The tactical gameaplay is ultimately overshadowed by meta-progression mechanics, the h-scenes (which only appear on a loss) are only decent, and the two don't blend together. Players looking for a decent dungeon-crawler will find something to pass a few hours. Fans of great h-scenes will be disappointed.
At first the game is very tactical. Players are forced to position themselves ideally to ensure they can hit enemies and not get hit back, and will have to balance between picking upgrades that increase stats or manage enemy positions. A sort of dance evolves, where the player has to juggle the cooldown of multiple skills to keep a rushing tide of enemies from getting too close. Unfortunately, once the player reaches the first enemy that can inflict poison, it seems there's nothing they can do, and they lose.
The game doesn't seem to be designed to be beatable on the first playthrough - players will need to use the meta-progression to make headway. Once they start investing in the permanent upgrades, strength starts to snowball, and the players begin to steamroll through enemies. What started as a tactical dance becomes a near mindless slaughter. This is enjoyable in its own way - it's fun to see your strength grow such that enemies who were a challenge now fall under your onslaught. It's disappointing to see your decisions become less and less meaningful as time passes.
Before discussing some other flaws, it should be mentioned the design of the final boss is a great choice on the part of the creator. Without spoiling anything, it's different enough that it keeps the mechanics fresh and fun. I found myself playing the last couple runs with the final boss in mind, trying to balance between taking skills that would be more likely to get me there, and ones that would be more likely to make sure I win when I do.
There are plenty of ideas that work in theory, but fail in practice. Some skills & passives seem fun, but are ultimately pointless. Every time you hit an enemy, you damage a nearby enemy? Sounds like fun, but it rarely hits, and when it does it's such a small amount of damage it's trivial. A skill that knocks back all enemies standing right next to you? If you're surrounded by enemies consistently, you're already taking too much attrition damage, and there are other skills that are better at keeping enemies at bay. Figuring out which skills work and which don't can be part of the game, but by the time you've played through a few times, the meta-progression has taken over, and analyzing tactics deeply feels meaningless.
Speaking of meaningless , the story doesn't work at all. SPOILER ALERT FOR THIS PARAGRAPH ONLY: It ends on a To Be Continued. Literally, "find out in the next game." It's quite a let down after an enjoyable final boss.
As for the h-content, it follows the "only get scenes on game-over" school of thought - a school I'm glad has become less popular over time. The scenes themselves are okay, but nothing special, and one or two even seem to be missed opportunities. There's nothing sexy about the gameplay, and since there's so much gameplay in between each game over, it's a long way to go for not much content. Simply put: Don't play this for the h-content.
There's nothing particularly wrong with anything here. The art, the dialogue, the gameplay are all decent to good, and a couple choices - such as the last boss - are even great. It simply fails to come together to be more than the sum of its parts, most especially in the realm of arousing content. If you're looking for something to kill a few hours time, you could do worse. If you're looking to get off, I'd keep looking.