Review of version [v0.1]
A disclaimer here, despite my harsh criticism here I do believe there are many components of this RPG to be appreciated and the quantity of the content, is admirable for a first version.
I aim at offering a constructive feedback or at least an informative review, with all of that said *Zero to Harem Hero: A Hentai Isekai Adventure* is sadly flawed and in certain parts wholly unenjoyable.
But let’s deal with it in order.
The introduction, the opening of a game is sudden and sterile; you are immediately welcomed by the goddess that throws you in a new world, and right away after that you are summoned by the king who acclaims you as the hero, provides you with a rapid synthesis of what’s happening, throws you to one of your first H scenes, then shows you which class you can choose and then as swiftly as everything began you get a mansion and your class missions, and now you are free to play the tutorial.
I am all in for a brisk introduction to a game so I can catapult myself in the gameplay, but this is too *barren*, to hastily crafted to welcome you in a new world that forgets any sense of engagement. You are not showed who the hero was before, you are not showed why you should care to be the chosen hero, and even if those are mandatory at least the writing should be entertaining enough to fill you with a sense of excitement or curiosity.
Instead the writing is poor, devoid of personality, of details that show you characterization, that is at least in the first part.
A digression on the writing; it has lows and highs, but generally it’s stiff. Grammar wise certain sentences feel clunky and typos are present. Notwithstanding this, the developer seems capable of implanting figures with character traits or ghosts of personalities. From random NPCs with some one lines (that made me smile not chuckle) to side and main characters, there are hints of the developer trying to smith the narrative, but so far it’s struggling.
Be aware I am not criticizing the lack of realism here, the aim of creator is clearly to align himself with an anime style of writing; quirky, over the top, the usual. But here it’s lacking of its entertainment or originality.
Not to mention the protagonist, his persona is the average anime isekai hero: bland.
An empty shell for the player to self-insert with dull traits, and sometimes contradictions (honorable but also a amoral pervert). he has some of the worst lines in the game, I could almost predict all of his dialogues. The one with the queen made me cringe.
A swift remark can be directed to the setting itself, world building can be an arduous endeavor, but here it’s a bit too plain, it’s your standard isekai fantasy world. With the adventure’s guild, racism against elves, the dark evil demon king et cetera. It’s a “by the book” reconstruction, which doesn’t have many subversive aspects to it.
The stiff writing and characters, regardless everything else, these factors don’t matter in relation to the core aspect of every RPG, which is the gameplay, you can have an unbearable plot and a fantastic turn based combat and the game would still be fun.
Then how is the gameplay here?
Sadly it’s your typical rpg maker turn based combat, in spite of having four classes to choose from, (Mage, Warrior, Archer and Priest) the action feels the same; there are no enemy weaknesses or different strategies to apply if you are using a TP or MP based class, hitting foes feels the same. Don’t expect neither skill trees or a complicated system, it’s your skeletal RPG maker combat with no huge modifications.
And even with enemies there is little variations, I have witnessed tens of skeletons and bandits with no difference both in the asset (which is your default rpg one) or in abilities.
Later in the arena you can even just cheat your way through levels, which makes me question why even having it then… to grind quests?
And I have to write about the classes in the introduction! Because they’re presented in a positive demeanor but with an inconsistent result. You can choose between four different classes (Mage, Warrior, Archer and Priest), you can discuss with the leader of the order, acknowledge their personalities and get hints on your future companion.
So far cool, you can assign your preferred role, and even switch it afterwards…
Or not… in fact none of them are actually optional. You must finish all of the class starting missions if you want to progress the story! Then what was the point of being able to decide for yourself? To meet and recruit all the companions?
And I am that annoyed because the missions themselves weren’t enjoyable, they were a bit of a bore; they all contain the same structure: you find the leader, they engage you with your quirky partner, you go on a linear dungeon, unlock chests avoid or attack enemies, defeat the boss, you return to the leader, do it three more times now.
Aside from the archer quest, that has a variation in its dungeon the rest is especially infuriating, since you should have been showed the qualities and abilities of your new job.
Or at least throughout the mission discover a bit of lore or an underlying plotline which evolves into the main goal of the class side story, but it’s done in such fragmented and tedious way that you might as well get the option to skip it entirely.
These missions serve also to get to know the four main companions, who have different “personalities”, the one I liked the most was the clergywoman Mira a naïve but virtuous lass (She also strikes an awful resemblance to another character from another game, with the same blonde hair, personality and role, which I don’t know if it is a coincidence or an homage), the knight and mage are fine, the elf is the worst one. She is a ranger with an evident hatred for humans due to a past event, and at first I enjoyed the idea of a LI that despises you but must hang out with it… And rapidly she transforms into an obnoxious racist cunt that has nothing subtle. She repeats “filth”, constantly laments herself to be along your side, she is comically filled with venom and turns into a nuisance (Not to mention the Hero trying to reason with her as unreasonably as possible).
Another criticism is related to how space is handled in maps and how vast and empty they are.
Especially the interior of houses, it’s not necessary to enlarge too much small cabins, cottages and other constructions, it makes traveling them a bit of a chore.
The main hero’a mansion is a major example of this, it’s huge and yet desolated. Walking to talk to your companions is a journey. I don’t know if there is a QoL to gather your squad on the go each time you have change your party, but so far it’s cumbersome.
Not all maps are as deserted, there are some genuinely great cities and buildings where the organization of space has no flaw, which makes the others stand out even more.
One last paragraph I’ll write is about visuals, renders and sex scenes.
All the assets of the game are definitely from your standard rpg maker tool set, but I am not criticizing such element since you can create great games with your default assets. The sex scenes are made in Koikatsu, all animated but lack SFX sounds although they have dialogues during the sex, they weren’t that compelling.
I am sure the animated scenes are default Koikatsu animations but I am not an expert on such software. Instead all of the earlier sex scenes I have encountered were so quick and sudden with no prepared buildup.
For example in the Priest mission you spy two female knights being intimate out of nowhere, and in the middle of a forest under a lich attack. Or the fact that the queen and princess fantasize already about you, you even get the queen to masturbate on the Hero, and such action can be done literally after the introduction!
There were other sudden NSFW scenes that I wouldn’t consider as out of touch, finding a succubus in the destroyed town is a good reward for backtracking to an important place, or the archmage pleasuring herself shows her mischievous demeanor (even if it was already hinted in the introduction).
I don’t recommend this game yet. Even if it is abundant with content for a 0.1. version, I am also not inclined to damn it completely. I can see glimpses of passions and hardwork behind those flaws, for example the beastfolk town shows dedication to village’s buildings (Even if I discovered that the exit of a house doesn’t match the entrance, teleporting you to another place), or that certain NPCs are fun to interact with and not dull to read.
