Unity - Portals of Phereon [v0.29.0.0] [Syvaron]

I was hoping for some kind of tutorial for a game with THIS many ui elements immediately thrust at you, but instead I got a text wall with tiny font size explaining that things like arena battles exist. I stumbled blindly into my first combat and died in a single turn. I went back to the same encounter and died AGAIN in a single turn.

cons:
way too gay for a straight person
constant misgendering (everyone is a she)
almost everyone has a penis (still troubled reconciling this with the above point)

pros:
great gameplay
interesting character design/art, just wish there was even more of it.

conclusion, im more into the sexual division between males and females, making everyone have everything removes a lot of what is interesting in the natural world.

still, the gameplay is good enough that its worth trying out if you can ignore/enjoy the transculture it is. unlike a lot of games on f95, it has depth, you can play this one for a long time if you like it.

Impressively complex monster girl farm management rpg. Syvaron is a savant pumping out great quantity of gorgeous art and doing some crazy programming and balancing wizardry to make such a massive game work.

The game has a wiki with a comprehensive guide and FAQ and a very active Discord open for beginner questions.

Don't be intimidated by the complexity, the game start options have a very customizable difficulty settings so you can make it as easy or hard as you like.

a slightly confusing interface, but it still has a very nice art style and overall good gameplay. and it's really hard (at least it was for me) But once you get the hang of it, things start to get a lot easier.

This game just throws you in without any good explenation on what to do but overload you with possibilities from the start.
This game really needs a serious overhaul on how to start cause the way you begin does not feel like a start but like returning to a game months after you spent 50 hours and have forgotten everything about it.

You'll love it or you'll get overwhelmed by it. This a lewd game for gamers. Been playing various versions for a while and it's feeling rather complete these last few iterations.

This might be the deepest sex game I know of outside of modded Free Cities. Much like it, this isn't something you're likely to get a quick fap out of, though it does ooze sexiness and the art is super duper good in a tasteful kind of way.

The more you play, the more you understand and eventually become good with the various systems. It's legitimately challenging plus you're able to crank the difficulty up to ludicrous levels; throwing a bunch of cheats at it is also an option. There's a great achievement system if you don't and loads of "girls" you can unlock through breeding, capturing, evolving, events, etc. Don't pass this one up if you have the time.

Unexpectedly good gameplay that keeps you hooked for tens of hour. Great art, very varied with many new pieces each update. Regular updates (about 2 months) that adds each time new characters, events, bugfixes etc...
Overall a great game made with love supported by an active community (especially on discord).

1 week later and it turned out to be one of the best monster girl games I've ever played, I loved it!

Now, there are minor things here and there, mainly balance stuff, but again, these are just details, the lore, the unique art, the management part of the game and the turn based strategy gameplay,
all these are the strongest parts of the game.

The disadvantage would be the sound, it does not exist, I personally do not care, but it is something to take into account. Dating is really good but there is room for more... maybe content, there are only minor events you can do on a date like eating, hunting, drinking, relaxing, exploring, fishing and that's all in the city? Its not a complain but something to keep an eye on, its not a dating sim after all

I loved the game and if anyone is reading this and hasn't played it before and likes H and rpg games then it's definitely worth the time

peoples saying the ui is a mess is an understatement its a pile of dogshit literally the simplest task is hard because the same fucking words will be on 10 buttons at the same time and you'll wonder why the game is constantly screaming No Character meets the requirements as you wonder why you are even bothering with this shit when you can get any vn or dating sim game and nut for less effort or play an actual game for good gameplay

I tried v 0.20.0.0

This is one of those rare porn games that actually have some depth to them. If you're looking for a game with interesting plot and mechanics, then this is that. However, the porn is lacking. There's only a few scenes, and fewer animations.You'll probably keep playing long after the porn stops being interesting. Many of the scenes are very good, but repetitive, and sparse. I don't regret spending time on it, but I do hope that they're better able to merge the existent game with better porn in the future.

So the biggest issue is the difficulty, and while I enjoy a game that will beat my ass something doesn't feel right about it in this game. I think I might know what that is too, none of the mechanics mesh together to allow me to move beyond the initial difficulty. So the basics are you can breed monsters, train them, and explore. Breeding seems to waste time because none of the ones I got were better by a noticeable degree to the parents, but then you might think shouldn't you train them to get better offspring? You'd think but you're more likely to lose training matches than win any unless you take on ones far below your levels and aren't actually worth it. So your next assumption would be to go explore a low level area to earn some kind of boon but you're even less likely to survive the portals you can explore than training. Nothing you can do helps you complete what you're suppose to do and makes everything feel pointless.

This game is just excellent. The potential is huge. The monster girl variaty is awesome and the art is simply amazing.
It reminds me a lot of my favorite adult game 'Strive for Power', though, there is still a lot of room for work to truly become a masterpiece.
In some other ways, it reminds me of 'Disciples II', which I dearly love as well.

