RPGM - Abandoned - The Curse of Pleasure [v0.9] [RanneRo]

Summary:
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In 9 years, the first game to make me delete it and review it without me actually completing it. Not that it'd matter, because as if the game wasn't enough of a mess, it's Abandoned anyway.
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Review:

• Art-style: ☆ ☆ ☆
The art-style is good.

It's not wonderful, and extremely scarce, but the heroine is comely, and the old trope of the protagonist having gargantuan oversized tits is... contained, in this game. There are plenty of animations, which are decent, up until you see them for the 74th time.

Deuteragonists are, as expected, darker-skinned, have an evil cocky grin, and miss details, being better described as a generalized male shape.


• Gameplay: ☆
This game features the worst gameplays I've ever seen in an RPGMaker game.

There are no tips, no pointers, no suggestions, no hints.
The game tries to capitalize on "play time" by having gargantuan map tiles disposed mostly in an horizontal parallel, while the character moves at 0.75% of speed. Meaning, it's hard to transverse the map vertically. You can look at this example of the route you need to take to go from West Forest to the South Gate (red) and how it should be (blue). And you'll be walking around a lot.

It also tries to stall you by throwing redundant hostile NPCs in your path every now and then. It forces you to stop, fight them, and if you win, be awarded as much as 1xp. And some roads are infested with enemies.

Finally, it also tries to tiptoe its gameplay value by forcing you to grind events (like the tavern event, which you need to, four times, serve dinner to 9 people, each time going back to fetch a dish - remember the 0.75% movement?). Alternatively, it has you grind invisible stats without you knowing you're doing it, have to do it, or should have done it. There's a guide, but even if you religiously follow it, you'll inevitably get stuck somewhere and freeze your walkthrough at a dead end. Horrible, really.

• Storyline: ☆
Another mess.

It's an old game by its own standards, sure. I can accept the dead-and-beaten concept of "Le Nympho Heroine Because Curse But She Likes It" coming from a game this old. I hate it, but I won't let it reflect on the review.

What I can't stand is that the game doesn't know what story it wants to tell.
The pace sets off quite well, but like a kid riding a bicycle for the first time, thinking he's got it, it's suddenly crashes on the floor. After Coal Village, is when the kid falls, scrapes his knees, and never gets up again. The story that so far was being told of an invasion and an epic battle suddenly intertwines with itself into becoming a spy-prisoner-sexual-grooming-slice-of-life-barmaid-warrior-hero-art-muse.

And amazingly? Yuuki is absent of a personality besides "I'm reluctant" and "I like The Sex". during all this. How can you cram so much stuff in a single chapter, and make it so bland? There's art to this level of boredom, like cooking an extensive, rich meal, and having it taste only like potato.

Finally, and I loved this one:
The game tries to convince itself, and you, that it's female-friendly. I accept I'm playing a grooming/non-con game. But don't try to convince me it's anything other than that. The game mentions how Yuuki feels powerful with her femininity, and her strong sexual energy, and etc. - my guy, she's being PASSIVE AND SEXUALLY HARASSED. What are you on about?

• Grammar: ☆ ☆ ☆
MTL, FML!

"I raised my skirt. There wasn't hesitating! What have I becoming? "

Could be worse, though. It's not constricting for your experience. 3 stars for the effort.
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Stars: 8
Parameters: 4 (Art | Gameplay | Storyline | Grammar)
Final result: 2 ☆ (8/4 = 2)

despite being an unfinished game, existing contents here deserves a 4 star.
the story, the gfx, the combat, etc, are well designed and not excessively grindy. had this been a finished game, it probably would have been 5 star. but i m rating this based on the game i played, not the game i could have played.

the game goes down from a 5 to 4 star for the following reasons:

1. bugs and crashes - you do need to read postings here to fix these bugs, or else you just can't progress and enjoy the game.

