Family Man is a first-person Role-Playing Game developed by British studio Broken Bear Games, published by No More Robots, and released in 2020 through Steam.
The protagonist, Joe Hawthorne, used to be involved in a lot of crimes, but things started to look up for him when he met his partner in a bar. They got married and had a child together, with life seemingly going well. But financial trouble starts to cause friction between them. Then Joe's best friend Bobby says he's gotten into contact with a guy named Delroy that will give them money — in exchange for performing a little task for him.
This leads to Joe losing his job and having no means of providing for his family anymore, as his partner is currently incapable of working due to injury. He gets called up to meet with Delroy, only to end up owned by the mob. Joe has to pay back his debt to them in daily increments.
The player decides if Joe will continue to be an upstanding citizen in Riverport or fall back into his life of crime to clear the debt faster. And then there is also Joe's family to take care of, as they will leave for good if they aren't happy.
Has absolutely no relation to Family Guy.
Family Man includes examples of the following tropes:
- Anyone Can Die: The player is allowed to kill numerous people, sometimes with only their fists. Other tasks involve killing others or standing by and letting it happen. The mob also gives out requests for Joe to act as a hitman.
- Bar Brawl: The game starts off as one, introducing the player to the fighting mechanics.
- The Bartender: At the beginning of the game, there's one named Gordon.
- Crapsaccharine World: Joe can turn Ridgeport into this if they do enough bad deeds. While the town will still be beautiful, its marred by criminals, graffiti, and possibly even dead town members. Doesn't help that several different town members are shady characters, if not downright evil.
- Family Man: Joe can be one if he spends enough time with his family. However, this can be difficult as his family's needs drop easily and want him home 90% of the time.
- Foreshadowing: The sheriff's questline makes the player deliver various food to the sheriff, through legal means or no. This makes more sense when you find out that he's the cannibal serial killer. He's obsessed with food!
- Good Old Fisticuffs: Usually when Joe fights anybody, it involves both parties using their fists. It's even featured in one of the opening scenes of the game and is one of the first gameplay mechanics the player will learn. However, one notable exception includes punching the mobster who collects your money. He will pull out a gun and shoot you, resulting in a Game Over.
- Grail in the Garbage: Most junk items you can sell are usually worth $1-$5 each but breaking down the trash cans in town and the flotsam at the beach can rarely spawn a gold watch or a bottle of rum respectively, both of which can sell for $100 or more each.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The player can name Joe's spouse and child. Not that it does anything, since Joe never addresses them by their actual names.
- Honest Axe: One of the Sherrif's quests involves getting some lemons from the lemon trees the pastor is in charge of. The pastor won't hand any lemons over, but asks Joe what he will do with this knowledge. If Joe answers that he'll just steal some of the lemons, anyway, the pastor is impressed over his honesty and gives him some.
- I'm a Humanitarian: There's been rumors of a cannibal killer around town, said by Joe's child and the sheriff. As it turns out, the sheriff was the one killing and eating all those people. In fact, the sheriff's entire questline involves the player delivering food to them, possibly through unscrupulous means.
- In-Series Nickname: Regardless of whatever the player names their child, they will always be referred to as "kid" or "kiddo". It's especially jarring considering this is their own parents calling them that.
- Ironic Hell: Each supporting character's questline you complete will have them sent to one of these with Delroy forcing Joe to punish them himself:
- Lawrence, the obsessive stalker is forced to relive all the moments the girl he loved rejected him for eternity.
- The Sherriff, a murdering cannibal is boiled alive in a pot of water.
- The greedy Mayor Thomas is given all the money he could ever want, by being literally drowned in cash.
- The lazy Kyle will never have to move a muscle again, because his hands and feet have been encased in cement.
- Star dedicated her whole life to social media and e-fame, only be forced to watch it all get destroyed in front of her.
- The prideful Burt's reputation is ruined and is trapped in a cell with cameras recording his pathetic status for all the public to watch with shame.
- Karma Meter: The gameplay features one, which is influenced by the player's actions. For example, killing wild animals around Ridgeport usually gives the player bad karma.
