General Info:
Developer: [Circle Group] Kokage no Izumi
Language: English
Progress: Complete (Finalized)
Series: [Series] (4) Demon Angel Sakura
Type: 2D Gameplay ## Side-Scroller ## Action, Adventure, Metroidvania (3rd and 4th game; Linear) ## Platformer ## Nonsense (Some possible implied messages) ## Otherworldly
Engine: Unity
Voices: Full Characters
Fetishes: Femdom, Vore (Oral & Anal & Unbirth & GTS (Giantess) & Absorption & Misc. (Stomach-mouth, Monstrous body parts) ## Male MC ## Human & Monster & Demon & Angel Girls ## Kinky, Foreplay, Sex ## Multiple Partners (Extremely Slight) ## Lips & Pussy & Breasts & Ass & Thighs & Monstrous Fetish, Smell & Taste Fetish ## Mind Control (Slight), Size Difference, Tentacles (Slight), Water Sports
One of the very first Adult games I've ever played, alongside Echidna Wars, Parasite in City, Anthophobia and Voredate. Essentially, one of my first exposures to this gaming space in general (indeed, I did start out mostly on Vore). When I first played this series, the 4th game was only halfway done! Now, however, if we're to come back to it, and properly review it too.... Let's just say, it could have been better in a few ways. Let's get to describing in which ways, now!
Review Contents (links to each part):
Review TL;DR:
All Scores:
================ Plot = 4.25
======== Story = 4.5
======== Characters = 4
================ Gameplay = 4.62
======== Mechanics = 5
======== Complexity = 5
======== Uniqueness = 4
======== Replayability = 4.5
================ Scenes = 7.25
======== Visual = 5.5
======== Written = 8.5
======== Interactivity = 6
======== Replayability = 9
================ Development = ----
================ Obtaining = 6.25
======== Price = 3.5
======== Methods = 9
================ FINAL SCORE = 5.59
QuickView
A game series focused heavily on Vore, with evolving Visuals (towards the latter games), a huge amount of Voiced dialogue lines (especially during H-scenes), and some gameplay to accompany the games. The prices are very high for the general products offered, so you'll want to really, really, make sure you want to make this purchase, when you do it (or hunt for high Sales and Coupons)
Full Review
Plot = 4.25
Story = 4.5
This is where things get a bit wacky. Hell, I made new Tags for the Blog just for this game (well, they might be useful in the future too, so it works out). Let's start with the Synopsis. The world of this game series is comprised of 2 separate Realms, Heaven (with Angels) and Hell (with Demons, which are most of the time Monster Girls). Those 2 worlds float in what's called "The World Ovary", and they are connected by a "Gate" (by magic essentially), however they rarely interact with one another because the separate elements that comprises each is toxic to one another, making it hard for denizens of one world to survive long in the other world. The MC of this game, the angel Sakura, is not only able to use Divine and Demonic arts (in his magic), but is also immune to Hell's element (for which he gets bullied by other dumb angels, except his nice friend Kazari, who defends him from the bullying). Because of this, the Queen of Heaven, Anastasia, sends him on a mission in Hell to recover the Forbidden Mirror, a treasure that she says it was stolen from Heaven. And so starts the Quadrilogy of games....
Before getting into spoilers, we can opine a bit on this world setting. First, the narration is rarely present, and most of the action of the story is dialogue-driven. Indeed, it's quite out there in how it's shown, the duality of the 2 worlds, having a lot of Monster Girls in Hell (and only Angels for the most part in Heaven), and, most importantly, having Sakura be the only man in both worlds. Will it ever be explained, how there are no other males? How do the beings of this 2 worlds reproduce? Spoilers: Nah, don't worry about it. Also, from the get go ("The World Ovary"), you can see some subtle connections towards Pregnancy. Such parallels will continue in the story, although they are not 100% perfect, or leading to this idea in the end. More like references to the idea of pregnancy than an actual alternative interpretation of the game. I'll go into it a bit more in the Spoilers section. Also, don't expect all the plot threads, or questions posed by the story, to be answered by the end of the series. Some will, clearly, but there are still quite a lot of plot-holes to be found. I will say, considering this Circle's newer titles, they got better in the Storytelling department, but as this series was done at the beginning of their career, the quality of the plot can be found as lacking, unless you don't ask yourself much of any questions and simply play for the quick ride.
