Another Look At: Monster Girl Dreams

I blogged about this game last year, then forgot about it for a while.  It was while checking out some other H-games I remembered it and decided to take a look at how it has been developing.

Very promising, I'm delighted to say.

Monster Girl Dreams is an RPG battlefucker.  It's currently being developed by Threshold and you can find both the game and their Patreon here.

You play a hero that sails off to a land to fight the demon queen, only to find out when he gets there that the land is covered with an enchantment that prevents regular combat and 'fighting' is about fucking sexy monster girls and succubi into submission (or the other way around, if you just wanna have sexy fun times).

It's fairly light-hearted.  Even if you lose, the monster girls and succubi get to have fun with you for a little bit in a pseudo Bad End before you're yanked back to the church in town.

It's still mostly text-based, but what's changed since I last looked is that nearly all the characters have artwork now.  Even though it's just character sprites rather than CGI h-scenes, it does add a lot and they complement the writing well.

Currently the game is unfinished, but has plenty of content.  There are five locations to explore, plenty of side quests and sexy encounters galore.

"Your fetish for hot ninja succubi has intensified"

What makes it stand out to me is the battlefuck combat, and I think this is largely down to the stances system.  Similar to Monster Girl Quest, each of your succubi/monster girl opponents will try to wear down your resistance with a battery of pleasure attacks, but it expands on that with a variety of sex stances that either the player or succubus can lock their opponent into.  This then opens up further sexy moves while in that stance.  It's similar to Succubus Rhapsodia, but without the nuisance cursor-pressing mini-game.  As with Shrift, the most enjoyable 'fights' are those where the monster girl/succubus gradually gets more and more control over the player until they finally succumb to bliss.

Of the encounters, the ninja succubus Shizu is still a favourite.  She's supposedly a masochist, but that probably won't be apparent while she's busily fucking you into submission with a whole smorgasbord of erotic moves designed to drain both will and energy.  In her boss fight she creates two clones to triple the sexy fun.

Another one I really liked was the blue oni, Mizuko, which surprised me as oni are usually a meh monster girl for me.  She's all about hypnotising you with her gorgeous booty and I found that fight pretty sexy as she uses her ass and then anal sex to melt the player's will away.

Defeated by dat booty

Now onto the criticisms and suggestions.

One obvious area of improvement would be to add Bad End H-scene artwork and change the character sprites to give a visual representation of the various stances.  I also think this might be too resource-intensive to be practical.  Similar to Succubus Rhapsodia, there are fights with multiple succubi that usually end up with a variety of stance combos (face sit + sex, boob smother + paizuri, etc).  Representing all that visually would require commissioning a shit-ton of different art, so I wouldn't really expect it in this case.  The text descriptions plus character sprites are already fine.  Anything on top of that would be a bonus.

Other things I wouldn't mind seeing are various quality of life improvements to the interface.  Inventory management is a little fiddly at the moment.  Area exploration uses a 'string of beads' system in that the player travels through a series of encounters and events in sequence (fixed at first and the pre-selected by the player and randomised for subsequent runs after defeating the boss).  It would be nice to see this represented visually (something like Slay the Spire's map or even as simple as what some of the later Violated Hero games did).  Whether it would be practical to do these things I don't know.  I'm guessing the game is being developed on a visual novel creator (Ren'py?) and there are probably limitations as to what can be done with the engine.

Overall, seems pretty damn promising at the moment.  I look forward to catching up with the game again further down the line as more content is added.

(I also need to get off my ass and get my own game project, House of Hellish Harlots, moving again!)

Hentai Game Look: Monster Girl Dreams

I've definitely been off reservation, so to speak, if it's taken me this long to find out about this one:

This is Monster Girl Dreams.  It's a (mostly) text-based battlefucker with sexy succubi and monster girls.  It's still in development.  Some of the characters have art sprites, but for the later encounters you currently have to make do with text descriptions only.

I like it because it's very close to what I'd do if organised and focused enough to make a monster girl hentai game.  The combat is reminiscent of the original Monster Girl Quest, but with the restraint status expanded into a number of sex stances the player needs to struggle out of before their arousal hits max (or not, if you just want to enjoy yourself).

And those monster girls have a lot of sexy tricks.  My favourite is probably the succubus kunoichi encountered in the mountain stage.  She has a lot of different ways to erotically drain your energy and different Bad Ends depending on whether she depletes your final point of spirit (which she will) with her mouth, tits or pussy.  A fun encounter and well-written as well.

This optional alraune boss at the end of the first stage also has a lot of different moves and is rather enjoyable to fight lose to.

The game is fairly lighthearted in comparison to Monster Girl Quest.  You don't need to worry about some of the nastier Bad End consequences as the main character is equipped with a magic teleport stone to yoink them out of danger before the shrivelled-up mummy stage of succubus draining.

It's still very early in development, but I've liked what I've seen so far.  The free demo can be obtained from the developer's (Threshold?) Patreon and they update their progress on their blog here.

