The original Her Heart’s Desire had some shortcomings. A fun experience, but ultimately a mixed bag. The new remaster is far better with more content, however can still be rough around the edges at times. The latter half is where it truly shines and becomes a harem after all.
STORY
Like in the original you are writer / landlord, Chad McBadass, who offers three women a part of his house. Slowly these women try to lead him onto a path of seduction. In this remaster, the girls develop far more balanced over time, having multiple intimate offers for you. However, the first day of the story still feels like it needs polish to match the quality of the latter part of the game. I do appreciate the ability to not give in to their seductive ways so easy.
For anyone still debating online, the women - Daisy, Rose and Lily - are supposed to be your daughters. They are sisters. Pick the custom title option and change Landlord with ‘dad’, Guest with ‘daughter’, Close Friend with ‘sister’, Hon with ‘princess’ and Friend with ‘daddy’. Without those, the story might not make sense having landlords spoiling new tenants. This is a family affair and has to be played that way.
Much of the original writing is cleaned and expanded. There’s more or less one overarching story of the girls exploring their lives. You are able to resist or follow them up. Resisting allows you occasional crass answers that bring a chuckle, although they aren’t truly functional. Taking the crass too far will set you on a bad ending, which still feels like the most interesting story development.
Don’t expect the story to win any awards, but it’s a fun ride that even manages to handle Chad’s writing career pretty well. It’s about 3/4 hrs of playtime, not counting replays and extra content videos. It’s a nice package and an interesting showcase of the growth of Big Chungus Productions.
PRESENTATION
The developer upgraded the lighting, giving the game a better look overall. Scenes are more elaborate and there are probably double the amount of scenes from the original, which help the experience. If a doll-like look isn't your taste, the main girls still might not be your thing. Within the look, the developer does far more in terms of outfits and intimate scenes. Yes, it’s more of the same - but it actually helps aesthetically expand the universe.
Animations and angels is something the developer has been focused on improving and it shows. While I wouldn’t say every animation is flowing perfectly, the amount of animations is really commendable. There are all kinds of new scenes and variations thereof that I won’t spoil, but are visually interesting. The game also seems to cover more kinks, ranging from simple taboo to light BDSM like spanking.
GAMEPLAY
With the new remake, the game expanded - also giving way to multiple endings, good and bad. The contested bad ending where the girls ‘team up’ against Chad is still there, but is now far less likely because the women are fleshed out in the main story. The game is now a choice-novel and you won’t be able to see everything in one playthrough, mainly because things happen simultaneously.
The remastered game also features a replay & bonus feature, which helps you keep scope of all the scenes and actually enhances the game. At any moment during the game, you can read up on a character, find hints and in case of the main girls, watch bonus galleries ranging from outfits to adult content.
OVERALL
After my
review of the original, I spoke with developer Big Chungus and he immediately announced wanting to do a remaster of his game. The result is simply a better game with more content and a better story. It won’t rock you world as a timeless VN classic, but it’s a fun silly story that doesn’t ask too much while it hands out much more that it ever did
Verdict: 7/10
Developer: Big Chungus Productions
OLD REVIEW:
Her Hearts Desire v1.08
In short - do you simply want to fap? Like doll faces? Then let's go, download it now. Are you looking for a coherent story with character progression? Nope, move on. It's by no means bad, but seldom manages to impress with what it tries to do. When it does, there's too little of it.
STORY
You’re a successful writer buying a new house in need of tenants. Put out an ad and three teen women come to live with you. They can’t pay you rent, but that’s okay. They are in need of help, so you help them. The girls like you when you suck up to them, so they all want to fuck you.
That is the literal synopsis of the 4-hour gameplay this game gave me. The game could have given you that and just presented sex scene after sex scene. Instead, it tries to mix oversharing segways with standard sex scenes. It’s not a good look for story lovers.
