Monster Girl Dreams [Threshold]

  - Date Posted: 11/20/2022

  - Date Edited: 11/29/2022

          General Info:

Post Type: Review, Files ## Info, Saves ## Others' Info

Developer: [Individual] Threshold

Language: English 

Progress: In Work (Semi-Regular, Regular Status Reports)

Version: v24.4 (Alpha)

Type: 2D Gameplay ## Interactive Fiction, RPG (Battle-fuck), VN ## Romance, Happiness, Humour ## Fantasy & Otherworldly (Slightly)

Engine: Renpy

Style: 2D CGs (Animated Effects) ## 2D View 

Fetishes: Femdom, Vanilla, Maledom (very Slight) ## Male MC ## Human & Monster & Succubus & Misc. Girls ## Kinky (Slight), Foreplay, Sex ## BDSM (Slight), Multiple Partners, Pegging (very Slight), Reversal ## Lips & Pussy & Breasts & Ass & Thighs & Feet & Monstrous Fetish (depending on the Characters) ## Breath Play (Very Slight), Corruption (Slight, relative), Drain (Slight), Mind Control, Status Effects (Normal, Stances), Tentacles (Very Slight)

Links: Patreon | SubscribeStar | Twitter | Itch.io | Discord | Blog | F95 | ULMF

                  You know what I realised? I've played quite a lot of Battle-Fuck games myself in general, but somehowe, up until now, I've not even covered one on the blog. Weird. Also, I know I did say about playing some more Action-based games, but this one game I've been playing on-and-off for a long, looong time. And don't worry, I'm still preparing some other Action-based games in the background for some other time. Possibly.

                  This game though.... I like, quite a lot. It's essentially one of the most equal, and cool, blends of Interactive Fiction (with it being made in Renpy, a Visual Novel engine, and being heavily text-based) and RPG (with all the mechanics implemented extremely nicely into an Visual Novel engine). While RPGs have been made, and are still made at times, in Renpy even (you cannot stop human ingenuity), this game is pretty high up there in terms of gameplay quality and actual RPG-ness brought along.

                  But does this game hold up from all aspects just as much? Well, I'm here to argue something, might as well be that!

                  Review Contents (links to each part):

          - Full Review

          - Words to the Developer

          - The Files

          - Other's Files

                  Review TL;DR:

          All Scores:

================ Plot                        = 8.25

======== Story                     =  8

======== Characters           =  8.5

================ Gameplay              = 9.5

======== Mechanics            =  9.5

======== Complexity          =  9

======== Uniqueness          =  9.5

======== Replayability       =  10

================ Scenes                   = 9.12

======== Visual                   =  7.5

======== Written                =  10

======== Interactivity        =  9

======== Replayability       =  10

================ Development       = 8.25

======== Stability               =  7.5

======== Communication  =  9

================ Obtaining            = 10

======== Price                     =  10

======== Methods               =  10

================ FINAL SCORE  = 9.02

          QuickView

                  An excelent example of a game I thoroughly enjoyed for a long, long time (one of the games I keep up with a lot, and play through pretty often too). Heavily relying on its writing, and doing a damn good job with it, while having supporting visuals and vfx to compliment said writing, and detailed, deep, unique RPG mechanics. And it's completely free. Hope you already tried it (and kept playing through it), even before finishing to read this paragraph!

                  Full Review

 

                  Plot = 8.25

          Story = 8

                  Now, this being a very free-form, free-roam game, there is not a set Plot apart from the relevant plot beats you'll clear through the game (those being either one-time mandatory encounters or going through new areas, generally speaking). You're also a blank-slate type (rename-able) character, with few details specified (to be better able to project upon the character), so the main Story line is also a fairly general one. The setting of the story, the lore and the worldbuilding, the details you can choose to explore and find out on your own, those are the real bulk of the actual Story of the world. 

                  The setting of this story is your average Monsters vs Humans perpetual conflict, with some added specifics. The Monster girls (this includes women that got turned into Monster Girls) are led by the Demon Queen, and Humans get their heroes to represent the Goddess Venereae and defeat the Demon Queen, thus protecting the land of the humans (called Fertilia) and keep the monster girls on their own continent Lucidia. Currently, the cycle of Hero-defeats-Demon_Queen continues still, and all adventurers are taught, in the Adventum adventuring school, about this. Currently, another Demon Queen is making waves, and you're one of the adventurers travelling to the Lucidia continent to try and stop her / do general adventuring stuff. On the boat ride, you're "Chosen" by the Goddess herself (you're the blank-slate MC, after all), while she also remarks that you're top of your class. Immediately afterwards, you get your initial Customization menu, your RPG-style initial stats that you can modify at your leisure. I'll talk more about their general meaning in the Gameplay section, but keep in mind it is a Battle-Fuck RPG, so all the stats are Sex-themed instead. Now, of course, you could make your own individual build, maybe challenge yourself.... Or make your class proud of being their frontrunner! 

