There are games that innovate, and there are games that refine.
This game is the latter, and it does it to a mirror shine. However, let me qualify this: HIAW refines its genre, flaws and all. The mirror shine? Well the mirror has cracks in it.
This game includes every little trope and convention, regardless of whether they should or not.
If you've played any game of this type, you'll be familiar with it. A perverted dude gets isekai'd into a fantasy realm with a bunch of hot girls. The world runs on fantasy wish fulfillment- he inexplicably experiences penis growth, he is a capable fighter despite no formal training or experience, and every situation he comes across has to do with him saving the damsel in distress, with sexy results.
The gameplay is bog standard RPG maker type stuff, but streamlined and automated; the combat is entirely pointless, as there's no levels and its not a good source for currency, and the game explicitly recommends you avoid it. It begs the question why it exists at all. I guess, because it's an RPG, so it needs random encounters, because that's what RPGs do. The moment you can turn on the cheat (it gives you a gun) that lets you skip fights, the game gets better.
Gameplay wise, there's also a problem with the maps being too big for their utility. There seems to be a conscious decision by the dev to pad out the play time, not only with the size of these maps, but by obstructing the most efficient path through them. Often you'll have a screen you'll need to backtrack through often, but there's a fountain or boxes or vendor stalls right in the main path so you have to consciously navigate through them. To what purpose, I'm unsure. It's annoying.
The fast travel system is marginally useful; it uses a portal/gate system, but ironically the room with the gates is also a bit too big. This dev is really addicted to maps at least 50% larger than what they should be.
Where this game does shine though is its art, writing and pacing. The character art is absolutely gorgeous. The writing is fantastic, you can tell someone with an actual grasp on English wrote this, there's word play, puns, and jokes with set up and pay off that make sense to an anglo-speaking audience. The plotting actually feel like old school 90s jRPGs, which puts it above 90% of the slop on this site. The characters encounter a problem and each subsequent story beat builds upon it until a resolution happens. There's character development that has a continuity between story segments. I actually want to see what happens next.
One downside to the writing is the characterization of the protagonist and leaning in on how he's the Chosen One and master of his harem due to fate or magic or whatever. I was enjoying the progression of his character from try-hard, tactless creep to a marginally more mature guy who actually gets laid because he ditches the repulsive side of his personality, while the main love interest learns to be less of an asshole in turn, but it turns out the protagonist has some Magic Harem Master Powers or something. It's a little disappointing.
Overall, if I had to sum it up, it's a lovingly padded game. It painstakingly makes you earn the porn. Sometimes to the detriment of the experience.
This game is the latter, and it does it to a mirror shine. However, let me qualify this: HIAW refines its genre, flaws and all. The mirror shine? Well the mirror has cracks in it.
This game includes every little trope and convention, regardless of whether they should or not.
If you've played any game of this type, you'll be familiar with it. A perverted dude gets isekai'd into a fantasy realm with a bunch of hot girls. The world runs on fantasy wish fulfillment- he inexplicably experiences penis growth, he is a capable fighter despite no formal training or experience, and every situation he comes across has to do with him saving the damsel in distress, with sexy results.
The gameplay is bog standard RPG maker type stuff, but streamlined and automated; the combat is entirely pointless, as there's no levels and its not a good source for currency, and the game explicitly recommends you avoid it. It begs the question why it exists at all. I guess, because it's an RPG, so it needs random encounters, because that's what RPGs do. The moment you can turn on the cheat (it gives you a gun) that lets you skip fights, the game gets better.
Gameplay wise, there's also a problem with the maps being too big for their utility. There seems to be a conscious decision by the dev to pad out the play time, not only with the size of these maps, but by obstructing the most efficient path through them. Often you'll have a screen you'll need to backtrack through often, but there's a fountain or boxes or vendor stalls right in the main path so you have to consciously navigate through them. To what purpose, I'm unsure. It's annoying.
The fast travel system is marginally useful; it uses a portal/gate system, but ironically the room with the gates is also a bit too big. This dev is really addicted to maps at least 50% larger than what they should be.
Where this game does shine though is its art, writing and pacing. The character art is absolutely gorgeous. The writing is fantastic, you can tell someone with an actual grasp on English wrote this, there's word play, puns, and jokes with set up and pay off that make sense to an anglo-speaking audience. The plotting actually feel like old school 90s jRPGs, which puts it above 90% of the slop on this site. The characters encounter a problem and each subsequent story beat builds upon it until a resolution happens. There's character development that has a continuity between story segments. I actually want to see what happens next.
One downside to the writing is the characterization of the protagonist and leaning in on how he's the Chosen One and master of his harem due to fate or magic or whatever. I was enjoying the progression of his character from try-hard, tactless creep to a marginally more mature guy who actually gets laid because he ditches the repulsive side of his personality, while the main love interest learns to be less of an asshole in turn, but it turns out the protagonist has some Magic Harem Master Powers or something. It's a little disappointing.
Overall, if I had to sum it up, it's a lovingly padded game. It painstakingly makes you earn the porn. Sometimes to the detriment of the experience.