2. lack of guides - if you pressed skip and missed the text, the game itself doesnt remind you what to do next. and sometimes even if you didn't skip, you do need to figure out what to do to progress the story. given the large game content and the lack of guides, it can be confusing in some parts on how to move on.

3. taste - the h scenes while well drawn, may not fit your taste or fetish.

Too much effort to barely have sexual CGs.
There's barely any sex here since most CGs are groping and other sexual harassment without much variation.
Also the engine is VERY outdated and clunky

Not recommended

The gameplay is quite linear for the first half but okay. The second half is not. Its a little more open, but very frustrating. You basically keep chasing for unmarked h-events with lots of dialogue. The only positive is the npc reactionsto different actions and the day/night mechanic.
The controls are annoying (no auto-dash; opening and closing pause menu are 2 different buttons). You'll be running a lot!
For the h-scenes only a handful short harrasment clips are animated. Everything else is static and use the same image.
Story starts good at the beginning but turns into just an avarage ntr stuff meshed together in the second half.
Do not recommend to play. Luckily when you download the game, there's already a completed save file, where you can enter the recollection room in your house.

What can I say, it's an amazing games. you definitely can play this with your brain turned off ngl. no grinding needed, just don't skip anything. if you want to see "THE" stuff the developer already included it.

Despite its myriad bugs and frequent malfunctions, I find myself irresistibly drawn back to play this game. Its flaws are apparent from the outset—glitches, crashes, and unfinished features mar the experience. Yet, despite these setbacks, there's an undeniable allure that keeps me returning. The game's core mechanics, though rough around the edges, offer a unique and engaging experience that’s hard to find elsewhere.

The world-building is immersive, with a rich lore and detailed environments that pull you in, even when the technical issues threaten to push you away. The characters are well-crafted, their stories compelling enough to overlook the occasional graphical hiccup or dialogue error. Each playthrough offers something new, with choices and consequences that genuinely impact the narrative, adding a layer of depth that many polished games lack.

This game is a gem: impeccable art, addictive gameplay and a story that captivates you from the beginning. What makes it stand out is its decision system, where every choice, from clothing to titles, has a real impact on the plot. It is understandable that the developer takes his time to create new updates, since every detail counts in this complex and fascinating universe.

I thought this game is rather long with many repeat events where only little changes or progresses the story. I've played it now for about 15 hours and still not reached "the end"(of the walkthrough), although I've only used the walkthrough haphazardly when progression was beginning to be frustrating. The drawings are nice and the writing and translation seem to be good, but story progression as a whole is incredibly slow. There are about 3 subplots or areas outsite of the village which I really liked and the progression there seemed good, the village seems to be frozen in comparison.

I must say, contrary to the negative reception in this thread, I had a blast with this game even in its unfinished stage. Perhaps the difference in experience and attitude can simply be traced back to the fact that I have not been following this game for any length of time but rather found it only recently, thus experiencing it without any past baggage. Whatever it may be, my experience has been positive at the end of the day.

Great and varied animations/sprites and CG scenes, along with an excellent design for the female MC and overall "strong" writing, are what stood out to me.

Now, let's not beat around the bush. I, of course, came here for the NTR and expected it to be the main focus. Furthermore, I am someone who is very much into the more extreme and harsh side of NTR, so my positive experience with this game may surprise some. That is because the game itself is really neither cruel, harsh, nor even all that dark over its whole (incomplete) runtime, and it does not try to be either. Yet, it still managed to capture the true essence of NTR (Brother-Sister NTR to be more specific) in my opinion. The "main" and most fleshed out route of the game is NTR, not Netori, nor Netorase, but real NTR. The brother, who loves his sister (as more than just a sibling), is not only "cheated" on without his knowledge but is also teased and lowkey bullied (softly) by his rival and sister behind his back. The sister's development is a slow burn when it comes to how she acts around her brother, as she is getting slowly and surely more and more cold towards him and starts to neglect him of her own choice and by the commands of the main bully. Her love is visibly fading, and I expect her to voice her new lack of love and affection for her brother out loud towards him on the next big update (whenever that will be).