I'll start with the actual beginning of the whole story, which you'll start to piece together by the 3rd game. Listen patiently, questions later. Anastasia was a denizen of Hell previously, up until 5000 years ago. She found Hell lackluster and boring, and she also heard of legends about the Realm of Heaven, and how much better it was. She then engaged in a ritual in which she would have Sex with a certain Seed, an individual who would hold the power of the 4 Elements (yes, the 4 classic ones, as usual), and most likely also be male, to be able to have sex with her (also not sure where that male would have been found, and really, never explained either). In doing so, she managed to make the Realm that would become Heaven, and she became the Queen of it, while never disclosing she was originally from Hell. Now, Hell is, in Anastasia's own worlds "Old and dying", also shown by when the Great Sundering, that happened 10 years ago, struck in Hell, blasting Heaven element and making victims among the Hell denizens. Because of this, she wishes to make a new Seed (Sakura enter stage left), then fuck said Seed and make a new world in Hell's place, as the ritual would assimilate the the other world into the world of the person fucking the Seed. That's why she went for the long-play plan of sending Sakura into Hell, not to recover the Forbidden Mirror, but to be affected by it and end up stuck in Hell, hoping that it would then lead to Sakura contracting with the 4 Elemental Spirits of Hell, and become the Seed that she'd then use for her final part of the plan. An extreme loose, frankly stupid, shot, but things more or less end up exactly as she planned regardless.
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| The closer she gets to her plan's finish, the more HD she gets |
Now as for Sakura, he originally also was a denizen of Hell, called Mira, and being the son of the Queen of Hell Camilla and the brother of Carla. However, with the Great Sundering that occured in the past, the Queen had to sacrifice herself to supress the damage caused by that catastrophe and save her family. Sakura still got lethaly injured, making Carla resort to use the Passport Gate, a Treasure that allows the direct transport of a being between the 2 Realms, but with a really long cooldown time (for a lot of years), and also potentially causing the being that's sent to be changed during transit. That's how Sakura coveniently lost his memories as Mira, became Sakura, also became able to survive in Heaven and be able to use Divine arts along the arts he was previously able to use, the Demonic ones. Kazari is the one that found him unconscious in Heaven after that transport.
Back into present, Sakura heads to Hell, gets through the Monster Girls in his way, and finds the Forbidden Mirror. However, upon attempting to take it away, the mirror activates, materializing a Dark Sakura, which would be Sakura's Demonic element and his inner self, now out of him (also a female, and resembling a young Carla, possibly because of unconscious memories). They fight a bit, and Sakura manages to beat her, but that makes Dark Sakura start to dissapear back into the mirror. Sakura decides to save her, and takes her away from the mirror, then "Forces a connection" with her (I swear I'm quoting the game there), which, in the end, rematerializes Dark Sakura (in a small, sprite-size form) using the Hell Element. However, because of this, Sakura becomes unable to use his Divine arts, or even use much Heaven Element in general, and also becomes unable to return to Heaven. Because of this, they end up returning to a Rabbit (girls) village they found, and saved, previously.
However, Kazari got fed up with waiting for Sakura, and stupidly went into Hell by herself to search for him. By miracle, she actually find him in the Rabbit village, but the Hell element already started to corrupt her, so he and Kuroha (Dark Sakura) have to subdue her. She was still getting weaker by the Hell element, and so, the village elder (or smart rabbit, however you wish to see it) tells them to take Kazari to where the Spirit of Wind resides, since they could heal her that way, considering Kazari uses Wind arts. If not for the plot, it would have been possibly just as valid for them to simply FedEx her back to Heaven, but I digress. They make their way to the spring, battle the wind Spirits (it's a pair), win, and get help for Kazari. The spirits do tell them that this is only a temporary fix for her, and at that, they come up with the idea of Sakura actually eating Kazari (in small candy form), to then rematerialize her with his own powers, and thus fix her problem with lasting in Hell. Problem solved (and as a byproduct, Sakura also gains control over the Wind element), but now, Sakura's Arts are becoming unstable, because of the disbalance of gaining Wind. To solve this, the Spirits advice Sakura to now go to the Earth Spirit, and gain the Earth arts too, to balance things out. Now, the 3 of them go to do just that, defeat the Earth Spirit (after the much-expected Trial Battle, which all Spirits just have to do), and then get told by the Earth Spirit about the Seed lore and how Sakura should continue gathering the Elements, to become the Seed properly (since the Spirit herself would wish for the rebirth of the world, but that fact she does not say). Also, he advices Sakura to stay away from the Devil of this world, and shows him her symbol. Sakura and Co. return to the Rabbit village, only to find it ravaged by the enemy they fended off last time. They save the village yet again, only to be blamed for the recent attacks on the village and be cast off by the Rabbit girls (except Cobona, the initial rabbit girl that showed him the village, and now felt bad for him being cast out). Thus, they now leave to gather the rest of elements, to become stronger.
