RPGM - Star Knightess Aura [v0.43.0] [aura-dev]

This one is pretty good!

It combines the corruption of the heroine in the fantasy world with the slow corruption of the MC in the real world. The first one is pretty stremlined, but the second one (based on changing little things in her mind) is wonderful, and creates a very good narrative about the moral degeneration of the MC.

The only downside I see to this game is that there are too many minor combats with no purpose and no reward at all, which slows the game too much.

Edit 0.19.0:
The most recent content (everything past money land) has gotten to a decent place in terms of balance between gameplay and sexy elements. Though my sense of that may be thrown off, because I'm still playing with an edited save, even on "story" difficulty because the early game- if 10 hours of content still counts as early game- hasn't gotten any less tedious. It's nice to finally start seeing some payoff, but now I'm running into how strict a sequence of events the real-world corruption is, and often find myself confused if I'm supposed to be awaiting for days with nothing happening or if I need to re-check every single option again. Not as frustrating as hours upon hours of stock RPG Maker combat, but still something I'd like to see improved.
While there has overall been an improvement it's from a weak 3 stars to a solid 3 stars so no change to the actual rating. Selfishly, I'd like to just keep getting new content but this isn't going to get past 4 stars without major revisions to the early game.

Original review:
This game does so many things right, and then shoots itself in the foot. The result is an experience that's frustratingly close to great, while also being incredibly tedious.

First the good: this is a great setup for a slow corruption game. The scenarios already there are super hot and enjoyable even as the game is missing art for them. While I wouldn't call the characters particularly good, they're very well suited to creating great corruption scenarios. The maps in the game are also really impressive. They're not going to wow you graphically, but each area is detailed, believable, and interesting without becoming a maze in a way that's rare for H games. Then finally, the corruption mechanics are very detailed and it's fun/hot to see how they play out in even mundane ways.

The bad can be summed up in one word: tedium. There's 2 issues here: the pacing and an unhealthy obsession with stock RPG Maker combat. I know that the devs are trying for a slow burn, but this stretches it to ridiculous lengths. I know the devs are making the game difficult in order to force you to use the mechanics that corrupt Aura, but it just makes things take forever. It's like the horrible balance at the start of an amateur RPG where you're 50% going to die to the first rat in the starter area, but drawn out over 6 hours because after that point in time you've only just made it to level fucking 3 despite doing 20 quests.

There's an amazing game buried in here, but right now it's covered by garbage and time wasters. I can only hope that the devs will rebalance things to fix it, but for now you should skip the prologue and save edit yourself a bunch of money and stats so you can actually enjoy it.

Strong writing with a unique corruption mechanic. It's a slow burn, but the author makes each bit of progress feel substantial and worthwhile.

Despite looking like standard RPG combat on its face, it's more interesting than that with no grinding (defeating enemies doesn't give EXP) and multiple ways to approach a combat situation. Although the combat isn't BFRPG or anything like that, it does tie into the corruption mechanic.

I found myself sinking hours into this, and I could see it being among my favorite adult games when it's closer to completion.

Amazing concept. Most promising idea I have ever seen.

Instead of presenting us with a "lose to win" mechanic, we have been given two games in one, with an MC hero trying to succeed in her task while an MC villain tries to corrupt her.

one of the best corruption mechanics I've seen.

it has more strategic difficulty on the RPG side, you can't go completely free or you will get nothing done, you have to think about what you can't defeat and how to end the day.

And you have the option to basically play as the bad guys, which is always welcomed.

This is kind of a mean rating if I consider the time and thought put into this game, but I have my reasons for it...

I played this game for over 2 hours and haven't seen a boob once. As the player I'm supposed to cheer for the mc but then also fight against her as another character. I'm basically betraying the person I'm supposed to care about. This is one of my main problems. It doesn't feel good.
The next big problem is the amount of dialog and story details. This game is like Ocarina of Time for wankers. I don't want to spend that much thought, time and energy in such a deranged game. It's complicated and lacks of sexual content. Succulence handled this way better. It was aware that it's a cheesy porn game and backed it up with CGs. There were no CGs when I played Star Knightess Aura. I also can't relate to the MC, cause she's an annoying weirdo.

I congratulate the person behind this game for being able to add so much detail and love to a game but beg him to reduce the game's dialogues and add CGs instead. This game could be awesome if reduced some more.

