC is also looking pretty ok (you do see him in this VN).

Where Life with Mary disappoints is that Mary's best friend Simone is forced upon you. Even if you may want to spend more time alone with Mary the VN won't allow you to do that. Simone stays a LOT at your apartment, Simone also comes with you on a short trip to a cabin and you cannot do anything about it.
The problem is that Simone is the optional (but in my opinion entirely unneeded) threesome / throuple character for those who don't want to have a solo ending with Mary and thus the game has you interact with her again and again and again.
An option to ditch Simone almost entirely would have been better so that you only interact with her when you go out with Mary, but that you are alone with Mary in the apartment. And the trip to the cabin should have had an option to leave Simone behind. It's ok that Mary has Simone as a friend and that there are some interactions, but it's not ok that she almost becomes a part of the household for a time.
So depending on how much you like Simone she can be a bit distracting and even annoying.

Another major disappointment for me was that in the last third of the VN the sexual interactions between the MC and Mary are all about anal sex and nothing else. I cannot for the life of me understand why developers make these things mandatory and unavoidable. So Mary is yet another female character in a VN who only recently lost her virginity and shortly after is obsessed with anal sex and hell bent on trying it again... and again... and again.
And thus you get several scenes or so with just that and no way to choose otherwise.
Kinks should ALWAYS be optional. People who like these things can opt in, everyone else should have the opportunity to opt out, never make it the default though. Sure, it does increase development time and maybe you need a few more renders but the entire obsession about anal sex (too many VNs are guilty of that) felt completely out of place and out of character for Mary and it actually ruins the more intimate moments between Mary and the MC for me in the final third of the game which is extremely unfortunate.

So the completely unavoidable inclusion of Simone for long stretches of the game and forced kinks make Life with Mary less enjoyable than it could have been.

But if you can live with a forced side character (at least you can avoid any sex with her) and forced kinks in the last third Life with Mary is definitely worth checking out since the main plot about Mary is still pretty sweet and wholesome. It's a cute and romantic story about two people slowly falling in love. Just ignore the bad parts. And I recommend to go for the Mary solo route, nothing else really makes sense here.

The game is okay. It is a very slow burn but the problem is that the dialogues feel robotic and the MC has no personalities at all. I wanted to like this but the writing is not good enough for me to be invested

Absolutely incredible in every way - this is one of a tiny number of games that i'd find it almost impossible to imagine anyone not loving it. Both the character of the MC and Mary are both wonderfully fleshed out and realistic and I challenge anyone playing not to fall in love with her as you progress through the story - I actually found myself getting out of bed a little earlier than usual before work so I could get a littel "face time" with her . A+++++

Amazing romance adult visual novel (AVN) with good character development. I believe it is intended to be played as a love story but options exist for people who can't help themselves. Very good looking/high quality character models and a nice story. It is a bit of a slow-burn. Two thumbs up.

IMO the only negative worth noting is the choppy looping animations (I find them unrealistic/jarring and not arousing) which are common in AVNs that I've played.

spoiler:
The super sexy dance instructor...damn...It seems wasteful to make her so gorgeous and not get to see her in action but I can't list this as a negative.

Pros: Excellent renders, beautiful models, a well-written slow-burn story, and the rarest of all, an actually likable protagonist.

Cons: Seems to be a memory leak on the Linux build. By the time I stopped playing it was taking 10-15 seconds to register all interactions.

Otherwise, this was one of the best VNs I've ever played.

Overall good story and pretty good renders i enjoyed it but
with the ending on the Mary/Simone route at least it just seemed like the story kind of fizzled out it pretty much was they lived happily ever after the end it had no real context behind it. I know every story has its ending but this one just seemed really abrupt without much to it.

basically a game about living with Mary, a girl who is almost a perfect wife, I liked that. So she cooks, cleans, your her first love, likes cuddles, and wants to get married and have kids.
Great game that almost exclusively focuses on one girl, you can hook up with her friend but it is more of a side thing. Its kind of sad that most games just try throwing more girls in while just doing one well is all that's needed. I like harem games but I got to say that the usually more girls = shallower girls which is understandable since it takes time to get to know the LI, time that's distributed between all LIs.