Sakura proceeds to the Water Spirit, then beats her and also gains the Water art. In the meanwhile, the Devil caught up to him, and said Devil ended up being Carla, which obviously has no ill mean towards her own brother. She tells him about his past, and the fact that she wants to protect him from now on, instead of having him become the Seed. She also tells him that Anastasia must have lied to him to use him herself (they did have their doubts about Anastasia's initial mission already). Thus, they retreat to a hot springs village called Maya. However, that was not it, since Anastasia herself decided (without really a clear reason for it) to come to Hell and take Sakura already. Carla sensed this, and went to fight Anastasia, while telling Sakura to stay hidden. Of course, Sakura disregards this and goes to get the final element, Fire. She goes on, does that, and afterwards also goes on a passive treasure hunt for Super Orbs, to help him against Anastasia (pretty story-halting stuff, I know). In actuality, he's heading towards the Ice Palace, since he heard that his mother, Camilla, apparently was still alive. In reality, she was an impostor, claiming the title and wishing to grab Sakura for herself as the Seed that he was. Sakura calls her on her BS (for no real reason, since this guy, up until now, the very last game, has been naive to an actual fault) and defeats her, just as some shaking took place outside the palace.
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| Annoying plot-breaking McGuffin, check |
In the meanwhile, Carla already got beaten by Anastasia, and promptly eaten as well. Sakura then goes to confront Anastasia, and now, depending on how many Super Orbs (out of the total of 6) you found. Less than 6, and you cannot even fight the Final Boss, and you get beaten, then used, by Anastasia. At 6 Orbs, you get to have that sweet Final Boss Battle, as you also power up to a bigger size (though relative to the Boss, you're only a bit bigger than in most battles), and engage in a fight in a separate Bubble in between the 2 Realms. Fight goes well, and by the halfway point, Anastasia's body is taken over by "The Will of the past world" (you thought I was needlesly mean with that "Nonsense" tag....), possibly refeering to the world Anastasia had to sacrifice in the past to make Heaven. This Will tells Sakura that, because of their current fight, now both Realms are on the brink, and that Sakura now has to continue the ritual, using it to remake both Realms into a completely new one. That is, if he was able to win, as that Will was still willing to keep on fighting to make sure Sakura's strong enough for the task. Of course, Sakura wins, and the Will allows Carla to come out (not just as the mind, but the whole body also transforms into her), so that she can have sex with Sakura and birth the new world. I chose my words intentionately. The story actually ends here. I shit you not. We do get a different Title Screen after completing the game (this series does often alternate Title Pictures), showing most everybody (even Anastasia) enjoying a Sunny day, possibly showing the Remade World. I'd also have a small suspicion that the next games made by this Circle Group could be set into this remade the world (to at least gave a meaning to this game series, and not just end it without even seeing the reborn world), but I'll have to look into this other games' stories to see if that can be the case.
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| I'll give them props for ending the series in an unique, extremely open-ended, way (you don't even see the New World) |
You probably realized some of the further connections to the idea of Life Conception. The creation of the world needing a Seed, the final scene being the Sex scene that makes the whole new world.... But it does fall flat afterwards, considering that, in an actual pregnancy, none of the ovaries get fully consumed in the making of the child (which would've otherwise been represented by the new world). Consider it as a loose, very loose, idea, not really an alluded to message.
As for the plotholes, well, Swiss cheese is tasty. I'm just quickly gonna' list the relevant, huge, ones:
- The idea of the Realms and their creation, differing from the past (where it's not specified what world had to be consumed to make Heaven, or actually, what 2 other worlds had to be consumed, since the ritual assimilates a world into another to form a new one) to the present
- The convoluted plan of Anastasia to have Sakura get the Elements to become a proper Seed by indirectly causing him to strand himself in Hell, then be pushed by other external, unpredictable, circumstances into actually starting his quest for the elements
- The fact that Anastasia still went herself after Sakura at an arbitrary time (when she might have found Sakura with no elements, and clearly not cooperative after intentionately misleading him)
- The entire Bullshit-anium contained by how Sakura gets all his 3 partners by using his powers in ass-pull ways
- Apart from the 2 specific events that have cronological relative locations (Heaven's creation 5000 years ago, the Great Sundering in Hell 10 years ago), and vague mentions to time passing (Carla being older than from the past), there are actually not many mentions about time itself, and since no age of anybody is mentioned, there is little to no difference between "young" beings (like the Queens of hell areas, magicians in Hell etc., compared to Anastasia, who's >5000 years old)
- Men. Where are they. Why is Sakura the only male, and how is reproduction even possible (considering both the fact that there had to be a Seed in the past to make Heaven, and also at least another male to father Sakura and Carla, since they also have a mother (usually implying a father too) ). And, if there are other reproductive / perpetuation methods, what are does, since, the way it has been left, it sounds like all lives are "initialized" upon World Creation, and never have other beings created subsequently.
