RPGM - Completed - ASYLUM [v1.20] [Leaf Geometry]

I am a huge fan of Hakika's eroge games, but this time he didn't deliver the level what we got used to so far. This game still brings out the Sequel feel, but there are drastic changes compared to the previous parts. Some are better and a lot of them are worse in my opinion, except if you like the souls-like approach in stories and environmental telling.

The good:
- The characters are finally 2 squares high and not chibby anymore.
- Maps still look great
- Art and scenes are still hot.

The bad:
- Story is really lacking compared to the previous episodes. There are a LOT fewer NPCs we can interact with. Some say it tried to take a souls-like storytelling approach, but in my opinion it did not really work out.
- Even the maps are looking great they feel really empty. Again I feel that it tried to go for a souls-like environment where the areas/clues tell the story and not the characters. This made the maps feel like a huge maze and a chore to move through.
- The main party is bland. Without giving any spoilers only the MC is fleshed out, while the remaining party members are really not interesting. There is barely even any interactions between them. This made me feel alone in this game.
- The leveling/gearing is really bland and just not fun. Again without getting into any spoilers how, but around at 15-20% of the game we receive items which invalidate 95% of the loot in the game, because these items can be leveled up. Another problem is leveling up these items is really boring and grindy. You repeat like 10-15 areas literally 1000 times if you want to level them up fully and if you want to beat any of the bosses in post game it may be even mandatory. Heck I so did not want to do that, that I cheated myself like +5000 attack and a post game boss still needed like 5-6 attacks to die.
- The loot is bland as well. Multiple enemies are dropping the same items. They look the same, have similar names and only their colour will be different.
- It is not as bad, but there are scenes which are actually can be missed! In the previous parts it was impossible to miss a H-scene. Even if you missed some you could go back and get them, but here if you miss them you have to restart the game to try and get them. The game feels empty but still require like 20 hours to finish and when I found out I missed some stuffs (which are actually can be really hidden) I didn't feel the motivation to start it again and I don't think anyone else will have different feelings than me. This is why this point is bad.
- Adding to the previous point: There are multiple endings in this game which I actually like, but due the really bad replay-ability of this game you might not try all the endings.

Maybe Hakika tried to give a different feeling with this game or experimenting with other ideas. I appreciate Hakika trying out new ideas and even tough it did not work well I still liked this game, but with all the previous and the next gamess so far I can say that this is the weakest one Hakika has created.

Great game, expect nothing less from the creator. It can have its moments of aimless wandering, and the grind game can be pretty punishing and repetitive sometimes, but overall has great replayability and would definitely finish at least 1 playthrough

This is a JRPG first and foremost. People praise the H-scenes, but the fact that it's not really tied all that well into the story and is highly optional (and skippable), it's just meh in my opinion.

Horrid RNG for the OCD. Grinding the same enemy again and again can feel very frustrating, very fast. Arguably the biggest downside to the game.

It's also quite hardcore and if you can't spare a few hours per play session, especially to memorize and explore the map, you won't enjoy the game. The map while isn't "quite" a maze, requires a lot of intuition to scan through and ensure you don't miss anything. It's also designed with a lot of "go explore this side path until you come around and unlock a shortcut". Conventional design for exploration types of game, but you'd have a hard time if your brain isn't wired to do a BFS.

I'd also like to add... others commented on the monstrous number of maps. I'd argue the opposite, it's one monstrous map partitioned into hundreds of pieces. And you can feel this ingame. The position adds up intuitively. You can make a sense of the game world, as a whole, as you travel through them. An actual sense of orientation. If you apply this intuition well, exploration becomes a lot more fun, intuitive, and easier. Other that the times where the game straight up teleport you, I suppose.

The dev (one man monster...) clearly have a lot of experience, and honestly, I appreciate the consistency of quality.

ASYLUM v1.20
An insult to the Sequel series, maybe that's why the dev didn't use that name in this game.

The Good.
It's mentions to the original series, I only played this game since Kludge has some related spoilers, and it was a chore.
The H-scenes, Malice is an attractive MC and the scenes were decent.

The Bad.
Everything else, this game is a rank down from the Sequel series in almost every aspect from the infinite empty maps to the simplified skill system, boring companions (story-wise and skill-wise), lack of clear directions, boring quests and final dungeon etc etc.
The good mentioned above are the only reasons anyone should play this game, if you are looking to dedicate time to play something seriously avoid this game.