                  

 

Top of class, (near) bottom of school

                  Either way, dream fades out of your mind (this is what you get for not keeping a dream journal), get into the Starter Town of the continent, and get aquainted with the news (while being surprized by the Monster girls that live in the town as well; Don't worry, they're the civil ones, they don't bite. Unless you want them too). This is also when you're told of the Scam part of this Adventuring grift....

".... Dafuq? Where was that in the Fine print, you sleazy-ass sonuvab--"
- Average victim of Crypto-Scams - 

                  .... Not actually sure if they have proper Contracts in that world, or functional Legal system. Don't worry, they're not beginners at this Swindle, they have logical, legal backing to this sudden charge (also, Eros are the currency of the island, but you got that from context already).

Read: "Get fkd"

                  .... Alright, I might've spoken a bit too soon, the MC is not completely lobotomized, he can also voice his opinion (not too often, don't worry):

Welcome to the Real World, kid.

                  .... Now, to stop with the unnecessary Pic spam, you're then told you also cannot leave Lucidia until either you repay the debt, or defeat the Demon Queen. You're also told that the ships themselves can't really take you back from Lucidia, both because of the Contract, and also because of the aquatic monster girls attacking any ships leaving with men. Meaning that, in reality, your only choice to leave is to defeat the Demon Queen (and hope that calms the aquatic girls, or makes them respect you). Unless you're telling me they're in on the Gig, and take a cut of the profits from the adventurers that pay off their debt.... Nah just joking, there is actually a safer way to be sent back to the human land (might just be placeholder for now though).

                  Then the explanation for the Gameplay adaptation in-story commence. There is an island-wide enchantment over Lucidia, made by the Demon Queen, essentially making any Physical combat, almost any direct body harm, and really any effective standard fight, ineffective and not doable. Only way to fight on the island is through BATTLE-FUCK. Funny thing, how the Adventuring school spared only a course in preparing you for this type of combat, while also waisting most of the rest of time on basic adventuring stuff (that are not even a thing on this continent). You're also presented with the Key-Items that allow you to explore the gameplay dungeons and to respawn in the town after being sexed-out in your explorations. 

                  In proper RPG Demon-lord defeating fashion, you need to find 5 Sigils to get access to the Demon Queen herself, and of course those Sigils would be guarded by her commanders. And really, that's it for the general Main Story, aside, of course, from your own fights and dialogue with the main characters of your adventure, including the helper NPCs in the town (some more mysterious than others....), a reoccuring "rival" being a  red slime girl called Perpetua (heh, get it, 'cuz she'll be around quite a lot of time, "perpetuating" herself.... ye), and the notable boss-type enemies that you'll face. I'd rather not spoil too much here, better for you to get your own experience with them. Just keep playing like normal, you'll get through the story naturally. 

                  Keeping in mind the game is still in-development, the story itself is not over yet. Currently, by my rough estimates, we could be around a quarter into the story (and eventual full game). The version-ing of the game seems to be consistent then, having "v24" close to "v25", which would be a quarter of the 100. Then again, I might be wrong here, just speculatin'. Considering that, there are still quite a lot of interactions that are not fully finished. To that effect, your debt is currently irrelevant, and has no current impact over gameplay (this is not the type of game to force you into paying certain Rates over time. Thank god for that!). Even with the current, Vanilla (unmodded) game, and the latest dungeons, it's fairly easy to grind the Debt out, but it has no actual effect, unless you wish for a Non-ending of leaving the island (like a pussy). For now, I'm keeping the debt up, for when future content involving it is released, to test it fresh. 