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| (sic) Skylla |
Those would be the major ones. You could try to explain a lot of them with head-cannon, mentioning the faint possibility of it being "implied by obscurity", but I'm fairly certain it's just not a really well-planned plot. I will say, it is not insultingly (mostly) so, I don't necessarily feel talked down to by the story or frustrated by sheer idiocy, it's just a simpler type of story, more focused on a quick adventure that can use the characters made by the Circle group, and the Vore scenes (and later on, even Vore-less H-scenes) of said characters.
Overall, while the game is not completely devoid of a story, it's evident that the plot does not try hard to stay extremely consistent. In a sense, it can be seen as beginner-level story-design, which is consistent with the fact that this was this Circle's first game series. They did improve in time, both in their storytelling, in the gameplay presented, and even in the quality of the artstyle and H-scenes. Still, we need to be aware where we currently stand with this game series.
Characters = 4
About on par with the story, not in a good way of course. Characters are generally pretty 1-dimensional, or less when possible. For most, you cannot find more than than just a trait or drive to fully describe them, even among the main cast. Even the MC is a basic mute, naive, good guy, and his friends aren't that much better in their complexity. Even the main antagonist of the game has only one drive through the whole series, and this to the detriment of her actual intelligence (since her plan also falls into the needlessly-elaborate category of the Bad-Guy-plans book). The characters present (most of the time) do serve their purpose for the plot, but nothing much beyond that (except if you take into consideration each Loss H-scene as a possible Bad End, and thus, fleshing out of the story, but I'd say that's a bit of a reach).
Gameplay = 4.62
Mechanics = 5
Let's start with the general information. An interesting aspect to this is how most of the mechanics carry between games quite faithfully, even unlocking new skills! (eg.: Skills you gain in the 3rd game will already be usable from the get-go in the 4th game). The first 2 games follow the structure of each having a number of Boss Battle levels (a Boss per level). In the latter 2 games of the series, the Circle Group dabbled into expanding the games' scope, which is generally a good idea for sequels of a series, and thus, they made those last 2 games linear pseudo-metroidvanias. This shift allowed them to add more basic enemies to the games (with smaller H-scenes), while reducing the number of actual Boss enemies, overall having more H-scene content, and more varied at that. The disadvantage to this is that, in actual gameplay, they weren't the best at making an enjoyable metroidvania experience in between the bosses (quite the contrary, it can get pretty grating, and even more frustrating when the actual main story requires finding Secret areas to continue).
For the mechanics that are valid in all games: Sakura's movement is a bit clunky, especially in the jumping department. Much like older (Castlevania-type) games, once you initiate a jump (when you're on the ground, and choose its direction and how high it will be by holding the jump button for different amounts of time), you cannot move as much mid-air, although this game series does allow for slight movement mid-air. Apart from his initial jump, he can also AirJump (by using his wings to jump mid-air multiple times). His AirJumps are small compared to his initial jump, and there is a counter for how many AirJumps he currently has left, above his head (which resets upon touching the ground). The first 2 games give him 5 AirJumps, while the latter 2 games reduce it to only 3. Sakura's method of attack is shooting projectiles (henceforth, I'll call them "Shots", for the sake of my notations), which he can either shoot directly (by pressing the Shoot button) or stock them up (by pressing the Stock button) to shoot them all at once. His Stock of Shots can have, at its maximum, 5 shots (in the first 3 games at least), and if you hit that max, his shots will start blinking and will all deal double damage (for that barrage). Thus, you get the best DPS by shooting Full Stocks, and it also helps with dodging enemy attacks (as you can load the stock during the dodging, and shoot when the enemy attack is over). One thing to note is that when he shoots with a Stock of shots, he'll also shoot one more shot directly (since you are pressing the Shoot button to shoot the stock, the same button that also shoots a shot on its own). Sakura's health is displayed top-left, as hearts (the smallest health denomination is Half a heart). When going under 3 Hearts in the first 2 games, or under 2 and a half Hearts in the latter 2 games, you lose your clothes, leaving you vulnerable to enemy's Grab attacks. Also, in all but the first game, you'll also have your Partner de-summoned upon losing your clothes (however, in the last 2 games, you can also gain health back, and regain your clothes and your Partner).
