Worth the wait
Dungeon Town's review
Developer: Circle Meimitei (Published by Kagura Games)
Genre: JRPG, Dungeon Crawler
Store: Steam, GOG, Kagura Games store, DLSite (only in Japanese)
Reviewed version: V6
Censored: No, except for the DLSite version
Patch Needed: No, except for the Steam version
OS: Windows
Language: English, Chinese (Simplified), Japanese
Dungeon Town was one of the most awaited games among Kagura Games fans due to the time it took to be released. That said, the game is a bit different from what the publisher usually releases, and I can say it’s the best game they’ve released so far.
Pros
Excellent gameplay
Decent story with lovable characters and multiple endings
Beautiful art
Pleasant soundtrack
Cons
The sound effects in the sex scenes are off-putting
Story
The game puts the player in the shoes of Zeno: an adventurer hired to defeat the succubus that has been sucking every male adventurer’s levels and thus interfering with the exploration of the local ruins. While the story isn’t deep, it’s quite enjoyable, and the interactions between the characters give room to funny and lighthearted moments. That doesn’t mean it’s all rainbows and sunshine, though. It gets a bit dark at times, and its mood gets more somber near the end.
On another note, the story has multiple endings that can be unlocked by picking some specific choices through the game. The best part is you’re told when a choice would open a new route or lead to a bad ending, so you can make a new save before taking a choice.
Gameplay
What I like the most about the game is the number of unique features it includes and how well they work together.
Explore deep into the ruins and grab the treasures in it
Exploring dungeons in this game is, in a sense, similar to other dungeon crawlers like Digimon World 2. Each floor has its paths hidden, and you have to walk through them to discover the different parts of the dungeon and move to the next floor. Furthermore, some actions like moving between floors, running away from enemies, and using map skills consume AP, and you can’t advance anymore once it reaches 0. Enemy encounters are avoidable for the most part. Foes are visible on the map, and they move every time you take a step in any direction.
Get ready, Stupid Dog. Those quests won’t complete themselves
Quests are a staple in RPG games, and this one is no exception. It features two types of quests, tavern and partner quests, which differ on what you have to do to clear them. The former is the standard one where you have to bring a specific quantity of a requested item, and you’re rewarded with money when you clear them. The latter requires you to do specific actions with your partner—like exploring a specific number of dungeon floors with them, spending X amount of money in their shops, having sex with them once, and so on—and you get bonus stats and new skills for your partner once you complete them.
Time to beat monsters!
The game’s battle system is different from the typical one you can find in most H-RPGs. You can pick any of the weapons you have in your inventory every time you attack instead of sticking to the one you have equipped. However, weapons get some degradation every time you use them, reducing the chances of landing an attack if you use them too many times. They repair themselves little by little whenever you use a different one, though.
Boss battles are also different from your regular fights. Each of them, as well as any other sexual encounter in the game, consists of sex battles in which you have to talk to your opponent and perform specific actions to improve the mood and make sex moves available. Furthermore, some boss battles border on being puzzle bosses. They are either very hard or downright impossible to beat if you fight them head-on, and you need to find alternate ways to beat them.
Another different aspect of the combat system is how skills work. There are only four slots available, and having more than four skills means the ones you can use will vary every turn. However, you’re also able to disable the skills you don’t need anymore, so you can increase the chances of getting the skills you want. As for how you get new ones, progressing in the game will make them available to buy in different stores instead of learning a new one after reaching a specific level. Moreover, you can also upgrade the ones you already own by spending the SP you get for clearing partner quests.
Getting frisky with your partners
Not everything in this game is slaying monsters. Failing to escape will initiate Intimate Mode on occasion, giving you the chance to calm your partner down and get her horny if you play your cards right. Each partner has a higher affinity for some type of action over others (some prefer talking while others enjoy a more physical approach like hugs, head pats, and the like). Performing a type of action frequently raises their affinity to it and, the higher their affinity to each action is, the higher the level of their skills is.
Raising your partner’s arousal allows you to have sex with them at night once you leave the dungeon, though you need to reach a certain point in the story to bed some of them. Nevertheless, getting them hot and bothered when you plan to explore the dungeon further is a bad idea because they make fighting monsters harder when they are horny.
What do you mean I’m back to level one?!
Every night the succubus visits you and gives you the chance to trade your levels for Macca, a currency you can use to buy special potions and skills, unlock sex scenes, or fight any of the bosses you defeated for a second time. However, regaining your levels is far from frustrating. Monsters above your level give you a good chunk of exp, and equipping the right weapons and armor compensates for the level difference.
Art
Artistically, it’s very well done. Both the characters and backgrounds are pretty, and the pixel art used in the dungeons fits the game. Furthermore, it includes some small, animated details like blinking or a breathing effect in the sex scenes to make them stand out even more. The scenes featured in the game are mostly vanilla, with a few non-con scenes here and there used as part of a character’s backstory or to emphasize how much of a bastard a character is.
Sound
The soundtrack is nice to listen to and helps build the atmosphere of the scenes. It’s also pretty varied, featuring songs that give a mysterious vibe when exploring the fairies’ forest; gloomy tracks during the darker moments of the game; or jazzy tracks when it’s time to get down and dirty. Moreover, each character has themes fitting with their personalities and backgrounds, like a harpsichord track for the rich, sheltered girl; an upbeat track for the bartender; or a military-like song for the female knight.
Sound effects are a mixed bag. On the one hand, the ones used in battles, menu navigation, and the like are fine, but on the other, the ones in the sex scenes are a bit off-putting and don’t sound like anything sex-related.
Verdict: Outstanding
Dungeon Town is so good it got a spot in my top 10 personal favorites list. All the elements in it complement each other nicely and give the player a superb experience. That said, installing the restoration patch is a must, given how deeply connected the gameplay is to the 18+ content.