I got to say I didn't enjoy this at all. While someone might read "Harem" and think, "oh, I love these types of games," believing that the overall premise is to build a harem made of women of diverse cultures you conquer or as tribute to your greatness from visiting leaders/dignitaries, this not only isn't that kind of game, none of that even happens. From very the start you inherit everything. There are sections of full exposition dump like a remembering the dead section of a documentary (not that long but still) and while they give you reasons for what's taking place and how the MC's rule is going I found must of it very much TLDR and literally started skipping those sections because I wanted to read a visual novel. Emphasis on the visual and a wall of text is fine at the start, but 3+ more times? Come on, dev. You know what the V is right? Getting a war memorial of text time the day ends is a bit much.
Anyway, right from the start this wasn't my bag. The MC is basically told to work with, now, his right hand man to rule the kingdom. I literally couldn't even be bothered to learn his name because I just didn't care. Guy came off has a douche to me so that's what I'll call him from here on out. Anyway working with douche requires visiting him at least every other choice otherwise you'll lose respect with him. Yeah, there's a respect meter. In fact there a "respect" meter for this joker, the wife, and the people. Sure there listed as other things but it's just the same mechanic under a different word across the board.
This mechanic alone made this VN feel more like a chore than an actual unfolding story and very much shoehorned in. Nothing about this story was compelling and the conversations were dull as dish water. Especially with the wife. Just laughably bad. Sometimes they didn't even make sense and they can be easily mitigated by just rolling back, clicking her icon again which gives you a new dice-rolled dialogue tree that literally has nothing to do with any events that have take place so far. Dialogue like, "I saw you spending far too much time with the delegate from ..." or some such nonsense, and you, the reader, have never seen any such interaction the entire time. Choices like that left me completely lost and made absolutely zero sense. But they kept things moving so I just rolled with it. And every now and then you'll see the choice to ask her, "hey, how do you feel about palace life," and she'll thank the MC for asking about her feelings and the meter would go up about 1/6th of the entire bar. But at the same time because you didn't visit the douche for his counsel meeting about the same situation for the 8th time you lose 1/6th of his bar.
So good luck finding the time to visit the harem because of that micromanagement BS, but that doesn't matter because visiting the harem, you know the one that's in the title? Yeah, that one. It's pointless. First, there's the problem of there being no building of a harem in the first place. They're already there as if he inherited them from his father. Thanks for the sloppy seconds dad. Then there's the H scenes. Massively basic and not enough dialogue with the girls to form any sort of attachment for you to really care who is who. And thirdly, they hurt your meters with douche and the wife so ... pointless.
To say this even for a start of a VN was a disappointment is a bit of an understate. Don't get me wrong, it's well coded, the models look good and there's a metric ton of potential here, but ... I just don't see it improving without a massive overhaul. If I could give the dev some advice it would be, stretch events out. Lose the adviser completely. If he's meant to be part of the gay route than put him in as an ancillary figure (I'll explain how in a minute) and concentrate on the young man (Suli) becoming the man he is meant to be. Have the story start out as him on a crusade, for what I leave that up to you. Make it known he's a ladies man before the harem, but it's something that gets him into trouble often. This is where is subordinate comes in. He's meant to watch over Suli. Keep him safe and out of trouble for the Sultan. Give them a more brotherly feeling to begin with. While on his travels he receives word that he is to report back to the capital immediately. He finds it strange but knows better to ignore an order from his father. Have him come home to his father's wives with open arms. They are all very glad to see him. Have the final member of his father's harem be Suli's mother. As she welcomes him home, her happiness turns to a fairly concerned look on her face but she will say nothing more. Suli goes to meet his father where it is announced he is to be married. This is all very sudden and doesn't go over well with him. It's also the first time Suli has ever spoken out against his father's wishes. But his father will have none of it. He knowns his son is a bit of a card, but he is also obedient when he must be. He reminds him that he is Sultan and his word is law. Maybe he takes his son aside and reminds him he will not be Sultan forever and one day the burden of Sultan will rest on his shoulders. He nods in agreement and says if he must he will at least meet the girl, but if she does not live up to his mother's standards he will not accept her as his future Kadin. This shocks his father briefly but knowing how much Suli values his mother's opinion he will allow it.
From here the story could lead to Suli talking to his mother, who states, "well you still have our head, so I assume you agreed to at least meet the girl." Suli smiles and says, "yes, mother." He learns from her (and her network of spies in the kingdom) all there is to know about the woman he is to marry. "She is to become the second of this house. No other woman will have say over hers and he is to remember that." Words he must take into account while choosing his own harem. From there the story could be about the different lands he visit on that quest. The different women he excepts as gifts (it was common practice for women to used as trade for favor at the time). How he wins each woman over, while keeping a close watch over events in the capital along with his best friend and advisor. Have them have to decide to go and squash a group of raiders, getting caught up trying to save a girl only to find out she's the raider's leader. Does he seduce the girl or find a way to crush her. While on another adventure to secure transport for a dignitary have him and his companion find an oasis. This could set them up with a very romantic encounter between the two and open a path for the readers to make the MC gay or bi. The possibilities of what could be done with this story are endless and are far less shackling than him already being labored with the title of Sultan. Just saying.
I wouldn't want to write an entire story for the dev on here but this to me is a far more intriguing tale than what has been started in this VN. And Dev, I whole heartedly mean this, if you want to use it, it's yours. No question. I'm putting that in print here. If you want to use anything I've written here feel free to use it. Screen shot it, so you can rest assured I won't come calling for monetary gain afterwards (I wouldn't, my word means a lot to me). But if it'll give you a better story and your readers a better adventure, have at it.
Anyway, that's all I wanted to say about this. As it stands this is far from the worst thing go through and there's plenty of time to tighten things up. Keep in mind this was uploaded for us to try for free so be sure to leave a review. Let them know what you liked and what you didn't. And if you did like this VN, don't let me sway you in any way and be sure to show the dev some love. Try to kick back some funds if you can afford to do so. As always, I wish the dev nothing but the best and truly hope they find their audience. Cheers
