RPGM - Renryuu: Ascension [v24.08.09] [Naughty Netherpunch]

• Plot: The somewhat depressed and bored by life MC gets insta promoted from draconic soldier to King which grants him plenty of opportunities to cure his boredom by having sex with A LOT of women. Also, there is some kind of grand quest about how someone wants to destroy the world and MC got to stop him while enjoying himself in the process.
• Game mechanics: There is a lot of them(world battles,crafting,raids, country managment, diplomacy, monstergirl capture...) and I personally love it. It can be quite confusing if you are just starting the game, but you learn them as you go.
• Characters and their development: There is a lot of characters and this a quantity over quality type of game in this aspect. As in, there is somewhat a glimpse of personality in the text you are reading, but that glimpse always ends up in them wanting to have sex with MC.
• Art: Custom sexy battle sprites(!) and good artwork for the numerous sex scenes overall.

Considering everything Renryuu: Ascension is a really good h-game to pass your time, just do not expect it to be TLS in terms of writing.

This is a review for Renryuu: Ascension 21.04.06. I have never played this game before and gave it a try of about 10 hours. It was very confusing, frustrating, and I don't feel like continuing.

The player is a half-dragon demonic piece of cardboard that just happened to hold the right piece of rock at the exact right moment, then he becomes king of a kingdom, for some inexplicable reason. In the first 30 minutes, I am torn from the academy/tutorial area where I was learning the ropes and tossed into a throne room and given command of a fantasy kingdom. Now I must learn about to manage my kingdom's economy, set policies, set taxation, etc. I can improve the kingdom, create farms, mines, watchtowers, create armories, research, manage the army, keep the army happy, keep the peasants happy, declare war, shut down borders, and so on and on. All this in the first 60 minutes! This is just too much stuff introduced too early.

And then we're back to a recognizeable JRPG. We as the king and his entourage of low-level companpions are now able to freely travel around the city, run into people's houses and steal their chest contents. There are side quests on a bounty board outside your castle for you to do. Outside the city, the world map opens up and lets you travel your kingdom and visit many locations right away. If you weren't overwhelmed before, now you certainly are! Where am I supposed to go? I guess I'll follow the main quest then and do some side-quests if I'm able. This way I quickly met up with 6+ more companions, and they're all about as interesting as dusty plywood. This game seems to go for many companions with few skills and learning nothing new. Wait, there's a skill point system, this is where I am supposed to get new skills? And the skill point pool is shared so if I invest in one character I'm neglecting the others? And the skill points are from items earned from bosses, and found from chests and hidden around the map, and there's a finite amount of them? So I have to comb the place and touch everything or risk missing out on skill points which it seems I really need for battles? This doesn't feel any fun.

So I as the king of this realm, pretty much leave the main city and go rummage through some elderly people's house. I find an imprisoned elf in their cellar who becomes a follower, I find a moving box in a garrison who turns out to be a melee brawler who also becomes my follower, I find a vampire in a coffin in a dungeon, and while I love killing vampires, this vampire too becomes my follower because the cardboard monarch says so. As of yet I haven't been able to tell anyone to fuck off. Later I find a thief, and a mage, and by now I'm having trouble keeping track of who's who and what they can do, what their stats are, what their skills are, what their equipment are, and I fear there are even more followers to come. All this you get to keep track of, in addition to everything else I mentioned earlier. So right now, I and my followers are roaming the realm acting as a royal murder-hobo and his big group of wierd randos looking for items in holes in the ground. The other NPCs are as surprised as I am to meet their king.

The game's plot progresses to the nearby nation, and as the monarch I can just visit another country straight away. There there's mostly just forgettable dialog and a few level-ups from story xp but eventually we meet a group of three soldiers in a dungeon cellar while trying to rescue a mage and they one-shot our entire party by using magical AOE attacks in a row. We go from a party of full-health level 20s to practically dead in two enemy actions by what seems like total mooks. I buy rings of elemental resistance of that type of damage, and equip my whole party with them so that I can survive that bullshit AOE. It makes no difference and we die the same way again, and again, and again. What the hell. I never got to learn the strenght of the soldiers, they only have a colored health bar without numbers, as soon as we got one down to below half health, out came the game-over AOE. I don't know if I'm underleveled or what type of damage they are resistant too or how I could migitate their spell-based bullshit, but when they attack me with melee, their damage is negligable.