I could talk about the gameplay itself, but I honestly don't care much about it, and I suspect most other people do not either. I am just here for that sweet, sweet NTR.

What a fun game! The progression is slow, which I enjoy, and the story was as good as any other's I've read. It would be nice if there was more heads up regarding levels. I saved right before the thief quest in the beginning and pretty much soft locked my game and had to restart. I know this is not finished but I would recommend anyone looking to play READ THE WALKTHROUGH.

One of the best games out there, the girl is astonishingly sensual and her innocence carries the weight of the sex scenes in an erotic albeit believable way. The shota is fairly well written, although its personality doesn't really reflect an actual kid, rather feels like a vicious adult has reincarnated in the boy and is now taking advantage of the girl in every possible way (which makes the game even better, I think many of us will be brought back to our sexual awakenings and the fantasies we had). The way the characters behave, the writing, and the enchanting art, all work together to make this game a real masterpiece. I played many of these games, more than I would have ever liked to, and from all of them, only Alansya Chronicles and a couple others can hold a candle to this one.

The battles are the only tiring aspect of the game, but they are few and far between. Updates are also scarce but they usually deliver. Finally , I wish there was an incest path for the brother, it would make the game much better IMHO.

too long between updates. and honestly the game isn't that fun to play. rpgm isn't utilized well and the writing is fairly weak. The characters act stupid and there isn't nearly enough sex scenes and it just overall isn't great. Not great for story enjoyment and not great for jerking off.

Info for new players: If you are wondering why a game from 2016 isn't finished, it was abandoned for quite some time, but the developer came back in 2024.

I played the game a few years ago, and back then, I would rate it a 5. Now, I replayed it, and to be honest, it felt like a different game. The reason for that is the change in content. In the earlier versions, you got an even amount of content on different characters; by now (0.9), 50% of all scenes feature one particular shota character. While I'm okay with shota here and there, it's too much for my taste. (As it's subjective, this won't affect my rating.)

Now for the game itself.

The Good:

• Lots of content
• Pretty art & attractive main character
• Simple but nice handcrafted maps and locations
• Slow corruption
• Great story arcs (Bandits > Goblins)
• Seita is a great character!
  I'm happy that it's not the typical blind, deaf, and brainless NPC. The sad thing about this is that aside from the main character, it's pretty much the only character with any development. ^^ Sure, there is a portion of non-realistic behavior, but it's an NTR game, so somehow you need to get things to progress. But even if he doesn't always understand what's going on, he's aware that something is wrong and does speak up, which is extremely rare in the NTR genre. The end of 0.9 was a positive surprise to me, regardless of his character development.

The Bad (for now):

• No quest log or hint system. This is actually very significant because you need to see all available scenes, sometimes in a certain order, before the story progresses.
• More quick travel needed. I liked the idea of implementing the recollection room as part of the game. It would be nice to get a traveling device as well.
• Some locations and many characters have no purpose (that can change in future updates).
• Grindy
• Stats system needs a rework
• mostly flat characters

Other notes:

• You can't use quick travel at night. WHY? All houses are locked, all streets are empty; that doesn't make sense at all ^^
• All kids are studying in the afternoon... but there is no school

As for the end of version 0.9, I think that is the perfect moment to set up multiple endings in future updates. It doesn't have to be super complicated, just one or two decisions to split the story by the end.
Considering how the story has unfolded, I can see a good, a bad, and a neutral (cuck) ending.

Overall, I liked it. It's not finished yet, but you can clearly see that the developer put much work into this. There is actually much potential, many unused characters, and locations.

As for the rating, I would say 3.5. If it weren't for the end of 0.9, I would probably have given it a 3, as the story seems stuck.

Extremely bad, boring, dull.