The story in this game is really good, however it's severely lacking in sexual content, there were plenty of opportunities for them, but I feel like the dev just doesn't want to take them, I get that some people don't like clichés, but clichés work, gimme a barmaid job, gimme some grope scenes or anything, I don't want to go into the forest and hunt gobbos that don't even have H-attacks or defeat scenes! The person behind this has clear potential for storytelling but I have been playing for 2 hours and I haven't gotten even close to being aroused, and yeah I know that the story is supposed to be slow, but this is too slow for me. The dev looks like they have a clear idea of how they want this game to play out, and unfortunately for me I don't think I'll be getting my wish, but you can't expect me to play this game only to be taken along a journey with no reward, I hope this game changes it's ways and opens up some scenes or I won't be touching it again.

Its not very good. Its obviously ambitious but the amount of dialogues that cant be skipped in any way is pretty bad. Looks good, the art is great id say but i cant give it any better rating if i spent an hour playing it and the only thing i managed to do was to hold the button to speed up some shitty school dialogues and die to the first boss i encounter.

Fun game with a lot of potential. It contains some of my fav tags and that is corruption, Female protagonist and NTR. It has some decent to nice looking characters and a nice and music. But the fighting and the long progression is a big down side.

All I can say is that you should try it out for yourself if you like the tags (like myself) maybe it is to your liking but for me it needs many more updates and some changes to the combat system. Then I will gladly retry it and high'en my rating.

Just your average, run-of-the-mill RPGM game with decent combat.. Except the fact there's no escape button. Not sticking with this one unless it's added.

The character designs are fine enough I guess and the story is a pretty decent concept, but fighting enemies isn't fun, getting away is almost impossible and if you run into them, you can't escape, which is a big no no for me in RPG games, period

I hope it improves, but I just can't find myself playing it right now.

I have played version 0.7.0

There are no CGs yet, and I am still giving it a five-star rating.

Interesting plot and mechanics. Overall a great game.

The developer keeps patrons and prospective customers (aka filthy pirates) well informed about future developments of the game, and seems to care a lot, so I think this game will continue growing better and better.

One of the best game I have played from this site, came for the fap stay for the plot as i say. The story is really great and slow, in a good way, the protagonist didn't turn into a whore in 30 minutes, the corruption is slow and realistic. You have choice to made, so i guess you can play a pure maiden route, probably getting the game harder i guess (for money at least). I played only 4 hours from now, but i want to play, i want to see how the plot is gonna evolve. Hardly recommended the game if you like slow corruption game and RPG with good gameplay and story !

An amazingly ambitious title, with real thought put into the corruption angle of the game. For those people (such as me) who prefer a more 'psychological' (i.e. based more on the slow shifting of the heroine's personality) corruption game this is perhaps the most exciting/interesting game on the site.

Sadly as of now, this game is very unpolished. It lacks art (and has some fairly bad art), many of the scenes do not have any form of CG, and while an amazing amount of work has already been put into this game (you can play for 10 hours or so before finishing all the current content) it feels like only the tip of the iceberg compared to the work that will be required to finish it (I wouldn't expect a version 1.0 for at least a year).

As such this 4* rating is a conditionally one, e.g. watch this space! Assuming this game actually gets finished (and properly polished) this game will be one of the best on the site. As of now a 'true' rating is more like a 2.5/5 - amazingly full of promise, but an unpolished gem.

[Original Review: May 23, 2021]

Star Knightess Aura explores the idea of a clever, hardworking isekai heroine facing off against her devious childhood friend and an evil, mysterious, overachieving stranger as they attempt to have her brainwashed before she can figure out their curse.

It's a well-tread territory with the twist of a fairly self-aware and competent heroine who only falls into traps because she explicitly chooses or is forced to do so. It dissects the typical heroine psychology, pointing out the pretensions and flaws actually endemic to people who think they can save the world. It's important to remember that Aura IS the hero and Alicia and Richard ARE unequivocally evil, but the game revels in pointing out how their superficial likes and dislikes are totally irrelevant to HOW good or evil they are, and the game is willing to paint the hero's psyche -- as in, the literal manifestation of her psyche in her human form -- as twisted, egotistical, and self-sabotaging.

It's a nice change of pace. What's NOT a nice change of pace is how slow this game moves. I played almost 8 hours, and I'm not sure if there even is any sexual content in this game. It's a VERY slow burn, focusing very strongly on the mentality of everyone involved in this farce while exploring the world of Roya and Aura's friendships in detail. While I appreciated the depth of writing, I don't remember there being anything to touch myself to while I played.