Legends say there supposed to be some porn hidden somewhere in this game. It seems to have a fully fleshed out gallery setting, with tons of unlockable content! I had high hopes when I first saw it. But after ten hours, I've seen the intro boobjob, and the four castle maids which you access to when you become king, and nothing else. So the sexy bits seem to be hidden pretty deep, it really felt like I wasn't about to see anything more for at least another 10+ hours. I tried this game for the pornz, not the kingdom simulation or the JRPG. But there are saved games online which I can borrow, so I do that, head into the gallery and am disappointed yet again! As of the latest version that nice looking busty elf that's been tagging along since I found her in that cellar, after 4 years of development, still apparently doesn't have a sex scene! But all these other wierd randos have? There's so many characters in the gallery that there even are categories of them! Elf 1, 2, 3, non-human 1, 2, 3 etc. Wait, some are just drawn clotherd character CGs. Not all characters in here have a sex scene, in fact it seems like most of them don't. And my fetish, the one that's among the game tags and in the genre description. 1 scene so far. Sad trombone.

I know there's a giant 147 page long walktrough available but skimming trough it, it doesn't really seem targeted towards new players. I don't care about the kingdom mechanics because, while I chose some places to be upgraded I never advanced the turns so no progress were ever made towards their completion. I tried it out for kicks and got told a fire had broken out in my city. Cool. It doesn't really feel like a JRPG mixes well with a kingdom simulator (manager?). An important visitor has arrived for the king but he's currently away rummaging through people's houses and looking down holes for skill stones. Let's discuss the kingdom's finances my king. -Can't, got to go fight some monster girls.

This game got its fair chance and I'm deleting it.

Edit: I've been thinking about this rating and I am increasing its score from 2 to 3 stars because I do want to recognize the hard work that has gone into this game.

This game lives and dies by it's terrible writing and bland characters.
There are some interesting management and ruling gameplay elements, sure...
But if the protagonist has the personality of a particularly boring brick, and all the girls are nothing more than boring anime tropes, with nothing to make them stand out, then there really isn't much to draw me in. The writing has 2012- fanfic levels of quality.
Not to mention the fact that the scenes are bland as hell.
If you need good writing and characters to get into a game, then this isn't the one for you

The Gameplay is very rewarding and reminiscent of strategy RPG games it shows a lot of potential for future development and story expansion. A few areas I think could use more improvement or more attention are the game's pregnancy system and the overall story length of the romanceable characters as it is at its current stage of development the number of companion and romance quests/options feels short opting for sheer quantity over quality. overall the game is still worth hours of rewarding gameplay and well-designed art.

Possibly one of the best RPGM games out there even though it is still in development. I'm looking forward to its release on steam so i can properly buy it.

Pros:
Extensive gameplay, like legit a lot of stuff to do without you getting bored or feeling it is repetitive, my save file already has 71 hours in it, i probably have only 1 or 2 hours more of quests to finish though.

Cons:
There are some missing features which could be said they are missing earlier in the game, like wars are not implemented which made me worry about it even though there was no need.

Would be nice to have:
Although this feels more like a game than porn it would be nice to have some animations for the sex scenes or even some of them to be better drawn, but at this point i'm just looking for hair on an egg, the game itself is already really good.
Walkthrough is a bit outdated, its not needed but it made me find a quest or 2 that i was missing.

Many people will say: "Not another RPGM game"

First of all, if you can't get it to work, tell us!
This game gives you story and images (and it gets better!)

I played through the game and invested around 100h (30h first play, around 70h with my latest save...)

I played this game more often than final fantasy xiv!

The quests are diveres. girls are cute or want to <spoiler alert>

audio: can't tell, i always have audio at zero (if I'm not listening to music)
grafics: nice art, I wish RPGM and RenPy would use the same hotkeys ^^ (more vampire stuff, please :-D=
story: Some parts are told very fast. I get it, but I like to be part of the story, so... this would be -1...
overall

I will buy this game!


I got a lot of fun out of this game and can't wait to see #update incoming....

It is part of my Elite 3 games here.
A big JRPG like FF or Dragon Quest where you reign a kingdom and get a harem of beautiful girls, that you either save from the bottem of your heart or put on the dark side some of them to guantanamo as your own private sex slaves or in the state brothel.
While it easy to get to fuck some of your maids, if you want some brainless sex you are not really at the right place.
This game shines with the story where you travel with your companions and you see how the releationship grows normally without having blackscreen or timeskip on the sex scenes.

This is a gem where you sink 200+ hours and go the road with the developer together because he regulary updates it and each part is like another chapter of a manga but without those annoying cliffhangers. So step on the road to a long travel (but not as long as Ash Ketchum takes for getting champion) because the experience is worth it.

I really really liked that game and the concept how you have to build everything from scratch. All the little details where you have to have certain ressources before you can build that factory. all in all a very entertaining game

Maybe one of the best RPGM games out there, even devs with studios/team rarely post something this good. Your decisions matter but will not lock you out of content but instead take you to a different path. Like romance or simply rape. Combat I'd say is very basic, AOE spells/skills are all you will use unless its a boss fight but it makes up for it with the management system and strategy aspects.

