RPGM - Harem in Another World [v0.8753] [Jong Games]

2 Feels harsh but 3 feels overly generous. It's probably a 2.5
The problem with reviewing Harem in Another World is its an incredibly uneven experience, the artwork is very good but the gameplay is a DRAG and the writing is a little all over.

----World and Gameplay---
-Backtracking is constant, zones are big and yet feel mostly empty, feels like a lot of fluff to bulk out the environments but it comes at a major cost when you need to travel back and forth between locations. Going from your castle to Mai (which you do a lot) is I think 7 screen transitions its a straight up slog. -Combat is inoffensive but isn't a upside either.
-This is just an RPG maker thing but having to do so many zone transitions can lead to click auto path up or down a tile which re-initiates a zone change back from whence you just came. Having to do so many means it will happen to you unless doing keyboard movement each time its more infuriating because it feels so unnecessary.

---Writing---
The writing is rather bad, well maybe less the writing and more the protagonist's characterization he is just unbelievably irritating. Imagine giving a terminally online redditor a protagonist role who is somehow attractive to all these women around him. I expected it to let up a little bit during the playtime but its like full force the whole time. It is like being trapped with the Naruto running kid for lunch, but lunch is 6 hours long and you're not allowed to talk its rough. Definitely needs to be like mellowed out a bit.

A lot of plot points are horny logic to just an absurd degree. It's a porn game so obviously a lot of this is to be expected but it takes it even further like "Have we tried fucking the computer to hack in?" level of logic, it's all just a bit much.

It feels like a passion project there are lots of fun details but just stumbles with the current flow. The whole point of a porn game is to deliver porn in a kind of metered pattern also gives you more opportunity to develop characterization. The porn is few and far between which is fine but then the gameplay and writing matter more which to me is a weak point of the game. If the thing you spend most of your time doing is detrimental to the experience then why have it structured that way? If the porn is strong lean on that, if it's the gameplay then lean on that, if it's the writing lean on that. The problem with Harem in another World atm is it feels unedited and doesn't know what its strengths are. I think the creators probably made it block by block and haven't played it fresh in a bit it feels extremely repetitive and unless you have a clean knowledge of each quest infinite back tracking. I'm curious to see how it turns out down the road I think the current structure needs to be smoothed out. The art is banging tho. I recommend doing a save edit once you get gem, stone, wood and iron because I think it's tedious to search every zone it's not engaging gameplay even more so when some zones have blocked off locations. I wish the dev teams well this review is a bit harsh, but the artwork is straight gas.

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.

I honestly love this game, and that really surprises me, because I don't usually care for rpgm games. But I think the lack of major rpg mechanics in addition to the solid writing and gorgeous artwork really makes this game great. I'll be on pins and needles waiting for the next update. Really stellar.

One of the best RPGM devs in this site. Majority of the development is from making the quality animation and scenes between the MC and the heroines really high quality. Different than most RPGM from the standard such as the combat to building to how you approach everything. Looking forward to more.

[v0.852]

This isn't the norm of RPGmaker jank that's usually found on this site. Combat is quick and can be sped up to be quicker with NO GRIND. Characters are fun and have some level of development. Maps are large enough to feel grand, while being small enough to not feel annoying to traverse unless you're Tiktok pilled and have absolutely no patience whatsoever. It's also rewarding to explore with chests and gags littered around most corners. Quests aren't anything crazy but engaging enough for me to clear all of them just to see what happens and the rewards for them are often fun things like items to pimp out your home. The humor is crude and sometimes juvenile, which is absolutely my type of humor and I love it. I personally haven't encountered any bugs whatsoever, which is extremely rare with RPGM games.

Only real issue I have is that the main character isn't very compelling and doesn't really have any redeeming features or character traits outside of being a horny pervert, and is kind of an asshole about it.

Do not be put off by the rather terrible name, this is a fantastic game. Although not the best for a quick fap, it's a must play if you're looking for something beyond that.

normally i would give 4 star but rating is low so i will give 5 star
this was the rare rpgm games that i enjoy from start to end
pros:
easy and skippable combat no grinding!
fully animated(expect 1)sex scanes
variety of fetishes
decent story with interesting characters
goblin girls

cons:the only bad part could be mc he is kinda funny but always horny mc makes writing less interesting... i dont hate him but he is not the best and i thing sometimes girls become extremely horny during scenes but its porn game its fine i guess

This is the first RPGM game that i like and got actually the full content of it.
Oh i hated so much spending 8:30 hours playing it but the characters, the scenes, the grinding for them just kept me on it.
Thanks for making such a great game!

It's honestly about as good as you can get in RPGmaker. You're gonna wanna play with cheats on, the combat is kind of just... pointless? But the story is good, and the H-Scenes are great. Even the world lore is nice, even if it's the same isekai bullshit we all know and love at its core.

I will say, I bought in for the pregnancy content and haven't found it yet... I don't know if that's a missed tag or (more probably) my refusal to play with a walkthrough. It's missable at any rate, so if you're in it for that, maybe get a guide.

Both the art and the writing in this game are great, but where it stumbles is the gameplay.

Combat has no benefit gameplaywise, outside a pointless amount of gold you'll get. Yet you'll be thrown into it constantly while you have to run around huge maps full of mostly nothing. It's auto-battle too with no way to influence the combat, so the only overall effect is to waste your time with having to run back and forth buying healing potions.

Some maps, while mostly empty and uninteresting, will be full of monsters that zoom around on acid, so often you'll enter a zone and be instantly attacked by some trash mob that only serves to waste your time. I eventually started rolling my eyes at this and then gave up on the game.

