Review for Harem in Another World v0.42:
Overall: 3/5 - I am not a fan of RPGM, but I started liking this game until the combat and minigames started, then it just became painful to play. I assume there are players that like this type of gameplay, but it just feels to me like it was designed for 10-year-olds. The game needs to have settings to minimize the pain for players that don't like the gameplay style.
Story: 4/5 - Not enough of the story actually exists yet. So far, it's mostly a bunch of tiny side stories that don't contribute to the main story. The main story appears to be slowing unraveling a mystery around the MC and what little has been told so far is intriguing.
Writing: 4/5 - The writing is probably the best thing about the game. The English is good, the characters speak and think more naturally, and the humor is pretty good.
Renders/Art - 3/5 - I'd like to rate this higher, but I don't feel the art is what it should be for this game. The visuals during free-roaming are just default super low-resolution RPGM garbage. The art during scenes is good although the MC's penis looks like it's from an animal instead of a human. There's also some cheapness where each of the lewd scenes starts out with 15 to 20 lines of dialogue/narration with a black screen. It's cheap because it's obvious there should be 15 to 20 more frames of art in those scenes, but adding them would take more time and effort.
Animations - 4/5 - Animations loops are short, but they're smooth and they fit in well with the art style.
Sound: 2/5 - The music that plays during the game is usually annoying. The default RPGM sound effects are extremely annoying.
Gameplay 0/5:
- The user interface is the default RPGM UI which is terrible. It feels like it's designed for a game controller and it's just tedious to use on a PC. This game doesn't even provide a load option while playing, so if you want to load a save game, you have to exit to the main menu first. There's also no way to see how much money you have until you interact with a trader, which is really inconvenient [Edit: the dev pointed that the unlabeled number on the main menu is the MC's money, but still it should be labeled and on the inventory menu].
- Combat is terrible. Players spend their time trying to avoid enemies that can move at 2x or 3x the MC's speed while the player has only a small field of view. The only real combat strategy is to run away and avoid combat, but it's ridiculous with that small field of view and sheer number and speed of enemies. The combat itself is garbage. It's just 10 to 20 seconds of automated sound effects and mini animations of the MC trading blows with the opponent, but it's completely governed by a random number generator. The player can't do anything but wait until it's over. The payer can't even go to the menu and load a save game. Small animals like rats, bats, and scorpions are very overpowered and there are way too many of them. Players can buy "upgraded" weapons and armor, but they don't make a noticeable difference in combat. The only way to get through an area with many enemies is to carry a lot of health potions, but you can only carry 10, and in some areas that's not enough. To make matters worse, enemies respawn if you leave the area and come back.
- Navigation through the game world is terrible because there's no map. I'm sure the dev remembers where all of the people and locations are, after waiting 3 to 4 months for an update, I certainly don't remember.
- Earning money is grindy and boring. Players can find some money in crates and chests, and doing quests, but most money must be made by fishing or bartending. With a little practice, players can make around $100 to $150 per play of each minigame. Both games are boring. Consider that players need $5000 to do the bank quest and about $4000 to upgrade weapons and armor (which doesn't even seem to help), plus keep stocked with health potions that costs $70 each. Plus, thousands more to upgrade the castle. That's a lot of boredom.
- The Quest Log is sometimes OK, but it's also sometimes too vague and incomplete. For example, in the Horse Whisperer quest, it just says to catch the horse. After you catch the horse, it doesn't say you have to go back and get a reward, and the game kind of makes you not expect one since you are supposed to be helping the people to improve morale as part of another quest. Thankfully, a walkthrough is included, but... why not just put all that info into the Quest Log?
Content Quantity: 3/5 - So far, there's not much and the scenes themselves are short, but it's about average for the development time.
Content Quality: 2/5 - Scenes are short. They're too short to be very erotic. The game seems like it wants to go for the [text-based] tag. The scenes need more visuals and less of the blank screens with narration that reads like a cheap porn magazine.