Good sex scenes with many cute women, some are the incarnation of anime tropes but thats a good and makes for some funny moments.

I have not finished all the content present here but I did spend 30 hours playing and let me tell you its a damn good game. Its rare to see an RPGM/Adult game with this level of quality and wide range of content. The companions are all fun to have around and never feel annoying . The companion system is also better than Roundscape.

An ambitious project done right with a determined dev who is very active within the community.

Great and funny dialogue coupled with all types of fetishes and body types to satisfy a lot of players. Worth it simply for the fact that you are the boss of your own kingdom with extensive control on management and strategy.

10/10 support the dev please he earned it

As a game, it offers complex story and gameplay that enjoyable event without adult content. As an adult content, the artworks are mostly fresh with many of them not using common assets. The storyline is unique for adult games in same category. Some grinding could be boring but can be improved

Renryuu: Ascension is a wonderful RPGM game, and one of the first that I had ever played. This review will be a reflective look over when I started playing (Pre V20) and when I played again recently for new content. I'll break it all down into segments for easy reading as well. Also potential *SPOILERS*.

Story
So, as many people have said in their reviews of this game, the story is very hit and miss. You play as Ryen, a dragconic half-breed who seemingly is written in a way that he is apathetic to most things, except sex. His motivations seem rather lackluster, as he is just bored with his academy/adventurer guild lifestyle so by chance he becomes king.

Interestingly, not only does Ryen not have much motivation for anything, but his girlfriend (Tsubaki) doesn't have many aspirations besides being with Ryen. Which is strange given that she starts with the base score that all other characters do, and is probably one of the hardest characters to sleep with. (See new blade quest for better understanding) I recognise what the wiki says, however it doesn't feel like it correlates with the game well enough.

Anyhow, the story carries on as you play as king, with your sidekick paladin "friend" called Trey who sadly feels a little underwritten. I sense that when playing with him, he is supposed to be a very "for the people" kinda guy, but doesn't comment enough on your decisions, especially in the policy tree. (Like slavery, drug legality, etc.)

During your duties as king you basically are an adventurer with vast wealth, and can more or less do what you like. After your introductions in the castle are made, you get to look over the country overview, which is honestly one of the biggest highlights of this game that seperates this from your average RPGM.

This overview screen allows you to fully customise your country, and gives you more places to visit, which can lead to new scenes. It also has resource management which gives you some variety over your average fighting in RPGM games, which for a genre of games like this is a real breath of fresh air.

You also have the policies, as a briefly touched upon above, which allows you to set the laws for your land. Other than changing small stats of your nation, such as happiness, knowledge, religion, etc. These do have minor gameplay changes, as you will see some of your citizens behave differently. For example, if you make slavery legal, in the brothel you will see the slave seller, which is usually in the thieves guild area.

Throughout the game you uncover a plot with relation to some artifacts, and a certain someone you know is behind it. Your goal is to stop them from the madness that is their end goal. Now, the story itself here is fine, but because of how the pacing of the game feels, and the characters involved, I personally find myself more engrossed in the side characters as opposed to the main plot. This is entirely my opinion, you may feel differently on that one.

So, what are the side quests like? Well, they are actually quite interesting. Most side quests you do that are based around your main characters, which I will leave a link to here to see them all, are interesting and tell you a lot more about them. Not only that, but you are usually rewarded with a scene every quest too. Definitely a bonus.

The other side quests not based around your characters for the most part are okay. Nothing majorly interesting, but not boring either. One quest from the main plot I have found causes issues for players still, with the dev still having to tell people where to go. That being about the mythril pickaxe. I feel by this point, it should probably just be made easier to get, or more obvious to avoid confusion, but at the same time the information is readily available (Thanks to the dev being very active in the community, even on here)

Originality
I've mentioned it quickly above, but I will quickly recap again that I think this game is definitely original in its own right. It takes management aspects not seen very often in this genre and applies them in a meaningful way. You never feel broke or limited in power, and the story can be interesting.

Performance
I can't say I've ever had an issue with this game from memory. So I would say it's pretty solid in terms of performance. Although, with an RPGM I'd seriously hope it would be.

Scenes/animations
Okay, so the part most of us actually care about the most really. How good are the scenes, and are they animated?

Short answer: They are varied in quality. I don't believe any are animated, but I will edit this if I am proven wrong.

Long answer: So the scenes weirdly enough for most characters go from what feels like really low quality images, to really high quality based on how much work you put into each character. I don't think this is intended in a way of rewarding the player with higher quality scenes, more that the original artist was changed at some point.