                  A small bit of lore to quickly add here would be about Eros, the currency of this continent. Apparently, according to the town's resident Magic-expert girl, they are "crystallized erotic energy" born from the Battle-Fucks you engage into, as an adventurer on this island (a smoother way to explain why Combat gives you the Currency of this game, instead of having enemies look like walking Piggy Banks like in standard RPGs). Being magic-based, they can also combine easily, making the transport of larger sums easy (that's some extreme convenience for ya'). Finally, to explain why Hyper-Mega-Inflation did not take place yet, Eros also function as Energy and Food (for Monster Girls), so it's implied that the Eros are burned at an approximatively equal pace to the rate of adventurers getting the loot from Sex Battles. Sounds a bit fishy, but I'm not a proper graduate of any Financial course, so I'll take their words on this one.

Always trust Shine-White-Glass people. They
must know their stuff

                  Of course, I'll count for Story the Lore of the World, as well. It's clear Threshold has actual plans and some plot points to use for the characters and the story itself. Again, being a free-form game, you'll have to explore the details of said world, and read them, by yourself. Being a predominantely text-based game, there will be a lot of text to read. So there's also that. Still, feels pretty alright for a world, and has it's fun times. Would not say it's the most professional and huge worlds, but personally, I appreciate a bit more the human touch in Interactive Fiction games like this, or even the ones made by Fenoxo. Shows more of the developer's style instead of being a cold product.

          Characters = 8.5

                  To begin with, I'll reiterate that the MC is, as expected, a blank-slate male character, except for some small general instances (in which he'd react like how 99% of the human populus also would). Including the dealing with Perpetua, or generally getting aroused by all the beauties from around himself. By the way, one thing that's not commonly asked in Battle-Fuck or Monster Girls universes: what if the hero is Homosexual? Like, wouldn't he, at least, be a tad more resiliant to charms and temptations? Also, if he were, suppose, for the sake of the argument (insert other Ben Shapiro speech quirks), to be CASTRATED, what then? One of the weaker male points, completely removed. Why don't more heroes go for this 2 options? Well, I could understand those ideas being a bit radical, but in some universes, humanity is pushed to the brink.... Ehh, I digress.

                  As expected, the game makes heavy use of the characters around you and your adventure to both flesh out the world, provide multi-dimensional people, and also help pseudo-characterize yourself (by your own choices in relation to them). For a more concrete idea, submitting to certain characters would shape you to be a more submissive individual, at least in the methods employed by said possible mistresses. The other characters themselves are pretty fleshed out, mostly focusing on the named, individual, girls. At times, there could be a few events even for the generic mob-girls, too. Coupled with the fluff dialogue, in-combat scenes, loss scenes, optional dialogues, and even the story-involved events (for those that apply), there is plenty to know about each of the cute, hot, sexy girls you come across. And more than just their 3 sizes. Not opposed to knowing those too. Also having a lot of relevant characters (yes, even in the current game, even without mods) is pretty good, too.

Kawaii Overload!!

                  Gameplay = 9.5

          Mechanics = 9.5

                  I won't get into exhaustive detail on this section, considering that I did compile more info on this in the Info part of the Files. You can even read more into the game's wiki, if you're opposed to looking at my files (it's fine, don't worry....). There are a lot of in-depth mechanics, being a RPG game, even made in Renpy. For a quick overwhelming view of those:

Don't worry, this is pretty late into the game....Also you'll
get to understand each menu, trust me.

                  To start of with the Engine-specific functionalities. As per any Renpy game, it first has it's in-dialogue options (placed at the top of the screen, hover your mouse over there to show up), your average Auto/Skip/History (which is the Backlog)/Save/Load/ Preferences (general Options). You also have most of those in the Menu that you can open in-game, and most of the standard Renpy Hotkeys work as well (apart from Rollback&Rollforward, most likely disabled to not break some of the game's mechanics and events). Knowing that the "Combat Logs" are also done as normal dialogue, the History option becomes even more useful to review the general course of combat. The game also presents you with the option to make a lot of Saves, as the game has fairly big Save menu pages (12 Saves per page) and a long list of Pages (20 pages, this without the QuickSave page). Funny thing, this is more of a general Renpy thing, but the Save Menu pages aren't actually capped on the Right (Positive) side, meaning you can actually keep pressing the "Next Page" Arrow button even on page 20, to get to page 21, than 22 etc. Really, there is no actual limit to how many saves you can make for the game, although later saves (that go beyond the normal Save Menu pages) will be increasingly harder to access (as you'll always have to use the Arrow button to get to them). Still, cool general stuff to know. Especially if you're like me, and end up Saving before almost any individual Monster Girl, including the ones from Mods. 