Fairly promising.  I look forward to seeing how this one progresses.

(I also need to pull my thumb out of my ass and get back to working on my own text-based hentai game stuff!)

A Brief Roundup on Recent Monster Girl Hentai Games

There's been a few interesting Succubus/Monster Girl hentai games released recently.  Normally I'd review each separately, but I'm trying to focus more on writing fiction at the moment.  Also, I've still yet to complete some of these, and I don't like writing reviews of games I haven't completed.  Maybe I'll come back with full reviews later, but for the moment here are my initial impressions.

Demon Angel Sakura vol.4

The animations are of course sumptuous.  However, this fourth instalment didn't really click for me.  The main appeal of this series has always been the various wacky and gross Bad Ends.  I think I might have got too accustomed to the craziness, and once the game loses that surprise factor the law of diminishing returns sets in.  The game is also not complete as they didn't finish it in time for their scheduled release date.  That means there is more content on the way.

If you're really into vore, the game is still a compulsory purchase.  As for me, I'll wait and give it a fuller look when the last remaining content is added.

Echidna Wars DX

This is a remake of D-Gate Camel's earlier action-Vore game.  When I first heard about it I wasn't sure if it was necessary.  Then I played the demo and got more excited.  The pixel art and animations are gorgeous and it plays well as an action-platformer in its own right.  Vore, again, is the main focus, but there are enough sexy monster girls to make up for the lizardmen, giant salamanders and other weirdness.

The Bee Queen boss fight is almost worth the price of the game on its own.  Stunning and hawt as hell.

(Note to self - write a Bee Queen story.)

Succubus Rhapsodia

I don't know if this is made by the same people that made Succubus Quest, or a group that was heavily inspired by that game.  Either way the artwork is gorgeous even if the monster girls are a little vanilla if you're used to games like Monster Girl Quest (This might be a positive for some people).

This is an RPG where you recruit succubi and other monster girls to fight alongside you in sex battles.  It's unusual for this genre in that there are no Bad End scenes.  The reason for this becomes apparent with translation.  The erotica comes from the range of sex moves each succubus has and the range of combinations would require more artwork than would be reasonable to expect from a low-budget indie H-game.

One thing I do recommend is picking up the partial English translation from over here.  Without it I don't think the game is playable unless you're proficient at reading Japanese.  Auto-translators can't keep up with all the sex-combat dialogue and I'd originally written this off as unplayable until I found the partial translation patch.

The game is pretty big for a H-RPG and I'm currently stuck in a forest section with changing exits, so I can't comment on the whole game.  I've liked what I've seen so far, even with the lack of actual sex scene artwork/animations.  There is a section of your "home base" where you can have "friendly" sex battles with succubus allies.  Standing on a bed and shouting "Come at me" to a trio of lusty succubi plays out exactly as you might expect. :)

Monmusu Quest #1 [Side Story: Succubus Illusion (Fantasy)]

Yet another spin-off based on torotoro resistance's awesome Monster Girl Quest.  Yet another disappointment, I guess.

It's hard to judge this against expectations.  On the one hand you get some awesome, hawt H-scenes of Luka being sexily taken advantage of by various succubi.  On the other hand, at fifteen minutes it's very short and barely even touches on whatever plot is running behind the scenes.  Luka and Alice are cleaning out some succubi, one of the elder succubus gods hinted at in the Paradox game intervenes with some kind of reality-warping magic and then it's mucho snu-snu for Luka.

What you get is a mass-orgy succu-draining scene, followed by a multi-succubus gang-bang on Luka, then a scene with Erubetie, and finally a scene with Alma Elma.  Erubetie behaves a little too vanilla for a slime queen (pink pussy?  I don't think that's right...) and the voice acting for Alma Elma is a little weird if you're used to the game, but not that out-of-keeping with her character.

I don't know enough about anime to know whether what we got is what you'd expect from a small studio or a shameless cash-grab on a popular IP.  Personally I think it's a little pricey for what you actually get.  Don't get your hopes up for this one.

Succubus Prison ~House of Lewd Demons~

Expectations were high on this based on the demo.  It delivers.  This has maybe the best succubus sex-draining scenes I've seen in any H-game.  The artwork is good and the limited animation is enough to give the scenes extra life.

As a game it's best described as a puzzle game with the interface of a typical JRPG.  You play a protagonist trapped in a house with three succubi.  The goal is to sneak around and find all the items needed to escape.  If the succubi catch you, lethal snu-snu ensues.

Unfortunately the game is a little buggy, with some events not triggering correctly.  There is also a problem with text-hookers.  I was able to play the initial version (1.00) with AGTH okay, but after they upgraded it to 1.01 I couldn't hook AGTH to it without the game crashing.  Other players have reported similar problems and I don't know whether this has been fixed.  On a more positive side, the game appears to have attracted a lot of attention from Western succubus fans, so there's a decent chance we might see a fan translation at some point.

