HTML - Inner Empire [v1.8] [Defiant Explorer]

It's really refreshing to experience a porn game with this well written characters and encounters.
Where western games try to be authentic, but fail due to being porn first.
Where Japanese games don't even try and focus on being fantasy.
Here is a game that you play and could perfectly see things happening in real life, with real people. It has very adult approach to sex while still being sexy.
It doesn't have gray characters, but colorful, with actions and motives that are not instantly clear and obvious.

The second best part is how interactive it is. I had Disco Elysium vibes with how you can roleplay different sides of the same person. Dialogue really branches out and for a game made by one person choices matter quite a lot. I love "insight" mechanic which teaches you to seek doing specific things and is interesting spin on leveling up.

It's written better than most erotica online while giving better interactivity than most HRPGs. It became a genre-defining game for me and I wish more devs were mature and brave enough to go into this direction of writing.

I stumbled into Inner Empire thinking, “Alright, text-based RPG, female MC, let’s see how long before I get bored.” Spoiler: didn’t get bored. At all. I ended up glued to my screen for hours.

The setting’s this gritty, Bronze-Age-meets-dark-fantasy world, no shiny-armored elves, no overblown magic sparkle nonsense. It’s grounded but still has weird, memorable touches (yes, there are dinosaurs, just accept it) and it all feels lived-in, not like generic prefab fantasy. The protagonist’s voice, ordinary, tired, a little sarcastic, hooked me right away. That opening line about not being a chosen one sets the tone perfectly. You’re just an ordinary girl trying to survive while the world shifts into a new age, and the game lets you decide who she becomes: manipulative, naïve, brutal, or morally flexible.

The pacing is spot-on. Short passages keep you making decisions constantly, whether to blush, lie, or stab a problem in the face, so the momentum never drops. Hyperlinks hide deeper lore for those who want it, but there are no forced info-dumps. Origin choices, skill checks, and stat growth all feel natural; use a skill, and it improves. Play cunning, charming, violent, or vulnerable, and the world remembers, not in a fake “all roads lead to the same town” way, but with lasting consequences.

The writing is sharp. Choices feel personal, and characters react in ways that matter. Skill checks don’t just add flavor, they change scenes entirely. You can sweet-talk your way out of trouble or beat it into submission, and both feel satisfying.

Adult content? Definitely in there and spicy, but it’s tied to character growth rather than pure shock value. You can keep things prudish, lean into debauchery, or land anywhere in between, and the story adapts. Scenes work emotionally as well as physically, and characters have real agendas, no cardboard cutout sexbots here. The simple UI, clean map, and thoughtful icons make navigation painless, with polish in all the right places.

Is it perfect? No, I want more routes and bigger consequences in some areas, but that just makes me impatient for updates. If you like text-focused RPGs with strong writing, replayability, and a protagonist you’ll either root for or exploit, play this. I came for “something to click through” and stayed because I actually care about the world and its characters. 5/5, will absolutely replay when the next update drops.

I'm going to assume the vast majority of the player base of F95zone is men. Summarizing heavily here, there was a study recently that polled women like to read their porn compared to men that watched it. I laughed at all the memes of the booktok freaks that would read smut in the middle of public. This game now opened my eyes to what they see.

The MC's lore is selectable based on what race you are in the kingdom. It goes deep very quickly and ties in to a lot of the story as you progress. You can tell the writing was well thought out and unlike most other stories you see on this site, this isn't your typical porn writing. Without spoiling too much, you'll find your companions rather quickly to achieve your goal specific to your race I mentioned earlier. I've only played through 2 routes but so far so good.

Gameplay is simple, there's skill checks based on what you leveled up at the start. It allows you to change your role in the game to whatever you'd like, such as being an intelligent woman seducing your way out of situations, or even a metaphoric demon that lays ass beatings should the situation arrive.

5/5 would goon again

Well that was unexpectedly excellent for just a random game choice to fill in some time. Played through to end of current content in one sitting and sad it finished. Yes I understand not finished yet, but obviously a good indicator.

I've absolutely adored this game ever since I bumped into it a little over a year ago!

Text based games tend to revolve around oversized walls of text one after another with little choice in self-expression. Just 10 pages of text, "next" repeat, where you barely get to act or do anything once every 5 minutes of reading. A game is a game, if I want to do nothing but read, I'll go read a book.

Inner Empire avoids all that completely! The passages are short and concise, yet no less effective in describing what's going on than any other. The short passages mean you're constantly taking actions and making choices to shape your character, even if it's just tiny reactions like blushing or giggling. The others always react to what you do, making it feel like a genuine dialogue, or a role playing game. Yet the full lore & descriptions are still there, accessible through hyperlinks when appropriate.

All in all, the gameplay, immersion and user-experience is superb. The writing itself is excellent, and the story - though it's only barely started - feels very intriguing. I absolutely love the characters, and especially the way the game allows me to play as myself as a sub, but in the way I want.