In that regard, I also don't know if I'm going to watch this game's development. The developer has indicated that they will probably spend 3 years developing this -- that's a LONG time commitment, and I wouldn't be surprised if they tire out or change directions suddenly while developing this game. That's not to say that it's impossible for them to finish this on its current course, only that I will be pleasantly and genuinely surprised if this is finished as intended. Unfortunately, I won't be waiting on it -- I joined this site to get my rocks off, not to philosophize.

TLDR; Worth a look, but don't expect to have something to fap with for a long time.

[Update: Feb 17, 2022]

I don't intend to update my star rating, as most of what I originally wrote still holds true, but I should mention that there are now at least a few lewd scenes in the game. It's not easy figuring out how to get them in the most sensible fashion, as this game has very tight resource management involved in it, so I strongly suggest following the max lewdness guide linked on the opening post to experiences it all.

Review for Version 0.6.4: (Roughly 3 hours into the Dev suggested 9 hours available content)

Looks like a well thought out and interesting slow burn corruption game, while I haven't played everything that's available yet, I can already tell that this is something of a higher quality then is usually available. I think this game bares watching, and potentially supporting. I'll be watching to see how the Dev supports the game, and what sorts of corruption/fetishes are planned, before deciding.

That said, if you're looking for a quick progression to H-content, there's just not that much available here yet. Give this one a try when you feel like being titillated, instead of just wanting to get off.

So this is a Mind Control fetish game.

If the idea of a woman who fervently swore that the vacuous commercialism of a women's fashion magazines is nothing but a source of misery and despair for all woman kind, and fucking meant it, turning around and ravenously consuming said product, with genuine glee, because you flipped a switch in her head doesn't give you a raging erection, this game is not for specifically for you.

It's got a good slow burn on it. The combat is tricky and the balance of embracing corruption without destroying everything is delicate.

This is seriously one of the most promising new games on the site.

At the time of this writing, the game has a lack of features that are necessary to make it reasonable as an eroge: CGs, for example.

However, by far the worst part is that the game reads like a self-insert fanfic written by a horny 16 year old girl. The heroine, who in her everyday life looks somewhat plain, is lusted after by the evil guy - who has a girlfriend. The evil guy is plainly evil, and he doesn't have a whole lot of depth to him. Major plot elements are revealed quickly and bluntly, leading to a general narrative flow that is extremely poor.

This is worth a miss. Unless you must masturbate to a new game every single day, then there is no reason to play this.

This game truly NAIL IT.. the corruption is not just about slutification, the corruption in this game make corruption in mind, ethics, looks or style, relationship, interest and happiness.. even though there aren't cg in this current version 0.61, it's still really masterpiece.. Can't wait the game to finish..

What a pleasant surprise, this game. This was a bottom-of-the-barrel find for me. Between the anime style and the stock RPGM thumbnail, I wasn't expecting much. But something about the description caught my attention. "to brainwash and corrupt Aura from the inside"? Maybe this would be a little more than a wannabe rapey H-RPG. And indeed, SKA offers one of the most comprehensive intentional corruption plots I've seen, and that's not the only thing it brings to the table.

tl;dr of the premise: Aura goes to school and interacts with friends during the daytime, and is a heroine in the fantasy world of Roya at night. Her ex-friend Alicia interacts with Aura in the real world, lives in Aura's head as a demonic entity while Aura is in Roya, and has access to Aura's subconscious. Due to a curse placed on Aura, various acts increase her Corruption, which Alicia can direct on changing various things - Aura's interests, her disposition towards the people around her, and more. You play as Aura in Roya, as Alicia in Aura's subconscious, and then you watch the events in Aura's life in the real world.

The two protagonists are... interesting, in a good way. Aura is, at first and at least for the first few hours of the game, kind of a Mary Sue. Studious, geeky and despite that, supremely confident and able to stand up to the school bullies to protect others. She's the perfect starting point for a slow and thorough corruption. Her former best friend Alicia is a cross between a school bully and a Disney villain, evil laugh and all. She mocks Aura's innocence, naivety, chastity and faith in people, gleefully tearing them down, bit by bit. There aren't many scenes with Alicia where she doesn't end up getting herself wound up in an inner monologue about how she's going to ruin Aura, and I can't help but smirk along at her excitement. It's refreshing to have a villain who is into the corruption per se rather than just being an opportunistic lecher.