                  But now, more to Gameplay. The Starter town of this island will also be your functional base of operations, since you'll return here after each dungeon-delving, here you can sleep, purchase items, equipment and new skills, and here you even get some specific quests and events. The main locations here are, first, the Inn, where you can Sleep (to pass time or days), work for the Inn's Bar&Brothel (you'd do this more for the H-scenes than the money, trust me), order something to eat (small passive temporary Perks given depending on the order, and can unlock new orders with the proper Monster drops), or interact with the important characters here (one of them also having new Skills you can purchase). The "interact with characters" part applies for all town locations. Other locations include: the Adventurers' Guild, where you can interact with 2 out of the main 4 Shop-having characters of this town; the Shopping District, where you get the girl of this town that also sells Consumables and Equipment, not just new Skills; and the Church, where you can clear some of the negative effects you got from past Combats, get some new holy-themed skills or perks, and where you'll be teleported in the case of losing any battle, but not before the enemy gets to have some fair fun with you. Finally, you get the option to leave the Town, and get on the World Map.

                  From said World Map you can select to Explore Dungeons, out of the already unlocked ones. They unlock linearly (so far), always needing to beat the last one to get to see (and be able to select) the next one. Dungeon Locations can have multiple secondary options aside from the normal Exploration, usually unlocked after finding certain characters or as part of some quests, and generally involving interacting with the Unique characters of that Dungeon more directly (without requiring finding them normally in the Exploration). Now, when first Exploring a Dungeon location, you have a set "setup" of encounters you'll face, including most of the possible encounter elements of that location, until getting to a standard Boss-type battle, and then finishing the dungeon. Afterwards, visiting said dungeon will give you the Dungeon Menu, in which you can actually customize what encounters should appear in your current Dungeon Run, although a Dungeon can still offer both the option of the normal Exploration and the option of Entering the Dungeon, like you did initially (this works if the dungeon has a set "Path" for it that can be revisited easily). Some Dungeon location might actually only have the option to Enter them, and follow the Event Path that it gives.

                  For the normal Exploration of a Dungeon, you can first choose the normal Monster encounters you'll get, then the Event encounters (can be mixed, but usually ccan lead to fights with more unique characters), and afterwards choose the actual Quest of your Dungeon Run (or choose none) out of the possible ones avaliable (and repeatable, usually). The few specific requirements for the selected Encounters are bound to their number, you have to select a Minimum of total encounters, and have a Maximum of encounters for each of the 2 categories (those limits are specific per dungeon, and generally exist to force you into not having only one type of encounter). The encounters you select for the Monster and Event encounters are then randomized in their order of getting them (with the chosen Quest being the last thing you'll get in the Dungeon Run). After every 3 Encounters, you get a Rest spot, in which you have the option to Return to Town (ending the Run early), Resting (healing a bit of your Arousal (HP), Energy (MP) and Spirit (Lives) ) by passing a Time unit as well, or simply continuing the Run without Resting. 

                  Finally, to actual the RPG-related Stats&Equipment. You get to see all of those information in the Character Menu, accessible from the in-game Menu. As stated before, your "Life" stats, the ones that can easily fluctuate, are your Arousal (the HP), Energy (the MP) and Spirit, which is your Lives. Your Arousal works inverted to the normal HP you'd have in an RPG, meaning that the enemy will try to raise that value towards its max, while you'll try to keep it low. When it hits the max (or even goes over said Max), it will be reset back to 0, you'll Cum, and your current Spirit will be decreased by one. Energy is what 90% of your Skills will use as cost, and it is also used to Forcefully Bypass Stat checks. Now to speed-run through your other Stats: first, you have 6 Main Stats, that different Skills can scale off of (there are at least a few Skills for each Stat scaling), that are relevant in the Stat checks and that also can influence other aspects, such as drops for Luck or Max Arousal for Power. There are also Secondary Stats that you can view and change, but those are more niche in their purpose. Afterwards, you have a list of your 7 Sensitivity areas, denoting either your body parts (for the first 4) or some general types of damage (for the last 3), and measured in percentages, indicating how much damage you'll take from attacks targeting or using those Sensitivities. Then, you have a list of your 8 Fetishes, shown in Levels (multiples of 5), and influencing how much damage you'll take from attacks pertaining to those fetishes, or even how hard is it to resist certain Stat checks or influence some Events. Finally, you have the Perks area. Perks in this game are long-term status effects, that are each unique from one another, and can either offer benefits or detriments to the player's Stats, Fetishes, Sensitivities or have some other unique effect. Perks can be gained from a plethora of interactions with many characters, from certain equipment and so forth. Most Perks can generally also be removed from the same source that managed to apply them to you, with some few exceptions (that also warn you ahead of time of the permanency of them). By contrast, other Perks are temporary, and expire by themselves in a given amount of Days. Upon level up, you get Stat points to allocate (to the Main Stats), but every few Levels, you also get more Sensitivity points (to lower your sensitivities) and access to new Perks to choose from (if you have the required Perks and Stats for them to be unlocked). There, stats done!