It has to be one of the best games Ive ever played????
Its very clearly dark souls inspired
I mean, the place the game takes place in is CALLED Asylum
you have a flask that can heal you, thats restored at glowing root points
the level design is extremely metroidvania with areas linked together cleverly and shortcuts opening all the time
There is a bit of yoko taro story telling too, with bosses giving these vague stories after they are defeated, much like what happens in nier automata
You know how in bloodborne, if a certain bag carrying enemy kills you outside of the sanctuary, you spawn in an entirely different area?
Well I lost an encounter with a particularly tough enemy called "The bringer" and ended up in a really cool black and white place
OH not to mention
the characters in this world cannot die
And the only way to die is to have a broken heart, usually by giving up the will to live
sounds a lot like hollows doesnt it
Very dark souls all around
The turn based combat is really really really good
the main character has 3 different skill trees
and you get 3 little followers over time, just mindless puppets basically
and you can make them into tank, healer, and dps roles
while the main character levels up, the familiars all stay lvl 1, and you have to find little items around the world to level up their stats , which heavily encourages exploration
The main characters levels only give them skill points and health and SP stats, and the stats increased are all by found items and craftable equipments made by enemy drops
It makes for an extremely satisfying gameplay loop that soft guides you into certain areas over others in a certain order, but I was able to do them out of order just fine, by being smart with the turn based combat
The only downside I would say there is, is that the exploration takes a long time, as finding everything can be a little tedious, as the areas are very large.
The nsfw stuff is really good too
The art is really fantastic, despite being censored, it has the shortstack aesthetic for the main character.
Probably one of the biggest boons is that it isnt a stupid "be defeated and watch an H scene" type game
and all the H stuff seems to be entirely optional, and its all done with members of the sanctuary where you end up pretty early on.
It keeps track of the sexual things you do, and you have to earn certain levels in different types of sexual acts to see certain things.
again, a very fun gameplay loop
scenes seem to be updated as you progress through the story, I had to defeat 3 large game areas to unlock more opportunities for scenes, and I believe I have to do two more large areas before I unlock further scenes
the amount of actual, real, bonafide difficult but satisfying rpg stuff you have to do between the nsfw stuff is a really good balance, and encourages you to keep playing all around.
The main character is pretty cool, really nice design, a cool and confident personality, really kinda stupid and low intelligence though, and if you have her do sexual things, its basically a "what if goku found out about nutting and just went with it" kind of scenario.
also, if youre bad at video games theres also a "Story only" difficulty, but with how great the gameplay loop is, of fighting and exploring and finding new and better equipment by locating it or defeating mini bosses, I think it would be a shame to play it that way.
Ive been playing for multiple hours for like 3 days, and I dont think Im even halfway through the game maybe
its really a 10/10 experience in both the nsfw stuff and the main gameplay
If youre not one of those assholes who dislikes rpg maker type games because of their simplistic sprites, (it was made with RGSS3 which seems to have more complex and better gameplay than your standard rpg maker fare), I highly highly highly recommend this game.
Its fun, plenty of funny and amusing moments, a good atmosphere and build up of story, charming characters, especially the main character, and its just
good

Wonderful game, as big as it's map size, the CGs and events are not caused by losing on purpose so that's a great start.

Multiple ending based on the main character choice is a nice touch, lots of exploration and depending of which mode you choose, even some grinding (game let's you choose between story mode and normal mode so they're pretty lenient with it)

I would 100% recommend playing if you love exploration and got the time.

Fantastic RPG...

The smuts decent too. But you're much more likely to stick with the game due to its inherently fun combat, story and map lapyout than the smut. Its much too far spaced out to just ignore the gameplay. Which is honestly not a bad thing in my mind. The games just alot of fun.

Exploration done right.

ASLYUM

Game play
Not to bad, the monologue during the first 10 minutes of the game will wear you out. As they try to drive the game play and story into your mind very, very, very thoroughly.

But once that is finally over the game begins to pick up, and you start moving along at what you feel like is a reasonable pace.

DON'T Think your moving along though. ( It gets very search and research, and search again very soon)

Battle system
Pretty much standard RPG maker attack, cast, and skill use all the way. (Which I personally like just fine.)
With potion chugging and healing magic to stay alive.

[Most of the RPG maker games I have played where they mix up the key's, and try to invent some new battle system, have been pretty fucked up for me. << Note the for me] (So I find this battle system just fine for my taste)

Story and writing
Story is actually pretty okay, and the writing is solid, the reluctant to sex male writing is way over done (I think), and some of the H-scene dialogue it stretched out in and almost kill the moment manor.
(Could have been a little more gritty for me, a little more use of colorful metaphor's would have helped.)

Multiple endings
mostly corresponds to your promiscuity during your game play, less is better, more pushes you towards a less favorable outcome, but some is almost needed. (Mixed bag on that.)

Art Work
This is a taste thing, but over all the art is pretty good, the characters are not to distorted, have a very anime look which is to be expected, and once you get use to it, it is very good.

Map details
Very good, I mean they took some time putting these together and it shows. ( It is a good thing because you will be having to memorize most every one of these maps during your game play.)