Basically, this plot is nonsensical. That’s okay if it was written with tongue-in-cheek mentality. But too often, this game goes into setting up long situations that could have been six pieces of text. First it’s a story game, then it’s a sex spree, trying to churn story in that doesn’t need to be there. It’s held back by it’s ambiguity.
There is little difference between the different women aside from appearance. Instead of doubling down on variety in appearance, the story attempts to give the girls ‘personality’ we don’t care about for choices that don’t matter. The developer is definitely trying, but putting energy into things that conflict each other. The game would have benefitted from either a deeper story or keeping things shallow and silly.
Aside from the three housewaifu’s there are a few other interests to pursue - personally I actually thought those were more fun, but only Elizabeth - your boss - stands out in personality. That said, she switches from dominant to submissive in a situation where she should be the dominant party - and that just goes to show the story isn’t taking itself seriously.
However, there is a second dialog path where you hold off all the girls and something interesting happens. That is EXACTLY when the story gets twisted because it says so much about these girls that isn’t explained in the regular storylines. Alas, it ends with no further explanation. Missed opportunity. In all honesty I think the dev can do better, but played safe.
A redeeming quality is also the most disturbing - suppose you believe the theory that Guest, Friend and Landlord mean other… family-oriented terms, the girls could be your offspring and well.. We’ll know what happens with Guest #1 in the end. I don’t think I should be talking about that possibility, but just know you can fantasize about it like a Close Friend.
If you like sex scenes after each other and little story in between, feel free to check this as you will love it. If story matters, you can find better options to play. You are not a landlord, you are a guinea pig preyed on by three teenagers who find out fucking their victim is more fun than abusing him.
PRESENTATION
If a doll's looks is your thing, this style is for you. The developer has upgraded a lot of shots, trying to give the women extra angles, shots and animations. All three primary women look about the same - hint - and there’s clear distinctions for the other women. That said, sometimes it does look a bit cartoony or old school. I didn’t mind, but since there’s an incoherent story, the graphics matter far more.
There might be different opinions on the faces. Many renders are above average, but some aren’t up to par. People might dislike it, I didn’t have much issue with it. I liked how most of the characters looked and while the animations are short, they often look above average to me. I don’t care much for animations, so I’m not the person to ask. One thing to know - each woman is a squirter in this story. I guess because it’s an easy visual way to show a woman has climaxed.
Now sound - it’s a big help to have the hint system be in sound. You hear a chime when you do something the girls wants and a ‘screech’ if you don’t do something they want. That helps. Usually I’ll turn the sound off when one of the girls starts moaning because it’s too repetitive to be enjoyable for me. The added bonuses of clicking heels, kitchen sounds and more is very welcome and helps the immersion
If you’re playing this to fap, you’re in for enough content. It’s one girl, two girls, all the girls, your boss, her assistant, shopkeepers.. enjoy. It’s not just harem, but foursome as well. More than enough scenes to shake a leg at, if you go looking for them.
GAMEPLAY
So there really isn’t much here - but I do like the little jokes the dev places with the dialog options. Aside from the obvious fart jokes, I often wanted to be not be available to my Guests sometimes. That never ended well, but at the very least it let me - so points for that.
Outfits on the girls were often hit, but sometimes miss. The sexier and dress-up ones work, but for the most part you’ll be either seeing the girls fully clothed or naked. Some of the girls had gorgeous details on that you rarely got to see. Missed opportunity, but when you’re looking for sex you’re not worried about details.
OVERALL
Her Heart’s Desire is truly a mixed bag. While offering more than a few characters as sex partners, the game’s narrative doesn’t help elevate those encounters. It tries to explain stuff we don’t care about enough and isn’t silly enough to be a funny sex game. There is some variety to be found in incidental sex partners - but not nearly enough to call this a diverse experience. It’s teenagers preying on you and they love it if you prey on them.
The occasional side story made this bearable enough for me - along with the bad ending and the family-oriented that got me thinking this game might be more sinister than I had originally thought it was going to be...