Example of Player Stats (late-game). 

                  The equipment setup you can have is, at one time, 3 Runes and one Accessory. Runes are usually more minor effects than the Accessories, but they can also stack most of the time. Key Items, well, exist. Consumables can be used, much like relevant (not enemy-targeting) skills, even outside of combat, or during combat (but using a Turn in the process). During a Dungeon Run, you cannot out-of-combat use Skills and Consumables when you're starting new Encounters, even if you're in the dialogue right before the Fight. The game does tell you when the Character Menu is avaliable to be used, which is almost always right after the combat and at Rests Spots.

                  The skills.... are many. There are a total of 10 Skill types, each with its own tab. Each skill type governs either a Body Part (with Sex representing the Pussy), a type of damage, or a miscellanoues possible effect (for Buffs and Afflictions tabs). All Skills need to be gained however, either by buying them from the NPCs in town that sell them or from certain unique events that can also give them. You also have a few options to sort the Skills from within a Skill tab, but sadly you cannot sort the Skill tabs themselves. 

                  Now, for in-combat. First, your side of things. Your Basic Attack is "Caress". You can use one of the plentiful of Skills you (will eventually) have, use one of your Consumable Items, Defend (that not only reduces taken damage, but also improves Evasion and Stat-checks on that turn; Can be used on consecutive turns to increase its effect up to 3 times), Run (you coward) (escaping from a Fight will continue to the next Encounters in line) or Other (for Wait, and the 2 types of Surrender). Considering that you can also have multiple enemies per combat, for single-target skills, you'll have to choose your target as well.

                  As for the enemy, they can do a simple attack, which can also apply debuffs to you, with some debuffs being pretty generic (poison here is called "Aphrodisiac", stat-downs etc.). They can also use a Temptation, which usually means giving you options, usually between Giving In to that Temptation or to Resist, and plenty of times, Resisting involving a Stat-check as well. Finally, the enemy can also put you into specific Stances. There is a sizable number of different possible stances most enemies can use, like: Make Out, Cowgirl, Face Sit, Blowjob, Titjob, Smother, Sex, Anal etc. Some enemies even have their own unique Stances. You can be placed into multiple Stances by the same enemy, or have multiple enemies each place you into their own Stance(s) (stances are shown per-enemy). The game does try to at least be realistic (some stances cannot be done by multiple enemies, like Sex or Anal, and some Stances cannot happen during others, like Blowjob during Make Out etc.) As for their effect, it enables the enemy to use generally stronger attacks or Temptations (if multiple enemies use similar stances, they could even use coordinated attacks on you). Also some of your Skills are disabled during some Stances (usually, again, to retain realism, such as not being able generally to use Kiss-type skills during the Face Sit stance), while some of your Skills can only be done during certain Stances (such as the majority of your higher-damage Kiss skills needing the Make Out stance). During Stances, your Run option is replaced by "Push Away", which is also what you'll use to escape Stances. Much like Run itself, it's not guaranteed to work, and it depends on your own Stats and the enemies', but using "Push Away" multiple turns increases its potency (and chance of escape). When using Push Away during multiple Stances, you'll get the option to choose which Stance to try to escape from, or to try to escape from All of them at the same time (with reduced efficiency, to be balanced). If multiple enemies have Stances on you, you'll have to target which enemy you're using Push Away on. Now, an enemy can also put you into Restraint, which is separate from Stances. Being in a Restraint disables almost all normally possible Skills, usage of Items, and the Run / Push Away option. The enemy can then use specific attacks for the Restraint, or even add some Stances as well. You can Struggle or Struggle Forcefully (the later using more Energy) to escape the Restraint, and its chance of escape (and increasing per each further turn used on) works much like Push Away works for Stances. For both Stances and Restraint, there exists a few Skills that can further aid in easier Escape from them (though their efficiency also is different and usually dependant on other factors).