Coming across female protagonist games as well-written as this is rare. This is a full-fledged RPG with character stats/attributes where you choose a starting origin story for your female protagonist. The corruption/sexy parts are not central to the story, but there's a LOT of that shit.

One thing I noted was how nuanced the 'corruption' aspects are in this game. Somehow, it feels like the fem protag's corruption (should you choose to go down that route) is not only for the male gaze or the pleasure of the male audience; the protagonist herself is enjoying it and in the process- growing as a person, learning new things about herself and forming new connections with people. There is also a detailed scene about tending to a girl who is going through her period- which was unexpected. What I will say is- either the creator is a woman or a man who at least tries to understand women's perspectives regarding sexuality, misogyny and other gender issues. You can be as prudish or as slutty as you want in this game, which allows you to make your own headcanon regarding your protagonist's openness, psychology, origin and why she's doing what she's doing.

Most other games that I've seen which approach the corruption aspects from a nuanced, female-aware perspective tend to avoid dark, taboo things like rape, slavery or blackmail. This game doesn't shy away from those things- which lends credibility to its dark fantasy worldbuilding. The worldbuilding and lore has been quite fantastic so far- and it's only gonna build from here. I can honestly say that I'm hooked to the lore of the Civilized Realms and Valatean Republic.

The story so far has been quite well-paced. Whenever it starts to get boring, the game gives a shock moment that you cannot see coming. All the characters are also very well-written, believable and have their own agendas/motivations; getting to learn new things about them is very fun. So far the story has lacked an overarching objective or a primary point; but the well-maintained pace and the characters more than make up for it.

This is a very ambitious RPG that has been quite well-executed so far. My only gripes are- 1. The game could introduce a full-body avatar for the female protagonist (so that we could see her outfits and not just her face) 2. In some places it kinda becomes obvious that the writer's first language is not English. I believe proofreading/editing by a native speaker will do this game some good.

However these are minor flaws and this game definitely deserves 5 out of 5 stars. If I had the means I would support the creator on Patreon. All the best!

Reviewing this for 1.8.
Here is a few things I have to say for this game. So far, it has been great, but I still have some... feedback.

Good things:
- Narrative elements.
I think everyone who have played this game will agree with me when I say this game is very well-written, from the start to the latest update. The care that was given to, say, your choice of ethnicity, for example, is very refreshing and impressive to read. If we're talking about the stylistic choice, it's also pretty good.

-Gameplay:
It's very simple and definitely in the style of your visual novel rather than pen and paper RPG, at least so far. You don't have to think much, but there is still the importance of choosing the right skill to improve to fit the situation. Despite being simple, it doesn't take away from the fun of the game at all, yet it still offers the "idea" (I will get back to this later) that you are given a choice to make a decision if, say, you are to use intrigue over mind.

-Porn:
Really good! Definitely amazing. There are a lot of niches, and the dynamic between the characters as you have sex is definitely the highlight for me for the latest update

Negative:
-Narrative:
There is one thing that I am a bit disappointed with in this game is that the idea of choosing your own path is merely an "idea". While yes, certain choices do matter for you to get appropriate dialogue to get insight, for example, I want it to be more consequential. For example, when you tried to save a certain someone by swimming, you were actually given a choice between agility and vigor, but at the end of the day, the only way for you to save the person was by using vigor, eliminating the need to go for agility entirely. This is one of the easiest examples because you know, you might just want to go for agility for roleplay, but I think rewarding a player for choosing a certain path that you provided would be better than stumping them halfway. I am not saying you have to provide a path for all 5 attributes in different situations, but if it's there, I wish it would be more consequential.

The other thing that is somewhat related to this is too much inconsequential flavor after you pass a certain check. It is good and I appreciate it because it gives characters to the writing and the story as a whole, but if it's going to clutter the writing production itself, adding more words and workload, why bother? I think the whole situation with the house in the forest is the best example for this. I get it, it was funny and cute, but also, again, if you have to pass more than 2 checks for basically nothing, when you know you'll have to code it in (more workload), why not just... don't? Spread it around the updates, but don't go overboard with these "stuffs", and make sure that when checks exist, most of the time it was for something important, or reward your player for it.

As far as the story itself, we're still in the beginning, so there is not much to judge for, other than that massively important choice regarding that certain someone. But, the writing so far is very stellar, so I have high hopes for the game.

Gameplay:
There is not much to say, it's pretty simple.

There is one thing that I wish to be done, and that is to give a bonus stat for choosing a certain origin to reflect their backstory in the game sense. I get it, you have unique dialogues for each of the origins, but also, how can someone described as cunning and well-read not have at least a single mind skill? I think giving someone, say a noble, a stat boost in mind and/or intrigue to further translate "Lore to the game" would have been a great idea.

All in all, despite all of my "complaints" it didn't really take away anything major from enjoying this game tho, that's why I still give it 5 stars, but I say that is thanks to the fact that we're still pretty early in the story.

V1.8.

I finished the current version. I followed my preferences and took a kind-and-strong lesbian route and I managed to avoid every interaction with guys except the threesome where I stayed a virgin and focused on the girl only when possible.

