Developer: Cupid's Ero Games
Genre: Visual Novel
Reviewed version: Final
Censored: No
Patch Needed: No
OS: Windows
Language: English
Ravished Realms is an 18+ visual novel whose synopsis and art caught my attention but, to put it lightly, turned out to be the most disappointing game I played this year.
It tells us the story of Nina, an introverted gamer who has been so busy with school assignments she didn’t have time to make friends. However, this changes when Gavin, a kid from another class, invites her to try a VR MMORPG called Realms of Legends and join his team.
Concept-wise it isn’t bad, even if there are plenty of stories focusing on someone’s adventures in a VR game, but the writing is terrible. The game is so short there’s no room to develop the characters. Moreover, the plot structure is almost nonexistent because the story ends right after the exposition is over. There’s no rising action, no climax (no, I’m not talking about that kind of "climax"), and no resolution. To be honest, I find it a bit insulting the game is tagged as “story rich” because, as harsh as I may sound, I’ve seen better stories in those low-effort Flash porn games.
The gameplay is lacking even by kinetic novel standards. It misses some basic things like a menu to adjust your settings, a skip button, save/load options, and even keyboard compatibility. On top of that, there are no dating sim elements even though the synopsis describes this game as such. In the end, all you can do is click, and click, and click, and click until you have to choose an ending.
Artistically speaking, I like the character’s designs, especially Nina’s in-game character; nonetheless, the backgrounds make them stand out like a sore thumb. While using real-life stock photos lets you save some money, you have to put some work into it to blend the characters nicely. On the other hand, the sex scenes are very lackluster and have some basic errors. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s the first time I see the climax part repeating itself until the scene is over.
Verdict: Big NOPE
Avoid this game at all costs. I played a fair share of extremely short visual novels, but never one that’s so devoid of content you can barely consider it a kinetic novel.