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| In-game HUD for AirJumps and Full Stock (first 2 games) |
Enemies can attack you normally, to deal damage, or they can use Grab attacks on you. Grab attacks simply deal damage to you while clothed, but when naked, they put you into a Hold, from which you have to struggle out by mashing Left&Right. If you run out of health in such a Hold (for enemies that have it), die by contact damage to an enemy that can only grab you this way, or get Grabbed by an enemy that insta-defeats you, you will also get a Loss H-scene (otherwise, you simply lose). In the 4th game, when an enemy does a Grab attack (and you're naked), they will briefly shoot out Heart particles to mark that fact. Boss enemies get a Health bar to the Right of the screen (normal enemies in the last 2 games don't get health bars). There are a few "Immortal" enemies (only in the latter 2 games), that you cannot defeat. Most of them are used for Utility (such as the Ass Fairies, that can launch you in predetermined directions), although some of them can be simple obstacles (such as the Obesity Fairy of the 3rd game, that can insta-defeat you). All of them can actually defeat you (even the Utility ones, usually if you stay too long into them, and let your Health run out). A bit annoying, the enemies that insta-defeat you, but, at least, they are sparse and generally predictable. All enemies have predictable, repeating, patterns of attacks (with common enemies having even fewer moves and attacks than the bosses), and the Bosses change their attack pattern (usually, just making each of their attacks stronger by adding more projectiles) at their 50% HP threshold. If you learn each enemy's patterns, you can beat all of them reasonably easy (even if it takes a couple of respawns each)
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| In-game HUD, mid-Hold |
Now, for the new mechanics added progressively in the series.... First, starting with the 2nd game, and moving onwards, you get to have Parners beside you (fairy-sized). They shoot alongside you, and when you load your Stock, they also also charge their own unique shot. You can switch between them (from the point you have at least 2, that is, the end of the 2nd game). You'll have 2 Partners (one with a Homing, weaker, shot; the other with a stronger shot, but with a set upwards arc) up until the 2nd quarter of the 4th game, in which you get your third Partner (that helps with faster transport, does not have their own shot (but has its own possible attack), and can only be summoned when on ground and not underwater). In the latter 2 games, to make up for the smaller AirJumps number (and to help with level traversal), you gain the ability to Wall Jump (sticking to a wall also resets the AirJumps, much like touching the ground). Another new ability you get from the start is the "Down Rocket" (my own name for it), usable only mid-air, in which you go dashing into the ground (at a very slight angle) head-first, dealing a small bit of damage to enemies and gaining brief invincibility window after the impact (to help move away from the attacked enemy). In those 2 last games you'll also progressively unlock new (elemental-themed) attacks, such as an Earth Rumble attack, a Water barrier and a Fireball! (For more details on each mechanic, see the "Info" text file in my Files for this game.
To elaborate briefly on the Metroidvania-ness of the last 2 games, first, you get water! (underwater movement). In the water,
(I'm not even mentioning the slower movement, that's a given for any self-respecting underwater segment of a Side-scroller) you can jump constantly, but all such jumps, in height, are the same as your Airjumps. You also can gain acceleration with each such Underwater jump, up until a certain limit, to further simulate your "swimming". Apart from that, moving platforms, gates, and rarely, splitting paths (only temporarily, they all merge into continuing the game regardless), all of this mechanics that are self-explanatory.... This games also add a few Status Effects that enemies can inflict on you, such as Slow (reduces movement speed and jump height), Charm (for the duration, you move automatically into the enemy that afflicted you with it, and cannot attack) and Poison (simply drains HP at a constant, slow, rate). To be proper metroidvanias, this games also add items, both consumables and key items, to the mix, and you also gain a Item menu to use the Consumables from. Items can be found, or even bought from the Shop (using Orbs as the currency), each game having one shop that stocks up more items with game progression (and, since you can re-visit each area in those 2 games, you can get back to those shops when needed). And yes, you even get Save/Load functions in those games, with the ability to Save being limited to Save spots (they look like Winged Pawns).