Overall: 3/5 - I am not a fan of RPGM, but I started liking this game until the combat and minigames started, then it just became painful to play. I assume there are players that like this type of gameplay, but it just feels to me like it was designed for 10-year-olds. The game needs to have settings to minimize the pain for players that don't like the gameplay style.
Story: 4/5 - Not enough of the story actually exists yet. So far, it's mostly a bunch of tiny side stories that don't contribute to the main story. The main story appears to be slowing unraveling a mystery around the MC and what little has been told so far is intriguing.
Writing: 4/5 - The writing is probably the best thing about the game. The English is good, the characters speak and think more naturally, and the humor is pretty good.
Renders/Art - 3/5 - I'd like to rate this higher, but I don't feel the art is what it should be for this game. The visuals during free-roaming are just default super low-resolution RPGM garbage. The art during scenes is good although the MC's penis looks like it's from an animal instead of a human. There's also some cheapness where each of the lewd scenes starts out with 15 to 20 lines of dialogue/narration with a black screen. It's cheap because it's obvious there should be 15 to 20 more frames of art in those scenes, but adding them would take more time and effort.
Animations - 4/5 - Animations loops are short, but they're smooth and they fit in well with the art style.
Sound: 2/5 - The music that plays during the game is usually annoying. The default RPGM sound effects are extremely annoying.
Gameplay 0/5:
- The user interface is the default RPGM UI which is terrible. It feels like it's designed for a game controller and it's just tedious to use on a PC. This game doesn't even provide a load option while playing, so if you want to load a save game, you have to exit to the main menu first. There's also no way to see how much money you have until you interact with a trader, which is really inconvenient [Edit: the dev pointed that the unlabeled number on the main menu is the MC's money, but still it should be labeled and on the inventory menu].
- Combat is terrible. Players spend their time trying to avoid enemies that can move at 2x or 3x the MC's speed while the player has only a small field of view. The only real combat strategy is to run away and avoid combat, but it's ridiculous with that small field of view and sheer number and speed of enemies. The combat itself is garbage. It's just 10 to 20 seconds of automated sound effects and mini animations of the MC trading blows with the opponent, but it's completely governed by a random number generator. The player can't do anything but wait until it's over. The payer can't even go to the menu and load a save game. Small animals like rats, bats, and scorpions are very overpowered and there are way too many of them. Players can buy "upgraded" weapons and armor, but they don't make a noticeable difference in combat. The only way to get through an area with many enemies is to carry a lot of health potions, but you can only carry 10, and in some areas that's not enough. To make matters worse, enemies respawn if you leave the area and come back.
- Navigation through the game world is terrible because there's no map. I'm sure the dev remembers where all of the people and locations are, after waiting 3 to 4 months for an update, I certainly don't remember.
- Earning money is grindy and boring. Players can find some money in crates and chests, and doing quests, but most money must be made by fishing or bartending. With a little practice, players can make around $100 to $150 per play of each minigame. Both games are boring. Consider that players need $5000 to do the bank quest and about $4000 to upgrade weapons and armor (which doesn't even seem to help), plus keep stocked with health potions that costs $70 each. Plus, thousands more to upgrade the castle. That's a lot of boredom.
- The Quest Log is sometimes OK, but it's also sometimes too vague and incomplete. For example, in the Horse Whisperer quest, it just says to catch the horse. After you catch the horse, it doesn't say you have to go back and get a reward, and the game kind of makes you not expect one since you are supposed to be helping the people to improve morale as part of another quest. Thankfully, a walkthrough is included, but... why not just put all that info into the Quest Log?
Content Quantity: 3/5 - So far, there's not much and the scenes themselves are short, but it's about average for the development time.
Content Quality: 2/5 - Scenes are short. They're too short to be very erotic. The game seems like it wants to go for the [text-based] tag. The scenes need more visuals and less of the blank screens with narration that reads like a cheap porn magazine.