The biggest amount of simultaneous enemies in one fight.
(Part of an Event Encounter)

                  To Finally explain Status-Checks as well. In certain Events, both in and out of Combat, you'll get a Status-Check for one or a few of your Main Stats. The Status Check works a bit like in DnD, in which you "Roll" for a chance to either Succeed the Status Check or Fail it, with the Success being influenced on how high the chose Stat(s) for the status check is(/are), or even by some other factors like unique equipment or perks. If you happen to Fail a check, you still get the option to Force-Bypass the check, by spending a given amount of Energy (varies between Status checks, not by how much you failed it by) to Succeed it instead. You can also choose to keep on failing it, if you don't want to use the Energy (or don't have enough of it). In plenty of situations, you get multiple choices right before the Stat-Check, with the choices also mentioning one of your main Stats, giving you the option to choose which of the Stats you'd want the Stat-check to be done on.

                  And for a final mechanic I totally did not just almost forget about, the Day&Time System. The Day is split into 6 time units, 3 Day units (Morning, Noon, Afternoon) and 3 Night units (Dusk, Evening, Midnight). The current Time unit is shown bottom-left at all times, with the Day units being yellow and the Night ones being purple. Some events can only be done during Night or only during Day, some Perks are dependant on the passage of time, but most imporantly, at Night, monsters get an unique Buff, making them slightly stronger, but also increasing the Exp&Ero drops. You could profit from this if you're strong enough, but keep in mind that Resting in the Rest spots will further pass 1 Unit of Time each time!

                  Extremely roughly speaking, those were the main mechanics of the game. There are quite a lot of unique situations to each of them, slightly straying from the norm, including losing more Spirit in certain attacks, or if being made to Cum during Sleep, or some rare enemies having multiple battle-phases (that generally work like consecutive separate fights). Still, even just generally knowing only this much, you're pretty much set to go!

                  The game even so far is a satisfying RPG in its mechanics, truly going above and beyond within the Renpy engine to make it possible. Although it could have more content, that's only if we don't take into consideration the in-development status of the game. For the current state, it's actually quite rich in gameplay, and I personally look forwards to just how much of a complete Battle-fuck RPG this game could become when fully-finished! Some of the mechanics have changed with newer updates, which can, at times, be a bit confusing, but so far, the changes have been for the best.

          Complexity = 9

                  On par with a serious RPG, and having a plethora of inner-workings within. Still, to get into the game, it's not impossible, and with the amount of choices offered in terms of your loadout, it's actually fairly easy of a game to breeze through with most individual preferences for playstyles, with only a few battles being harder to beat. Being an RPG, you can always grind further for even better stats and equipment to purchase everything, have all Skills, and be ready for any situation, in a relatively easy fashion. The game, essentially, is as complicated as you want it to be (and as easy as you're willing to make it).

          Uniqueness = 9.5

                  On one hand, it is a Battle-Fuck RPG, one of the more popular genres for Adult Games (well, for the RPG ones at least). On the other hand, rare it is to see an RPG in Renpy (well, half-decent towards good one), and being a Battle-Fuck RPG in Renpy makes it stand out from some of the other Battle-Fuck RPGs. It also has a lot of depth in its mechanics, to the tune of competing in complexity with genuine normal RPGs. It also has a veritable lot of unique aspects that I haven't really seen in this form in other games. Truly, harder to find a closely similar game to this.

          Replayability = 10

                  Being an RPG, the usual Completionist mindset can apply here too. There are a lot of Skills and Equipment to be gotten. You could even start hunting for the Perks avaliable, even if not all of them are beneficial. Being able to customize each Dungeon Run (within certain limits) also adds a lot to experiencing a variety within playing the game. The only thing that could make things too streamlined would be getting to the point of being too strong for almost all Dungeon Run encounters, but the game is still adding new areas to itself, so there will be more content to be seen (and played through) in the future. 

                  But there is one Extremely Strong argument to be made here, for why I'd give this a 12/10 (If I were to destroy my own system). Game has mods. Isn't it enough? Thresh went out of his way to make Modding quite doable, easy, and well-documented too. On the Wiki and in the game folder, there's plenty of Documentation on how to make your own mod. The Modding is easy enough that, even with light programming knowledge, you'd be able to understand its code. And just as well, there is a community for this game, and for its Modding, as well! Much like the game, the mods also are in constant activity&updating, so there is fresh content to be further consumed from this area, too!