- Karmic Death: Some characters get this near the end of the game, carried out by God and Joe in "End of the Road".
- Killed Off for Real: Many characters can die, depending either on Joe's actions in quests or if he just wants to kill them off for the sake of it.
- Leet Lingo: Some of the graffiti in a bad karma town can feature messages with this.
- Love Makes You Evil: A man obsessed with a local actress seems to be this way, considering he's a total stalker.
- Multiple Endings: The game has a total of four endings.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: A possible option for the player to solve a love triangle between an obsessed man, an actress, and her boyfriend.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Joe's life is changed forever when he is forcefully hired by the mob.
- Out of Job, into the Plot: Joe ends up being fired from his office at the start of the game, allowing the player more free time to do other chores and activities that can make better money than an office job ever could, while also being more fun.
- Retired Outlaw: Joe no longer does crimes since he got married and has since snagged a nice office job to pay the bills. However, his best friend convinces him to do a few more schemes to get some extra money that Joe really needs. This ends up getting Joe fired and then stuck with the mob, setting off the premise of the game.
- Seven Deadly Sins: Each of the supporting characters you work for represents one.
- Lawrence - Lust: Obsesses over a girl he barely knows and feels entitled to have her, even if it means getting between her and her boyfriend.
- The Sheriff - Gluttony: The first few missions he assigns Joe are to fetch him special food items to satisfy his unique appetite. His quest ends with Joe finding out he's a cannibal and has murdered and eaten several innocent people.
- Mayor Thomas - Greed: Uses his power as mayor to prioritize monetary gain for himself at the expense of the town's residents. He's also very materialistic, living in the largest house in town and wants to cut in front of a long waitlist for an expensive car.
- Bruce - Wrath: Violence tends to be his go-to solution for any problem or obstacle he faces. Choosing to kill Bruce at the end of the game earns the achievement: "You are the Seventh", implying Joe and/or the player also possesses the sin of wrath.
- Kyle - Sloth: A lazy bum who never works and would rather leave Joe to do all his chores for him.
- Star - Envy: A social media influencer who's desire for fame and popularity leads her to trying to take down a more popular rival.
- Burt - Pride: A small name salesman with a massive ego who thinks very highly of himself and wants everyone in town to know it. Often talking down to Joe and tasking him to help erect gigantic monuments of himself.
- Stalker with a Crush: One questline has Joe possibly help out or snub a man named Lawrence who's obsessed with a woman who he's never met yet. His tasks often involve Joe helping him find out more information about the girl to woo her. However, he usually gets Joe to do the stalking for him.
- Stalker without a Crush: Joe can act as one to this one actress as he helps out a man who's obsessed with her.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Trying to punch Bruce, the mafia man who comes for your debt, will result in him casually pulling out a gun and shooting you dead instantly. You may think you're some kind of badass brawler, but a gun is a gun, and if only it was possible to punch your way out of being in debt to the mob...
- Sweetie Graffiti: There's some graffiti to be seen on one of the trees near the mayor's house. It belongs to Bobby, who carved out his name and his wife's into the tree. He said that she should find that tree if she ever doubted his love for her, which she does after Bobby goes missing.
- Title Drop:
- One of the first quests in the game is called "Family Man".
- Kyle calls you "the family man" when you first talk to him.
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Several.
- Doing numerous bad deeds will cause the town to decay, featuring ample graffiti on various buildings and criminals roaming the streets, albeit the effects are annoying at most.
- Spitting in the burgers or stealing money from the burger joint may result in an immediate fine if caught.
- Vote Early, Vote Often: The election can be influenced if the player decides to stuff either ballot box with votes.
- Welcome to Corneria: Joe's family is hit hardest with this trope, as they have less to say than any other NPC in the game. They start repeating dialogue very early on.
- World of Jerkass: Many citizens in and out of Ridgeport are very unempathetic characters, if not downright evil.
- Yandere: An odd, indirect variation of one. The banker who's obsessed with the actress will want her current boyfriend dead, or at the very least removed. But he won't do it himself, he'd rather have Joe do it for him.