Rejecting pushy guys and rapists is satisfying. Also feels good to develop non-sexual/brother-in-arms relationships with good guys, although it seems hard to enforce non-sexual friendship.

Clearly it's not the way the game is intended to be played or what the characters were supposed to be, but it feels good to have that option! Maybe along the way, there will be an option to stay a lesbian and build a strong friendship/brotherhood bond with the guys of the troupe, enough that they will protect/hide you against the biases of society?
Hell, maybe you can help a brother hook up with a girl (maybe together) and high five after the deed! Probably not, but one can dream.

Looking forward to the rest of the game, even if it goes against my preferences: the story is interesting for now, sexual character aside. Let the dev cook!

I tried the initial release a while back. Game showed good potential, but was quite short. With the 1.8 version the game is now much longer, has plenty of choices and the writing quality is excellent. Smut is also good.

Came for porn. stayed for the plot. Excellent cast of characters and good amount of choices to make. Art mod is a godsend and sometimes choices are leaning too much into sex (in a porn game, duh). Waiting for new chapters, I got hooked

As someone who loves text-based games and is perpetually exasperated that all the adult ones seem to be catered towards the same few niche fetishes, this is honestly one of the best games on this website in my opinion.

The imaginary bronze age setting is very interesting, the various elements of the world are so well conceived that it's easy to get immersed in it, from the fictional kish staple food to the fact that there are fucking dinosaurs still running and flying around in this reality.

For a fictional universe RPG, things are pretty grounded within the rules established by the setting.

The PC improves her skills organically by using them throughout the story. This makes the RPG elements very immersive and keeps character growth feeling organic. The only negative aspect is that this requires investment of points to level up once, so it's best to initialize a character with at least a baseline of skills to avoid restricting future choices

The erotic elements are very hot as well.

An absolute gem for all those who don't mind reading

I could easily spend an entire day just playing this game and being immersed in the world this dev created. The story is engaging, the dialogue is believable, and the characters are well written, particularly the female MC. For devs wondering on how to write a strong female protagonist, you should take notes.

Review of v1.7 (released July 2024)

With build v1.8 on its way soon. I thought it a good time to play Inner Empire again and write a review for it now that the content is more substantial since the last time I played it

Inner Empire is the pinnacle of what makes a great female protagonist text based porn game. It has a big story and many different events, scenes and pathways depending on your character stats and choices

The writing is top notch quality, very professionally written in very high level English. I would say English well above my level or English writing skills so that is always a big plus in these kinds of games

The characters have deep backgrounds and you do find yourself growing interested in all the characters you meet

There are a lot of events that you can only discover with specific choices and stats so it provides a high replayability to the game as well

The content has a wide range of fetishes and all the sex scenes are written to the same high quality and are very arousing to read. Because of the high quality writing I think images would actually detract from the experience as you'd end up skipping some of the writing

I am looking forward to the future updates of this game and highly recommend this game to anyone who likes female protagonist h-games and are able to enjoy a game that is purely text based with no adult images

Solid writing in a good text based game that doesn't make stupid grammatical errors.
The more on-rails style is actually helpful in that the narrative is cohesive and moves along without getting stuck in any sort of sandbox.

The choices are enough. Treat this like a narrow CYOA and you'll have a good time

The game does a good job of representing the text-based game genre in the style of the 90s. The story is well-written and doesn't get too wordy, and the leveling and character progression systems are interesting.
However, there's one major downside - it's not really a porn game at all. It's more like a text-heavy game with some erotic elements, but that's about it.
Visually, it's pretty simple, but it gets the job done. The gameplay is solid, with lots of depth and well-crafted text. But I think it needs a bit more visual flair to really stand out for an adult audience.
Overall, if you're into text-based RPGs, this game is worth checking out. It would have earned a 4 out of 5 rating if it hadn't been positioned as a porn game. Therefore, based on my unfulfilled expectations, I reduce the rating by 1 star.

Great narrative and gameplay experience. The graphics do not look too invitingly at the first sight, but the immersion is certainly worth it. I would highly recommend and hope it will not be abandoned.

It has been quite an engaging experience so far.

The characters are fleshed out, they all feel like people, the story is intriguing. I'm curious to see where it all leads to.

And more Yuturna, needs more Yuturna for sure.

Very interesting and engaging game. Like it so much. Waiting for story to continue. It consists captivating story, unique depth mechanics. Every decision fells meaningful and I'm eagerly awaiting to uncover more layer of its story

Rarely have I come across such a great narrative that focuses on story rather than just bland sex all the time. A thoroughly entertaining experience. Can't wait for more updates to this amazing adventure game.

Well written scenes that with choices to characterize your playthrough. The choices don't really change a lot of the big outcomes, but they do offer some different approaches to problems. I like the idea of trading XP for an instant boost for one choice versus saving enough to buy an attribute level up. Mostly text based with a few images, but the writing is good. The worldbuilding is interleaved into the story very smoothly, no info dumps and if you want to read up more you can optionally click on the fictional infoblurbs to learn more about the world.