Developer: Moccasin's Mirror
Genre: JRPG
Store: Steam
Reviewed version: Final
Censored: No
Patch Needed: No
OS: Windows
Language: English
In fiction, cruises (and space cruises) seem to attract trouble like a magnet, and this one is no exception. I mean, what could go wrong when you’re in a spaceship full of horny aliens and orgies of galactic proportions?
Lust Vessel tells the story of Kate, a girl whose best friend convinced her to go on the “Fun Space Fun” space cruise with her, but on the first day of the cruise, she gets so drunk she sleeps for 3 consecutive days. When she wakes up, she notices almost everyone on board has succumbed to their lustful instincts, and to make matters worse, she remembers nothing about what happened before.
One of the things I liked about the story is how it manages to set a proper tone and be consistent with it. It has the right amount of silliness and light-hearted moments that give it a good balance between being serious and being funny. Furthermore, it has multiple endings based on Kate's affection towards the rest of the cast. Most of them only differ on who Kate forms a relationship with at the end of the game, but one ending in particular changes a good chunk of the last section of the game. On the downside, there are a ton of typos that make it harder to enjoy the game.
As for the characters, I liked them a lot. They are endearing and have well-defined personalities save for Kates, which is more defined by your choices and her lust level. There’s Cheba, the party-lover; Erika, the antisocial fujoshi catgirl; Bob and his wife Lucila, the high-class tentacle mons- err… persons; Myla, the ex-pornstar who likes Kate a bit too much; Selene, the mad scientist who is also mad horny; and more.
Most of the game mechanics are your usual JRPG battles, but it adds some tweaks here and there that make them more unique. For starters, it encourages you to avoid fights as much as possible by not giving Kate any experience by beating random opponents. She instead levels up by progressing in the story, like in Squaresoft’s Chrono Cross. Moreover, you can only attack a finite amount of times depending on how much energy your stun baton has. Once it runs out of energy, you have to either recharge it by using any batteries in your inventory or surrender and get banged by your opponent.
On another note, the game sometimes feels like a visual novel with the myriad of decisions you have to take; all of them affecting your relationship with your companions in one way or another and the ending you get. Thankfully, the game includes an affection meter that lets you check anytime how much each cast member loves the protagonist.
The art is surprisingly good, though it takes a bit to get used to it if you’re accustomed to the usual anime design due to its style and the intensity of the colors. Moreover, there’s a wide variety of enemies. You have slimes, catgirls, tentacle monsters, which are the typical monsters in H-RPGs, and some original-looking aliens like a four-armed futa alien (you can say she’s quite… handy) and the double-cocked alien (twice the fun!). The characters are also pretty, with Erika being my favorite design-wise (especially when she’s not wearing her glasses).
As for the H-scenes, they are a mixed bag. The first ones look fantastic, but the quality goes down as you progress in the second half, to the point the last few look like they were done in a rush. That aside, there are a lot of scenes available. Each character has approximately 4-5 scenes and 1 for each monster/breed, totaling about 60-70 unique scenes at the very least.
Verdict: Enjoyable
To sum it up, Lust Vessel is a very entertaining adult RPG if you're looking for a game with different game mechanics and a fun story. Even if that's not your case, you should check it out anyway; you won’t regret it.