Most if not all scenes are about tits pinching, there are no proper sex scenes or good story in this game.

Recycling of same CGs over hundreds of "scenes".

And from 2017...

Beautiful woman, genuinely kind, makes it all the more satisfying to see her fall into lust. I appreciate that she's self aware of the fact that all the men in the game want to fuck her - the curse being a subtle one where her inhibitions are lowered enough to make more excuses for the men, but she still feels uncomfortable.

Her specific soft spot I can't type out is a nice touch too, given her family situation. It makes sense that it's a vulnerability.

I decided a long time ago that I would replay this game whenever it gets updated, and that's exactly what I did. I replay the game from the very beginning to the very end without missing out on any scenes. It was a pain in the ass due to lack of quest log, no way to dash/sprint, the map is too damn big for this kinda story. But I actually had a lot of fun as well. This game has always been held in high regard for its quality and slow corruption. I expected the quality to defintily drop after the long development period and behind the scenes drama, but it did not. Actually, I think with the assistance of AI, the art actually looks a lot better now. Once the actual sex starts, which is quite a bit into the game, there is plenty of different scenarios and they all are insanely well done. There is a lot of shota in this game, that is the primary focus after all. It is very clear that this game was inspired by games by Scale Garden, but In my opinion it has surpassed those games.
One thing to note is that there is no updated recollection room, so downloading saves from there and playing aint gonna help. I would have loved to see more from this update since it did take so long to come out, but I am also satisfied with what I got, probably because I replayed it from start. This game has enough content to keep you busy for atleast 6hrs,so go ham with it.

Just a old recycled game.

pro:
- amazing art
- a lot scenes
(around 100+)

cons:
- ancient engine
(20 years ago it was already outdated)
- even its stated, there is no NTR in this game
(you are not in a relationship with anyone, you just fool around with your brothers friend)
- 95% of all scenes are just recycled
(Every men in the village is obsessed with her breasts and butt. The first 4 - 6 scenes of every men is just where they are playing with her breasts or spank her butt. The animation is pretty much always the same, just the text changes a bit. The same with the very less sex and blowjob scenes. You have always the same static penis and animation.)
- very slow development time
(one new scene every year)
- veeeerrryyy slow corruption
(the mens have groped her tits / butt for 90 of 100 scenes)

The game is in development for 6 years now and we seen already every part of her tits. We should expect more and better quality content for $3500 / month.

It's worse than what we expected...
A lot of us are fans of Sangeki no Gear and Sarah of the Rotation Cut, both games that differ from million hentai games we have around there.
RanneRo was bold enough to keep the game "cooking" for 6 years, but heck... it's using an ultra outdated engine, all his perfectionist art gets lost using RPG Maker XP... please, try to migrate for MV!
And it's not the end... 6 years and the game still is 0.9! We waited like 3 years since 0.8, I think?
He has some creativity, and I recognize it's a good work.
It's just too late, and doesn't offer anything better than replaying Sangeki no Gear, aside, maybe, being barely uncensored.
Again, it does offer an amazing art, but we can't see it properly being locked in a old engine!
Even using tools, everyone has big screens, so the art gets all stretched...

This is a game heavily inspired by the early RPGMaker Eroge masterpieces by the likes of ScaleGarden and HO Works. Where it truly stands out from those games is in its art, having a quality rarely seen in Western developed eroge, and almost never in western RPGmaker eroge.

At its core its a slow burn corruption game, with a unusual twist of the primary corrupter being a Shota. It has light NTR themes, though the one being NTR'd is a younger brother, not a lover.

As with most corruption games it is the tease of the big moment that is the most fun, but I believe RanneRo managed the unlikely - making the full fall where the MC is fucking left right and center still engaging and fun.

It would be a five star were it not for one flaw - RanneRo, likely due to the sheer quality of his art, takes literal years between updates. Wait for it to be 1.0 and buy it, it will be worth it.