Others - Completed - Saraman Union [v1.00] [Pasture Soft]

A good game.

First of all, it has some actual gameplay to it, which is quite nice to have in an H-game.
Although strategy part is very easy, it allows for multiple outcomes and makes the game exciting (at first at least).
Combat is simple, yet allows some tactics.
Arts are good, yet there aren't really whole lot of them.
Some animations exist, yet they are cheap.
There is some additional sex play with girls in the dungeon, but it's very simple and boring.

Unfortunately, a lot of potential is lost.
Game puts some complexity on display, but ends up being quite shallow eventually.
It doesn't really allow you to build a proper harem, some girls end up in your army, some in the dungeon, some in the castle, in most cases you cannot really decide.
Even if you get all the girls there's zero-to-none gameplay in that sense - just a single repeating scene per girl.
Overall, there's basically an hour of gameplay for a single run. Althogh you might want 2 or 3 runs to see what happens if you choose different paths.

A generous score - 7/10.
A fun game for a short while, but leaves you wanting more and better.

(Game is in v1.00 during this review)

Low-porn game with shallow kingdom management and battle systems on top of it.
A lot of systems lead nowhere. A lot of redundant techs and units.
Each character has 1 porn scene. Some might have 2. You can max out affection with your guests, but that doesn't seem to do anything. Prisoner minigame is 2 buttons for groping and one for sex. There is no way to change your relations with the prisoners.

Well I have to say they acutally made a somewhat good game this time around. The translation was kinda iffy and the research lines werent fully translated but even then that's okay since you can basically get the gist of them by looking at the picture they have. The music was pretty good ngl really liked it a lot when compared to their older games the system and managment was also very much improved when compared to their previous management games. However that doenst mean there arent problems. The game can at random points freeze which needs you to cut the game and then restart which losses progress and sometimes even battles need to re done. The marriage system was kinda bad as well instead of a harem idk why they went for one heroine only route when in another game they had a baron basically marrying anyone he could to get more heirs so this seemed kinda strange considering main mc was the duke and then later emperor if you choose that ending, Although they will need to improve the System a lot so it doenst freeze everytime and more zones can be added to make it more competitive and hard cause the AI in this was dog crap didnt even do much and you could basically win any battle by spamming hold, retreat and attack due to them redoing attack animations made it possible to just spam ranged units like high succubus and just win the war. Overall though this is much better of a game then all their other games which is why i am giving it a 4 star rating. If they keep going down this route and make quality games with better engines so H scenes dont look bad, game doenst freeze and the marriage system isnt limited then they can become a great game dev

Admittedly the game can get very repetitive, but I recommend fighting one of the strong factions early on. Keeps you much more engaged and makes it less of a snooze fest.
The art is good, though the animated art is meh.
I will say I think they should have had way more dialogue between you and other factions. I never even spoke to the Salamander faction once.

Saraman Union feels unfinished. They got all the core features into the game, but only finished a fraction of the scripted gameplay events and just went with their first attempt at balance. The UI works, but it's clunky to use and they forgot basic things like showing you how many actions you get per turn. There's a system for getting support to be the emperor, but the only way to actually get that support is to conquer all the voters. They made a bunch of H assets, but only wrote a handful of the scenes meant to deliver them, so most of the time it feels like a gallery viewer.

I can see the 4 or 5-star game in here, waiting to be finished, but it's just nowhere near ready.

I spent some time in this game, its clear that it was meant to play in a single way, where you are a power hungry overlord. If you decide to take it slow and build up your empire, you can very much do so, even when you meet your archnemesis, he don't even declare war on you and just attacks if you attack first. Even so I liked the CG's, the animation is very bland unfortunately...

So the gameplay is not bad but this game ain't hard at all. It's really easy, too much in reality. The scenes are just not good and there's no build-up relationship with the girls, you just talk with em once, the next time you already got sex or even for some girls, you can have sex with em the 1st time you talk with em. Nothing special, thought much better.

Empire-builders are always an awkward fit for H-games, and this game is no exception: There's a building system, but you only need to build a handful of buildings, and can ignore some buildings entirely. There's a combat system, but you almost never need to play strategically: just deploy more troops every few seconds and wait. But the gameplay isn't entirely braindead: I beelined the upgraded infantry, then the upgraded cavalry, which aren't necessarily obvious moves, even if they aren't especially clever. I had to think a little about which buildings to upgrade, even if the building is easy to maximize (build and max out the hospital, max out every mine you find, very little else is necessary). There's *just* enough room to feel like you're playing "smart," but not enough for it to feel particularly satisfying.

The H-scenes are all decent. There isn't much variety per girl, and the animations are a little artificial, but they aren't totally unappealing.

I think the most interesting thing this game has going for it are emergent choices -- some girls can either be made your concubine or enslaved, and there are different scenes depending on if she's in your dungeon or your household. The problem is it isn't always clear what your options are. Rulers generally need to either be enslaved or married. Because you're only allowed one wife, I found myself reluctant to expand until I knew what my options were. Then there's one girl that the game sets up as semi-canonical, but you don't get an H-scene with her until the ending scene.

Overall: This really is your classic 3-star game. Some interesting ideas with spotty execution, gameplay that isn't actively painful but isn't interesting, and serviceable H-scenes.

alright, i already wrote long review but accidentally close the box, great.

ok this game is so medicor and not challenging whatsoever and also the story is bad as the h-cg. to break it down :

gameplay : 4/10
gameplay seems interesting for someone who interested in management war game, but its not interesting as you think if you prefer challenge, enemy wont war against you unless you declare war or you decided sided on someone when event is happening. as for the war

UI :3/10
as bad as unity unpolished game. It has no help at all after you closing tutorial, even when you war there's no tutorial so you just blindly going in, and there's no way to tell how much you get weekly resources.

h-cg : 3/10
its nothing like what you expected, its just a repeatedly animation with less cg. no harem and love story whasoever too.

voice : 3/10
its just bad, but at least there's voice.

story : -/10
i skipped most of the dialogue, only see the ending since im hoping i can find something interesting, its just nothing interesting.

if you rather game that require much brain wrinkle, you can try Sengoku neet or sengoku rance which i cant find the link. it has much story and require more brain power.

i just love pasture soft. i know its not everyones cup of tea but i love the progression and the variety in scenes. sometimes they make hit or miss but this is a hit for me. ..great game, cant remmeber the name of the last one I think it was Witch island but that one is similar to this if youre a fan.