Iris Chronicle is somewhat of a legendary game in a sense. A remake coming 12 years after the original. And personally I think despite it's shortcomings, the sheer amount of polish, effort, and love put into this title, it deserves a high rating.
First off the story is solid. I didn't complete all the endings because I couldn't be assed to grind anymore hours, but I've seen enough. The characters are pretty forgettable aside from Dahlia and Iris. There are some interesting turns, but for what it is, a porn game, it's good enough to keep you entertained while you strangle your goblin.
The HCG's are what you're here for and man oh man that is 100% where the polish went into this game. Obviously they reused many of the assets from the last game, but they are all still all good. There are a ton of different fetishes to find here, especially if you like interspecies sex, and a ton of them are about as filthy and degenerate as they can get. Vore, expansion/inflation, lactation, anal, tentacle, and more. The best part as that each girl has a different pose for the same enemy, which is great because if you would rather a close up behind shot of one girl getting fucked in the ass or a front shot with her face in frame, you have somewhat of a choice.
However there are a lot of aspects of the game that leave a ton to be desired. I'll list them in no particular order:
- First off, game over Ero scenes should be downright illegal in the Hentai game scene at this point. I ended up just using cheat engine to enjoy the scenes, because without it you are constantly having to manage health to view any of the battle fucking.
- There is really not enough scenes with human characters. I mean seriously becoming such a slut I feel we should have been able to have both the feMC's doing a lot more, especially in town. The first scene in the game made me think we might have some hot forced dirty talk scenes in the game, but it's really the only time it happens
- There really, really... REALLY should have been pregnancy in this game I feel. I get that adds more to development, but so many of the scenes are bugs, slugs, or monsters trying to breed the MC's and we already have womb expansion and pussy cleaning mechanics. Why have these things shooting "White liquid" into their holes without an outcome. It would have added so much more to see them shooting slugs out their ass, or birthing spider clutches. Jumble Strikers (
RJ294780) did this very well, and I would love to see it implemented in this game
- As said by others, the mid section of the game is a slog, and I'm glad I had the game at 5x speed to make it through.
- I really wish we had more clothing options, even just in changing accessories. But I understand that would be a nightmare with the real 2D work they had to do with the clothing options already available
And lastly I would love if I could have a conversation with Japanese developers about a little thing called Ludonarrative dissonance. For those who don't know, Ludonarrative dissonance is when the gameplay of a game does not match up with the story, creating a sense of disconnect. In Iris Chronicle, there really is no sense of your actions during gameplay having any effect on the world. The characters barely change, there's little to no dialogue as they become sluts. And you can show up to the guild hall naked, with your womb so full of cum it's bulging, and it's barely talked about. There's no discussion between Daliah and Iris during or after getting fucked... I mean personally for me, this is the biggest reason the game doesn't get perfect marks. Some devs can get this part right, and I hope more learn how to do it.
I wish this site had 10 stars to rate by. If it did, I would rate this game an 8/10. It's excellent for what it does, and even if it does reuse assets, the layering on the real 2D is so incredibly hot.
I look forward to the next game from Oiran Ichimi, and hopefully we can see something new next time!