I want to share some feedback on what can be improved from my perpsective though.

I believe it desperetely needs something to drive it off that path where it just becomes a grindfest without any purpose other than 'catch em all' sandbox. It needs difficulty and story to keep player from only repetitive action, it requires an adventure.

Also I'd like to mention that huge variaty it has might just be too overwhelming, the pace that it's unfolding kind of sucks the gameplay dry too quickly, each birth brings so many eggs and happens so fast that eventually there's just so many monsters coming out it becomes so tidy and unpleasent trying to manage them. Maybe it would be a good idea to somehow reduce all this breeding to emphasize each monster a bit more, slow the pace. You know, like make it a requirement to raise affection to actually do the breeding (or choose a rape path instead) or something like that, so that each girl interaction would become more meaningfull and also reduce the egg count, etc.

Still a magical game - 10/10.

The site just nuked the review I was writing and I do not want to do it all over again, sorry.

Game is fantastic and I keep wanting to come back to it to try new things, which, IMO, is the simplest sign of a well-designed game. While there is plenty of sexual content, Phereon is a game first and foremost, which puts it ahead of 99% of the interactive pornos here. The art is fantastic as well; I really dig the style.

If you're on the fence on trying it, I'd absolutely go for it. It's a little overwhelming at the very start, but pursuing your immediate objectives is the best way to play as a beginner. Train your team, make money doing quests and the arena fights. Get some maidens characters by seducing them in the overworld. Do the king's quests. Start breeding stronger characters. Seduce the town for extra upgrades and some decent fighters. Go fight the baddies.

My only gripes were that there is no sound or music, and that the NPC relationships were somewhat shallow. I like the introductory event storylines alright, but some actual writing for the main town NPCs would be appreciated.

Amazing artwork, as always, and fun management. I haven't started the portal/battle part of it because exploring the game mechanics takes time an is fun. I love the futa options and the variety of characters, too. Thanks, Syvaron!

Short Summary:
Fantastic combat
Fantastic art
Interesting ways to level the MC
Same applies to companions
Very unique
Complex / Overwhelming
LOTS of systems (Combat, Breeding, Brothel...)
Sometimes difficult
Hard to fap to
Micro-managing galore

If you've come here for an easy game and a little penis fiddling, leave

Longer Summary:
This game is unique and complex to say the least.
I have sank more hours into it than i like to admit, and i dont think i fapped once. And yet- it is one of my favourite porn games.
I don't have the energy to cover every feature of the game, so i'll shoot for three main parts:


PoP is like an onion - it has many layers
Combat, Dating, Breeding, Fusing, Exploring, Side Quests... etc...
I will admit, the game is daunting and confusing at first, and the game is so complex that the in-game tutorials do not help. You will have to visit the wiki if you wish to survive.
This is the metaphorical wall that will stop you enjoying the game as much, BUT, if you scale this wall, it is very pretty on the other side.
(I recommend you use the Wiki's starter tutorial to help you climb said wall)
Part of me thinks the gameplay is too bloated, stuffed to the brim with features, but this also gives it some incredible replayability, and a high skill ceiling for challenge.

Now comes the porn -
Fantastic artworks. Need i say more?
Yes - You definitely wont be getting off to this game anywhere other than the gallery honestly, it's like playing a game, which also just has hot, naked creatures and the occasional sex scene.
I don't think this is a problem, however, i can see why someone would

Lastly i'll touch on the 'story'
The game is very sandboxy, so don't expect anything compelling.
Each of the three characters have a different objective, A single main goal, but i found myself loosing sight of it completely while playing. It was practically irrelevant.
Though, i did find myself enjoying the little character side quests, i just wish they were a little more fleshed out and meaningful, but i feel the lack of a story line makes that difficult, so they will never be anything more than a lil side objective.

Easily my favorite porn game. The art style is great, and it's actually playable as a game, which can't be said for every game. There are a lot of great monster girl designs, and the unique NPCs all feel like actual characters, and not a blank slate with tits. Fairly heavy on Futa, which isn't a bad thing, just something to be aware of going into it. My only issue is that if you're playing as the Futa character, the antagonist tends to scale heavily if you don't take care of it, so you can't really focus on doing things in town entirely, even in sandbox.

The most recent version I've played is 16.0.

Review as of v. 0.18.

Good game but it tends to forget it is just a porn game.

There is a lot of depth to this game but with that comes many issues. The game is an SRPG with a lot of micro-management. It is liquid poop. It has improved a lot but making a good original strategy game without plagiarizing the few ones that pulled that out is just that hard. You, as the player, will absolutely get destroyed on your first playthroughs because the game has too many mechanics. Lots of mechanics are unclear, making some moves a dice roll when it is not meant to be. Of course, the interface is messy too. You might also get into softlocks because some mechanics are broken or get discouraged because most obvious exploits had a quick stupid fix that will mess your strategy (yes, exploits are part of a good strategy, FYI strategists do not play fair). Getting an overwhelming victory is still possible but the amount of micro-management/farming necessary to pull that off makes that victory very bitter. The game is actually aware that it is broken and will recommend you start with a short playthrough. All that suffering could have been avoided if the game stayed simple.