Anyway, that's a round-up of the various H-games that have distracted me recently.  Time to get back to the mystery Barry Lyle novel.  I have my own hot succubus scenes to write... ;)

Hentai Game Look - In the Castle of Succubi

Text, text and yet more text.  That’s the short summary of In the Castle of Succubi.

Like its predecessor, House of Monster Girls, In the Castle of Succubi is less a game and more a visual novel with the occasional choice (usually along the lines of ‘Would you like this particular succubus to bonk your brains out?’).  Also like its predecessor, In the Castle of Succubi is aimed squarely at fans of big breasts.  All of the succubi are blessed with super-ginormous norks and there is an emphasis on paizuri (titwank) scenes.

The plot has you play an adventurer of some description that falls foul of a trap in the demons’ castle.  This puts you at the mercy of a succession of lovely succubi who are all very keen to take good care of you.  Their idea of care seems to involve wrapping their soft mammaries around your dick and rubbing up and down until all that inconvenient tension floods right out.

Much much much rubbing up and down.

There are six succubi in total.  The first part of the visual novel goes through each giving you paizuri in turn.  The second part has some choices and a wider range of sex acts.

Unfortunately, like its predecessor, In the Castle of Succubi has an ungodly amount of text.  This is definitely not shying away from the novel part of visual novel.  Be prepared to do a lot of clicking, and clicking, and clicking, to move to the next juicy big-boobed succubus pic.  In the end I lost patience with trying to follow the machine-translated text and resorted to clicking through like mad just to get to the next scene.  To me it seemed like there was about four times as many lines of description as there needed to be.  I appreciate this is probably an unfair criticism.  If you were to take one of my stories and bung it in a visual novel framework with a couple of naughty pics to illustrate it, I’m sure it would be just as frustrating for a non-English-speaking Japanese person to attempt to read.

No matter how well endowed you are, she's still going to smother it.

One for big boob lovers, although the amount of text to wade through is daunting.

Hentai Game Look - Succubus Nests

This is a Look rather than a Review because it’s for games I bought but didn’t get into for one reason or another.  This isn’t necessarily the game’s fault, which is why I don’t feel comfortable describing these as reviews for products I’ve only really skimmed the surface of.

Succubus Nests suckered me with the trial.  And the title.

Admittedly I probably suckered myself by making a hasty purchase without fully checking it out.  Either way it didn’t end up being the game I thought it would be.

The protagonists are three “magical” girls with specialities in gun, sword and magic cards respectively.  They’re trying to fight off the malign influence of a succubus and purify locations on an island.

When it comes to porn games my preference is for male player characters being sexually dominated by hot monster girls.  I’m also okay with the player character being female so long as the hot, sexy monster girls get plenty of opportunity to do their thang.  What doesn’t work for me is seeing hapless female player characters getting stripped and buggered by ugly male demons and non-anthro critters.

(As an aside, I should make it clear I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people making their porn games follow these lines.  Fantasy is fantasy.  Be extremely wary of the people that try to argue otherwise, even if the target of their ire is something you personally find distasteful.  Give them that and they’ll come back for something you enjoy.  Sadly, given recent news, opposing these censorious, holier-than-thou types is more important than ever.)

Back to Succubus Nests.  The gameplay involves selecting a one- or two-person party and sending them off to purify an area.  There’s a screen focused on each party member where you can observe them walking, fighting, or having sexy snu-snu done to them without their consent.  The girls handle the encounters fairly autonomously.  The only player input is to order them to escape or fire off their special attacks.  At the start the girls flatten their opponents without much problem.  As they progress deeper into the area being purified their stamina drops and they become more susceptible to their opponents’ attacks.  At first it’s restraint, but if you don’t yank them out of there it becomes molestation followed by full-blown rape until the hapless lasses end up catatonic.

My guess is there is a strategy to figure out for when to hit certain “nests” and which of the three girls to bring on the mission (they have strengths and weaknesses vs. different monsters).  I never played long enough to figure it out and I found the fact that most of the game runs autonomously a little annoying.

Bondage in the woods with your friendly neighbourhood spider-woman

The most common encounter in the trial version are Arachne spider women that try and bind up the player in silk.  This, the title and the presence of a succubus in the cut scene made me think this was going to be a girl vs monster girl game.  Sadly, this isn’t the case.  In the full game the only monster girls I saw were the arachne and a futa succubus.  The other encounters consisted of ugly male demons and non-anthro critters such as maggots, slimes, scorpions, electric jellyfish and even dogs.  Standard ryona (female characters having their clothes ripped off before being abused) fare in other words.

This mission did not go well.

With the little windows onto the action, Succubus Nests reminded me of Pretty Warrior May Cry – another game featuring unmentionable things done to pretty female warriors.  That game had interesting enough mechanics and enough OTT humour to hold my attention even if most of the sexual content wasn’t to my taste.  Succubus Nests fell short for me.

I can’t really say if it’s a good or a bad game, only that it didn’t appeal to me personally.

(As I said with Pretty Warrior May Cry - would really love to see a sexy monster girl version with similar animated sex scenes.)