Pro's
This game has fantastic art with great character design which blend amazingly into the world and setting. Even casual attire has this post-modern sci-fi feel to it despite looking grounded and realistic. Everything meshes well and there's a lot of great assets for the background that are either custom made or utilized in a way that the world feels new. It's not just another RPG maker dime-a-dozen out there.
H-Scenes are lightly animated in a slideshow fashion, so they aren't just static CG's and it is very effective to the point the scenes are hot, steamy, and satisfying. You can also revisit scenes for a little extra flavor text.
Some Stock RPG maker character sprites are generic and don't fit, fantasy characters in this sci-fi world. It's not too bad, I won't take points away for it but I do wish they would either do more unique sprites to this game only for background characters, or at least make sure they fit! This was a big issue in the super market. Also repeating sprites a lot of the time too. It's a small little thing but so much of this games art is fantastic I really would like this little touch!
Story & Writing
I'll start with the writing in general. When this game first started it was done via machine translation, but it wasn't the worst I've read. I've seen some english speakers write worse haha. But since then they've actually gone on to get an english proof reader. They've really elevated this games writing to the point it is enjoyable and easy to read! Characters are funny, they talk like real people, they have their own voices in the text... there's some moments that made me chuckle with effective comedic timing and pacing! So the general writing gets good marks from me.
The setting is pretty unique! It somewhat reminds me of something Tsutomu Nihei would come up with, but not so maccabre/depressing. I want to learn more about the setting to be honest. We hear bits and bits drip fed from Calix, Agapiy, and Midea. The Shop owner too. It's a neat dystopia-like setting which feels rooted in cyberpunk but at the same time it is a lot more... optimistic? The first bit of the game is surprisingly heavy, like, depressing. In a great way. But the world and setting itself is very well done, I want more.
Now the story. The story is cool! I have never enjoyed a 1 hour long prologue as much as this game haha. There's a lot going on, there's this... murder mystery, debt, crime, high stakes... there's highs and lows that most games out there just won't give you. It's amazing how this game keeps stringing you along the roller coaster.
Honestly, I felt sad and hopeless because of a porn game... and I loved it. It was exactly what the writer wanted me to feel and I felt it, very well executed! And a little after the game gives you a glimmer of hope and optimism to keep pulling yourself forward.
This isn't even to mention how the characters all are living and breathing, all of them have their own voices and personalities... and they have their own motives etc. You can also choose with how deep you want to interact with Agapiy for instance. You can choose how buck wilde or not you can go with the main character Noemi.
The names are so fucking hard to remember how to spell xD. I can remember the sound of all the names, but I cannot fo rthe life of me spell "Agapiy, Midea, Noemi" without looking of the freaking names xD. But I love how Noemi can become this strong and driven girl, changing from a lazy layabout. But she never loses her personality, it just evolves.
I wan tto see what this studio puts out after this game... I imagine them moving onto GoDot or GameMaker and having a more powerful engine. I would love to see that game.
Gameplay
This is another one of those "visual novels" haha. It isn't quite a visual novel because you can move around, there are some "gameplay" elements and choices. I like to think of this more as an interactive CYOA game. There's no combat so you need to solve situations with other "means." Wich means you can actually sovle issues with wit and intelligent, or of course your body since it's an H-Game! I enjoy it. But if you don't enjoy games light on gameplay, you may not. I think the story is more than worth it, and there are some light gameplay elements to it that keep me entertained. Some grindy things like the Arcade advertising and such is annoying and a massive burden, I also don't understand how bravery works as I still can't lift my top/enjoy being groped taking pictures.... I assume it's tied to the Calix stuff, maybe its not completed.
The UI is dated RPG maker but it at least looks good. I love the way the menu has Noemi's passport. But I honestly had no idea some of the best UI elements existed. The H-Scene statistics and H-Scene Progress are incredible additions! Why is this not done more!? I know exactly where I am in characters progress, and the game tracks who you lost your V-Card to, even! These features are fantastic, but it took me SO LONG to even realize they were there xD.
Sound
Very... inconsistent. The prologue has some amazing music to it, I was digging it so much. Fit everything so well. The theme song for night-time is great. The Red Herring bar (did I get that right?) has a great song too. But then you get the just... almost out of place stock music. Stock music can be fine but some of it is too detached from the tone and nature of the game. I would like to see some better sound design and some better tracks in the future, hopefully when this project is making more money! I really think it deserves to get that money.
In Conclusion
I enjoy this game a lot. It has a lot of good to offer, and I'm not usually one to really like RPG maker games. But some of these RPG maker games have enough good that it's perfectly acceptable. There's few games where I really, really, want to see where the story is going. This one has enough mystery in it that I really want to learn more. The world is cool too. It reminds me of Automoton in that way, where I just want to consume more of this world. But Dilmur... definitely, stands out above any other NSFW game I've played in terms of subtle world building.
The funny thing is I don't even know if they really have much world design beyond flavour text! They might just be making it up as it goes with each characters arc, or they might have this whole world planned and designed. I can't tell, but that's how you do subtle world building. They've done it great.
I'd definitely recommend this as a pledge worthy game. Though I give a few points off for sound and such... I would like to give this more of a 4.5 than a 5, but it's a fantastic game as it is and I have no problems hitting the 5/5 rating on F95.
Overall 4.5/5.0
- Great Art
- Great Character Designs
- Good Writing
- Good/Interesting Setting
- Good/Interesting Plot
- Fast into the action!