                  Scenes = 9.12

          Visual = 7.5

                  The Visual part of the H-scenes is represented by the CGs of the characters you end up having fun sexy times with, and the vfx present in the game (and further added with each update). The artstyle of the game is consistent (trust me, this is something to be appreciated, especially in a bigger game that spans a long time to be developed), has a bit of an unique style to it, and generally looks fairly nice. There aren't a lot of separate CGs, but the ones that exist do a very nice job of enticing the player with each character's unique, appreciable, features. And the vfx work quite well already, in the places that they've been placed so far. Either way, not a huge amount to say here, the game is reliant more on text, like a true Renpy-built game, after all.

 

          Written = 10

                  Here, the Magnum Opus lies. If I were to personally describe a bit of the general feeling comunicated by the H-scenes themselves, through their writing, is usually Warmth and Cuteness. Though again, that's also how I feel about the overall style of this game's Adult side. The writing is fairly detailed, but does not linger too much on each stage of a given Scene. Generally-speaking, the writing is around the sweetspot of the size of content per each Scene, enough to be satisfying as an individual Scene, while not too long to become grating, and constantly keeping you into the H-scene, its progression and the sexiness of it. There is a kilometric (or, for Americans, a ~0.62Mile-ic) fuck ton of actual writing, Scenes, everything. So far, I know of only one character with a CG that does not get any H-scenes, in rest, everybody, from the NPCs, to the mook Monster Girls, to the unique encounters, to the Bosses, all of them get H-scenes, or Combat moves (those in themselves having a sizable amount of hot text describing them), or Loss Scenes, or a combination of the affordmentioned. It's sizable enough total content that you'll have a hard time getting through absolutely all of the possible Scenes, even if you specifically go hunting for them with a lot of Save-making. 

                  Again, the general writting style, both for the Story and the H-scenes, is generally medium-level in terms of complexity. Not shakespeare level, but certainly extremely good for its given level, and also easily accessible by most, even those with English as a secondary language (You'd tehnically count me here too, but alas, I hope I proved myself in the English-usage department quite well by this point). Overall, I enjoyed the H-Scenes of this game.

Personal favorite, you'll find out why....

          Interactibility = 9

                  For the Scenes outside combat (and including the Loss Scenes here), usually they follow the VN pattern of linear continuation until their end. However, much like a VN, some of them actually can split into some different continuations to them. A lot of them, regardless, have multiple variations depending on your interactions with the character in question. And all of this not considering the Combat itself, in which there's as much Interactivity as you'd expect for a normal fight. Being a Battle-Fuck RPG, essentially every move can be considered as a part of the overall H-Scene the fight is. Considering how this game heavily relies on the Text-side of the H-scenes for their formation, the Combat encompasses a big part of a normal H-scene, too. Considering this, to truly experience a lot of H-scenes, or even Varied ones, you could start fights with the various enemies, and consider each combat instance its own Scene. With enough knowledge of the enemy and its attack patterns, you'll also know how to beat it, or, even better, how to have fun with them even longer (pro tip: increase your Spirit as much as possible. You lovely degenerate). Sometimes, even beating enemies nets you some choices, for their own dedicated "Loss Scenes" (though at times it could be still a temptation trap, but who really cares right?)

I did mention there was mild Maledom at times....

          Replayability = 10

                  On the variety-side, it's, as said previously (and a lot of times already), extremely solid. There's an argument to be made for a lack of a Gallery-type option/place/way to view H-scenes, but it's also mostly because it is an RPG-game where the H-scenes are all over the place, some requiring specific character progressions. Still, if really needed, some Modding could make it a reality at some point! And yea, here too, the argument of Mods is the one to score the critical hit. I personally got (almost) all of the currently-working mods for the current version, and while the game initially loads a bit slower, it works fairly well from there on! And the amount of more content I got this way, is something else! It is good to keep in mind that the Mods can have different style (of art, of writing, of gameplay at times etc.), due to the Mod authors being their own individuals. Still, so far they've also done a great job at keeping the game fresh, even during the longer update cycles!

                  Development = 

          Stability = 7.5

                  Thres does give updates on the game progress at a steady rate. However, of the last few months, the updates weren't as often. Previously, it was around an update per month, but for the months of September and October, there wasn't a release made. From the looks of it, the next update is supposed to bring a lot more content at once, which could a a good part of the reason. And at that, the developer still keeps active on the socials, and gives updates on the game progress. In a sense, the game still remains free too, so there's no issue on not getting your money's worth. You might, at times, still need to be patient with the game's updates.