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| In-game Pause Menu & Item menu, respectively |
Also, as you can see even in the pic above, in this 2 games, after each boss, you get a Max HP up (the threshold to lose your clothes and partner remains the same, as shown by the white outline on the health bar). In the 4th game, you can even find (in Secret Areas, of course) upgrades to your maximum Shots per Full Stock (your shots gain double damage from 5 Shots Stocked upwards), as well as an upgrade to your Energy recharge speed. Which also brings up the mechanic introduced in the last game: the energy bar! It's a pink bar under the health bar, and all your attacks, abilities, and even your AirJumps, consume varying amounts of it (with your Toggle-type ability constantly draining it while On). When empty, it recharges faster until it fills back up, but cannot be used up until said complete refill (leaving you also without your much-needed AirJumps).
Now, to end it all off, and as I alluded to previously, this 2 games also add Secret areas (can't be Metroidvania-type otherwise, right?....). Most of those are False Walls, that you uncover by moving into them. They are quite often ( ~1 per each individual Area, with some Areas having multiple), and at times, can be annoying to find. As in, one might even require you use an attack capable of breaking a block that would further block your way through the False Wall....
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| 3rd game False Wall that needs to be broken in first (with Earh Rumble) What fucks me the most? It hides a key needed to progress the actual game.... |
As you can see in the above picture, the game likes to fuck you up with Secrets. The worst part, is that, in both of this 2 latter games, you have certain points in the story you cannot progress without collecting certain key items, which are all hidden in Secret Areas, forcing you to find them yourself (the shops do provide each with a Bell item that can be used indefinitely, and using it in an Area with a False Wall not found will prompt you (through a ring) that there are still secrets left in said Area). To the defense of the 3rd game, it, at least, tells you about said Areas for the key items in the Web Manual of the game, in the Hints section (you can also access that Manual from the game). Don't worry about the Spoiler warning there, you literally are only told Gameplay-specific info, and much needed ones at that. However, for the 4th game.... Nada. And you cannot get the True ending of that game if you don't collect all 6 Super Orbs (told you I hate them, in the Spoilers section) before going to face the Final Boss (in fact, you cannot fight said Final Boss without all of them). Don't worry, in the Info Files that I provide down bellow, I actually wrote the locations of the Super Orbs for you. I also wrote the Secrets for the 3rd game, writing them a bit clearer than the Engrish used in the Web Manual for that game.
The gameplay was.... bearable, and was slightly challenging, a bit even enjoyable, during the Boss Fights. However, their attempt at Metroidvania was fairly poor, infuriating at worst (with those fucking damned Secrets), and that heavily detracts from the gameplay enjoyment of the latter 2 games, which you might only replay from the Save Checkpoints before boss fights, since the rest is not that enjoyable by comparison. It is a shame, since the enemy designs for the common enemies are quite cool to see, and provide more life to this weird world (instead of only fighting Big Baddies, and wondering where the other denizens of Hell are). In my humble advice, I would've suggested going instead for a more Action-oriented gameplay to this Side-scroller, much like Echidna Wars, by limiting the Items presence, and fully embracing the Linearity of the game (instead of trying for a genre requiring more Mechanical complexity, and balance for said mechanics).
The 4th game also looks like it abruptly wanted to rush straight to the end, with the Ice palace only having one common enemy and 1 Area for said enemy to shine. There might have been some situations for the Circle Group during the making of the latter part of the 4th game (which was initially released half-way done, before being fully finished and updated as such), but I'm not personally aware of their behind-the-scenes struggles.
Complexity = 5
Not that hard of a game series. You also have the ability to change the Difficulty in the Options menu. As for the general complexity of the games themselves.... Not much there either, gameplay-wise. They are fairly transparent to understand (as reflected by me writing the Gameplay Info for all 4 games in one Text File, and a arguably brief one at that). Could have been better. And no, I don't count BS Secrets story-gating the games as fair difficulty, I call them annoying instead (as that's what they are).
Uniqueness = 4
It did built its mechanics relatively on its own, and followed said gameplay elements through the whole series. However, it is both done in the ever-used Unity Engine (and it does show it a bit), is using game genres oftenly used by such games (Action-platformer, Metroidvania), and usually, in better ways than this game. I'll be frank, even while you might find some novelty in some of the mechanics, you'll most likely end up wishing said cooler mechanics (such as charging the Stock of Shots) would be employed in other games instead.
Replayability = 4.5
The means are there. All levels, in all games (in the latter 2 games, the "Levels" are the game Stages instead) are replayable. However, the game is clearly Linear, and sparse in any other content worth replaying for. A one-and-done deal, essentially. I do appreciate, at least, that the last 2 games' Galleries do include the Enemy Battles, as well as seeing their H-Scenes, to please my need to encounter said H-scenes in a more gameplay-oriented environment (a.k.a. See my stats actually by normally affected by the enemies, instead of just seeing the H-scenes without gameplay attached to them).