- H-Statistics and Progres Tracking
- Some music fits super well! Other tracks feel very "stock"
- The Arcade is really repetitive after the first thing
- Sometimes exposure/bravery is a bit vague. (related to the arcade)
- The UI and menu's are OLD style RPG maker (more later)
- Some stock RPG maker sprites
This game has fantastic art with great character design which blend amazingly into the world and setting. Even casual attire has this post-modern sci-fi feel to it despite looking grounded and realistic. Everything meshes well and there's a lot of great assets for the background that are either custom made or utilized in a way that the world feels new. It's not just another RPG maker dime-a-dozen out there.
H-Scenes are lightly animated in a slideshow fashion, so they aren't just static CG's and it is very effective to the point the scenes are hot, steamy, and satisfying. You can also revisit scenes for a little extra flavor text.
Some Stock RPG maker character sprites are generic and don't fit, fantasy characters in this sci-fi world. It's not too bad, I won't take points away for it but I do wish they would either do more unique sprites to this game only for background characters, or at least make sure they fit! This was a big issue in the super market. Also repeating sprites a lot of the time too. It's a small little thing but so much of this games art is fantastic I really would like this little touch!
Story & Writing
I'll start with the writing in general. When this game first started it was done via machine translation, but it wasn't the worst I've read. I've seen some english speakers write worse haha. But since then they've actually gone on to get an english proof reader. They've really elevated this games writing to the point it is enjoyable and easy to read! Characters are funny, they talk like real people, they have their own voices in the text... there's some moments that made me chuckle with effective comedic timing and pacing! So the general writing gets good marks from me.
The setting is pretty unique! It somewhat reminds me of something Tsutomu Nihei would come up with, but not so maccabre/depressing. I want to learn more about the setting to be honest. We hear bits and bits drip fed from Calix, Agapiy, and Midea. The Shop owner too. It's a neat dystopia-like setting which feels rooted in cyberpunk but at the same time it is a lot more... optimistic? The first bit of the game is surprisingly heavy, like, depressing. In a great way. But the world and setting itself is very well done, I want more.
Now the story. The story is cool! I have never enjoyed a 1 hour long prologue as much as this game haha. There's a lot going on, there's this... murder mystery, debt, crime, high stakes... there's highs and lows that most games out there just won't give you. It's amazing how this game keeps stringing you along the roller coaster.
Honestly, I felt sad and hopeless because of a porn game... and I loved it. It was exactly what the writer wanted me to feel and I felt it, very well executed! And a little after the game gives you a glimmer of hope and optimism to keep pulling yourself forward.
This isn't even to mention how the characters all are living and breathing, all of them have their own voices and personalities... and they have their own motives etc. You can also choose with how deep you want to interact with Agapiy for instance. You can choose how buck wilde or not you can go with the main character Noemi.
The names are so fucking hard to remember how to spell xD. I can remember the sound of all the names, but I cannot fo rthe life of me spell "Agapiy, Midea, Noemi" without looking of the freaking names xD. But I love how Noemi can become this strong and driven girl, changing from a lazy layabout. But she never loses her personality, it just evolves.
I wan tto see what this studio puts out after this game... I imagine them moving onto GoDot or GameMaker and having a more powerful engine. I would love to see that game.
Gameplay
This is another one of those "visual novels" haha. It isn't quite a visual novel because you can move around, there are some "gameplay" elements and choices. I like to think of this more as an interactive CYOA game. There's no combat so you need to solve situations with other "means." Wich means you can actually sovle issues with wit and intelligent, or of course your body since it's an H-Game! I enjoy it. But if you don't enjoy games light on gameplay, you may not. I think the story is more than worth it, and there are some light gameplay elements to it that keep me entertained. Some grindy things like the Arcade advertising and such is annoying and a massive burden, I also don't understand how bravery works as I still can't lift my top/enjoy being groped taking pictures.... I assume it's tied to the Calix stuff, maybe its not completed.
The UI is dated RPG maker but it at least looks good. I love the way the menu has Noemi's passport. But I honestly had no idea some of the best UI elements existed. The H-Scene statistics and H-Scene Progress are incredible additions! Why is this not done more!? I know exactly where I am in characters progress, and the game tracks who you lost your V-Card to, even! These features are fantastic, but it took me SO LONG to even realize they were there xD.
Sound
Very... inconsistent. The prologue has some amazing music to it, I was digging it so much. Fit everything so well. The theme song for night-time is great. The Red Herring bar (did I get that right?) has a great song too. But then you get the just... almost out of place stock music. Stock music can be fine but some of it is too detached from the tone and nature of the game. I would like to see some better sound design and some better tracks in the future, hopefully when this project is making more money! I really think it deserves to get that money.
In Conclusion
I enjoy this game a lot. It has a lot of good to offer, and I'm not usually one to really like RPG maker games. But some of these RPG maker games have enough good that it's perfectly acceptable. There's few games where I really, really, want to see where the story is going. This one has enough mystery in it that I really want to learn more. The world is cool too. It reminds me of Automoton in that way, where I just want to consume more of this world. But Dilmur... definitely, stands out above any other NSFW game I've played in terms of subtle world building.
The funny thing is I don't even know if they really have much world design beyond flavour text! They might just be making it up as it goes with each characters arc, or they might have this whole world planned and designed. I can't tell, but that's how you do subtle world building. They've done it great.
I'd definitely recommend this as a pledge worthy game. Though I give a few points off for sound and such... I would like to give this more of a 4.5 than a 5, but it's a fantastic game as it is and I have no problems hitting the 5/5 rating on F95.
Overall 4.5/5.0