 

          Communication = 9

                  Really great general communication. You can likely reach the dev on any particular day, at least from the Discord. And the news communication is done on all the associated websites (that I've also linked at the top), so there's quite a lot of reach for the information too. 

 

                  Obtaining = 10

          Price = 10

                  Free as in Freedom (that we seldom get in this current society.... Let's enjoy the small things). Best price you can imagine. The game beats in quality and general content many other games that would charge even over $10, so having it free is something phenomenal!

          Methods = 10

                  You can obtain the game from almost all of the links that I've provided above for Threshold. Yes, all of those are official links, even the ones for the Forums (which is usually rare). Considering this widespread reach, it's extremely easy to get the game's current version without a worry. 

                  FINAL SCORE = 9.02

                  It is, in the end, an extremely good game to try out, and you can do so effortlessly considering it's completely free. It's still in active development, but is already fairly fleshed out, and with it having an active modding scene to itself, I'd say it's a must-get and must-try (and must-love really) if you like even just one or two of the fetishes this game addresses. Much less all of them, at that point, you have to go through the whole of the game!

                  Words to the Developer

                  Thres, so far you've done an amazing job with the game! The fact that you cared about its community, and helped the community be able to further contribute to the activity and the popularity of the game, making Modding so accessible, is something truly admirable. Keep up the good work, and you'll only prosper from here! 

                  Only thing I could say is to make sure you pace yourself, both to keep the risk of burnout at a minimum (since that's a real concern among indie creators), and to be able to put out updates at a steadier rate (while huge new updates are great, they run the risk of the hype-trap, which could reduce the satisfaction the public would get from the content released at that point). You probably also know to not feature-creep yourself into late updates; while the game is ripe to get so much side-content, it's generally good to have a steady development of the Main Story (and main content) of the game, to also have a more palpable gauge of the game's continued developmental progress. 
                  Apartr from that, just keep yourself healthy (physically, but moreso mentally) and, in the end, have fun with it, since you deserve to also be happy through this process! (hopefully you already are though)

              

                   Good thing I've made most of this in time, 'cuz it is quite a bit, especially in the Info part of it. 

                  Saves

                   Made progressive saves as I cleared the content of the game, generally a Save after each relevant step of the Adventure. Last save is the Full Save that has all of the possible Equipment and quite a few Consumables too. Might have a couple of Perks (a couple lot more), but it is workable with, and quite easily at that. And I did all of this Saves legit, no cheats (even though I also enabled the possibility for them). This is how much I ended up liking the game.

                  Info

                   The info, this time around, is split into 3 parts. There's the general info for the game (mostly compiled from the wiki). Then there's Enemy Info (both from the wiki and from my own observations in-game), and finally, Command Cheats Info, with info on how to enable the Console for the game (standard methods and information for all Renpy games), and some unique Commands for this game (generally, those are the actual variables used by the game; still useful to know them faster and directly).

<<<<======== Edit: 11/29/2022

                  ERDO (Enabling Renpy Developer Options)

                   Link to Utility: [Here]

                   I just made this one! Makes enabling the developer options extremely easy for anybody to do. It is also on the "General Tools" page (under the List of Content tab), but I'm also linking it here because, again, it's a Renpy game. You might get mileage out of this one.

Edit: 11/29/2022 ========>>>>

                  Other's Files

                 Wiki

                   Link to Main Page: [Here]

                   Link to Mods Page: [2nd Here]

                   The Wiki is fairly active, and has a lot of information on the game itself (although some info could be outdated on lesser-circulated pages). Most importantly, that's the main place Mods are displayed on. For lesser-known mods (or in-between updates for some of them), also check the Discord for the game (that I've linked at the beginning of this Review), in the channel for Mods (called "mod-posting", under the "mgd modding" category).

                  Another great game covered. In case you're wondering why I tend to usually cover games that I like.... Well, what type of games do you generally end up getting and playing for yourself? Still, don't worry, I've had my fair share of "failures", or small regrets, so those will also appear (at some point, maybe, possibly, who knows) around here in their own reviews. For the time being, we keep going!
                  Also, I did release twice this week (practically) to finally get back on schedule with the Weekly releases that I'm trying to shadow-keep (when possible). I might post, at some point, more times per week.... But I'd rather do that than not post for an entire week. Sucks to be a letdown, on both ends (for some people at least). Either way, again, WE KEEP GOING!

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