Scenes = 7.25
Visual = 5.5
We're getting to the strong point of the game.... Right? Eh. Servicable, at least. Let's start with the positives. The game series is strong on having Animated H-scenes, with the X-ray sections (expectable of a Vore game) and the heavy focus on Vore. The enemies can get a lot of different ways to tease Sakura before eating him, but, in the end, that's his final faith.... Mostly. With a few Boss exceptions, and most of the common enemies, all of which would actually keep on having Sex / sexual acts with Sakura instead of eating him. The animations are.... decent. Further improving in the later games, though they don't have a lot of FPS to them.
The downside? The artstyle consistency. The series did start out with a fairly crude style, more focused on the H-scenes themselves than the detail of each individual picture used. It did evolve into quite high-quality Pictures.... but not really gradually. Indeed, you can see, within the same game, multiple different artstyles, greatly differing from one another, to an actual jarring degree.
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| I assure you, their in-fight animations are, for each, on par with their menu pics. |
The most damning example is with Anastasia. I did show it in the Spoiler section, but she did start out within the Cruder artstyle. Since she only re-entered relevant plot from the 3rd game onwards, she then got the better artstyle that started to be in-use from the 3rd game. The change is actually very noticable, and the only good thing about it is that she got no H-scenes in the first 2 games, to further cement her cruder arstyle's initial existance.
By my own aproximations, there are about 3 general arstyles, considering them in order of their quality. The Crude arstyle, used in the initial part of the series, the better arstyle, that reflects the evolution fron the Crude arstyle, whilst still maintaining most propertions and key parts of the style, and, lastly, UltraHD arstyle, which almost looks out of place within the games, comparing that style with the rest of the surrounding game. By this, I don't mean to shun the idea of improving one's style with the passing of time, I'm only suggesting that change to be done, in practice (within the released products), more gradually, especially if one plans to change the artstyle of an already-established character. There is also the possibility of multiple artists being present within the Circle Group, which is normally quite fine, though it depends on just how much difference can you spot between their styles, and how much it can take you out of the game experience (one can get used to even lower quality within a game's visuals, but it does feel like a gut-punch to suddenly be flashed a 4k resolution scene within said game).
The Scenes themselves are, still, quite creative, within the Vore genre. They even use some Misc-type Vore (such as Mouth-on-belly, or Disolving via externally-applied Juices). Since the game series started out extremely focused on Vore (and got more varied in time, branching out into general fetishes too), they had to find ways to vary the H-scenes, to make them individual from one another. They certainly accomplished that, considering said circumstances.
Written = 8.5
Once again, the H-scenes are driven by Dialogue, generally that being the dialogue of the Predators. Pretty simplistic and to the subject, without much details, but fairly in-tone with the characters themselves. The best part about this is the sheer amount of Voiced Lines in this game series. Were it not for the latter addition of common enemies, almost every character in this series would have been fully-voiced. You even get Sakura's voiced sound effects (since he is mute, but he can still moan and cry in pain or exertion). That is one of the actual Strong Points of the game, the seiyuu employed here working overtime to make the H-scenes be extremely enjoyable, and rise this game's overall score!
Interactibility = 6
You have the Hold-struggle mechanic, and the fact that you gain most H-scenes as Loss-Scenes in-game. That 'be about it.
Replayability = 9
Extremely extensive Galleries, only improving with each game. The galleries in the first 2 games provide only the direct H-scenes for each Boss (since the levels themselves are the actual Boss Battles). The latter games have multiple sections in their Galleries, specific to the Common Enemy battles, Boss battles, and even just the H-scenes of Boss (or miscellaneous ones).
The common enemies in the last 2 games also add a lot more variety and content to the amount of H-scenes, but it's clear that most quality was used for the Bosses (or relevant characters, in case of Story-related H-scenes).
Development = ----
I did mention about how the 4th game was released half-way done, before full finalization. Not much else, apart from the fact that this Circle is still active currently. They have made other games, such a separate one ("Lillian's Adventure") and even a new game series ("Domination Quest"). The new game series is still ongoing, but the best part of it is that, much like the Monster Girl Quest series, you can "Patch" the first games in the series in the latter ones (so far, being only 2 games made, you can Patch the 1st game into the 2nd, essentially playing the whole story within a singular game, and getting all of their H-Scenes, and their Galleries, rolled into one neat piece). If it helps, I can already certify they did improve on all fronts in their next games. I'll also make separate Reviews for said games at some point, where I'll go into further detail. Until then....