Playing the Game
The game maps are many, I mean god awful many, the game is large in scope and the number of maps is almost insanely large in number.

It is and addictive game to play for some reason I kept playing, and grinding along, constantly trying to understand where I needed to go, and what I needed to do.

There is and Event tab in the menu, and you will need to use it a lot. (And you will still be lost on where to go a lot.)

Maybe if you have a photographic memory you'll be okay but I found myself searching, and researching, and researching again all the maps, which becomes quite a grind fest early on as the battles get old, and distracting while trying to find in the hay stack the needle you need to advance the story.

( fortunately after you level far enough past some of the monsters begin to start running away from you.)

My Overall thoughts on Game
I would give this a much higher rating if I had not gotten so frustrated by having to repeatedly go back to the same map's (If I could figure out which one.) Over, and over again.

It just became far to laborious a labor to play and enjoy, and became more of a National Lampoon Vacation trip quest, because of being lost on where to go and what to do all the time.

The H-scene's that are in this game are pretty good, but getting them required getting a lot of things set up or advanced to a proper level or story advancement so much so, that they became irritating to actually see, and because of this boring once you achieved all the necessary setting's to see them.

END Note
I know a lot of you will disagree with me on this, but a somewhat logical game play advancement and direction as to where to go next is pretty important for me, and it is just not very clear in this game a lot of the time . ( Probably because of the huge amount of maps and area you have to transverse. )

It is great they worked so hard to make all those map's, but bad that the direction for each quest is not detailed enough. << My Opinion We all have one.

ASYLUM is a pretty big place so if you feel lost and wandering into the nowhere, then you're playing it right, Only remember if you feel like getting trashed too quick, backtrack and explore other zones. Or complete side quest that rewards you with gear.

this game is a nice change of pace compared to SEQUEL which are mostly rail-roaded into a path. Another game series from the same author, which if you haven't do so, play them too as the story of this game is loosely tied to it

Very Dark Souls like. That said i havent played Black Souls 2 or any Sequel games even though they are very highly rated, i just wasnt interested so i cant tell how this game compare to that. This game kinda piqued my interest for this genre so i will try Black Souls 2 after i finish this

It could be rough to get into at first. Remember to stick to the objective. If the opponent seems way too hard for you, it's likely you have strayed away from the objective, since it's a huge map and you may very easily get sidetracked.
You could easily sink hoooours into this game.
Edited to 4 stars, to me the end game is too hard that i switched to story mode.

Let's get it out of the way first, don't play this if all you're interested in is the H scenes. As other people have noted it takes a very long time to get to them and they're not well intergrated with the story as a whole, almost never mentioned outside of the scenes themselves. You could remove them altogether and not change the game too much, though the main character and some enemy designs would look very out of place. The scenes themselves though are actually pretty good, big focus on femdom but a decent variety of other fetishes too and clearly signposted scat scenes for the squeamish among us.

As for the rest of it, easily one of the best RPGM games I've ever played. Enviroments, enemy design, music, story, it's all fantastic. The leveling feels good, there's decent build variety and the ability to reset points at any time so experimenting isn't punished, combat encounters are fixed so no random encounter frustration when getting about, the minibosses and main bosses encourage strateigic use of equipment. Equipment itself isn't just a stat stick, it often has perks and downsides attached so there's lots of reasons to swap gear to suit the area.

The maps are expansive and interconnected, exploration is rewarded and warp points are frequent enough that it never feels like you're spending too much time backtracking. If I had to pick one thing to complain about it's the brand system. They're pretty generic buffs that take up the usual armor slots and some take a fair bit of grinding to make, but even then that's only really if you want to min max.

TLDR: Fantastic RPG, well worth playing if you enjoy that kind of thing. If you only want porn though just download a save file.

CGs are damn nice.
I also Like the MC, she is cute and i love the way she is dressed and how she holds her big milkers.
But god damn it. the game is supposed to take 40 Hours to complete and has only 35 CGs.
At first I thought that this would easily be 4/5 star game, but considering that on average you have to spend more then one hour to unlock new CG
And that the map looks like a maze, I have to give only 3
Also at some point the game feels like it has plenty of cut content.
No defeat scenes, but you get item that instakills your party. Or you are promissed to be let to use some tentacles to have fun.
SO the devs might have been planning more, which is a shame, I would not have minded if they cut halt the play time just to add more content.
So to summarize
Pros
Good CG
Quite perverted
Like the MC character design
Cons
Takes way tooo long to get somewhere even in story mode
Some scenes can be missed and you can see them until you beat the game.
The map is a Maze
No defeat scenes
and for me no preggo stuff and almost no bestiality


There is 100% save down there in the comments so go and get it