I personally find it a little disorientating having 2 entirely different art styles of CGs in a game, but again that's my take. The original scenes feel really basic, and not very lively. While the later ones are actually quite good. If I were to offer one core critique from this review, it would be updating old CGs to keep the game flowing with one style. However, I do recognise that this does cost money, and a lot of time.

Grammar
Like in most heavily text based RPGMs there were a few errors along the way. But it remains very consistent throughout the game.

Summary
Renryuu: Ascension has a lot of content. I don't just mean scenes either. The quests are plentiful, the battles can be hard, the characters are intriguing (case by case). The dev clearly invests a lot of time into this game, and interacts very positively with the community on any issues, which in itself should be incentive to support him on if you really like this game. All in all, I will give this game 4/5 stars. It's really good, but certainly has a way to go before being a 5/5 in my eyes.

If you made it to the end of this review, I appreciate you taking the time out to read it, and hope you enjoyed the read too. There was a lot I did want to discuss, about each character, but this is already long enough, and I don't wish to bore people.

A really good game, the art it's beatiful in my opinion, i love these 2d cgs. The characters are funny and full with personality (a little generic some tho) but still a great time having them as partners. The events are pretty cool and the scenes too. The game could be pretty long and that's good because you spend hours playing, want to do more things with everyone and Ryen keeps updating the game so you're getting more hours to play. Even it has some secrets scenes and events only with each character, neat.

5/5 game.

fun game a lot of story's, hours of game play, girls left and right , sex everywhere you go. the artwork is not the best but the story makes up for it.there are lots of areas to explore secrets to be discovers. all kinds of fetishes ,you control most outcomes of how the story develops. i would say play this game if your into games with harem and lots of sex and adventure.

good game with male protagonis. really hate when so many 2dgames using female protagonis and bein rape without knowing nothing. this game actually good for people who want playing Rpg without got heart attack >_<

I have spent a total of 40 hours playing this game and I can tell you it is absolutely worth it.

The characters and dialogue are funny, the kingdom mangement system is intersting and straightforward. Its one of those patreon porn games that don't force you to use a walkthrough for every quest and you will never be locked out of scenes unless you specifically said no to something like rape or decilned a character.

The combat is easy and one of the simplest things in the game, all you need are the AOE characters in your party and nothing will stand in your way.

Overall great management/fantasy H game.

This game caters an immersive game play . There is a lot of content in this game which I am a big fan of. What makes this game stand out more than others is the quality of content delivered, which at all times been very consistent considering how sizable the game is, its absolutely impressive. Would recommended this game to anyone who is into grinding and lore. This literally gives me Runescape vibes.. but without the banging.

The number of features in this game is astounding. On a global scale, you can build buildings, set laws, and influence international relations between your kingdom and others. On a more personal scale, your choices have consequences, there is a large map with 4 kingdoms to explore and many side quests to make the game feel organic and not linear where you are simply doing a chain of quests. And that's not all, there are many other cool features in this game.

The number of hidden events, characters, features and easter eggs make this game feel like it is worth exploring, not just simply getting through quests.

The attention to detail in making unique NPCs populating the game world makes the game feel like the NPCs have their own personalities and lives. This game truly feels like a world and not just a setting for you to do quests in.

I highly recommend this game! This game is the best of its kind. Absolutely amazing!

First: I really wanted to like this game, mostly because of the management system and i am a sucker for management systems.
But...

-the Story is incredibly rushed. you "con" yourself into becoming king in the first 5 minutes of the game (i put that into quotation marks because you basically just walk up the some guards and tell them you are the king and everyone believes you) without any motivation given. you character also really doesn't seem to have an idea what he is going to do and why.
-the Writing reminds me of a 14 y/o's fanfiction. it's shallow and uninteresting. The Worldbuilding is very flat and falls into standard fantasy tropes.
-the Characters of your MC and his companions range from boring to non-existent. They fill some anime character trope and that's basically it.
-the Art and the Sex-Scenes: the art is ok-ish. If it's drawn by the creator i can at least appreciate the effort, but the sex scenes are unpleasing to look at and the writing isn't engaging either.
-the fighting system is... i know i'm using the three same descriptive words over and over again, but what can i say. it's boring. it's standard RPG-Maker combat but everyone, including the enemies, does extremely low damage and coupled with the very few and not very helpful combat skills, this makes for endless and very, very tedious fights.

All in all it is a very poor gaming experience.
Sure, there are a lot of porn-games out there that are so much worse than this, but considering the (very impressive) scope of this game and the huge effort that surely went into making it, it's flaws just stand out a lot more.