Obtaining = 6.25
Price = 3.5
Pain. There are 2 ways you can purchase said games: either the whole series (this option having appeared only after the series was finished), for 5,060 JPY or $36.56 on DLsite. Or, if you already started purchasing them individually, one-by-one, at this prices per each (all from DLsite):
- 1 =>1,210 JPY or $8.74
- 1 =>1,210 JPY or $8.74
- 2 =>1,320 JPY or $9.54
- 3 =>2,200 JPY or $15.90
- 4 =>2,310 JPY or $16.69
Of course, it's more affordable to buy the whole series in one piece (nothing else is different in the Whole option). However, the prices? Kind of big. I'll go on a limb and guess this is to cover the production costs, considering all the voiced parts, but still. I do aknowledge they are further improving in the quality, especially in the next series that the Circle's currently working. Even considering this, at least for this series, I really feel like they are not pulling their weight for said given prices. A bit better on the newer games this Circle makes, but even those are sort-of high in price. This series though, Demon Angel Sakura, I'm sure they are too high in their price. Get them at a discount, or keep them on the Wishlist. Patience helps with money expenditures, in the end.
Now, I know I do show the prices also converted to USD. However, you'll most likely see this USD prices vary. The stable prices are the ones shown in JPY. I won't update the USD prices, but they could be useful for a rough estimate regardless. An example is the USD's value dropping, this path month, by quite a lot (making the prices in USD rise up accordingly.
Also, on this topic. A lot of DLsite games are currently on Sale for the December(-ish) month. This Sale covers a lot of different games, including this game series! The games are all reduced by 50% (both the Whole option and each individual game). In fact, all this Circle's games are similarly discounted by 50%. This Sale actually reduces the prices separately from your Coupons, so you could further reduce it by a bit more, depending on the Coupons. Now? A bit more reasonable to get them if you're a fan. (Still, I'm not factoring external Sales into the Score for the Price).
Methods = 9
Dlsite. Also, check their Winter Sale!
FINAL SCORE = 5.59
Yea. I really don't let Nostalgia influence me. I might have enjoyed them personally, but I'm not above enjoying lesser-quality products, in the end. But as for a review.... Unless you're a staunch supporter of this Circle, a real fan of the genre, or take a heavy special liking to this games, I can't recommend them at their base prices. Use huge Sales, and nice Coupons, to your advantage, even if you're an actual fan. Or do whatever you wish, if you wish hard for it.
Saves
Full Saves, everything done, Galleries are also fully unlocked. For the latter 2 games, I also included the small Game-progression Saves made along the way, at each checkpoint possible. Might help you.
Info
Very much needed, if only for the Secrets needed in the Main Story, which I did include. Keep in mind, the Super Orbs locations is not shown in any of their own Web Manuals, so that is actual a strong reason to check the info.
Glad to burn my own memories. Feels refreshing. Jokes aside, I'll now be leaving for about a week. Still, I'm working in general on new content! (even on leave, although at a slower rate, understandably). See you a week later!
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MetaFiles_Info,MetaFiles_Saves,
Developer_CircleGroup,
Language_English,
Progress_Complete,
Series_Series,
TypeGame_2DGameplay,
TypeLookGenre_SideScroller,
TypeGenre_Action,TypeGenre_Adventure,TypeGenre_Metroidvania,
TypeSubGenre_Platformer,
TypeMood_Nonsense,
TypeSetting_Otherworldly,
Engine_Unity,
StyleAnim_2DAnimation,
StyleCGs_2DCGs,
StyleView_2DView,StyleMiscView_XRay,
Voices_FullCharacters,
FetishMain_Femdom,FetishMain_Vore,
FetishVore_OV,FetishVore_AV,FetishVore_UB,FetishVore_GTS,FetishVore_Absorption,FetishVore_MiscVore,
FetishMC_MaleMC,
FetishChars_HumanGirls,FetishChars_MonsterGirls,FetishChars_DemonGirls,FetishChars_AngelGirls,
FetishSex_Kinky,FetishSex_Foreplay,FetishSex_Sex,
FetishSubSex_MultiplePartners,
FetishFocus_Lips,FetishFocus_Pussy,FetishFocus_Breasts,FetishFocus_Ass,FetishFocus_Thighs,FetishFocus_Monstrous,FetishFocus_Smell,FetishFocus_Taste,
FetishSub_MindControl,FetishSub_SizeDifference,FetishSub_Tentacles,FetishSub_WaterSports,
Links_DLsite,Links_CiEn,
================================================================
UniqueDeveloper_KokageNoIzumi,
UniqueSeries_DemonAngelSakura,
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