The gameplay is surprisingly polished and fun. It's not a big deviation from classic RPGM gameplay. You fight mobs, you learn spells and skills, you spend gold on armor and weapon upgrades. It all feels "tight", there's not much fat here. Every consumable is useful, even the lowly apples are important for recovering health between fights. Every ability has its uses. Mobs don't respawn, so there is no grinding, though I found myself backtracking through dungeons a lot because ending the day to restore HP and MP often feels worth it (though it also increases Aura's Corruption a bit, which you may not necessarily want too much of). At the same time, it doesn't feel too restrictive, there is some player agency here in what quests/training/purchases to prioritize and how to spend the day. The boss battles are tough but usually fair. Sometimes they're excessive, especially the optional ones which you can find before you're really ready to take them on. It all entices the player to have Aura evoke her overpowered form by removing her collar, which also increases her Corruption quite a bit. I love this mechanic, as it gives the player a major tool in managing Corruption progress, and allows them to essentially skip fights they don't want.

The corruption aspect is what drew me to the game in the first place. Right now it's both exciting and frustrating. This is already shaping up to be one of the most comprehensive corruption arcs seen in a game. While some games would be happy to slap a "lust curse" on the heroine so that she has to have sex early and frequently, this one has her personality systematically dismantled at the hands of a giggling evil genius. Geeky interests give way to more girly ones, friendships are strained, morals are compromised. It's a very slow burn, there's hardly any sexual content in the game right now. What there is almost feels shoehorned just to have something in the early game, the usual "I'll give you a discount if you let me see your panties" trope. Acts like this increase Aura's Lewdness and Lewd Knowledge, which are separate from Corruption, being stats rather than a resource. Honestly, I'm not a fan of how these are rationed and gated behind scenes you may not want for Aura's corruption arc. Compared to Corruption, Lewdness feels more rigid, which I'm not a fan of.

My frustration with the corruption system comes from its relative linearity right now, with much content just not being available. Also, there is a strong sense of a lot of the content being gated by events, not just the stat requirements you are given. You see all these rooms in Aura's headspace, with all these things you can spend corruption on, yet right now it's somewhat of an illusion of freedom. There's a reason why you may, e.g. need exactly -63 relationship with Alicia to make a certain change, it's because that's how far the events can get you. You can't even touch Aura's relationship with her BF or Richard yet. I dearly hope for less linearity when the game is closer to completion. With enough work, this could be the most intricate and replayable corruption-focused game for those of us who aren't in it just for the sexual content.

What I'd like to see in future updates:

- More real-world scenes and scene permutations based on player choices regarding Aura's corruption, of course.

- Less linearity in Aura's corruption in general; not much content that is gated behind story events or other corruption aspects, except where it wouldn't make any sense otherwise.

- Once directly sexual corruption options are available, it should be in different types, e.g. exhibitionism, masochism, sadism, oral, etc. And again, independent from one another as much as possible.

- The tone of the game is usually rather saccharine, especially Aura's positive interactions. I hope this is something intended to be subverted as the corruption progresses. More negative interactions, more selfishness, superficiality, and of course some good, dark NTR.

- This may sound strange, but I hope sexual content with Alicia is going to be optional/avoidable. More Charlotte would be nice, though.

- Eventually, a scene guide/recollection room that persists across playthroughs, including all the real-world scenes.

- Repeatable (maybe escalating) sources of Lewdness so the player can avoid scenes they don't want.

- Art for the sex scenes, of course. I know 2dcg is coming, though I'd also welcome sprite sex and more sound effects.

- An option for instantly-appearing text rather than crawling.

- An item or ability that teleports back to the shrine, to minimize backtracking.

Update as of August 2021:

The central characters have received new commissioned illustrations and the H-scenes are slowly being illustrated as well, with the priority being voted-on on Patreon. Most of the maps have been redone with more appealing tilesets, so this is one of the nicest-looking RPGM games I've seen.

H-scenes now have a "pink version", achieved by tanking Aura's willpower temporarily, which garner more Corruption, Lewdness and secondary lewd stats. Should help with avoiding scenes you might not want while still getting those stats.

Instant-text is now an option, much appreciated.

A relatively linear progression of mental changes is planned for 1.0, and there are more plot-critical interactions within these mental change scenes than I thought, which will make non-linearity tricky, though it is apparently something the dev wants to do after 1.0.

Directly sexual mental changes are not available yet, meaning the H-scenes remain, for the most part, reluctance-based on Aura's part. As of right now, the game is around 20% of the way to 1.0 and Aura's corruption reflects that, so it is still a game that will mostly be appreciated by fans of mind-control and slow corruption.

I really love this game. Though gameplay can be hard at times, the overall concept with mind manipulation is great.

Absolutely recommended for the lovers of good mid paced corruption with the change of character looks and behavior.

Oh and it's NTR game, though NTR isn't it's main topic NTR haters shouldn't play it or they'll have a heart attack.