The art is good. And there are a bazillion waifus. Most just have a standing portrait with minor variations but it is still impressive. The dev is an artist.

The scenes are forgettable. In most cases, you are just informed a dick/ass/pussy is being used. The porn is an entire part of the gameplay thus you are expected to fap to the gameplay. Though, if you fap to the gameplay I would say you have shit tastes. At least fap to chess.

The game does receive updates and maybe will be worth playing later. If you want to check the game, do yourself a favor and play it in easy. However, you may still lose because you will not know what makes the game easy.

Version v0.18.0.1 at time of this review.

This game has porn in it, quite a lot of porn, but really what makes this game shine is that it is actually just a good game as well. Its a mesh of pokemon/breeding sims and X-Com like strategy games but its a hell of a lot more balanced then X-Com and its few clones.

There is also an incredible amount of content in the game as of this current version. Ive played this since its first release and have beaten it a few times at this point (Only with the evolution character atm) and I usually wait a few versions before playing it again to see the new monsters and some CGs. But this most recent time i decided to just play it and go for the achievements and boy was i surprised by just how much content is in this game and how I apparently missed it each and every time since i focused purely on breeding and basically ignored my companions and the NPCs.

Which brings me to my only complaint, it is hard to follow some of the questlines since there is no actual indication of you actually being on some of them, like the Avy demon storyline that requires you to use the map at somepoint and go an area you normally never interact with.

The game lacks creative direction.
Too many ideas are at work within the game and pulls it apart in many aspects, the game forces you to play it by using all mechanics at its disposal.
These mechanics are pulling in polar opposite directions as your investing a disproportionate amount of time into specific aspects interpersonally with some of the characters but the lack of physical growth (stats or even just keeping the character constant for any purpose) is heavily evident as you need to build and drop repeatedly to farm for higher and higher strength.
Ultimately this reminds me of xcom with dating sim elements, except your the one directly killing the characters because your forced to rather than accidentally losing them. Gameplay is somewhat refined and balanced and those aspects pulling at every end are tearing immersion rather than the game itself which is why I gave it 4 and not 3 or less.

The game needs some automation aspects like auto-fill with the best equipment.
REALLY FREAKING NEEDS TUTORIAL, there is so many aspects of the game that you learn through experience which really sucks the new player experience. Dating, sex, fighting is half decent, interactions with NPCs, guild, the map & why things highlight as they do, etc. These all really need individual tutorials.
The balance around stamina needs to be fixed more, the value of an action is purely on the stamina-reward output rather than anything else, makes some things prohibitively unbalanced.
The balance around players own personal time needs to be fixed a lot more, as those actions that are balanced around stamina also aren't that balanced around real time as well.

I really don't want to give this game such a low score, but I feel like it's the only way the most honest description I can give, because I don't think I could ever recommend this to anyone despite spending a lot of time trying to get it to work for me.

As it is (At version 0.17.0.1), the game has gone through years of proggress, and I can see how much work and effort the devs have put into the game. But at the same time, I can't ignore that the end-result has become something incoherent. It feels like there are at least three games here fighting for control, with all the mechanics, gameplay systems and stats you need to track. It's an SRPG/Pokemon/Dating/Breeding/Roleplaying/Brothel Management-game, where all the disparate systems fail to make an enjoyable whole.

To go into the details a little bit, I think the SRPG/ranch-management system is the strongest part of the game, and what the game should be focused around. The exploration, combat and team-building feel like what the game "should" be themed around, but that that experience has been intervowen with so many ideas and needlessly micromanaged mechanics, that actually enjoying that part of the game is a slog. You "have to" engage in breeding and fusing and arena-battles, and shipping units to the library and the tavern, and also dating them??? The monster-girls and units you collect are your teammates, and dating partners, but also your "pets" you can breed and send off, and also just things for you to pimp out? There is a dissonance in what fantasy the game is trying to convey, beyond just making numbers go up and seeing and unlocking cool new forms to play with.

Clearly, this sort of fantasy is something that speaks to some players, however, so I don't want to be too hard on it either. I would personally enjoy it more, if a lot of the the micromanagement of your sex skill-levels, dating-scores, jobs, lewdities and maybe even some items and inventory slots were greatly reduced or even removed, or linked to just having specific body-parts. The brothel-system, also feels like it doesn't fit a game like this, or rather, it feels like you should be getting more from it rather than just money. (after all, what value is money going to have in an apocalypse-scenario?) I feel like it would feel better to have a lot more functions of the game linked with improving and building up your home/ranch, which then powers up your exploration- and combat-abilities, rather than having so many "bubbles" that all have to be appeased by adding in corresponding stats of that "bubble" to every character (genetics, bodyparts, brothel value, inventory slots, arena ranks etc....)