I usually find RPG maker games rather long winded and boring. I found HIAW streamlined, fun, and rather enjoyable to play with decent game mechanics. Fun writing and art, with casual gameplay. Would recommend!

Eeeh...(v0.83 )

Game has great art, nice H-scenarios and writing that is not that bad.
However, game shoots itself in the foot with your standard RPG Maker problems.

Most of your time is spent walking way too large maps that look like every RPGM game ever made. Even the fast travel room is large enough that it sometimes feels faster to just walk the distance instead of teleporting. Who thinks that these large maps are fun?

Nothingburger combat is another thing that eats away your time. Again, nothing in combat is tied to anything lewd.

Menus and the boring way the text is delivered is your typical RPGM crap.

Resource gathering is slow but not doing it keeps you from progressing with the girls. Exploration is not optional. It is not rewarding but not doing it is punishing.

Way you progress with the girls is just bad. Most of the time it is long span of nothing and then in quick session all of the content at once. Feels very unrewarding and inorganic way to progress with the girls.

Mini games in this sex game have nothing to do with sex or anything interesting. Instead you have to do boring jobs, timed mazes and terrible racing.

TLDR: You spent most of the time with poor RPG Maker game without a ounce of lewd stuff. So, art is doing heavy lifting here - without those this is 1 to 2 star game.

First things first the art is fantastic and has only been improving as time goes on. This game is a great use of the RPGM engine and, in my opinion, one of the best using the engine. Since this review is as of v0.83 (though, I have been playing since the beginning) I’m positive it will only continue to get better as the developer continues to flesh out the world and the scenes.

The combat is very simple which I personally enjoy, and even the boss fights are well designed as they are still simple, but the challenge increases compared to a regular enemy.

There is a great variety between the characters themselves in terms of both their personality and looks.

Looking forward to seeing this game until completion and for what the developer has in store afterwards.

A 3.5 if I'm honest but on the higher side. It is fun but there are too many inane side quests and not enough fun stuff with the girls.

I can understand not wanting it to be easy to get the girls but it is really tame so far for a game that's been in development for so long.

In good news, it is very very polished by most RPGM standards. No broken quests here. The scenes are cute. Each girl does have a personality.

Great art, good and funny writing. The combat and equipment system is minimal, and the h-scenes are spaced out fairly far apart. The walk through is needed pretty much the whole way through due to how vague the quests are.

Great game overall. Nice premise, amazing art and decent gameplay. The only drawback is the somewhat slow updates. That in turn means that you have to wait quite a while to actually get anywhere with the Waifus. The current version however already has one straight sex scene with most of the heroines. Honestly just give it a try and check it out for yourselves.

This is a good game that has a nice mix of humor, clichés, and genre-defying moments. I reccomend to anyone that is interested in, as the title says, forming a harem as well as light base/kingdom building components.

One of the better arts ive seen in h-games, good and funny writing, lacking in content volumes for a 0.8 version imo. Both story and amount of actual hentai is pretty low all things considered, although quality makes up for it in my eyes. If this game gets even a third as big as some large jrpg games, its a certified 10 out of 10

Astoundingly above average

Usually don't trust games that are rated under 4 stars but this one always caught my eye because of the art. After playing I can definitely say that this is one of the games of all time.

If you're looking for a more serious fantasy or isekai story, this won't be that, nor will it be really immersive as the world seems to be a mickey mouse clown world where things don't really make much sense past "it's funny" or "it's convenient". Also, for a game that does not take itself seriously, the random bits of more serious social commentary from racist religious propaganda and corrupt elites to "rich people bad" felt very jarring despite the fact that kinda based.

The game itself is a walking simulator through and through. The combat is a complete nothingburger, but atleast you can just get the gun once you unlock the castle and the memory crystal thing. I did not use the gun in my playthrough but honestly I do not think that my experience was any different or certainly any better for it.

A lot of the quests are just fetch quests where you need to go here and get this and then go back and its just a lot of empty time spent walking. This would be okay if the graphics of the world would not have been outdated before the year on the calendar started with the number 2.

The resources sprinkled throughout the land serve as incentives to go and explore the world but GODDAMN do i not care to comb the desert of the vanilla rpgm asset landscape for that last bit of iron I need to upgrade the master bedroom. Then the fact there aren't any levels, progression or loot you can find in the world to make your character stronger makes me just wish that you could teleport anywhere on the map since there is nothing to find by exploring the world.

Due to this I think that the game utterly fails as an rpg(m) game, but is just fine if you think about it as a sandbox visual novel game. Still, the art is up there, the writing is occasionally funny and pretty spot on, the kinks are right up my alley and the dev(s?) seem disciplined and committed to actually finishing this project and (at a glance) seem to actually care about their patreon.

In short, I've played heeps worse games rated higher so therefore 5/5 instead of 4/5 because I certainly think that the game is undeserving or the current average score. Am I stupid? Possibly, but I almost skipped this game because of the score and would rather have it sitting closer to the 4/5 mark to not have this happen with others.

Oh and if the dev reads this, good luck with your current and future projects!

Absolutely amazing.
It has a good story, the grind isn't necessarily that tedious. Like.
THE ART THO? THE SCENARIOS?

I don't usually actually care about the quality of the MC, it doesn't necessarily make a game worse for me. This one is pretty alright.

The graphics are pretty great.

Criminally underrated, this game is so damn fun. The art is top tier, it's got great animations and well written scenes and it's not bogged down by the boring combat most rpgmaker games have. The dev clearly listens to feedback and a lot of things I see people complaining about, like no autosave have since been fixed. I want to see more of the goblin girl, see doesn't have many scenes yet but they are definitely the hottest so far.