A spooky way to start your evening
Evening Starter's review
Developer: Baron Sengia (Published by Kagura Games)
Genre: JRPG
Store: Steam, GOG, Kagura Games store, DLSite (only in Japanese)
Reviewed version: 1.02
Censored: No, except for the DLSite version
Patch Needed: No, except for the Steam version
OS: Windows
Language: English, Chinese, Japanese
Usually, the first thing that comes to anyone’s mind when they think about hentai RPG Maker games is the typical third-person high fantasy game. This one, however, differentiates itself from the rest both by its setting and its game mechanics, and it’s as good as it is original.
Pros
The story is interesting and has multiple endings
Art is pretty
The gameplay is solid and original
Cons
Like in most RPG Maker games, the screen’s resolution is fixed to 480p.
Objects look like they are farther than they are in the dungeons.
Story
The game puts you in the shoes of Ren Nosogi, an agent who specialized in dealing with paranormal cases, who contracts a huge debt after a mission went wrong, and she blew up an entire district. She then accepts a dangerous but well-paid request to take down a cult so she can get enough money to pay off her debt.
I liked the story. The lore is interesting, and the setting gives it a touch of originality. More often than not, H-RPGs take place in a medieval-like environment or the far future, but you rarely see one that takes place in the present time, more so one that’s heavily inspired by the Chtulhu mythos. Also, the story has different endings, giving you a reason to replay the game once you finish it. Each of them becomes available depending on whether you paid the debt or not and the number of sexual encounters you had in the game. Regarding the characters, I liked the interactions between each other, but they didn’t impress me much.
Gameplay
The gameplay is solid and different from what you usually find in RPG Maker games. Instead of having a top-down view, you see everything in first-person in a way that resembles dungeon crawlers like King’s Field or some RPGs like Persona: Revelations. As much as I liked it for its novelty, it took me a while to get used to it because things like suitcases—the in-game equivalent of treasure chests—and doors look like they are farther than they are, and I spent the first few dungeons bumping against walls or going past a door I wanted to go through.
Being able to use a secondary weapon in combat is a nice touch too. In addition to the melee and tech attacks, you can use guns to inflict different types of ranged damage depending on the equipped weapon and the accessories attached to them. I barely used it, though, because you don’t need to use consumables to do melee attacks and spells do the job just as well.
As you might have expected after reading the synopsis, the game also includes a debt management system in which you have to get a specific amount of money in 7 days. Each week you have to choose whether to pay it with your money—plus interests— or resort to “other means” to do so.
Visuals
Artistically, it’s pretty. The characters look stunning, and I dig the 90’s vibe their design has. On the downside, it has the same problem many games made in RPG Maker have. The game’s resolution is fixed to 480p, and there’s no way to change it. It’s possible to play it on full screen, though, but it makes everything look stretched.
The sex scenes are superb if you’re into non-con or seeing characters prostitute themselves. Each of them takes place during in-game events or visiting specific places at the right time, and they feature a high-quality still shot with some slight variations to show progression (remember to download the patch from Kagura Games’ site to see them!). If you’re not into them, however, you can fast-forward them by pressing ctrl.
Sound
The music is very well done, and it fits with the creepy atmosphere of the game, but I didn’t like the battle songs. I found them too strident for my liking. As for the sound effects, they are the typical ones you could find in nearly every lewd RPG Maker game out there. They do the job just fine, but they are a bit generic.
Verdict: Enjoyable
While Evening Starter is not a masterpiece and takes some time to get used to its game mechanics, it is an enjoyable game that’ll keep you entertained for hours. Its length, replay value, and overall quality make it an easy one to recommend purchasing at full price, especially if you’re a fan of dungeon crawlers.